Chapter One

Tory Brennan

The sun beat down on my sun burnt face as I ran. My breath came in and out in big huffs until I stopped to rest on a rock. The waves crashed and retreated over and over again in time with my breathing. I was in a trance-like mode when Ben's voice broke the silence.

"Tory!" He said. He was running towards me with no shirt. Sweat covered him due to the humid tropical hair. As he ran I flattened my hair and tried to look cute.

"Hey," I said when he reached me.

"Hi," Ben panted back, "Shelton told me you went out running."

"Yah I did. You wanna join?" I laughed. He just nodded and took off towards the beach. I quickly caught up and blew past him. Anyone who saw us would of known we were different. For you see, we were running at about 30 miles an hour.

Last month my friends Ben, Shelton, Hi, and I were exposed to a human strain of canine parvovirus. This changed our DNA to be more like a wolf's than a human's. When we "flash" our eyes turn gold and we can hear each other in our minds. We have heightened senses like we can hear far, see far, smell extremely well, and more. We can also run almost as fast as a wolf but our human senses are still there.

"Tor! Wait up! You know I can't run as fast as you," Ben said. It was true I was the fastest.

"Sorry, I just get caught in the moment," I laughed, "Want to sit?"

"Sounds good." We sat together on a black rock that faced the ocean.

"Damn, we're sure lucky to be able to do this," Ben said looking out. I just nodded and closed my eyes, head tilted to the setting sun.

"I mean, can you imagine how hard it would be to be "virals" if we were surrounded day and night by people?" He explained.

"Well, we sure wouldn't be "virals" if we were surrounded day and night. Now would we?" I said sadly.

"Are you still seriously complaining Tory?" He shook his head, "There is nothing any of us can do. So just except it!"

"I know and I have. I was just-"

"I get it you don't like having to hear the thoughts of teenage guys half the time. Am I right?" He laughed. I laughed with him.

"Ben, I think this may be the most I've ever talked to you," I said looking straight at him.

"Well then we need to fix that. Don't we?" I just shook my head and started running back to my house. He followed but soon we had to go our separate ways.

"See you tomorrow Tory," Ben said.

"See you tomorrow Ben," I responded fondly to myself.