House of Wolves

Gerard’s P.O.V.

Goddamned Wolf. I thought bitterly. Spit was dripping from Shadow’s mouth as she growled menacingly, waiting to rip me into shreds at the drop of a hat. Matt was tormenting my little brother with lies and more recently physical abuse. I felt so helpless, though I’m sure I wasn’t the only one here who felt like all they could do was watch as Mikey and Matt battled it out, or be eaten alive by the fifty plus wolves that were surrounding most of us.

“You love her, don’t you?” I heard Matt snicker, his voice low, but I wasn’t exactly paying attention to him. I was too busy trying to find a distraction for Shadow. I spotted a large branch. Quickly, I bent down and picked it up. Shadow started barking the minute I moved, and I was now debating shoving the four-inch wide, four-foot long stick down her throat. Though, killing animals was the last thing on my mind, and I didn’t feel like she deserved to die. She had to listen to Matt, after all, and it wasn’t her fault. So, with all my strength I chucked the large branch into the darkness of the woods.

“Fetch, Shadow!” I said, faking a toothy grin. Shadow’s barking momentarily seized as she followed the branch with her eyes. Just when I thought she was going to go for it she then looked up at me with a look that said, “Wolves don’t fetch, asswipe.” Damn… Shadow’s growling resumed, and I was back to square one.

I noticed Tater was sitting there, leaning against a tree not too far from Mikey and Matt. She hadn’t said a word or done anything since she and Mikey got here. She just stared at Mikey, her brown eyes vacant and her face completely blank. I sighed and turned to look at Chloe. It still hadn’t really registered with me that she was dead; in fact, I kept trying to convince myself she wasn’t. I kept thinking that I’d turn around and she’d be standing there, fully alive and ready to kick Matt’s ass. However, I also felt that way when my Grandma died. This hurt just as bad, but in a completely different way. I’d lost my best friend, my love and now…well, I couldn’t even say I was ever going to see her again. It’s not like I’d ever die, unless I killed myself. I turned around, hoping maybe that seeing her lifeless body would be enough to give me the strength to run and murder Matt, or at least the inspiration for a better idea. I expected to see her cold, lifeless body lying there under the moonlight, chest caked with blood, blood slowly dripping out of her mouth as well, and her blonde hair faded and ratty and plastered to her face. But instead of that, I saw nothing. Her body was gone.

I spun around, thinking that maybe I had forgotten where Matt had thrown her, but she was no where in sight. Oh, god, you must be going crazy! She was just there a minute ago!My mind started racing. Maybe she got dragged off into the lake by the Wolves! Or maybe some other animal got her…or maybe the Wolves are feeding on her right now. I shot a bitter glance towards the Wolves who weren’t eating any corpses, but had their eyes fixed on Matt, Mikey, Jen, and Sorrow. I would have seen something take Chloe’s corpse away; I just know I would have. But I didn’t. Fear was rising in me, my heart was racing. How the hell am I going to say goodbye? …I never even told her that I love her…

“Jen!” I whispered, just loud enough so she could hear me. I was sure she could hear the panic in my voice. She looked away from Bob and cocked an eyebrow. I gestured towards the spot where Chloe had been lying only moments before. Jen looked. Her brown eyes grew about three sizes.

“Where’s Chloe?!” I saw her mouth.

“I don’t know!” I whispered back frantically. “She’s gone!”

“…more than anything!” Mikey choked out. I wanted to scream at Matt, and rip his fucking head off, ask him what the hell he had his Wolves do with my Chloe. But my screaming wouldn’t do Mikey, or myself, any better. He had to work it out on his own. Plus, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything rational at the moment.

“So much you would die for her?” Matt pulled out his knife out of his back pocket and pressed it against Mikey’s neck. He started saying something about an offer and how he would either kill everyone or just take Sorrow and murder Mikey. I held my breath. Either way he was fucked. Either way, I was fucked.

“I’m not going with you.” Mikey stated angrily. Oh, fuck…no…no…if he dies, I have no one left…no one…oh, fuck…god…tell him to go! Just tell him to go!

“God, Mikey, no! Just go! It’s okay...” Sorrow cried. I nodded, even though no one could see me except for Jen and Tater. If I died, at least I would be with Chloe and Frank. If I didn’t die Mikey would be killed, and I would be alone for the rest of eternity. It’s better off this way… Matt cackled loudly.

“As you wish, Michael. Say your prayers.” I saw him raise his arm to slit my brother’s throat. I almost shouted out, but my shout was interrupted by an earsplitting screech.

“NO!” Matt jumped. Tater darted forward and did the unbelievable. With a satisfying thuck! She stabbed Matt right in the middle of his back, through his spine, with a knife I guess she had been carrying all along. He screamed bloody murder and let go of Mikey instantly. He fell to the ground, screaming and cursing and trying to throttle Tater, but she held him down. All of the Wolves started howling. Shadow stopped growling, threw her head back, and gave the loudest most grief-stricken howl of all. It was utter chaos.

I was filled with an odd flood of emotions. I wanted to cheer, I wanted to scream and shout and actually hug Tater. I wanted to cry, I wanted to hug Mikey and tell him that I’m sorry that he had to be thrust into this life and that I love him so much. But I also wanted to see Matt was fully dead, murdered, sliced into bits. I stepped a little closer and saw that Tater’s knife had pierced through Matt’s stomach, and blood was bubbling up out of his mouth and out of the wound at the same time. Just as I was about to cheer Tater on, to pat her on the back, to tell her to slice Matt’s head off, I saw something rather disturbing. Not only had he been stabbed, but there was an arrow sticking right out of the dead center of his forehead. There was only one person I knew that could handle a bow and arrow that well.

Matt was barely alive, he was breathing slowly and was glaring hatefully at every single one of us.

“Who shot him with the arrow?” Mikey questioned, looking in all directions. Everyone looked around and shrugged.

“I don’t know, but it’s time to slice this motherfucker’s head off.” Tater announced, standing up and lifting her knife directly over Matt’s neck. He started crying and through garbled words I could here him pleading for mercy. From where I was standing I aimed and spat on his face. I laughed, despite confusion. So did everyone else.

“Okay, Matthew. One, Two, TH-”

“DO YOU mind if I have the honor of slicing him to itty bitty pieces? He did…murder my brother and all.” I looked up at the sound of her voice. I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it. In all her glory, there she stood, smiling, eyes as blue and bright as ever.

“CHLOE!” I screeched like a little boy who hadn’t seen his mommy in eight years. I ran full-speed towards her and crashed into her arms. I almost immediately started crying, despite myself. “I thought you were dead, I thought you were dead, oh my god!” I buried my face into her chest and kept rambling. “My god, I fucking love you. Fucking… How are you here? How are you here?!” I had truly never been so excited in my life.

“Gerard, it’s okay.” She said, wrapping her arms around me. If I hadn’t heard her voice, if I hadn’t felt her arms around me, there was no way that I would have believed she was actually there.

“I thought you died…” I was shaking uncontrollably now. I felt her shake her head. I looked up at her. She was crying too, her blue eyes changing colors. She looked prettier than ever, angelic, even. Without thinking, I kissed her softly on her pale pink lips. She smiled. “I fucking love you!” I shouted, glad that I finally got that off my chest.

“I love you too.” She said through tears. I was about to ask ‘really?’ and make the moment especially Hallmark, when she stepped away from me and walked towards Matt, leaving me breathless and wanting her more than ever.

“Chloe you’re alive!” Jen shouted, just as Ray popped up out of nowhere.

“Motherfucker!” He shouted. “I thought everyone would be dead by now! But Chloe came back to fucking life! That’s great!”

“Chloe,” Mikey said, walking over and hugging her. “How’d you do it?” He whispered as she hugged him back.

“I’ll tell you guys later. I swear. Right now, I have an idiot to murder.” She said, laughing. She walked over to him calm and collected.

“Can I do the honors, Tater?” Tater nodded and stepped back, as Chloe got out her brother’s knife. She kneeled down over Matt, the smile gone from her face.

“You didn’t slice my head off, you stupid fuck.” She spat. And with one great, swift movement, she brought the knife down over his neck and sliced his head clean off. I cheered, and so did Jen, Tater and Ray.

Matt was dead, my brother was alive, Chloe was back alive, we were all together. The danger was over and we could all go back home and live out the rest of our eternal lives blissfully.

…right?