The 'Shifters

Chapter 1

    The snow glistened underneath the full moon. It was a clear night, with the full moon in the center of the starry sky. A blanket of white stretched across the field, outlined with a thick forest and a farm house.  All of the animals who lived on the farm or in the forest were curled up in their dens, asleep.  All except for one creature sneaking around the chicken pen.

    The fox silently walked up the ramp to the door of the pen.  His red fur stood out in the pale surface of the ground.  Small footprints led across the field, beginning at a hole dug underneath a chain-link fence.  The door to the pen was slightly open, just barely enough for the fox to stick his nose into and push open quietly.  He looked around at the birds, making sure none were awake.  When he determined that they were not, he slipped in without a sound.  The wind nudged the door, making it creak.  In the fox's mind, this was like an alarm clock for the chickens.  His muscles stiffened as a few of the hens shuffled in their sleep.  He exhaled, realizing he had been holding his breath.  This was as far as he had ever gotten, no thanks to the fences and farm dogs, and his stomach was empty.  This would be the best meal he would have had in ages.  He leaned towards a plump hen, jaws opened wide and-

    "I wouldn't do that if I  were you," said a voice.  She fox spun around, teeth bared.  A rooster stood at the entrance, with a bored expression on his beady eyed face.  He walked a little closer to the fox.  "Farmer Barry calls that one there Loud Mouth Lucy.  She's got a pair of lungs I'll tell you that," he said too loudly for comfort.  The fox glared at him.

    "Then i'll kill her quick," the fox whispered.  He turned back to the bird, though his eyes still lingered on the rooster.  The bird chuckled, making the fur on his neck stand up.

    "Not without  making quite a ruckus," he said.  He moved a little bit closer to the fox, making him snarl.

    "Then why don't I eat you?" said the fox, leaning down face-to-face with the rooster.  The fox grinned at the bird, his pointy white teeth reflecting the moonlight.  In the pale light, he looked intimidating.  The rooster didn't even flinch.

    "You can't," he said calmly.  The fox knew that this was true, and that eating this particular bird’s flesh would make him go insane.  He growled in defeat.

    "What’s a 'Shifter like you doing here anyway?" growled the fox.  "Being a pet to a human.  It sickens me!"  He stepped away from the bird and walked to another, fatter hen.  He flicked his right ear, a strange silver piercing making a faint gleam as the moonlight hit it.

    The rooster shook his feathers and raised a wing.  "I've been born and raised here on the farm.  Gonna die here too, if I can help it," he said, picking a bug off his wing.

    "Well I'm not going to die at all if I can help it," the fox said.  Through his glossy red coat, a faint outline of his ribs was visible.  It had been a long time since he had a proper meal. The rooster noticed this.

    "But why are you so persistent?  If you wanted to, you could get them easily."  The rooster said.  "But instead, you sneak around like this."  The fox opened his mouth to say something, but the barking of a dog stopped him.  His eyes widened.  The farm dog must have caught his scent.  He turned and grabbed the chicken, which had woken up when the dog arrived.  She screeched as loud as she could, and dug her claws into the fox's shoulder.  Wincing, he crunched down on her neck and she fell silent.  With her screech, the rest of the hens started panicking.  Feathers began flying, looking like the falling snow. The barking neared, and he shot out of the pen.

    He raced towards the forest, a trail of red following him on the once pure white snow.  The dog was all the way across the farm, but with the dead bird slowing him down, the dog would catch up easily.  The lights in the farmhouse turned on, and the outline of a human appeared.

    Finally, the hole in the fence was visible as he neared it.  The snow beside him exploded, just as a loud crack echoed. 

    Crack!

    Crack!

    Crack!

    Each time the farmer shot at the fox, it missed by a whisker.  He finally stopped shooting when the dog was right on his furry tail.  The dog's hot breath poured down his back, making him shutter.  Finally, just as the dog was about to go in for the kill, the fox slid through the hole underneath the fence.  The dog ran head-on to the chain fence with a yelp.  It shook its furry head, a little bit of blood welling up from a cut on its ear.  The farmer soon caught up with the dog, staring in defeat at the hole in the fence and the remaining feathers of one of his prized hens.

  

    Panting, the fox trotted through the woods.  The hen's carcass had by now stopped bleeding, dry blood blackening around its neck.  Yet splotches of red still dropped after them, though not from the bird.  A painful scratch oulined the fox's shoulder.  The fox's eyes drooped with exhaustion.  His paws and legs aced from walking, along with his neck from carrying the chicken.  Not to mention the nasty sting where she had fought back in her final moments.  A something cold landed on his nose.  He looked up to find that the once clear sky was now grey.  Tiny snowflakes began to fall all around him.  He quickened his pace.

    The fox finally came across a hole in the ground, just big enough for him to crawl into.  He scooted in tail first, dragging the chicken in with him.  He shuffled backwards down the hole until he came into an open space.  A little bit of moonlight shone in from the entrance of the den.  He began to eat his catch.  He wolfed down the bird, feathers and all.  Within minutes, only a pile of meaty bones, stray feathers and splotches of blood remained.  He curled up near the corner.  He could hear the screaming winds of the storm above.  Some of the snowflakes drifted down the hole.  To the fox's misfortune, the wind was blowing down the hole and onto him.  He shivered.  The snow storm might last until morning.  He'd never get any sleep at this rate.  He pawed the feathers closer to him.  The last of the body heat they had once had had drifted away by now.  They at least shielded him from the chilly winds somewhat.  As he lay there, he thought about the rooster's words.  His eyes finally closed as he drifted into sleep.

*        *        *        *

(A/N)  This is the first chapter of The 'Shifters!  This is the remake of a book I started a while back, but gave up on.  Now I'm back and ready to write it!  This is actually the original first chapter, with only a few minor changes.  The next couple of chapters will also be mostly the same, but after that the changes will be more dramatic.  So enjoy :D

I once saw a person who always put her newest favorite song every new chapter she posted.  I just became addicted to this particular song so I thought I would do it too :D 

Today's song:  I'm not a Vampire by Falling in Reverse