Chapter 1
A combination of the moonlight streaming down on her face and the realisation that the earth beneath her was damp and freezing cold caused Lily to wake with a start. She jumped up with lightning reflexes as she took in her surroundings. The woods she found herself in were covered with a light dusting of snow making everything shine in the moonlight and a nearby lake lit up her immediate area with the reflection of the moon. What worried Lily however was not her location, it was the fact that her senses were on overload. She was able to smell all the different earthy scents permeating the air. An owl was located in a tree to her left and if she slightly tilted her head towards the lake, she could hear the minute ripples in the water. She followed her nose as she instinctively began to track the strong scent of large mammal that had passed through her location recently. Her stealth and heightened senses allowed her to track down the giant brown bear that was currently scratching itself on a nearby tree. All of a sudden instinct took over, and Lily found herself sprinting towards the creature. Through no conscious recognition, Lily clenched her hands into fists and three 10-inch metal claws popped out from between each of her knuckles on her hands. The unexpected expulsion of the claws caused Lily to stop dead in her tracks and stare down at the gleaming metal objects. Unfortunately, this sudden stop in momentum alerted the brown bear to her presence and it reared up on its back legs to reveal its massive 9ft height. The roar of the bear snapped Lily out of her daze and she looked up to see a set of claws swiping down at her. The swipe hit her right across her chest and she fell back a couple steps in shock. Looking down at her top she saw blood begin to spread across her chest and the thoughts of this being how she would die flashed across her mind. But just as she began to accept her fate, the blood stopped spreading and a strange tightness was felt. She reached down her top to see the gashes inflicted by the bear disappearing before her very eyes. As the shock subsided, a burning rage took its place and her vision turned red as she leapt forward towards the bear once more. Metal claws extended again, she lashed out at the bear in a blind fury. She continued to thrash the bear as blood burst over her face and clothing and it wasn't until a new scent, mixed in with the stench of blood and guts, pervaded the air and made her stop and look up.
Staring across at Lily through the snow-swept trees was a short, muscly man in a yellow and blue outfit. She had no idea why, but the man was somehow familiar to her and she leapt off the now very dead bear, claws still extended, and began to slowly close the distance between them. Confusion and apprehension wafted from the man as the bloody girl slowly walked over. The man reached up to his face and removed the hood of his outfit to reveal dark penetrating eyes and strange facial hair. He too began to close the distance between the two of them, however when they were mere metres apart, the bloody girl collapsed to the ground. The man looked around in a panic trying to find any source that may have caused this young girl to pass out and found the concerned face of his teammate with her hand to her temple, flowing red hair streaming down her back. Being explanation enough, he closed the remaining distance between himself and the girl and picked her up, carrying her back to the safety of his transport and teammates.
