Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

Prologue

I am dying.

Not like Mama. She was old. I am at my peak. Was.

In the end, Mama did not want to drink water. Neither do I. Although my throat only lacks sand in resembling the desert. My mouth releases a waterfall of drool. Heavy. Thick. The colour of milk gone bad. It makes me thirstier. I try a sip of water and my throat twists like crumpled fresh leaves, trying to flip itself inside out. It hurts. It makes me angry. A lot makes me angry these days. I don't like being angry. But I am. All the time.

Mama walked away from the pack to find a place to rest forever.

I will walk away too. I'm afraid I'll hurt someone if I don't. I don't want to hurt anyone.

How far away should I go?

I have walked past the zone of rubble, where life still struggles, centuries after the end.

Forest trees loom all around me once more. A comfort to me, trees were once familiar, but they stare at me as a stranger whose presence they disapprove. I shut my eyes to avoid their stares and shake my head as hard as I can. The cut on my snout stings. The pain unbearable. I snap at it. Snarl and growl too. But I cannot fight the pain. I cannot fight the darkness closing in on me. Fight once came naturally to me. I fought the angry fox whose teeth slashed my snout. I killed it. But it killed me too. Heat slithers through my veins. The heat is death.

I am dying.

I've been walking for days, not trusting to be any closer to my pack. I've found a large circular hole. It goes on forever, the earth frozen in a deep yawn. A good place to rest. To die. Its opening is hidden by earth and grass and broken bits of thick metal. Yes. I can die here. Peacefully? No. My death will not come with peace. A truth etched in my bones, where death continues to burn through every joint and length of limb. Peace is for my pack. They are safe from me. I do not fear leaving. My Beta will take lead. She'll be a good Alpha. Like Mama was.

The hole in the earth with the smooth circular damp walls isn't empty. Ire surges within me at the sound of raspy breathing from a creature inside. Air scrapes past the creature's lungs and its ribs rattle with each breath. Through my own misery of pain, I catch a scent, and for a moment, pain becomes my least concern. My hackles rise and I take a step back. A vampire. Gravely injured, but that does not lessen my hate for it. Vampires are evil creatures. For centuries, they have hunted and hurt us for sport. They killed Papa. They kill everything. None of them deserves to live.

We must always stay away from vampires. That is the most important pack rule. Always walk away. Run if you must. But I am alone, I have no pack, I am at death's door, and there is an all-consuming fury and thirst and heat burning through me. The vampire staggers towards the hole's opening. Towards me. Blood pours from its various wounds. Rage colours my vision red. I am going to kill it. I must. This bubbling fury inside me demands it. Its ceaseless shrieking for blood these last few days will finally be answered. The vampire looks up. One of its eyes glows bright blue. The other, bright green.

With my head low, my joints on fire, my muscles aching, and my vision clouded by it all, I growl and pounce.