When Death is not on my side

WHEN DEATH IS NOT ON MY SIDE

In a colourful world, hers was grey. In a free world, hers was caged. In a life full of enjoyment, hers was bondage. In a life full of hope, hers was hopeless. These moments reminded her that death wasn't that bad after all as she waited so long but it never came – Even death wasn't on her side.

Scarlett – Scarlett Essei, the daughter of a traitor. Her father was painted as a greedy man who sold his pack for gold. Alongside his family, he was killed except for Scarlett.

Imprisoned for several years – She lost count – She lost the tallies and gave up hope of getting released one day.

10 years ago…

"Scarlett!" Rakun, her father yelled under the heavy rain. The downpour was a psycho, temporarily blinding the eyes to keep the two out of reach.

"Father," her tiny voice was never a match for the heavy downpour.

"Where are you!?" The growls of wolves, their eyes showing ethereal blue, golden yellow, and dark green manoeuvre their way through the wooden poles.

Rakun and her daughter were left after the mass slaughtering. Everyone was angry at Rakun and the sons of the alphas of the three strongest regions of the Northern Pacific took it upon themselves to make sure they saw the end of the traitor.

Everyone would lose a loved one because of this single unthoughtful act. Their anger beamed in their eyes, even darkness couldn't comprehend the anger in their eyes.

"Please, leave my daughter out of this!" He screamed and shifted into his wolf form. Weirdly, the full moon was over the sky in the heavy rain. But, nothing like that mattered to anyone.

The three sons: Kalamura, Koa, and Jarek slowly walked toward Rakun as Rakun growled aggressively. He knows he is no match for them, but he has to try.

Koa shook his body to remove the weight of water on his fur. "You'll die now, Rakun"

"Let's see about that," he growled.

He ran after Jarek, the wolf with the ethereal blue. He dodged the attack and watched Rakun slide, splashing water till he came to halt.

"Give up now, Rakun"

"No, I'm not. I did it for the clan! For the whole goddamn clan!"

"You sold us out,"

"I didn't have a choice but to do that! You don't want to know who is behind all these. Do you?" Rakun asked.

In a pinch of sorrow, Kalamura remembered the words of the king of Alpha. "Kill him at all cost,"

With full speed, Kalamura attacked when Rakun least expected – He snapped his neck. Koa and Jarek stared at him in surprise.

"What did you do that for?" Jarek asked. "He was about to say something that might help us,"

"No, we follow orders"

"No, we ought to listen to what he wanted to tell us,"

"Are we going to look for his daughter or not?"

"We will go about that one," the beta of the Danbury's region said from behind. "We killed them all. We will search for his daughter," he assured them.

Jarek took a deep breath and ran off. He knows it was not right to kill me like that without listening. He regretted not questioning him first before reporting to the council.

He found peace in his solitude – The lake of Agriva. He watched the moonlight standing still and wondered why it was shining while the rain fell. He sighed and rested his back on the tree.

Present Day…

"Wake up fools!" The guard wiped the prisoners who were asleep on the floor. The dungeon was sealed up with only one entrance and no emergency exit. There is only one small window which was reasonable feet far away from arm's length – not even a jump would let you touch it. The dungeon is the house of the hopeless. Wake up, hard labour, little or no food, then back to sleeping on the cold floor.

Scarlett avoided the whip that was coming at her. "You dodged it today," the guard laughed.

"But, you won't be waiting for this!" A loud clap on her back – it was a whip from another guard. She fell to the floor. "Oh girl, sorry about that," they laughed. "Get to work before I land another one on your back!"

Her legs and hands are tied with other prisoners. They walked in line as they went outside – The only time they feel the sun – when it calls for hard labour. Breaking stones and lifting them over the mountains.

It is a great defence wall at the back of the Northern Pacific. Slaves captured from wars, rogues, and miscreants from different packs were transferred to The Pentagon.

The Pentagon is the main city of the king of Alphas. Ruled by one – Ruler over every other alpha in the whole Northern Pacific and in the dungeon lies different kinds of people with different committed crimes.

Hardened criminals, especially Rogues, are most times transferred to the Pentagon for the safety of the rest of the clan.

People have grown old, given birth, and their children became adults and took over their parents. When they saw they had no life, no hope even for generations, they ceased to give birth. When the council noticed, they made it a law for everyone to have a child in the dungeon except those who want to be tortured.

If they had brought death to the table, they would have gladly been rejected, but the fear of getting tortured beyond this was not to be bargained with.

At the age of 20, if you're without a mate, you'll hate the next few years of your life.

The thoughts filled 19-year-old Scarlett as she placed rocks into the wheels. She was stressed, but the feeling of getting tortured beyond what she is currently passing through is not something she wanted.

She looked around and found a metal scrap on the floor, she picked it up and walked toward a slave. "Can you slit my throat, please" she stretched forth her hand with the metal scrap on her palm.

The slave glared at her surprisingly. "Why should I?"

"Because I want to die"

"Everyone wants to die here. Not just you,"

"Then if you slit my throat, I'd slit yours before I die," an awkward silence existed between the two. If not for the banging of the sledgehammer on the rocks, you wouldn't have heard a sound except for the guard with the whip.

"Get back to work!" He barked.

"Say yes," Scarlett smiled. "It will just be a short duration of pain and everything will be over.

The slave grabbed the metal scrap – The guard watched them curiously, and slush! The metal scrap went through Scarlett's throat and blood followed. As she had promised, she grabbed the metal scrap and slit the slave's throat.

"What are you doing!?" The guard barked again.

"Than-k y-ou," she smiled at the slave and the slave nodded his head.

"Th-ank yo-u to-o," he struggled with the words as they both went down.

"Call the meds!" The guard screamed. Everyone gathered to watch what had happened. "Go back to work!" The guard yelled and everyone rushed back to their work.

The meds came and carried the two bodies away. "Psychos," the guard groaned.

"She is losing a lot of blood!" Scarlett's eyes were wide open. She still maintained the smile on her face – She has succeeded.

"If I don't die this time, I might as well find the three killers of my father. That means there is hope after all. A win-win for me," she said silently to herself as she gradually closed her eyes.

The morning rain clouds on the shutters of the room. It was an icy new day. Scarlett laid quietly on the bed. Indistinct voices echoed in the room. There was silence when someone entered.

"What's the report?" She asked.

"We lost the man,"

"What about the lady?"

"She should wake up anytime now. Her cut was not so severe,"

"Bunch of psychopaths," the grey-haired woman shook her head. "Make sure there is no harmful object or substance in this room,"

"We have taken care of that, my lady"

"And when she wakes make sure you take her pulse and return her health to normal in any way we can. We are short of workers already. Everyone is scared to commit crimes nowadays,"

"Isn't that a good way to curb the crime rate?"

"No, it is not. We need workers. No one would be willing to work somewhere like this," she paused. "Just make sure she lives," she pointed at Scarlett and walked away.

Shortly, the two meds found their way outside. One came in and inspected Scarlett and left. Scarlett breathed fine when she noticed they weren't coming back. She opened her eyes – She sighed.

She stood on her feet and walked toward the man she had slit his throat. She opened the cloth, revealing his cold face "I should be the one here if you had just cut in a little deeper," she closed.

She walked around trying to find any sharp objects. But she stopped and remembered the words of her father.

"Never in your life kill yourself because of anything. Every single day you live is a hope for a better future. Love yourself enough to erase the thoughts of killing yourself. You're precious to yourself and the moon goddess. I'm sure no harm will ever find your way,"

She remembered the smile on her father's face as he said those words. She missed the donkey ride, she missed feeding the bunnies, and she missed home.

She collapses on the closest wooden bed as she wept profusely. She stopped and sniffed.

"Then it all comes to this," she stood up. "I have to find those who killed my father,"

But who are they?

She remembered the words of the Beta of Danbury Region. It must be the alphas of the strongest packs.

"Bath, Danbury, Abyshama. I'm coming for you," the strands of her hair fell to block one of her eyes. While the other eyes beamed red.