Chapter 1: Hellwood

My breath ran in ragged pants; I was running I didn't care if they caught me; if they caught me, they would kill me. I had no real reason to live other than the love of my own life. No one would care if I died. I was an outsider, an outcast; no one even knew I existed.

"Give back that information." cried a man with dark brown hair and a strong constitution; he was one of the men chasing me for the things I stole from him.

I stopped, anger and rage boiled within me; I could feel my skin turning into the monstrous body it truly was. A sharp brown fur started to grow all over me, crawling over my skin as I reached my arms to look at my transformation. Claws grew in place of nails on my dirty, callused hands. My teeth sharpened and grew into long, screaming white fangs. I felt my eyes turn into deep pools of crimson red. "Idiots" I growled subconsciously, the monster was emerging. Slowly turning around, despite my efforts not to I turned to face the scientists. "Run away" I tried to say, but it was too late; my mouth had sealed itself shut. I turned to face them, and then; blackout.

When I woke up I was in a town. There was a broken, torn up sign; all that was left was the word:

H E LL WOOD

Not a town why must these scientists like to experiment. My mind wandered groggily; I sat up dizzily and pushed myself up with my arms. A twinge of pain cut through my mind as I got up groggily. A sharp pain dug into my side a seared through me. I looked down to see the source of the pain. All I saw was blood; my arm had been cut up by something. Four huge gashes were bleeding profusely and soaking my shirt in blood. I knew what had hurt me.

Great, now I have to hurt myself to get back…

At least I stopped myself.

"Are you alright?" I heard a person cry. I made a sudden jump. A boy, around the age of seventeen, was flying towards me.

"Who are you?" I asked when I recovered full conciseness, "Don't you know who attacked this village?" I shied away from him. Was he a scientist? I didn't want to transform again.

"Yes," he replied calmly while taking a small step towards me. "It was you."

I tried to scoot away again, but the only thing I managed to accomplish was skidding dirt towards him. I pushed my arm and legs faster, but they only built a small lump of hard earth between me and the boy.

"Do you turn into a monster and rampage often?" He chuckled. I didn't understand why he thought like I wouldn't-couldn't- hurt him. I pushed harder until my arms gave way underneath me and my back collapsed to the ground.

"Do you think I control this?" I screeched at him; he needed to get away from me; my blood was getting hot again.

"Calm down," The boy said. Instantly my muscles relaxed and my body cooled. I was still furious at him. Why didn't he leave?

"What did you just do to me?" I asked, scrambling my arms underneath me to push me to my feet.

"Do what?" he replied, taking a step away. A voice echoed in my head like an empty cave: I can tell people to do stuff and they have to do it.

Is that what he is thinking? I hear it like it's in my own head. I whispered in my mind.

"What did you say?" I asked, forcing the thought out of my head.

"What?"

"Is that all you do? Interrogate people and make them do stuff-yes I heard you-or heard what you, though… I guess… Maybe I'm part monster that reads minds or something." I said angrily

"Well, I guess that's not a secret" He whispered to himself.

"Guess not." I agreed curtly "well, since we're both part monster, what's your name?"

"You first" he said fiercely, and he cocked his head towards the sky, his eyes shining like a burning, two piercing blue flames.

"Cassandra" I replied "and as you could see, I turn into a mutant monster freak every time I get mad. And you know what? I don't want to know your name; I'm leaving." As I got up, I felt weighted down, but I pushed myself to leave. I didn't want to hurt this boy, whoever-or whatever-he was. I felt like I knew him from somewhere.

"My name is William, but you can call me Will" He called after me. I stopped; that name sounded familiar, but I couldn't grasp why.

I started to leave again, I was going to walk away and forget I never met this boy. Maybe I would read information I stole, I needed to learn why I turned into a monster every time I got angry. That's reason I ran from the scientists, now dead scientists, I stole the information from their lab.

"Sto---"Will stopped mid-word "Bye." He finished "Be sure to fix up your side."