Fight By My Side

It was five years after my parent's death, yet I could feel the memories, still fresh on my brain. Their faces, right as they died, as they were shot down by that Guardian. I had seen him one other time in the market when I was forced to enter the Barrier. Our scout was sick and I needed to get him medicine while the big brother looked after him. I could barely resist ripping his neck out.

But I had to focus now. Breathe in and out, in and out. That's what Dad taught me. The charm on my neck, a simple black stone carved in the shape of a moon, bounced on my neck as I jogged on the trail. An Red Tailed Hawk screamed above me. That was Mike Fuentes, our scout for the Sanctuary. He told me he had spotted a possible Shifter wandering about, maybe injured and we needed to pick it up. Vic, his brother, was at Shadow's Sanctuary, taking care of the place.

The hawk veered off to the left, towards a more crowded section of the Range. The houses were clustered together and Guardians were more likely to roam around here. When Mike in Hawk form started to circle, I kicked in my training and started to focus.

Breathe in, breathe out...

I felt myself become more away. A few kids were playing in the road, puttering around on scooters and playing with chalk in the drive way. I folded my hands into the pockets of my black and blue jacket. It was a nice, light athletic jacket that was easy to move around in. A few kids looked up and stared, unaccustomed to my presence on this street. I was not in my territory anymore.

As I walked down the side walk, passing multiple fancy houses on the block, I saw a group of kids clustered around something in the grass. The hawk flew above, then perched in a large pine tree. I felt the moon necklace dangling on the silver chain around my neck grow heavier.

As I slowly approached, the children, all around nine years old, were cornering a large raven that had been injured. It's wing hung out at an awkward angle. It didn't help that the kids were attempting to spear it, or stone it to death.

"Hey!" I called to them. They turned to stare at the adult coming their way. A few scattered, acting as if nothing had happened, but the few who remained were brave.

"What do you want?" A short, chubby dusty red haired kid spat at me. I stood over him, thinking back to what my mom said.

When you want to appear threatening, you must have good posture. Stand tall, look big, spread you wings!

I instantly straightened my posture, showing them I meant business. I scrunched up my nose in disgust with the three kids standing around me. It was a habit from being a Shifter. You inherited the traits of your form.

Two of the kids backed off a little, forgetting about the downed avian creature. The little red head stood his ground, but wavered for barely a moment.

"I would back away from the poor bird, before things get ugly." I snapped at them. The kid turned and ran as I loomed over him.

The black bird squawked anxiously as I knelt near it. It hopped around nervously. I studied it for a moment, looking at it's injuries, quickly assessing the damage. It's wing was definitely broken, but was it really a Shifter.

Mike let out a warning caw. There might be some older people walking down the street, or worse.

"Come here." I cooed to the bird, holding out my hand. You could tell if someone was a Shifter because a normal animal would shy away immediately or attack. Someone with the Gift would usually be wary, possibly coming up to the person. If the Shifter was approached by a Guardian, the Shifter would quickly revert to the fight instinct.

The raven hopped nervously towards my hand as I encouraged it towards me with promises of safety and security. The injured bird hopped into my hand and wobbled from the injured wing. Mike took off, rushing back towards the Sanctuary. I watched him go away as I took the bird and placed it by my side, quickly walking towards the direction of home. If people saw me with the bird, they would think it to be suspicious. Walking with a Tagged dog wasn't, but the bird would be odd.

I managed to make it to the field, where I saw Mike out in the distance, heading towards home. I carried the raven with me. It seemed calm in my grasp and didn't move to injure itself further. Slowly, as to not make to much noise or attract attention from the near by road, I started making my way to the field. When I was far enough where I couldn't see the road, I started jogging, carefully clutching the bird.

I came to the familiarity of Shadow's Sanctuary, an old abandon house out in the gently sloping hills. The fence was collapsed in many places, and the boards were rotting in the main building of the house, just three rooms in a one story area. I moved to the back, where a moth eaten couch rested, worn and weary against the wall. The raven chirped quietly as I went behind the old furniture and went to the trap door, knocking twice to let them know I was coming. I opened the door and climbed down the stairs, bolting it behind me.

The stairs were illuminated by self-sustaining light lamps. Although the rest of the house was old, the stairs and hallway seemed fairly new. Barely a step squeaked and were oiled regularly. At the bottom of the flight of the stairs was the large basement.

Three figures were huddled around the mini kitchen counter. The basement had a large living room and a small bar/open kitchen area that was in the left corner. In the back of the room was four bedrooms. When I had come down here, escaping the life above the surface and the Guardians that killed my parents, I ran down here to find it dark and gloomy, but comfortable in the dark.

There was already two bed rooms, but with Vic and Mike's help they helped me clear a third and fourth bed room. I had found the two brothers stumbling through the plains around here. After taking them in, I learned that their parents kicked them out after they told them they had the Gift.

Before I had met them, I knew I wanted to keep a small, secluded location to house Shifters, even for a short time, so they knew they could have a place to go if they ever needed help, just like I did.

Vic and Mike just happened to be the very first people to arrive, and they stayed permanent residents. The abandoned house was in a poorly taken care of neighborhood. The closest house was just two hills over. A gravel path thirty feet away connected this old structure to the next, small shack.

Vic, Mike, and Jack Barakat were sitting around the bar. The single light hung over them. Jack was our newest addition. He had also taken up permanent residence after was found attacked by Guardians.

"Hey, Wynter. Mike was just telling us over the new blood." Jack laughed. I took the injured raven in the crook of my arm and walked in the back hallway between the third and fourth bedrooms, ignoring him for the moment. There was an extra, spare room for the sick and injured. I set the bird down in the room, right on the bed. Two dark, oval eyes blinked up at me as I left.

If it was truly with Gifted blood, then it would change eventually. Whoever it was just needed time. I shut the door behind me.

"Yeah, I think it's a Shifter. If it is, whoever it is has suffered an injury. We'll give it some time." I explained. Jack kicked a chair out for me. Vic disappeared under the counter, taking a glass of water and handing it to me. I took a sip and thanked him for the refreshment.

Vic disappeared and a Tiger prowled out around the side of the bar, rubbing up against my leg. One thing about Vic was the he was a big flirt with anybody. He was honestly like a brother to me, but he loved to be a big teddy bear (Er, tiger) flirt and would roll around for you and give you kitty eyes.

Right now his golden eyes were wide and pleading. He put his giant head on my lap. I rubbed behind his ears and mock pouted him.

"Does little Victor wanna watch a movie?" I baby talked him. He let out a little yawn to affirm it as Jack and Mike rolled their eyes and shook their head, whispering something to each other.

"Vic, you got to pick out the movie last time. It's my turn." Jack stated. The tiger barred his teeth and chuffed out a laugh. I stroked the warm fur.

"So if you're choosing, that means we're either watching Red Dawn or World War Z." Mike concluded. It was true. Jack really only liked the action, war movies, even though we were living our own war movie.

"Red Dawn it is!" Jack clapped his hands. We all moved to where the TV was, on the wall opposite the bar. There was a couch, two bean bags and a recliner.

At one point, we used to have four other Shifters here besides our permanent residents. Most of the visitors usually stayed one or two nights before moving on. They had their own lives to attended to. The last boy who was here, well he was special.

He came to me, feeling so alone. His name was Zander and he found out he was a Shapeshifter and could turn into a coyote. The poor kid came to me skinny as a twig. Zander told me he felt so alone and he didn't think there were many out there like him. The teen was scared out of his wits because of the Guardians. He stayed by my side for three days as I talked to him and he gained the confidence about his powers and how to stay safe.

I found his body four days later. Guardians must've gotten him.

I didn't go out of my room for two days after that.

"I call bean bag!" Jack called out gleefully. He always had the dirty tan bag, while Mike stretched out on the couch. I normally curled up on the bean bag and Vic always fell asleep on the floor next to me or curled up next to me.

Jack popped in the disk and started the movie. The good thing about the basement was that it was fairly sound proof. No sound could escape to the upstairs as long as we didn't watch the movies on full blast, loud enough to pop our eardrums.

The movie started. Jack relaxed and changed to his form, a Mountain Lion as the movie started. For some reason, he always unwound and watched a movie in his beast form. Vic the Tiger purred happily as he rested his head on my lap, content to let me scratch behind his ears. Mike stretched out and fell asleep by the first epic battle scene.

I must've fallen asleep during part of the movie because it came quicker than expected. I personally loved Red Dawn and enjoyed it. The boys had all fallen sleep again, but as I moved Vic's large head, he started to shake away, blinking at me.

A noise at the back of the room alerted me to a presence. As the "owner" of the house, I was supposed to be up to greet new visitors, no matter what the time. The raven in the back room was either trying to escape or had finally Shifted.

Vic quietly padded in my wake as I went to the hallway to find a man standing in the back light, a slightly scared expression on his face

"Hello, raven boy." I waved. The tiger behind me rubbed against my leg, warily eyeing the newest visitor. The boy, rather man, had jet black hair and tattoos that stretched up and down both arms. His face was pale and he held his arm in pain.

"Hello." He answered. The look in his eyes showed that he felt cornered. I looked to Vic.

"Victor, please go get our raven boy a drink." I asked him. The tiger bobbed his head and prowled away.

"My name's Wynter. I'm the wolf-girl of the house. What's your name?" I asked him. The boy extended his good hand. I gave him a crooked grin, assessing his standing.

Slightly scared, a bit nervous and fearful, but otherwise cautious.

"I'm Ronnie Radke." He told me.

"Nice to meet you Ronnie. Welcome to the Shadow's Sanctuary."

Notes

So we meet Ronnie Radke and get a feeling for the residents at the Sanctuary...Do they all seem familiar to you? :D

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