The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
Chapter 31

Ajax, Age 8

Everything was burning. My home. My life. My world. My family lay de a d on the floor, bleeding on the ground as tears that spilled from their eyes dried on their cheeks. Powerless.

I felt so powerless as I watched my entire world burn to the ground. Black smoke was thick in the air, entering my lungs and making me cough, but I stood there, empty and just as d e a d as the rest of them as I watched. No one else was alive.

Everyone lay unmoving at my feet.

There was so much blood around me that I could taste it in my mouth. And the smoke, it was so thick, suffocating me slowly.

I knew I should go, and leave, that there was nothing I could do to save them. But I couldn't just leave. I couldn't just leave my mother, my father, my baby brother on the ground bleeding and painting the ground red, but what could I do? What else can I do?

My knees sank to the ground, unable to keep myself up right. I did not cry often but I cried my heart out that day while holding my mother's cold hand as I wailed, the pain shaking my body to its core.

They came at night, when the entire world was asleep, when no one expected them to. And then there were explosions that rocked the earth, our houses tumbling down and fire erupting from every direction. The scream s were piercing, the howls of wolves even louder... but none of the wolves came from us.

We were a farm pack.

Defenseless.

We could barely feed ourselves.

And still they came like we could fight, like we knew how to fight.

They killed us as if we had hurt them in some way.

No one knew what to do.

How could we?

What did we know of all of this?

Nothing. We were nothing. So they came and finished us off like ants.

I watched them all d i e, gripping my baby brother tight. In the thick of it, I managed to get him from his crib but we could only go so far, hidden in the bushes, and even then, they found us, the baby's crying loudly from all the noise happening around us. They plucked him from my arms and threw him to the ground.

The unmistakable crack that came from the impact will forever haunt me as the crying immediately stopped. The anguish, the pain as I watched blood spill from my brother... it still gives me nightmares.

And then I was next, their hungry eyes on me.

I prepared for the worst, my eyes fluttering close, but that's when my parents finally came, having rushed back from the breached borders. My mother swooped me up in her arms as my father tried to fight them back. He did not last long. Not against trained city pack wolves.

And my mother, seeing my brother- her baby by her feet and my father's body ripped into so many pieces, nearly breaks right then and there.

"Run!" She sobs, shoving me away as hard as she can towards the wreckage of our pack. "Hide!"

My mother was no fighter but her distraction allowed me to escape. I hid as they finished her off and it went on for hours... longer than necessary, longer than was needed for such a poor farm pack with no way of fighting back. They were monsters.

I saw the brutality, the mindless bloodshed like it was on repeat. Over and over and over again. Friends. Family. Everyone. All murdered as I watched. The blood never stopped spilling onto the ground and the heart stopping screams just kept on coming. And when it finally stopped, I crawled out of the hole under one of the houses. The sun was high above the sky now, the cold breeze blowing hard and chilling my blood stained body. As I took in my surroundings, my heart felt as though it was ready to halt its beating.

My knees on the ground, my hand on what remains of my mother's fingers, I felt empty. What else was there to feel after what I had witnessed?

I was only eight.

A child.

And I was all that was left.

Battered and half delirious, I felt the hairs behind my neck rise in warning, prickling me out of my empty thoughts. Suddenly aware that it might not have been over as I originally thought, I attempted to quiet my sniffling and my loud breathing. I listened to the sounds around me, the roaring of the fire that burned everything, the aftershocks of the explosions and the trees that snapped and broke.

But nothing.

Yet.

Too fast for me to realize what was happening, I felt a sharp pain at the back of my head. With a gasp, I began to tip backward and fall roughly on the ground beside my d e a d family. Their blood soaks my ripped clothes, the smell of copper so overwhelming that it has me coughing.

Blinking up, I lifted my head, my eyes meeting with the face of a large wolf, blood dripping from its muzzle. It didn't take me long to realize that this wolf is the exact one that killed my family. The blood that spilled from its teeth was my mother's... his large paws marred with my father's insides.

The wolf was at least six times my size, eyes like the devil, teeth long and sharp, ready to rip my body apart. And he was grinning at me, laughing at my demise. The wolf reeked of the destruction that they had done in our lands and as he looked at me, I knew I was just another one of his many victims tonight.

I should be afraid.

I should be saying my last prayers to the Moon Goddess.

I should be welcoming d e a t h, my family meeting me in the afterlife.

But all I felt was rage, a sightless rage that nearly blinded me and before the wolf could react, I shoved my entire hand through his eyes. The feeling of a sticky liquid dripping down my wrist gave such a thrill inside me that I decided to do the other eye too. Both my hands reached for his skull, through his eye sockets.

The wolf is howling, trying to thrash me away, but it's like I have been possessed, holding on with as much strength as I could muster and pressing harder, further.

He's screaming and howling just like we did and I cannot stop myself. I wanted to inflict just as much pain as I felt, as my family felt, as my pack felt towards this one pathetic wolf that couldn't even fight off an eight year old desperate child.

I hated them all. I hated everyone.

And this desperation is what keeps me at him. Blood was gushing out of him like a waterfall but I held on. I think I was crying or maybe I was laughing. I couldn't tell anymore, it felt like forever until the wolf slumped to the ground and I stood over him. He was still breathing.

Shaky breaths just like the people he's killed or left to die.

I've never fought before today. It wasn't really needed or taught. No trouble ever came to our lands. We weren't a violent pack. We harvest fruit for a living.

But today, I harvested his heart.

I clawed through fur, skin and bone until I held it in my hands. My entire body was shaking. But I've never felt so... alive.

Blood soaked from head to toe, I walked away from my life, the fire still raging behind me. I don't know how long I walked, all my energy was put into placing one foot in front of the other.

My body begged for me to stop, to rest and recuperate, but I didn't do it. I continued to walk, lost but not without purpose.

The city pack has done this.

They have caused this.

And they will know what it feels to feel pain.

I was going to kill them all. Every last one of them.

-

SUMMARY FOR THOSE THAT SKIPPED:

In the dead of night, the city pack attacked a poor farm pack and in that pack was eight year old Ajax. He wakes to explosions and screams, his family killed in front of him. He is a child and is as lost as can be. He watches it all happen, the blood painting the ground red, listens as everyone he knows is slaughtered. As he holds his mother's hand, Ajax realizes that he's not alone and is attacked by a full grown werewolf. He manages to injure the wolf enough that he delivers a killing blow before walking away from all he knows, a deep hatred and anger blooming in his chest.

-

A noise up ahead grabbed my attention, a snapping of a twig and hurried footsteps. Upright and alert, I ducked under a bush, preparing for the worst. They've come. They've seen the body of their brother and are coming after me. "Mom?" A small voice spoke, the words shaking. "Where are we going, mom?"

I slowly edged over to the side to get a better look. An older woman was pulling at a little girl, taking her deeper into the woods. I did not recognize them. They weren't from our pack but they also weren't from around here. They didn't smell right. Curious, I followed behind them. They must be heading to their pack. There were nearby farm packs in the area but I didn't know where and how to get there. We were never allowed beyond the borders.

The older woman's face was tight, pulling the little girl behind her in a hurry. She was not gentle, making the girl stumble and trip, but the little girl did her best to catch up, apologizing constantly whenever she accidentally slowed them down. Something inside me stirred at the sight of this innocent girl. She was younger than me and she was blinking back tears, her hair flowing behind her as she was yanked forward with a force that made her yelp. "M-mom, please slow down." The little girl begged, stumbling behind the older woman.

Was this her mother?

If so, why was she not slowing down?

Why was she not caring that her daughter was having a hard time catching up to her longer strides?

"Shut up, June." Her mother snapped at her. "Hurry up."

June.

The little girl's name was June.

I felt sorry for her.

My stomach twisted when I saw her stumble yet again, falling on her knees. The woman looked a second away from kicking at her daughter's chest and I almost came out of hiding to save her. But this was her mother.

I shouldn't...

The older woman roughly shoves June down the roots of a tree.

"Stay here and wait." The woman says, much gentler this time. It sounded sad, it sounded guilty. But why? Why guilt? "I have somewhere important to be. Do not move. Do you understand?" My eyes widened.

She was leaving her daughter here?

Alone?

Where the city pack could come and take her? Or worse?

I wanted to stop the mother, to tell her that this was a dangerous place, but she was already gone, disappearing through the trees and leaving her daughter on that tree root.

"Okay," The obedient little girl whispered to herself. "Bye, I'll be right here."

The girl-June, stayed where she was, not moving an inch. She looked around nervously, worriedly, but the trust, the trust in her eyes made me stay where I was.

There was so much innocence in her face, a face that hadn't ever witnessed any of what I had seen. And that hope. The hope of fighting the fear of being left alone in these woods. The need to protect her while her mother comes back settles in my chest, a new purpose, for now.

I sat down on my own tree root, far enough that she couldn't see me, but I could see her. The first hour went by easily, but then it became two... three and then it was four.

Four hours.

Where was her mother?

June's face never lost hope. She was scared I could see it so clearly but she kept looking around, forcing a smile as she waited.

But four hours became five and six and then seven.

The sun had already set and it was dark. She was shaking. It was cold.

Where was her mother?

What was keeping her?

She should be here by now.

June still hadn't moved an inch, her hands to the roots, gripping them tight. I thought of coming to her, to comfort her, but looking down at myself, the blood, the bruises, I might only scare her and make things worse. So I stayed, like she stayed.

I watched her closely, her eyes heavy with exhaustion and sleep, but she blinked them away, opening her eyes wide to look around. She was scared of closing her eyes... lest she miss her mother's return.

A mother wouldn't do this.

The girl was so scared and so sleepy. She was holding herself up straight and hugging herself tight, doing her best to stay awake, to stay positive.

I wanted to help her, I wanted to come close but... but I would only scare her away.

She jumped at every sound, the owls hooting, insects chittering, the leaves blown by the wind.

And then a wolf howled in the distance. It was too far to be any threat or to be a friendly one.

It was not her mother.

"Mom?" The little girl whispered, her lips trembling. It was so soft, so... so hopeful. "Mommy is that you?"

Where are you?! I almost shouted. Why did you leave her like this?!

She stayed up for the rest of the night until a new day came through the dark sky. Her lips were chapped, her hands were shaking but her eyes were still wide and full of hope.

My heart hurt for her.

She's been here for an entire day yet still nothing.

I didn't understand.

Then it began to rain, drenching us both, but she didn't look for cover, staying where she was, where she was told to stay and allowing the rain to swallow her whole. And then it shined, the sun drying us back again. And still she stayed.

In that time, that very long time, I really got to see this abandoned girl. I could count her eyelashes to the ends, I memorized the color of her eyes and the color of her hair, I remember the way her lips pulled up or down, saw the way she hugged herself when it was particularly cold and committed to memory the way her breaths came.

Her mother wasn't coming back.

Her mother left her here.

I know this now.

And it did not make it any easier.

Determined to help her, to do something for her, I stood from where I was sitting and headed for the sound of the wolf's howl I heard a few days ago. It was a painful process to leave her, the hesitation and the need to stay by her and not abandon her like her mother did.

Nothing was harder than the decision to take a step back from this girl that so desperately needed help.

But I do it for her.

I ran as fast as I could, my body weak from days of nothing to eat or drink, but I pushed myself harder than I had ever done before. The thought of her alone in the woods, the thought of her hugging herself tight and those hopeful eyes that just wanted her mom. I do not know how long I took to replace the borders of the next pack. Hours. More. I do not remember.

But a man, a boy who had just reached adulthood, replaces me.

"Stop, child. You're entering a different territory-" He stops, eyeing me and noticing the dried blood, the ripped clothes and the overall appearance of someone that has seen hell. "What happened? Do you need help? You're from that farm pack..." "Not me. But someone else. Please come." I didn't wait to explain, running back to where I left her.

Thankfully, the man followed closely behind me. It was all a blur, I couldn't think of anything else. My heart was pounding in my chest, panicked and scared.

I don't even remember how I found her again, but I did.

She was still there.

She still hasn't moved.

Just like she was told to do.

Not even an inch since I left her but the relief that she was safe, that she will be okay now, makes me feel lightheaded.

June.

Oh, June.

June.

I watched them go, nodded at the man as he carried her away and then, when I could no longer see them, I passed out, the last of my energy used. She was safe.

That's all that mattered.

My hope.

My June.