The New Mutants

Prologue

There's an old Native American proverb that says inside every person, there are two bears forever locked in combat for your soul.

One bear is all things good. Compassion, love, and trust.

The other is all things evil. Fear, shame, and self-destruction.

- - -

A loud crash that shook the ground caused Dani to wake with a start.

Gasping, she sat up and saw a fire burning outside.

"What's happening?" Dani asked her father as soon as he entered her room.

"We have to run... as fast as we can!" Dani's dad answered as the house continued to shake. He pulled her out of the bed and toward the door.

"Wait!" Dani said. She stopped a second to grab her necklace, the one with the bear her father made for her, from her nightside table, and allowed her father to pull her. They exited her room as the trailer continued to shake and rumble.

"Don't let go of my hand!" Dani's father shouted as he pulled her outside.

The wind howled as snow swirled around the night sky. That was the first thing that didn't make sense. It was a hot summer night. There wasn't supposed to be snow. The other was that the other Natives that lived on the reservation were running out of their homes and were panicking, trying to drive away or get as far from the area as they could.

Looking behind her, Dani saw the home she and her father lived in crumble to pieces by the strong wind. A flaming house then flew into what was left of hers and set it ablaze.

A man on fire screamed as Dani and her father ran past him. An exploding car flew over their heads as they neared the forest.

"What's happening?" Dani asked. Dani's father didn't answer. Instead he brought her to the swing tree.

As the name suggested, the swing tree was a large tree with a tire swing tied to one of the lower branches. A hole was in the trunk, big enough for someone to sit in.

"Here!" Dani's father said to her. "Hide here!" Breathing heavily, he pushed his daughter into the hole, where she sat cross-legged as she looked up at him. "I have to go help them."

"No!" Dani said, pulling her dad back down to her. "No, Dad, please!"

"Dani!"

"Please don't leave me alone!" Dani and her father then embraced each other as the explosions continued to roar in the night's air.

"Dani, I have to go back," Dani's father said as they faced each other. "Stay here. If I don't make it back, find Carcajou. Tell him I said thank you for saving my life." He then stood up and left.

Whimpering, Dani stayed hidden in the hole in the tree. She then looked down at her necklace as she heard her father shout, "Hey!"

Burying her face into her knees, Dani began to cry as she heard a deep growling over the wind.

"Run!" Dani's father shouted to the other Natives. "No! Get away! Run!" The ground began to shake in patterns with crashing sounds, like giant footsteps were coming toward her.

"No!" Dani's father shouted. Just then, a body was thrown toward Dani, causing her to scream. The man was dead, but she knew who it was.

Her father.

Dani began whimpering at the sight of her killed parent as an inhuman growl filled the air, making the wind sound like a nice, gentle breeze.

Afraid, Dani began crying as she ran out of her hiding place and through the woods. The trees rustled as whatever monster made those sounds began following her, its deep growling resonating through the snowy forest. As the growling continued, Dani turned around to see what was chasing her and tripped. Tumbling down a leafy hill, Dani came to a stop when her head hit a rock. Gasping, she lost consciousness and allowed the darkness to swallow her up.