The Hybrid Alpha

Chapter 1: Running

AVA'S POV:

Faster.

Faster.

Faster.

That was all I could think of as the tree lines blurred through my vision.

To an ordinary person, it would seem like I was running for exercise or even training for a marathon.

Except the reason was anything but.

I was running to save my life.

To survive against something that was inhuman and would end my life if I ever stopped running.

My name is Ava Jennings and life for me has never been rainbow and sunshines.

The only memory I could conjure up, was a time when both my parents were alive, and we were surrounded by the fireplace, watching the snow fall as we sipped on our hot chocolate.

That time seems so long ago, especially compared to the predicament I was in now.

Now I had nowhere to call home, and no parents to sit around the fireplace with.

It was just me.

I rounded another corner as I slowed down my pace and I approached the familiar cabin that I had been staying in.

So far it had been eight months since I moved into the cabin.

And that was the longest time I had stayed in one location.

Usually I would find a place and camp out for a few months to avoid being discovered, but the cabin was so isolated from everything and everyone that it seemed like a safe place to stay for a longer period of time.

I was pushing my luck by not moving on to the next place, but so far nothing had happened, so I figured I had ample amount of time.

Just to be safe, I'll pack up and travel to another location by the end of the month.

Closing the distance, I reached the house and stopped my timer.

I had ran 10 miles in 58 minutes and 55 seconds.

That was a new record for me.

I relished in my accomplishment and whistled for Roxy.

She was my chocolate lab that I had found abandoned on the side of the road.

Like me, we were both unwanted and alone.

And for the past eight months we kept each other company.

I called Roxy's name again and I waited for my fur child to come bounding out the door, but she never came.

Feeling slightly worried, I slowly looked around the house for her.

She couldn't have been that far from here.

Roxy usually explored close by the cabin, so she should've been able to hear me calling her.

Stepping through the opened front door, I immediately exited and rushed to a bush.

Emptying the contents in my stomach, the images of what I had just witnessed flashed through my mind.

Blood.

There was blood everywhere.

It was splattered across the floor and it covered the walls.

Fighting everything in me to not cry out, I stood back up and entered the cabin again.

Slowly, I walked over the huge puddle of blood  and held back a sob at the sight in front of me.

Roxy was ripped to shreds like a ravaged animal had attacked her.