Some Ideas and Characters Borrowed. Storeyline is Mine - DON'T COPY!

Chapter Seven - Escape

How can I believe anything that was in that letter? It's crazy! They are crazy. All of them. And my mother… What about her? Is she lying. That letter can't be real. She must have made it up… But she was my mother – I trusted her. How could she? And Alcide too… What have I done to deserve this? All I feel is sick, tired and alone.

Maybe I am still dreaming this horrible nightmare and I will wake up soon. Yes, that must be it. All I have to do is close my eyes and then when I open them again, everything will be back to normal. Only it isn't. I am still here. Still alone. All alone in a house full of crazy people. Crazy people that I thought I trusted. People who have deceived me with their lies, somehow including my mother in their elaborate story. Well screw them… Screw them all. I'm getting out of here. I don't care how, but I'm going, right now. I don't even care where I go, as long as it is far away from here.

I threw off the thick blankets and stood up. I stretched and flexed my arm to see how extensive the damage was. It still hurt but I could ignore it. This was one of the many times that I wished that painkillers actually worked on me. Oh well.

Someone had folded some of my clothes in a pile on the chair so I quickly changed. All except my jacket, which I left that on the chair. Luckily, I had been left one of my backless tops. I closed my eyes, concentrated and felt my wings come out and expand to full size. Now for the jacket, but I didn't put it on.

I wrapped it round my fist as I walked towards the window and looked out. There was no one there. Good for me; but you have to admit, anyone who didn't guard a window from someone who could fly was pretty stupid.

I listened for anyone who might be at the door and then punched the window with everything I had. It shattered and glass fell to the floor everywhere. After one last glance out of the window, I picked a direction and took off. I was out. By the time they had realised what had happened and unlocked the door, I was a speck in the sky.

I breathed in the fresh air and revelled in it as it whipped my hair around. I was free. I flew as hard and fast as I could manage, glad that Raze had given me food to build my energy. I guess he didn't think of what I'd use it on. I flew until the sky lightened with the coming dawn. I decided that I had probably covered enough distance for now, so I found a secluded clearing and landed. Exhaustion soon took over me and I slept.

When I awoke, it was starting to grow dark again. Damn, I hadn't wanted to waste so much time. I needed to get on the move again - fast. I stretched, ran my fingers through my hair and smoothed my clothes down. I decided I would run for the next hour or so, so I could get my bearings. Luckily, after about an hour I encountered a main road. I jogged along it until I found a sign. It said 'Albany - 30 miles and New York - 150 miles'. At least I had passed Syracuse long ago, which would have been the most obvious place for me to go and get caught.

I started to walk along the road in the direction of Albany, trying to find someone who would let me hitchhike with them. I was in luck. Despite the late hour, I found a truck driver who was heading for Albany himself so he agreed to take me. I sat in silence, staring out of the window for the whole journey. When we arrived, I dug around in my pockets and found a 20 note so I gave it to the driver, thanked him and left.

My stomach started to grumble for more food, but I didn't know where to get any. I went looking for a place to hide instead. After around 1 hour, I found an old, abandoned warehouse. I crawled through a broken window, found a suitable corner, and slept.

In the morning, I decided to go on the hunt for food as my stomach continuously protested that I didn't feed it enough and I got annoyed. Before I left, I tried to make myself look presentable by batting the dust off my clothes and I ran my fingers through my hair again. It was the best I could do. I emptied out my pockets and amazingly found another 20. Must be my lucky day!

I found one of those walkabout street vendors and bought some greasy looking food and some juice. The food didn't taste very nice but it shut my stomach up, so I was glad to have it. As I was passing a newspaper stand, something caught my eye. The date in the paper was the 15th of June. Oh my god - today was my birthday! Just great.

As I was walking round the city-centre, I started to get the feeling that I was being watched. I ducked down and pretended to tie my non-existent shoelaces on my slip on trainers. As I did this, I discretely looked around to see if there was anyone I knew. I saw no one I could recognise so I started to walk again. However, I did speed up and keep changing direction as I walked, so I would be harder to spot.

Nothing happened for around an hour but I started to get that feeling again. I whirled round, not giving the person (if there actually was someone there) a chance to hide. Only there was somebody there. Someone I knew. It was Raze. Before he could react, I turned and fled.

Running… Running… All I ever do is run. All my life is spent running from someone. First from whoever killed my mother and now from the crazy 'Lycans' at Stonehaven. One thing I can be sure of - I will not go down easily. They are in for a fight.

I ran as fast as I could; dodging tourists, diving round as many corners as I could. But then I made a crucial mistake. I took a wrong turn and ran straight into a dead end. There was no escape. I looked round for a weapon of some sort and found a long, wooden pole that resembled an Escrima stick that I sometimes train with. I picked it up, turned round, took the fighting stance and waited

Sadly, Raze had not lost my trail. I did not think he would. He appeared round the corner and started to walk towards me with his arms out, palms raised. I thought he was trying to show that he didn't want a fight but I was completely wrong. The stick flew out of my hand, almost taking me with it, and crashed down near the far wall out of reach. I had forgotten that Raze was telekinetic and now I had no weapon. Careless mistake.

'Please, Max. Come back with me. I don't want to hurt you.'

With no weapon and being stuck in a dead end with no way out, the odds were against me. I started to back against the wall, frantically looking for something to help me. My back hit the wall and it made me jump. Nowhere to go; guess my luck had run out.

'Why can't you just leave me alone?' I cried.

'I'm sorry but I can't do that. You need to come back with me. Life at Stonehaven isn't that bad once you get used to it. You'll be happy there.'

'Happy?' I exclaimed sarcastically as I started to slide down the wall. Tears were starting to trail down my cheeks. 'How can you even think of the word 'happy'? All of my life I have been lied to. The only people that I trusted have betrayed me.' I hit the floor. 'Now you tell me how you can call life 'happy'. Come on, enlighten me will you? Oh, and guess what! Today is my birthday, for god's sake!'

By this time, Raze had crossed the distance between us and was crouched down next to me. I looked at him, directly into his eyes. I let him see just how unhappy I was. 'Tell me how I am supposed to be happy.' Then I collapsed into a fit of tears.

Just like last time, he picked me up and cradled me against him as I cried. 'One reason to be happy is that you now have a family. Not just any family, but a pack that is closer than any family you could think of. You don't have to pretend to be normal anymore because we are all different, all stronger, together. We will be your family now and we will look after you.'

'But I'm scared!' I whined. I hated to admit it, but I was. No, not just scared, but terrified and weak.

'I will look after you. I promise.'

'Promises can be broken. All the promises people have made to me have been broken. What will be so different about yours?' I mumbled.

'I will look after you. You know I will.' He raised my head so I looked into his eyes once more. 'I won't let anyone hurt you.'

As I looked at him, I knew it was true. He would look after me. I believed him. After all that had happened, I could still believe someone. With this newfound trust, I dissolved into a fresh wave of tears and sank into his embrace. He held me like that until exhaustion engulfed me and I passed out.

Thanks for reading amd I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully there will be more soon and it would be great if you could review it. Thankyou to everyone who already has. Tricky.