Chapter 4 : Trouble

I really could use a map right now. Once I got across the bay and slipped into the woods it immediately started to rain. Torrential downpour really, which completely dissipated my sense of direction while searching for shelter from the weather. For three hours I tried to outrun the storm hoping if I fled the Bay area I would be able to get past it but soon I was too exhausted and wet to keep going. My thick wet fur felt like it weighed a million pounds on my back and was muddied with caked on dirt and I began to feel as if I was beginning to merge with the ground with each step I took. Once I did finally find a half decent place it rained harder than I had ever imagined possible for three entire days.

Was this my life now? Hiding from the weather, unsure where my next meal would come from or when it would be nice enough for me to be able to hunt again. Hiding from humans to avoid being shot at potentially. Oh boy is this how all wild life feels? Dame… I am such an idiot. What the hell am I even doing? Or trying to prove and who the hell was I trying to prove it to? Too much… This is all too much.

I slept terribly at night, covered in cold dirt and freezing rain. Nothing I did could make my body feel completely warm but when I woke up from the third worst night since I had left my home, the storm had finally passed.

"Hell I hope there were no humans around because they'd be dead by now!" I hollered in my head to the sky angrily.

The storm had left its fair share of wet mud but I could feel the heat of the day begin to coat the air. Thank the gods… I ran till I found a clearing that was untouched by the last of the storm and as soon as I did I slowly phased into human form and began to gather some dry wood and stumbled around looking for a half decent spot to start a small fire. I needed this so bad, I was starving again but I needed to get warm. For a wolf to be cold is hard so I knew I needed to prioritize my body's heat then worry about food later.

It took awhile to find flint and enough dry wood to catch a spark, or at least a whole lot longer than I would have liked it too but eventually I was able to start a small fire.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you forest!" I laughed hard as I warmed myself. "Oh boy, Bob would be so proud of me… God I hate the way my voice sounds."

I laid out my satchel and began to dry my clothes piece by piece, I couldn't risk a larger fire nor one that could last long enough to attract any unwanted attention. As soon as everything was dried out and I was warm I extinguished the flames and shifted back into my wolf with ease and set out to find food.

My hair was growing a natural reaction as my body had been so cold the last few days. I could feel it as I continued to hunt for the scent of a potential prey, warming me yet wearing me down, I would need to trim my hair soon. It was something I should've done before I left, I can't even remember the last time I let my Mother give me a trim. That was one factor I truly despised about being a wolf. I loved my hair. It meant so much to me, without it I felt like a man. With just as much muscle as a few of the guys and no hair, no matter how "hot" others would say I looked when I looked in the mirror I hated myself. It is much worse in the beginning when you first shift it seems like you need to rip all the hair from your body it feels like you're wrapped in a thick layer of blankets made out of fire.

Finally I caught a scent and was behind my prey in minutes. A doe and two fawns, I contemplated quickly, I was too hungry to chase or fight with the doe. I hated myself for it for a moment but I needed to hunt, the fawns would die and I would let the mother go, hopefully she wouldn't grieve too much and would mate and have more children to fill her days. Children, something I'll never have… No distractions, I need to hunt.

In an instant I was on them, the doe darted before her young had a chance to comprehend what was happening. It was better this way, I quickly broke their necks and ate them entirely. They were fatty, maybe almost a year old each, twins most likely. I finished them whole in order to leave no scent, nothing for the mother to trace, confusing her would lead her to believe they had made it out, she would look for them elsewhere and eventually run into her own and hopefully overtime, forget.

For another two weeks I roamed aimlessly in a direction I hoped was north. This forest was dense and full of prey but it wasn't what I was looking for, I needed to move on. Still however I really had no idea where I needed to move on too but I knew I needed to find a human town and find a phone. Three and a half weeks without a phone call would definitely worry my Mother. Finding humans around here was going to be near impossible every direction I turned, there was nothing but wildlife and nature sounds. It was deafening compared to my life in La Push with my pack but peaceful. Maybe I am a people person?

"Ha! As if!" I laughed to myself as I followed a creek.

I saw a cluster of mountains from where I stood in a place called Kwadacha Wilderness Provincial Park and decided to head towards it. This place was perfect, so many places to hide out at night and tons of wildlife. You'd think those "vegetarian" bloodsuckers would live in a place like this instead of parading around at highschools in their human costumes. I mean seriously what a bunch of freaks. I have no idea how Jacob keeps it together around them even for that Renex-... Remess? Whatever her name is.

Three days later I made it over the mountain range and found a human made road which I followed till I found a sign that said "Alaska Highway Fort Nelson 50 MI". Finally a way to a phone. Even if I didn't have money for a room anywhere, no one in Alaska would deny me the use of their phone, that's just how the people of Alaska are. Maybe my Mom could send money so I could at least wash myself and buy new clothes. No… I wouldn't ask for anything monetary. Only how she was and how Seth was, that's all that mattered.

As I came closer to the town, maybe twenty miles away, I felt a fast wave of heat run through my body. I knew this feeling. I was nearing a bloodsucker, or it was nearing me. My blood boiled as it grew near and I turned to run off the course of the road away from the village. If it were following me I couldn't lead them to a human village but if it could pass me I could stop it and kill it. I wasn't as strong without my brothers but I was full and all this traveling had strengthened my entire body.

*whistle* "Come here puppy puppy! Don't run from us! We won't hurt you!" A young female's voice from beyond said.

Great, it was chasing me. Must be extra hungry to chase after a scent as ranch as mine.

"Yea we just wanna show you to our friends! That's all. Come on now, stop running!" A male voice demanded as the women laughed.

"Oh come on, let's just get it so we can feed and go home already!" Another male voice said.

Crap, one turned too three faster than I anticipated, I'm in trouble. I took off running in different directions to try and throw them off but this only seemed to incentivise them more. I could hear a fourth voice yelling at me to give up after the fourth hour into our sprint and my heart began to beat faster. I was panicking. I'd not fought bloodsuckers alone before and now I was completely too far away to call for help from my brothers and largely outnumbered. These vampires were fast, real fast. Newborns I guessed.

"This would be a lot nicer for all of us if you'd just stop running! We're not giving up! You wolf filth!" A fifth voice…

I needed to get out of here. This was a hunting party and I was the prey of five potentially newborn vampires. My confidence was beginning to dissipate as my speed picked up drastically yet hardly enough…