Chapter 3

**Amelia**


I decide to watch TV like Natalia suggests and I’m shocked by how much stuff is going on. It’s as if the world has gone into chaos! Two specific groups are being talked about the most, but everything is so vague that I can’t fully understand what the feud stemmed from. A community of people has been targeted by the locals who have been trying to push this smaller group out of their town, but it’s happening in every state. The same small communities are being forced to prove they are allowed to stay in these towns. There are even court cases involving the issue!

What is going on? At first I think it has to do with communities like this one, reservations, but it isn’t. This is about something completely different, and it’s only happened recently.

Natalia walks in as a video starts playing of two men arguing in the middle of the road.

“This is crazy.” I say out loud.

Natalia looks over at the TV and sighs. “It is. The last couple of months things have only gotten worse.”

“What is this all about?”

She sets down tubes and needles on the side table next to my bed and starts to fidget with them.

“The smaller communities are close knit and don’t associate much with anyone outside of their community. It makes the others in the town suspicious. People don’t like being confused and work hard to expose things they don’t understand. The thing is that they are exposing each group to potential dangers. I-“

She clears her throat before she can continue on that line of thought. “It’s all a misunderstanding, but the other people don’t want to admit that yet, so they keep fighting about it.”

“That’s awful. Have a lot of people been hurt?”

“Some and if things keep going like this, I have a feeling many more will.”

“Wow.” I say in disbelief.

“I’m going to draw some blood now. I’ll try to be gentle, but it might sting a little.”

“That’s okay.” I tell her.

She nods and carefully sticks me, but I don’t feel anything.

“You did very well. A lot of people hate this part.” She chuckles but I just shrug.

I look down at the tube and wonder why it doesn’t bother me that something that is meant to stay inside me is being pulled from my body.

“All done. I’ll send these off and be back to take you for that scan.” She keeps her head down and rushes out of the room.

Weird, but I blow it off and get back to learning all I can about the world. One of which is that there is a new president and the last one did a bunch of stuff that was supposedly against the law and is being investigated. That doesn’t interest me as much as the whole feud thing, but sure it’s good to know. Also apparently the housing market is about to crash and the American dollar is worth nearly nothing compared to the rest of the world. Not sure how that works, but money isn’t my strong suit either since I have none. I decide to move to another channel, and I freeze when I see the man on the screen.

He's very handsome and it says he’s a part of one of the smaller communities being taken to court over land disputes.

“We fully intend to cooperate with the laws and provide documentation of all our assets. These claims of tax fraud and other horrible accusations are built from misinformation. I am happy to set the record straight.” He says before the reporters start hitting him with a flurry of other questions.

There is this sense of familiarity again, but I don’t actually recognize the guy. Maybe it’s a reaction to how I find him attractive. I can’t say I remember what that feels like, so it’s possible.

A loud sound comes from outside my window and startles me. The door to my room flies open and a scared looking Natali runs in.

“What’s happening?” I ask but she comes around the bed and starts to turn off all the machines. “Natalia? What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain later but we need to hide.” She says carefully removing the tube in my arm and grabbing my hand.

I don’t get a chance to do or say anything before she pulls me to the ground. She holds her finger to her mouth to tell me to stay quiet and I do. Whatever is happening has her in a panic and I am not about to make things worse by not listening to her. Everything goes deathly silent for several minutes and I wonder if whatever caused that load noise is gone, but I’m wrong. There is shouting outside of the room and what sounds like doors slamming further down the hall.

“Check every room and bring out whoever you find!” A man yells.

A few muffled voices call back, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. Another sound echos our way and I hear a woman scream followed by a lot of yelling. Natalia takes my shoulders and turns me to look at her.

“Whatever you do, do not leave this room until I come get you. Okay?”

“But-“

“Promise me.” She begs and I nod.

“Okay.”

“Good. Stay quiet and you’ll be fine.” She’s up on her feet before I can tell her to stay with me.

When the door closes behind her, I heard what sounds like a lock being turned. Did she just lock me in here?

Again, there is silence and then gunshots and screaming come from everywhere. I cry out in shock and cover my ears to block out the noise. What the heck is happening?

Covering my ears isn’t enough to block out all the screams and definitely doesn’t protect me when the window to my room is smashed through. I scramble away and try to cover my head but I can feel shards of glass hitting exposed parts of my body. There is a low growl and I slowly drop my arm to see a large wolf standing in the pile of glass on the floor. It’s mouth is covered in blood and it’s got it’s eyes fixed on me.

“O-oh my god.” My voice trembles and I have to fight back a scream.

There is no way this is a normal wolf. It’s too big, but it’s obviously a wolf. My brain knows that much.

He tilts his head as he looks at me and the move makes him look almost intelligent.

“P-please don’t hurt me.” I hold my hands out and hope that he some how understands English.

Obviously, that’s insane but fear sends all reason out the door.

He sniffs around and steps closer to me. I try to get away but I’m already full pressed against the bed so there isn’t anywhere for me to go. One more sniff and his head snaps to me again making me squeak in surprise. My whole body is shaking at this point and I can feel small shards of glass digging into my legs but like hell am I going to complain about that right now. Not when a wolf looks like it wants to eat me!

I watch him as he watches me and I wonder if this is one of those times you are supposed to exert dominance to get the predator to back off. Yeah, that’s not happening when the thing is twice my size. That advice is trash!

The wolf moves slowly forward and lowers his head. His ears lay flat against his head and he lowers himself in front of me until he is laying on his stomach.

What the heck? What is happening right now?

A loud noise comes from the door like someone is trying to break in and the wolf is on his feet in an instant. He grows loudly at the door and it’s loud enough that I think the person on the other side gets the idea to back off but a second later the door knob flies off and someone kicks the door in. A man with a huge gun comes in and points the thing at the wolf.

“Back down mutt. I’m not scared to kill you. Give us the girl. She doesn’t belong here.”

Is he talking about me? Why would he want to take me?

“Ma’am are you alright?” The guy with the gun asks.

“Are you serious? You guys are shooting up a hospital and there is a giant wolf between us! Would you be okay if you were me?” I yell.

“Just stay calm-“

The wolf growls when the man moves closer and moves to block me from him.

“Let her go.” The gun man warns again. “Don’t let more of your people die today.”

That makes the wolf snap his sharp teeth at the guy but he still doesn’t move.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? I said move!” The man yells and lifts the gun to shoot the wolf for real.

The wolf growls loudly and attacks.