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C A D E
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It was becoming dark when they assembled in a safe house outside the walls of Harlow. For four young werewolves all between the ages of 14 and 17 it would probably be the first time any of them had been outside the walls past curfew. They waited nervously inside the empty building, long abandoned after the revolution, a few desks and chairs left of what might have been in an office. Outside smells had invaded the interior, the smell of wet concrete and dead leaves violating the space.
"Are you sure we're in the right place Mateo?" one of the kids asked the other.
"I'm sure; they'll be here any minute." Mateo, the curly-haired one replied.
"What if they're still able to track us here, huh?" - The forboding 'they' now referenced the humans - "Are you sure that chick knew what she was doing? All I saw her do was swipe that thing over our wrists and tap a few buttons on her computer. It can't be that simple..." he scratched the skin on his wrist where he knew the chip was, "If we're caught, principal Cager will put all of us in solitary confinement for sure! Doesn't matter if we're on campus or not when we break the rules..."
"If you're so scared you can go." Mateo told him.
"I'm not scared man, I'm just saying..."
Just then Cade and David entered the room that was on the second floor of the dilapidated building and they all fell silent. They had not heard them coming up the stairs, a surprise to all of them. They were much stealthier than the youth. They looked in awe at these 'older' werewolves, who made no deal of wearing their glowing eyes as darkness fell. They seemed so comfortable in their own skin, at ease with their bodies and all of the things that they could do with it that they had been taught were not normal. David licked the front of his teeth and smiled with his fangs - he loved recruitment day if only to see the young ones squirm. But this day was particularly special to him, one that he had waited so long for.
Mateo unlike the others was staring at David not in fear or even awe, but a wide-eyed wondered that verged on tears. He blinked a few times containing himself before he walked over to his older brother. It had been years since they had even been in the same room together. They had only communicated through letter once in a blue moon and even then it was only one way, David to Mateo: We are coming for you. Just wait. Be strong. Until just the other day when he received a note finally telling him it was time.
"Hey punk," David said in a friendly manner that was unusual to him. He hooked the young wolf around the neck with the crook of his arm and ruffled his curly head. "Me extrañaste?"
"No!" Mateo choked, struggling to get free, "I've had the room all to myself and don't have to share la comida with your gordo ass since you left."
"Well that's all about to change, hermanito." David laughed and let him pop his head free from the head lock, "Now you have to share everything, AND I get to boss you around."
For a moment David didn't seem all that unapproachable, the young werewolves relaxed, grinning at their peer being teased by his older brother. But then David looked at the rest of them, his eyes immediately narrowing.
"What the hell are you all looking at?" he asked all friendliness seeping out of his voice. Their smiles vanished, confused and once again a little afraid. "Don't you look me in the eye! Were you all born yesterday? Stand up straight for your Alpha you fucking worms!"
They all fixed their posture immediately, and David grinned smuggly, pushing his brother back towards his friends. With greetings out of the way, Cade got down to the business at hand, their mission that would initiate them into the pack.
"As some of you might have heard before tonight, recently a young werewolf girl was beat by a guard while playing outside with her sibling." Cade recounted. "They beat her after a ball went astray in a game on the street and hit a patrol car. She was charged with threatening an officer... He was charged with nothing."
He let a solemn silence pass then continued, "We are going to send them a message; that there is not one injustice that escapes our attention. Not one little thing that won't be written in our ledger for revenge. We are always watching and listening, and every debt will be paid. We will make sure of it."
"What's happened to the guard?" one the young werewolves asked.
"He works in my neighborhood, I haven't seen him on patrol since." one of them answered.
"Probably on administrative leave or some bullshit suspension." Mateo interjected bitterly, folding his arms.
"Doesn't matter, he will get what's coming to him..." Cade said. At this point he finally opened the mystery bag he had in his hand and took out what he had hidden inside: red paint cans, and tossed them to each of them. Just as he did, a siren sounded in the distance indicating that curfew was upon them in thirty minutes. Another one would sound 10 minutes before the ghetto gates closed, then a final one on the hour.
"...But first, you will let him know we are coming for him and anyone else who lays a finger on us."
-------
At just past the hour four sillhouettes slunk along the ghetto wall. They searched for a spot remote enough from the entrance of the ghetto and far enough from any occupied building that they would have time to work without being spotted right away. Once they found their spot, they wrote out in blood red letters across the concrete wall "We are watching" with the symbol of the wolf they wore on their arms as a visible warning to others.
"Hurry, hurry!" one of them keeping watch urged nervously, "They'll come around any minute!"
There were patrolmen in squad cars that surveyed the perimeter of the ghettos at night. And not a minute after they had finished their handiwork, one of them came into view.
"C'mon! Let's go! Let's go!"
"Hold on!" Mateo hastily sprayed on his last little message on the wall, a side note scribbled as an after thought - (PS fuck U)
"Hey!! You kids!" The megaphone from atop the patrol car screeched.
The others only stalled a moment as they shielded their eyes from the spot light that shined onto them from the patrol car then booked it in the opposite direction. The officer jumped out of his vehicle and pursued them. Mateo dropped his spray can and turned to follow the others, but the officer had already gotten close enough to pull out his taser gun and shot him. The surge jolted through his entire body and he collapsed to his knees.
"Wait! Wait! He got Mateo!" he heard one of his friends say.
"Fuck it! I'm out of here!"
The patrol officer came up behind him and he heard the sound of him taking the baton off his belt.
"So much for traveling in packs... Where are your friends now, huh?" the officer mocked, bringing down the baton with a crack to the side of his head. Mateo fell down onto his hands, struggling to get up with a heavy head and spots filling his vision. "Fuck... you..." he grunted through clenched teeth, earning him another swift swipe from the baton, this time on his back to keep him down as the officer took out his silver-lined cuffs.
"Are you sure we're in the right place Mateo?" one of the kids asked the other.
"I'm sure; they'll be here any minute." Mateo, the curly-haired one replied.
"What if they're still able to track us here, huh?" - The forboding 'they' now referenced the humans - "Are you sure that chick knew what she was doing? All I saw her do was swipe that thing over our wrists and tap a few buttons on her computer. It can't be that simple..." he scratched the skin on his wrist where he knew the chip was, "If we're caught, principal Cager will put all of us in solitary confinement for sure! Doesn't matter if we're on campus or not when we break the rules..."
"If you're so scared you can go." Mateo told him.
"I'm not scared man, I'm just saying..."
Just then Cade and David entered the room that was on the second floor of the dilapidated building and they all fell silent. They had not heard them coming up the stairs, a surprise to all of them. They were much stealthier than the youth. They looked in awe at these 'older' werewolves, who made no deal of wearing their glowing eyes as darkness fell. They seemed so comfortable in their own skin, at ease with their bodies and all of the things that they could do with it that they had been taught were not normal. David licked the front of his teeth and smiled with his fangs - he loved recruitment day if only to see the young ones squirm. But this day was particularly special to him, one that he had waited so long for.
Mateo unlike the others was staring at David not in fear or even awe, but a wide-eyed wondered that verged on tears. He blinked a few times containing himself before he walked over to his older brother. It had been years since they had even been in the same room together. They had only communicated through letter once in a blue moon and even then it was only one way, David to Mateo: We are coming for you. Just wait. Be strong. Until just the other day when he received a note finally telling him it was time.
"Hey punk," David said in a friendly manner that was unusual to him. He hooked the young wolf around the neck with the crook of his arm and ruffled his curly head. "Me extrañaste?"
"No!" Mateo choked, struggling to get free, "I've had the room all to myself and don't have to share la comida with your gordo ass since you left."
"Well that's all about to change, hermanito." David laughed and let him pop his head free from the head lock, "Now you have to share everything, AND I get to boss you around."
For a moment David didn't seem all that unapproachable, the young werewolves relaxed, grinning at their peer being teased by his older brother. But then David looked at the rest of them, his eyes immediately narrowing.
"What the hell are you all looking at?" he asked all friendliness seeping out of his voice. Their smiles vanished, confused and once again a little afraid. "Don't you look me in the eye! Were you all born yesterday? Stand up straight for your Alpha you fucking worms!"
They all fixed their posture immediately, and David grinned smuggly, pushing his brother back towards his friends. With greetings out of the way, Cade got down to the business at hand, their mission that would initiate them into the pack.
"As some of you might have heard before tonight, recently a young werewolf girl was beat by a guard while playing outside with her sibling." Cade recounted. "They beat her after a ball went astray in a game on the street and hit a patrol car. She was charged with threatening an officer... He was charged with nothing."
He let a solemn silence pass then continued, "We are going to send them a message; that there is not one injustice that escapes our attention. Not one little thing that won't be written in our ledger for revenge. We are always watching and listening, and every debt will be paid. We will make sure of it."
"What's happened to the guard?" one the young werewolves asked.
"He works in my neighborhood, I haven't seen him on patrol since." one of them answered.
"Probably on administrative leave or some bullshit suspension." Mateo interjected bitterly, folding his arms.
"Doesn't matter, he will get what's coming to him..." Cade said. At this point he finally opened the mystery bag he had in his hand and took out what he had hidden inside: red paint cans, and tossed them to each of them. Just as he did, a siren sounded in the distance indicating that curfew was upon them in thirty minutes. Another one would sound 10 minutes before the ghetto gates closed, then a final one on the hour.
"...But first, you will let him know we are coming for him and anyone else who lays a finger on us."
-------
At just past the hour four sillhouettes slunk along the ghetto wall. They searched for a spot remote enough from the entrance of the ghetto and far enough from any occupied building that they would have time to work without being spotted right away. Once they found their spot, they wrote out in blood red letters across the concrete wall "We are watching" with the symbol of the wolf they wore on their arms as a visible warning to others.
"Hurry, hurry!" one of them keeping watch urged nervously, "They'll come around any minute!"
There were patrolmen in squad cars that surveyed the perimeter of the ghettos at night. And not a minute after they had finished their handiwork, one of them came into view.
"C'mon! Let's go! Let's go!"
"Hold on!" Mateo hastily sprayed on his last little message on the wall, a side note scribbled as an after thought - (PS fuck U)
"Hey!! You kids!" The megaphone from atop the patrol car screeched.
The others only stalled a moment as they shielded their eyes from the spot light that shined onto them from the patrol car then booked it in the opposite direction. The officer jumped out of his vehicle and pursued them. Mateo dropped his spray can and turned to follow the others, but the officer had already gotten close enough to pull out his taser gun and shot him. The surge jolted through his entire body and he collapsed to his knees.
"Wait! Wait! He got Mateo!" he heard one of his friends say.
"Fuck it! I'm out of here!"
The patrol officer came up behind him and he heard the sound of him taking the baton off his belt.
"So much for traveling in packs... Where are your friends now, huh?" the officer mocked, bringing down the baton with a crack to the side of his head. Mateo fell down onto his hands, struggling to get up with a heavy head and spots filling his vision. "Fuck... you..." he grunted through clenched teeth, earning him another swift swipe from the baton, this time on his back to keep him down as the officer took out his silver-lined cuffs.