The cold October air tingled at my spine. I shivered and gasped as my movements cause a stabbing pain all over my body. Fog was rolling in, making the darkness even crueler. I hate nighttime. It wasn’t the actual dark that scared me. It’s what’s in the dark. Anything could get me now. I was too weak to fight.


I wanted to stop. It hurt too much and it seemed as if I could never escape. They were after me and there was no way that I could outrun them like this. I needed help but there was no one to give it. My legs were struggling to keep going. My limp got worse and the more I walked, the more it hurt. I’m not going to let them win. I needed my revenge. They needed to feel the torture that I have felt over these long agonizing years. They will feel every ounce of it and the last thing that they will see is my grin.

The road was endless. The damn fog didn’t help because it was so thick. I couldn’t see five feet in front of me. I didn’t see the pothole until it was too late.

My ankle twisted and I went down fast. I tried to catch myself, but I couldn’t stop my shoulder from hitting hard. My scream echoed through the empty air. No one heard me. I struggled to pull myself up but I couldn’t. There was no more strength left. I clenched my teeth as I rolled onto my back. Was this it? Was my life going to end like this?

I don’t know if I fell asleep. Maybe I did. Everything went past in blurs and I couldn’t tell what was real anymore. The only warmth I could feel was my own blood. Bright lights filled what was left of my vision. Is this what the end was like? There was a loud screeching growl, followed by two bangs. I swear I could hear footsteps but I quickly forgot that hope. No one was going to find me. Well, no one who wants to help me. My eyelids were too heavy to open but I was faintly aware of what was happening. Pressure formed on my neck. It felt like fingers. It hurt. I moaned and the pressure immediately lifted.

“We can’t just leave her here.” It was a woman’s voice. I wanted to cry out for help but I couldn’t. “From what I can see, we can manage avoiding taking her to a hospital.”

“No hospital.” I managed to get out. It was barely a whisper but she heard me. If they took me to a hospital I was done for. Nowhere was safe. Fingers rubbed my forehead, pushing back the blood-clotted hair.

“Don’t worry sweetie, we’ll get you taken care of. We don’t need a hospital to fix you up. Try not to move. Can you tell me your name?”

“A-Abby.”

“Alec, we need to get her out of here and take her to the nearest motel. We have enough medical supplies to get her cleaned up and take care of. If it’s really bad then you will have to heal her.”

“I don’t know Jessica; you know how my powers work. She looks like she’s in massive pain already. Adding more pain to that will-“

“Get her in the car, Alec. Now.”

Help me. I tried to say, but I had no energy left. I couldn’t move. Suddenly, I was floating in the air. The stabbing came back and I screamed. It was so intense that I just wanted to be set back down to die. My spine curved as I was being carried, causing thousands of tiny burst of pain to run up and down my back.

“Oh my god Alec. You’re making it worse. Hurry up and get her in the back seat.” I wasn’t floating anymore. The man set me down on a cold leather cushion. It must be the car.

“Give me a blanket Jessica.” The blanked was lightly set over me. Its weight felt massive but I welcomed the warmth that it gave me. Whoever these people were, they didn’t want to hurt me. I could feel it. My body went limp. I let my mind wander, slowly drifting into unconsciousness.

I awoke to a loud thump.

“Dammit.” I struggled to turn my head over. It felt like a thousand pounds. There was a woman bent down on the floor stuffing clothes back into the green army duffel bag that she had dropped. I tried to sit up and an involuntary moan slipped out. The woman immediately looked up at me, dropped her things, and came over to my bedside.

“I’m glad to see that you’re awake, but you really should take it easy. You weren’t in the best of shape when we found you.”

“Found me?” I rubbed the back of my neck and looked up at her. For the first time, I realized that I had no idea where I was or who I was.

“Yeah. You were a mess. We were driving and almost hit you. You were just lying there in the middle of the road.”

“What?”

“Do you wanna tell me what you were doing there?”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t remember anything?”

“Nope.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed. This woman didn’t know me and this made me extremely cautious. I stood up, stabilizing myself on the headboard. Immediately, my vision blurred and I fell to the ground.

“Whoa, didn’t you hear me? You need to take it easy.” She helped me back into the bed and stood over me as a mother would a child. “Now wait a couple minutes until you try to stand up again.”

I nodded and scanned the motel room. It was lined with ugly, ripped tan wallpaper. The ceiling had brown stains from water leakage. I didn’t even want to stand on the carped because it was so dirty. Was that a blood spot? There was one small TV positioned on top of an unstable entertainment center. The bunny ears on top looked as if they had been twisted into every position that they could withstand. The bed I was in was covered in dry bloodstains.

“Is that my blood?”

The woman nodded. “Like I said before. You were pretty messed up. Alec managed to heal your more serious wounds. Mostly the broken bones. We didn’t find any internal bleeding. There are still stitches everywhere so you need to be careful when you walk around.”

“Did you say heal?”

“Yeah, he has the power to heal injuries. It was a good thing you were knocked out when he healed you because there is massive pain when he does it.”

Why was she talking like that wasn’t a big deal? Powers? Healing? I shook my head and stood up. My legs managed to stand upright so that was good. It was painful to walk but I forced myself to do it. This woman was crazy. There is no such thing as powers. It was probably her husband trying to look cool. He must be a lowlife.

“There’s a bathroom over there if you want to freshen up a bit.” She pointed behind me. “I have some clothes that might fit you. Here.” She grabbed a smile pile of clothes off of her bed and handed them to me.

“Thank you.” The shock was still overwhelming. I just needed to be alone for a while and sort through my thoughts.

“Oh, and my name’s Jessica.” She held out her hand. I reluctantly took it.

“Uh, I don’t know-“

“Abby.”

“Abby?”

“Yeah. You managed to tell us your name before you passed out.”


I hurt as bad as I looked. There was no way that I could take a shower with these wounds so instead I wet a rag and cleaned up a little. “Ouch.” I accidentally rubbed a wound. The mirror was long and wide so I had a good view of my body. I looked like a stitched up broken doll. Bruises were everywhere. Deep gashes ran in every direction possible. Some were still bleeding. The stitches were precise and even. I inched my face closer to the mirror to get a better look. My right eye was black and swollen. There was an ugly cut on my forehead which was also stitched. Several long scratches ran down my left cheek. The longer one missed my eye by a centimeter.

I was a mess.

The clothes Jessica gave me fit perfectly. She was probably waiting for me to come out, but I wasn’t ready to leave. I closed the toilet lid and sat down. I held my head in my hands as I cried. How could this be happening to me? I don’t even know who me is. Could these two be trusted? The overwhelming effect took over. Someone had seriously hurt me, sending me to the point of almost death. Jessica said that I was in the middle of the road when she found me. Why would be there? There were too many questions and I didn’t even know where to start. These two were the only ones I had to help me so I would start there. Trust them but don’t let my guard down.


There was a knocking on the door and I jumped. I didn’t even have time to open it when Jessica burst in.

“We need to leave. Now.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the bathroom. “Your shoes are by the bed. Hurry and get them on. I have to load some things into the car.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just get your shoes on. I’ll explain later.”

I threw my shoes on and waited for her to come. A man came running through the door and grabbed the duffel bag that was on the bed, gave me a quick glance, and ran back outside. I followed him and struggled to keep up. Thank God we were on the first floor. Walking down stairs probably would have torn every stich I had open. The man, who I assumed was Alec, ran up to a white car and stuffed the bag into the trunk. There was a license plate on the back but I couldn’t make out the numbers. Silver letters read Eclipse on the trunk of the car. Mud was splattered all over the sides of it and the tires looked as if they had been used for years. Jessica appeared and started helping him.

“Where’s the gun?” Jessica asked him.

“Underneath the passenger seat.”

She ran around to the side of the car and grabbed the pistol. It was a Springfield XD 40. Thirteen rounds. Subcompact. How did I know that? A wolf howled in the distance and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. The parking lot was eerie. The only car was the Eclipse and the lights around us had flickered off. Where were all the people? Trees swayed in the breeze all around. Their shadows in the moonlight looked as if they were trying to grab hold of us. It was quiet. Dead quiet.

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” I didn’t get any closer to the car. They really were crazy if they thought I was leaving with them.

“I told you I would explain later.”

“Explain now.”

Jessica ran over to me and grabbed my wrist. “I’ll explain in the car.” She tried to pull me but I shook off her grasp. I could tell that she was annoyed but I didn’t care. She started talking quickly and it was hard for me to keep up. “When we found you, were hunting something. A pack of werewolves. We thought you were bitten by one of them. Fortunately, you weren’t attacked by them, so we didn’t have to kill you.”

I started laughing. “Seriously? You guys are nuts.”

“Listen Abby.” Alec jumped in. “I don’t care if you believe us or not. Our lives are in danger. If you want to stay behind and fend for yourself, be my guest. Come on Jessica.” He got in the car and started the engine. Jessica swayed nervously in front of me, waiting for my response. I didn’t even know what to think.

“Okay, let’s say you guys are telling the truth and aren’t completely going crazy. Why would they be hunting you two? I though you just said that you were hunting them?”

Jessica nodded. “We killed some of their pack already, which pissed them off and they have been trailing me and Alec ever since. I didn’t think they would find us this fast. Now would you please stop standing there and come on. We have to get out here.” She glanced around anxiously.

“Jessica,” Alec yelled from the car. He revved the engine impatiently. She stuck her palm up at him.

I started to panic. Werewolves? How can they be real? How can any of this be real? I don’t even know who I am and I especially don’t know who these two are. Right now they seem like a bunch of crazy freaks who watch too many horror movies. This was all happening way to fast. More wolves started to howl. I could feel my body start to shake.

The sky became darker and the thunder roared angrily.

“Oh my god,” Jessica backed away. “your eyes. They’re grey.”

“What? My eyes aren’t grey. I-“

“Jessica, get in the car. They’re surrounding us.” Alec backed up and stopped the car next to us. He grabbed Jessica and made her get into the passenger seat. He made a grab at me but I quickly dodged it.

“Don’t touch me.” Lightning flashed and at that instant I felt it. The electricity was inside me growing stronger and stronger. It was making me more powerful. I couldn’t even feel my wounds anymore. The wind roared as it flew all around us, picking on trash and any other weak object that lay in its path. The whole storm was a part of me, the lightning, the thunder, the wind. I welcomed all of it. My memories were lost but I knew somewhere deep inside me that this was a part of me and always has been. I smiled as the wind sang its song. Alec’s eyes grew wide but he didn’t make a move towards the car. There was a growl and I turned around to face two big yellow eyes.
It towered over me. Its shadow enveloped me in a blanket of darkness. His fur was as black as the night sky. He bared his teeth at me and I knew that if he made a lunge at me, I would be finished.
But I wasn’t afraid.
I took a step toward the wolf and he backed up. His fur was stood straight up. The electricity was running through me now. I was one with the storm.
I waited.
He lunged at me but I was quicker. I sidestepped and he lost his balance, plummeting to the ground. His growling got louder and more sinister. He was done playing around. Another lunge and I instinctively I thrust my arm out, willing the storm to aid me. A bolt of lightning struck him, sending him flying backwards. His scorched body lay in a black heap twenty feet away. I stared at my hands. Did that really just come from me? It seemed impossible but then again, the idea of werewolves seemed impossible until a minute ago.
“Abby, behind you!” Jessica screamed. I ducked just before Alec fired the fatal wound that hit another wolf in the head. He ran over to me.
“There’s a lot more. Do you think you could pull that trick again?”
“I hope so.” I scanned the area. There were at least ten of them and they left no gap to get out. They didn’t want anyone left alive. “You two need to stay in the car.”
I don’t know why, but I felt as if I’ve done this my entire life, maybe I have. These so called werewolves had no effect over me now. They crept toward me, closer and closer.
I watched them.
The growling grew loud as they saw me raise my hands towards the sky. These giant monsters wanted to attack, but they couldn’t. Something was holding them back.
“Ms. Summers. What a pleasure to finally meet.” I slowly turned to face the voice. It was a man, mid-twenties. His black clothing matched his soulless eyes. I made sure to keep a connection with the storm. If it left, then I wouldn’t be able to fight them off. The man stepped toward me, and I backed up. When he saw this, he stopped and raised his hands in defensive mode. “I just want to have a few words with you, that’s all.”
As I glanced toward the car. I noticed that the wolves had completely circled around it, keeping Jessica and Alec trapped inside.
“They will only attack on my word Ms. Summers. I’m just making sure that we have no interruptions while we talk.”
“Why are you calling me that?”
“Calling you what?” He inched closer.
“Ms. Summers.” The name rolled off my tongue with a familiar ring to it.
“It’s your name.”
“How do you know my name if we’ve just met?”
“Everyone knows who you are.” I gave him a confused look. I was startled when he smiled at me. It showed his pure white, sharp teeth. “It seems that you are the only one who does not.”
The panic was coming back. This man knew my name, and knew me. I could make a run for it but my odds were extremely low. I couldn’t just leave Jessica and Alec behind. They had helped me when I needed it.
“How rude of me.” The man walked closer. He knew I couldn’t run. “I’ve told you your name but didn’t even bother to mention mine.” He was so close that we could touch. “It’s Peter.”
“What do you want with me?”
“It seems that you have pissed off the wrong people, people who are a great deal more powerful than you are. There’s been a bounty set on you. Fortunately for you, the reward will only be given to someone who brings you in alive.” Peter circled around me, running his hand around my shoulders and back. I shivered.
“So you weren’t hunting these two.” I looked back at their car. They were just sitting in the front but I couldn’t make out their faces.
“Well, they did kill some of my pack, so yes and no. I’m willing to make a deal. If you come with us I will let them go. If you try to run then they will die and I will still take you in alive. Your choice.”
Energy radiated through me. My connection to the storm never left and now it was stronger.
“You can go to hell.”