Long AN: Hey everyone! So I know you were all expecting a new update after a century and some of you may have given up on Shifted and I am so sorry for the absence.

Truth is, the reason I haven't updated Shifted in a long time is because I got an offer to turn it into an original story and electronically published. Obviously, it didn't pan through. It did get me thinking though and I tried even more to change Shifted into less of a fanfic and more of an original story. That's why there were no new chapters, I was doing rewrites and changes, but no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't do it. To me, Shifted is great because it's Teen Wolf reinvented. But who knows, maybe there's an original werewolf story somewhere in my future and if that's the case I promise to let you guys know.

The rewrite also helped me realize how lacking some of my previous chapters are so I'm doing a little rewrite to some of the previous chapters just to improve it. If you guys have questions or want some things to be inserted or something in the scenes, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Now that that's done, here is the updated Chapter 1. Hope you guys like it!

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Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN TEEN WOLF

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Two joggers found a body in the woods.

Have you ID'd the body yet?

Uhh, not yet Sheriff.

Why not?

The joggers only found half the body sir.

Come again Deputy. Did you say they only found half?

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Stiles Stilinski didn't waste any time after listening in on his dad's phone call. He got his stuff and started to drive to his best friend's house, more than eager to get started on the night's adventures. This is the most exciting thing that's happened to him all summer and he could not wait for the night to get better by finding the other half of the body.

The only problem was his best friend, Scott McCall, wasn't answering his calls. Stiles was getting more antsy the longer it took for him to get to the McCall house and his ADHD wasn't helping at all. Reaching into his glove compartment, he grabbed a bottle of Adderall and downed one pill. If he was going on a midnight trek in the woods to look for a dead body, he's gonna need to be extra focused.

When he finally reached Scott's house, he immediately started to climb on the porch roof. He figured that Scott was probably sleeping and since Melissa has told Scott repeatedly to lock the front door so that he would have to knock before coming in, going in through his bedroom window was the only option.

He was anything but graceful as he tried to get on the roof and he made a few noises on his way (probably owing the McCalls a fair amount of his next allowances for roof repair) but at least he made it. He looked inside Scott's room and was surprised to find it empty. He was about to call his name when he heard the front door open. Thinking that his best friend was on his way out, he got off the roof and was about to say something when he was greeted by the sight of Scott McCall holding a…bat?

The two boys screamed in shock and fright neither expecting what was in front of them.

"Stiles what the hell are you doing?" Scott lowered his bat and tried to calm his racing heart

"You weren't answering your phone!" Stiles answered as if it was perfectly understandable, "Why do you have a bat?"

"I thought you were a predator!"

"A pre-" Stiles scoffed, as if he could actually be a predator. If he was a predator, then his prey was a pack of delicious curly fries.

"Look I know it's late but you gotta hear this."

He then told Scott about the phone call his dad got and the search party in the woods because of the body two joggers found. He could feel himself getting excited and flushed at the awesomeness of that news, or it could have something to do with the blood rushing to his head. He was still upside down.

Once he was right side up he told Scott the best part about the dead body. Possible murder victim, woman, in her twenties, and missing half of her body.

"We're going." Stiles declared with a tone of finality knowing that if he didn't, Scott would go back inside and sleep. Definitely not an option.

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Beacon Hills Preserve was not a place to be in after sunset as proven by the dozens of cases of animal attack over the years. Coyotes, mountain lions, and various other dangerous animals lived there who were very territorial. Well, that was the official story.

This little fact didn't stop most people from going into the preserve though, including two teenage boys looking for some adventure and excitement.

"Are we seriously doing this?" Scott asked getting out of the jeep.

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town." Flashlight at the ready, Stiles walked into the Preserve ignoring the big NO ENTRY sign.

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow."

Stiles rolled his eyes blocking out Scott's speech about making first line. Scott has been relentless in his wish to be on first line and quit living on the sideline. Stiles understood that, he wasn't all too happy about being benched all the time either, but Scott was acting like making first line was the only thing that mattered. He saw how Scott practiced hard over the summer and read up on different ways to control his asthma while simultaneously ignoring the summer reading given to them towards the end of their freshman year.

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?"

Stiles paused for a second thinking about his dad's phone call but he couldn't remember the deputy saying which half of the body the joggers found. He figured it didn't matter, it wasn't like they would be seeing many severed bodies out here. "Huh…I didn't even think about that."

"And what if whoever killed the body is still here?"

"Also something I didn't think about." Stiles didn't even seem worried, which worried Scott.

"It's comforting to know that you thought this through with your usual attention to detail."

"I know."

Thirty minutes in and the boys still haven't found the severed body. Actually, they haven't seen or even heard any animal yet which was odd for this time of night. Usually, there would be owls or squirrels, some coyote howling in the night and scaring the crap off of Stiles.

But the woods remained silent as a grave.

"Man I don't think we're going to find it tonight," Scott said, breaking the eerie silence. "Maybe we should just go home and come back when it's light out. Besides tomorrow's the first day of class."

"Technically, it's later today." Max corrected still walking determinedly to look for the body. "And what's so important about the first day anyway? Everybody knows not much happens on the first day of class."

They were going up a small hill now and Scott was suddenly thankful for all those Google articles that he read about controlling his asthma.

Whatever Stiles might have said next was interrupted by the distant sound of dogs barking and the sight of men with flashlights ahead. Not wanting to get caught by his dad's deputies, Stiles ran deeper into the woods forgetting that Scott was asthmatic and might not be able to catch up to him. Pumping his legs faster than he ever had all summer, Stiles made it into a part of the woods where he was sure no deputy would find him.

"That was close. Scott, you okay?" He turned around and noticed for the first time that he was alone.

"Scott?" He called out hoping that wherever Scott was he could hear him.

He turned his flashlight everywhere but couldn't see anything except the endless trees in the preserve.

The sound of a branch snapping somewhere behind him drew his attention and he turned the flashlight and frowned when he thought he saw glowing red dots in the distance.

"Scott? Is that you?"

For the first time since coming into the woods, Stiles was beginning to get scared. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention and every fibre of his being was telling him to run away from the red dots. Like a primal urge to flee and survive. He took a step back and it was at that moment that the dots moved. They weren't dots at all, but eyes! Red glowing eyes that belonged to a big animal of some kind. An angry big animal of some kind! The beast seemed fixated on him and it let out a growl right before running at him full speed.

Quickly turning around, Stiles made to run back the way he came. He could hear the beast's heavy footsteps as it chased after him and he cursed his stupid legs for not being fast enough. Silently he promised that if he ever made it out of this alive, he would take lacrosse more seriously, or at least cross country.

He was barely up a small hill when he felt the beast's large teeth clamp down on his left leg. Stiles screamed at the intense pain that shot up his leg from where the beast bit him. Holding the flashlight tighter, he swung back and hit the beast's head as hard as he could. The impact wasn't much but it was enough for the beast to let go of his leg and he was able to run away as fast as his freshly injured leg let him.

The beast, whatever it was, didn't continue to pursue him. Instead it reared its massive head back and let out an animalistic howl — one that Stiles couldn't hear because he was too focused on running away and staying alive. Then it just turned and ran the other way as if it forgot about the pale boy it just bit.

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Meanwhile, Scott was experiencing his own little adventure. Because of his asthma, he couldn't quite keep up with his best friend as he ran further into the woods.

"Stiles!" Scott wheezed and paused to take a puff of his inhaler.

He looked around and frowned, he couldn't recognize the trees at all and without a flashlight, he couldn't even see the trail. He took out his phone and tried to walk by its light. He huffed and made a note to get his phone's torch fixed immediately.

"Stiles!" He called again, louder this time. At this point, getting caught by the Sheriff and his deputies was preferable over getting lost or mauled or worse, finding himself face to face with a murderer.

He randomly picked a direction and started walking by his phone's light hoping to find a trail or run into Stiles or even the Sheriff when a herd of deer came running at him out of nowhere!

Scott ducked behind a big tree stump to get out of their way, shielding his head and waiting out the onslaught. Hooves and antlers pressed on his back and all Scott could do was stay still and pray that he doesn't get killed.

When the stampede ended, Scott slowly stood up. He looked around him to make sure the deer were all gone. Positive that they were gone, he bent over to look for his fallen inhaler and -

Oomph!

Scott tripped over something and fell hard on the ground. Dusting himself off, he cursed himself for being clumsy. How was he supposed to make the first line now when he couldn't even walk properly without tripping? He picked up his phone and checked to see what caused him to trip. He thought maybe it was a log or an overgrown root. But as his phone's light hit the unknown object, he jumped back and fell again. His wide brown eyes locked on the severed body in front of him.

The woman's green eyes were wide open and Scott couldn't look away. He felt like he was paralyzed and all he could do was stare at the dead woman in front of him. He couldn't even scream or blink.

It was the churning in his stomach that finally broke his paralysis. He turned to his side and threw up on the ground. Not caring that at his position, some of his vomit splashed on the sleeve of his jacket. All he could think about was the dead woman behind him.

He's never seen a dead body before and he's never fully appreciated that until now. He just knew that the woman's green eyes would feature in his nightmares for the next several days.

God, he was going to kill his best friend for dragging him out here.

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Stiles was limping pretty badly when he found himself on cemented road and only narrowly avoided being run over by some jackass in a red car.

"Hey!" He yelled after the moving car but if the driver heard him, he didn't know. He just shook his head and trying to ignore the pain in his leg, he walked back to where he left his jeep. He leaned against the door and checked the bite on his leg.

"Damn." He cursed.

The wound took up his entire lower leg, it was still bleeding, and frankly, he was amazed that he still had a leg to look at. By the size of the thing that bit him, he was sure his leg was a goner.

He reached into the car and grabbed a clean-ish shirt from the backseat to wrap around his injured leg. He'd just finished wrapping his leg when he saw Scott burst through the woods several feet away from him.

"Scott!" He called. "Over here!"

Stiles watched his best friend sprint towards him. He was all shaky and Stiles could tell that his best friend was thoroughly spooked.

"Woah dude, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I uh – " Scott stuttered, "I – I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"The dead body Stiles. I saw her."

Stiles' jaw dropped. Scott found the dead body. The one that everybody has been looking for, a severed human torso! This was insane. Even though this was what he planned, deep down Stiles didn't really think either of them would find the body but Scott did. He actually found the body. This was –

"Awesome!" Stiles cried. "Come on show me where it is."

He had already grabbed his flashlight and moved to walk back into the woods but Scott's hand on his arm pulled him back.

"What? No!" Scott hissed, "I'm not going near that body again! And you don't look like you should even be running either."

Stiles looked back down at his leg. In his excitement over the dead body, he totally forgot about his injury. To be honest, it didn't even hurt as much as he thought he would.

"What happened to you?" Asked Scott.

"Some big animal bit me." Stiles replied, "God I hope it's nothing like rabies. My dad's gonna kill me if it is."

"And you still want to go back? Dude, how are you even still standing?"

"I'm fine Scott." Stiles said, "But you're probably right. We'll go home tonight and come back tomorrow to find the body again. Now that you know where it is, it should be easier."

Scott's eyebrows rose in disbelief, "Really Stiles?"

"Come on Scott. It'll be fun!"

"Why is it that your idea of fun always ends up with either of us getting caught by the Sheriff and/or injured?"

"Because I'm awesome and the world's not quite ready for me yet."

Stiles didn't give the other boy a chance to reply before patting him on the shoulder and getting on the driver seat. Because injured leg or no injured leg, no one else was allowed to drive his baby but him.

The two boys first stopped by at Scott's house where they applied first aid to Stiles' bite and exchanged stories of their night. Stiles found out that after getting trampled over by a herd of deer, Scott found the other half of the dead body. Stiles was bummed that he didn't get to see the body himself but at least Scott did and maybe tomorrow they could come back so he could see it for himself.

Neither of the two boys noticed the pair of glowing red eyes watching them from the other side of the street.

Updated: May 11, 2021