The Hunted

Chapter 1

The talk of the town was that the woods were off limits at night. Sometimes even during the day. The old town's folk often told stories to their grandchildren, to warn them of entering the woods. Be careful this be careful that, you get what I mean. 

They talked of the things that lurked in those very woods. the creatures, the demons if you would. There were good and bad stories. The good ones you could tell were real because they terrified you to the very core. The bad ones you could obviously tell they were f*****g with you.

Growing up for me was different. I didn't have these people to tell me right from wrong. I was born here in this tiny town and abandoned on the step of the police station. The only things I had from my life before were the clothes on my back and a little note saying that my parents were dead and that my care taker couldn't watch over me anymore.

But back to the creepy old geezer stories. These stories got so bad that every spring, a team of hunters was sent out to go and try and bring back these creatures. Some came back with cuts and scrapes, some came back with flesh and muscle ripped from them, and some just didn't come back at all. The hunters that did survive would come back and talk of a massive black demon dog that had red glowing eyes and razor sharp fangs. This is the same demon dog every time that tears through half a group of hunters, maiming and even killing them. They come back empty handed but never empty minded.

That was 18 years ago. I'm 20 years old now. My mature mind has me wandering even in my sleep. Sometimes I'll walk to my kitchen and look through my fridge with my eyes closed, sometimes I wake up in my backyard staring into the same dark dangerous forest we're warned about here. The only thing that separates me from that place, that whole other world, is a little chicken wire fence. 

Ironic.

What's not ironic is the fact that my dreams get so real that I feel like I'm walking in the actual forest! Kind of like right now. I'm walking and walking and walking. Oh look! Still. Walking. The ground is soft, wet, and cold. kind of like walking on dirt after a light rain shower. If I remember correctly, it rained a bit right before I fell asleep. I feel like I walking further and further into darkness. I might just be walking on the linoleum in my kitchen. But if that's the case, why am I starting to hear the wilderness? Maybe I left the T.V. on again. Discovery channel? You know that feeling you get when you're in a nightmare and you get jump-scared awake? That's what I'm feeling except I'm not waking up!

Realization dawns upon me. I'm. Not. Sleeping. I step out of my trance and look at where I'm at. 

"f**k!" I scream out loud. only thing is, no sound comes from my mouth.

Did I just speak? What was that crunching noise?

Why did the forest go silent?

I pause and look around, those glowing red eyes in the stories appear in the shadows. A deafening growl sounds all around me. I scream but still no sound bursts through my mouth. I can't even feel my vocal cords vibrate. I can feel movement within my being. I'm running. Which ever direction I don't f*****g know, but I'm running. Maybe I'll have a chance of survival.

I see my backyard from a distance but something ethereal is glowing in it. It's me. But if I'm there how am I here? I stop at my shabby chicken wire fence.

How did I even get through this? 

It looked like it had never even been touched before. Like nothing was disturbed. 

I have to be dreaming! Wake up!

I look to my sides and see the glowing eyes next to me. But they aren't looking at ME they're looking at ME in the backyard.

They jump over the fence lightly, but the body mass is huge. Black fur lined a bulky body of a dog, no a WOLF, sleek and shiny almost like silk. Running to my body in the yard. I am terrified and stuck in place. 

What shocks me is that the wolf doesn't attack. He wraps his body around mine, lays down and howls. My body glows brighter and brighter until.....the sun shines through my bedroom window and I stare into an empty backyard in the daylight.

What. The. f**k.