Legacy of the Wolf

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

The sound of an alarm clock rings off the walls of a small run down studio apartment. Tucked at the back of the 3rd floor of a building that should have been condemned and torn down by now, except for the fact that the greasy landlord still made money off of those who couldn't afford anything else in this gutter swamp of a town.

A sleepy Mj rolls out of bed and sets her feet on the floor "COLD" she gasps as she pulls her feet back under the covers. "OOOh so warm" is the last thing that trickles across her mind as she lays back down and drifts off to sleep once again.

The sound of sirens and yelling through thin walls jerked her back awake. She sat up with a start and looked at her alarm clock "SHIT" was all that came out as she saw that it was now 7:30 and she was already over half an hour late for work on a normal day but today she was supposed to be up extra early.

"Great", she thought as she rushed to pull on her shirt and pants and stuff the wild dirty blonde hair on her head into a messy bun and rush out the door.

MollyJay was a woman lost in the world around her, at almost 30 years of age she lived on her own, no family to speak of and very few friends, if she could even call them that as they were all the people she worked with. She was an ordinary enough girl, about 5ft 3 with dull blue green eyes, pretty generic neutral skin and dirty blonde hair. She was the poster child of forgotten. And for the most part that was OK by her.

Mj watched the people on the street as she made her way toward the center of town. All the hustle and bustle of people and their messy lives.

"It was hard enough to live day to day with the crap around them let alone involve someone in that mess." She thought, watching as people scolded their kids for being late for school. Or as a couple had a very public argument about someone cheating on someone else while clothes and dishes thrown from a nearby apartment window to the unlucky adulteress below.

"Thankfully" she thought "I don't have to deal with any of that stupid shit, just my own stupid self and the inability to wake up on time.

When the fuck am i gonna grow up?" she huffed to herself with the realization she was now in her late twenties, working in a slaughter house in the same town she had been in for over 20 years!

She had little education outside of high school and had no other real world experience. "So really doing anything else with her life didn't seem possible anyway".The depressing thought lingered as she made her way to work.

M.J worked 3 jobs at the moment. A part time job at the slaughterhouse, a part time job as a butchers assistant and a night job as a bartender. It kept her pretty busy so a more social life wasn't something she missed. But on mornings like this one sometimes she wondered what it would be like to have someone to talk to.

The town of Lowder wasn't very big so Mj never bothered with a car. She would have had to maintain it and pay for insurance,and buying new shoes every couple months seemed more cost effective and much less headache to deal with.

She reached the butcher shop and took a deep breath before pulling the door open "that better be one MollyJay Bijou" a yell came from the back room. An older man in his late 60's snakes his head around the door jam and threw one hand up in the air. "What the fuck? You were supposed to be here at 4 to approve the new shipment of cutlets but instead I have a sorry we missed you note hung on my door this morning, care to explain?"

Mj hung her head, of all the mornings to oversleep it had to be the morning Lou was getting a new shipment "I'm really sorry Lou" Mj mumbles as she stuffed her hands in her pockets "I hit the snooze on the alarm clock and fell asleep".

Mj felt really guilty, Lou was a really easy going boss, and a better person. Lou didn't have much family aside from his sister Beth, as far as MJ knew or if he didn't like to talk about them or spend any time with them at all.

Mj had worked for Lou for almost 3 years and he was always at the shop. Even on holidays, it was one thing Lou liked about Mj, that she would work any day of the week no matter what time of year but every holiday season Lou would give Mj a primo cut of whatever new meat he was hooked on that month and always made the excuse that a customer special ordered it and never picked it up.

" Punk kids and their damn prank calls!" Lou would grumble and hand her a neatly wrapped package that lasted Mj until the next holiday. Mj caught on to what he was doing about a year ago and confronted him about it. She didn't think it was a big deal to ask him why he gave her things but Lou, the normally gentle giant of a man he was, absolutely lost his mind.

He yelled and screamed and broke the front door to the shop. He screamed and wagged his finger in her face "I never gave anybody anything in they whole damn life MollyJay, what the hell makes you think I would start now".

It's true that Lou was a large man both in stature and girth, but he was such a solitary man one almost forgot how terrifying he could be, even for his age. Although Mj was never truly afraid of Lou, be it that his outbursts were far and few between or that they were usually caused by peculiar or silly things and the only objects that ever suffered any physical wrath were the shop itself.

"Look Lou, if you want I can take the truck down to the slaughterhouse and pick it up right now", Mj said while looking at the ground "you can even take the gas money out of my pay" she offered as a way to help sooth the irritated man that was now engulfing the doorway he had peeked out from. "Fuckin aye right you will missy!" Lou said as he crossed his arms and pointed his chin at her "and after that you will wash the shop front windows and the sign".

Mj rolled her eyes and nodded, Lou reached into his pocket and tossed her a set of keys. Mj fumbled to get her hands out of her pockets and the keys hit the floor. "Could you be any more clumsy?" Lou said, through a belly laugh that made Mj giggle a little, she shrugged "don't have to be quick to cut up what's already dead, and don't call me MollyJay Old man". She threw a little gut behind the last two words.

Mj hated her name, and not just her first name but her last name too. "What the hell kind of person names their kid MollyJay Bijou anyway?" She would have changed it but MJ was found after a flood when she was about 4 and she was afraid that if she did and her family ever came looking for her they wouldn't know who to look for.

But she was almost 30 now and still had found know-one, "after all how many people could have that name anyway?" She wasn't even sure it was her real name, it's just the only name she could remember. Mj had a vague vision of her mother, sitting with her under a tree stroking her face and singing to her "MollyJay Bijou, little bird i love you" but nothing else after that.

"Alright Moll just get ur ass movin we got lots of work ta do" Lou said in fatherly tone that made Mj smile, she wasn't really fond of being called Moll either, but Lou was the only one who did and it was better than the alternative so she let it slide "you got it boss" she chirped as she bent over and scooped up the keys. //

The door chime rang and a silky voice spat out "good morning Louisiana peaches" Mj blushed and shot upright. she looked at Lou, half horrified and another voice rang out, just as deep as the first one but not as smooth to the ears. "I think that's Georgia peaches bro but I get what you mean". Mj could not believe her ears," were they really talking about her ass right now?" She spun around on one heel to face the taunters and perched her hands on her hips. "Excuse the fuck out of you!" she spat with as much disgust as she could muster.

The man standing in front of her was about a foot taller than she was, and had beautiful deep lagoon green eyes. His hair was a dusty gold blond with darker highlights dancing underneath the top layer revealing how thick and beautiful it really was. Build was athletic and firm, his skin looked weather touched with different shades of neutral cream and olive tones. He was standing so close to her that she could swear she felt the air move around her when the corners of his mouth turned upward into a small wry smile but did not expose his teeth.

He leaned forward and almost whispered in her face," I said good morning". This man stood so close she could smell him, he smelled musky but sweet and Mj caught herself inhaling a little deeper to savor the scent. She was seething with annoyance not only had this jackass taken advantage of an unfortunate situation now he was insulting her intelligence.

Mj wasn't sure if it was instinct or just poor choices but she hauled back and headbutted the beautiful man standing in front of her, pushed passed his stunned companion and out the front door ignoring and angry Lou hollering behind her.

She raced around the corner and jumped into the old beat up farm truck Lou used, started the old beast and yanked her into gear, before the sequel of angry cold belts hauled her down the road toward the slaughterhouse and away from the problem Mj had just unnecessarily created for herself.

Mj drove a little ways down the road and pulled over, she hit the steering wheel with her palms and cursed herself. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you!" She thought, "you are a grown ass woman, cant you fucking act like one? You could have just walked away, but no you had to act like a child and headbutt him."She smirked a little as she remembered the satisfaction of cracking her scull against the soft cartilage of that jackass's face. "Serves him right" she thought as she made her way back onto the road and toward the slaughter house.

It only took about 25 minutes for her to get to the slaughterhouse. Mj pulled the truck off the main road and into the dirt drive up that led to the slaughterhouse main office and loading dock. She backed the truck in next to the loading port so that she wouldn't have to walk too far, in case Lou went overboard and ordered a pallet or something like that.

Mj made her way up the stairs of the office and walked inside. She was met at the front desk by a woman in her early 50's,she had a bubbly and happy little voice all the time. She was nearly 5 feet tall and so when she was sitting at the desk you could almost see a small tuft of her overly curled and teased black bob hair cut. Mj slapped her hands up on the desk and made the small woman jump.

"Morning Beth" Mj said with a start "Jesus H fucking Christ MJ you little shit! What is wrong with you for fuck sake? I'm an old woman and you could have killed me just now!" her voice was happy and high pitched but not shrill. "Sorry Beth", Mj chuckled "I just thought you could use a little pick me up". The woman behind the desk stood up and smoothed her shirt almost like trying to brush off the goosebumps that just shot up her spine.

"That's what coffee is for sweetie" Beth said with a smile, as she rounded the side of the desk and walked to Mjs side.

"What the hell happened to your head Mj?" Beth said in an accusing tone "you piss off Lou again and get hit in the head with another flying plate or what?"

"No" Mj said shyly, trying not to make eye contact with the woman in front of her. "Hay, do you think Lou would ever fire me?" Mj asked, still not making eye contact with Beth, which was hard to do considering she was an inch shorter than Mj. Beth started laughing "what in the world happened this morning".

Beth was Lou's sister and Mj had met Lou through Beth 3 years ago when she mentioned she was looking at picking up more work so she could save money to get the hell out of this small town and maybe do something with her life. Sure Mj had lived in Lowder since she was small, but she kept to herself mostly because she was just kind of cast aside by everyone. Not on purpose, but people had their own lives. Mj met Beth when she was about 12, Beth volunteered at the youth center in town and Mj was a ward of the state on account of the fact nobody came forward to claim her after the flood and they had to do something with her.

The State wouldn't take her as they already had too many kids in the foster system as it was. So the town of Lowder became her home by default and Mj ended up aging out of the foster system. It's not that she didn't want a family, it's just that she had a knack for getting into trouble with other kids, and nobody wanted to adopt a someone that was always fighting with other kids.//

Mj took a deep breath and explained the morning to Beth so fast she thought she might faint. She explained that she was late and had to go pick up the cutlets that she missed this morning and how she dropped the keys and a Greek god made lewd comments about her ass so she confronted him about it. "Good night" Beth began to say as she fanned herself with her hand "that's a hell of a morning and all dear, but what does that have to do with your head? And no, I don't think Lou would fire you for that" she said with a warm smile.

"Well" Mj winced at the thought of telling Beth what she did next, not because she didn't think she was in the right "because that douche definitely deserved it" she thought. But because she grew up with Beth, and she had tried really hard to stay out of the way since Beth had always been the one to bail her out of trouble. "What! Beth said with a soft but serious tone Mj knew was her being both worried and preparing for the worst. "I kinda head butted him" Mj said sheepishly as she looked up at Beth's face to gauge what the woman might say next. Beth's mouth fell open for what seemed like a long time before she threw her head back in a laugh that could be heard across the country.

"No way sweetie, I bet you Lou is having it out with that creep right now" she said with a matter of fact tone. "Come on, let's get you an ice pack for that forehead before it swells anymore and I will have the guys in the back get the pallet in the truck for you."

"Fuck man I knew it was gonna be a bunch of shit" Mj said as the two of them walked toward the small kitchen to get some ice.

When Mj was done letting Beth fuss over her she went back out to the truck and there sat a large Styrofoam barrier now stuffed in the bed of Lou's old truck. There were two guys standing at the back of the truck smoking and joking with each other. "Thanks guys" Mj hollered as she waved at them. "Sure thing" one of them hollered back "oh, by the way it's packed in ice so don't worry about time" the other one mumbled through his lit cigarette.

Mj nodded and climbed behind the driver side of the beat up old truck and drove back to Lou's shop.

When she pulled into the joint parking lot sandwiched between Lou's shop and a tailor who worked in the next building Mj's heart skipped a little. She knew Beth was probably right that Lou wouldn't really be upset enough to fire her, she had punched out rude ass customers before. She even once slapped a woman with a nice T bone when she told Mj she smelled like unwanted gutter trash. And Lou just laughed it off and told her to get back to work.

Mj took a deep breath and climbed out of the truck. She opened the side door and yelled "Hay Lou! I got all the fuckin meat you ordered but I don't know where the fuck we are supposed to put it all, you could feed an army with all these cutlets". Mj started to unlatch the bed of the truck when she heard footsteps behind her.

She leaned into the bed to unfasten one of the tie straps so they could unload the pallet in sections instead of trying to pull it out of the truck in one go.

"Hay Lou, look I'm sorry about earlier, but that ass-hat just really pissed me off you know? I mean yea I was bent over when he opened the door but does that seriously give him the right to shout disgusting shit like that?" She had now climbed mostly into the back of the truck and was struggling with one of the straps. Mj was on her knees yanking on a knot that had been tied in the strap for god only knows what reason. "Fuck!" she exclaimed in frustration. "Hay Lou, this god damn strap is all knotted to hell and back, can you come help me untie it?"

She knew the old man was standing there and she heard him walk out.

"Dammit Lou" Mj gritted her teeth as she gave one last pull out of frustration.

All of the sudden the strap broke at the knot and Mj flew backwards, she tried to catch herself but that made things worse she only launched herself backwards and stumbled into a hard almost immovable statue like figure. The statue reached forward and wrapped its arms around her and Mj knew then it wasn't Lou. The man was huge, sure, but he was very squishy in the middle and this being behind her was anything but.

Mj tried to wriggle free but the large fleshy restraints that held her did not give. She managed to wiggle around and see the face of the person she had assumed was Lou.

Mjs body went numb. Her legs went limp and she inhaled so much air she thought she might choke on it if she didn't exhale slowly. "An ass-hat hu"? The low delicious voice hummed, Mj was horrified the man from earlier was still here. And to make matters worse he was now holding her! "Get the fuck off me you creep" Mj hollered as she tried her best to get free.

The olive toned god of a man holding her did not put her down nor did he fall prey to any of her jabs or headbutts and now he was grinning. "Now in all fairness kitten" he purred "you fell into my arms, I just didn't want to hurt those tender peaches of yours".

The words rolled off his tongue like velvet and it made Mj blush. //