The Peacekeeper

Author's note- This work is a full length book, with slightly more than 55,000 words. I would appreciate any feedback in the comments. Thanks, and enjoy!

Chapter 1

"And so that's when I told him, 'Yeah, but I already have a boyfriend,'"

Sam Bishop laughed, and grinned at Stacy, his girlfriend. "Let me get this straight, you let him text you for, what, three hours?"

She smirked. "I was being egged on."

Sam shook his head, and reached his arm out to help Stacy scramble up the last rock. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked around.

"Wow, what a view," she said admiringly. "No one else is up here, either."

Sam nodded. "It's a perfect day for it, too. Not to mention it's short enough that my mom and dad could do it without too much trouble."

Stacy smiled. "Yeah, I know. They should be up in about five minutes, or so."

The pair sat down on one of the outcroppings of rock that dotted the peak, sipping water and bemoaning the lack of food, which they had eaten on the three mile hike up. After that, the two walked around the top holding hands, amused by the antics of the overly friendly chipmunks that called the mountain home. But after ten minutes, Stacy frowned.

"Hey, where do you think your parents are?" she asked curiously. "They weren't that far behind us."

Sam nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right. Do you think that we should go back for them?"

Stacy chewed her lip. "Maybe. Let's give it a minute. If they were in trouble and needed our help, they would have sent you a text, right?"

"Yeah, they would. Dad's pretty good with technology." Sam pulled out his phone, squinting at the screen in the light. "Let's see.... There's no reception up here. Let's go down a little ways."

Slightly concerned, the pair began to make their way back down the mountain. After two or three minutes with no sign of Sam's parents, they began to be worried. They picked up the pace slightly, looking around the woods more carefully.

"One sec," Sam said, kneeling down to tie his shoe. Stacy nodded, and kept looking around through the scraggy undergrowth. Suddenly, she froze.

"Oh, God," she whispered, and then death was on them in a blur of orange and black fur.

Sam looked up in time to see a massive tiger hurtle out of the trees, heading straight for Stacy. He tried to push her out of the way, but he was too slow, and it crashed into her, throwing her back. She landed on her back, with the tiger on her chest, clawing and biting savagely. Sam struggled to get back on his feet, but he had been sent sprawling by the tiger's impact. By the time he had regained his footing, the tiger had pushed off of Stacy, and was prowling towards him.

Sam chanced a glance at Stacy, but she wasn't moving, her eyes frozen half open.

"No, no," Sam whispered, and then understood what had kept his parents. "Not them too!" he said with horror.

But the massive cat kept moving towards him, almost slinking forwards, it's amber eyes glowing with a light that seemed more human than anything else. Sam began backing up, slowly, but the tiger kept closing the distance between them. Sam shuddered when he realized that the tiger was playing with him. It was only six feet away, more than capable of tearing his throat out in one lunge, but it just continued to pad closer, jaws slightly agape.