Finally

Finally

MAX

"He's not answering!" comes Finn's shout from the backseat, and I watch in the visor mirror as he redials Gamma Corlys in an attenpt to get him on the line.
"He's not answering me either," I spit, glaring down at my screen after my tenth phone call has been forwarded to voicemail.
"He's not going to," Jared growls out, hanging a sharp left onto the dirt road that bissects the back toward the Rim. "And there's only so far into the dirt that this towncar can travel. We're going to have to shift to make up ground."
Jericho's confused voice filters in from the backseat, "Is anyone going to tell me what the fuck is going on? Because I'm not exactly dressed for a fight and if I'm made to tear this suit, Max, you'll be sent the bill."
Aside from the fact that Jericho's sister is a complete bitch, Jericho himself has always been a pretty good friend and just hearing him state his willingness to jump into my madness puts a feral smile on my face. "Noted," I say absently, pointing toward the edge of the gravel turnoff where the road ends and the thorned briars begin. "Pull over there. We can split up and come at him from both sides." We're about two miles from the where the old graveyard begins and is that is where Corlys is headed with her, he is likely already there. "Jericho, you're with me, and Jared you're with-" pain tears into me with so much force that my body suddenly spasms, cutting off my words.
Holy shit.
Blanca...
Goddess...
"Max?!" Jared's voice falls through a cloud of pain that has nearly blinded me.
"Fuck!" I scream, my body seizing, my heartrate spiking.
I can't wait anymore. I have to get to her now!
Without another word, I leap from the car and shift.

BLANCA

I messed up.
I went ahead and allowed myself the fantasy of Max and all the comforts provided by his false protection and forgot the one thing that I should have kept at the forefront of my mind.
I am not his Luna and he does not want me for one.
And...he left me there with his people.
He...left me.
I am shiftless and different and never going to be accepted by his pack..
These...monsters.
I'm fairly certain my feet are bleeding but I stopped feeling that pain once my leg muscles started cramping up. Then, of course, I fell a few times only to be dragged several feet along the gravel road and then kicked back up onto my knees by a couple of the Gamma trainees currently running alongside me.
Students.
Mere students.
Teenage shifters that have obviously only just started their term training for their positions within the pack. They are young, maybe fourteen, but they are cruel beyond their years. An attribute I'm sure they honed under the tutelage of their forebearer, Gamma Corlys.
The flesh has been torn from my knees, my arms, my face, and even my back. Because the very last time I stumbled, Corlys had the driver floor the engine before braking, causing me not only to wrench my wrists until they popped, but to crash headfirst into the bumper of the long black Suburban.
My wrists. They are broken. I am certain of it.
Now, I lay here upon the ground, tears of surrender mingling with the blood that pours from my brow. The shouts and slurs of the Gamma trainees and their master blend into the background as my core weakens to the point of failing and I can't get back up.
The tip of Corlys' boot connects with my ribs and I hear a deafening crack, but I don't feel it. I can't. My insides are already blazing with enough agony to drown out the world and when I look up into the sunshine up above me and try to hold onto the the Moon Goddess' words...I find I can no longer hear her voice.
It will only get harder. Isn't that what she said?
"Get her up, boys!" Corlys spits before stepping away.
"On your feet you lazy, murdering, bitch," comes the shout of one of the youngsters at the back of the vehicle.
"Get up you shiftless whore!" Another youngster, the one on my left. One of the runners. One of Corlys' favored.
"Get her moving!" comes a shout from somewhere beyond the hot dirt that I rest upon. Somewhere near the rear of the caravan. Gamma Corlys no doubt.
"Yes sir!" shouts the runner on my right before he drops to knees next to my head and reaches out a hand to help me stand. He whispers, "Come on, we're almost there and if you don't get up he's going to-"
"Albert!" Corlys growls. "I said get her up not coddle her."
"Fuck," Albert murmurs, heaving me up along his side. "Come on," he says softly, "just a few more steps."
"Albert!" Corlys shouts again, this time closer. "I said stand her up!"
Albert's soft brown gaze clashes with my own and for a moment I see a tenderness there...a swirl of something that is almost sorrow, but then, just as quickly, it bleeds away and he snarls as he shoves me back onto my feet then steps away.
My body sways for a long moment and I steel my bones as my legs crumple beneath me and I hit the ground with a heavy thud. Gazing up at Albert from the ground, I see him hesitate then reach for me again.
"No!" Corlys screams. "Do not help her again. Kick her until she's ready to stand on her own."
"But sir!" Alberts begins, seeming in a panic. "We are only minutes from the graveyard. Maybe I can carry her. She-aaahhh!"
A loud thwack sounds as Corlys strikes the youngster in the side of his head, sending him barreling toward the ground next to me in a plume of dirt and blood.
"Stupid boy," Corlys hisses. "Get out of my sight!" he snaps, kicking the boy a few more times in the stomach until he's dragged away by one of his peers. "You'll be reassigned at my earliest convenience." Corlys squats down to peer into my face, his evil blue eyes twinkling with joy when he takes in my bloodied jawline. "Not so pretty anymore, are you?" he hisses in my ear, his face dropping next to mine before he stands and once again kicks me in the side. Blood shoots from my lips in rivulets of bright red and suddenly each breath I take comes with a rattle and a wheeze. "Get up, or I'll lay you in the ground right fucking here."
But I don't move. I can't. And when Corlys begins to kick me again, all I can do is scream inside my head and wonder which blow will be my last.
"Corlys! Stop!"
A commanding voice sounds on the wind and for a moment I think it must be the Moon Goddess come to fetch me home.
Then...the cracking of my bones stops, leaving only my pulverized flesh and my smile.
Finally.
I must be dead.