Wolf Song (Wolf Singer Prophecies Book 1)

heard his words but I couldn’t comprehend. How was I supposed to run in pitch blackness? And where?
The rest of the prisoners took up the charge as well, telling me to run, run, run. Their commands echoed the beating of my heart.
The sound of a rusted gate opened, then shut. A menace of growls, a sound pitched almost too low to hear, tremored through my body, igniting adrenaline that surged through my muscles. Even my own body wanted me to run.
It was my brain that needed convincing. In the near-silence, a cry was cut short, and only wet and gurgly sounds remained. It reminded me of the crunching of bones.
I looked up at the creaking cage I had fallen from. If I could jump up there, I'd be able to climb back up from where I'd been dropped, right?
Again, the ominous sounds of heavy footfalls and wet, crackling, breaking bones drifted through the darkness.
"What the hell is that?" I whispered to myself, but one of the prisoners answered me anyway. It was the older man who had first called out. "It's one of the rejects. The rejects from the lab. They keep it around to keep us quiet.”
I gravitated toward the old man’s cell.
Another voice spoke from the darkness, tuned perfectly for my hearing. "I wouldn't get any closer if I were you."
I turned toward the voice. From what I could see, it belonged to a younger man inside of a clear cell. I drifted toward it. As I walked, the man inside kept flickering in and out of view, before disappearing as soon as I was directly in front of him.
He reappeared again. He was taller than me, and I couldn’t quite pin down who or what he was. It was like trying to look at starlight or rainbows. You couldn't really see it clearly, only from the corner of your eyes, it seemed.
“Why wouldn’t I get closer? Don’t they put more dangerous men in glass cages like these?”
He knocked against it with his knuckle. "Plexiglass cage. Real glass would be too brittle. I'd break it, no problem."
As he spoke, physical details filled in around him. He was in an all-black, full-body outfit, black mane of hair floating around his head like he was underwater. He reminded me of those old-fashioned heroes out of the comic books that my dad used to tell me about. I was never allowed to read comic books Before. They were too precious and had to be kept in mint condition. And I’d been too young to check out comic book stores on my own.
"So, what are you?"
He shrugged. “Whatever you want me to be?”
He said that almost hopefully. In another time and situation, I might have laughed if I weren’t afraid some beast in the darkness roamed nearby and could easily crunch my bones. “Well, can you be a useful person then and tell me how to get to safety?”
He brought his face level to mine, and even though I stared into his eyes, I knew that if I looked away from him, I wouldn’t be able to describe him at all. "There is no safety, ramina. Only places that can keep you from being torn apart.”
I stood there shocked. He also called me by that title, and he all but confirmed the fate I feared.
He continued. “There are reasons why some rejects are caged and some are left to roam free."
I figured the ones that were left to roam free were more easily controlled. "So you're telling me that those in the cages would be the ones you'd fear? Versus the thing that is stalking in the dark and crunching on bones?" I knocked back on the plexi. "Since you're in this thing, and you're telling me not to trust that guy, you're telling me not to trust you too?"
He shrugged. "I'm just talking, is all. Passing the time. It would just be a shame for a girl like you to be destroyed."
"Dude, stop fucking around with her. The best place for her would be in a cage."
"Trapped like the rest of you?"
"You remember what happened to the last people who were caught out here by themselves? They power washed the floors for days," the old guy said.
The guy in black look bored. "Yeah, and it was a waste of water since they all kept bleeding and bleeding. He’s right, though. This would be the best place for you. Inside of this cell."
I laughed. “So, inside of those cells would be bad, but inside of your cell wouldn't be?"
His eyes shifted and I could tell he would have said more but couldn’t. Instead, he disappeared leaving only his smile like a Cheshire Cat. "You already have the key. If you want out or if you want to survive. Those are two different options. I wouldn't wait too long, though, because they all seem pretty hungry."
Then he was gone.
There didn't seem to be a lot of time left. Suddenly the lights kicked on, and compared to the utter darkness, it felt like a supernova had exploded in my eyes. Then, with the exception of the one in front of me, each cell opened one by one, taking away that measure of protection. The men who had been inside of them ran anywhere they could. Anywhere.
Screams echoed throughout the prison. Bloody, gurgling screams.
I knew that there was only one place I could go that might guarantee my safety.
"The girl, get the girl, she'll know how to get out of here."
What? Why would they think that? I didn't like the idea of a whole lot of imprisoned men who were suddenly freed coming at me. Didn't sound like a good time.
A memory rose to mind, the one of my dad inputting his numbers onto a keypad. Any keypad. It had worked on all of them. I turned to the plexiglass cage that contained the enigmatic man and decided to throw my chances in with him.
Was the key pad hidden? Or was it in front of