You suck in a sharp breath, consciousness forcing its way through you as you yank yourself forward. Sharp rocks pierce the palms of your hands as you sit upright against the concrete. Your eyes shift below to the torn, dirty fabric that conceals your grimy, muddy legs.


    Your fingers twitch as you bring them to the forefront of your vision, examining the mixture of filth and blood that covers your hands and arms. Your breathing is ragged as you try to make sense of your predicament.


    Your head turns, eyes shifting around the environment as you view the crimson sky—black shadows that mimic clouds streak across the firmament. What snatches your attention is the large moon that glows yellow, its cracks shaping it to resemble an eye, the dark circle in the middle staring at you like a pupil.


    Old buildings surround you, the area resembling that of a fallen city. Some of the structures are still standing tall, though the windows are shattered and entrances are either blocked off or broken down, while others are destroyed, large holes gaping as if there had been an explosion. It is completely abandoned.


    Your hands touch your torso, feeling your body through the ripped fabric of the white shirt as you try to reassure yourself that you are physically apparent. Confusion and fear strike you, your heart’s pounding becoming erratic.


    Suddenly, a loud, croaky roar echoes through the atmosphere. Your body freezes, shock evident in your features as you shift your gaze to search for the source. You hold your breath, the silence of your surroundings eerie as you turn your head.


    You feel your instincts go haywire as a hidden, watchful gaze settles on you. Despite your fear, you feel the need to prepare for something—anything—to happen. The hairs on your arms and back stand tall as you slowly push yourself off the moist pavement.


    When the bottom of your bare feet meets the ground, you slowly lift the rest of your body up, steadily, as your eyes shift around the area. Your arms are stretched out, fingers spread as you balance your shaky legs. You swallow hard, silence still perceptible as you listen for anyone or anything to appear.


    Pat, pat, pat.


    You exhale sharply as you immediately take off, ignoring the pain in your feet as your skin meets with the gravel. Another raspy, guttural roar fills the air as you run from whatever is chasing you from behind. Your breathing is irregular, your heart thumping against your chest. You dash through the ruins, barely feeling the sweat surfacing through your pores.


    You can hear the harsh, throaty breaths of the beast behind you as it grows closer, feet practically beating against the ground.


    You know that you aren’t fast enough to outrun whatever is coming after you. There’s already an ache forming in your legs, as well as a straining in your stomach. You have to think of something—anything. Your eyes quickly scan the vicinity as the buildings pass by.


    Your irises shift to the left.


    Nothing.


    Your pupils shift to the right.


    Nothing.


    Your lips are apart as you struggle to steady your breathing, your grunts becoming louder as you push yourself past your limit. You can feel the lump burning in your throat as familiar moisture fills your eyes.


    I don’t want to die!


    You can feel it closing in—hear its growling right behind you. You can sense its presence reaching for you.


    Suddenly, you bend your knees, dropping yourself to the ground as you wrap your arms around your legs. Your quick plan is successful, the beast tripping over you as it flips ahead, landing a few feet away.


    You observe the broad creature as it rolls on the ground. The beast’s dark fur conceals the skin beneath, aside from the large, crimson scars prominent along its torso and arms. It resembles a wolf, though it clearly uses only two wide feet to get around. Its claws protrude, sharp and black.


    What catches you off guard is the long, scaly tail with spikes stabbing through the skin. It is silver, contrasting with the yellow eyes plastered around its entire body.


    Terror contorts your expression as the thing slowly picks itself up from the ground, low growls and grunts escaping its long snout. You can’t take your eyes off the razor-sharp teeth filling its mouth, stained with scarlet.


    You know there’s no way you can escape this creature. The realization that you are no longer on Earth hits you. You are stranded in an unknown world that you’ve never seen nor heard of before. You have no recollection of how you appeared on this planet.


    You don’t even know if you’re truly alive or not.


    Could this be hell? Is my soul destined for eternal punishment?


    Your sobs combine with the ragged breaths of the predator as it slowly stalks toward you. Your head bows forward as you shut your eyes tightly, accepting your fate as the hopelessness of your thoughts consume you.


    There’s no point. I’m lost and alone. I know nothing about this world. There’s nothing I can do. I can’t escape this.


    BANG!


    Your breath hitched as you heard an echo of the shot burst through the air. Your eyes shoot open to see the creature fall with a loud thud. You watch as the ruddy substance puddles around the monster’s head.


    Despite the original source of your fear now truant, your heart didn’t stop pounding against your chest as you heard the footsteps of something else closing in behind you. More tears streamed down your face as you felt the hard object against the back of your head.


    Your fingers fidget against the skin of your legs as the grip of your arms tightened around yourself.


    “Name.” The male’s tone is authoritative and commanding as it slices through the silence.


    You exhale. “Y/n L/n,” your voice is shaky and quiet.


    “When and how did you escape?” He emphasizes his question by applying pressure to your head.


    At first, you are confused by the question, unaware of the meaning behind it. “I—I didn’t escape anywhere, I—” You are cut off by another voice.


    “Hey, Brontes! You catch another runner?” You hear a slightly higher-pitched voice break through the tension. His footsteps can be heard, a steady pace as they become louder.


    “A stray human, huh?” Black boots fall into your vision as the second male stands in front of you. Your eyes look up, meeting wide silver orbs.


    Why did he say ‘human’ as if the term is separate from himself?


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The man has two loose blonde-and-green-streaked strands flowing over his face while the rest of his hair is pulled into a slightly tousled ponytail. One hand is shoved into the pocket of the dark green camouflage jacket he wears over the black, form-fitting shirt. His other hand holds the shotgun that’s slung over his shoulder. His solid black pants are baggy, the hem stuffed into his boots.


    His soft facial features contrast with the eerie gaze plastered on his face as he studies you. His earrings jingle as he lowers himself into a crouch, the tattoo of a bloody carnation on his neck more prominent in your view.


    “You smell different,” he says quizzically, almost to himself, as he tilts his head. “What’s your status?”


    Your brows furrowed in confusion. “Status? I—I don’t know anything about that. L—look, I don’t know where the hell I’m at. This isn’t my world,” you hesitate for a response, though both men stay quiet as the male in front of you studies your form. “I just wanna go home, back to Earth.”


    The male’s eyes perk at your statement. “Earth, huh? No wonder you smell… off.”


    Off? I mean, I did wake up covered in mud and grime. Not to mention the fact that I just ran from a fucking alien-wolf thing.


    Your eyes widen as you hear the gun cock behind you.


    “Get up,” the man behind you demands.


    Your eyes drift away from the man in front of you as he raises himself from the ground. You steadily pick yourself up, the breeze you hadn’t noticed before kissing against your skin.


    You feel the barrel of the gun shift to your back, pressing against your spine as Brontes tells you to move. The second male walks behind you as he and the other man converse.


    “M’ guessing we’re taking her to Mur, right?” the second male questions.


    Brontes grunts. “Yeah. He’ll figure out what to do with it.”


    You give a pointed look at nothing as you hear him refer to you as an ‘it.’


    “Asshole,” you whisper, the statement slipping through your lips before you can stop it.


    Suddenly, the hard pressure from your back disappears, only for a rough grip to snatch the back of your neck, yanking you backward as you’re forced to face the male who shot the beast.


    You can feel his bare fingers protrude from the leather glove as the platforms squeeze your skin. His expression is one of mild anger but heavy annoyance as his brows furrow. Loose black-and-brown-streaked strands frame his face as the rest of his neck-length waves are pulled back into a small ponytail. From your viewpoint, you can see that he wears the same jacket as the other male.


    Instead of earrings, there’s a silver chain necklace secured around his neck. There’s a sharpness in his golden irises while he glowers at you.


    “What’d you call me?” His tone is eerily calm, but you can still hear the lingering dark undertone.


    I called you an asshole, you fucker.


    You only stare back at him silently, your expression slight with apprehension. You don’t see how the other male watches the display with a tinge of amusement. He heard your statement as well, but it only makes him curious about what kind of society you came from.


    The male holding you grits out a chuckle. “T’s what I thought,” he says before shoving you forward and releasing you, reapplying the barrel of his gun to your back. “Move.”


    You huff in offense, fingers curling into fists as you comply, walking in the direction they lead you.


    “Got any cuffs on you, Geo?” Brontes questions, tone settled.


    “Nah. We’ll just get ‘em from the twins,” he responds, his eyes studying your figure from behind.


    Their conversation becomes a low hum in the background as your mind drifts off to your situation. You are confused, scared, and irritated. You are also stranded in a world that’s clearly different from yours. You have never been a fan of the unknown when it comes to your future—not on Earth and definitely not here.


    Especially not with the concept of life and death. This planet brings on a whole other kind of dilemma. Your unfamiliarity will be your downfall. You wonder how the other participants of this land will be. They’re not off to a great start.


    The walk to the destination wasn’t extensive. The three of you arrived outside of the fence, just on the outskirts of the abandoned city. Your gaze shifts to the black military vehicle that’s parked on the pavement.


    There’s a man with blonde curls, the red tips reaching his shoulders, leaning against the car. He wears the same attire as Geo and Brontes, but the color of his pants and the pattern on his jacket are switched. He has two silver earrings piercing his ear.


    You feel the gun push you along as you walk forward, closer to the red-eyed man.


    “Well, well, what do we have here?” he beamed, amusement and mischief embedding his tone. His hands reach his hips as his head turns to the side slightly. “Yo, Alex! Come check this shit out,” he called out.


    A man with similar features stepped out of the vehicle, his face bare of any emotion as his red eyes shifted to you. The only difference is that he has blue at the tips of his blonde strands.


    “What’s with her smell?” Alex questioned, his gaze shifting from you to the men who caught you.


    Do I really stink that bad?


    “She’s not from here. Somethin’ about Earth, right?” Geo’s finger reached his chin as he drifted off into thought about his statement.


    Alex hummed.


    “Earth, huh?” Ajax asked as he walked up to you. You leaned back as he leaned closer to you, his grin eerily wide as he tilted his head, showing off his razor sharp teeth. “What’s it like?”


    You hesitated for a moment, unaware that he had asked you a question in the first place. “Nothing like this.”


    He hummed. “Fair enough! Well, welcome to Vireos,” he said, his tone lighthearted and playful as he took a few steps back.


    “No wonder there’s no alpha scent,” Alex mentioned as he turned to Brontes and Geo.


    “I just wanna know what that scent is,” Geo mused while crossing his arms, his gaze shifting to you.


    “I don’t give a shit what it is. Grab me some cuffs and send its ass to Murali,” Brontes muttered as he balanced the gun between his leg and the ground.


    Alex grabbed the dangling metal from the backseat and tossed them in Brontes’s direction. Once he caught them, he took a step in front of you and snatched your arms. You flinched as he roughly secured the restraints around your wrists, strapping your arms in front of you.


    “Get in the car,” he commanded. You faced away from him, rolling your eyes as you walked toward the vehicle, ignoring the snickers from Ajax and Geo, who caught the expression.


    “She’s kinda funny, huh?” Ajax said as all four of them watched you climb into the car.


    Geo hummed as Brontes scoffed.


    “Let’s go, G’.”


    The ride to wherever they were taking you was eerily quiet, except for the casual conversation between the twins and the wind rushing through the open windows.


    You noticed the subtle shift in the night sky as the car drove away from the ruins. It felt like you had crossed into another realm, where the firmament turned a deep blue, with pastel-colored stars dotting the sky. The grass along the roadside was lush and green, a sharp contrast to the landscape you’d seen earlier. The moon hung high and bright, unblemished by any unsettling cracks.


    Your mind drifted off to the wonders of how you appeared in this mysterious world.


    You tried to remember—rummaging through your mind as to where you were before you woke up. You vaguely recalled lying in your bedroom with your phone—that you no longer had—as you dozed off. It was frustrating how unexplainable your situation was.


    As the car approached a sprawling building, your gaze shifted to it. The manor loomed ahead, a modernized castle, grand and imposing. Roses and flowers spilled across the grounds, while meticulously trimmed bushes lined the driveway. It was the largest mansion you’d ever seen, and you wouldn’t be surprised if dozens of people lived there.


    Once Alex parked the vehicle, the twins hopped out of the car before Ajax pulled your door open.


    “We’re hooome!” he beamed tauntingly as he grabbed your arm to help guide you out of the car.


    Once your feet hit the foundation, he pulled you along as Alex led the way.


    The interior was nothing short of breathtaking. The marble floors were cold underfoot, and the walls, adorned with portraits and paintings of men, seemed to watch you as you passed. Shiny artifacts and antique decorations stood on pedestals and tables throughout the expansive foyer.


    “Yo! Dimitri!” Ajax called out to the figure walking toward you.


    Your eyes shifted to the broad man approaching the three of you. His hair is styled into a navy mullet with sky blue undertones. Black leather straps criss-crossed over his exposed chest, emphasizing the hard lines of his muscles as well as the large snake tattoo on his torso. His black military pants barely covered the v-line of his waist.


    “Who’s this?” he asked, his hands resting casually on his hips with the brass knuckles gleaming under the light.


    “This is… uh…” Ajax stuttered, his chin pinched between his thumb and index finger.


    “Bron and G’ found her in the ruins. She’s a human from Earth,” Alex informed Dimitri, whose golden eyes examined your form.


    “Uh huh,” he began. “She stinks.”


    You felt heat rush through you in embarrassment and slight annoyance as you lifted an eyebrow toward the blue-haired man.


    “Duh, I’m covered in mud and grime. What the hell do you expect?” you muttered without realizing the thought had slipped through your lips.


    Dimitri exchanged an unamused gaze with a snickering Ajax and a scowling Alex.


    “Tch, I got it from here,” he exhaled as his fingers curled around your bicep.


    Angry nodded in Dimitri’s direction as Ajax waved you both off.


    “Maybe I’ll see ya around—if Murali doesn’t eat ya first, human girl,” Ajax chuckled, despite the shock evident on your expression.


    Eat me first? I hope that’s metaphorical.


    “Watch your mouth. Mur doesn’t take disrespect lightly,” Dimitri glanced at you before his gaze shifted ahead, gently but firmly pulling you along.