Hollow's Grove (The Preliminary Version)

Chapter Fourteen: The Girl

That night I gorged myself on roast salmon. Never had I ever tasted such delicacies, made by me no less. I agreed with myself that it was much better than that food they had served me while I was in that nut house of a 'school'. I lay back on to the soft dew ridden grass and stared up into the starlit sky. The soft light of the crescent moon shone down upon me. I never thought that I would ever actually enjoy looking into the night.

My mind slowly shut down, I felt so right, lying here, just not caring about anything. Snap! I pushed myself off the ground. I swore that I had heard something. I narrowed my eyes and looked about, the forest seemed calm. I could hear the soft hooting of an owl not too far off. I lay back down and sighed, I was probably imagining things. Just as I closed my eyes I heard another snap!

I jumped back up and glanced around, now I knew that I wasn't imagining things. I began to walk towards to where I had heard the noise. The wolf was up, growling at something in the trees. I frowned and stopped walking. I could have sworn that I had seen movement amongst the trees. I began to tiptoe forward, taking each step slowly. Suddenly from out of the trees a rock was thrown at me.

I just managed to dodge the rock as it landed on the ground with a heavy thump. "Who's there?" I called into the night. My voice trembling, I wondered if it was the school, I gulped, had they found me? There came rustling, I stood my ground. Waiting for whatever was going to appear. Suddenly from out of the trees stepped a shadowed figure. I stared, "Who...Who are you?" I asked, by now I was shaking with terror.

The figure didn't answer, instead it came closer. I watched, stepping back as it came near. "Please, tell me who you are!" I cried, my voice becoming desperate. There still came no answer, instead the figure made its way towards me. Their face shadowed by the light of the dimming fire. "Please, tell me who you are?" I cried, my body quivering. Suddenly the figure stopped in their tracks, I watched in horror as the figure dropped limply to the forest floor.

"Oh my goodness," I muttered to myself as I raced towards the figure. The figure lay in a pool of blood that seemed to be seeping from their side. I dropped down to the ground, to my surprise it was a young woman. Her breathing was erratic, sheens of sweat upon her brow. "Hel- Her voice was cut off by a whooping cough. I stared unsure what to do, "You...You must go back to Hollow's Grove- Another cough interrupted her.

I stared, a feeling of unease washing over me. How did she know about me and Hollow's Grove? "Who are you?" I asked her, my voice frantic. She looked up at me. Her eyes were an unbelievable colour of yellow. "My...My name is Luna Martin, and I have been on the run from Hollow's Grove for over five weeks now." She coughed heavily, this time blood came up in her mucus. This girl didn't have much time left. "I saw you escape from your room a few days ago... I wanted to talk to you earlier."

She began to sputter. "Please, Hollow's Grove, isn't what they say it is. You must help the others." I looked down at her. I knew that she was obviously talking about the serum that I had heard the 'teachers' discussing that night before I had ran off. "What are they doing to those other teens?" I asked the girl. Every now and then I would glance up and look around the now dark sugar bush. Whatever had injured the girl was clearly still out there. "Their doing experiments on genetics. I am not quite sure how to explain the process. But I can tell you, that they are perverting God's gift of life-

She gave a sudden gasp, and then without warning she was gone. I stared down at the lifeless body for a few moments. Reeling in what the girl had just told me. Genetics, what did they need with genetics? I sat there, holding the bloodied body for a few minutes. Just then the wolf within me began to growl, than began to yelp. I glanced down. To my shock I was holding no longer a girl but a lynx! I dropped the body with surprise. Was this the genetic experimentation the girl was trying to tell me about?

Were they creating human-animal hybrids in the 'school'? Now that I thought about it, Marcus' behaviour had reminded me much of an alpha wolf's. Same with the other students, they were all displaying factors of different animals. Suddenly there came a snap of a branch from the darker parts of the woods. My wolf began to snarl. I noticed that it was bearing its fangs. "Let's get going," I whispered to my wolf, getting up from where I sat, I hurried off into the night. Leaving the body behind...