INTO THE WOODS

The crowd was apprehensive of what Caleb was going to do to Sean but then, William knew that he wouldn’t do anything rash to sabotage the ritual ceremony that has already began with the rite from the Alpha himself before the interrogation started.

“You are one daring little beta, ain’t you?”

“I only told you what he couldn’t say out of his mouth”

“And what would that be?”

“The Truth”

“So, let me get this straight, he only defaulted because of you”

“That’s right. I caused the delay and he couldn’t get his Maguri done before dusk”

Caleb sniffed twice at Sean’s defensive story which seemed quite convincing to everyone present especially to those who had seen the two boys coming back from the riverside on their way to the mountain hideout in William’s pickup truck.

“Your persuasive words would do you no good, young one but I can see that you ready to endure twice the punishment I was planning on giving to both of you”

He said and drew away from the queue. The other boys felt relieved that they wasn’t going to witness something ugly from the Alpha who has long taught anyone a lesson with his other side of a ferocious wolf with razor sharp teeth and huge talons. He moved closer to William and drew his head closer to him.

“Next time your son breaks the rule, I won’t hesitate to bite his hands off under your watch. The same goes for Robin”

He whispered, with a warning, to William. Then he glared at Logan and everyone saw his eyes redden with black veins appearing by the side of his eyes, for a brief moment and then his normal eye returned. It was a clear warning to the second Chief and to all the betas that saw his eyes transformed. He went back to his former position before the queue.

“I’ll personally deal with this matter later. Now listen carefully, we have been briefed about this ritual which we also call a hunt but there are rules that must be adhered to….”

He took a slight pause and glared at Sean. Then he continued when he noticed that there was no further interruption from anyone else other than noise emanating from the bonfire behind the crowd.

“Each one of you is required to catch two animals and a fresh kill must be confirmed with its blood on your canines when you bring it back here. The kill must be a deer or an antelope and how you use your instincts to catch your prey is all up to you. We’ll be waiting for you at the Plymouth cliff where the watchmen are”

Caleb explained.

“And those that fail?”

The intrusive question came from Sean and all looked confidently at the Alpha’s expression as soon as they heard Sean’s query.

“Will have to wait for another four years to join the pack”

Caleb retorted almost immediately. William stood by him and whispered something in his ear. He flinched nervously but he adjusted his countenance before moving forward to address the crowd.

“As for us, brothers, we’ll make use of the carcass from their hunt for tonight’s feast to celebrate the ritual and the blood from each animal will be painted on our bodies as a promise of our continuous survival. Now, William, you can go ahead and tell what I missed. I’ll be waiting in my hut”

Caleb said and walked out of the midst of the general gathering. William stepped forward and positioned himself in front of the queue.

“Listen closely. Town is off limits from this hunt and only the jungle is permitted for you to find the deer as quickly as possible before the fire burns out. The fire is your guide back to the hideout and we’ll keep it burning as long as we can before daybreak, so you must kill an animal before it fizzles out, you got that?”

“Yes, Chief”

The boys chorused except for Sean and Robin. He peered at them for some time and returned his looks back to the other boys who were getting themselves ready to shape-shift into their other form.

“The blood that run in your veins are that of the Hykians and should never be disregarded. So, you can now begin the hunt”

William said and watched the boys scurried into the trees in different direction, shape-shifting into werewolves on four limbs similar to that of a typical wolf but much larger and furrier though little in size compared to the Alphas and omegas with the likes of Caleb and the older betas. Robin got lost behind in the woods as they all scrambled out into the jungle in search of a kill and Sean was the last to shape-shift into the dark jungle. William saw him turned into a blackish furry beast snarling as it ran wildly into the bushes along with the rest of the other wolves who by now had already gone farther in the dark woods led by their own instincts. Then he went back to usher the crowd gather enough wood to keep the bonfire alive until those chosen returns back from the hunt.

There was this bloodlust urgency in Sean’s red eyes to feed on something as he bolted through the under-beds of the forest floor, heading in no particular direction and all he could think of at that moment was to wait his hefty nuzzle pick out the scent of his prey but all seemed vague and impossible to track a deer in the thick bushes where all his night vision could see was the leafs from shrubs tussling against his furry skin as he ran deeper into the most darkest of part of the jungle unaware of where his unending run going to end.

The squirrels hiding in their holes at every tree branch could hardly pick out his shape in the forest as a result of his fast speed which intensified the wild-goose-chase to make out for lost time.

Over forty minutes had passed since his rampageous run into the jungle with the other werewolves and he was beginning to feel tired of the endless chase for some animal he was yet to come across. All he could see was the darkness as he kept diving past ridges and tough tree barks that blocked his way with great speed thanks to his large claws. He tossed his full weight forward with great effort to another direction as he leapt past a ridge; running in intense frenzy like the fierce wind that came brewing around his black furry coat which shielded his entire body from the cold. He dived again when he arrive at another dead end and took on another direction to the lower side of the ridges that lay on the opposite of the mountain. The paw on his forelimbs hasten his bloodlust search for a kill while his hind-limbs seemed to ricochet himself forward each time he lunged himself for an even more greater speed as it bounced the whole weight of his furry body for a wider leap from the one ridge to another.

It was his second hunt and he knew that the others are more experience than he was. For him, he was already far behind from the others and it was now difficult for him pick up the scent of Robin or even pick up his trail. Besides that, all his instincts could read as he frantically roam the woods, was the empty air and the smell of tree roots that told him that there was no sign of a deer close by and it was only the nocturnal flights of bat flying around from tree to tree including the squeaky noises of chipmunks hiding in their holes in the trees that he had come across ever since he started running into the woods.

From over a close distance within the radar of the eastern direction, two wolf howls came resounding into the cold night as he head eastwards but he slowly retard his pace when he sensed a cliff up ahead. He noticed two rocks at the edge of the cliff as he came closer and climbed to the top of it. He surveyed the region including the black dome above almost shrouding part of the waning gibbous after taking some time to rest his frantic breaths that puffing out air and took an eagle vision of the dense forest trees that shroud the bushes below in the darkness but not from his eyes that could clearly see what lies in the forest paths up ahead though he couldn’t pick up the trail of a deer he was looking for and it was getting harder for him to keep running in the bush for minutes without any positive results of him finding the trail of an antelope in the forest. His mouth remained wide open exposing his razor sharp canines with his tongue sticking out from his mouth as he panted nonstop whilst the wind kept brushing aside the black strands of hair on his bushy tail.

But he had no choice if he was going to join the pack this year instead of waiting another four years to hunt again for the third time. Four years earlier, he had barely even catch a deer let alone two and he was starting to think it was impossible for him to find a trace of an antelope in this part of the regions. He heard another howl at a distance which got his attention for a bit and he turned his large head towards that direction expecting to see the culprit. Then he took one last glance at the landscape and scratched the rocks to check if his paws are ready to continue his journey. With valiant courage to continue his hunt, he howled twice at the waning moon and the sound echoed for several miles though it fell short within the forest boundaries without touching the border of the town. His howl lasted for two and a half minute and then, it began to flicker since he could barely sustain the howling sound for a longer period.

Afterwards, he whimpered twice after letting out a loud howl from his throat and took a huge leap down from the rocks into the bottom part of the jungle and crashed to the forest floor but he was skilled enough to withstand the fall before departing further into the dark bushes that obscured his path below the dense spruces that covered the entire mountain.