With their mother having departed, leaving them with Chris and the others, Rykar and Loki were led away from their dilapidated hut without further resistance. Any expectations of having them wait for her return were non-existent in the first place.

Although their eyes had partially adjusted earlier, due to the light that had been coming in from the broken doorway, as they got outside they still had to squint while using their free hands to shield their eyes.

Despite the lack of intense sunlight, the grey clouds above illuminated their bodies after exiting, causing the teens around them to squint attempt to and take a few steps back.

Seeing as they were moving without resistance, Chris quickly released his grip on their arms while crouching to wipe his gloves off on the ground. His actions easily the impression that even the dirt was cleaner than they were and, despite the ragged appearances of the youths in front of the hut, they could be said to be the epitome of class in comparison to the two teens which had just entered the light.

The figures of Loki and Rykar were stood straight to the point that their posture even seemed to reflect confidence. This was one thing that Lifa had spent years to drill into them. However, their faces and attire reflected anything but that.

Emotionless eyes returned the stares of the youths in front of them. There was no fear, excitement, longing, hope or anger in their gazes, they simply looked at what was before them in a bored or even uncaring manner as though spectators to their own situation.

'You can do anything until you tell yourself you can't. Even when the odds are against you, stand straight. The only person that is guaranteed to stand up for you, I should be yourself.’ Her words resounded in their minds even now.

While their posture reflected what confidence they could muster, their clothing showed a totally different story. They were in rags, literally. Random bits of cloth were held together crudely by using small animal tendons and skin which were now frayed and tattered. Fragments of messily cut fur from creatures such as rabbits and squirrels could be seen covering some of the more important areas such as their chests and genitals, preserving what dignity they still had.

With the majority of their bodies being revealed due to the scant clothing, the most condition of their bodies were revealed to all. Skinny and underfed frames were apparent, alongside skin which was deathly pale for the most part. Red pigment dotted and lined their bodies as though they had been scalded or branded all over. This only contrasted even more strongly to the canned skin of those around them.

Despite the midwife and their mothers claims of the boys being perfectly healthy despite the disfigurement of the skin, the rest of the village couldn't see past the exterior and began ostracizing them from birth, with the encouragement of their father’s first wife. Even their father denied all responsibility of them with seconds of laying eyes on them.

Without a second glance, they had been labelled as diseased lost-cause from birth.

Finished wiping his gloves using the grass, Chris turned towards Loki while wincing at their appearance, already regretting his impulsive action of grabbing them.

“It's about time you both paid the village back for taking care of you over the years. We're going hunting." Without leaving any room for discussion, he began walking further into the woods.

For a moment, both Loki and Rykar were stood in place with their heads leaning crookedly to their sides in contemplation of what they had just heard… No matter how they wrapped their heads around it, the logic in his words was questionable. At best.

Unless being left in the woods to starve and without human interaction was some form of welfare.

***

A day soon passed after having been forced onto the hunting trip with the other teens. Loki and Rykar could be found trailing at the back of the small group while various bags and pouches were strapped to their bodies, often throwing them off balance and causing them to stagger slightly.

Despite asking the others repeatedly for the reason they had been forced along on this hunting trip, all they got in the place of an explanation was the silent treatment. Since the very beginning, aside from having the others throw their bags towards them, there was virtually no interaction between them and the other four.

"Somethings wrong, this doesn't make any sense…" While the others were chatting and laughing among themselves up front, Rykar mumbled under his breath while glancing towards Loki.

"We've always had to get our own food, make our own clothes and even make our own hut.” He continued just loudly enough for Loki to make out his words. “What could they want us to pay for, are we supposed to pay for them abandoning us now?" he snickered while he spat out the last few words.

Although listening silently, Loki's gut was twisting within him. He couldn't put his finger on the reason, but he was also aware that there was something very wrong with this hunting trip compared to the others he had seen the teens venture out on.

Not only were they leaving in a different direction, it was rare for the younger group to venture more than day’s travel from the village.

Even more suspicious, was the lack of attention they were receiving, compared to the usual constant bulling. While laughing up ahead, the conversation of the rest of the party never focused on them. Rather, it was as though they were being completely drowned out.

There were no snide comments, teasing, taunting or picking on them in any way over the last day of travel. They had only noticed a few occasions where they would turn back to steal a glance at them before diverting their attention once again. Other than that it had been as though they had thoroughly stopped existing as soon as they left the village.

Not to mention… Other than a few tools, and some dried food, the bags which the twins were carrying were all but empty.

"There's no point in over thinking it, we can just see what happens as we go. They have always been lazy, they probably just want us to carry all their stuff for them while they take care of the actual hunting.” Replying in a low voice towards Rykar, Loki tried to reassure the both of them that all would be fine.

Yet it was then that both their hearts sank.

The youth walking right next to Chris, stopped in place and unravelled a weird looking rope from his waist.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It was shaped like a Y, seemingly wound together using two ropes before joining them at some point two thirds along its length. The ends of the each section of the rope were shaped similar to nooses, making them fear for the worst immediately.

Immediately after seeing the rope, the twins froze in place as they watched on in silence. Thoughts of fleeing the scene crossed their minds at the same time but they were still aware that they could never outrun the four in front of them.

Feeling as though there were no other options, they took slow steps forward after a gesture from Chris. Seeing them step forward, the rest of the group, minus the rope wielding teen, continued walking forward.

As they neared, they threw questioning glances at the rope with a clear inclination of wanting to bolt away within a moments notice.

"Put this around your ankles.” said the youth, while throwing the split end of the rope towards them.

Without conforming to the demand, the twins stared back with blank expressions. Out of habit, their heads once again began to tilt creepily to the side as they mulled over the possible reasons they could have been presented with the rope.

Not a single positive outcome came to mind.

"Fix your damn heads and put the ropes on!" Hearing him shout, the twins were forced out of their stupor. Focusing once again, they realized that the rest of the group had stoped in place, the shout had drawn their attention once again.

Unlike the earlier portion of the trip where they had been ignoring the boys, their stares seemed to be radiating heat as they carefully watched the movements of the twins.

Sweat began to form on the foreheads, quickly forming droplets big enough to snake their way down he sides of their faces. With four pairs of eyes pressuring them, they slowly knelt down to fasten the ropes onto their ankles without averting their eyes for a moment.

After tugging on the rope to make sure it was secured properly, James pulled the stumbling twins back towards the rest of the group. As they all prepared to carry on walking further into the woods.

***

*AWOOOOO*

It wasn’t even ten minutes later that the sound of a deep howl broke through the trees causing everyone to freeze in place suddenly as though they had all been doused in icy water.

"W-were not supposed to be far in e-enough yet… right Chris?" Contrary to the youth’s earlier expression while he was dealing with Rykar and Loki, he now had a face full of uncertainty as he looked questioningly towards the leader of their group.

Despite his fear, Loki's eyes narrowed out as he heard the question. Rather than being surprised that the wolves had appeared, it sounded obvious that the youth was simply scared that the wolves had turned up earlier than expected.

'Tying up our ankles… walking in this direction while expecting wolves… we need to get away. NOW.’ The twins common sense was screaming at them by this point. Alarms bells were clanging within their heads as sweat erupted from all over their bodies.

Looking towards Rykar, Loki looked for a sign, hoping his brother had picked up on the clues from the phrasing of the short exchange. Yet seeing hit hands tightly clenched into fists, to the point of trembling, he realized that he must have come to his own conclusions.

The only difference in their thought processes was that rather than waiting for the opportune time, Rykar was planning on waiting till James dropped his guard and relaxed his grip on the rope which was attached to them.

As soon as the chance presented itself, he intended to strike in any way he could. This had to be done as soon as possible as the youth was currently slightly behind the group while leading them by the rope. There would be no chance for him to do anything once he had covered the five or six metres and was once again within the group as a four.

At present, the rope bearer’s body was turned slightly to the sides to watch both in front and behind himself. This made it highly unlikely that any abrupt movements would escape his notice before he started moving in the direction of the others.

Rykar’s eyes narrowed as he tunnel visioned his entire focus. Waiting on the moment him he began turning his back and hoping that the others would also begin to spread their attention to their surroundings.

"Its fine, we still have a while to walk before we get there. We can keep going forward a while and head back slightly earlier if we ‘finish the hunt’." With the assurance from Chris, other youths straightened up slightly before throwing another glance at the twins. Tugging on the rope, Loki’s and Rykar’s feet slipped slightly as they staggered forward to maintain balance.

"Lets move.” He said before turning in the direction of the others.

This was the moment arrived!

Time seemed slowed. Rykar could no longer hear the sounds of the leaves rustling, the birds chirping or the footsteps breaking the crisp leaves and twigs on the ground.

All of his focus, every shred of attention he had, was directed to the youth as his back slowly came into sight.

As if by a miracle, every one of the other teenagers turned around like clockwork, leaving the twins in a complete blind spot.

The rope was only around 5 metres long, so it would have taken but seconds for Rykar to reach the source. However, before he managed to spring forward on his tensed legs, a blurred figure flashed by his side causing him to flinch as he lost his sight in the next moment.

'They saw me!?’

The anxiety of having his actions seen through was running through his head even as his hands were swimming across his face in an attempt to get rid of whatever has just been splashed over his face.

As his eyesight cleared, the first thing he noticed were his hands which were now stained red.

Fear and slight nausea assaulted him as he recognised his blood covering his own hands. Swiping at his head in order to identify the wound, the results weirdly proved to be futile as he couldn’t feel anything out of place. He couldn't feel any pain at all.

The next thing that came to come to mind was Loki, who had been standing right next to him. ‘Is it his blood?!’ Quickly swivelling on the spot only to find Loki with a similar spray of blood marking his body, however it hadn't hit him on the face, as only some of the tattered clothing on his torso had been effected.

Relief washed over him when he confirmed the safety of is brother but then the abnormality of the situation dawned on him. There was complete silence all around, even the birds seemed to have stopped chirping by now as everything remained deathly still.

Loki took no notice of the blood which decorated his body, instead staring fixedly ahead as though in a trance.

Following his gaze, Rykar quickly turned his head only to be hit by shock and left in the same state of mind as his brother.

Just a few metres ahead of him was a wolf crouching squarely on the torso of the struggling youth while tearing his neck apart. The rope still lay within his hand, although the hand itself was now limply strewn across the ground.

He wasn't even able to call for help, the most that escaped him was a sickly gurgling sound, but even that was interrupted by the wolfs growls as it continued to ravage him without any remorse. Tearing at his neck and shoulder again and again without paying any attention to the surroundings.

The wolf appeared famished. Its ribs were clearly shown against its thinned out frame while grunts of satisfaction seemed to be escaping its muzzle as it savoured its meal.

Both Rykar and Loki were dumb struck at this point. Their sense of sound was drowned out by their thundering heartbeats as they watched the youth’s struggles weaken rapidly.

At first he had been pushing against the wolfs legs in futile before finally giving up. His face had been faced away from the twins but they could only imagine the begging look on his face as he looked towards his friends in a silent plea for help.

From the corner of their eyes, a sudden movement startled the twin, drawing their attention away from the spectacle in front of them.

'Son of a B*tch’

Firstly expecting to see more members of the pack of wolves, the bodies of the twins tensed up even further. However, there was not a shred of surprise in what they were looking at, only an anger that served to release them from their shackles of fear.

Leaving behind the three others of their group which were still in a daze, they could make out the figure of Chris speeding through the woods in terror. He hardly even resembled a human being at this point as he fled while occasionally clawing at the ground or rebounding off of trees with his hands and feet. All he could think of was desperately trying to create a distance from the rest of them and guaranteeing his own survival.

He took notice of nothing around him as he scrambled through the trees. Not even the pale eyes of the twins burning into his back.

As they realised that they had been left by Chris, all thoughts of retaliation was gone with the wind. All that was left on the minds of the people present was to survive as all costs.

And then? Four figures exploded with as much strength as they could muster, propelling themselves away from the gory scene in whichever direction seemed most convenient.