RHETTA
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female || four years || previously a hunter || tagged; kane, sanaa, lucia, percy, amaro
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female || four years || previously a hunter || tagged; kane, sanaa, lucia, percy, amaro
- Everything sped up before her eyes. The conversation turned into a speech, ushered out from the stranger in harsh tones that painted a grim picture of their future. He was all too happy with handing them over to someone else, a wolf he claimed was more capable of healing. But could that even be trusted? Rhetta looked regretfully at the two lying in the sand behind her. A single wish lay waste to a plane, its crew, and the handful of wolves aboard the frightening aircraft.
Sucking a deep breath, when she turned back to the male, she found he was striding away from her, heading off in some new direction and expecting them to follow. Rhetta wasn't certain the two could stand, let alone have an adventure to some other part of this hellish island. She hung back with them in silence, offering a shoulder to lean on if they so desired. Her observant eyes picked up on the details of the pair, the bloodied back of the male with the large metal sticking out of his spine, the female's shivering and stuttering, and the exhaustion that showed in both their eyes.
Did she prod them onward to follow the path of the stranger, or did she let them stay here? Both could mean death. It seemed the decision would not be hers to make. The white male was rising, his body struggling with the effort. The pain he felt was clear with the twitching muscles, the heavy breathing, and the wide eyes. She could do nothing to alleviate it. At least Kane had demonstrated some knowledge of the local fauna. That would certainly be an advantage.
"Do you think you can make it?" she asked doubtfully. If she could have carried them, she would have in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, even the female looked as if she outweighed emaciated Rhetta. Percy nodded, but moved to lean heavily on her. She was forced to put the swollen leg back in the sand, grimacing when her muscles strained to take the weight. It was slow going. Sand was not the sturdiest of grounds, and paws kept slipping, threatening to bowl over the wounded group.
Finally, as they edged into the forest, the temple in sight, Percy collapsed in a heap. "Stay here with him," Rhetta demanded, eyeing the other female cautiously. "I will be back." With that, she turned and ran, doing her best to keep up a fast pace to catch up with the fleeing male.
She found him talking to another male, apparently the healer. He was busy, not bothering to look up at the wolf that stood panting a few meters from him, saying something about collecting herbs. Amaro was gone before Rhetta could get out any words. Anger started bubbling through her veins. These wolves were all incredibly stupid! Leaving the wounded out to face the elements, not bothering to check on their status before disappearing. If this was the only one capable of doctoring, they were all doomed. "They didn't make it this far," she commented smoothly to Kane.
PERCIVAL
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male || six years || previously a hunter || tagged; lucia
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male || six years || previously a hunter || tagged; lucia
- Nothing else existed. This wolf with the green eyes, the sand beneath him, and his own body. It was all his dim mind could focus on. If anything was else invited into his realm, Percy felt everything would come crashing down. He let her voice wash over him, relaxing with every word she spoke. "Freedom," he repeated, enveloping himself in the conversation.
Percy pictured her within a pack, one wolf in a crowd of many, just another soldier marching to the beat of some alpha's steady drum. Isn't that how all packs functioned? Perfection meant survival, while a slip up could mean the demise of the whole group. It was why the alpha must be so firm, strict, and rigid. But then that soldier's green eyes turned to the wilds, searching for something else in the familiar trees. It was much the same as how Percy's own journey had started, so many years ago.
"You let your freedom be taken," he commented gently. It was not an accusation, but an observation. "It was not the wrong choice. My foolish adventures earned me the rank of omega. For a time, I bore the scoldings in order to live the life I wanted to. But when it came down to it, I knew I didn't fit in with them. Packs need individuals focused on their goals. I was selfishly invested in my own endeavors. When I left, I got my true punishment." The deer's antlers flashed in his memory. He tensed as the screams of his sister washed over him. One wrong step. And now it showed with every waking moment, in the curled ear and the scars etched along his side, covered up now only because of the blood and grime. "You've found freedom here," he chided, the irony of it all clear. "What will you do with it?"
It was then that his unreality cracked, chunks of conversation seeping through into his deaf ears. '...get the healer...come along...' Finally, gold eyes opened to the real world. A male was walking away, a female standing nearby, looking painfully worried, and Lucia lay close beside him, no longer shivering with the cold. They would have to follow. It was their chance to get away from the pain, and Percy wanted desperately to come out on the other side and finally explore something that would awe him. And so he began to get up.
It was almost impossible. As soon as he moved an extremity, pain shot up through his spine, centering where the metal pierced flesh and muscle. Grunting with the pain, he forced himself to all fours. Fresh blood flowed from the wound while the metal worked itself deeper into his back, chipping away at a vertebrae. "Come on, Lucia. It's our only chance, I think." Ever so tenderly, he nudged her. To the other female, he nodded. "We can make it."
It was a lie. Even with leaning on Rhetta and whispering reassuring words to Lucia as they loped along, Percy barely made it into the trees before his tired legs quivered under him, and he fell. There would be no getting up. Not in his immediate future, at the very least. The world spun around him and nausea took hold of his stomach. Rhetta left them after a few words, and Percy tried to readjust his position.
Terror took hold of him. One leg hadn't moved with the rest of them. His right hind leg was now bent at an awkward angle, pressed beneath him. "I-I..." Dreams shattered in front of him. The woods were off-limits. He would be heard from miles away dragging one leg behind him. Worse, there would be no more running. No more swimming. No exploring. "I can't move my leg."


