The Silver Bullet

Chapter One: The Nightmare

Rachel Persistance ran up to her dad, Jack, and grabbed his hand.

"Come on daddy, let's play!!! We have to play a game!" she squealed. She pulled him over to the campfire blazing nearby and started skipping around it. The wood from the logs snapped and crackled as the thick smoke rose towards the starry sky.

"This is the best birthday ever!!" the now eight year giggled as she spun around. She collapsed on the cold surface and laughed. As Rachel and her two friends stared up at the collage of stars above, Jack slipped off to talk to his sister, Theresa.

"She's growing up so fast." he chuckled along with Theresa. "It just seems like yesterday met her for the first time..."

Jack had never married, but he had always wanted a child that he could love and raise on his own. Ten years ago, he decided to adopt and went out to an orphanage to check out the children. It killed him that he couldn't help them all, and he didn't know what child to choose. After he toured the orphanage, one of the nurses came next to Jack.

"We just got another child in. She's so young. I swear, she's no older than a couple days." she had cried. "Would you like to see her?"

Jack nodded and the nurse exited the room. She returned a few minutes later with a bundle of blankets in her arms. The baby's hair was a light blonde and felt like a soft peach-fuzz. Her beady blue eyes stared up at Jack's compassionate ones. Immediately, he grasped the blankets and pulled the baby close to him. The baby girl snuggled in Jack's arms. His heart had made up its mind: he wanted this baby. He signed the baby's paperwork and before he took her home, the nurse handed him a silver locket: the only thing that the baby girl, Rachel, owned.

"I know it's tough thinking about that." Theresa patted her brother's shoulder, as if she could read his mind. She watched him pulled a silver locket, the same one from Rachel's adoption, out of his pocket.

"Go give it to her." she smiled. 

Jack wrapped it up and a box and started walking over to his young daughter. He never wanted to tell her that she was adopted. He didn't want her to ask herself, 'why didn't my parents want me?' or 'why was I given up?'

"Sweetheart, I've got a special gift for you." he smiled at her. Rachel's eyes lit up. She never had received a present, but it didn't matter. 

Rachel took the small package and opened it. Inside, there was a silver locket shaped like a heart. She opened the locket to see a picture of her and her dad.

"Daddy, I love it!!" she squealed. "Thank you."

She put on the necklace and ran off to play with the beachball again. Jack walked over to his sister and started talking with her. He was so proud of his little girl.

"Daddy, the ball went into the bushes." Rachel called out to him. "Can you go get it for us?"

Jack got up and went into the forest to get the ball. He grabbed it and walked back out. Rachel jumped up and clapped, but then her eyes started bulging.

"Daddy, behind you!!!!!!!" she screamed. Jack spun around to see a creature emerging from the bush. Its red eyes glowed in the darkness and its jaws snapped furiously. The creature stared up at the full moon and howled.

'It seems like a wolf of some sort...' Jack thought to himself. The creature lunged forward, trying to claw Jack. He jumped backwards and started screaming,

"Theresa!!! Take the children in the house and lock the doors! Call animal control!".

Theresa nodded and grabbed Rachel's two friends and rushed into the house. Her hands were shaking so hard that she almost couldn't grab the phone. She eventually managed to pick it up and immediately called animal control.

Outside, the wolf-creature began to close in on Jack. He picked up Rachel and began darting towards the house.

"Hurry daddy, it's getting closer!" Rachel screamed. Jack turned to look behind him when the creature tackled him. They both fell on the ground. Rachel got up to see her dad wrestling the creature.

"Darling, you need to listen to me!" he shouted, avoiding the wolf's attempts to bite him. "Get yourself inside the house now and..."

"Daddy, no!!!" she interupted him. "I won't leave you!"

"Sweetheart, you have to trust me!" he shouted. "I love you very... ARGH!!!"

The wolf had just bit Jack on the shoulder. It looked up to see Rachel, snarled at her, and began charging after her. Rachel screamed and started running towards the door. She then tripped over a branch and fell forward. The wolf lunged in for the bite after she heard a BOOM!!!!

The wolf was thrown back and didn't move again. Rachel got up and saw three men standing in front of her. She turned her head away from them and ran over towards her dad.

"Don't go over to him, little girl!!" one of the men shouted, sprinting after her.

"I'm not a little girl!!" she protested. "I want my daddy!". She knelt beside her dad and started hugging his arm. Luke, the man who was chasing Rachel, stopped and started examining Jack.

"He's been bitten!!" he shouted to the others. "Get him into captivity!"

The two men rushed over and picked up Jack. They carried him over to a truck, loaded him in, and started speeding off. After the other two had left, Luke went back to the yard to find Rachel kicking the wolf's dead body.

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, rushing over to her.

"You're right, why am I kicking this?" she answered. She ran over to Luke and started throwing punches and kicks.

"What're you doing?" he shouted, avoiding the little punches. "I just saved your life!"

"No you didn't" she protested, continuing to punch him. "I could've escaped just fine! It's your fault! You came too late! Now my daddy's hurt, and it's all your fault!". Rachel started to cry. Luke froze. She was right. He HAD been to late, and now she was all alone.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered to her. "But this is worse then you think. That isn't a wolf. It's a werewolf."

"They don't exist right? Aren't they just in Halloween stories?" Rachel asked nervously.

"I'm afraid not." Luke answered. "Now that your dad has been bitten, he can turn into a werewolf. Whenever he's a werewolf, he won't remember who he is, what he's doing, or who is important to him. He can hurt you and not remember who you are. So we have to keep him in a special room so he can stay safe and not hurt you."

"You're mean!" Rachel shouted. "You did this to me! You let my daddy get hurt! I bet I would do your job better then you could!"

"Watch what you say. There are more monsters out there from Halloween tales, and not just one werewolf. Goblins, vampires, zombies, demons, and werewolves. It took me half of my life time to train for this job." he explained.

"I want you to sign me up for this. I want to get revenge for what the werewolf did to my daddy. I'm gonna prove I can do better then you. Nobody else should loose their daddy or family because someone is late, not when I'm helping." she retorted.

"Are you sure about this? You risk your life for everything just keeping people safe and..." Luke started.

"Be quiet!" Rachel interupted. "I want to hunt monsters and protect others."

"Alright. Come with me, and we'll start training you tomorrow." he said.

"We?" she asked.

"There are more of us. And we will all train you." he explained.

Rachel knew that she wanted to avenge her father and protect others in case it would happen again.

"Ok" she responded