Unblooded

Chapter 1 (currently editing)

My deepest apologies for the short chapters, I am trying to get used to them. Please forgive me this is my first book written on Wattpad. I also need to make a quick thank you to one of my closest friends, for she has shown me how to create on Wattpad. I highly doubt that anyone will willingly read any of my book, but if anyone does, I thank you deeply for at least giving it a chance even if it was by accident that you happened to read it.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My parents left the house carrying shotguns and rifles. They told me to stay put, to wait for them to return. They told me not to open the door and keep a pistol on me, to have the family medical kit on stand by. They also told me that they would be back before dusk.

So, I sat in the living room on a brown leather couch and waited. And waited. And waited. I waited so long that I watched as the sun got lower and lower in the pale sky. I soon became restless and started pacing back and forth. Worry bit harshly at my insides making me sick as the sun began to sit on the western horizon. Something was terribly wrong, they never broke their promises. Flopped on the floor, conflicting thoughts racing relentlessly across my mind. They told me to stay put but I couldn't. Too much was racing through my head. Images of them injured or worse plagued my mind. I could go against orders, try to find them, then deal with the repercussions later. The worst they could do is yell at me, unless there is something awful outside hence the weapons. My parents were always cautious people but this felt like it went beyond caution. I needed to find them, or at the very least see them to know that they are okay.

Knowing what I must do, ran to my room and grabbed the knife my father had gotten me for my last birthday. Its blade was as long as my forearm without the handle and painted flat black. To others, it was not very big, being I was only nine years old. I strapped it to my belt along with the pistol, grabbed the medical kit we always had in the kitchen, and headed outside. Thick woods surrounded my house and beyond the trees the field began that held our herd of cattle. I took a deep breath, the cool spring air tasted of rain, and it calmed my nerves. 'They will be fine,' I thought, 'They have to be. I can't allow myself think that anything happened to them.'

I headed into the dense woods with one final look at the house. My stomach twisted seeing the white and grey house against the grey cloudy sky. I had the awful and confusing feeling that I would not see it again. I turned my back on it an took another deep breath looking into the dense woods and thick underbrush in front of me. I instinctively follow the path I had walked a thousand times. Everything looked and smelled the same but the woods did not feel... right. The dense foliage usually gave me a sense of comfort, the earthy colors making me feel more at home than my actual home. A peaceful place to escape from others. A place to hide and be seen only when you wanted to be seen. A place for a hunter.

Ever since I could remember my dad always taught me how to hunt and track, my mother would teach me how to set traps, create snares, and how to clean the kill. They taught me how to hunt and survive, not exactly something you teach your daughter from the moment she could walk. Despite how I was raised, it was necessary. My family always had food. They always made sure to emphasize how important hunting and tracking is.

I continued through the woods, scanning the ground for footprints or anything that will lead me to my parents. I continued to search when I found something.... interesting. It was not a footprint but a handprint on a tree. It was a bright florescent green and looked like paint. I cautiously walked over to it and noticed that it was splattered on some of the underbrush, similar to how blood would. It was thick and gel-like, as if it was drying for awhile. I scanned the area and found another print just like it a few yards away on another tree. The trail continued until I came to a small clearing. It was then I noticed the silence. There were no birds chirping, no animals rooting around in the decaying leaves, and there was nothing coming from the cows in the nearby pasture. Fear coiled in my stomach, something was near and it was far from friendly. I brought my attention back to the clearing and saw a crumpled figure. He was laying on his back, unmoving. I got a little closer and stopped. Florescent green fluid was flowing from a wound in his side. The flesh was ripped and torn. Despite how horrible the wound was, it did not seem too deep but it was seeping blood pretty quickly. His skin was an odd shade of green and he had scales on some areas of his body. Instead of hair, he had thick dreadlocks that grew from his skull and were currently spread out like a halo. Each dreadlock had a metal decoration. He was also wearing armor that I had never seen before. I had no idea who he was but I did know that he was far from human.

I crouched down and carefully made my way to the creature. He had on a strange helmet or mask that had tubes and wires coming out of one of the sides. His armor consisted of metal covering his left shoulder, a partial chest plate, and layered metal on his thighs. On the belt attached to the leather skirt he was also wearing was bones; small skulls, vertebrae, and other various small bones. Some of them were from animals I recognized, the rest I could not recognize and did not seem to be anything from my home. His armor was decorated in a similar manner and there were strange symbols etched into his helmet.

I slowly got closer, watching his body for any sort of movement. His chest barely moved, his breathing slow and shallow. There was very little fat on his body, the majority of his body being lean muscle. Similar to the bodies of my parents. 'My parents were quick and strong, the creature might be as well,' I thought. I leaned down and placed a hand on his chest, looking closer. "What are you?" I whispered. All of a sudden he grabbed my wrist tightly, not to the point it hurt but so I could not pull away. I gasped in shock but not in fear. Something about the creature in front of me told my instincts to trust him, to not fear him. It might have been in the way he gently but firmly grasped my wrist. He lifted his head and seemed to look at me. He pressed his hand over the awful wound in his side and let out a clicking growl. He then looked to the medical kit I had strapped to my side. I looked from the kit and back to him as he let out another growl that sounded pitiful and weak.

I set out the kit on the leaf covered ground and began to dig out some of the supplies. He watched me intently as I laid out supplies. I got gauze pads, elastic bandages, some tape, and alcohol; balancing them on his chest. I uncapped the alcohol and poured it onto the wound. The creature tensed up and let out a painful, strained howl that made my heart beat even faster. "Sorry, sorry," I apologized quickly. Taking a deep breath, I took one of the gauze pads and placed it over the wound and put all my weight onto the gash but it was not much. "I am not sure if you can understand me but I need to get you up so I can wrap your wound better," I told him. He nodded, seeming to understand. He shifted, managing to get his arm underneath himself and got himself while I still kept pushing the bandage into his side. Keeping pressure on the wound, I carefully helped place him against a nearby tree. The creature was silent as I began to wrap the wound. Focused on bandaging him, I did not hear the heavy footsteps behind me nor did I see the shimmering air. I felt myself flying through the air and my back connect hard with a tree trunk. I landed on the ground coughing, my lungs greedily gulping in whatever air it could grab ahold of. I looked back at the injured creature and noticed the air shimmering and moving like the wind had suddenly become visible. It melted and faded away revealing another being similar to the one leaning against the base of the tree. Despite gasping for air, I felt my breath catch in my throat. This one was obviously gentle like the other and carried an air of death around him.