Chapter 38: Alone
Chapter 38: Alone
Vander
About halfway into the drive Mason had grown tired of the silence and broke it by saying, “Calina can never escape you wolves, honestly. First your kind takes her position in the LHS and now they completely wipe away her identity. All because of some mangey mutts.”
I ignored his derogatory use of language, focussing instead on the rest of his words as I asked, “What do you mean her position?”
“Calina has always been a great hunter. It was her goal to make it right to the very top of our ranking system. And she would have made it, had she not helped that little wolf…” Little wolf? Immediately I thought of my brother. Had he somehow been involved in this? “Unfortunately, Jenna had reported her for conspiring with the wolves against the LHS, before Calina could even think of accusing her of killing a harmless werewolf.”
It was the incident involving Jayden. I had no idea that she’d suffered such dire consequences for helping my brother. Nor did I think that Jenna had been the hunter who’d tried to attack my brother.
“Jenna… your ex-girlfriend? Did this happen before or after you broke up with Calina?” I asked, suddenly hating that she-devil even more than I had before.
Mason looked away from me and refused to answer my question. I could tell that he was ashamed of the answer. But what he’d said made me wonder if he ever loved Jenna in the first place or if he had dated her just to spite her. What a sad, petty man. I could imagine that while everything in her life was falling apart, he just made it even worse, leaving her to deal with it all alone. I’d be a hypocrite to judge him, but some part of me felt happy that he’d done it. Because now I knew that despite the fact that Calina had some lingering feelings for him, it was clear that he would be far from redemption. The question was, would I be far from redemption too? Was I the same as Mason? If I was, I’d have to do everything in my power not to be anything like him. I’d be there for her when she needed me.
Calina
My hands were so sore from trying to break these chains. They were dry and scraped and cut and bleeding. Nonetheless I persisted, pulling them as hard as I could. I had to have some semblance of werewolf strength somewhere. Erin watched me struggle, having given up a while ago.
“We don’t have much time left. They’ll be here soon. Just give up… we’ll try another day.”
But I didn’t want to try another day. I couldn’t take one more hour in this place. I just wanted to get away. In fact, it almost sickened me that she’d just be complacent with failure. That she’d just give up. After all those days of torture, she’d just let herself keep on being used as some sort of science experiment. No, that didn’t work for me. And so I mustered all of the strength, anger and determination that I could and pulled and tugged as hard as I could. Suddenly my arms flew back on either side of me, sending me falling over backwards. With it, was the clanging sound of the broken chains. I’d done it. I’d actually broken free. Erin seemed incredibly shocked and gazed down at her own chains, presumably regretting the fact that she hadn’t continued to try a little harder. I ran over to her, still high on adrenaline and pulled and tugged as hard as I could. This time it broke a little easier, freeing Erin from its constraints. Again, she seemed surprised, as though she hadn’t expected it at all.
“Okay so when Lana comes in, I’ll grab her and subdue her. You immediately run out and overpower Nova so we can retrieve the keys.”
A look of uncertainty crossed her face, and she tugged at the broken chains nervously. “I… I don’t think I can do that. I’m not strong enough… m-maybe we should just leave it and wait to get rescued.”
That was when I finally snapped.
“Wait to get rescued? You’ve been in here for months, sitting and waiting and no one has come! I can’t. I’m not waiting anymore for anyone! I’m getting the fuck out of here and if you don’t want to help, stay here for all I care.” I was panting by the time I was done, and almost embarrassed by how loud I’d gotten.
Erin just stared at me, ashamed but still scared. I needed her to be in this with me. I couldn’t take them both at the same time. I was strong, but not strong enough yet.
I neared her slowly, steadily and then spoke gently when I was right in front of her.
“I’m so sorry for snapping like that. I just… can’t take it anymore. My life has become nothing but a culmination of unfortunately events. I’m so tired of it. So let’s work together, and get the hell out of this place?”
Erin slowly started to smile and nod. It made me feel a little relieved. Maybe we could do this together. Admittedly I was nervous myself. We didn’t have much of a plan owing to our limited resources. I just hoped I could really count on Erin. And that hope intensified the moment we heard the hatch to the bunker opening. Immediately Erin and I took our places, setting the chains perfectly so they seemed intact.
“Look alive dogs! It’s feeding time!” Nova chimed as he entered, plates of food in hand. Lana followed promptly. They stopped abruptly, just outside of the cell. Nova handed the two plates to Lana and then unlocked the door slowly. Lana entered and Nova did what he always did. He just gently closed the gate behind her.
As soon as she bent in front of me to put the food down, I used my foot to kick as hard as I could right at the side of her head. It was a decent hit and sent Lana to the floor. I immediately ran towards her, grabbed her and began to choke her. She struggled hard against me, grunting and letting her feet scramble against the floor. I looked towards Nova, hoping that I’d see Erin on him, subduing him. But I was met with nothing but complete and utter disappointment, so much so, that my grip slipped and Lana wriggled free. She immediately hit me across the face so hard that my head started to throb and blood dripped from my nose. I couldn’t quite focus on her when I gazed up but saw her spit towards the floor near me.
“Tsk tsk tsk… and here I thought you were beginning to like it here Calina. So sad to see you want to leave,” he said whilst shaking his head. “Lana and I will have to get you new chains, stronger ones.”
I felt defeated and disappointed and when my gaze met Erin’s I couldn’t help but glare. She stared at me, a guilty look in her eyes. Then, she turned around, her back towards me. I was alone here, and if I wanted to get out, I’d have to do it alone.