CHAPTER I

I'm aching all over. Sweat sticks to me like second skin as I continued to run.

My hands were bloodied and the only cloth I'm wearing is stained with blotches of blood.

All I can see are trees and the misty fog.

Searing pain shot up my legs and I decided to rest for a while to give my poor self a break.

Silence.

Complete utter silence. Not even a single cricket can be heard.

I looked up to see the sky turning a soft glow of pink and orange. It's so pretty.

When had I last seen this? I can't even remember.

There was crunching of twigs and leaves and I immediately looked to my left.

A wolf was staring at me with wonder.

Its piercing green eyes seemed to stare right through my soul. This piqued my interest about the wolf with black streaks on his grayish fur.

I tilted my head as I looked at the wolf. It copied my movements.

We just gazed at each other, momentarily making me forget why I'm running in the first place.

It abruptly put a paw forward and I took a step back, away from possible danger.

The wolf whimpered at my actions and he flopped to the forest ground, showing me complete submission. Baring its neck and showing its belly.

As I did the wolf a once over, I realized it's a male.

I went near him, cautiously presenting my hand. He licked it and I felt a tingling sensation.

I took my hand back and giggled, "Tickles."

That came out soft, barely audible, and hoarse. I have not spoken for a long time.

At the sound of my laughter, his eyes showed admiration.

Bringing myself closer to him, I sat in front of the wolf and started to caress its soft fur.

He started to purr out his contentment as I did that.

I let out a smile.

Despite the possibility of the wild wolf killing me and eating my dead body right after, I felt safe for the first time ever.

This feeling was weird to me, but it was the good kind of weird. I liked it. A lot.

Then we heard grumbles of chatter from afar.

I felt my eyes widen with fear. It's them. They have tracked me down. I can't go back to that awful place.

The wolf next to me started to growl. His eyes were menacing, ready to pounce on anything to keep me out of harm's way.

As soon as I stood up to get ready to run once again, I immediately plopped back down.

Pain has overtaken my sore legs. Tears were prickling on the corners of my eyes.

Before I could wipe my tears away, the wolf left and mauled the group.

The fog was dense but I can still see the silhouette of heads being ripped apart from their body and splatters of blood slicing the air.

I barely registered what had happened when the wolf trudged back to me with dried blood on its snout.