Chasing Paradise-Chap 3:T,T, and T

         Tragedy, Tears, and Trouble

                   “Hurry, you must wake up now,” Alex heard his mom nearly yell into his ears. “NOW,” his mom yelled again.
                   “Come on! You have to get up! Hurry,” she said, shaking each one of his friends in an attempt to wake them up; when she came to Alex he could see the panic in her eyes, which signified to him that the situation they were in was serious.
                   “What's wrong?” Jeremy asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
                   “It's still dark out, too,” Lily complained.
                   “Be quiet and get moving! There's no time for complaining,” Peter's mom said a little too harshly,”I'm sorry, but you've just got to hurry!”
                   “I can smell them....We've. Got. To. Run,” Willow said in barely a whisper; Alex could smell the fear coming off of her in waves, and now that he smelled her fear he could also smell everyone's fear. Then, for a small second, Alex caught the reeking odor of them: the humans.
                   “I can smell them too; they're here,” he said gravely.
                   “All children are to report over to the Elders and Holly; that means all five of you right here,” a female wolf said as she rushed passed them.
                   Once Alex had spotted where the Holly was standing at with the elders and all of the the children, he motioned to his friends for them to follow him over to where they stood waiting for them. When they finally reached the group, Holly immediately lead them all into the cover of the  treeline and gestured for them all to hide in the bushes and trees that best provided shelter.
                   Holly was in her mid-twenties and a little large for her age. She had mousy brown hair that had a bit of a curl at the end of the shoulder length hair with bangs that were also slightly curly that barely reached the tip of her eyebrows, matching brown eyes, and a light skin tone; she reminded Alex of the aunt he never had.
                   “What's happening?” Alex could hear Lily asking Holly, who was sitting with her.
                   “The humans are on our tails; I fear that a battle might take shape here soon, but what really puzzles me is why they want to wage war against us,” as Holly was communicating her own thoughts on the matter to them, shouts were heard coming across from the treeline opposite of where they were enveloped in the bushes and trees,”We've got to move further away from here, so we won't be seen, come one let' s go.”
                   As everyone began to ran Alex could hear shouts and screams coming from behind him. You murdered our sons and daughters, he heard one man shout. Give us back their lives, another man screamed. Murderers, killers, monsters, beasts;those words continued to echo in his head as he pushed forward with the others.
                   When Holly finally signaled for everyone to stop, Alex was panting and sweat was pouring down his face. After a few minutes of complete silence Willow shrieked.”Where's Carl?!”
                   Holly had been dreading this moment since she'd found out that there was a chance of an upcoming fight, and she knew that ,now that the subject had been approached, there was no chance of avoiding it,”He's fighting, Willow.”
                   “Fighting?!Why?!” Willow screamed, but Holly made no attempt to shush her, knowing that she wouldn't have listened anyways.
                    “Yes, when you hit puberty you have your first transformation as a wolf; after that you begin your training to fight. Carl's 15; he hit puberty when he was 14. After you've had a least one year of training you can become a warrior or a healer; healers take another year of training learning about different herbs and poultices that are used as a remedy for a sickness or injury. If you choose to be a warrior you have to participate in every fight or battle that crosses paths with your tribe; there is no option after you've chosen your position. I chose to be a healer, therefore I take care of the children and  elders when a battle comes our way.
                   “Carl will be alright; he's a good strong fighter. He won't die without a fight, Willow,” Holly said to her soothingly as she held her in a fierce hug.
                   “You promise?”
                   “I promise.”
                   Suddenly bright beams of all the colors of the rainbow began flying up towards the sky at different times and different places; everyone knew that when you transformed a beam the same color as your irises was sent up to the heavens to signify a battle or training was taking place nearby.
                   “It has begun,” Holly whispered and they all sat in silence, waiting for the long battle to come.
                                                           ~♥~
                   Finally, the screeching and moaning stopped; everyone turned to look at Holly and she nodded, which meant “yes, you can go scope it out”. They all eagerly got up and slowly walked back the way they came, to the meadow.
                   Alex was the first one to reach the edge of the clearing and the stench of blood filled his nostrils; he was just in time to see humans taking a group of weary and bloodied werewolves off somewhere into the woods. Instinctively, he crouched down low so the humans wouldn't be able to see him if they looked over where he was; he looked behind him and saw Holly also watching the scene. When the last of the werewolves and humans disappeared into the foliage, she looked down at him and he wore an expression that seemed to be asking “Can I go check it out?”. She nodded her head and silently told an elder to accompany him. But, Alex didn't bother to wait for the slow elder, and took off running as quiet as possible after the group of captives.
                   He ran as swiftly as he could so he would be able to catch up to them; when he reached the huddled gathering the humans had stopped them at the edge of the stream that the children had sometimes gone fishing in before.
                                                           ~♥~
                   “They seem to have gone pretty far away, so I think it's safe for everyone to go and search for survivors,” Holly informed everyone who'd stayed behind and walked onto the soiled battlefield.
                   Willow followed Holly's lead and also stepped onto the surprisingly sunny clearing; the sun seemed to be out of place in the mournful, grievous battle ground.  She passed over body after body, looking for one face in particular and for any signs of movement. The rusty smell of blood followed her wherever she walked and she had to hold her nose to keep from throwing up. As she walked past a body whose face was turned downwards she caught a slight glimpse of movement coming from the body. She hastily knelt and  flipped the body over and she knew whose body this belonged to even before she'd completely turned the, almost limp, form over.
                   “Carl...”she breathed and placed his expressionless face onto her lap.
                   “Willow?” he muttered weakly and opened his eyes up a small crack.
                   “Yes! I'm here, I'm right here,” she replied softly.
                   “It was awful! There were so many of them.....you'd think that with all of the tribes together.....we'd be able to....take them on.....but we were wrong.....and started to drop in numbers....there were two others.....and they weren't human,” he struggled to gasp out.
                   “Don't stress yourself,” she said and gently caressed his face in her hands.
                                                           ~♥~
                   As Alex searched the faces of the captives he found the familiar faces of his parents. Without thinking, he started to run over to them, but before he could blow his cover he felt a sharp jerk in back of him; he whirled around and found Zeke, the elder who was sent to accompany him, beside him giving him a stern look that said “Don't you dare do anything rash”. Alex unwillingly relaxed and stayed where he was.
                   As they both watched the scene unfold, the humans lined four werewolves, including his parents, up against the border of the wide creek. He could already guess what was going to happen, but he still held some small hope. Then the human men positioned their guns, aimed at the werewolves, and fired.
                   The sound of the splashes the dead bodies hitting the cold murky water would haunt Alex for years to come. He sat, trembling with tears lining the edges of his eyes, as he continued to watch the remnant of the werewolves being slaughtered the same way; they watched until the last werewolf body had hit the water, by that time Alex had been silently sobbing for some time.
                   After it was finished he felt a small tug on his sleeve, but he refused to move. Without waiting for him to oblige, Zeke began to drag him through the brush.
                                                           ~♥~
                   “It's okay.....I won't live for much longer,” he spoke softly with a faint smile.
                   “Don't say such ridiculous things,” Willow told him fiercely.
                   “Before I go, give this to Alex,” he said placing a thin piece of paper into her hand, “I'm at my last breath.....I love you, sister......Continue to live on strong and brave.....in place of me,” he said in barely a whisper and then gasped his last breath.
                   “Carl? Carl?!” she called his name loudly, but she already knew the truth; Carl was dead.
                   She grabbed his hand and held it to her lips, whispering her last words to him, even though she knew he wouldn't be able to hear them,” Mother would have been proud of you.”
                   She screamed his name one last time and lifted her head in agony to the sky, that was now clouding up, with tears streaming down her round cheeks. Her head fell. She was alone. There was no one left. She continued to hold his head in her lap and she rocked it back in forth murmuring comforting nothings to herself.
                   She heard the bushes across the clearing and she lifted her head to see who was entering the meadow; when she looked over she met the lifeless eyes of Alex as he and the elder emerged from the trees. She couldn't bare to see his usually bright and laughing eyes turn to dead rocks and ran over to hug him tightly.
                                                           ~♥~
                   As Alex walked into the open area he felt a hard solid form crash into him and hug him, but it didn't feel welcoming; it felt cold, just like he did. He tilted his head downwards  so he would be able to see what had come crashing into him and saw Willow's body hugging him. He saw her tear-streamed face and forced his arms to return her hug.
                   “Alex? Carl....he's.....he's dead. He gave me this to give to you,” she told him shakily and thrust a piece of crumpled paper into his hands.
                   He was already too numb for the shock of Carl's death to fully sink in, but it did add to the pain and turmoil going on in his head. She let go of him then and stumbled her way back to where Holly was standing with open arms as she saw the body and face Willow had been holding. She ran into the welcoming, warm arms and a fresh batch of tears rolled down her face again.
                   He quickly opened the scribbled message that read:
                             Protect her, Alex. Protect Willow. Do it for me, please.
                                                 -Carl
                   He lifted his head up again and saw her hugging Holly in the middle of the cloudy meadow; he would do it. For Carl. For Willow. For himself. Now, he had something to focus on and to strive for. He would become the best warrior any werewolf had ever seen.
                                                           ~♥~