Truculent Misconceptions

Lacey had always been exposed to Lupir. They had always been pure evil; at least that was what they exposed themselves as. As such, she was surprised when the Lupir that her family and she had once fought tooth and nail against just to exist had saved them. The creatures tried to compel them to join their pack, giving them food and shelter in exchange for blood. Her father downright refused, and one of the Lupir exploded in a rage. He morphed into the grungy pitch-black wolf that had previously killed hundreds of corbuli in order to save her family. The other lupir stopped him and told Lacey’s family to run, right before his grainy brown wolf emerged from his own mutilated body as well.

It all happened very quickly in Lacey’s eyes. The rest of her family seemed as if they didn’t think twice about it and ran for their lives. Lacey was skeptical, as the creatures had just saved her family and had risked their own lives in the process. She thought about going with them. However, she was quickly whisked away by her father. Her family started tracking them as soon as they got a safe distance away. Lacey couldn’t believe it. These people -- things, evil and impure as her father stated -- had just allowed her and her family to live, and now her family had the nerve to track them down.

It had been 3 months since that had happened, and Lacey knew her family was getting close to the animals. She considered running away… but no, she knew she had to stop her family; there was no other thing to do. The wolves were saving people, and her family was doing nothing but butchering all their help, all the hope any human would ever have. And maybe, just maybe, if she helped the wolves, they would consider letting her join them. They were an invincible force of power, the only thing left to look forward to in the world. They were the only hope of being somewhat normal.

So that’s what she did. She started skewing the data; changing marks on the map where they had found a human that was dead, not from the corbuli; she made sure her family wouldn’t find their base by tracking the creatures down herself, making sure all vital points in finding them would never reach her family’s thoughts. After all, she had always been better at tracking the creatures than they had been.

Lacey sits on her balcony, watching the sparse corbuli run into things when she sees it. The pitch-black wolf is standing on the building right beside her family’s living place. It doesn’t see her, but is focused on the lower floor... where her family is. Lacey takes off and sprints towards the stairwell. There is no time to think. She never wanted it to find her family. She never meant for the creatures to bring harm to humans. Before she knows it, she is jumping down the stairs 3, 4, 5 at a time. She is almost at the blurry gray door, the anxiety overwhelming her almost to the point of hyperventilating. Everything is in a daze as she is moving so fast. She pushes it as quickly as she is able to. Everything is going in slow motion now, the transition making her sick. The door is half way open, and she sees her father. He is going for the gun. She knows it is filled with silver; she is the one who made the bullets. It will still have a harmful impact even though she began diluting the silver with water when her family started tracking them. She knows she has a split second to pick her family or the creatures, but somehow she has already decided. She had been leading her family away from the wolves, knowing in the back of her head that they, could be following them, too. Suddenly the pitch-black wolf is charging into the glass windows; those, which were previously filled with the brightest-golden sunlight, is now the darkest shade of black.

Lacey runs toward her father, but it is too late. The wolf has already crushed the body into a distorted, mutilated shape. Only now is it that she realizes the wolf will kill her too. “No! Wait!” She screams, knowing every second will count if she wants to live. “Stop! I’ve been trying to help you! I want to go with you!” She pleads. The wolf jumps on her, pushing her into a disfigured shape against the wall. “Kill me if you must, but know this: you are our only hope!” She screams in a shrill voice. She analyzes the wolf’s icy blue eyes. The rage in his eyes is apparent, but Lacey notices something more, something human. “I know you were just like us once. Please, have the heart to let me go.” The murky charcoal creature lets out a sinister growl. Lacey closes her eyes; at least the rest of the humans may still have hope, she thinks. But then, as soon as the wolf had come, it disappears.