Chapter 1

HAROU

The night was pretty quiet, a crescent moon shining dimly through the darkness. I checked my watch, 11:20. I guess I really did push myself too hard this time. I yawned, holstering the gym sack over my right shoulder. Basketball was one the one sport I really enjoyed, I was practicing with some friends to tryout for the school varsity team. I quickened my pace. As long as I manage to slip in before Tiffany comes home, I was safe. I checked the time again. 11:30. Guess I'll have to take the shortcut.

The shortcut, was across this small park which took like 10 minutes, and along a pretty narrow alleyway (cough, and over a small wall, cough), but it was the quickest way to get to our apartment on foot. I drove myself, even though my legs were aching from running around the basketball court so much.

The park was empty, just like whenever I finished ball practice. But the reason why I didn't enjoy taking this shortcut was because the park was nearly pitch black. There weren't many lampposts, and the majority of the ones still standing were all broken down so all they did was cast long, eerie shadows stretching across the silent grass fields. But I wasn't so much of a coward to be afraid of the dark, it was just a little uncomfortable sometimes. Nevertheless, my pace automatically quickened as I entered the worn out park. I mentally scolded myself, I went through this route plenty of times, no need to piss my pants.

And of course, that's when the mystery blonde came smashing into me out of nowhere into the nearest bush.

OOF! I fell back on my back, the soft grass quietening my fall. Wow, the girl must've been running pretty fast to send me tumbling like that. "what-?" she suddenly slapped a hand over my mouth, the moon reflecting her terrified wide blue eyes. "Don't think you can hide from us sweetie." the guttural grunt was more animalistic than human, it sent a violent shiver down my spine. My own eyes widened.

The sound of sniffling ensued, and I realized, with horror, the girl had began to cry into my shoulder. Oh my lord.

"Aha!" a sudden hand roughly grabbed my neck all of a sudden, and with a pathetic yelp, I was sent flying, literally in to the hard pavement walk. What the hell? I'm not fat, but I'm not exactly skinny either, did that bastard just fling me like I weighed nothing? "what the-?" "boss, this one's a human." a vicious growl drowned all the other voices. "kill him, we got what we wanted in the first place." he held up his mottled- my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets- paws, holding up the struggling petite girl almost as if she was a prize. Her tear stained face was as vivid as the moon itself, and I found myself more angry than afraid at these beasts. "yo bro, I think you should put down the girl."... At least that's what I wanted to say, sadly, I was still gasping for air from being smashed to the ground.

"Let go of me you-stupid-Eraser!" the girl kneed her captor in the groins on her third struggle, which was pretty damn impressive, and sent the dude sprawling (I guessed it was a dude since he literally screamed in agony). The girl lashed out, her long and rather bare legs moving furiously as they hit one target after another. I gulped. Wow. Did she take martial arts or something? I managed to get into a sitting position, and watched how she took out one gangster by one.

It was down to a three against one now, but unfortunately, the girl didn't look so good. She was limping, a dark liquid running down one of her legs- I feared it was blood. The three ran at her simultaneously. She slammed a fist at one of the guy's nose, and with a solid SMACK, sent him knocked out cold. She managed to dodge the second blow, but she yelped as her wounded leg gave way and she fell on her back- completely defenseless. It was more than enough for the two guys to turn the table. They began to kick her senseless, one of them even mounting on top of her, landing punch after punch. The sickening sound of blood splattering sent a jolt through my body, and without thinking, I charged.

Now, I'm not dumb, I took 5 AP classes, including AP Calculus, and had a 4.1 GPA, but I should have figured these guys weren't your usual junior vs senior fights I sometimes saw during school days, they were lethal, the simple throw should have told me that, but at the time, the unimaginable amount of violence just sort of made me do it. It made me feel like as if I should act rather than run away from the scene, I mean, if the girl could take out 4 of those wimps, I could probably take out two right?

I was dead wrong. Emphasis on DEAD.

With the element of surprise I managed to tackle the guy kicking at her to the floor, but even while we tumbled down, the freaking maniac managed to land a blow on my ribs, snarling furiously. He tried to push me away, but during my furious struggle, I managed to get a hold of the guy's head and while we fell, I didn't lose my grip. CRUNCH! The stranger roared in pain kicking me away like a rag doll. But he couldn't seem to stand up, his whole body kept shaking and jerking unnaturally, groaning all the while... Then his whole body went limp. My eyes widened. His head had hit a small cement hedge on the park walk, and the small bump was lodged into his head. Gross! I gulped, would I get charged for committing murder for this? I groaned, trying to get up on my feet.

"just who the fu*k do you think you are?" a rough hand grabbed my head and slammed me in to a nearby tree. The whole world began to blur and fade into darkness. I recognized my captor shouting something, and I flinched as he drew a fist to hit me... But the punch never connected. The girl had, miraculously, managed to get behind him, and slapped her both hands across his ears. A small pop told me his eardrums were busted. His eyes rolled in to their sockets as he crumbled to the grass.

I was panting heavily, and could taste the warm blood in my mouth. "are you okay?" the girl limped towards me, her breath shallow and fast. "I've been better." I groaned, reaching for my gym stuff. "got to get out of... Here." and with that she collapsed right into my arms. "whoa! Are you okay? Hey, wake up!" "grrr..." I whirled around, some of the guys were waking up, even the one with his head nearly smashed to bits. Now that was just plain freaky.

I have to admit, I was scared. I was so scared in fact, I didn't even bother to pick up the contents of my bag that had spilled out during the fight, I just slung whatever I had over my shoulder, and began to run as fast as I could.

The chilling night air seemed to pierce through my skin as I sprinted. Turning my head over, I nearly fainted myself. The small group that had attacked us were all up now, and one of them was shouting something at them, pointing in my direction. I gritted my teeth and pushed myself harder. My brief encounter with those... things (there's no way they could be humans- I mean, I literally saw one of the dude's head split in half!) told me, that if they managed to catch up with us, I'd get slaughtered.

I slipped into the dark alleyway which meant that our house was less than 5 minutes away. I could hear the violent shouts of the mob behind me. They were close. I could see the end of the narrow alley, a wall. Of course! I mentally slapped myself for being so stupid. If it was only me, it wouldn't be a problem, but with an unconscious girl on my back, it was nearly impossible for me to climb over. The voices were nearly at the opening of the alley. If they found us here... I shuddered, imagining the front page of the news tomorrow 'a boy and girl found brutally beaten to death, found'. As if I'd let that happen.

"sorry" I whispered, although I doubted she heard me. I threw her as hard as I could, and up she went, over the wall. I just prayed that she didn't break anything. I quickly jumped up, reaching for the top and kicking furiously, I tumbled over, in my haste, I had to land on all my fours to stop myself from flattening the girl. She groaned as I landed on top of her. I tried to hide my embarrassment as I realized my hand was pushing down on her left breast. Ignoring my screaming muscles, I picked her up, and although the voices were far off again, I began to run. Better safe than sorry right?

Only after we were inside our apartment did I let myself relax. I laid her down on the floor and allowed my legs to give in. I went sprawling next to her- not bothering to take my shoes off and panting heavily with my eyes closed. Only after a ten minute rest of breathing did my brain begin to function.

First thing I noticed: my sister wasn't here, because if she were, she'd be screaming her head off how late it was and that she'd most likely call my mom.

Secondly, I realized I brought a girl whom I've never met before into my house. Seeing how my sister was out doing who knows what, we were alone inside an apartment- with no adult supervision. Awkward.

Third, only after I had turned on the lights did I realize that the girl was hurt in several places- whether bleeding freely or coated with bruises and that she was wearing something like a white one piece mixed with those outfits that patients wore in a hospital.

Speaking of hospitals, I should have called the ambulance in the first place- "don't." the girl barely whispered with her eyes still closed. My eyes rounded into the size of a baseball. "sorry?" "don't call anyone... I'll be fine." "but how did- I mean, I didn't say out loud that-" I stopped blubbering, because obviously the girl didn't seem like she'd answer. So this girl could somehow... Know what I'm thinking right now? I rolled my eyes. Coincidence, that's all it was probably...

A sudden wave of fatigue sent me tumbling to my knees again. I needed to sleep, or at least close my eyes... I glanced at the girl sleeping without a care in the world. Dealing with mystery girl had to wait tomorrow. I slowly stood up with the girl again, this time placing her carefully on my bed. Closing the door to my room, I dragged myself to the living room couch- I was asleep before my head touched the cushion.