I am Wolf (The Wolfboy Chronicles) (20 page)

Meanwhile I was the only one running towards the
entrance of the camp. I howled and growled with rage and fury as I sprinted
towards the big fence guarded by hundreds of soldiers. The perimeter fence was
made of close fitting rough wooden stakes at least three meters high. At each
of the four corners was a small hut-like structure on long stilts where the
armed guards oversaw the camp and high-powered searchlights beamed during the
hours of darkness. Cleared ground on the outside of this fence totally
surrounded the camp and this was patrolled by guards and their dogs. There was
an entrance gate suitable for allowing large contingents of men and lorries to
enter or leave.

Once the guards spotted me someone cried out “wolf”
and in their amusement they began shooting at me like it was a game, but as
they realized their bullets had not slowed me down I sensed a wave of fear come
upon them that I enjoyed immensely. It energized me. Their fear gave me more
strength as I ran towards the tall fence. The soldiers were running around in
front of the fence like anxious chickens, yelling, screaming, and shooting at
me. The soldiers in the towers thought they were safe behind the fence and barbed
wire as they watched me attack the soldiers on the outside and rip them open.

When I came close enough to the fence I gathered all
my anger and strength into a giant leap and went straight above it and then in
another leap jumped over the barbed wire placed behind it.

The soldiers stared at me with wide eyes as I landed
on my paws on the ground. They looked at me motionless, paralyzed.

Then I opened my mouth and let out a deep and
terrifying growl. The soldiers stared at me, then turned and ran.

I killed them all. Every soldier, one by one that I came across, simply
ripped them open with my claws, even those in the small towers. I climbed the
ladders to reach them. They used up all their bullets on me, trying to stop me.
Then when the gun clicked, fear struck their faces and seconds later they were
dead. One jumped out of his tower and killed himself landing on the barbed wire
meant to kill prisoners trying to escape.

At first the people detained in the camp were afraid
of me, watching me attacking the soldiers one by one. They feared being the
beast’s next prey, but soon realized I was only killing their jailors. It took
awhile before they could believe it was really happening, before they dared to
rejoice. Some of them I couldn’t save. They were shot by a guard who was
desperate to keep the prisoners back. He managed to kill three people before my
claws ripped his throat open. Blood spurted out as he tumbled to the ground and
begged for his life. The smell was intoxicating, but I refused to give in to
it. I backed up and as the crowd cheered me on I continued to the next soldier,
then the next and the next again. Hundreds of guards were ripped open and
thrown to the ground that was soon red from all the blood.

When I could find no more soldiers, I went for the
officer’s quarters. I found one in bed with a woman. Her grey prison uniform
was on the floor. He was beating her with a stick while forcing her down when I
broke down the door to his room. The woman screamed for help while the officer
tumbled to the floor, startled by the wolf suddenly entering his room. Then he
pulled up his pants and went towards me with the stick in his hand.

“Come on,” he said. “I’m not afraid of you.”

I growled deeply from within. He lifted the stick and
began to beat me. I hardly felt it. Then I lifted my paw and with just one
stroke he was thrown to the floor, bleeding from the deep wounds my claws had
left in his chest. He was panting, gasping for air while the woman picked up
her clothes and ran out the room. Another officer came to see what was
happening. He pointed his gun at me. It was shaking heavily in his hand. His
eyes were full of fear. I snarled, showing my fangs, then jumped him and left
him for dead. I searched the rest of the headquarters then ran outside.

A crowd had gathered in front of the quarters. They
were staring at me with wide open eyes. The woman from the officer’s room had
gotten dressed and was looking at me in awe. Tears were rolling down her
cheeks.

I looked everywhere among them for Catalina, but to my sorrow I didn’t
find her. Then I helped the people open the gates to the camp and soon they
walked right out of there with the few belongings they had left. Their faces
were relieved, happy, rejoicing, smiling. Some were skeptical as if they could
hardly believe this was actually happening, but many of them did the same as
they took the first step outside. They cried. They looked to the sky, then
cried. Some fell to their knees, others hurried to get away not knowing how
long it would be before other soldiers would come and force them back into
slavery.

I enjoyed watching them immensely and as soon as they
were all safely on their way I ran towards the east where I had heard there was
another camp.

T
he soldiers in the
second camp,
Vapniarka, were also sitting in small towers high above the fence and spotted
me from far away as I came running towards it an hour or so later. I enjoyed
listening to their yelling and panicking voices and wondered if they had heard
about me and knew their time had come.

The camp was secured by triple-wired fences. Inside,
there were three one-story main buildings and some other small buildings. I
passed two bodies on my way, prisoners that I later learned had been disabled
during their labor at the camp, then told they were free to go, but shot as
soon as they went outside of the gates. I growled and barked as I passed the
dead men and women, then speeded up. When I was close enough I leaped into the
air and jumped the tall fence.

The soldiers wearing long coats and warm hats lifted
their rifles and shot at me, but soon realized it did them no good. They backed
off and began to run just like the soldiers in the camp before. I was enjoying
my display of power, the fear in their eyes as they ran for their lives and I
was really enjoying seeing them beg for their lives just before I ripped them
open.

Once again I spared none.

When they were all dead I ran inside of the barracks and searched for
Catalina thinking she had to surely be here. The prisoners stared at me
wondering, then they ran for the gate. I heard them scream and tramp towards
the opening, but I didn’t stop my search. Frantically I went through all the
barracks, sniffing my way through hoping to catch her scent. To my regret I
found nothing, not a trace. My wolf felt desperate. It wanted its mate, it
needed to protect her. The barracks smelled horribly of death and disease and I
hurried outside. I watched as the people ran towards the exit and out the gate
and disappeared. I wondered where they would go. The land surrounding this camp
was harsh and barren. The wind was freezing cold and they were hardly dressed.
There was no food, no towns for hundreds of miles. They probably had no papers
and knew they wouldn’t go far without them. Would they just end up getting
themselves shot? They were refugees now, people on the run. Would they end up
being blamed for what happened here?

I sat down on the ground with a heavy heart not
knowing what to do, where to go. I thought I had done something good for those people,
but now I wondered if it was that good after all? A soldier’s body was next to
me, the blood was still running from his wounds. The scent was intoxicating. My
wolf was getting hungry, I realized and looked at the sky. It was almost
nightfall. It was time for the wolf to eat. I stared at the soldier on the
ground, at his face and realized I knew him. I had known him. I gasped and
pushed his hat off to better see his face. He had been a friend of my oldest
brother. I backed up with a horrible feeling inside of me. I stared at all the
dead soldiers lying lifeless on the ground. For the first time since I had left
him, I wondered about Caspian and what he had told me. I had become numb, I
thought. Killing had become easy to me. Too easy.

Feeling how the scent of the human blood was pulling
me, tempting me, I got up and began to walk away from the scene. I had thought
I would feel good killing this many soldiers, punishing them for what they had
done to all these people, but somehow I didn’t feel good. I felt worse than
ever. I felt tormented by guilt over having deprived all these soldiers of
their lives.

Then I ran. Ran into the night, into the forest. My
blue eyes shone my way through the forest and into the mountains where I hunted
for hours and feasted, but felt no joy.

When morning came I changed back and found a cave in
the mountains to hide in since I no longer had my belongings. Then despite the
freezing cold I fell into a deep and heavy sleep.

In my dream I found Catalina to my great happiness. She
was still in darkness, but I heard her thoughts, the soothing sound of her
small still voice in my mind. She was trying to count the days since she had
been taken. But her isolation, the constant darkness from being blindfolded and
the fear of them coming to get her distressed her and distorted her sense of
time. Hunger and thirst numbed her and let her to have illusions of people she
had once known coming for her, or she would see images of animals, huge insects
in the room with her, waiting for her to die so they could devour her corpse.

Then I heard the sound of the door opening and voices
entering the room. I sensed Catalina’s fear and heard her gasp. Boots walked
across the floor and arms picked her up and helped her on her feet. Then she
was dragged out of the room. This time they didn’t bring her to the
interrogation room like they had so many times before. She realized they walked
past it because she counted the steps, like she had done many of the other
times. She knew that there were eighty-nine steps to the interrogation room,
but only fifty-three to the lavatory. Once she passed fifty-three she braced
herself for what was waiting. When they passed eighty-nine she suddenly thought
she had lost her count, but it passed a hundred steps, even a hundred and
fifty. Suddenly she felt something she had thought she would never sense again.
The wonderful feeling of fresh air on her skin. The cold and icy wind of the
great outdoors. The smell of freedom. She inhaled deeply and realized she had
forgotten the wonder of fresh clean air, air that didn’t smell like urine,
sweat or blood.

She was pushed into what she believed was a car, then
it began moving. Like the first time they had transported her she tried hard to
take note of all the sounds. I heard the gate open, voices talking outside the
car, someone salute the people in the car. She was wondering who was with her,
since she felt like someone was watching her. Then she felt a gloved hand on
her knee. She froze and gasped. She knew that touch. It could only be Officer
Alexandru. The hand touched her leg, caressed it, and then climbed up under her
dress. She cried for him to leave her alone. Then someone slapped her across
the face and she landed on the seat and didn’t get up.

“I’ll have my way with you, soon,” Alexandru said.

“Where are we going?” Catalina said crying. “Where are
you taking me?”

He never answered. Catalina heard other cars in the
road, even yelling from people in the streets, voices and lots of noise and she
wondered if she was in a big city, maybe Bucharest? But even if the car stopped
at one point and Alexandru left the car before he came back, this wasn’t their
destination.

The car drove off and now there were two people
sitting in the back with her. She fought hard to keep her body from trembling.

“Is this her?” she heard a deep voice ask.

“It is,” Alexandru replied. “We have softened her up
for you, General. She should be easy to break.”

“We’ll see about that,” the voice said.

The car continued while Catalina held back her tears.
She had a feeling this was only going to get worse from now on.

They must have driven into the countryside since all the noise soon
disappeared and all she heard was the voices and laughter of the two officers
in the car. Not a human voice outside, not even a carriage. She had no idea of
time, but it didn’t take long before the car slowed down and soon stopped.
Hands were on her body again and she was pulled outside. Gravel crunched
underneath the soldier’s boots, then stairs and a door that creaked opened. The
cool air on her skin was gone. She was indoors again.

“Put her in here,” the deep voice from the car said.

Catalina tried to fight it, but was thrown into a room
even smaller than the one she had spent days, maybe even weeks in. The floor
was cold and hard. Even if her hands were tied up behind her back, she could
feel her way around the room. She had done it the other place and she was doing
it now. That was how she knew it was smaller. She sighed, then laid her head on
the cold stone floor. The despair, the hopelessness drained her and made her
want to surrender to the sweet illusion of death. She was on the verge of
giving up. She had been their prisoner for so long now and still didn’t
understand what they wanted from her, why they were keeping her.