FicWad

Chapter 2: Events of the Past


The wind blew and swirled it rhythmic dance as two wayward boys made their way towards what could be seen as a forest in the distance. It was a pair of odd boys that traveled thus. One eighteen, the other seven. It seemed odd that it was not the elder brother that pulled upon the smaller child, but the other way around. Jake pulled upon Cody with the force only an energetic seven, almost eight, year old could have when excited. Cody though struggling forcefully was a bit more reluctant and forlorn looking. It seemed that the young one was finally going to be able to go into the candy store that mommy said he couldn't go into, while the teen looked as if death waited for him just over those small hills and into the forest...

Cody pulled his new black coat (got it from the store raid a few days previous) around him tighter with one hand as he followed his Pup. He always thought it ironic how the group or orphans could have been so close to the truth yet so far all at once. Jake Alexander Miller was indeed a pup, just not the one they were referring too...just like Cody was indeed a canine as well, but no one suspected a thing.

He looked at his little brother whose eyes glowed even more in the growing darkness. The glow was even more obvious by the excitement shining in their depths. Every month they came here and every month he relived that horrid night five years ago...




Flash Back
Fives years ago, Cody is 12


Cody shivered from the cold that descended upon him as the winter's day, became twilight, and eventually night. He had left the others a few hours ago not wanting them to know of his horrid curse. It had been a month since the last time he had had to leave the group for his transformation. It had been a month of happiness and solace with a slow build up of anxiety and dread for this month. When it was over the cycle would start again.

He reached the cover of trees and with his senses, that were already in hyper drive, he heard a soft crying in the distance. He looked at the sky and thought he had about 20 minutes before the full moon came out and haunted him, so he focused on his heightened hearing and smelling abilities in an attempt to find the source of the distress. "It sounds like a young child...maybe even a toddler." He thought aloud as he followed the sound which got increasingly louder and higher. "Why would there by a child in the forest?" He was confused, but only for a second, before he realized what must have happened for the kid to be there.

He rounded about a rather tall Oak tree and saw what he was seeking. It was a small child...about two years old. The small boy kept on crying seemingly not aware of the intrusion. Cody took a moment to study the wailing thing. He had startling black hair, much like his own and a small frame. He seemed a bit underfed... no scratch that, horribly underfed. The orphans were a bit 'underfed', but they were healthy to an extent that they were content with themselves. But this wasn't the only cause for distress. The poor thing had a bunch of cuts and bruises in various stages of healing. There was a rather large bruise in the mark of a hand print on the boy's left cheek. That one looked rather new. His hair covered his forehead and fell into his watery eyes.

Overwhelming anger filled him as he watched the child. "Of course he's another throw-away like the rest of us. Damn inhumane parents. They only care for us when we are useful, and when they grow bored of us or when we become nothing but a nuisance we get chucked out here in the cold, on the streets, in garbage bins, in orphanages...in forests. In a bloody forest where there isn't even a remote chance of someone willing to take the child in, will find him. Damn them all!" he thought angrily. A frightened yelp brought him from his inner musings and he realized that he had voiced the last few words aloud thus alerting his topic of thought to his presence.

The boy looked around wildly for a moment as if searching for an escape route, yet even though there were countless possibilities the young toddler looked back at Cody with a discouraged sigh. His emerald eyes were blurry with small pools of saline and his nose ran no doubt from his constant crying. As Cody approached him, the child cringed, squeezing his large, expressive eyes tightly shut as he tucked his head close to his chest in obvious distress.

"Shh...Kiddo, I'm not gonna hurt ya."

The shivering mess tentatively opened one eye and seemed to be gauging Cody's words to be true or false. He rapidly shut it again as the older child brought his hand up to place it on the younger child's arm. "Definitely abused. As if the bruises weren't enough evidence", he thought both sad and angry.

"Hey Kiddo, you ok? I promise I won't hurt you."

Before he knew it, Cody had an arm full of the sobbing creature and was sitting with his back up against the long forgotten Oak tree. He rubbed the child's back in an attempt o calm him as he rocked slowly back and forth like a cheap imitation of an old lady's rocking chair. Once he had been calmed enough to speak Cody ventured a question.

"What's your name Kiddo? And how on earth did you come to be here?" A few sniffs were his only answer, then finally a soft "Boy. Uncle didn't want me." Cody was slightly confused at the answer, until it dawned on him that he had never even been given the decency of being called by a name, but a dismissive, degrading "Boy". Anger began to bubble to the surface again, but he didn't have much time to even process the feeling before a stabbing pain exploded in his stomach.

He gasped in pain and realization. "No. not now..." he cried in anguish as he pushed the green eyed child from his lap and tried vainly to stand and get away. "How could I be so stupid...? I...I forgot...I can't hurt him...not after I promised I wouldn't. Not like this."

He sneaked a quick look at the child who was looking at him now with a gaze that somehow combined hurt, fear, and curiosity all at once. "Leave!" he screamed as he finally was able to stand and scrambled away from the clearing. Sadly he didn't get far before he fell once more and the transformation truly began. "Please leave", was his last thought before the pain of it all took over and his animal side began to take hold in his mind.

There were cracks and cries as bones broke and changed before reattaching themselves to form the body not of a human being, but that of a wolf. Hair sprouted all over as a snout formed and a tail created itself seemingly from the air itself. One last anguished whimper changed into a fierce howl that echoed for what seemed like ages.

His golden eyes opened and glowed with a feral air as he sniffed the air and smelled human. A small satisfied growl escaped his throat as he turned towards the delightful smell. He barred his teeth at the child, who sadly hadn't moved from the spot he was left in, and licked his chops. He could smell the fear coming off him in sheets. Oh how he loved it. Oddly, the wolf sensed a sort of rampant inquisitiveness as well. He disregarded it as his mind focused on his need to feed. He hadn't had blood in ages, especially not as fresh as this...

Not wasting anymore time, the predator shattered the silence, where his growls and the child's rapid breathing solely existed, as he jumped viciously on the piece of meat. As his sharp teeth sank into a small arm that had come up to protect the victim's face, the wolf quivered in joy. That is, he did until his insides began to burn as the once sweet blood flowed down his now flaming throat. He violently let go of the arm and retreated shaking his head back and forth to dispel the horrible taste and sensations. Unable to do so, he howled in pain at the moon one last time before his vision faltered. The last thing he felt before giving in to unconsciousness was the soft feel of downy grass that covered every inch of the green forest.


End Flashback




Cody shivered at the memory as guilt flooded his senses anew. He hated that night with a passion, yet a small part of him was immensely glad for it happening. He hated it because he knew that he had passed his horrible curse onto another human being. Not just any human being, but a poor defenseless, abused child.

For almost 2 years after the event, he had struggled not to put himself "down" for his crime. He had almost done it once too, but then he thought about how he had to take care of Jake. At first it was only a sense of responsibly that he had to take care of the newly made werewolf, but now it was his sense of love and companionship with his Pup that withheld himself from committing the sin of suicide. That and he was now the eldest of their little band on the streets. As Alpha, he had to take care of his pack at all costs.

Though he was plagued by his guilt his hidden happiness sometimes permitted itself to be seen on the surface. After all, Cody had been a loner in the strange group on the streets and with Jake to look after he was never alone again. Maybe if he hadn't turned him, Jake would have gotten attached to another member of the group and left Cody in the cold. He knew that the thought was selfish, but he had longed for companionship on a different level then just being a kid in the group. Hell, he had even given Jake his name, his last name included. Yet another thing that bonded them together as siblings.

Cody looked over at Jake who was giggling and running around in the clearing where he had been turned all those years ago. He pondered, as he had done so on many occasions before, on why Jake was always happy when the time came for him to transform. Well he didn't ponder on the "why he was happy" really, but more on the explanation he received from his pup when he asked.




Flashback
3 years ago. Cody is 15 and Jake is 5.


Cody watched as the sun sunk slowly below the horizon as dusk fell over the land. It would only be a few more minutes before the full moon shone in all its glory and forced him to change. He hated these nights, but what disturbed him was that Jake didn't. He was a jubilant 5 year old who kept jumping up and down in anticipation. He had often wondered why, but never wanted to ask before.

He feared that maybe it was some sort of defensive mechanism in a child to cloud the dread that must truly be hidden under the surface. Of course, that was only a bad lie that he kept telling himself in order to cloud his own dread. Misery did love company as the old saying went. He couldn't keep lying to himself though, not anymore. It really was a bad lie in the first place.

"Hey Pup? Kiddo?" He waited until his pup stopped jumping and turned around with a smile. "Huh?"

"Why are you so happy?" Jake looked at him as if he grew two heads.

"Because we get to be wolves tonight!" he exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Exasperated Cody sighed. "I know that, but why does that make you happy?"

"'Cause, it's fun! I love running on four legs and howling is just so cool! And..." Cody interrupted him before he could go on a tirade with a blunt "Doesn't it hurt when you change?"

His pup looked a little confused and looked at Cody strangely as if the notion never occurred to him before. "Hurt?" Cody nodded in response.

"No. Is it supposed to?"


End Flashback




Man had he been shocked then and even now though he had gotten over the shock, the perplexity of it all still lingered heavily. It sure hurt when he transformed and he couldn't figure out why it didn't hurt for Jake. If to be truly honest he was a bit jealous of him, but an even bigger part of him, the part with his love for his brother and half way son, rejoiced in the fact that he didn't experience any pain.

It had been over five years since then, but he still remembered the pain he felt after biting him. "Maybe the reason he doesn't feel any pain has to do with that..." he muttered as he noticed the sunless sky fill with the soft glow from the moon and a thoroughly familiar pain ignited in his abdomen.

The moon cast its radiance upon the slumbering homes of the people in the cities and the napping animals of the forest as two pitch black wolves scampered and fooled around between the dense and sparse trees alike.