The Last Wolf City

Chapter 3

A few days after we returned home, we were called back to the hospital. I had started feeling a little bit weird the day before, but hadn’t really thought about it. While we were in the car on our way there, I texted (BFF) to tell him that I got called back, and was surprised when he told me that he had been called back too.

When we got there, I saw that  the line of people that were showing obvious signs of having been affected by radiation poisoning had almost doubled. I suppose some of them had only shown signs after a while. A nurse stopped us at the entrance and asked for our names. She checked them against a clipboard and directed us to a room full of people and told us to wait.

“They’re all families with kids” said (Brother).

And then I saw that he was right. Everyone in here was either a parent with their children or the children. When (BFF) came in with his mum, I waved him over. The second that he sat down, me and (Brother) simultaneously said “they're all families with kids”. Upon realizing we’re right, he turned to us with a questioning look.

“Why do you think we’re all here?” asks (BFF)

“Were we all affected?” asks (Brother)

“Have you guys been feeling weird lately too?” I ask.

Before I can say that we can’t all ask questions at the same time, a doctor comes out and silence quickly settles over the room. “Hello everyone” began the doctor with a solemn tone. “I called all of you back to inform you of a development with your children.”

Parents all around the room squeeze their children's hands or pull them into hugs. “Will they be OK?” asks a mother with a very terrified look on her face.

“We’re not entirely sure” answers the doctor. We have looked at their blood tests, and found one thing in common with all of them. Something in their DNA has changed, and one of the sections that changed is the same in all of the children’s DNA. However, it doesn’t seem to be affecting them in a bad way, or affecting them at all for that matter. We don’t know how it will affect them in the future, but for now it is inconsequential. Have any of the children felt weird lately?”

We all look around, but no one says anything. The doctor then says that he needs to talk to our parents alone and a boy says that we will wait in the game room.

We all run to the game room and the boy introduces himself as Jake. He says that here we can talk without parents or doctors. He pulls out a couple of games, including jenga and monopoly, and we start building a jenga tower. When he finishes, we all sit in a circle. The boy asks us to introduce ourselves and to say if we have experienced pain or discomfort anywhere. 

I go first. I state my name and say that I have felt some discomfort in my lower back, and that I "overall feel a bit different”.

We go around the circle, and most people say that they have felt weird too. Some experienced headaches or that their sight sometimes gets fuzzy. All throughout the conversation we keep playing jenga.

“Lets make a group chat" someone says. We all pull out our phones  and add ourselves to the whatsapp groupchat. “Text if anything changes”

We talk for about 5 more minutes before a parent comes in and says that the doctor finished talking and that we all have to go back to our parents. 

**

We get into the car and I ask my mum how the meeting was. She said that the doctor mostly repeated what he had said earlier and speculated about what might happen. She also said that if we feel weird, that we should tell her immediately.

I tell her about how I’ve felt a bit weird, but leave out the part about my lower back hurting a bit. Gabriel also says that he has felt a little off.

We get back home and I go up to my room to talk to my friends. Most say that they have been feeling a little weird.

I then go online and check social media. I see that many have talked about feeling weird too. It seems to be something that has been happening to young people everywhere.

Great.

The next morning, I wake up to a dull ache in my eyes. I go downstairs and eat breakfast, then head to school with Gabriel. We get to school and the teacher takes attendance. Then she asks us to write down something that has happened to us since the bombing, and when we all stick our sticky notes on the wall, I see that all of them say that they have been a bit different/weird in some part of their body. But then I see that two kids are still writing, and theirs don’t say anything about feeling off. 

During break I ask them if they have felt different at all, but they say that they haven't, which I find a little weird. So I start thinking of differences between them and the rest of the class. I ask (BFF) to help me.

(BFF): they're richer

(M): I don't think money's got to do with it

(BFF): they have a nicer house

(M): No. Wait, yes! That's it! 

(BFF): The houses?

(M): No, where they live! They live further from where the bomb dropped that we do, right?

(BFF): Yeah

 So that must be it then. They lived further away so they must be less affected. During the free period (BFF) asks the rest of the class if any of them got called back to the hospital. and most say they already went or have to go this weekend. The two don't however, and that confirms my theory.

**

During dinner that night, I pitched my theory to mom and dad, who say that it's a possibility. Later when I go to bed, I text the hospital group chat with my theory to see if they have seen this happen with their friends, and most people say that my theory is correct.

**

The next day when I get home from school, I see a letter from the hospital asking us to go back every 10 days to get a blood test to see if anything changes. I don't really mind, but Gabrlel gets scared because he doesn't want a needle in his arm every ten days.

I go up to my room and text the hospital groupchat, which someone named HFF (hospital friends forever) to see if anyone else got the letter. Almost immediately a bunch of people reply saying that they did. 

I take a moment to rub my lower back before going on the class group chat and asking what homework is due tomorrow. 

** 10 days later **

I get into the car and buckle the seatbelt. beside me Gabriel does the same. I've managed to calm him down and even got him slightly excited to go to the hospital, by saying that he gets to see the kids we met last time. 

By the time we get to the waiting room, some people from last time come up to greet us. We sit down and play uno with a couple others till we are called to get our blood drawn. they call in five people at the same time. Seems to be a bit weird to me, but whatever. 

We are directed to a room with five chairs, positions equidistant from one another. We sit down and five nurses come in. Gabriel is seated to my left and I hold out my hand, which he quickly takes. His nurse notices and asks if he's nervous. He nods his head and she tells him to look at me instead of the needle. I ask my nurse if she can take the blood from my right arm, which she does. I look at Gabriel and make him do math to keep him distracted.

When we finish, the nurse gives Gabriel a lollipop from her pocket and asks what his favourite flavour is. Gabriel answers coca cola and the nurse promises to get it for him next time. 

I'm surprised when the doctor comes out and tells us we can all go home. but we all follow his instructions when he tells us that they will tell us the results of the test in ten days.

I get home and change into loose shorts with a looser waistband. Then I head over to my desk and do homework. 

Chapter 5

I wake up the next day to Gabriel making some scrambled eggs. I ask where he got the eggs from, and he points over at a bag filled with food on the kitchen counter. 

When he’s done, we sit down to eat at the dining table. Once we finish, we clear the table and wash the dishes, then I decide to explore our apartment, something I didn’t really do last night as I was sleepy and my headache was killing me. 

Turns out hitting your head on the inside of a van and passing out really hurts.

Our apartment has two bedrooms, each equipped with a single bed, a desk with a lamp, a simple wardrobe and a bedside table. We also have a small living room that is joint with the kitchen, a bathroom with a shower and a small spare room.

I go back to my room and hang up the school uniforms that we got yesterday, including my stolen fourth shirt. I’m about to lay back down on the bed when someone knocks on our door.

When I open it, I’m surprised to see Jack standing there. 

“Relax, relax. I’m not here to recruit you to our pack. We volunteers get assigned an apartment to help out with for a week, and I got assigned to yours. So, the first thing that we are going to do is go clothes shopping. I’m assuming that you were brought in by the usual method, the van kidnapping, and that is the reason why you are wearing the same clothes as yesterday: You only have what you had on you when you were kindly asked to sit in the back of the van.”

I glance down at the wrinkled clothes I slept in last night, then look back up at him. I’d heard that that was how most kids were brought in: They were walking along the street when a van pulled up next to them and they were forced to get in, never seeing their family again, unless the family was also affected and were going to be brought in later. I didn’t get here by the usual method, but seeing as he didn’t know that and I wasn’t exactly eager to share that little detail of my arrival, I just stayed quiet and let him assume.

“Go get your hoodie. And your brother. We’re going clothes shopping.”

*

Jack leads us through the city towards what looks like a mall. Along the way he explains how you can buy things here.

“There are a couple ways to pay for something. You can use money from the outside world. You can use credits, which is the currency that we use here in the fenced off cities. Or you can pay with favors.”

When I walk into the mall, I see that most of the shops are closed. There is one food stall open, and one big clothing store open, which is where we head. They have the normal fancy expensive brands, but that also have a bunch of other clothes, like if someone had raided a bunch of clothes stores and then put it all in the biggest shop they could find.

Jack gave us each 20 credits, which were little gold coins, and told us to buy whatever we wanted. He recommended that we don’t spend any real world money until we truly understand its value.

I walk along the rows of t-shirts, picking out a couple oversized shirts, then I find some pants. Finally, I get another hoodie. I walk over to the register, which is manned by a guard. Just then, Gabriel walks up with some clothes in his arms and lays it next to mine. We pay with the credits that Jack gave us, then put our clothes in a bag and walk out of the store.

“That guard is usually pretty friendly. When I first got here, I didn’t have the credits to pay for anything, and he bought me a t-shirt and some shoes. He won’t save you from getting kidnapped, but he’ll make sure that you don’t die to the cold.”

For the rest of the day, Jack shows us around the city, introducing us to some of his friends, showing us what the school looks like and what some other key locations are, like the library and a stationary store. 

I notice that most stores have people around the age of 20 (give or take a few years) working there, and I see guards supervising them. When I ask about this, Jack simply says “If you don’t work, how else will you get credits?”

The other thing that I notice is that we stay parallel to a fence that seems to divide the city in two, one of the fences that we crossed yesterday. When I ask about this, Jach says that it actually divides a third of the city from the rest, our section form theirs.

Those of us who don’t have parents, from those of us who do.

At one point, we pass close to the electric fence, at a part where it goes into the concrete wall. While there, I see a part of the wall that has a hole, all the way through. The wall is very thick and I don’t have a good angle, but I can swear that I see what looks like a forest behind it.

In the evening, we go back to our apartment complex. Jack leads us to a big dining room in one of the other buildings and we sit down to eat. Someone, who knows who, gives us food 3 times a day on Saturdays and a brunch and dinner on Sundays, as well as two times a day on school days. Lunch is supposed to be given to us by the school, and it's free for those of us who are not expected to work yet.

After we finish eating, Jack comes back with us to our apartment and helps us put the food from the bag on the kitchen counter in the fridge.

I put away my clothes and then go back to the living room, where Gabriel and Jack are locked in conversation, but I’m too tired to pay attention to what it is about. I pour myself a glass of water, announce that I am going to bed, then walk into my room. I hear Jack leave a few minutes later, and then Gabriel walks into my room.

“Did you have a good day?” I ask him.

“Yeah. You?”

“Good. I’m just tired”

“I am too. See you tomorrow. Sleep tight.”

 I barely hear the door close before I drift off.

Chapter 6

** 10 days later **  -  (20 days since first test results)

Today is Tuesday, so we go to the hospital after school. (BFF)’s parents were going to meet him at the hospital because they are finishing something at work, so we’re going to take him there. We all get into my car, and I wince as Gabriel hits my tailbone with his seatbelt buckle. “Sorry” he says. “I barely touched it though”.

We get to the hospital and are greeted by the usual bunch of HFF kids. We do the same uno mode as last time, where you give your cards to the kids who just got their blood drawn when you have to go, and when you get back you take the cards of someone who has to go get their blood drawn. After we're all done, we are called to another room with the doctor.

Gabriel starts eating his lollipop faster and I reach for his hand to calm him. “Its going to be 

OK”

The doctor waits until we are all seated and then launches into a pretty standard ‘Thank You For Coming’ speech. Then he tells us that the mutations he found in our blood 20 days ago has increased, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting us. He says that they will continue to study the mutation, but that we shouldn’t worry.

When I return home, I change into really loose shorts and collapse forward onto my bed. I quickly close my eyes and immediately feel some relief against the incessant dull ache that has taken over them.

I fall asleep pretty soon after that, where I dream of wolves running through a forest.