Chapter Seven Fighting for What’s Important

Chapter Seven

Fighting for What’s Important

 

 

Aly

 

I would always be bitter about what had just happened, there was no doubt in my mind about that, but I would never hate Mark, I knew how he felt. I would try and save his parents as well as my own. I promised myself that I would succeed somehow. I was just grateful that he’d at least been kind enough to make sure I had some money to live on, and that he had cared enough not to let me leave while it was dark. That had to mean something, didn’t it? He had to care at least a little. I couldn’t quite make myself believe that he had only done that because he didn’t want to feel guilty if I were killed for leaving so late. That didn’t ring true to me. I sighed. It didn’t matter any more. I was leaving. I would never see them again, except maybe for a minute after this was over. I would take Mark’s parents to the hideout, if Mark and the others were even still there, they might leave. Mark might believe that  I would betray them all and have them killed, and make the others leave.

If that was the case, how could I ever find them? I’d have to figure that out when and if it happened.

I ran from the cottage, desperate to get away. To escape the pain that leaving inflicted on my heart. I loved the people I was leaving behind. I had to leave for their own good as well as the reasons I had given. Our parents had to be saved, and my friends had to be protected. I ran toward town thinking that maybe, if I could figure out where our parents were being held, I could figure out how to save them. I found myself almost wishing I hadn’t told the others they couldn’t come with me. What if I needed them? I had no way to contact them. I would end up one of the many slaughtered werewolves scattered throughout town, and nobody would care. My friends wouldn’t even know. I suppose that’s what you get for telling the people you care about to stay away from you. It was better that I be the only one to die. I only wanted to protect them. I couldn’t bear to see them get captured or killed too. It would hurt so much. Even Mark, if he were killed I would be as heartbroken as if any of the others were killed. Maybe even more so. I realized then how much I really cared about him.

I hated the feeling of running away. At least when I had been back at the cottage it had felt safe. It had felt like we could actually make plans to try and save our parents. Maybe I should have stayed. No. It was better this way.

I kept running, hoping to avoid the people in our town. They would all know what had happened by now. That I was suspected of being a werewolf. Nobody would help me. I didn’t even have my friends to help me any more.

I had to stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on finding them. I wouldn’t stand a chance any other way. I had to forget my friends. It would hurt so much to do that, but I had to. I couldn’t do anything else.

 

 

 

 

Mark

 

The pain of betrayal wasn’t new to Mark, he’d been betrayed by family and friends before. But never like this. Never by someone he cared this much about. He’d said that it wouldn’t hurt his feelings any if she were killed. That was a lie. He would be absolutely heartbroken by it. He had finally started to trust her, maybe even fall for her, but this, this was so much more than he could bear. How could she have ever even considered betraying her family? It wasn’t even really that she had betrayed him that hurt so much, but that she had betrayed her family. That she could let them be killed just so she could become alpha.

He would go after her, try to help her. He had to. He couldn’t just let her die. He told himself his reasons were purely for the safety of his family and Aly’s. No matter how much he hated Aly, her family wasn’t to blame for what she had done. It would be murder to leave innocent people to die because of his feelings toward their daughter. He couldn’t let the others know what he was going to do. They would never forgive him. In a way, he was betraying them by going after her.

He started off toward the dense woods surrounding the cottage.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Chris asked suspiciously.

“To save my family,” Mark answered in a tone that said it should have been obvious.

“Not without us, you’re not,” Kat argued.

“Yes, without ya’ll. Without anyone,” Mark insisted. Except maybe Aly…He thought. No, not even her. He knew though that he was lying to himself to say he wouldn’t be with Aly. He had to catch up wit her to find their parents.

“That’s stupid,” Michael said. “You’ll be killed too easily that way.”

Mark shrugged. “I have to do this on my own. This is my fight, not ya’lls.”

Cassie frowned but remained silent.

“Alright,” Chris agreed.

“What?!” Kat demanded angrily of them. “You’re just going to let him do this?”

“Yeah,” Chris answered. “This is something he feels he needs to do on his own. We shouldn’t try to stop him.” He turned to Mark. “We’re always here, if you need us.”

“Thanks,” Mark smiled slightly. “See ya’ll around.”

Kat and Cassie hugged him and warned him to be careful. Michael and Chris shook his hand and wished him luck.

Mark followed the same general path Aly had, the fastest path to town, wondering if he would catch up with her. He could if he wanted to. Should he? What would happen if he did? He considered it for a minute before deciding against it. It would be stupid to even try.

 

 

Aly

 

I was halfway to town when I heard rustling behind me. I turned and looked around. I couldn’t see anything, I only heard the rustling again. Nobody was in sight. I was scared out of my mind, wishing I had never left the cottage. This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have left, but I couldn’t turn back now, they’d think I was a coward. And Mark would think… He would think I changed my mind about saving our families. No. I couldn’t turn back now, no matter what happened. I had to prove to him that I wasn’t the evil person he thought I was.

The rustling continued and I looked around myself in terror. Who was there? What was there?

“Hello?” I called nervously.

“Aly?” I heard Mark’s voice answer. Was he making all that noise?

“Yeah,” I answered. “Mark?”

“Yep.”

I stopped and turned to wait for him. I felt someone clamp a cold, hard hand over my mouth and I started struggling and trying to scream. Mark was so close, he had to hear me. Please, I thought. Please, let him get to me in time. Let him help me.

Whoever had grabbed me started to drag me backwards. I struggled as hard as I could, still doing my best to scream. There was no way Mark was going to be able to help me. Even if he wanted to. He probably wouldn’t want to help me, though. He hated me. I didn’t stand a chance against this guy, no matter how hard I fought. I was going to die. Tears started flowing down my face at the thought. I couldn’t even help my parents now. They would die because of me. So would Mark’s parents.

An unexpected thought crossed my mind. What if I shifted and became a wolf? Would I stand a better chance then? I decided to try. I would just have to do the best I possibly could since I had no idea how to do this. I focused on trying to shift. It wasn’t working. How the heck do you do this? I wondered. I felt a sharp jab in my back and blackness started to envelope me. I couldn’t stop it. I wasn’t powerful enough.

 

 

Mark

 

Mark was startled when he heard Aly call out. He responded automatically, knowing whatever had frightened her, it wasn’t him. What’s wrong? He wondered anxiously. Is she ok? Is she hurt? He sped up, trying to reach her faster, to make sure she was ok. She had to be. He needed to get there. To protect her. He was confused when he heard rustling around him. He turned, looking swiftly around him. Using his acute hearing to try and figure out where the rustling was coming from and what was causing it. It seemed to be coming from all around him. Suddenly, hands shot out from all directions, grabbing him, covering his mouth so he couldn’t even cry out and warn Aly. He struggled, and tried to shift. He felt a sharp jab in his neck and knew they’d tranquilized him. He couldn’t shift now. He felt his strength slipping away as the darkness slipped over him.

 

 

Chris

 

“They’re stupid!” Kat exclaimed angrily. “They’ll be killed! How could you just let them both go?”

“I’m sorry, Kat, but they both felt they had to try and save their families. Alone. They didn’t want our help. We can’t force them,” Chris answered, trying to explain it in a way that Kat would understand. He didn’t quite understand their logic himself. If they were both going to rescue their families, why not work together? They didn’t even have to like each other to work together, they only had to tolerate each other. Maybe that was the problem, Mark was so convinced that Aly had betrayed her family that he couldn’t even tolerate her long enough to save their families.

“Still,” Michael broke in. “Don’t you think we should go after them, at least to keep an eye on them, make sure they don’t get killed?”

“Or kill each other,” Kat muttered.

“Yes,” Cassie agreed instantly. “Michael and I could do that.”

“No,” Chris disagreed. “They know how to contact us if they need anything. We’re here in case they need help. For now, we need to let them do this their way.”

“Fine,” Kat snapped. She moved away from Chris.

Cassie and Michael frowned. They were less pleased with the idea than the others.

They heard the sounds of a struggle not far away.

“I knew it!” Kat exclaimed. “Someone’s got them!”

Chris chuckled. “No, Kat, they ran into each other. They’re angry, remember? A fight’s only natural.”

Michael nodded. “Chris is right. I was expecting this, they’re too similar, it’s easily predictable, though I didn’t think they’d be so close when it happened. Why isn’t she further away?”

Cassie looked worried. “Shouldn’t we check on them? Make sure it really is just the two of them fighting?”

“Nah,” Chris replied. “They’re fine. Don’t worry. She probably just paused to give herself a minute to calm down and Mark caught up with her.”

The others shrugged and went back to whatever they had been doing before. Cassie was writing in a journal, Kat was writing music, Michael was drawing, and Chris was pacing the length of the room back and forth.

The commotion from outside ended in a matter of minutes. Chris had thought they would hear who had won the fight. Wouldn’t they want to brag? Especially if Aly had won? “I wonder who won?” he mused.

“Ten bucks on Mark,” Michael smirked.

“No way!” Cassie disagreed. “I got ten on Aly. She’s tough. And mean, she could beat him easy.”

“But Mark’s an experienced fighter,” Kat observed. “Aly’s never shifted before in her life.”

Cassie glared at Kat. “You’re supposed to be siding with me, not the guys!”

“Sorry, I have to side with them. Aly’s tough, and mean, but Mark knows what he’s doing. He’ll win.”

“Fine,” Cassie pouted. “I’ll bet each of you ten that Aly wins. I wish I could have seen his face when she beat him!”

“Alright,” Kat agreed. “I’ll take that bet.”

“That’s not fair to her,” Michael objected. “If we win, we only lose ten each, if she loses, she loses thirty.”

“I don’t care. Do you wanna take the bet or not?” Cassie demanded.

“I’ll take it.” Michael reluctantly shook hands with Cassie.

“Alright,” Chris agreed.

“Wait till I beat all ya’ll,” Cassie said smugly. “You’re gonna wish you had never made that bet!”

Michael rolled his eyes.

 

 

Aly

 

I had thought I’d faced the most frightening thing I would ever have to at the school Halloween night. I learned how wrong I was when I was thrown into a small, dank, and dark, room. I didn’t know where I was or who had captured me. I only knew that I was in trouble. Nobody would ever find me here. I would die a slow and torturous death and rot away in here and nobody would ever find out where I’d gone. I would be one of many who disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. Nobody would look very hard for me. Nobody who cared enough would be left and it was my own fault. The part that bothered me most about it was that other innocent people were going to die because I was an idiot. I had murdered them.

A terrifying thought crossed my mind for the first time since I’d been grabbed. What had happened to Mark? Had they captured him too? They must have. That would explain why he hadn’t come to my aid. I knew he would have if he could have, for all the times he claimed to hate me, he would still protect me, f only to ease his own conscience. Where was he? Had they already killed him?

I heard the creaking of hinges and saw a small crack of light appear where the edges of the door must be. Someone was coming in. This would be when I died. I only hoped that they would kill me quickly and that the others would figure out what had happened and save my parents, and Mark’s, since I couldn’t.

A shadow fell across the little light that was streaming into the room. The next sound I heard was the thud of another body hitting the earthen floor. They had thrown someone else in here with me! Was it Mark? No. It couldn’t be. He knew what he was doing. He would have escaped them. He would have fought.

The door creaked shut again and I was left in total darkness, terrified of what might happen next. Who was the person now in this small room with me? Would this person hurt me? Could I trust anyone anymore? Was the person beside me even alive anymore?

“Hello?” I whispered.

I heard a soft groan. “Aly?” a voice whispered back.

“Mark! What are you doing in here? I thought you’d escape them.”

“I tried. They used tranquilizers and four men to subdue me. I didn’t have an chance against them. I didn’t even have time to shift.”

I wanted to cry. My only hope of rescue was trapped in here with me. Now what would we do?

“It only took one guy and a tranq to subdue me.” I frowned.

He laughed slightly. “You are smaller than me. Why didn’t you  try to shift?”

“I don’t know how! I only just found out about all of this a week ago. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t exactly have anyone to teach me.” He knew that. He knew my mother hated the idea of me being a wolf to begin with, like she was really going to teach me anything she might know. My dad had tried to talk me out of going for any of this, he wouldn’t have helped. I wondered now, if I hadn’t been so stupidly stubborn about all of this and insisted on trying to take it from Mark, would any of this have happened? Would all of these people be dead?

I heard him sit up.

“I’ll teach you,” he promised. “Later, though, when I’m stronger. It isn’t difficult, not really. It only seems that way the first few times you try it.”

My mood brightened a little at that promise. Maybe, if I knew how to shift, we could work together and break out of here. “Thank you,” I smiled softly. I couldn’t help but hope against hope that this might work. I thought about how weird it was to be glad he was with me. Two reasons. One, I was supposed to hate him right now. Two, We were kinda trapped and pretty much sure to die.

He chuckled weakly.

I reached toward him in the darkness. I felt his hand grasp mine and wondered what he was thinking right now. Did this bother him at all, that we were so close to each other, that he was so close to the person he blamed for his parents capture?

“Does it bother you?” I whispered, dreading the answer I might hear.

“What?”

“Being so close to me?” I wished I had never asked him that stupid question. What if it did bother him? What could either of us do about it? Kill each other? Was that why we had been locked in the same room, so that we would kill each other and save them the trouble?

“No,” he answered. I could almost hear the smile in his weak voice. “I came to find you. We have to work together to save our parents or it’ll never work. I think.”

“What are you talking about?” I was dead �" or is it undead? �" curious now. His words didn’t make sense to me.

“If I remember my history correctly, there was something said about circumstances like these once…” He paused, trying to remember. “An old witch, a hundred or so years ago, said ‘she who is most suspected shall not be the one. He who hates and suspects her shall cause nothing but heartache and trouble for them both. Unless he follows and assists her, both shall suffer the loss of those they love most, after the other.’” he quoted.

“Hm,” I murmured. “I don’t remember that.”

“You wouldn’t,” he agreed. “It was in a history book I read for fun once. Not one we ever have to read. You probably won’t ever read it.”

“Yuck.” I shuddered. “I hate history. I don’t read any more about it than I have to.”

“Yeah, well, I love it.”

“Good for you,” I said sarcastically.

He pulled me closer to him. I was sitting so close to him now our arms brushed against each other.

“Where are we?” I wondered aloud.

“I think we’re locked in the cyclone cellar of the prison they built specifically for werewolves,” he answered.

I shuddered again. “Ew. Cellars. Mice and rats.”

He laughed at me.

“It’s not funny! You do know that if you stir up mouse droppings you could end up with Hauntavirus, a nasty hemorrhagic fever, and rats are infested with fleas that carry Typhus, right?”

“Gross. I read history, you read about infectious diseases,” he observed dryly. “I did not need to think about that especially since there’s a rat right next to you…”

I shrieked and jumped up, shaking my skirts to dislodge any unwanted mice or rats.

He only laughed harder. “Sorry,” he said, not sounding the least bit sorry. “I had to.”

“Ooh! You’ll pay for that! And you are not sorry!” I was so angry I wanted to slap him but I knew that wouldn’t do any good and it would only amuse him more.

“No,” he agreed. “I’m not sorry, that was funny.”

“Let’s just plan our escape now, okay?”

“Ok,” he agreed.

“How’re we gonna get outta here?”

“There’s a secret entrance, but it can only be accessed from outside.”

“What the heck good does that do anyone?” I demanded incredulously.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I didn’t claim it was brilliant, only that it was there. Your ancestor built this place a hundred and fifty years ago.”

“Great,” I groaned. “My ancestor left me stuck. Thanks so much for that!”

Mark laughed again. “He was known as the most eccentric werewolf of all time. He hated supernatural creatures, even though he was one. Kinda like Hitler hating Jews when he was a Jew. It doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s for sure. How do we access the secret entrance?”

“Get outside?” He suggested the obvious.

“Well, that’s not an option right now. Try and think how we get out there from in here using that entrance.” I glared at him.

He went thoughtfully silent.

I waited for him to speak, thinking of my own plans and reveling in the touch of his hand.

“How is it blocked?” I asked suddenly.

“Um, I think it’s bricked over in here and latched out there,” he answered.

“Then we’ll have to tear it down brick by brick,” It was my turn to stat the obvious.

“Great idea,” he said sarcastically, What do we do with the bricks so they aren’t discovered?”

Shoot. The flaw in the plan. “You have any better ideas?” I demanded irritably.

“No.”

“Then don’t criticize mine. We’ll figure a way out… If you can teach me to shift, do you think we could overpower the guards and get outta here through the door?”

“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “Do you really think it’ll be that simple?”

“True,” I conceded. “We’ll have to hide the bricks somewhere…” I trailed of, my mind traveling the road to our escape. I pulled my hand slowly and reluctantly from Mark’s and began exploring our prison. I pressed my hands lightly against the wall and started wandering through the confined space, feeling the walls for any possible means of escape. I was pretty sure I had just about circled the room when my fingers encountered something unexpected. Wood. Metal. A door?

“Yes!” I exclaimed softly.

“What is it?” Mark asked, rising slowly and moving toward me.

“A door, I think.” My fingers continued to trace the wood, hoping to encounter a doorknob, or a catch of some kind.

I felt Mark’s hand cover one of mine. “Sorry,” he murmured, moving his hand and following my lead.

Moments later my searching fingers encountered an old fashioned catch on the door.

“Got it!” I whispered excitedly.

Mark moved up beside me. “Excellent!” he said in relief.

I tried the door and found it stuck. What now? I thought in despair. A door we couldn’t open. What if it was useless anyway? What if it was a trick door? What if it hid someone ready to kill us?

“Hang on, I might be able to get this,” Mark said. I was sure he was only trying to calm me down, but I stepped out of his way anyways. Let him try, even if it didn’t work, we wouldn’t get out by giving up.

Ten minutes later we still couldn’t get the door to budge. A dead end. We were doomed. Don’t think like that. I scolded myself.

“I’m sorry, Aly. I’ll try again later,” Mark apologized. “I’m still weak from the tranq they gave me.”

I was beginning to think it hadn’t been a tranq at all. “Are you sure it was a tranq they gave you and not poison or something?” I asked anxiously.

“No, it was just powerful. I’m fine. I’ll try the door again in a little bit.”

“No, it’s ok. That’s not going to work, we need to focus on a new plan.” We sat in silence for an hour, trying to figure out our next step. We should try and find the secret entrance, see if we could un-brick it without getting caught. Maybe, if we could do that, we could escape.

“Do you have any idea where this secret entrance is supposed to be?” I asked, hoping desperately that he’d read that in a history book or something.

“No, I’m afraid I don’t. Nobody ever said as far as I could find out. They only said that it was there.”

“What was it created for?”

“So that the prisoner’s families could come and see them one last time before their deaths, supposedly. That’s not how it was used, though.”

“How was it used?”

“That’s easy, the families were let through the door to see whatever relative it was that was being killed, and then the door was shut and locked behind them. The prison guards were rewarded for capturing family members. Unfortunately, that’s one of the lesser known, more unpleasant, facts of our towns history.”

“That’s awful!” I exclaimed.

“You didn’t really think they’d let the family of an accused werewolf, or other supernatural being, visit and then leave, did you?”

I thought that one over for a minute. “No,” I answered after a long interval. “No, I guess not.”

He smiled and laced his fingers with mine again.

“How do you remember so much history stuff?” I asked curiously, trying to distract myself. Whether I wanted distraction from the horrible thoughts he had put in my mind or from the feel of his fingers laced with mine, I wasn’t sure.

“I love to read about it. I also like to write historical fiction stories, it’s easier to write them if I actually research and remember the things I read.”

“Yeah, I guess it would,” I agreed.

“I heard you like to write too,” he started.

“Where did you hear that?” I demanded. Nobody knew that. I didn’t dare tell anyone, least of all my mother.

He shrugged. “People talk. Is it true?”

“Yes, but don’t ever tell my mother or I’m dead.”

“No worries,” he assured me. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“You just did, but ok.”

He rolled his eyes. “Nice,” he said sarcastically. “Not the least bit childish.”

“Shut up and ask the question already.”

“Shut up and ask the question?”

I glared at him. “Just ask the question.”

“Ok,” he shrugged. “What kind of stuff do you write?”

“Supernatural type stuff. Vampires, werewolves and the lot.”

“Nice,” he commented. “I’d like to read some of it sometime, if that’s ok?”

“Sure,” I shrugged. “If we ever get out of here, you can read whichever stories you like.” I got up and started walking around the edges of the room again, hoping to come across something I’d missed the first time around. I  figured I might have missed something once Mark had caught up with me, I had been distracted by him. Again. That seemed to happen a lot. About halfway around the room I found what I was looking for. A small portion of the ceiling came down lower than the rest of it did. “Here,” I called. “I think I found it.”

Mark moved quickly to my side. “Really?” he asked. “Where?”

“Here.” I guided his hands to the low part of the ceiling I had found.

“Yes,” he whispered excitedly. “Yes, I think you’re right!”

“I’m almost sure of it.”

“Definitely bricked over. We’ll have to see what we can do about removing the bricks without getting caught. We just need somewhere to put them…”

I moved toward the stuck door we had found. Maybe, if we could get it to open, we would be able to get out through it or use whatever was behind it as a hiding place for the bricks. I tried to open the door again, frustrated when it still refused to open. I searched for anything that might help open it and found nothing. Remembering something my dad had talked about once, I decided to see if pulling the latchstring and pushing the door open instead of pulling it would work. It did.

“Yes,” I muttered. “I got the stupid door open.”

“How?” Mark asked incredulously.

“I tried pushing the door instead of pulling it.” I shrugged.

“That’s not how those work.”

“I know, my dad said something once about having heard one of our ancestors built a door like that, just to mess with people, so I thought I’d give it a shot. It worked.”

“What’s back there?”

I felt around the small space behind the door and encountered what felt like bone. I pulled lightly at whatever it was and it toppled out on top of me. I screamed, panicking.

Seconds later I felt whatever had attacked me get yanked away from me. “Are you ok?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, what was that?”

He started laughing for no apparent reason.

“Ok,” I said nervously. “You’re starting to creep me out.”

“Sorry,” he laughed. “It was just a skeleton. It fell over on top of you. You had me so scared, I thought someone was killing you or something.”

“Nope, I just got freaked out when I pulled on a dead guys arm and he fell on top of me.”

“Alright, so it’s a closet of some sort. Let’s put Mr. bones back in there and start un-bricking that other door. We’ll hide the bricks in there.”

I nodded and went to try and start pulling bricks from the ceiling. I only succeeded in breaking a nail and knocking some dirt loose.

Mark came up beside me and smirked. “Here,” he said, gently pushing me out of the way. “I’ll try and pull the bricks down, you put them in the closet. Preferably stacked neatly so they’ll all fit.”

“I can pull the bricks down.” I pouted.

“Sure, in a year or so.”

I scowled at him and waited for him to pass me the first brick.