Chapter 9

• Alex pushed through his lethargy, and with each step he took to the room door, he kept on thinking if he’d been doing the right thing, heading out in the woods. It wasn’t because he was afraid of being ganged up and beaten by the other big bad wolves who envied the amount of power he had, on the contrary, he was only scared of dying, with his body left for the vultures to feed on.
• The thought was beyond horrifying, and Alex had to remind himself that he was powerful, an alpha male. Although he’d been born under the Solar tribe, who were written off as nothing more than slaves, Alexander knew his story was just beginning. Once, Alex tried the lock on the door, and he was a bit surprised when it didn’t budge, as if he had expected it to. Well, he was going to have to break the lock then. He stepped back a little, feeling starved off air, and slammed the door with his closed fist. The door gave way, nothing but a small mass of wood now that he looked at it. Why was he here? And who’d locked him up in the first place?
• Alexander found out all the answers when he stepped through the front screen door. There on the wraparound porch was a small picnic basket, which contained some food, and a brown envelope underneath. Alex ate the food, devouring it like he hadn’t eaten in months, and as he stuffed his face full, he stared at the large expanse of trees, which disappeared into the far river. The place looked like a rat maze. But the icy wind shook the tree leaves, and peltered the low grass. It finally dawned on Alex that whoever had brought him here had meant for him to find something–something that was contained in the brown envelope. He wiped food crumbs from the corner of his mouth, and tore open the envelope. But, only a small note fell out. Don’t bother. You won’t find anything. Go home to your tribe.