Born 01 - Born

sure have gotten pretty, Emma Ray."
    I cringe. "Screw you."
    He presses himself into me. "I think that can be arranged." He whistles. I hear the hay whisper where the other people are in the field. It sounds like the wheat rustles in about seven locations.
    "I never imagined you would be a rebel though. When we saw you heading there, I was pretty surprised. Your daddy would be proud of the woman you've become." His eyes leer. He licks his chapped lips. I gag.
    I expect several outcomes. Will will fight and probably kill three, Anna will get at least two and Jake will die. The rest will take us captive and Will will die trying to stop them.
    What I don’t expect happens as Serge lowers his face to mine. His hot breath is an inch from my face when a dark shape rolls him from me. I see fur and fangs. He cries out but the huge jaw tears open his throat.
    I reach for the fur. Leo growls at me. He is scolding me. I know this. I bow my head to him. He snorts and shakes his head. Blood coats his muzzle.
    I hear a gunshot and know the fight has started.
    I lift the bow from the ground and pull an arrow fast. My hand trembles. I steady my arm and release the arrow hitting a man with red hair in the throat. It's the man whose nose I broke.
    I pull another arrow. Tears start to drip down my cheeks. I hit a dark-haired man who is holding Sarah around the throat and pointing a gun at Jake. My arrow slices through his temple.
    Anna has shot two men and Will is ground fighting with what I think is the last of them. I don’t see movements. I hear the sobs in my chest but I can't stop them. It's like my body needs the release and whether I like it or not, I am going to cry. I look down at Leo and drop to my knees. He doesn’t leap at me like normal. He can sense the differences. He comes slowly. He nudges me and covers me with his warmth. I cry into him. His thick, dark fur sticks to my tears and spit. He senses the shift in me. I know he does.
    I sense it in him, too. I've left him for too long and he's come looking for me. He's thinner than I remember him being. How long has he waited in the fields for me to come to him? A moment passes that contains all of the things that could have happened. I don’t fight the bad thoughts. I let them pass through me and leave from the other side.
    "Jake, it's Leo." Anna is running to me.
    Her footsteps on the gravel scare me. Not because someone is running to me but because she is making noise in a place that’s always been quiet. The quiet is gone. I fear for the old farmhouse.
    "Goddamn, Emma. That was disgusting. His brains came out the other side. Sarah is throwing up," Jake says, making a gagging sound.
    I chuckle. It's soft and probably not a real laugh but I need something. My father's friend was going to tear my clothes and tear me the way he probably has a hundred other girls. The world is upside down now. Nothing has goodness in it except the people we are with.
    I hear my father's words in my head, "Survival means taking from everyone else. It's just you and me, Em. It's us and them."
    But my circle of hugs and warmth grows, and it's not just him and me. I feel Anna join and Jake. Then Sarah, who is nervous of the wolf and hugs only me. Will hovers over us.
    "You are a deadly shot, Anna. You deserve that rifle."
    She looks up at him and smiles. "Someone had to keep Jake alive."
    Jake laughs. Will smiles, but I can see the hurt the comment causes on his face. She doesn’t mean it the way he takes it.
    Leo sits with his eyes closed and his mouth in his wolf smile. He loves the pets and strokes Anna and I are giving him.
    "I missed you, too. I missed you bad. Where's Meg?"
    His eyes open. He whines. I sigh, "Christ, is she gone?"
    He nuzzles into me.
    "You speak wolf?"
    I laugh at Sarah's bewildered face. "No, I speak Leo. He doesn’t speak wolf, either. He speaks me."
    I hold his massive face and look into his yellow wolf eyes. "Buddy, is Meg gone?"
    He licks his lips and whines. I feel sick. He's anxious. Something isn’t right. I look up at Will. "Do the camps get attacked?"
    Will looks like he might say no, but he stops himself and nods. "Once. It was a long time ago. Not that camp but another one. Why, is he saying that?"
    I shake my head. "He's anxious, and I left him with Meg. He left food and a bed to come find me. Seems weird. He's lost weight. He's been hunting for himself. He leans out when he hunts alone. Sometimes when I would camp out in one of our houses, he would