Land of the Lost

Chapter 1

His foot landed on the muddy ground, outside the doorway of the tiny cottage that he'd called his home for the past ten years. Old bruises were still present on his scrawny legs, his bruised ribs twisting as he moved, causing him immeasurable amounts of pain as fear tugged him away from the cottage.

Outside, he could still hear his mothers shrill, desperate cries for help, and the dull thud of his step father's heavy boots hitting the wooden floor. The sounds inside and out so loud that they covered Jake's hasty retreat. His subconscious pulled him further and further away from the house, until, without realizing, his feet landed on the rocks that used to be a road, scratching his bare feet until they bled.

He realized, at this moment, he would never be able to go back. Never go back to that life... not that he wanted to. His step-father just loved to get drunk and beat Jake senseless when he came home. Sometimes, like today, he'd go so far as to crack and break some of his ribs. Jake never understood what enjoyment his step-father gained from it. But it didn't matter. Jake had to leave before anyone noticed his absence.

He stared into the impenetrable darkness, just for a moment, but hearing the sounds from the house made him leap into a desperate, frantic run. Though his legs hurt from excess movement, he kept going. He had to get as far away from that cursed place as possible within the short amount of time that he was allowed. His bare feet pounded into the mud, slipping as he went, slowing his progress, making it harder for him to run. The wind at his front tried to shove him backwards, the rain falling onto the ground felt like needles against his skin. He kept running.

Jake trudged on for what he thought must have been hours. The rain caused his shaggy black hair to stick to his face, making it almost impossible for him to see. occasionally he would break into a run once more, hoping to get further away from that place as fast he possibly could. His legs hurt, his chest burned, but with no where else to go, he had no choice but to continue running, as the black clouds roiled above his head, pelting him with rain. A bright flash of lightning was clearly seen on the horizon throwing a blindingly bright light across the horizon. But, just as it had appeared, it faded once more, though something lingered, a faint glow in the distance. Perhaps a fire... Jake knew that with this amount of rain, it was near impossible for that to be the lights explanation. But surely that meant that there, just on the hill, perhaps there would be a safe place to rest. He wasn't sure but kept going, for every few steps, he lost another, slipping back down the hill, but none the less, the light continued to grow steadily closer.

Eventually he had gotten close to the light, which was, in fact, not as far from him as he had first suspected. This light was not miles away, but mere meters away from his now prone body. He stared at the two massive glowing orbs that rose at least a few feet above his head, trying to make sense of the large, dark mass that the fiery, glowing masses belonged too. Below the rain, he could the faint sound something akin to panting. He could feel, above the numbness in his body, steady, short gusts of warm air, hitting his body. He began to panic even more, though he could still not move his body due to the mind numbing fear that gripped his too skinny body. The creature that stood before him moved only a few steps closer to him before sitting on its haunches, lowering its giant grey head down to his level to look directly in his eyes. The breaths that escaped its giant muzzle were almost enough to knock him off his feet, considering how little he had eaten in the last few days, and the many miles that he had traveled trying to get away from the shit hole he'd been forced to call home for so many years. He stared right into the glowing, amber eyes, trying to ignore the muddied grey fur and shining white teeth that belonged to the giant wolf that loomed above him. The wolf lay down in front of him, staring expectantly at him, as if waiting for him to do something.

Every fiber in Jake's body told him to run, told him to get the fuck out of there, but he still couldn't move. His exhausted, bruised legs shaking, trying to hold his unnaturally light weight. The wolf seemed sigh, exasperated. Before his eyes, where the wolf had once laid, now stood the girl that seemed to have crawled out of the wolf's body. There was no evidence that a wolf had ever been there, minus the large paw prints that were steadily being washed away by the torrential downpour of rain. Jake, after staring for a few moments, realized that he knew this girl.