When the Wolf Reigns

Chapter 2. Hitchhiker.

Chapter 2. Hitchhiker.

It's a warm, cloudless day but it feels like rain.  A crimson red and purple sunset reaches over the tall buildings beyond the freeway.  I love colourful sunsets that remind me of swirling candy.

My favourite time of day is when it's warm and the wind is blowing my hair in crazy dark brown curls out the car window.  It's 80 degrees and it's August.  I'm heading South, away from my hometown.  I've just lost the trail of Torna last night.  Their scent isn't nearby.  I can't sense them anywhere nearby.  I'm still edgy.  I can't get the feeling of desperation off my back.

I just drove by Nashville, Tennessee.  Past the billboards of shiny white teeth and crazed bankers.  I feel a tingling buzz on my neck.  It's a foresense.

It means a stop!

But I've already passed the big city... So with trust instinct I planned to stop at the next city on the list... I had meticulously marked every city 150 miles apart from each other to assure that I would get enough gas, food, and restroom breaks.  The next city on my list is Mt. Vernon.  Not Nashville. So there's no reason to stop in Nashville.  No logical reason.

Is there?

I run away in my thoughts while my eyes stay trained on the freeway at 70 mph.

Why is Torna after me?  They already killed my sister twelve years ago.  Now they've 'Marked' me.  I was 'infected' thirteen days ago, merely one day after my 18th birthday.  A girl at school Alicia had said it was the 'best birthday gift' I could ever dream for.

Drawn blood.

Fangs.

Claws.

A tail?!

That's the best birthday gift ever?

Up until my 16th birthday I'd always wished for my sister and parents to come back before blowing out the candles.  After that I wished for the means to get revenge. It was not good thoughts for a young girl, but I could find no more selfish thing to do than to wish for material things when my sister was killed ravenously.

So wishing to be a werewolf?  I had never done that.  In fact, I had not known there was such thing.  Even after the Alicia had 'marked' me I was still skeptical. 

Not that I experienced the first change yet... That's another 12 days away.  I wish I could stop time and somehow reverse that night on my 18th birthday...

I can't be like those yellow eyed creatures who took my sister away from me and my parents. I just can't!  The thought brings me to tears.  What if I cause the same harm to another family?  What if I, Lala Wilbrew, kill someone in cold-blood?

...

It's been six hours and I'm already in North Carolina.  The beach is where I'm heading.  It'lll be a big change for me.  Hopefully a good one.  I'm planning-

"Aah!" I screeched and slammed on the brakes, my heart leaping to the moon.  My whole body lurched forward, my chest cut into by the seatbelt, my vision blacked out.

What was that?!

Was that a guy in front of the car?!  At 2 in the morning?! I looked up and noticed the male figure again.  Yes it was.

"What the bloody hell!" I screamed out my window, my headlights flashing.  Panicking for a few seconds I realized it was my wolf sense kicking in.  I'm usually not that easily to spook or angry.  There's no reason to get mad at someone you almost just ran over. 

Calm down.  Take a breath.  Get a grip.  Get out of your car and apologize nicely.  Better yet.  Offer him a ride!

"Hello."