Running with Wolves 5

My eyes flittered open and I was no longer in darkness. I moved my fingers back and forth to get an idea where I was and I could instantly tell that I wasn't with the agents. I decided that was a good thing. But I was wet, soaked from what I could tell and I was covered in mud. Lightning flashed in the sky and rain heavily down poured on the dense forest. The rain was battering down so hard it penetrated the forest's thickest layers. Lightning flashed in the sky and the whole forest floor lit up slightly for a millisecond. If I were to survive this, I would have to find the strength to push myself up and climb out.

Raising my better arm I found a rock and used it to propel myself a small length forward. I winced and whimpered at the pain but moved on. My brown hair was matted to my head, neck and shoulders and made a black color from the mud clinging to various strands of hair. I pulled some out as if it made me lighter and made it easier to get up. I slowly pulled myself to my feet once; I grabbed hold of a root and tried to take a step forward. I set my foot down, only to slip and fall forward. I barely caught myself before my face plummeted into a sharp rock infested mud puddle. My leg now had a tear in it, but all I cared about was getting out of there.

It was then I realized I had to be really unlucky. I was about to ask myself how much worse it could get, but I was already way past the downpour stage. Then I heard a rushing noise coming towards me. I looked up at the half tunnel shaped ditch and saw waves and waves of pounding water rushing at me. That gave me a boost of unexpected adrenaline and I discovered a newfound strength and I leaped up the wall of the riverbed and I desperately clung to a branch, which was breaking quickly.

I pulled myself onto the bank with one final yank as the water crashed past me splattering dirty mud water all over me. I breathed a sigh of relief and limped on. The rain pounded hard yet I heard the most unwanted voice in the world.

"So nice to see you are alive Clare."

"No! Not you again! Why me! Why? Go way! Leave me alone!" I growled at him. He and a couple other agents stood to the left of me. I could barely see them through the rain, but I knew they were close. The fact they were shrouded in darkness didn't help either.

"Clare. You don't have to suffer."

"Well I do want to live." Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I rushed for them ready to kill if necessary

I turned into a wolf and slashed at him missing. He tried to attack and I tried to dodge but at this point I was somewhat sluggish and he kicked me hard in the side of my head with his muddy boot. I managed to stay on my feet but slid a yard or so in whatever direction he was kicking me in. I retaliated and took hold of his boot in my jaws and locked them down. The other agents tried to pry me off like an alligator attacking a zookeeper but I wouldn't let go.

When I finally did so, he pushed himself up. My bite hadn't done anything but cause a minor amount of pain. This was due to the dismaying fact he had on tough leather very protective boots.

I took off, not at top speed but at the same speed that comes after running at my top speed. I was lagging back, slower and slower again. Then lighting flashed and a tree lit up and exploded only several yards behind me. The tree lit up the forest illuminating it. It was put out shortly, and when I looked back I saw the agents had been caught behind it. I sprinted forward, my heart pounding through my chest.

I could feel my lungs gasping for oxygen after a short time and slowed myself knowing I needed a fast less tiring pace if I wanted to stay away from the Martians. If you think about it they truly are like that, especially the Francis agent. He is a little green man.

I panted for a moment, and pain electrified me almost. All at once I felt all the pain for the first time since the adrenaline rush. It had finally winded down. I turned to face the approaching agents, but they weren't there. I growled making sure they weren't close enough to hear me and with a frightening amount of pain moved on. I turned human. The tail was no longer there so I looked much more human. I could grow stronger by turning back and forth between the forms. It seemed to give me more strength when I was a wolf.

The rain lightened, and the storm left as quickly as it had seemed to come on. Well if I was awake. The storm was still kind of suddle. It had been a bright sunny day when I exited the freight car. Next the clouds vanished returning to their previous white and fluffy state. I continued on through what was almost now a misty rain. It felt relaxing and when the sun finally peeked around, I looked down at myself and felt glad to be alive. I was a muddy, bloody wreck and now that the rain had cleared I started bleeding again.

I reached back to the back of my head and felt a welt. I brushed my fingers down a little further down, wincing of course, and felt dried blood matting my hair together. I had nothing much to work with so I ripped some of the fabric around my stomach area and tied it around my leg tightly, but gently. I next tore off the hem of my skit and some of the edge of the fringed and singed jean leggings and used that to wrap around my wrist and arm, which was now swelling in various places.

I grunted and moved on feeling a little better about my wounds. Maybe the bleeding would stop. I moved forward crustily and slowly and came to a near by town. It was an older looking town, antique almost. It could've been a great ghost town in a movie or an old western town in an old country movie.

There was one long dirt road going straight through dividing into various buildings. On the left side the old run down buildings looked timeless. When I cracked my neck to look at the right side, there was quite a bit of renovations happening. I chose to walk a long the left side. From the townspeople on both sides I got concerned and suspicious glances in my direction. On the right side of the street a family in matching outfits seemed to be interviewing some people. An interviewee looked at me and his glance seemed powerful enough to draw even more attention to me.

The family turned heads. There were six of them, and three of them weren't even humans, they had like some twisted animals, a dino-ish looking bird, an ape looking thing with big owl looking eyes, and a lizard- a really big lizard.

I looked down at my feet and briskly continued my stroll and put my hand up to block them from seeing my face, which was stupid a) because it looked suspicious and b) because it was my bad arm. I yanked it down, more hurt, and I stomped my foot in frustration. Unfortunately it was my bad leg and I danced around in a circle hoping up and down on my good foot and holding up my bad leg like a fool.

I got even more intense stares. So I kept going, faster and limping. The limp slowly left and I could walk at a slower pace without bobbing too far up or down or to one side. I was also aware of the family continuing to eye me as they talked to the couple. I glanced back at them too. That was a lucky kid. He seemed well cared for, had parents, and didn't have maniac wolf killers after him.

I withdrew back as far as I could into the shadows and shade from the awnings and canopies, above the old timey stores. Then my stomach rumbled and I realized I hadn't eaten anything in a couple of days, maybe a week. Not only was I weak from injury, I was also weak from hunger, and thirst. Werewolves I guess really didn't have a problem with that though, because it wasn't an insanely painstaking feeling. I felt like at minimum I could go another day before collapsing. I licked my lips at a delicious smell

I was out of the family's view now and I was next to a store. Then a nice looking lady stepped out and saw me walking steadily past like a skeleton.

"Oh Dear, look at you! You are a mess! Can I help you in anyway? I haven't seen you before."
"Me, aw… nah, I'm good. And I don't have any money right now. I'll c-"

"Nonsense you looked starved."

It's like she read my foggy mind.
"Well-"

She yanked me inside, and then I got the sense it could be a trap. If it was real though I didn't want her to know my secret.

I was taller than the lady, despite the fact she was wearing rain boots and I was bare foot. She sat me down and closed the door. I sat quietly on a stack of potato sacks probably filled with grain or rice or something. It was like an old fashion market in there. Only an old man sat alone at a table in the back. He looked as if he asleep and he was wearing bright red and yellow trousers like a circus clown. He had a normal white collared buttoned down shirt though and I decided he was harmless.

The lady returned moments later. She was wearing a long pink skirt and a white shirt with a pink butterfly stitched into the bottom of it. She had sweet wise eyes that knew and understood. She handed me a plate with apple slices and a simple grilled cheese, with green beans on the side. Despite the fact I'm half wolf now I devoured the beans first, and then the sandwich and the apples. She then asked if I wished to eat anything else. I shook my head. I could use pity to get my next meal.

"Now," she pushed her voice innocently. "Let's see about cleaning you up getting you some new clothes and your wounds." I shook my head and got up towering over her. I would've though oh now I'm really tall, but I think she was just short.

"No, really I'm good. Thank you for everything but I have to go. It will sound weird but I have secret agents trying to kill me for something my parents did that angered them."

"Are you a criminal?" The lady asked now worried she'd harbored FBI's most wanted.

"No, I'm not, and in this case they might be trying to help the world but they aren't good people." The lady nodded and frowned.

"At least take a jacket. If we have another storm like that it could get messy out."

I nodded, thanked her again, and left the store.