Chapter 1

A few minutes after entering the Forrest, his presence felt calmer and more human than when he had first stepped into it.  After walking for a short time, the boy heard something.  It was a muffled sound; he didn’t know what it was though.  He followed the sound, and after a little more walking it turned into small whimpers.  The boy followed the sound a little longer to find a large brown pit in the ground.  The area around the pit was in a small clearing.  The trees that outlined this clearing were in the shape of a big oval that spread around the open pit.  Some of the trees seemed to be fading a little bit in life.  There were about ten feet of clearing between where the trees ended, and the pit began.  Half of that was green grass and the rest was brown dirt.  The edge of the pit seemed to be wet a little bit.

He looked down to see an animal; from what he could tell it was a mud-smeared, bloody, hurt wolf.  The bottom of the pit was all dirt colored with a bit of a shine to it, that was from the bottom being wet.  The boy had no idea where the wetness came from because nowhere up around where he stood was wet.

The boy felt a sudden sadness for the poor animal, so he held out his right hand, palm down, and suddenly, his arm glowed with a strange purple color.  The purple color that had started to glow around his arm seemed to wiggle around it as if it were alive in its own way.  Slowly, the wolf began to rise and out of the pit, with the boy switching his hand’s position as the wolf floated out of the pit.  The boy laid him softly on the ground just a few feet away from the opening with a wave of his hand.

The wolf whimpered some more, in pain and fear as he landed on the ground.  He had this sad look in his eyes; the boy felt even sorrier for him. He then suddenly got this excruciating pain in his head.  Holding his head with both hands and he fell to his knees from the pain.  It was as if something was trying to claw its way out of the deepest part of his mind.  He was remembering something; something he would much rather forget and that something else would much rather keep out of his mind.

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Two men stood standing outside of a big cage; looking at the boy. Although he was a bit younger than he is now, the boy was sitting, chained to the back wall.  Staring, also at the two men, but not really seeing them.  As if he was only seeing shadowy silhouettes of them.

“How are things coming along, Doctor?” said the man closest to the front of the cage.

“As well as can be expected, Sir.” said the man behind him wearing a white lab coat.

“I don’t think I quite understand what you mean.”

The doctor flinches and hangs his head, in fear, at the man before him.  “Well, he’s not really been cooperating with us.”

“Him… Doctor?”

The Doctor flinches, again, at the man’s statement.  “Sorry…Sir.  The test subject also refuses to let us take its blood.  We know that when it gives its blood to someone or something the blood changes the composition of the body.  It adapts to the new blood; becoming something more than it was orignally.”

“You’ve killed all the other test subjects, right?” The man asks while still staring down and the helpless boy sitting in the back of the cage.

“Yes sir, as you’ve requested.” The man then smiles evilly.

“Sir we’ve also found out that if something is close to death but is given some of the subject’s blood then it comes back to life and adapts like the others.”

“Hmm…interesting, Doctor.

Good work.  Good work indeed.” The man tells the doctor while turning around with his evil smile slowly turning into a smirk.

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‘Maybe I can save him.’ thought the boy.  After a few short breaths to steady himself, he got back up to his feet and walked over to where he had laid the wolf then sat down next to it.  The boy put his hand in the wolf’s mouth and cut it slightly on the wolf’s fang.  He flinched for a second at the same time as he cut his hand.  He let his blood drip into the wolf’s mouth for a while.  The wolf, sensing his inhuman presence seemed to know that in its current state, it could do nothing to defend itself.  So, it just sat and waited for the boy to finish him.  Curious as to why he was putting blood in his mouth.

The boy didn’t know how long to let the blood drip; so, after about twenty minutes the boy started to feel a little dizzy.  “You’re going to be okay, boy.  I promise.” As the world faded into darkness the boy fell against the wolf.

Coming back into consciousness the boy heard some strange noises.

CRACKEL, CRACKEL, POP!

They were the strangest things the boy had ever heard.  It reminded him of the weird bad place he had seen on fire.  He doesn’t really remember why that place was on fire, he only remembers wanting to get away from there.  ‘Somehow I feel safe now though.’ He slowly opened his eyes to be blinded by a small fire.  ‘Is this what feeling safe, feels like?’ His thoughts roamed for a couple of minutes, mostly thinking about this strange new feeling he was experiencing.

Then suddenly remembering the strange wolf, the boy shot up with a jolt.  He looked around but there was no sign of the wolf.  ‘Makes me wonder who or what started the fire.’

RUSTLE, RUSTLE, RUSTLE

‘Something’s coming and I have nowhere to hide!’ Then to the boy’s surprise, the wolf stepped out from behind the bushes.  “You!!” the boy shouted while pointing at the wolf.  “Thank goodness!! You’re still alive.  How are you feeling?  Have you fully recovered?” The wolf walked up to the boy, stopped, and waited.  “What?” The wolf licked him in the face.  “Ahhhh…. heh heh.  You’re welcome, boy,” he patted the wolf on the head.