Under the Moon

Prologue - When a Wolf Bites

        “Commere' Jake!  What the hell could you be doing over th...”

         As Allie rounded the corner of the recently charred barn and turned towards the opening, she suddenly saw what had captured Jake's attention.  The wolf was furiously scattering dirt, boxes, and anything else in his way in order to reach that coveted prize.

         Allie could not understand why Jake would go so crazy over a single rabbit when she would feed him anything.  She supposed that with animals, and even people with a personality like her favorite wolf, the juice was worth the squeeze. 

         “JAKE!  Stop it right now, you know it is getting late.  Papa wanted us back before dark.  The raiders haven't tried to invade under the cover of night yet, but it's only a matter of time before their bravery increases and their patience wanes.”

         Growing up Allie never had other children to talk to or play with.  It was just her and her wolves.  All the kids in town would always make fun of her for talking to wolves (and they would say it just like that, unnecessarily condescending tone and all) but she never really minded.  The wolves were more loyal and better company than any other person she had met anyway.  Except for maybe papa.

         At Allie's firm scolding, Jake must have realized the importance of getting back home was more dire than eating the rabbit which was plump enough to provide half of a meal, if that.  He quickly did a turn and a half to wind up facing the barn's exit and bolted, not even taking a second glance at Allie.

         “Good boy!”, Allie had to say quite audibly for Jake was already 30 feet ahead of her running top speed towards the house where papa and the other wolves would be waiting, probably scared half to death, for the two of them to arrive.

         Just as immediately as Allie turned and praised Jake, she heard the unmistakeable sound of a crossbow's fire, no louder than the crunch of toast.  Then another.  And another.  As the third bolt left the intruder's bow, the first struck home right through the back of Allie's knee and she went down with a howl to rival even Queenie's.  Just as she fell, the second bolt darted through the air where her head had occupied just a moment before and thudded into a nearby tree followed by the third projectile following an identicle path and splitting the feathers of the previous.  Allie had never seen such spectacular aim in such complete darkness and even took a moment to appreciate the marksmenship regardless of her pain or situation.

         As bad as that pain was, Allie remained aware of the situation – at least one intruder behind the barn, probably with more bolts, and Jake was too far ahead of them to do anything other than take a bolt for her, which was simply not a possibility – and as she did so, Spines lept out of the barn's second story window and performed his namesake.  Allie loved all of the wolves with equal vigor, but to this day she still couldn't bear to watch Spines snap off a head or bend the back of an intruder's head to their ass.  This time he did neither (most likely due to his current bad mood triggered by the bolt in Allie's knee) and instead simply latched on to the man's face and twisted very slowly.  The man would attempt to turn over with the wolf, but such an act is near impossible with a 400 pound wolf holding one's body to the ground.
         
         It was at this point that Jake came charging to Allie.  Not only had he brought spare rags so that she could tend to her wound in order to make it home, but she noticed Jake was also bleeding.  The source of the blood appeared to be on his back, but when she went to examine it Jake simply gestured with a bob of his head that he was alright and that they should hurry.  Allie knew Jake the best out of all the wolves and she could tell that something was still wrong, and it wasn't simply that they were wounded.  There were more intruders, of course, there was always something else around here.

         With a  strong yank accompanied by an even stronger urge to howl with her wolves once again, Allie pulled the bolt free of her knee and wrapped her wound with the rags Jake had brought.  Under normal circumstances she would simply ride on Jake's back, but his wound looked like it was probably just as deep as hers and while Spines would gladly try to put her on his back, a wolf cannot run very well with three legs in the first place.

         “If only Lightning was hiding behind that window with you buddy”, and she patted Spines on the head.  “Ready boys?  Remember, this doesn't feel too good and I don't know how far I can run so you can't go sprinting off ahead of me.” 

         And with that the dogs were already masked by the shade and the void that people called darkness, but that Allie was raised to fear as evil.

         And not raised this way without reason.