CECIL

CHP 1- Beginnings

I had gotten lucky tonight. Being able to find a house, an abandoned one at that. It almost seemed too good to be true.

Removing the hood that concealed my face I patted down my frizzy and now soaked hair as I took off my back pack and dumped it on the floor. I would stay here for the night.

It was safe and dry.

It seemed I had made the right choice when the rain again became heavier as wind caused the walls to shake from strain. The storm started to seem like more of a hurricane and I wondered how long I would be stuck in this house for before it cleared.

I sighed before moving to shut the door. Grabbing two metal drink bottles and a shoelace I tied both drink bottles to the door handle. That way if someone entered the drink bottles would make noise and I would awaken easily.

An idea that made more sense when my environment was quite. It may be heard to hear the knocking drink bottles over the loud thunder claps and sound of lightening outside.

Returning to my bag I pulled out my spare t-shirt and a small blanket. I stripped of my soaked jacket and undershirt, laying them on the floor with false hope that perhaps they would dry a little.

I dressed in the shirt before propping my bag up in the corner. I placed my small blanket on the cold floor to use as a mattress. Using my arm as a pillow I felt my cold aching body being pulled into the darkness.

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The sun rays penetrated through the windows, assaulting my pupils and turning the inside of my eyelids red. Groggily I sat up and looked around the small room I was laying in. The walls that looked dark last night now were a light wood colour.

With the scent of rain no longer blocking any smell, my nose hairs were singed but the stench of blood and urine and I wrinkled my nose in distaste. But it had provided cover from the storm last night, and in my situation I was glad to have slept in such a room.

I picked the sleeping crust out from the corner of my eyeball while yawning quietly. My body ached and begged for more rest, but I had to keep moving. I had been here longer than I should.

The storm had ended last night and I wasn't sure when. It could've been hours since it stopped. Which meant hours of opportunity for someone to pick up my scent.

I slowly rose upwards, thoroughly stretching my limbs which were sore after sleeping on such a hard surface for the night. I leant backwards, smiling to myself as my back made a satisfying crack. Immediately making me feel better.

I pulled my wavy brunette hair into a pony tail using one of the few elastics I had found in my travels.

I reached down to food my blankets before placing them in my backpack. Scooping up the now semi dry shirt and jacket from last night I tucked them into the front pocket of my pack. Grabbing the shoelace and two drink bottles on my way out I tucked them into the side.

This old backpack held everything I owned. Some underwear, two sets of long pants, shirts, my leather jacket, a knife, a blanket and bottles of water which I refilled at every chance I got.

Food I caught or picked up when moving. Mostly in my wolf form. It was too hard to carry without spoiling and would give a scent to pack warriors and rouges alike. It was risky to take food. And I couldn't afford the luxury of risks.

With the thought of food fresh in my mind my stomach grumbled loudly, letting me know it had been a few days since I had eaten. I would need to hunt today.

I jumped through the same broken window I had entered through last night. I sighed in content as the warm sun rays caressed my face. That storm had lasted the better part of two days so sunshine was a welcome return.

I walked away from the house for over an hour. Trying to find an area with enough cover that I could shift into my wolf without being too exposed.

After finding an area that offered such cover I quickly stripped out of my clothing, shoving it all into my backpack and hiding it beneath a nearby shrub.

I felt giddy as I readied for the shift, my wolf prowled in my brain, waiting for her opportunity to come out.

I inhaled deeply before letting the feeling of the shift overrun my senses. My back cracking and reshaping, my tail sprouting from my spine. My shins breaking only to reform stronger and reinforced. My nose elongating into a snout as my ears stretched out. The shift was completed in seconds and my wolf jumped around excitedly. She was glad to be out.

The ranking of a wolf within a pack could generally be distinguished by their biological forms. High ranking wolves had dark coats. With Alpha's having the darkest; black. They were also very large wolves. Normally around 5"8 to the largest I've seen being 6"0 when in wolf form. While their muscle mass ranges from bulk to terrifyingly bulk.

Beta's normally have a dark grey, but they were highlighted lighter, also very large. Then the Warrior's, a grey pelt, who weren't large in size, but were always incredibly bulky. Every other wolf had lighter coloured pelts, with a smaller size.

The same pattern followed in females. However female wolves were smaller and leaner then they're male counter parts.

But just because a wolf had the biological make of a Beta didn't mean they were one, they could just come from a line of Beta's. Or an Alpha sized wolf could be born from an Alpha, but be the second born and thus not an Alpha in truth.

It could sometimes become confusing but I guess the rules no longer really applied as packs didn't seem to exist anymore. It was now every wolf for themselves.

Shaking my head from the thoughts, I focused back onto the task of hunting.

My wolf stretched languidly, I hadn't shifted in just under a week as I travelled. Being in wolf form gave off my scent more as fur held more sweat glands than skin, but the storm had slowed my travel down remarkably. Therefore I needed to make a quick kill so that I could keep moving.

I lowered my snout to the ground and began sniffing. Constantly scenting the area for possible prey. I latched onto a small scent that faintly crossed my nose. A few more deep sniffs of the trail and I knew what lay ahead.

A rabbit.

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Chapter one is up and here!