Reid jolted from his peaceful sleep only to be greeted by the harsh world. The temperature had dropped significantly since he had fallen asleep and the sun had completely left the world by now. His injuries had stopped bleeding, but they still burned with every heartbeat.
He rubbed a hand over his weary face and tried to forget his nightmare about flashing bear teeth and claws. Reid shifted to get a more comfortable place on the cold ground when he felt something hard press against his side.
He reached a hand down and found his familiar gun sitting at his side. His fingers grasped the gun and pulled it up to eye level.
That was the final straw for the young genius who simply let out a scream of frustration. In his panic of being separated from Morgan and going head to head with a bear he had totally forgotten his weapon. If only he remembered it and then he wouldn't bear the marks of bear scratches all over his body.
Reid searched the rest of his pockets, hoping to find at least something to make him a little more comfortable. He was beginning to feel the pangs of hunger and his throat ached for something soothing to drink.
He only found his broken cellphone, credentials and a paperclip. None of which would help him in his current situation.
Reid sighed and laid his head back against the trunk of the tree. He still felt exhausted, his entire body was screaming for more rest. His eyelids fluttered close and Reid was off in once again a peaceful slumber.
Little did he know that there was someone just a few trees over watching…waiting.
The man smiled as he watched the FBI agent succumb to his body's needs once more. The agent was so weak, so pitiful. He did not deserve to come into these woods; he could barely survive the bear.
He chuckled softly as he remembered how Mother Nature had dealt with the man in her own special way. She did have a tendency to deal with intruders and he always respected her choices. She tested all who dared to come into her path, and the man was one of the few who had been approved by her infinite wisdom.
But he was also slightly puzzled at the man. He had been tested with the bear, and the man was sure that the agent would fail. Bears were deadly creatures if one was ignorant enough to cross their path like the young man sleeping before him.
And yet the agent did not die. By sheer luck he had escape the icy hands of death and lived to see another day. The man was not sure if this meant he had passed Mother Nature's inspection or that there was more testing to go on.
One thing he was sure of was that he had been approved by Mother Nature. He had done everything to immerse himself in her splendor, her beauty. He had gotten rid of his civilized name and exchanged it for Wolf, the strong nighttime predator that was misunderstood, just like him, just like these woods.
Wolf had prowled the forest ever since he had left everything nearly twenty five years ago. He was sure that civilization had forgotten him and he had nearly forgotten his time there as well. These woods were all he knew and he had long since memorized them by heart.
He hadn't gotten lost in a very long time.
But then Wolf began to notice people coming into his forest. People that seemed to think they owned everything and that they could trample all over Mother's creation without even respecting the precious beauty they had destroyed. Wolf tried to scare them off, but they never stopped coming. They seemed to think it was fun to destroy the beautiful nature before them.
And Wolf hated them for it.
Mother had always been one of peace and for a long time so had Wolf. He had never once harmed another living creature unless it was food and even then he felt a pang of guilt. But when these ungrateful civilized people came in, Wolf could barely control himself.
He tried losing himself in the woods like he had so many times before when these feelings arose within himself. Even that didn't help for he could only think of how this was what was soon going to be lost to those who did not care for the beauty of Mother, to the disrespect of those who only sought to destroy.
And then came the men who rode in the giant machines. They believed themselves to be so strong and powerful sitting on top of the vehicles that could kill all of Mother's children, but Wolf knew that to be wrong. He listened to their conversations with one another; he knew them to be weak within their own lives.
What a pitiful waste of life these men were.
Mother had taught him that all lives were to be cherished and cared for, but surely she couldn't be talking about these pathetic excuses for a human life form. They threw trash and cigarettes on the beautiful leaves and shouted profanities into the air.
And they cut down tree after tree with their machines. They drove into the forest and went away chopping down precious life after precious. Never once did they stop to ask Mother for forgiveness or even stop to think about their actions.
It was this that did it in for Wolf. He could no longer stand by and watch as Mother's beautiful creations were destroyed by ruthless savages who would never be able to stand up to the full force of Mother's almighty power.
The men kept on coming and coming as well. Wolf may have been able to fight down his urges if they stopped, but the men never did. They were back almost daily to chop down more of the beautiful forest, to kill more of Wolf's home. He didn't act for a long time, he only sat in the shadows watching…waiting.
Finally one day, only a few summers ago, Wolf acted. It had been much easier than he had expected, even easier than killing an animal of the forest. But humans hadn't been equipped with tools like animals to defend themselves. They only had their brains and even that couldn't save them from Wolf's knife.
The first had been walking along alone. He remembered how the man had been singing quietly to himself. Wolf remembered feeling a surge of anger at the man. How could he sing when the quiet of the trees carried so much more feeling, so much more musical than any human song?
It was this act of anger that pushed Wolf to do the final act. The initial kill had been quick and only a few droplets of blood had splattered on Wolf. But he found that once he started stabbing, he simply couldn't. All the years of watching people mistreat his wonderful home came out on the victim's body underneath him.
It was a sign from Mother that finally got Wolf to stop. The soft tickle of wind against his cheek told him to stop, that the job was done. Wolf had buried the man somewhere deep in the forest right in the middle of Mother's creation.
"Maybe he'll appreciate it more in death," Wolf remembered saying to the freshly buried body.
After that the killings came and went. There was no pattern to them, they simply followed his anger. Sometimes he managed to control his anger while watching the men come and so carelessly chop down the majestic trees.
And then sometimes he couldn't stop himself. It was during these times that Wolf didn't remember much of what happened, but all he knew that there were three bodies mutilated before him. Occasionally he felt guilty for killing real living human beings, but that feeling went again when he thought of how they killed Mother's creation.
Once, Wolf had left the forest for the first time in years. He followed one of the men who worked so tirelessly on the machines to chop away his forest. It was one of the more vulgar men and Wolf felt an especially strong hatred for that man.
He killed the man and his entire family, including the four children.
But no one traced it back to him, for no one even remembered that he existed. Wolf simply set the house of fire and all blamed it on a simple house accident, but he and Mother alone knew the truth.
And then that Ranger had to come and ruin everything! Wolf clenched his fists in anger just thinking of how all of his hard work to help Mother had been shattered in that man's stupid move. Now there were police and clumsy agents in his home.
The police may even be worse than the men on the machines. For the police simply trudged alone in the forest, scaring away the creatures and causing a ruckus amongst the normally peaceful, quiet nature.
Wolf despised them.
He hated their uniforms, their names, the way they talked, the way they thought they were so superior because they carried a gun and others called them "Sir." Wolf was much more superior to any one of them. He had killed countless of people for the sake of Mother and had been one of the precious few to be her chosen servant.
He'd like to see the police officers even try to accomplish what he had.
Then these silly FBI agents came walking into his forest earlier that day. They were especially unfit for the forest with their lanky forms and high fancy talk about the weather and such. Wolf smiled as he listened to them try and figure him out.
He was much more complex than any of these FBI agents. He was not just some run of the mill killer. He was a warrior for justice, a servant of Mother, a guardian of the majestic trees and their secrets. Wolf was chosen as this forest's protector, he'd like to see any FBI agent figure that out.
Wolf hadn't felt any guilt about killing the Ranger. He had managed to find a gun from a police officer a few days before. It wasn't his fault that the stupid man just left his deadly weapons lying around where anyone could take them.
Wolf remembered being taught how to shoot a gun when he was a young child. His ignorant father had taught him and he remembered loathing the lessons, mostly because even as a child Wolf didn't like stupid, careless people like his father.
But they had come in handy as he killed the stupid Ranger who had started this whole mess with one bullet.
He remembered watching with a glee filled grin as the lanky agent stumble through the forest. Wolf knew the agent would surely get lost and make a mess doing so. All he had to do was go after the tracks and finish the job later.
The other agent was trickier. He avoided Wolf's gunshots and took off in a completely different direction before Wolf could finish the job.
Wolf had decided to follow the lanky agent and kill the black one at another date. It didn't really matter to him for he knew that neither man was going to find their way out of the forest. It was like watching the mice scramble through the maze and he was the scientist who knew the way out and laughed as he watched them scramble for an exit route.
So here he stood now in the forest with the perfect opportunity to kill the FBI agent. Wolf had been following him for some while and couldn't help but feel somewhat interested by the man and the way he reasoned everything out with himself.
He hadn't seen many people do that before. Wolf knew that this agent was different than the others. He didn't seem as stupid as the others Wolf had killed before and he had even managed to survive the bear.
But still, he must die. Mother would not like to see her most loyal and faithful servant fall back on his duties that he sworn he would complete to her. No matter how smart this man may be, Mother was always better than all else.
Wolf approached the sleeping agent with the knife raised. He didn't think he would spend much time with the body, possibly only a few swings and one fatal swipe. He would spend more time on the other agent who seemed much more ignorant than his partner.
Wolf was about to give the first stab with his trusty knife when a voice rang out across the still forest:
"Reid!"
Author's Note: I actually met someone named Wolf. I apologize for forgetting about Reid's gun last chapter that was quite embarrassing of me. I've been really sick, but I went to kickboxing and got it all out of me so no worries. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to you all, I'll try hard to do it this time.
Tell me which Disney Princess is your favorite in your review, mine's Mulan.