The Road Ahead

The Woods

The Road Ahead 

   "The Woods" Chapter One 

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   In that sudden moment my mind became fuzzy, every reality I had known vanished. It was me and him. He was strong, he was fast, he was insanly smarter. This situation wasn't fair at first glance, but digging deeper into the meanin revealed more that just a cover. He was training me. 

   Teaching me. 

   My father was a rough built man, grew up in a war zone, per say and he was exposed to the pain of the world early on. Looking back at that made me realize that he did the same to me. Which really wasn't a bad thing, to others it might have been. But to me, right now, I'm thankful. Though, I've always been thankful for the things my father did for me growing up, no matter how tough he was on me, I'll always be thankful. 

   I wandered around the woods, my eyes on my feet. I followed the tracks that laid in front of me, they looked like a cross between human and animal. It intrigued me. I continued forward. A snap in the opposite direction made my nerves jump, I was already jumpy from the get-go, but this made everything worse. 

   You know that feeling that creeps up on you when you feel like you're being watched from the shadows? Like you're prey? 

   The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, I remained still, the snap sounded closer than the last one. Then a sharp pain etched on the top part of my ear, I gasped and flung my hand toward the source of the pain. Something warm oozed down my fingers, blood. 

   "If I was trying to kill you, you would've been dead." It was my fathers soft voice that made me relax. He stepped out from the bushes and showed himself to me. "Stop staying out in the open. Lurk." 

   "Echo!" 

   The sound of my name made me jump awake, a scream played in my throat but I held it back. My eyes ajusted to the darkness quickly, the shadows danced across the room in a delicate fashion. It made me smile. Zero sat in the corner of the room, staring out the window. I could tell by the way she was hunntched over that she wanted to go out in run in her wolf form. 

   "It's five, Miss Y is walking around downstairs, probably setting up for 'breakfast' " crunched her fingers around the word breakfast. Since Zero was part wolf she craved meat, which we very rarely ate. She had lost a lot of weight since I arrived here six years ago, a very upsetting atmosphere had settled between us as well. We were friends, but we argued a lot. 

   When we fought her wolf took over, her teeth would grow into very sharp canines, her eyes would go from a dull green to a blazing yellow. When she's really mad, they would turn into an inferno. 

   "I can smell it, it's all grass." Grass, she used that word when Miss Yuri only cooked greens. No meat. 

   "Do you think she'll let you go hunt?" I asked innocently, I could hear her remark before she even said it. 

   She turned quickly on her heels and growled at me, "Hell no. She doesn't want me shifting, it might 'damage my learning' " She said, her eyes burning yellow. I shot up in my bed, coming face to face with the beast. 

   "Don't growl at me!" I yelled, "I was only asking you dog!" I regretted what I said as soon as I said it. She lunged at me, growling. She crashed into me and knocked me into the cold ground. Her teeth punctured my forearm. I sniffled a scream. 

   We fought like that for a while, she was stronger than me, that was fact. Though there was something that stopped her from using all her strength on me, I like to think it's because she knows we're friends. She came to this place a couple nights before I did, she was a drifter. 

   One night I couldn't sleep so she stayed up with me, I asked her story. After a few minutes of analyzing she finally spoke. 

   She came from a great pack, of whose name I can't remember, her father was Alpha. He was tough on her; her mom left when she was only a baby. She didn't tell me if she just left or passed away. 

   Then, one day, her pack was attacked by Rouge wolves. They came in hard and murdered most of the pack, wipping out the Alpha first, then any relating bloodlines leading to a future alpha. Luckily, she wasn't staying in the pack house when all that happened, she was at a friends house. When her father died, the friends parent placed her in here. To keep her safe. 

   I think her destiny is to return to her home and bring together the wolves once again. 

   She doesn't speak about it anymore, but I find myself questioning her story a lot. She's intriguing. 

   Suddenly, Zero flies off me and hits the hard concrete wall with a loud CRACK. She groans and twist her body around, though, she still remains attached to the wall. 

   "I told you! No fighting!" Miss Yuri's voice rang through the solid room like a knife, slicing at my exposed skin. I wanted to hide. 

   "Put me down!" Zero yelled, her voice was strong. Firm. Miss Yuri dropped her arm, and down went Zero. She quickly stood back on her feet, looking like she was about to pounce on the little old lady who violently flung her to the wall. 

   Miss Yuri was a mean little old lady who doesn't take shit from anyone, she very rarely speaks about her own life, and even makes it worse on the people surrounding her. She simply looked like she crawled and forced herself out of hell. Maybe on day, the devil himself would personally come out of his depths, and drag her back down with him. 

   "You don't speak to me like that, young lady! Be nice! Play nice!" She yelled, waving her bony finger at us both. "Come here." 

   Zero took small steps forward till she stood a few feet away from Yuri. I quickly did the same. Miss Yuri's eyes trailed over our outfits, the way our hair was styled, and the shoes we had on. Zero wore loose fitting dark jeans, a black v-neck shirt, her navy vans, and had her long wavy auburn hair straightened. 

   I had on dark red skinny jeans, a back shirt, and my favorite pair of black and white vans. My long, crimson red hair was pulled into a tight pony tail. 

   "Go eat, then work." Miss Yuri said to us, we nodded and passed her. She remained in the room to inspect it. Look for stuff we are not suppose to have. That list is ten miles long, but the one thing we are not suppose to have that bothers me the most is a phone. I love listening to music, but Yuri says that only distracts us. 

   "Miss Yuri, I'm going to kill you one day." Zero growled out. 

   To me, it was an empty threat. Zero does that sometimes, she'll say something and wont take action on her words. 

   Never in my life had I been so wrong about her before. 

Authors Note 

   Okay, I really like the idea plot for this story. I owe my best friend for that. I hope she loves it! You know who you are, my friend, do you like the characters for this story? I switched them around. I can always change them, if you like.