Just a Rogue

Evan

Dom stops the car in the tiny parking lot at the trailhead a couple of miles away from the cave. Nobody else is here. Apparently this isn’t a very popular spot, so it’s possible no humans will show up.

We get the drones out of the back. Dom and I each take one, and Amelia uses two phones, hers and Dom’s, to track the video feed on an app. She’s got my phone set up as well with a tracking app to show the location of the drones on a map. We’ll be able to see where they are, and see the view from their cameras.

These drones can fly the two miles to the cave, but this morning we weren’t flying them that far away while we were practicing, so we’ll have to be very careful and precise. A lot is on the line here, and I know Dom is just as serious as I am about getting this right.

Amelia lines the three phones up on the hood of the car and tells us, “Okay, I’m ready.”

Dom and I look at each other and launch our drones into the air. We are careful not to get them too close to each other. We stand behind Amelia, watching the screens over her shoulder as we deftly adjust the controls, making sure that the drones are well above the trees so there is nothing to collide with.

It doesn’t seem to take very long to get them positioned in the area around the location of the cave, which is flagged on the map app. We start hovering the drones closer to the area, surveying the trees and rocks and landscape. It’s quite close to the ocean, maybe a mile or two away, and not that far from a town and assorted buildings scattered around the area. It’s surprising that the rogues use this cave in such a populated area.

We keep at it all afternoon. The app is saving the data, but Amelia is also following along and tagging any locations that might be useful for us later. We want to identify routes we could use to approach the cave without being detected until we are very close, or locations where we could remain far enough away to simply watch. We could set up scouts in trees with binoculars, for instance. Corinne is setting up two webcams near the cave, but we can expand our view by watching from nearby. We know that once the rogues arrive we can’t use the drones, they’d be too easy to spot, so we want some alternatives.

As sunset is approaching, I am focusing on lifting the drone higher in the air to check out a tree near the cave, and Amelia sucks in a surprised breath of air. I glance at her, and she says, “Look at my phone!”

I glance down, and see movement on the video feed, and realize that it is Corinne. She has arrived at the cave. She must have gotten there while our drones were elsewhere, because she is in the process of climbing up the very tree that I have been checking out. I carefully adjust the drone so I can get a better view of her, my eyes glued to the video on the phone.

I feel a lump in my throat. I hadn’t expected to see her again today, and it brings a lot of emotion to get this little extra glimpse of her. Dom starts directing his drone higher and then back towards us, while the three of us watch Corinne on the little screen.

She gets to a sturdy branch, and very carefully sets up a webcam there, covering it with the disguise, just as she practiced with Janine. It looks like everything is absolutely on track.

I wish I could say hello to her. I wish I could remind her to be careful, to stay safe, to come back to me.

She doesn’t climb down immediately once the webcam is in place. Instead, she relaxes on the branch, gazing out into the distance. The sun has gone down so the image is growing darker, but the orange glow of the sunset is reflecting softly on her face. I pull the drone in slightly closer to try to see her better, and we can all see it when she spots it.

“Look!” Amelia says. “She sees the drone!”

And then she waves. She knows it’s us. I wonder if she knows it’s me.

I want so much to at least wave back. Well, I’m in control of the thing, right? So I carefully nudge the controller just a bit one way, then the other, and I’m sure that she sees the movement. I hope she knows that it is me sending my love.

“We should go back,” Amelia says, very softly.

I move the drone higher into the sky, and the view of Corinne recedes to the bottom of the phone’s screen then vanishes.

Ruby

We wait, wolves, to receive our instructions. Xavier is enraged, but he is also calculating. I believe he will retain control, not be lost in fury, and find a way to keep us alive.

If he doesn’t, it will finally be time to go. I constantly have this in the back of my mind. I could always go. I see how he controls Lynette, and I know why. She has made it far too obvious. She hates him, and wants to escape, but he makes it impossible. The more she fights it, the worse he makes it.

I am a fast learner. I don’t make her mistakes. I cooperate with everything. In this way, I have the protection of being in a large group, and I am normally provided with the necessities of life. Food sometimes, shelter usually, clothing when needed. It’s easier than trying to scrape by and surviving on my own.

There are tradeoffs, of course. I have to tolerate a lot. Xavier is a selfish bully, and I secretly hold him in disdain. But I mask it with simple obedience. I resent the way that he uses my body as a commodity, as payment for the men’s allegiance, but it is the best resource available to me. I am valuable to him in this way. And occasionally I don’t hate it when the men are allowed access to my body. Sometimes I can almost enjoy it, just a bit, but usually I simply try to think of something else until it is over.

I never make a fuss. I never fight, or yell, or cuss. I simply nod and accept the reality in front of me. So Xavier sees me as reliable and trustworthy, has no apparent suspicions about me, and leaves me unguarded, just one of the wolves.

But always in the back of my mind, I am waiting for the moment, the trigger, the last straw that tells me that it is time to go.

So I simply wait in front of the cave, the scent-markings of the pack clear in the air, not even shuffling around restlessly like some of the male wolves are. I wait for our leader to decide what to do.

Finally he speaks. “It’s too late to get back off the mountain. We’re going to risk staying here, just until dawn. There are supplies that we need inside. We’ll have to set a guard, we can’t all be asleep just in case this is a trap.”

Of course it’s a trap. Why else would the pack be targeting us like this? I just don’t know whether the trap is ready to spring here, tonight, or whether this is part of a bigger plan. I don’t say anything, obviously.

He sends most of us inside the cave, including Grace and I, and the two girls in human form. He shifts wolf and stays outside with four of the males, planning to patrol for a few hours, then the shift will change. I know I won’t be called on to guard, as a female, with a smaller wolf.

It stinks in here, the strong scent of the pack’s wolf urine claiming the cave as their own, and making it clear that we are now encroaching on their territory. It is uncomfortable to remain here, but Xavier is right. With the two girls forced to remain in human form, and all of us needing food, there is not any other feasible alternative.

Seth goes to the cache of supplies, stored in a secure area covered with rocks to keep the food away from scavengers. It has been mostly successful. Grace and I shift and go to another cache where clothing is kept, dress as warmly as we can, and get out the rest of the clothes for the males.

They shift and dress as well. We’ll shift back later to stay warm while we sleep, but the food here is more suitable for human bodies than wolf bodies. Also, less of it will satisfy the human form. Our wolves are huge, and require more calories. I’m the smallest wolf, but am still larger than any natural wolf.

Seth makes the decision to take the collar off Lynette, much to my relief. Her suffering is shared by all of the females, and I suspect some of the males, although they would never admit it. To watch her torment is one of the hardest things about resolving to remain with this gang until leaving would be to my personal benefit. It makes me feel dirty, like I am somehow condoning torture. Besides, I like Lynette. If we weren’t in this situation, in this nightmarish rogue existence, I could see being friends with her. Roommates. Possibly more - I have always been very flexible in my preferences.

Poor Nova is miserable, cuffed to Lynette. She’s sixteen, but she looks twelve, just a tiny little blond girl. She looks like a bedraggled angel, fallen from heaven, cast down to suffer in the mortal realm. There’s always been something slightly ethereal about her. Grace has never explained why Xavier won’t let her shift. We know she can do it, apparently Grace and Xavier came across her as she was shifting into her wolf for the first time, but Xavier has told her to never do it again. She doesn’t appear to want to anyway.

So she is stuck together with the rebel, neither allowed to shift. I know cuffing them to each other is a very effective way to keep both of them under control, and I have to admire Xavier’s cold ability to analyze the situation and use the resources at hand to achieve his ends. A little torture doesn’t bother him. Or a lot - I think he enjoys it.

When we have all had something to eat, some stale crackers and canned meat, just the nonperishable items that we were able to lug up and leave here months ago, Lynette is starting to heal. The raw wounds around her throat are sealing, and she is beginning to look around herself, probably calculating the possibility of escaping.

The problem is, she cares about Nova. So as long as they are cuffed together, she can’t just run off. Nova would never be able to keep up. And she can’t shift, because the process of doing that while their wrists are linked would probably injure the girl, possibly break her wrist. Lynette’s paw would probably be injured by the steel cuff as well, as it either breaks or tightens around the larger wolf limb. Besides, she knows that Xavier and the men are diligently guarding the cave entrance. There’d be no way to get out before the wolves are on them.

So she is resigned to staying here. Grace sits on her other side, one arm around her, holding Lynette’s head to her shoulder, trying to comfort her. I sit next to Nova.

“How are you holding up?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “All right,” she says, but sadly. Poor girl.

“It’s almost time to sleep,” I tell her. “I’ll shift, and you can cuddle up with me to stay warm.”

She looks up at me, and quietly says, “Thank you.” I know that cuddling a she-wolf is going to be nicer than having to lie with Xavier.

Grace tells Lynette, “I’ll do the same thing. I’ll be on your other side. You’ll sleep warm tonight, at least.”

Then in the morning, Xavier will have a new plan for us. I’ll just wait to see what it is. The cave will suffice for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll have to decide all over again: stay or go?