Chapter 1
The full moon shone out from a cloud. Elizabeth sat up in bed. She knew what time it was. It was the same time she always woke up in her small room.
As she listened nothing happened. This was weird. The bell on Big Ben should be ringing. Suddenly Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
There was something not quite right she thought to herself. The last toll was longer, it stayed in her head for a while after.
Suddenly there was a huge crack of thunder in the sky. It was like the heavens them selves were opening up.
The whole of London lit up with each crack of lightning. Twelve times the lightning blazed through the sky, twelve times the thunder shook the very foundations of the earth.
It was almost as it the lighting and thunder were replying to Big Ben, she thought to herself with a small smile, but somewhere at the back a her head something made her think of the twelve ancient Greek gods.
What was that little voice? Why did it make her think of the gods? Why did... along with many other questions, she fell asleep.
"Lizzie!" called Elizabeth's father, "Breakfast is ready!". Elizabeth eyes slowly opened. He eyes where met with the same dim whiteness that were her painted walls.
She liked white, it always calmed her. Her walls made her think of the white moon before and the strange bell tolls and thunder and lightning.
She slowly crawled out of her bed and punt a cream, fluffy, dressing gown that was ones her mum's.
It was one of the things that when she wore it she felt connected to her mother is a way. Her mother had died when she was three, or so her father had told her.
She always wanted to believe that she was out there somewhere, waiting for her.
She slipped on her pair of slippers and slowly walked down the steps, stumbling on the last one making her curse.
She walked into the kitchen as she was yawning. She never was a morning person. She was more of the kind of person that stayed up at night and looked at the moon from her garden.
She pulled up a chair and sat at the table.
"Good morning, sleepy head," Elizabeth's father, Caleb, said to her from the kitchen. He had brown hair and and greeny blue eyes.
He was standing next to the cooker with a frying pan. Only now did Elizabeth realize what he was cooking. She was surprised that she hadn't smelt it before.
She usually had a good sense of smell. It was a full English breakfast minus bacon and sausages, for she hated food that had been freeze stored as did her dad.
He placed the food on two plates and bright them to the table and set one of them down in front of Elizabeth.
"Thanks," she mumbled and started to eat. She loved her dad. He was never to busy to listen to her and always gave her some room when she was in a mood. She was the kind of father most girls would always want.
" Do you remember what day it is today?" Caleb asked his daughter. She thought for a second. It was Saturday. It took a second for it to click.
"Camping!" she suddenly shouted, making her dad smile. Every Saturday he and Elizabeth would go down to a nature reserve and somehow they would always get permission to camp out in the woods and one time even hunt some animals and eat it.
That was one of the best camping trips ever.
For some reason when Elizabeth thinks of that trip she felt closer to her mum even more so than when she was wearing her mum's gown.
It was the best feeling she had ever felt. It was almost as if she was as fit as a panther. She felt she could do anything.
"Well eat up, you wanna get your strength up for the hunt we're gonna do this time." Caleb said.
"You mean we got permission to hunt again?" she asked. Caleb nodded.
"YES!" she screamed. She shovelled down the rest of her breakfast and ran upstairs.
She grabbed her backpack that she always took with her when she went camping. She quickly grabbed her white hoody and some old army combat pants.
She walked over to her dresser and reached into a draw. She pulled out a small pen knife and water canteen.
These the only items that were not clothing that were left by her mother for her. She felt the edge of the knife. It was razor sharp.
Also as she picked up the canteen some water sloshed about inside it. She could have sworn she emptied it before she put it back in the draw after last weeks camping trip.
She also picked up a book, The Battle Of The Icemark and threw it in her bag. She loved the way that her bag always seemed to be big enough for all the things she took camping.
"Come on! We're going now!" She ran down the stairs stumbling, and swearing, yet again, on the last step.
I never was one for long car journeys. I find them just so boring... having to sit still for so long. It drives me crazy as dad drives the car.
I know I could bring my iPod and other stuff but I get sick reading in the car, motion sickness, and I was to excited to play on my DS.
And of course it doesn't help that I'm claustrophobic. I just hate being in small enclosed spaces. I'm someone made for the great outdoors and I think dad enjoys letting the stress off from work on the weekends.
He's an accountant and he finds the job quite boring but it does bring in some good pay. Dad knows this so being the dad he is he got us a big car.
Dad drives quite quickly on the motorway, the hand on the speed dial never falling below 90mph. I suppose this makes the car journey a little more exciting.
He has the radio on quietly and I'm listening to my music in the back just staring out the window.
It's funny how the trees just go by so quickly but I still know what type each one is and which ones burn well for smoke or heat and which have edible berries and fruits.
I guess this must come from being outside a lot with dad and camping at the weekends. I catch a glimpse of a deer, roe buck to be exact, and my eyes widen, running through the woods we're going past and for a moment I think I saw a, a kind of party of kids chasing after it.
One moment they're there and the next they're gone. My mind must be playing tricks on me. I mean who lets kids run around in the woods chasing deer, roe bucks. Bizarre, I know but that's what I think I saw. Some time after that I think I just dozed off
or lost interest and forgot stuff but soon we arrived at our destination, or so the Sat-Nav thought. I love the way they sound happy when they say "You have reached your destination.". It like we just made his day. Yes, his. Sat-Navs have names, souls and genders. Ours is called Gav
.
It was a clear day when we got out the car at our "destination" know to us as a secret camp-site. It was well away from any towns or roads.
The problem with this was having to carry all of our gear from the car which meant a 4 mile trek while being loaded up with gear.
This wasn't really a problem though since me and my dad had done it so many time. So we were both quite confident trekkers.
We reach the camp in about an hour. Nothing much happened on the walk here, unless you count tripping and sliding down a slope on your front, twice, nothing.
The camp was in one of the national reserves know as New Forest which is a heavily wooded area.
Me and dad found a nice little pocket surrounded by trees.
We sent up our tents( two one-man tents). The wind wasn't strong because of the surrounding trees so they weren't hard to put up.
By the time we had set up camp it was starting to get dark. It was twilight to be exact. I loved this time. It's like the world seems more alive to me at this time.
We started to build a fire, me and my dad. It's was getting late now but it didn't bother us. We both had long lie ins this morning.
We were just starting to get ready for going to sleep when I though I heard the crack of a stick behind me. I whipped round but nothing was there. I could have sworn I felt something watching me...
It was midnight. Like I said before, I always know. The moon was at it's highest point. My dad was sat next to me. Suddenly he looked up.
"Time to go..." he almost whispered.
We were sneaking through the undergrowth together. The trees blocking what we could see in about a 6 meter radius... and what could see us. We were stalking a deer. It had eluded us for most of the night. I could tell it was beginning to tire.
The footprints on the ground didn't go as deep as before when it was running. If it was tired that would mean it would try and stop for a drink and something to eat soon.
The branches of the trees were pulled back in a certain direction so we knew which way the deer had gone. I heard the trickle of water nearby. Surely the deer would stop here for a drink. Me and my dad crept closer to the sound.
But the we caught sight of the deer... boy were we not expecting this. The deer was stooped down by the river eyes darting around madly. It knew it was being hunted. But then, I had that feeling again.
The one where you don't just think your being watched... the one where you know your being watched. The deer suddenly sprang to it's feet and what happened next was unbelievable. It was over before it had even started.
A giant beast about the size of a rhino leapt into the clearing by the river down the deer in a single blow. It's hide was the colour of midnight and it's claws where like daggers.
"Run, Lizzie!" My dad yelled. He had loaded his bow and fired an arrow at the beast. It did nothing but look like a splinter in it's side.
I leapt up ran. It felt like my lungs were going to burst I seemed to run until morning...But it only took a few seconds to register the absence of dad... I knew what he had done. I don't even have to say. He gave up his life for mine.
I wept bitterly down by a small stream. I was alone, in the middle of no where.
A beast was lurking out in the wilderness somewhere. I was mortally afraid for my life. And to make it even worse. I had a fever coming on.