Blood Wolf chapter 1

         I ran my fingers over the hard carved stone, taking in every small detail. The crumbling wall depicted a halo'd wolf surrounded by thousands of kneeling people. The unnerving part was that something was smeared over the wolf's image, something that gave it color, something like blood. Despite my curiosity towards the image, I finally tore my attention away to notice the sunset.
         "Uh-oh," I said jumping down from the boulder I stood on, "Its red."
         It wasn't long before I was racing through the trees, anxious to get home. No matter how much I fought it, in the back of my mind there was a tinge of fear. Ever since I could remember, my foster parents said to never stay out after dark, especially on a red sun set. Not that they had even let me out of the house until recently. I never found my family to be overly superstitious, so I dont know why they believed in the old myth that red sunsets foretold blood to be spilt that night. I'd assume its just living in a close to abandoned town. Despite the fact it looked like a small city with its box like buildings side by side. Its still got to being pretty creepy. After all, there's A LOT of things that go bump in the night here. However, if I truly didn't believe in the myth, then why was I hurried to get back. I guess I'd rather be safe than sorry.
         Finally, analyzing surroundings more, I came to an abrupt halt, noticing something crossing my path. They we're paw prints. Chances that a black cat had crossed me? Well that would suck if two superstitions came at you in one day, but no, these weren't from a cat. These paw prints we're slightly different, not to mention larger. I bent over resting my hands on my knees to catch my breath.
         "Someone's dog must be loose," I said relaxing a bit.
         Not that I remember any of the townsfolk owning such a creature, the thought still gave me comfort. It was just a lost dog that was migrating far far away from its original home. That just had to be it. Maybe I'd get up the courage to look for it in the morning, but right now I needed to get back.
         I nearly choked on my own saliva as a tremendous howl rose through the trees, scattering the birds from their nests. It had sounded less than 20 feet to my left. I looked in its direction and quickly began backing up. All this leading up to me turning to a full speed dash to get to the edge of town.
         "There's no way in hell that's a dog," I yelled at myself as I ran, paying no heed to the cuts the local plant life were so generously giving me.
         Oh, but thank goodness for the sight of the town. Even though my family's house was beyond the town for reason's unknown, the thought of people and street lights on the distance gave me comfort.
         Distracted in thought, I suddenly heard a growl to the left of me. Something was running along side me, hidden in the trees. It got bigger and bigger as if it was getting closer. Suddenly it lunged out at me. Time began to slow down, though I couldn't tell the looks of the creature because of the ever consuming darkness. As if by pure instinct I ducked, rolling a few feet in front of me. All I heard was something crashing into the brush that had been to my right, a profound yelp accompanying it. I pushed myself up, my limbs shaking, I looked over my shoulder to where the thing must have landed. I sat there waiting, my breathing coming out as shaky as my limbs. My pulse was out of control, yet with the adrenaline rush, I felt like I could do anything. As I continued looking, everything turned dead silent and my vision seemed to zoom in, concentrating harder on the disturbed thickets. Crickets had stopped chirping, owls had stopped hooting, and the wind had come to a halt, it was too quiet.
         Suddenly the sound of the rustling thickets broke it and a fierce growl of anger as well. In an instant, I was back up on my feet running the remainder of the distance into town. Whatever that thing was, it was still alive and it wasn't too happy with me.
         Even though reaching the edge of town should have been an accomplishment to me, It was a sour victory. The streets were barren. No one walked the streets and no one's houselights were on. Was it possible that the townsfolk shared the same affinity for the red sunset myth? Well, I wouldn't put it past them, but what mattered is that it wasn't going to help me. The red sunset was disappearing quickly, and the streetlights had yet to go on.
         "This has to be a dream!" I said raising my hands to slap my face as I ran with nearly zero vison, "Wake up!"
         I was lucky it was a straight road through the town towards my home, no turns to slow me down. I couldn't relax yet, though, from the opposite edge of town my family's home was nearly half a mile away. Part of me hoped I'd wake up from this nightmare about half way there.          As I was lost in panic while blindly running, I began falling to the ground, tripping over something large.
         "What the hell was that?" I groaned in pain.
         I of course blamed it on the late streetlights. Not even the tiniest sliver could be seen of the sunset now. Blind as a bat and unsure of what I tripped over, I was hoping more than ever to just wake up. I didn't hear any fast approaching footfalls, and no growling for that matter. It had to mean I was safe, but with limited vision to about a...0 feet in front of me(damn those clouds for covering up the moonlight!) I couldn't be sure how long that'd last.
         As if answering my prayer, a streetlight came on right above me, albeit only the streetlight above me and no others. My happiness was short lived, though, as I finally caught a glimpse at what I had tripped over. What I saw was the lifeless body of Emma, the town's homeless girl, her eyes and mouth still wide with terror. I looked down her body, quickly scooting away at seeing the bloody flesh that seemed to have been torn into. I covered my mouth quickly, gagging. Here I thought the danger had been behind me, but it looks like it had beaten me here.
         Only when the streetlight began to flicker did I notice something else. Just beyond the light of the streetlamp, two eyes gleamed at me in the darkness. I would have thought I was frozen in fear, yet I had begun scooting away to the door of the nearest house to my right. The thing in the darkness only seemed to advance on me as I did. As it finally came into the light I could make out a long muzzle with gleaming white teeth and triangular ears to top it off. Not to mention the mass amount a fur. All the color of tainted snow, a grayish shade. A growl erupted from its throat as it continued approaching me, fangs bared.
         "A wolf?!" I thought," There's no wolves around here!"
         I immediately reconsidered as more growling beasts came out of nearby alleyways. To my dismay, I had finally backed up against the houses door. The wolf closest to me seemed to smile with its gleaming fangs at my situation. What could I say? I was in between a hard place and well...WOLVES! This was definitely not looking good for me, so I did what any desperate and delusional person would do, I tried to reason with them.
         "Hi there, uh...Can I call you Mr.Wolf?" I said sounding like an idiot.
         I fierce growl from the wolf in front of me made me take it back.
         "Ok, Ms. wolf, then," I corrected," and you can uh call me Mira...well, ok, I guess you really cant...Anyways, you dont want to eat me, I taste horrible. My parents haven't let me out in the sun often. Im very VERY raw meat, I could make you sick, ever heard of Salmonella? Yes well its not good, and I could never live, uh, in the afterlife with the fact that I made a whole pack of wolves sick."
         "Silence!" I suddenly heard a female voice shout from out of nowhere.
         I looked around, panicked at where it had com from. My gaze landed back on the wolf in front of me.
         "Oh no, please tell me you can't..."
         "Talk?" The wolf seemed to finish for me.
         I nodded my head lightly. Now I had to be dreaming.
         "You, insolent human! We may not have to move our mouths for our thoughts to be heard, but how dare you speak to us as if we're dumb animals!" The wolf continued.
         The other wolves seemed to growl in agreement with her. I on the other hand was dumb-founded. Are they not stupid animals? Research proves humans are the most intelligent, well, except for dolphins, but I doubt ol' flipper gave the wolves a tip or two on how to become smart. This, to me, was utterly horrifying. Things that shouldn't be around here, are here. Things that shouldn't be talking, are talking. How the hell is this not a dream?! And no one seems to notice my little predicament outside their...hold it, what was that? I look to the second floor of a building across the street. Someone had just looked out the window, the curtains were still swaying from the action. I kept looking and it happened again. Old man Hutchins, the town lunatic, was looking at me from his window. I mouthed the word "help." He disappeared again, only to return looking through the curtains a few seconds later. What was his problem? I needed help! The wolf in front of me seemed to notice what I was doing and glared up the window. As soon as Hutchins saw it, he disappeared from the window, this time, it seemed, for good.
         "He wont help you," The wolf said, "Humans are such selfish beings, only worrying about their selves. Oh, how Im going to enjoy this."
         With that the wolf began closing in on me once more, the others following. Did I already mention how I really wanted to wake up now? I just wanted to sit up in bed, relaxing in the thought that it was only a nightmare. Only it was all too real. My body began to quiver and shake in fear more than ever. The wolves seemed indefferent as they zeroed in on me.
         My breath caught in my throat as the gray wolf lunged at me. As I saw it happen in slow motion, I felt the door give way behind me. And just as the wolf was upon me, I felt arms take ahold of me, pulling me in. The door closed quickly once I was safely inside.
         The last thing I remember before fainting was the large thud of the wolf colliding with the wooden door. I sure as hell better wake up this time.