Hey everyone, sorry it's been a minute, I just got caught up with the holidays, the new year and a new work schedule thats kept me busy as hell lately, but I've finally found enough time to whip up a new chapter to a new story. Hopefully it's an interesting one, this first chapter feels hella fast-paced to me but the others should slow down just a smidge. Enjoy...
My head rested against the cold glass surface of dads truck, my breath condensing on the window slightly as we traveled down the highway. Mom and Dad were talking in the front, convinced that I had fallen asleep hours ago. It wasn't hard, especially since we had left at 5 that morning, all I needed to do was be quiet and close my eyes, occasionally bobbing my head when we hit bumps in the road. I wasn't trying to be mean, but I really didn't feel like talking much preferring to keep to my own thoughts, but the mention of my name caught my attention.
"We both know why Maxine insisted on coming out here Ryan, she wants to go see Chloe again, I'm surprised she hasn't brought it up yet actually."
"Maybe so, but she hasn't mentioned her for a few months now, I think she's finally gotten over leaving her behind. I feel bad for them, they didn't deserve to be pulled apart, especially after Will's death."
"You know why we did Ryan, Chloe and Maxine were always too close, it pretty much prevented Maxine from making other friends."
"Let's not talk about this right now Vanessa, we're almost there." There was an odd sick feeling growing inside Max. 'It's sounding like they wanted to move to Seattle to get me away from Chloe... How could they? That is so unfair!'
"What do you find so great about camping anyways?"
"I don't really think I can explain that... That's like me asking you why you like that devils cooking show, I just do."
"Hmm well I suppose you have a point there... You know, I think we're overdue for a get away, just the two of us I mean."
"I know what you mean, I love Max but there are certain things that we can't do while we're all together." I was mortified 'Are they really doing this now? I might just jump out of this car to save myself.' I silently contemplated which was worse, death or letting them know I was listening to their conversation, Vanessa continued speaking.
"Mmm, I know, but Maxine is too young to be home alone."
"She's 16 dear, I've been home alone for much longer than a weekend I'm sure Max can handle it."
"I dunno... I'm just worried about her."
"I am too Vanessa." Silence filled the cabin as we turned onto a bumpy gravel road. At that point I decided to 'wake up' and end their conversation.
I stretched and grunted, hoping it was convincing. Mom twisted around and smiled at me.
"Morning sweetie, we're almost there, did you sleep well?" It was kinda weird how she could go from talking about me like that to pretending that she hadn't just been doing that so convincingly.
"Yea." My reply was short and came out a bit harsher than I meant it, but I didn't really care.
After a few more minutes of watching trees go past we pulled into a small clearing, dad parked the truck and we all climbed out, stretching our tired legs in the warm autumn sun. I was wearing sneakers, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, since it was so warm out. Dad was wearing jeans, boots and a red and black plaid shirt. Mom was also wearing jeans, but she was wearing a pair of flats and a long-sleeve grey shirt.
"Okay you two, lets go ahead and get the tent set up and then we might be able to take the ATV out today if we have time." I glanced at the large black machine that dad had borrowed from one of his co-workers and frowned, it didn't really seem safe to be riding that without a helmet or anything strapping me down. 'No thanks I'll pass.'
The campsite was actually pretty nice, trees lined the area, breaking to reveal a small stream of water that could barely be called a stream, on the oppisite bank I saw a trail leading deeper into the woods, 'Nice, I can go exploring for some wildlife shots later.' There was a wooden picnic table off to the side of a short campfire pit. My attention was snagged by my mother who was unloading things onto the picnic table.
"Maxine, can you start getting bags and put them on the table please?"
"Max mom, and yea, sorry i just got distracted."
After nearly half an hour of cursing and fumbling Dad stepped back triumphantly, the newly erected tent before him.
"HA! And you two doubted my tenting skills." He laughed, flexing his arm and making me chuckle.
"If it makes you feel any better pop I never doubted that you could get the tent set up..." I paused and grinned mischievously, "I just doubted that you could set it up within the day." I laughed as dad feigned a look of pain and clutched his chest.
"Why do you wound me so Max?"
I grabbed a sleeping bag from the truck and tossed it to him, he caught it effortlessly.
I grabbed my own sleeping bag and duffel bag and ducked under the tent flap. It was a fairly large tent, especially for only three people you could probably fit eight in there no problem, I laid my own bag off to the side and then got my messenger bag out of the truck.
"Hey I'm going to go look for some photo ops!" I called out to my parents.
"Max hold up a second." Ryan walked over to me and held out his hand, in it was a small black pocket knife.
"Hang on to this while you're out there okay? You never know what could be out there." His gaze was intense, filled with concern
"Erm, okay dad, I promise I'll be careful, I'm not going that far anyways." I gingerly took the knife and slipped it into one of my pockets, hoping I would never have to use it. I gave my parents a quick hug and reassured them i would be fine before I picked up my camera bag and hopped across the tiny stream.
'Okay, I really need to turn back before I get lost.' I had been walking for almost twenty minutes and I was well away from camp, I had just entered a small clearing that looked like a pretty good spot for a picnic.
I heard a rustling noise in the trees at the far end of the clearing, a small doe stepped out looking around warily before continuing. 'It's so pretty, I've got to take a photo for mom and dad.' I eagerly stalked after the doe and into the forest, readying my camera to take the shot I was looking for.
It seemed to take forever before the deer finally stopped, it bent its head down and began nibbling on a bush the sunlight illuminated it in the darkness. 'Perfect.'
I held the camera to my eye, lined up my shot, and pushed the shutter button releasing a bright flash accompanied by a loud click and whirring noise as the photo slid out of the Polaroid. The deer's head shot up and it bolted moving far too fast for me to follow. 'Sorry for startling you.' I put my camera and the new photo back in my bag before turning and walking back into the direction I came, a strange feeling of unease came over me and I quickened my pace. Suddenly a low growling sound came up from behind me, I stupidly turned to see a terrifying sight before me.
A very large black wolf was coming out from behind a tree, it mightve been just over three feet tall and looked hungry, 'Oh shit, I'm dead.' fear coursed through my body, the campsite was too far away for me to call out for dad so I picked up an admittedly short stick to try and defend myself. The wolf came closer and I threw the stick at it hoping that it would do something.
Unfortunately it only seemed to annoy the wolf, merely bouncing harmlessly off of it's snout. It bared it teeth and growled, I responded by promptly turning and running as fast as I could towards the clearing.
The wolf was much faster though, I barely made it to the edge of the trees before the large creature pushed me down onto all fours. I flipped onto my back and scrambled away, it ran up and bit my calf hard. I screamed in pain and kicked at it with my left and free foot, hitting it hard in the snout, it released my leg and growled. I kicked at it again hitting it in the side, this time it staggered with a whimper of pain but it still looked hungry as it skirted around me.
I suddenly remembered dads knife and pulled it out of my pocket, the blade swung open and I gripped it tightly in my trembling hands. The wolf leapt at me in my moment of distraction, front paws pinning me down to the ground, I swiped at it's face with the knife. A howl of pain told me that the blade had connected, it jumped off me and hurried back to the treeline shooting an angry look at me before disappearing between the trees..
I managed to get to my feet whimpering in pain at the deep bite, blood was trailing down to my ankle, I carefully applied pressure to the leg and winced in pain. 'Oh dog that hurts, I suppose I can walk on it though.' I limped across the clearing, easily finding the trail back to camp.
The trail seemed much longer than it had when I traveled up and oddly enough I could almost feel the pain rapidly lessening from the bite wound. 'Huh, that's interesting, maybe its the adrenaline kicking in?' I glanced at my ankle and gasped in shock, what had been a deep bite wound just minutes before now looked as though it had been inflicted almost a full day ago. Most of the wound had closed up, and the rest had scabbed over. 'What the hell?! This isn't normal, what was that thing?' I continued walking, noticing that I was no longer limping and after a few minutes I could hear mom and dad talking to each other. I examined my ankle again and rubbed it wondering how I was going to explain this to my parents.
'I can't tell them what really happened, a weird wolf just appeared outta nowhere and bit me, but in the time it took me to get back it healed? No they wouldn't believe me, hell, I sure wouldn't.' I suddenly noticed that I had accidentally rubbed the scab off, the skin underneath was pink but other than that, it was flawless, as though nothing had happened at all.
"Wowsers." I muttered, straitening up and, taking a deep breath, emerged into our campsite with a grin on my face.
"Maxine! You're back!" mom yelped and pulled away from dad, blushing.
'Are you cereal? Of course you walk in on them kissing.'
"Hey kiddo, did you get any good shots?" Dad asked, grinning at Moms reaction.
"Yea, there was this really pretty doe that I saw, I managed to get a really good picture while it ate." I chirped, pretending I didn't see anything.
"Coolio, can we see it?" he asked. I pulled out the photo and handed it to him, and for a moment the incident with the black wolf left my mind.
I was feeling very warm and was having a hard time breathing, my entire body felt sore and a lot of my muscles felt tense even though I could still move them with ease. It was pitch black outside and my parents had fallen asleep a long time ago, I wanted to wake them up to get help but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to do so.
'What the fuck is happening to me? Did that damn wolf have rabies or something?' Sweat dripped down my forehead and I was reminded how hot I was. 'I'm gonna try walking it off.' Shuddering, I slipped out of my sleeping bag and reached for my jacket but paused once I realized I wasn't cold. I slipped out of the tent being careful not to wake my parents and started walking around the campsite.
'This is idiotic, I shouldn't be walking around, I should be getting help.' I moved back towards the tent but I was suddenly struck with a very strong urge to run, it took a surprising amount of effort to resist. I continued to walk around, drifting farther away from the tent as I carefully stepped over the dimly lit ground.
I decided to try and take my mind off of the pain and started thinking about different types of cameras and which one I might get when I get the money. 'I wonder if Chloe still has her dads old camera.' A brief image of the strawberry-blonde girl flashed into my head and I felt a wave of regret wash over me.
'I miss her so much, it wasn't fair to her to loose her friend right after her father.' a determination rose up within me and I promised myself right then and there that I would contact Chloe as soon as the sun rose. "I'm coming back for you Chloe, whether you like it or not, and if you don't talk to me so be- AGH!" my whisper turned to a yelp of pain as the strange tenseness tightened further, my legs grew weak and I fell to my knees.
'I should have woken them up.' Panic grew inside me as the world seemed to spin around me, my eyes fluttered and I felt myself slip into a dark dream.
I was running, I didn't know if I was running away from something or towards it, but I knew I was getting close. Blurry shapes started to grow slightly lighter and the faint scent of bacon and syrup tickled my nose. I followed my nose until I was agonizingly close but I could no longer proceed. I heard a scream and the strange dream faded from my mind.
A/N: Sooo, yea, Werewolf AU. I don't even know where this idea came from but I'm trying it out, I already have about 75% of the story planned out, the next chapter is actually almost done but I want to get a good ways on chapter three, before posting it to avoid any last-minute changes. I hope to be consistent with this fic, I'm shooting for a chapter a week, maybe more but I'll keep ya'll posted.
Peace!