Tag Archives: story

Haunted Angel- Part 1

by Revis Edgewater

Here is the start of my Dead Set spinoff series entitled Haunted Angel. Like the last story I put up with the handwriting to text app, I feel obligated to inform you that the app likes to put in extra spaces and doesn’t always get the punctuation correct (mistaking commas for periods, etc.). I probably should go through and fix those things before I publish these chapters, but I’m feeling lazy right now. Maybe I will on the later ones.


What do you see when you’re in the dark and the demons come for you? I see all the pain and suffering that I’ve caused in my life. It’s come back to haunt me, and I’m not sure that I will live through it.

My name is Eric Brazelton. Right now, I’m in the top ten of the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. I’m not in the top five yet. If they knew how many people I’ve actually killed, I’d probably be higher on the list. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t want to be the most hunted man in the world.

After being dishonorably discharged from the Army (apparently they don’t like it when you beat the crap out of your commanders), I stuck with what I knew best. I became a sniper for a mercenary outfit. The pay was much better, plus my first target was the bastard that got me kicked out. He’s longer with us. All in all, it’s a pretty nice job. I get paid to kill people. At least, that’s what I thought.

Our final mission was coming up. Once completed, we’d all have enough money to retire to some island country. The six of us met to discuss the battle plan. We were breaking into a government weapon depot and setting our “findings” to the highest bidder. while the plan had some flaws, it easily doable. Now, it’s time for action.


***** ***** *****

Two silenced shots went out and two men fell dead. ” Two down,” I crackled into the headset.

“Confirmed,” came the reply from our leader. “Group B, excecute. Angel, position shift.”

I, being Angel, replied, “Affirmative.” Grabbing my gear, I ran to my secondary location and quickly set up for my next shot. For the next few minutes, it was deathly quiet. Something was wrong, I thought to myself. Sure enough, about two seconds later I heard the call on my headset.

“Granger is down. I need cover, Angel.”

Shifting my sight, I saw my troubled teammate. He was pinned down by gunfire. In rapid succession, I took down three of them. The rest of them dove for cover. ” You have a window. ” Get clear now. ”

As he ran away, gunfire erupted on the other side of the complex. Without being ordered, I shifted position again, heading for the source of the fire. ” Lead,” I asked. “Status report?” No answer came.

I should help them get out of there, I thought. Wait a minute, to hell with them. I should get myself out of there. They’re probably all dead anyways, ” Team, ” I said through the headset, ” if you’re still alive, abort. Fall back to site B. If you’re not there in the next few minutes, you’ll be left behind. I turned around and ran. A voice in my ear stopped me in my tracks. It was Lead.” Angel, execute Swoop.”

Swoop was the order to go down there and rescue them, I quickly turned around, switched from my sniper rifle to my assault rifle, and ran down to the fence. Pulling out a canister of liquid nitrogen, I made myself entrance. After avoiding a few patrols, I found two of my dead teammates. Quickly putting them out of my mind, I kept going to where Lead was supposed to be.

Finally, I made it to the vault. Dead bodies were all over the place. Nobody was left alive, not even the remainder of my team. I knelt down over the body of my fallen commander. ” I failed you, Lead,” I said, ” I should’ve gotten here sooner.”

“You’ve failed everyone who ever trusted you, ‘Angel’,” I heard from behind me.

Turning around, I saw Lead standing there. How the hell was that possible? I was still touching his dead body. “What the …, ” I stuttered.

“Surprised to see me? Not as surprised as I am seeing my corpse, I bet.”

I stood up and backed away. This was the freakiest thing I had ever witnessed.

“I bet you’re wondering how I’m standing here even though I’m dead,” it said to me.

“The thought had crossed my mind, ‘ I replied, after regaining some measure of composure.

“It’s quite simple, really. In death, I have joined a new army. Unlike the one we were in, I’m no longer in charge. I’m a simple recruiter.”

“What are you talkin about?”

“I recruit people into Death’s army and the next target is you.”

With that, his body began to change shape. His appearance was now quite frightening, almost demonic. Horns grew on his head, talons on his hands, ” Now,” it hissed with its forked tongue, “it’s time for you to get what you deserve.”

The Abyssal Fields – Prologue

by Revis Edgewater

This is the first part of the story I talked about in this post. I’m scheduling the rest of the story to publish throughout the rest of the month. Because it’s one of the first things I ever wrote, it’s not exactly the greatest. Hopefully, it doesn’t send you running for the hills.

P.S. The handwriting to text app apparently has trouble distinguishing between when I write a comma and when I write a period. I didn’t feel like changing every single one of them, so there will probably be a number of instances throughout this entire series of posts where the wrong punctuation is present.

The day was like every other day. Sword and shield clashed. Metal rang as armor was struck by an unblocked weapon. The men struck down would fall only to rise the next morning. Thus, the circle was complete.

Dwarf, elf, and human all fought here. This place is one of many designed for this purpose. Any man, regardless of race, religion, or color, who fought and died in honorable combat, had their souls transported here. It is an afterlife they all dreamed about, spending eternity doing what they loved. Every soul was happy. Each lived for the heat of battle and relished in it’s sweet embrace as they fought the other souls. There was never any bad blood here. If a soul fell in battle, they tipped their hat to the soul that bested them, hoping to meet them again. That is the way of the Abyssal Fields.

As the new day dawned, the air remained silent. All of the souls stood still. What was once a beautiful, never ending field was now littered with broken down buildings. Nobody knew what was happening. Each soul starred at their new surroundings , wondering . At first, only one dared to move. His name was Karacus. He was a dwarven priest while still alive. It all began when he went to investigate one of the buildings.

No Longer Home – Finale

by Revis Edgewater

“What…” John stammered. “What is he talking about?”

Even though John had directed the question at the wolf, Sharptooth, it was the grizzly bear that answered it. “Sharptooth and I have a deal,” it laughed. “He leads humans here so I can kill them in exchange for me not hurting any of his pack.”

“You said the animals here didn’t hurt each other.”

“Redclaw is the exception to that,” Sharptooth said with a snarl.

The bear, Redclaw, laughed again. “What can I say? Hurting things is fun.” Turning serious, it added, “Now, get out of my way, Sharptooth, so I can start the fun.”

Just when John thought his heart couldn’t drop any lower, it fell another fifty feet and hit rock bottom when Sharptooth complied with the order. The wolf looked back over its shoulder. He appeared to be saddened by his actions, but that didn’t comfort John too much. Redclaw was going to kill him regardless of how Sharptooth felt about it.

Redclaw!

John had been so caught up in the betrayal that he’d taken his eyes off the bear. He whipped hid head around and saw that Redclaw was only a few feet away. Moving purely on instinct, John thrust the torch out in front of him. The flames touched flesh and the bear roared out in pain. Redclaw swatted John in retaliation. Pain shot through John’s already injured shoulder from the bear’s attack. He was bleeding now, he knew. He could feel it. Redclaw had earned its name once again.

The smell of burnt hair assaulted his nostrils. He tried to shake his head to clear it out, but could only move his head to one side. That’s because he was on the ground and it was preventing him from doing it. John didn’t remember falling. Then again, he was hurting so much that not a lot was clear to him at that moment. He looked around to see what was happening.

The torch was laying on the ground too. It was still lit, but it lay out of reach. Redclaw had recovered from the burn and was once more within a few feet of him. This time, the bear looked angry. John smiled. He knew was about to die, but at least he hurt the bear a little before he was gone. His eyes closed and he waited for the end.

Instead, he was greeted with a roar. It wasn’t deep enough to be from Redclaw. He opened his eyes and saw Sharptooth behind the bear. Sharptooth bit down on Redclaw’s hind leg and began shaking his head back and forth. Redclaw growled, more in anger than in pain. The bear tried swatting at the wolf, but Sharptooth was too fast. “I’ll kill you for this,” Redclaw roared while swiping at the nimble canine again.

Sharptooth ignored the bear and cried out, “The black rock at the back!”

John remembered what the wolf told him about the rock. He said it could take him back home. Pushing up, through all the pain, he got to his feet. The black rock was just at the very edge of the torch’s light. He took a step toward it. Redclaw moved to intercept him, but Sharptooth bit him again. While the wolf had the bear distracted, he stepped forward again. Then again. And again.

He put one foot in front of the other, gaining speed each time he did it. Soon, he was running. His body protested his every movement. Still, he knew that to slow down was death. The black rock was almost within reach. In his peripheral vision, he saw Redclaw coming at him. It would be close. The bear might get to him before he got to the black rock. Using the last of his strength, John dove forward with his arm outstretched. Pain shot through his entire body and he was sure the bear had him.

His eyes shot open. John didn’t want to see himself being torn apart by a savage animal. He couldn’t help it. They opened on their own. There wasn’t an angry bear there, however. There wasn’t a wolf, a torch, or a cave either. It was morning, and he was back in his bedroom, laying on his bed.

John chuckled. It had all been a dream, he thought. That’s what he thought until he tried to move, that is. As soon as he did, pain filled his body. John screamed in agony. Blood covered his injured shoulder. He couldn’t move it anymore. Using his uninjured arm, he reached for his phone. his fingers pressed 911. The last thing that went through his mind before hitting ‘Send’ was asking himself how he was going to explain his injuries to people without sounding like a lunatic.

No Longer Home  – Part 7

by Revis Edgewater

John stared at the pile of skeletons in shock. It was nothing to see the plastic ones people put out on Halloween, but when you’re faced with real human remains, it’s a whole different story. Especially when there were a lot of them. He glanced around the area he was in and saw more and more every time he turned his head. Suddenly, an angry wolf’s face filled his vision.

“Snap out of it, John-John Livich!”

He reflexively fell backwards and came close to hitting his head on the ground. His injured shoulder screamed at him as he rose back up. John tested the movement in it. There didn’t seem to be any physical limitations in his range of motion, but the more he moved it, the more it hurt. That meant he’d stop it at a certain point to cut down on the pain he was feeling.

“We need to get out of here,” Sharptooth informed him. “While I’m not positive what did this to your fellow humans, I have a guess.”

“What is it?” John asked.

“Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to know.”

A loud roar echoed down through the cave. Maybe it was just because of the echo, but it sounded to John like whatever roared was close. He didn’t want to meet the animal that could roar like that. Ignoring the pain in both his head and his shoulder, John rose to his feet and tightened his grip on the torch in his hand. Sharptooth moved over to the opening of a corridor. John was unconscious on their way in, with the wolf dragging him inside, so he wasn’t sure where it led. He could only assume it was the way out.

“Follow me,” the wolf instructed.

Sharptooth started forward, but John stayed back for a couple of seconds to grab a few more of the branches that the wolf had brought him to make torches. The last thing he needed was to be navigating an underground maze in the dark. He moved as fast as he could while lighting one of torches. As he was running, his mind raced trying to figure out what exactly he was running from. No animals popped into his mind. Instead, his mind went back to when he first woke up in the dark. At the time, he was so out of it, he didn’t question Sharptooth’s explanation as to how the wolf knew how to make a torch. Something about it bothered him now, but he couldn’t figure out what.

Another thing that didn’t make sense was how long they’d been running through these caves. They should’ve made it back outside by now. He was beginning to wonder just where they were going. Then the it all opened in front of him. They entered a large cavern. The meager light from his torch didn’t illuminate the entire thing. John slowed down for a moment to try to take it all in. Another roar made him turn that slowdown into a complete stop.

“No,” Sharptooth cried. “You must keep going. Further ahead is a large black rock. You must touch it in order to go back to Earth.”

“How do you know all this? I thought you said you weren’t sure how to get me back home.”

The wolf didn’t get a chance to answer. Before he could, a dark, deep laugh filled the cavern. At the very edge of the torch’s light, a very large form lumbered in. John had to stop himself from pissing his pants when he saw the giant grizzly bear enter his vision. “Well, well, well,” the bear chuckled. “It’s nice to see you again, Sharptooth.” John looked back and forth between the two animals for just a moment, long enough for the bear to sink his heart with its next words. “I see you’ve brought me another meal.”

No Longer Home- Part 6

by Revis Edgewater

John huffed as he ran to keep pace with the wolf Sharptooth. They had been running for several hours now without ever really slowing down. He had never run this far in his entire life. He never had a reason to. Until now. Until he’d been magically transported to this world called Karma where every animal could speak and wanted to kill him. If he had the breath, he’d laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. As it stood, he was having trouble simply staying on his feet.

“Can… we… stop?” he asked in between breaths.

Sharptooth slowed, but didn’t stop. “We’re close to the base of Black Mountain,” the wolf sighed. “Plus, we’re running from those trying to kill you. Are you sure that you’d rather take a break now and allow them time to catch up? Or would you rather continue until we get to our destination?”

“Sorry,” John breathed sarcastically. “I don’t have a lot of practice running for my life.”

“Really? Because that’s all we did when we lived on Earth. We still have to do it here, from time to time, when there are fights between the species, but those are few.”

“You don’t fight with the other species?”

“Not very often, John-John Livich. We may squabble from time to time over territory, but even then it is usually nothing more than scratches and bite marks. It almost never leads to death.”

“So, except for humans, you don’t kill here? Not even for food?”

“How long have you been here now?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have a watch or my phone to keep track of time.”

While he couldn’t see it, the tone of his voice made John think that Sharptooth had rolled his eyes before saying, “If you’d paid attention to the position of the sun and moon, you’d know you’ve been here for over a day now. Tell me, John-John Livich, have you felt any hunger yet? Any thirst?”

John was about to ask why Sharptooth said his name like that, but the wolf’s question made him pause. “No,” he said after thinking about it for a minute. “I haven’t.”

“That’s because food and drink aren’t necessary in Karma. You don’t need to kill for water and, because we don’t need to eat anymore, we don’t need to kill for that either. There is no reason for us to kill each other. There is, however, a very good reason for us to kill humans.”

He could have tried to argue his point, but he didn’t have the breath to do it. John could barely keep his feet under him. His knees were getting wobbly and the little energy he had left was fading quickly. The lack of energy caused him to not lift his leg enough and his foot caught on a rock jutting up out of the ground. There was no chance for him to catch himself or brace his fall. John’s face and chest hit the ground at the same time. He slid forward as pain raced up his front. As much as he hurt, the first thing he had to do was replace the air that had been blasted out of his lungs.

“Get up,” Sharptooth hissed.

Before he could respond, he saw the trees around him had burst into motion. Birds that he didn’t notice before flew away in every direction. Their squawks filled the air. John had never spent any time in the forest back on Earth, but even he knew that those birds had just alerted every animal in the area to his position. He cursed under his breath and struggled to get back on his feet. Between the pain and the fatigue, it took him far longer than it should have. Still, he managed to do it. With a determination he didn’t know he had, John put one foot in front of the other and started on his way again.

“Good, John-John Livich,” Sharptooth said in a voice meant to placate a child. “We’re almost to the base of Black Mountain. There is a cave close to it that we can use for refuge.”

Hearing that the end was close gave John a small burst of renewed energy. He used it all quickly and went back to running on fumes. Everything became one big blur, yet he continued to pump his legs. Moving forward was all he focused on. He didn’t notice when the ground beneath his feet changed from grass and leaves to stone. He didn’t notice that he was no longer surrounded by trees. It wasn’t until he heard Sharptooth screaming his name that he noticed anything at all. There was nothing but solid rock in front of him.

Running headfirst into stone was going to hurt. A lot. Perhaps it would even prove fatal. That wasn’t an option. John dropped to the ground, angling his body so he landed on his left side. His shoulder felt like it popped out of place when he hit. A scream echoed around him. It grew even louder when his momentum carried him into the rock wall. John’s back hit first, which slowed him down just enough that when his head followed, it didn’t knock him out completely. The impact did knock him silly, however. A new wave of dizziness washed over him while the pain in his head joined the other new pains he’d picked up in the last few hours.

It was too much for his system to take. John blacked out. What came next was a series of brief visions and garbled words. All of the glimpses included the wolf’s face and the snippets of speech he heard were in Sharptooth’s voice. None of it made any sense to him. Of course, nothing made sense to him then. Thinking wasn’t something he was capable of at that moment.

When he finally regained his senses, he saw nothing, which was disorienting. Especially since he felt himself moving. Something was tugging him along by his pant leg. He mumbled something and the dragging stopped. “I’m pulling you into the cave,” Sharptooth informed him.

“I can’t see,” John replied.

“That’s because you’re in a cave and there’s no light in caves.” Sharptooth sighed after hearing John groan. “I lived on Earth too, remember? I remember fire. You stay here and rest. I’ll go get the things you need to make it.”

John nodded absentmindedly and felt himself starting to succumb to the darkness. Sleep enveloped him a few seconds later. He thought it did, at least. All John remembered was shutting his eyes momentarily. When he opened them again, it felt like little, or no, time had passed. Yet, when he started moving, he heard Sharptooth say, “Finally! I thought you’d never wake up.”

“How long was I asleep?”

“I don’t know, but you need to hurry up and start that fire. Something about this place smells… off.”

“You can’t see anything?”

“I can see better in the dark than you can, but that doesn’t mean I can actually see clearly in the dark. Everything you need is right next to you.”

John fumbled around until he found a pile of dry leaves, some sticks, and a couple rocks. While he’d never done it himself before, he’d seen it done in movies enough that he had a general idea of how to start a fire with what Sharptooth had brought him. He struck the rocks together a few different ways until he finally got a spark to fly. It took him a little time, but he finally managed to light the dried leaves with one of his sparks. As he moved the sticks closer to the flames, he heard Sharptooth say a word he’d never heard. Before he could ask what it meant, the wolf barked at him.

“We need to get out of here,” Sharptooth ordered. “Right now.”

“Why?” John asked without looking up from what he was doing.

“Because I figured out why no human ever seen after coming to Black Mountain.”

That caused John to look up to see what had the wolf so agitated. It was easy to spot. There was a very large pile of human skeletons no more than ten feet away from him.

No Longer Home – Part 5

by Revis Edgewater

John was momentarily taken aback. “You kill all humans?”

“That’s how it’s been since I’ve been here.”

Every answer only led to more questions. What did Sharptooth mean with that statement? Since he’s been here? Wasn’t he born here? Did Sharptooth just magically appear in this forest just as he had?

The question that came out, however, was, “Why?”

The wolf sighed. “We don’t have time to get into this right now.”

“Then give me the short version,” John snapped. Anger flashed through Sharptooth’s features and John quickly apologized. “I’m sorry for my tone, but there are animals out there trying to kill me and I’d like to know why.”

“Animals,” Sharptooth repeated with a snort. “No species acts as animalistic as you humans do. In fact, it’s human nature that gave birth to this place.”

“What do you mean?”

“Us animals have come to call this place Karma. This is where we come when we are unjustly tortured or killed by humans. We show up just as we were right before we were killed, minus the injuries, except we now have the same reasoning and vocal skills as those who killed us. Here we live in relative peace and quiet without having to worry about being hunted on a daily basis.

“Every once in a while, though, one of your kind gets transported here. All of them have committed crimes against the animals back on Earth. As you can imagine, when we see those who have hurt us in our sights, and we have the advantage, we don’t hesitate to give back what we were given. It’s especially satisfying to see a group of deer use their antlers to impale people who killed their kind for no reason other than using their heads for decorations.”

Confusion overwhelmed John. “But I’ve never hurt or killed any of your kind.” He shook his head. “Other than a few insects that have gotten into my home, I haven’t purposefully killed anything. And, even then, I try to get it out alive first before I do that.”

“I know,” Sharptooth replied. “That is why I decided to help you. With one look at you, I could tell you weren’t a killer.”

“Why can’t the others see that?”

“They probably can. I just don’t think they care anymore. To them, all humans are guilty of the pain that they’ve been through.”

“All humans are responsible for our pain.”

John and Sharptooth turned their heads in tandem toward the new speaker. John recognized it as one of the wolf’s pack. “I’m impressed, Streak,” Sharptooth said with a nod. “I didn’t hear you approaching.”

There was a long white line of fur going down the back of this newest wolf, which John assumed was the source of its name. Streak kept its gaze on Sharptooth, but quickly moved its eyes toward John as it said, “That’s because you were too busy flapping your jaw with the killer.”

“I’m not a killer,” John protested.

“Look at him,” Sharptooth instructed. “There’s no way he ever hurt anything.”

“You know, as well as I do,” Streak growled, “that looks mean nothing. Even the weakest of humans can kill one of us. All they need are their damned guns.”

A look that Sharptooth couldn’t identify twisted John’s features and he looked like he was about to respond. “Let me take him to Black Mountain,” he said before the human could speak. “There are rumors of a portal there. We can get him back to his home.”

“If you believe those rumors, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought. There’s a reason they call it Black Mountain. All you’d find there is death.” Streak paused. “And you’re going to get that right now.”

Streak lunged at Sharptooth. John’s companion hopped to the side and dug his teeth into his opponent’s neck when it got within range. Streak tried to pull out of the grip, but Sharptooth lived up to his name. His fangs were dug in deep and blood started dripping from the bite. The two wolves tugged against each other in opposite directions. Something eventually had to give, and it was Streak’s body. When the two came apart, a chunk of Streak’s flesh was stuck in Sharptooth’s mouth. Sharptooth spat it out and pressed the attack while his opponent was hurting.

For a few moments, Streak was able to evade the attacks, but the blood loss was catching up. Streak’s movements slowed. The eyes, once filled with hatred, now looked tired and scared. Without Sharptooth even scoring a hit, Streak dropped limply to the ground. Sharptooth walked closer, though not close enough that Streak could get him if he was faking.

“I’m sorry, brother,” Sharptooth whispered. “We’ll meet again in another life.” John didn’t know what to say, so he remained quiet. After a moment, Sharptooth instructed, “Let’s go.”

“Where?” John asked as Sharptooth began walking away.

“To Black Mountain.”

“I thought he said that Black Mountain is death.”

“We don’t know that for sure. The area around Black Mountain gives off a menacing aura, so not many of my kind go there but, because it is the biggest landmark around, humans immediately head toward it. If they’re lucky enough to avoid those hunting them, they make it to Black Mountain and are never seen again. That’s why I’m taking you there. If there’s a way back to your world, it’s somewhere on Black Mountain.”

“And if there is death there and it isn’t a way back to my world?”

Sharptooth looked back over his shoulder with a sad look on his face, “Then it would be a quicker death than you’d receive from my brethren.”

No Longer Home – Part 4

by Revis Edgewater

“Uhh,” John stuttered. “Are these mountain lions?”

Sharptooth didn’t get a chance to answer. The closest cat sneered at John. “We’re not mountain lions. The correct term is cougar.”

John didn’t see what the difference between the two terms was, but he wasn’t going to ask. They obviously didn’t like to be called mountain lions and that’s all he really needed to know about it at that time.  More questions, the same questions that had been plaguing him since he arrived in this forest, came back to mind. He once again bit his tongue. These cougars were probably less willing to answer them than Sharptooth had been.

For the most part, the cougars surrounding them kept their distance. Only the one who spoke moved closer. “We had heard that a new human had been spotted in these woods,” the cougar said. “I’d thank you for bringing it to us, Sharptooth, but you were warned about staying in your territory. Seeing as we’re old friends, however, we’ll let you walk away this time. Just leave the human behind for us to play with.”

“Not going to happen, Vrant,” Sharptooth growled. “The human is mine.”

“You’re not in a position to refuse. Either part with the human willingly or my friends will tear you both to pieces.”

The wolf scoffed. “You’re going to have your underlings do it? Are you too scared to fight me yourself?”

John waited for the cougar, Vrant, to launch himself at Sharptooth. That didn’t happen. Instead, Vrant threw his head back and laughed. “Is this the part where I get upset at your words and agree to a one on one fight to prove my bravery? My toughness?” The laughter stopped quickly. “I don’t think so, wolf. Getting into a one on one fight with you wouldn’t prove either of those things. It would prove that I’m stupid for not taking advantage of my superior numbers. Because, while I’m ninety-nine percent sure I’d dispatch you easily, there’s always that one percent where your luck overcomes my superior strength and fighting prowess.”

“It’s true that, on average, mountain lions are stronger,” the wolf stated. Sharptooth’s mouth then twitched into what looked to John like a smile. “But wolves can hear better.”

Just then, chaos erupted all around him. Wolves jumped from the shadows onto the backs of the cougars. So much was going on that John couldn’t tell how many of Sharptooth’s people were around. He just knew they outnumbered the six cougars. The fighting between the two groups was vicious. Teeth tore skin. Claws ripped flesh. It was more violent than any animal fight he’d ever seen in a wildlife documentary.

“Run!”

John looked around as if in a daze until he found the speaker. Sharptooth was standing with his tail to John. The wolf’s eyes were locked on Vrant, who was trying to get to John. The bloodthirsty look on the cougar’s face sent a shiver of fear down John’s spine. Despite Sharptooth being between him and Vrant, he couldn’t help but feel like his life was about to end.

“Run, you idiot!”

Sharptooth’s second shout snapped him out of his stupor. Pushing past his fear, John turned around and darted off down the first opening he saw. He weaved his way through the warring canines and felines. Most of them paid him no attention. Apparently they didn’t see him as a threat, something John was very grateful for.

When he was a few steps past the last of the combatants, John felt his left foot slip out from underneath him. He hit the ground hard, rolling a number of feet afterward. There was a sharp pain in his ankle when he stopped. Thinking he had twisted it when he fell, John looked down to check it out. He was surprised to find it bleeding. Behind him, about where he had originally tripped, Vrant stared at him with death in his eyes. It was even more intimidating because the cougar was battling two wolves while he was doing it. John couldn’t begin to comprehend how Vrant was fighting two opponents without looking at them.

It was another mystery that would have to wait for an explanation later. John had to get away quickly, while the two wolves had Vrant occupied. He jumped up to his feet and winced. His ankle hurt, but it wouldn’t keep him from running. Step after step, his feet took him further away from the battle. Every so often, he’d hear rustling behind him, though he never saw anything when he glanced over his shoulder.

“You can stop now.”

John fell to the ground when he looked down and saw Sharptooth running next to him. His heart was beating faster than it ever had in his entire life. Not only had he been running, but the wolf had scared him. He took stock of himself as he took some deep, calming breaths. His ankle throbbed from the usage. There were three gashes just above his shoe. Dirt and leaves clung to them so it was hard to tell how deep they were, or if they were even still bleeding.

“Is that going to slow you down?” Sharptooth asked.

“Slow me down?” John responded after geting to his feet. “I thought you said I could stop running.”

“Yes, so you could rest momentarily, but the cougars will soon be after you again. We need to be able to move swiftly.”

“Can’t the rest of your pack protect us again?”

Sharptooth shook his head. “They were there to protect me, not you. In fact, if they were here now, they’d kill you themselves and there wouldn’t be much I could do to stop them.”

John threw his hands up. “Why are they all trying to kill me? What did I ever do to any of them?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? You’re human. We kill all humans here.”