Chapter 1
He ran so fast it was all a blur, the trees, their deadened branches and the leafless bushes, all a whirl of colour flying by. He was running so fast he could barely feel the ground underneath his hands and feet.
He stretched his legs out again into another long and powerful bound, his muscles straining and crying out in pain from the stress of running so far, and so fast.
Perspiration shone on his forehead and beads of sweat clung to his arms. If he had looked behind him he would have seen he had left a trail of blood droplets on the rough, stoney ground. The blood was leaking from the scratches and cuts on his hands and feet.
Finally after what seemed like and probably had been hours he reached a small cave in the side of a small cliff. He gratefully climbed inside and leant against the wall breathing in deep breathes of air. The cool air felt refreshing as he took another breath.
He laid his head back against the caves rough wall and let out a sigh of relief. He had lost his follower, that monster…
He peered out the cave opening to see that the sun was fast setting amongest the bare tree branches which curved and reached towards the never ending sky. It would soon be reaching nightfall. He had to rest otherwise if his follower found him again he would be too exhausted and wouldn't have enough energy to escape it's grasp again.
He crawled out of the cave and observed his surroundings with more attention soaking in the details. He got up to quickly take a look around his surrounds so he could become more familiar with them so he could make a quick escape with no mistakes if necessary.
Rule one his parents had enforced was to never under estimate the enemy and be sure to find away to evade them as soon as possible if the need be. He dearly wished for his parents to be with him right now. He was alone. All alone in the forbidden part of the woods.
He went back to the cave and Kira lay down resting his head on the hard, cold floor of the cave. In the distance he could hear the trees creaking in the wind and the spirits and demons whispering to all who were foolish enough to enter their part of the woods.
He rolled onto his side and curled up into a ball, pressing his ears flat against the top of his head and curling his thick fluffy wolf tail around the front of him. He squeezed his eyes shut and wishing today had never happened.
"Hey Kira. want to come hunting with us," Tolle called waiting for his reply. Standing beside him was Sai, Miriallia and Kuzzey all geared up for hunting with their bows, arrows and spears. "Sure," Kira replied having nothing better to do. If he stayed at the camp his mother would give him some chores and he didn't particularly want to end up doing that.
Kira got up and made his way towards them. He didn't need to get any of his weapons. Unlike his friends and many other members of the clan, he preferred not using weapons. He preferred doing it with his body, it really showed because he was in top shape and had lots of upper body strength. He had his claws long and sharp which could easily slice through any of his preys skin. He was definitely one of the fittest and strongest of the clan.
"So where about are we hunting?" Kira asked. "Out by Tea tree river. There are lots of baby pigs at this time of the month." Kira just grimaced recalling the attempt they made last year on catching one. "Don't worry Kira. This year will be better. We will keep the mother occupied when we snatch one of the piglets," Sai said proudly since it was his plan. "Will it work," Kira asked skeptically. "Of course it will. So come on," Tolle said putting a hand on his back and patting it.
The group traveled for about half an hour until they could hear the gentle flow of water in the distance. "Good. We are near the river so shush. We don't want to disturb them," Tolle said. "Well if you don't shut up, you will scare them away before we even get there idiot," Miriallia said thudding Tolle on the head with her fist. Tolle just gave a cheesey smile.
The group crawled low through the bushes being careful to stay quiet and not make any noises to scare the prey away. Ears pricked up and eyes narrowed in concentration they pounced.
Sai ran forward into the clearing around the river to the mother who was drinking out of the stream and ran straight past her, passing closely to one of her piglets. The mother instantly became alert and turned to look at the bush that Sai had just ran into and moved in that direction, her ears twitching and eyes narrowed.
Next Tolle dashed out behind the mothers back and ran near a piglet and tried grabbing one but the mother was too fast and turned. But Tolle did separate some of the piglets from their mother. Miriallia had the sense to use one of her weapons so she pulled out her bow, aimed and fired. It hit its target, which was a piglet in the neck. Kira taking this opportunity ran forward and grabbed the piglet by its neck in his mouth, avoiding the arrow sticking out of it and continued running.
The mother pig snorted angrily and began charging at the slightly visible Kuzzey who was poking out of the bushes. Kuzzey let out a cry of fright and stayed frozen in fear. Suddenly the mother pig came to a halt and she ran off, her piglets fast behind her.
The group surprised by the pigs sudden departure knowing it was rare and something much more serious here was going on. Kira listened carefully with his sensitive hearing and sure enough in the distance was the sound of crashing and snapping. Something, something big was ploughing through the bush at them.
It was too big for a bear so what was it. "What is it," Sai asked. "Guys I think we should go," Kuzzey said in a shaky voice. "Come on Kuzzey. Lets see it," Tolle said excitedly. Kuzzey stayed for a second but as he heard the sound growing louder and drawing nearer he turned and ran, his small black tail between his legs.
The rest of the group stayed, their curiosity getting the better of them. But like the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat but this time it won't be the cat that's getting hurt!
Four teenagers rode laid back in their jeep. They were newly graduated wildlife rangers. In the back sat Athrun Zala. His silky, blue hair blowing in the wind, well it had been now they were much slower because the woods had suddenly became more dense and the road was overgrown and nature was reclaiming it.
Next to Athrun was the youngest of the group and the worlds biggest animal and nature lover, Nicol. He sat smiling, admiring the wood around them and soaking it its beauty.
In the front two seats was Dearka and Yzak. They were best friends despite their many different in both appearance and personality. Dearka's skin was dark with a nice tan but Yzak's was extremely pale. Yzak had a hot temper but Dearka was cool and laid back. It seemed that their differences equaled each other out.
They had the radio pounding loudly much to Nicol's disappointment. The sound of the blaring radio drowned out the calls of the birds and the sounds of nature such as a waterfall or flowing stream. Athrun, being the tinkering type of person he was, had given the radio better reception so it still could receive the music from the radio stations even in the middle of the thick woods.
They had been sent in here to do a yearly inspection to check that everything was in order. This woods was left mainly undisturbed. It was sacred to many of the surrounding cultures and they protested against people doing these yearly inspections and entering the woods at all. They claimed it disturbed the inhabitants which were the guardians of the forest.
It was told in legend that half beast, half human creatures had once roamed these woods and were said to still do so. Once a human had been mauled by a wolf and it was said that the family of the human had plead with the spirits of the forest to bring him back. They did so with many offerings and the human was brought back but not fully human. To leave a mark that the spirits had done this to the man they bonded him with the wolf who had killed him.
It was told that this man had children and that generation flourished and the cycle continued creating a new breed of human, who had been given the name in myths, the werewolves. Half human, half beast whose powers and wolfish abilities were drastically increased on nights of the full moon because the night he had been brought back on there had been a full moon in the sky.
The group continued driving for hours. Every so often they would stop for toilet breaks and to switch drivers. It was getting denser and darker. The road was also become increasingly difficult to see in the light and in the over growth. As they drove they could hear crashing all around them as they smashed though branches and drove over bushes.
Dearka was feeling really bored so he looked at Nicol who was sitting in the front seat happily still enjoying the scenery. Since it was his turn in the front, the first thing he had done was turn the radio off.
Quickly Dearka pounced grabbing Nicol's shoulders from the behind. Nicol almost died from fright. He jumped high in his seat and his face was pale. "Hey, Nicol. Those werewolves are coming to get you," Dearka whispered in his ear.
"Dearka," Athrun said in an annoyed voice. The last thing he wanted was for Nicol to wet the seat or have a heart attack. Dearka ignored Athrun and leant forward and spoke quietly but loud enough to hear over the crunches and snaps. "When it gets late in the dead of night they come out. They grab their prey and throw it to the ground. They pin you down and when you look up you see yourself staring into their mad eyes. Whats worse is you can feel there putrid and warm breath blowing onto your face. They are the last thing you smell and see before you DIE!" Dearka said yelling the last word loudly making Nicol scream this time.
"Dearka," Athrun yelled again this time his voice firmer and much more serious. "Ok, ok. Be a party pooper then," Dearka said in a huff. Athrun ignored Dearka's statement and turned to a freaked Nicol. "Could you please check the map. I think we will be reaching a stream soon that was mentioned and we can get water refills." "Is this it. It says here we will soon be reaching one called Tea tree river," Nicol said pointing to the map resting in his lap with a shaky finger. "That's the one," Athrun said shooting a quick glance to where Nicole was pointing.
They went forwards hearing in the distance the sounds of the river over the jeep but there were other noises to. One of the more definite ones was the sound of pigs squealing. "We should check it out," Nicol said concerned for the pigs.
They drove forward into the clearing that surrounded the river slightly and were shocked to see humans there. Not only humans, werewolves.
Kira and the rest of the group froze. It was a monster that was shiny and hard, unlike anything they had ever seen or heard of. In it sat others like them but different. They had no ears and they wore unusual things.
The group came to its senses before the rangers did and followed their instincts… RUN! The rangers snapped out of their daze and flew into action. "We have to get one," Athrun called back to the group.
Dearka and Yzak smiled realizing how much one of those would sell for. They would all be billionaires and wouldn't have to work for the rest of their lives.
Nicol was smiling too. He imagined if they caught one of those they might be able to find out valuable information on medications and genetics to help humans all around the world and the thrill of finding a new species was just over whelming.
Athrun was also determined to catch one too. He was going to prove all those people who had doubted his beliefs, his parents, his teachers and even some of his friends. He was going to prove that legends could be real and this was proof that there really was the existence of werewolves.
For once the whole group agreed on something… to catch one of those creatures.
"Where have they gone," Dearka yelled as Athrun put the pedal to the metal. "There," Nicol yelled pointing to movement ahead of them.
Kira and Sai ran beside each other as they ran as fast as they could from the approaching vehicle. Kira in the panic of the situation dropped the piglet knowing it would slow him down. Miriallia and Tolle had gone in a different direction. The monster was fast gaining in them and didn't seem to be tiring at all even though it was crashing into so many trees.
Sai began to fall behind Kira. Sai was no where near as fit as Kira. in the whole clan because of his want to hunt without weapons so he relied on his body which had became immensely strong.Kira was the fittest
Sai fell back into some of the dense bushed and lay flat on stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut preparing for the worst. The roar of the monster was quick approaching and the ground shook hard under him but it began becoming quieter and the ground stopped shaking. He sat up and saw that it had driven straight past him and pursued Kira.
Sai let out a sigh of relief and began heading back to camp to tell the others what had happened because he was too coward to pursue Kira and the monster himself.
Kira kept running but realised the woods around him were fast changing. They were getting darker and it was lifeless and still. On the floor there was no mushrooms, no fungi on the trees, no vines it was all bare except for the long trees which stretched high up into the sky. The trees were leafless and their bare, dark branches twisted upwards.
As he continued running soon around the ground a mist was rising which made it difficult for him to see. His eyes began stinging from all the mist in them and realized something. He was now in the forbidden part of the forest. The home of demons and the spirits and banished exiles. A place where no normal earth dwelling creature should be. The idea of this sent chills down his spine. His parents, elders and even friends had told him frightening stories about this place and why it was forbidden.
The chase continued till late in the evening when the rangers just couldn't keep up because of all the trees and obstacles in their path and the mist made it difficult to see.
"We are going to search for him tomorrow right," Dearka said getting out of the dented and scratched jeep. "Of course," Athrun replied staring into the shadows ahead. They weren't going to give up that easy.
Kira curled up into an even tighter ball. Today was defiantly one he wanted to forget.
I hope you liked it. I started just writing that part at the start during some free time on the computers at school at the end of the lesson and I like it so I continued it.
FYI Kira and the gang are wolf humans, aka werewolves though they don't loose control of themselves on nights of the full moon unless they choose to give into the erge for power. Those who do this are banished to the forbidden part of the woods.
Well that's about all you need to know for now. Reviews would be much appreciated and suggestions for future events would be considered. And just as a side fact this is the longest chapter I have written in my life.
Oh and thanks to Kiheada.Ray.T. who taught me how to do the line things.