Zane sat on the edge of his bed as he tied his shoestrings.  He'd finished his homework and felt like going for a run.  Thankfully it was right near the end of school, and he had one last meet before he finished junior high.  The idea of becoming a freshman was scary and exciting.  He was in track and field, and they had trained earlier, but he just felt like getting out of the house for a while.  There wasn't any reason, other than he simply loved running and some days it felt like he could run forever.  He wasn't sure where he came by this, since his father had never played sports and his mother was a former cheerleader.  For some reason when they had talked to his father's older brother, he hadn't seemed to be surprised.

Once he was done getting ready, he grabbed his phone from the charger and plugged the earbuds in.  As he headed towards the front of the old house his family lived in, he made sure he had everything he needed.  He poked his head into the living room and smiled.  His sister was sitting behind their father doing something with his hair.  His father had a very patient look on his face as she did whatever she was doing, “Hey, I'm going to go for a run.  Back by nine or so.  Would you like me to deal with the stinker for you?"

His sister stuck her tongue at him, “Go run what little brains you have left out.  This is important, for your information.  I promised Ava I would do her hair for the dance, and she is going to do mine."  She had her phone sitting next to her and would periodically check it as she was working.

His mother was grinning at her husband and youngest child, “Have fun Zane and have a good run.  Try not to forget the time again.  This time, I might just call the police and report you as missing."  She had to tease him since he tended to forget the time when running.  Last week he had gone out for a 'short run' and came back two hours later.

Zane had to exaggerate the eyeroll and mock whined for good measure, “Mom!!!  It was a Friday night for heaven's sake.  Besides, I told you I was trying to get away from all my admirers."  Considering he didn't date and was just average looking, his family knew he was joking.  He flashed a grin at her and headed out.  One thing he liked about where they lived was how quiet it was.  They might not be well off, but his parents had managed to find a decent place to live.  It was old and showed its age but was in decent shape.

They lived in an old subdivision which was one reason it was so quiet, and the trees were old and massive which he loved as well.  With the area they lived in as well there was what was loosely termed a forest which he used to train for cross country.  Tonight, he wasn't in the mood for running through the forest as he enjoyed being in the trees, so he was going to run the edge of the forest which normally took him about an hour.  After a slow jog to start warming up he started stretching. 

Once he was warmed up and stretched, he started running.  As he was running, a light cloud cover moved in, and the moon shone down through it, almost creating beams of light.  The moonlight was bright enough to read by, so it seemed.  The air was cool and crisp which made it even nicer to run in.  It didn't take him very long to settle down into the pace he was going to use.  As he was listening to his music, he had to roll his eyes since his mother had apparently added a few songs to his list.  Right now, Turn Me Loose by Loverboy was playing, and it messed with his pace.

Zane was going to have to mutter at his mother again about doing it.  It was a good beat to run to, but it just wasn't what he needed now, “Mothers are such a pain in the ass sometimes.  She won't admit it, but I know she thinks she is funny when she does it."  Just to be a pest he was going to run a bit longer and then tell her it was her fault due to the songs messing with his pace.

He dipped into the forest on a small path he liked and for some reason even though he'd run this path for ages, it felt creepy tonight.  The sudden darkness of moving into the thick foliage and the light cloud cover which blocked the moonlight was probably the cause.  Zane still started moving faster than normal since he just wasn't comfortable.  Added, it felt like there was something watching him which made the hairs on his neck stand up, “Brr, what the heck?  Time to hurry up and get back on the road." 

He stretched out his legs and leaned into the run.  Zane wasn't going full out, but he had increased his pace.  Somewhere behind him, he heard a howl which sent a chill up his spine and urged him to really start running as fast as he could go.  As he was running his earbuds fell out and he heard what sounded like paws hitting the ground behind him.  It made him panic even more and he started running as fast as he possibly could.  He didn't realize just how fast he was going.  Even though neither he or his parents knew, he had some werewolf DNA, which gave him an edge and right now it was showing.

Behind him, he could hear the animal speeding up to match his pace and though he knew running was a bad choice, he didn't know what else to do.  In the distance he could see the end of the trail which gave him additional energy.  When he reached the end of the trail he was panting heavily and stumbled and fell.  As he was falling, he felt something hit his back and his head struck the pavement of the road.  The last thing he remembered was a sudden burning and tearing pain in his back and shoulder which seemed to spread farther.

*****

The two were coming back from a quiet evening on the town.  Neither were spring chickens anymore; they preferred a quiet dinner over any sort of partying.  This evening they had met up with several other older couples and after dinner had hit the bingo place.  It had been very successful for them since they had won just over two hundred and fifty dollars.

As they were coming around a corner out of the corner of her eye the woman saw something almost jolt into the road.  She started screaming to alert her husband but before she could, some monster of a dog hit the back of whatever it was.  It was the moment she realized it was a person who had stumbled and fallen in the road.

The old man hit the brakes as hard as he could and was thankful he had good wheels and brakes.  It wasn't enough though and they struck both the animal and the person.  He did swerve, but it wasn't enough, and he knew he'd hit the person.  The woman screamed again since when she looked at the animal its eyes were a glowing red color as it seemed to glare at them.  The animal jumped up and with a very loud, ugly snarl ran down the road.

The man sat there for half a moment before scrambling out as fast as his bad hip would let him, “Ma call for help.  We hit a boy and he's bleeding badly.  He is alive though."  From what he could tell in the dark it looked like he had run over one leg but not the rest of him.  There was blood though and it looked like he had been bitten, “Relax son, we are calling for help."  He said, but not sure if the kid was even awake.

His wife tried dialing for help, but she was shaking too much.  Thankfully, they had the OnStar thing and the car spoke into the silence of the night, “This is OnStar emergency services.  We detected a possible accident.  Do you need help?"  The voice could be heard outside the vehicle.

The man called in, “Yes, we do.  There was an animal attacking a boy and before I could stop, we hit the boy.  I think he is a young teen and is bleeding badly and isn't responding.  Send help as soon as possible."  His voice was quavering, and he was gasping for breath.

His wife came around the vehicle and pulled out his bottle of Nitro and gave him one, “My husband is having an angina attack.  He needs help also."  She helped him sit down in the seat and stood there next to him.

“Understood and I have contacted 9-1-1 and assistance will be there shortly.  I will remain on the line in case you need further help till they arrive."  Almost immediately, in the distance sirens could already be heard.

*****

Zane's parents were notified he had been injured, from an animal attack and then an accident with a vehicle and had been taken by  ambulance to the hospital.  Once there, they were forced to sit in the waiting room until a doctor or nurse came for them.  Though it didn't take very long, it seemed to take forever and when the doctor came out, he looked very serious, “If you'll come with me, I will show you to my office where we can talk." 

They stood up and Zane's sister was between the two of them.  Both had an arm around her for comfort as they followed the doctor to his office.  Once inside they settled down in chairs across from the desk from the doctor, “Tell us straight doc, how bad is it?"  His father asked.

The doctor adjusted his glasses before speaking, “Well in that case, there are several key issues.  At some point, he hit his head, and a CT scan shows he has some bleeding in his brain.  It doesn't appear serious but is bad enough we recommend keeping him in an induced coma until healed.  There is accordingly increased intracranial pressure.  Where he was run over, his femur was severely damaged and is going to require major reconstructive surgery.  The repair can wait for the time being, and currently his leg is in a bulky dressing to keep it immobile.  The last issue was his upper back and shoulder was badly mauled by some large animal.  There is extensive damage, and he is going to need surgery soon to correct the damaged tissues.  Due to blood loss we've had to start a transfusion."

Olivia, Zane's sister, started crying even more than she had been and was pulled close to her father as he tried to comfort her.  He looked at the doctor and after forcing his jaw muscles to relax spoke.  When he did his voice was rough and hoarse, “Do what you need doctor, what do you need us to sign?  What is going to happen now?"

The doctor nodded and leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desktop, “I will send in a nurse and have you sign a few documents.  Once that's done, we will get to work.  For the pressure in his brain, we will insert a probe which will monitor it.  Before we take him to the O.R. we will induce the coma before starting the work on his back.  With his leg, we will give him time to recover from the initial surgery before we do anything.  This is going to take some time, so I would recommend going home and trying to get some sleep."  Most refused but it was a good idea.

Zane's father tensed at the suggestion and then again forced himself to relax, “I don't like the idea, but it is better than sitting around here for hours on end.  Have the nurse bring what we need to sign, and we will take care of it and then head home."  When Liv tried to say otherwise, he hushed her, “Liv this is the best thing we can do.  Even if we don't sleep well, it will be better than not sleeping here."

The doctor stood up and gave them a professional nod, “She will be in momentarily and I'm going to start and get ready for what we have discussed."  He left the office and a brief time later the nurse came in.  She made sure to get both parents signatures, “We have your numbers and will call as soon as we know anything."  Once that was finished, she showed them out of the E.R. and to the waiting room