Turned

The Chase

The sky above the small Georgia woods was dark, night had fallen among the trees. The new moon sat in the sky, black and mysterious letting the trials that one young man was going through remain in darkness. The wind picked up in the leaves, the warm summer breeze set the tree branches to gently swaying. A wolf's howl echoed through the woods, and a second later its pack gave an enthusiastic reply. Below, on the ground a young high school student ran for his life.

So this is what it feels like to be hunted. Dante thought, vaulting over the trunk of a fallen tree and hitting the ground at a dead sprint. What a horrible feeling.

His mind was racing as fast as his heart was, and it gave Dante a strange clarity. He was hyperaware of everything happening in the woods around him, eerily so. His eyes had long since adjusted to the minimal light and as such he could see the woods around him well enough. He skidded to a halt in a small grove of trees and took a moment to catch his breath, using a tree as a crutch. As he sucked in breath after ragged breath he strained his ears to catch any sound of his pursuers. Every snap of a twig, every leaf rustled by the wind, every call of a bird, every sound had him searching the gloom for one of the beasts that chased him. When his breathing had slightly steadied he set off again at a quick jog. He kept his head on a swivel, his eyes constantly scanning. He leapt lightly over a puddle that had formed due to one of the many rainstorms that passed the region by and then immediately crouched down when his instincts picked up on something he could not comprehend. A massive wolf bounded across the path right in front of him, its nose close to the ground as it ran. Dante did not dare even breathe for a full minute, waiting to see if any others would follow after the wolf. When none did he slowly got to his feet and turned back the way he had come. He had just gotten back to the small grove of trees he had rested at when he heard something snap a branch behind him. He didn't bother to turn and look to see what it was, but instead he began to sprint through the trees. He had just reached the other side when a wolf appeared seemingly from nowhere, barring his path. Dante stopped in his tracks and began to back up just as the wolf began to advance. A second wolf appeared on his right and then a third on his left. The three beasts moved slowly towards Dante, herding him it seemed. "This isn't good." He muttered, his eyes flitting from one beast to another. The wolves watched him right back, their eyes filled with an intelligence that went beyond that of simple beasts. Dante felt his back bump into a tree and he glanced up quickly, looking for a branch he could grab onto. As luck would have it, a solid limb was just within arm's reach. He lowered his gaze to the wolves and grinned wildly before exploding upwards and grabbing onto the limb. He had just managed to pull his chest above the branch when sharp teeth latched onto his ankle and pulled him down. He clutched the branch tightly, but the wolf's power was not to be denied so easily. He crashed to the forest floor and was pulled away from the tree. The fall had knocked the breath from his chest, and he woozily got to his feet with his head swimming. The wolf had released his leg almost as soon as it had grabbed him, though Dante had no clue which wolf it had been. Despite his vision swimming and his lungs rebelling, Dante still managed to get himself to his feet and gaze around at the scene that had progressed. There were no longer three wolves in the clearing. He quit counting when he reached twelve, knowing that he was hopelessly trapped.

"Not fair." He complained, turning in a small circle in a futile effort to keep an eye on each of the wolves. "This isn't fair."

It was then that Dante did something that an onlooker would have considered odd. He tried to reason with the wolves. "Please, listen, I won't tell anyone. You have Grayson, that's what you came for right? Just let me go and I swear I won't breathe a word of this to anyone. No one would even believe me."

A large white wolf stepped forward and the air around it began to shimmer. In less than a second a beautiful white haired girl was standing before him fully naked wearing only a sad smile. She shook her head and said, "Sorry, Dante." She began to walk toward him, her arm stretching out in front of her as she reached for him. "But you've seen what we are."

He stumbled back and fell onto his backside, the sudden change terrifying him far more than being chased had. He gazed up fearfully as the girl stopped in front of him and gazed down at him with a mysterious expression. "Please," He whispered to her. "I'm not going to tell anyone!"

She crouched down next to him and her green eyes met his blue. "Don't be afraid." She told him as she brought her forearm to her mouth and bit down hard.

"Yeah, a little late for that." The words had left his mouth before he even registered them in his mind. The look the white haired girl gave him was one of surprise and Dante groaned internally. I always knew that my sarcasm would get me into trouble.

"You are an odd one." The girl told him, offering her bleeding arm.

Dante looked down at her arm and then back to her. "Not a chance."

The girl sighed and leaned forward moving her arm towards Dante's mouth. Knowing what she meant to do sent one last tendril of adrenaline through Dante. Escape might have been a futile effort but if there was even a chance, no matter how slim, he would seize it. He flipped over onto his stomach and leapt lightly to his feet. He sized up the wolves around him in an instant and took a step towards the smallest of those assembled. Dante knew that the wolf had him beat in every conceivable way, but he hoped that surprise would act in his favor. He never got the chance. A slender pale white arm snaked around his chest and stopped his forward movement. At the same time a second arm, this one red with blood, came around and pressed itself to Dante's lips. Immediately Dante clamped his mouth shut and he tried to escape his captor's hold but she was far stronger than he. He tried to breathe through his nose, but she had anticipated that as well. She pinched his nose shut and Dante was forced to open his mouth to breathe. The second that he did, he realized his mistake. Her blood coated his tongue and the effect was instantaneous. He felt his heart stop for a full ten seconds before it began to beat even faster than it had been at the height of his run. The arms holding him disappeared and he found that it had been all that had been keeping him standing. His legs failed him and he fell to his knees. A dark curtain began to creep at the edge of his vision, threatening to drag him into unconsciousness. The wolves around him watched in silence, none of them so much as moving. Dante's heart continued to race in his chest, even faster now, almost painfully so. It seemed like the organ was struggling to break free of his chest, and making one hell of an effort. He tried to stand again, to fight off whatever it was that had been done to him, but his body wouldn't listen to his commands. He couldn't even turn his head. A figure entered his limited field of vision and then the white haired girl was kneeling before him, lowering herself to his eye level. "Sleep now, Dante." She told him. Her words hooked into his mind and he could feel the desire to do just that begin to wrap around his consciousness.

This can't be happening. He thought as the curtains began to fall on his vision. Why is this happening!? He screamed to himself.

Dante awoke with a start, sitting straight up on his bed, breathing heavily. Realizing that he had only been dreaming he sighed and lay back onto his bed putting his arm over his eyes. He slowed his breathing, calming himself as he began to think on what had happened so long ago. The dream wasn't a dream, after all; it was a memory of a nightmare that had become his reality.