Chapter Ten: Uncertainty

"Uncertainty is killing me -
And I'm certainly not asleep.
Maybe I've gone far too deep,
Maybe I'm just far too weak;
And that's the last place
I want to be the last place.
And there is so much we don't know,
So we love and hope that it holds.
Thousands were lost,
Maybe more.
The question remains:
What is this for?
Maybe it came unexpected.
Maybe I'm left unprotected.
And that's the last place
That I want to be the last place.
And there is so much we don't know,
So we love and we hope that it holds.
And either we say or we show,
So I'm going to fight for my own.
I'm holding on until the last,
I'm holding on until there's nothing left.
I'm holding on until the last,
I'm holding on till there's nothing left."
---The Fray's "Uncertainty"

We all did a pretty decent job of staying completely silent for the rest of the ride.

Not that it wasn't uncomfortable.

As we pulled up to the hangar, Bran said, "Say nothing of the incident we had on the way up here. They have enough to worry about at the moment."

I nodded and then realized that he probably couldn't see me. Or, I guessed he couldn't. "Okay," I said.

The plane was big, but it was small compared to what I had thought. I had pictured a Boeing 747. Now, thinking about it, it was a rather stupid thought.

I looked around, through the windows, but I didn't see anybody. Nobody.

I was just about to ask when we pulled to a stop next to a truck. Through the window, I saw somebody leaning against the window. The top half of her head was covered in white medical bandages. But, underneath it, I could see long blonde hair with places that were darker; blood, I realized. From the blonde, I could tell it was Millie Lane.

I made to get out of the car, but Charles said, "Stay," and stepped out himself.

I would have thought, I'm not a dog. But I didn't really feel like seeing my best friend in bandages any sooner than I had to.

Bran and Charles were negotiating something on the other side of the truck. I could see Charles speaking and nodding and things - the Marrok was on the other side of the cab. I could just see the top of his head. At some times, it was bobbing with speech.

Then, Charles came back around and opened the door to my left.

"You're going to have to move to the truck. It's smaller, and it'll just be Ravine and you and I. There's more room in here for William and Millie and Da.

I nodded and slid over, jumping out of the car (it was a bit too tall for me), and I opened the passengers' side door of the truck. William was carrying a quiet Millie. I could see the pain in her eyes, though, when she looked at me.

William nodded to me, I nodded back, with a small smile. I knew that Millie wouldn't want pity, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. No doubt she'd talked to William about Changing her at some point or another, but he was a sensible person - he would have known she would have an incredibly low chance of survival. He would have told her that he didn't want her to.

"Uh-uh," I heard from my other side.

I turned, "What?"

Ravine was in the back seat. She had her legs laid long ways down the seat, her upper half leaning against the door. I noticed that the back seats had dark tinting; the front had lighter tinting, but darker than Bran's vehicle.

Her eyes were closed, her head leaning back on the window; she had dried blood from her nose to her top lip, some from the corner of her mouth, which barely moved when she murmured, "Uh-uh. You ain't sittin' up there. You're sittin' back here with me."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Alright."

Charles was already in the drivers' seat cranking the engine when I slid carefully in the back seat. Her leg was wrapped in a mediocre fashion, and her thigh sat crooked. It was obvious it had been broken and healed wrong. Charles' brother would have to re-break it. I squeezed as close to the door as I could, but I still jarred Ravine's foot when I shut the door. She winced.

"I'm so sorry," I said quickly. "I'd ask if you were okay, but the answer is kind of obvious."

She laughed once, still never opening her eyes. When she spoke, she didn't move her face anymore than she had to in order to make her words intelligible. "I'm flawless, can't ya tell?"

It was hard, talking to her while she was in this kind of shape. I'd always been the one sitting where she was, with makeshift bandages and broken spirit and she'd always been the one that had been trying not to hurt me more, trying to get my mind off it.

"Yeah, Ravine. You walking down the Halloween aisle of the New York Fashion Show?"

"I'm on in two."

We both laughed, but it was forced, hard laughing; not the girly giggling.

The ride home seemed longer than the ride to the hangar. We tried at small talk, but ultimately, Ravine was exhausted and hurting and just not up to it. And I was just unable to talk about her college life while seeing her like this and thinking of how many years it would be until she got the control to live in such close quarters with humans again.

It took me a few minutes to realize that we weren't going to the Marrok's house, like I'd thought. We were going to the clinic that rested just outside of town.

William carried Millie inside as we pulled up. I asked, "Who's carrying Ravine?"

Ravine said in a low tone, "I can get there myself."

I looked at her crooked leg. "No, you can't. You're leg's healed wrong."

"I. Can. Do. It." She growled. Her eyes growing yellowy.

I held up both hands in defeat. Charles sent me a look. He was a dominant wolf to Ravine. He'd be able to make her do what was best, but it wasn't good to do that this early on. I knew that much. I also knew that it was the Alpha that was supposed to give the orders, if he was available.

He came over to the car. "I'll carry her," the Marrok said.

She sort of gasped at the power he must have had over her but through clenched teeth, she said, "I can do it myself, sir."

He shook his head. "Let me carry you, please."

Please was just a courtesy there. He was ordering her. She may have not been pack, but he was so incredibly dominant over her that she really had no way of disagreeing now.

He carried her like William had carried Millie. Like a bride and groom, if the bride had been the victim of a runaway train.

There was a man inside that I'd never met. He resembled Bran in some ways, though, so I guessed he was his son Samuel. He gave me a small smile and said, "I'm Samuel Cornick."

"Emlyn James," I said.

He said, "Nice to meet you." Then, while the Marrok was carrying Ravine into another room, one that I guessed was to be used for whatever medical procedures need be done, he leaned in close and whispered below his breath, "I will be forever in your debt for getting rid of Leah."

I laughed once before I caught myself. "I couldn't help it. But you're welcome," I replied, trying to speak as quietly as I could.

He flashed me a wide grin. It disappeared as Bran came back into the room.

"I saw that leg," Samuel said. "I'm going to have to work pretty hard on those two. I'll need you," he said to his father and Charles. To William and I, he said, "You both go to the store and get some provisions. Think water and meaty things."

"I have to stay with Millie," William said.

Samuel said, "You can't be here while I'm working on her. You can't control yourself."

I thought about it. William had always seemed nice enough and in control enough. He was Clyde's second, not that that really amounted to much, but he had always seemed to control himself. He was always detached.

"I can," William said, "I just can't leave her while she's like this."

The Marrok stepped in, "You have to." Then, "Emlyn also needs protection. She hasn't exactly made the best of friends here. Go."

I asked quickly, "I'm getting already cooked meats, right? And water - we're thinking cases, right?"

Samuel nodded and walked back into the room where everyone was.

William was about to steel himself into telling the Marrok no, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't force the words out of his mouth.

The Marrok said, "They will both be fine. Give them three days, maximum. Samuel is a great doctor."

He left.

William turned to me and said slowly and lowly, "Let's go."

------

We were in the store, William seething, me waiting on the insane order of cooked hamburger patties to be ready, when he said, out of the blue, "I tried to stop him, you know."

It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about, but when I did, I was mildly confused. He'd always seemed like the mindless follower type. "What?"

"Clyde," He said. "I tried to stop him from doing what he did to you."

I glanced at the floor. This didn't strike me as a conversation that should take place in a grocery store.

"I even tried calling the Marrok," William continued. "But he commanded that I didn't. I could never pick up the phone. Millie wanted to, but I knew he'd kill her if she did."

I nodded. I knew Marie had wanted to call. I'd heard her arguing with Nathaniel about it. He'd said the same thing: that Clyde would kill her. And he would have.

"Is that what happened-"

"No," he said. "As soon as he learned that you were in Aspen Creek, he freaked. Jon, Ravine, and my wife happened to be the closest in range."

I had to think for a moment. "Jon.. Jon - wait, Jon? Little Jon?"

Jon was the baby that one of the mid-pack wolves and his mate had adopted. He was about seven now.

William looked at the floor. "Yeah. He - he didn't make it."

I gasped. Why hadn't Bran told me this? Clyde was killing children, and he still hadn't done anything about it?

But, I hadn't known Jon. And, as incredibly terrible as it was that he was now dead, I was detached from that part of the situation. And I had a job to do.

The woman at the counter told us that our food was done and handed it to us. She didn't look at us oddly - I guessed it wasn't the first time they'd gotten an order like that.

Okay, I know this took a long time to update, but I've been kind of busy.

Excuses, excuses. Truth is: I just suck at updating quickly. Writers' block nearly set in on this chapter.

Anyways, the song belongs to the Fray or whoever happens to own it.

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Alright, before this gets too awkward, I'm going to let you be your review-posting selves! Because it's five-eleven in the morning and I haven't slept yet. Getting wacky. :]

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-Em.