Jessica wanted to make this the best camping trip ever. She had packed a couple of coolers of food and liquor. She had invited quite a few friends but some declined and some had backed out last minute. Now it was just her bestfriend Anna who was bringing along her boyfriend Jamie. They were taking Jamie's jeep because it had four wheel drive, Jessica's little hatchback didn't and they wanted to go as far into the woods as they could get. It was just the three of them but she wasn't going to let that sour their little trip. They had everything packed into the back of Jamie's jeep. They shut the hatch and Jessie climbed into the backseat. Jamie had a pretty good playlist and as always it was easy making conversation with Anna. The trip flew by and before she knew it they were jouncing down a little dirt path, that wasn't really wide enough to call a road. It wound it's way through the trees and up the mountain. If Jamie's SUV didn't have four wheel drive they would have barely made it 100 yards into the forest. After 3 hours of driving they decided they were far enough from any form of civilization. They parked the jeep and climbed out to set up camp. Jamie hauled the tent out as Anna and Jessie each drug a cooler from the car. Jessie had also packed some rum, vodka and mixes for them just incase they ran out of beer. Once the tent was spread out on the ground they all helped to set it up. Anna called dibs on unpacking the sleeping gear so Jessie unhappily trudged into the forest in search of firewood. Jamie was lighting the fire now but if they wanted it to burn into the night they would need more fuel. She finally gathered and entire armload and turned to head back. She stopped in her tracks. There was a dark wolf partially hidden by the trees watching her. It locked its chocolate colored eyes with her and froze her into place. She stared as it sniffed in her direction, then turned and slowly loped towards the mountain peek. Jessie let out a big sigh of relief and shakily walked back to camp. Anna and Jamie had unloaded everything. She sat down in one of the camp chairs after putting down her load of firewood.
"So there was a wolf out there." she said, laughing with a slight hysteric note. Anna looked worried but sat down at the fire. Jamie opened the doors on the jeep and cranked up some music with the logic the noise would scare anything away. Jessie checked her cell, dissapointed when she saw no signal. Anna took out a beer and tossed it to Jessie and she had to smile. A camping trip was never as much fun if you didn't get drunk.
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Ashton bounded through the underbrush. The girl he'd seen obviously wasnt lost if she was looking for firewood. That could only mean she was staying for a while, and most likely had company. He could still hear their music blaring through the forest, disturbing the woodland creatures. He darted under a falen tree back towards the cabin. Sam would need to know. The rest of the family would have to steered clear of that area until the group left. He sniffed. The smell of that girl and her city things still lodged inside his nose. His paws tore through last years leaves as he sped home. He spotted his twin brothers, Nick and Noah wrestling in what you'd call their front lawn. He didn't stop to talk. His toenails clicked on the front steps as he bounded up. He grabbed a pair of baggy shorts out of the hamper they always kept on the porched and slid them on before he was through the front door. He nodded to Kyle, one of his older brothers, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book.
"Sam! Humans!" he shouted for his other older brother. Sam was in charge because he was the oldest of them. Sam stepped out of the kitchen with an unhappy look on his face, or it could have been his happy look, Ashton never saw a very big difference between his expressions.
"Where?" he asked. Ashton tilted his head in the direction he'd come from.
"On the road to the south. Only about a fifteen minute run." he said. Sam nodded.
"Call everyone here." he said stepping into the living room. Ashton nodded and headed out to the porch. He threw his head back and howled to call in the rest of the family. Nick and Noah were right in the yard so they quickly bounded across the yard from where they had been wrestling. They trudged up the steps and grabbed a pair of shorts each. Kayla, Kyle's twin sister, lead the two youngest, Josh and Lily around the corner of the house and took the two pups inside. Finally Damien strolled slowly into the clearing, apparently in no rush he grabbed some shorts and headed inside. Ashton sighed; his family was definitely far from normal. Not only did he have two sisters and six brothers, yes his parent made like bunnies and reproduced nine offspring, they didn't leave the mountain. When their father had been shot by a hunter six years ago when their momma was pregnant with Josh they had coped. After that their momma had still made occasional trips into town for supplies every few months in the beat up old pickup parked beside the cabin. When Sam and the oldest twins were born, their parents lived in the city, but when Sam turned three and the Kyle and Kayla were not quite a year old their parents had decided they were safer living on the mountain where no one would learn their secret. Sam knew the way and had been to the city a few times because he was the oldest at twenty five now. Kyle and Kayla were twenty three now and had each been in a time or two. Ashton was the next oldest at nineteen but he'd never left the mountain, now had Damien, who was eighteen. Nick and Noah were only twelve, Lily was eight and Josh was four. So of the nine siblings, the only one even comfortable traveling in the city was Sam. Sam was in charge now. Their mother had gotten very sick last fall and died. It was hard now. Kayla was left with the job of trying to raise her siblings. Sam was left in charge of an entire family, and Kyle was the one left to do all the hunting and gardening to feed them. Ashton always helped out where he could. The whole family was now in the living room. Their log cabin was heated by a large fireplace and sported a whopping five bedrooms. Sam being the oldest got his own room. Kayls was stuck sharing hers with Lily because they were the only two girls. Kyle, Ashton and Damien shared the third bedroom, and the twins Nick and Noah shared the fourth with their baby brother Josh. The fifth and final room had been their parents and no one had the heart to move any of their mother's things. When siblings were fighting or someone was missing her a lot were the only times it was used now. They had a big kitchen and a big living room. There was a outhouse in the backyard and a big metal tub they could drag into the kitchen for baths. The kitchen had water in a tap you had to pump. They had the fireplace and a wood stove for heat and cooking. The kept a chicken coop outback as well as a few pigs and goats. Sam was the only one who knew how to drive the truck that was collecting dust beside the house. They didn't have electricity so no tv cellphones, video games or computers. Thier mother and father had gathered books to teach them everything they could. Their mother had taught them all how to read and write. They owned a set of enclyclopedias and several how to and idiots guides. The other books ranged from first aid, the car repair, to raising livestock to craft books. Even little Josh knew all his letters at only four years old. The living room was packed with the siblings draped over the two couchs and some sitting on the floor. Sam cleared his throat.
