Feral

Prologue

The three burly men completely in camo gear stood confused, scratching at their beards. When they went out hunting this morning, they had good hopes of coming back with a catch. If not some boars, they hoped to at least get rid of some of the raccoons that had been raiding their trashcans.

All of them were experienced hunters and knew to thoroughly prepare for anything that could happen during their hunting escapades that sometimes took at least a week.

Leaving their houses before the break of dawn, they had been fully prepared for their boar hunt; armed plentifully, packs of food in case they needed to camp out and even a satellite phone in case of emergencies.

After all, you never knew what could happen out in the woods. There were animals out there that could easily turn the tide against them, to turn the hunter into the hunted.

Even though there were plenty of rumors and superstitions going around, they needed to eat and so did their families. Most of them scoffed and mocked the rumors but still... In their hearts, they believed them and paid respect to the woods.

There had been plenty of boar tracks all around the forest and even several droppings that seemed relatively fresh. When the coonhounds started baying, they had eagerly rushed ahead, knowing that their dogs had found a fresh trail.

They had heard hogs squealing in the distance and had assumed that one of the hounds had managed to track it down. Squeals and sharp barks had forced the men to speed up to assist their hound before the boar managed to avoid the simple armor and gore it.

At least one of them had lost a good hound to a wild boar's attack. They knew to come running as soon s they heard the squeals of the hogs and the agitated barks of their hounds.

So imagine their surprise when they found a heavily mutilated boar with a scraped up naked teenager sleeping curled up in some leaves a few steps away from the boar. The teen was bloodied yes and deeply asleep, more likely unconscious but what worried the men was that it seemed the boy had actually eaten from the boar.

That is, if the blood around the kid's mouth and missing chunks of flesh on the boar's back and throat were any indication.

Fear nipped at their hearts, as irrational as it was. Three fully grown men, a pack of dogs at their command and all three of them armed to the teeth with rifles, hunting knives and spare ammo. And yet...

A chill of instinctual fear sparked over their spine, alerting them of the predator in their presence.

"Reckon he's lost and surviving out here?" One of the men spoke softly, as not to wake up the teen. He eyed the boy's side, which was covered in blood, though he seemed to be bleeding sluggishly. The tusks of the male boar were dripping with blood, showing that it had struggled and dealt some serious damage before it died.

By the hands of an unarmed kid.

"Dunno. Normally I'd say he stumbled on the hog and got in its way. But not while he's taking a stroll in the nude..."

The other man scoffed, digging in his pockets before pulling out his satellite phone. "I'm calling the cops. This whole mess stinks. Either the boy had been abducted and escaped his kidnappers, or its one of them feral kids."

At his words, the other two clenched their rifles more tightly, leveling it at the boy in reflex. Everyone had heard the stories being spread around about Feral kids roaming the forests. The tales spoke of children of all ages being found in the nude, completely wild and either fled at the sight of people approaching... or attacked on sight.

Ever since the first encounters, a special emergency line was created to alert officials of possible sightings. Everyone in their town had memorized the number by heart, simply because all of the rumors and stories and just to be on the safe side, of course.

They all looked at the boy worriedly, wondering if this kid was a feral, exactly what type of feral did they bump into?

The prey? Or the predator?

All of them knew the stories. There had been several sightings of Ferals, perhaps not in their little town but close enough to make them wary. Stories of a trucker found mauled and bleeding as he stuttered about savage children that attacked him, to families searching in the woods after seeing naked toddlers and teens running through the forests.

When even the coonhounds sniffed the air cautiously and didn't come anywhere near the boy, the three men wisely backed off to make the call. Killing an animal was one thing but none of them was all too eager to have to shoot the boy in self-defense.

Luckily for them, the boy was knocked out cold from his exhausting fight with the hog, recovering from the strain and the injuries, leaving the men to quickly place the call and make up camp for the moment.

After a minute of consideration, the tallest hunter removed his coat and flung it over the boy, leaping back when the boy let out a slurred hiss, fingers twitching slightly. "Fucking Ferals..." The man grumbled to himself, clicking his tongue at his hounds to make sure none of them got too close to the boy.

They all eagerly obeyed his command as they sniffed the air, slinking around with their tails tucked firmly against their bellies.

One of the men went back to the quads to guide the officials back to the boy while the other two stayed behind with the pack of dogs. Honestly, the hunter didn't expect much when a car showed up in the distance, but when it was followed by several more, his eyes widened significantly.

"Where's the kid?" The driver asked roughly after rolling down the window and flashing his ID. The hunter leaned over while glancing at the other cars. "Up ahead, further in the woods." He glanced at the two occupants of the car, swallowing nervously. "Isn't this a bit... you know, overkill? It's just one kid."

The driver smiled coolly, his eyes so dark brown they were nearly black. The man let out a short, annoyed huff as he leaned closer to the hunter on his quad, cap sliding back to reveal spikes of creamy white hair.

"Trust me Sir, this is standard protocol for cases like this. We want to make sure that if the child is indeed Feral and that no harm comes to it or any onlookers." The hunter nodded and turned the quad around as the window of the jeep rolled back up.

"You smelled that too?" The driver spoke, voice a low snarl. His passenger nodded while inhaling the air deeply with a flick of his tongue before replying, "Definitely a predator, though we already guessed from the description. Can't really say I ever caught this scent before though."

The polar bear shifter nodded, expression grim as he followed the human down the trail, eyes flitting back and forth. "I wonder if any of the kid's siblings are still roaming around in these woods." His eyes could easily see through the settling darkness but he still turned the headlights on, mostly to seem human to the humans.

"If they survived, perhaps." His companion's lips thinned before his tongue flicked out, a slight hiss accompanying the gesture. "Though there are a lot of species who spread out over massive territories. Seeing that this shifter is a male, his territory will be much larger than any females in the area. If  there are any others besides him. For all we know, he could be solitary or the last survivor of his pack."

The bear nodded grimly, eyes darkening before they both heard the baying hounds in the distance and could smell the stench of the hog carcass, the hounds drooling and the fresh scent of shifter blood.

"Well, let's collect him and head to HQ before he wakes up. I don't fancy having to wrestle down another Feral today."

The polar bear laughed at the serpents' hissed reply, knowing all too well that he could knock out the hardiest of Ferals in his iron grasp.

"All in a day's work, Charles. All in a day's work..."

A.N. Here we go, one of my ideas that have been lingering around. Who knows, perhaps if I have enough time I'll start this, unless you guys want me to finish my other stories first ^-^ 

<3

Shifting2Wolf