The Lesser of 2 Evils

KRISTINA, HOME, SWEET HOME

The day of my birthday I’m awoken by a cold splash of water as a bucket being thrown at me, shocking me awake. It takes my breath away, the iciness like millions of tiny pin pricks all over my body. It soaks my mattress and the only clothes they have given me so when they simply leave me alone afterwards, I do nothing more than shiver mindlessly as I slowly dry. I have no idea how much time passes but I’m fairly sure it is hours when the warrior from last night shows up with a plate of food.

“Answer some questions and earn yourself a reward, rogue,” he says to me with a sneer. I turn my attention to him from my spot on the floor where I am currently sitting – it is one of the only spots not still damp from the morning’s wake up call.

“Why did you run away?” He asks and I wonder what to tell him… how much. If this pack believes as mine does, they’re going to turn me in or worst, adopt me into their own pack and make me do the same here. At least at home the nightmare was familiar, here everything is new and unknown.

“Running away was less of a risk than staying there,” is all I say, hopeful it’ll be enough. Truthfully, why I left is no one’s business but my own but I understand their need to ask. For all they know, I killed a bunch of pack members before escaping and am extremely dangerous – they need to be cautious. The man looks at me with an odd expression.

“Running away made you rogue and landed you here,” he says with a shake of his head, not understanding my logic at all and clearly thinking I’m full of shit. I maintain his gaze steadily to ensure my point gets across.

“Still better than the alternative,” I tell him, practically pleading with him to understand and let it be enough. He looks at me carefully, studying me, as if testing my honesty and authenticity with his eyes alone. I’m hoping his wolf is telling him I’m being truthful, that there is no word of a lie in what I’m saying.

“Where were you heading?” He asks after a moment of silence. Relieved he’s satisfied with my answers so far – at least for now, I embarrassedly answer his question.

“Truthfully, I have no idea… just… away.” I say with a shrug. Honestly, I never thought that far ahead. I guess I had hoped I would stumble across some helpful and kind humans or another pack that would take me in – I don’t know, I just knew I didn’t want to live the life that was being planned for me. Worst case scenario, I died along the way on the journey – while not optimal it is still preferable to the alternative.

The man nods slightly, as though he believes me but cannot understand how anyone can be so stupid or take such a risk. He grunts at me to not move and unlocks the cell door, all the while keeping a careful eye on me. Without Bella, I’d be suicidal to attempt to attack him and being chained to the wall – even if I were successful, I wouldn’t be going far anyway. He enters my cell and puts a plate of food down on the floor a few feet in front of me before leaving and locking me back in again. I make no movements toward the food while he’s in the cell so I don’t make him nervous and it is only after I’m left alone do I finally approach the plate.

But then I stop.

Would they poison me? Would they lace the food with wolfsbane in an effort to even further suppress my wolf? To further weaken me? They might, simply because they treat all of their prisoners the same way and they have no idea how much of a threat I’m not. Shit, for all they know I’m a spy for an opposing pack – anything is possible. Growing up, we were told the terrible stories of how other packs would betray us if we ever crossed paths with them, which is why we kept to ourselves so much. If this pack has had similar experiences, they’ll be worried having me here – why they’re keeping me alive is not something I understand. If the roles were reversed and they trespassed into our territory, they would have been killed on the spot we found them.

Our pack doesn’t take prisoners.

But this pack not only didn’t kill me outright, but they’re also feeding me? No – it is too good to be true. There is no way they’re giving me food out of the goodness of their hearts; they must have something else in mind. The food has to be laced with something or poisoned – it must be.

I take one last look at the plate of what looks like stew and pour it into the bucket they have given me to use as a toilet. Mixed with my remnants, no one will know I didn’t eat it unless it was poisoned and I don’t drop dead. I’m going to have to chance it and will instead go with wolfsbane and play a more subdued persona, weakened and submissive. It will also make me appear less threatening to them overall which can’t hurt my chances. Shit, if I go enough days without food or water, I am going to become submissive as I grow weaker so I won’t be playing for long.

One way or another, this will all come to an end in a matter of days.