The Journey

Prologue

She limped forwards, her foot dragging behind her. The howls in the distance getting closer as she pushed on. A low hanging branch scraped across her face and she tripped, bracing herself with her hands. The wolves thundered towards her and she knew there was no escape by running away, not with her leg all chewed up.

She whimpered and crawled behind a bush, the small pack of four wolves coming towards her and slowing to a trot. She held her breathe as they sniffed around, growling when they caught her scent. Her voice cried out as the smallest wolf dragged her out of the bush by her torn leg whilst she screamed and clawed at the ground behind her. The biggest wolf growled and stalked towards her, leaning its head down and sniffing her leg.

She stilled as the wolf looked up at her, moving closer. She tried to scream for help before the wolf clamped it's jaws around her neck, biting through the soft tissues and putting something hot and burning into her blood stream.
Her vision slowly went black as the wolf let go and she passed out, hearing nothing but her rapid heartbeat.

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My head ached as I slowly peeled my eyes open, feeling the soreness in my leg and neck. I looked around me cautiously, noticing the obnoxious white colouring of the whole room.

I looked down and saw a pale, ugly blue, thin blanket laid across my torso and legs. Confused, my eyes shot up as the door to the room creaked open and a doctor walked in, looking at a chart. He looked up to me and startled, seeing I was awake before he immediately rushed towards me, calling out a code green.

Nurses and doctors rushed into my room, all looking at my monitors and the chart attached to my bed, while the first doctor shined a torch into my eyes. I tried to talk, "what... what's going on? Why am... I, here? What happened.... to me?" The words came out as a hoarse whisper, but the doctor heard me. He gave me a sad smile and told me what happened. "Somebody found you laying out in the forest, you were almost dead and covered in injuries. He immediately brought you to the emergency room and we had to give you multiple surgeries to save your life. We didn't know if you would make it."

I looked down, noting that one side of the blanket was higher than the other. I lifted the blanket and saw my leg wrapped up almost to my thighs. I whimpered and the doctor gave me a pitiful look.

I sighed, reaching my hand up to my face where I rubbed away the tears that had fallen. He turned away towards the drawers behind him and opened the top, pulling something out then handing it back to me. It was a mirror. I gave him a confused glance before holding the mirror up to my face and neck.

I gasped in shock, the image staring back looked horrific. I had scratches all along the side of my face, the skin red and puffy from irritation, there was a thick and pink tinted bandage around my neck, most likely covering the huge bite marks. I put the mirror down quickly, not wanting to see myself for longer than I had to. I lifted my hand to my cheek, feeling the rough scabs that marred my face. "I'm sorry miss, but, we don't know your name. It's a legal requirement and we have to ask." I looked at him, thinking of what to tell him. "My name is Rosa Lee..." I whispered to him. He nodded and smiled at me before writing it down onto my chart.

I looked out the window and thought about what had happened.

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I had been lost in thought all day after that, and by the time the moon was almost full, I realised it was around midnight.

Shooting pain coursed up my spine and I immediately screamed. It felt like my bones were scraping and reshaping, moving around and bending at odd angles. I heard a crack and felt searing pain in my arms, legs and shoulders. I fell off the hospital bed onto the floor, still screaming and crying in pain. Nurses were heading towards me, I heard them running from the floor below me. I cried out as an itching sensation ran over my skin, fur sprouting from underneath. I didn't have time to be confused before more pain erupted from my face and head as I felt my jaw moving and reshaping. My ears were moving upwards and starting to face forwards as I screamed at the agony. It took maybe 20 seconds for it all to happen, but it felt like years.

As the pain eased slightly and my mind wasn't as foggy, I slowly inched myself up from the floor. My hands reached forwards and I startled as I saw two paws where my hands should have been. I screamed, or thought I did, but it came out like a terrified howl. I looked at the door as a nurse and two doctors bursted into the room, immediately freezing when they saw me. My senses were extremely heightened and I smelt all of their fear and anxiety coming off of them as they inched towards a panic button.

I tried to speak, but it only came out as barks, I sounded angry but I was honestly just terrified. I'm sorry to scare you like this, but if we didn't shift now, we were going to die. I jumped slightly as I heard a voice in my head. Am I dreaming or am I just crazy? I said to myself, or I thought I said to myself.