Chapter One – Dreams.
It can't find anywhere to hide. The snarls and growls echo through the fox's skull as it tears around the corner at break-neck speed. Dead end. The shadowy figures of the dogs approach. Times up. Another life snuffed out unnecessarily.
Alex woke with a yell from the dream that had plagued him for the last few weeks. The same dream over and over and over again. It was always there. It never stopped.
The same fox.
The same dogs baying in the distance.
The same forest.
The same dead end.
The same fate.
'This is getting stupid' Alex thought to himself as he trudged down the ancient stairway. As he rounded the door frame into the kitchen he almost passed out. The smell that met him was enough to stun a skunk. Alex clapped his hands over his nose and mouth and gagged as the smell embedded itself at the back of his throat. He looked around for the source of the smell. What met his eyes was a terrible sight. It was an old man, clad in a dusty, black trench coat.
The source of the stench was clearly visible. A dead pigeon hung on a string around the man's neck. It was decaying. The sunken eyes had the dull glaze of death. Alex stifled a shout and stepped back to run away.
"Boy... come here." The voice was raspy and it seemed to Alex that the man had some sort of problem with his throat. He couldn't help it but his feet carried him to the man without his brain telling them to. He willed them to stop. Silently begging his legs to stop and allow him to run. As he got closer he had to put his hands over his mouth and nose to stop himself gagging. The old man tore off a wing from the pigeon and held it out, to his horror, to Alex.
"Feed the fox to break the chain... it will make sense in time boy. Don't worry." The man whispered. Alex looked down at the wing then back up to the, now disappearing, man. He was slowly fading away. Alex could only stand and stare, unable to do anything.
The young boy did not know what to do so he just went back upstairs. Instead of going into his own room he crept into his older sister's room, hoping to talk to her and for her to tell him it was only a dream and not to worry about it. What met his eyes was enough to make him gag. His sister was asleep in the same bed with a guy... A guy.