27 Home

"You attack it from the left and I will get it from the right."

It was still dark outside and Twili was teaching me how to hunt in the wild. We were having rabbit tonight. We were following the river path when Twili saw a rabbit drinking water on the riverside.

I was no more than thirty-five feet away from the rabbit and I could see a faint orange to red with a bluish glow on it. I looked at Twili who was also faintly glowing, do I also have thermo vision?

"Pull yourself together and get this hare!"

I rushed at the rabbit, and it ran faster than I could run. Twili ran past me almost causing me to trip on my own two feet.

"Damn it! You let it get away! I should have done this myself."

"Well, if you could have done it yourself? Then why didn't you?" I asked Twili.

"Just forget it. You are still hunting as if you were human. You need to remember that you are a Skinwalker. You have the best of both worlds inside of you."

I nodded, "I know I do, but I am still trying to get used to my abilities and this body. I don't have anyone to show me how to be a werewolf since they don't exist anymore."

"See! I knew that you would need me!" Twili shouted with joy, "I will help train you to become the best wolf out there."

I smiled at her, she is probably lonely and wanted some company. That is more than likely why she is tagging along.

"How much longer are we going to have to keep walking?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that if I was driving from Liberty to Livingston, it would take about an hour to drive to one town and another hour to get back home. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if we made it back at sunrise."

"That doesn't sound too far. Us wolves travel miles just to get our prey, so this walk until morning doesn't bother me."

It sure sounded like it did.

"I don't think that we have that much more to walk. I see the night sky starting to turn into a bluish color."

I am coming, everyone! Please be okay!

"Skinwalker?! Wait! Why are you running?!"

"I want to hurry up and get there!"

I did not stop running because I felt that I was getting close.

"Hey! I see something!" I shouted.

"What do you see?"

I pointed in the distance, "That building over there is River Overlook!" I looked at Twili, "It's a wildlife refuge and a museum."

"But what does that mean?"

With excitement in my voice, "It means that we are close and almost home!"

"What are we waiting for?! Let us get going!"

We both started to run again, and we did not stop for another good while. By this time, the sun was already in the sky.

"I see the bridge that leads into the town!"

"Are we going to climb up the wall? I'm not a good climber and you would have to carry me up."

"No, we are not climbing. Keep following me, there is a path that leads up the hill further down and leads directly to my godfather's house."

"I think I like the idea of being carried."

I cannot climb up the wall and run across the street?! Cars will pass by and see me naked. I would get a ticket from the officer that hides behind the Liberty sign for public nudity. But then again, he would have to catch me and wrestle a naked man and I do not think he will want to do that. It is quicker to climb, but I want to take the long way around and avoid being spotted.

"You are going to have to be careful in this area, there are crocodiles and snakes everywhere."

Just as I said that a crocodile lunged at me from behind some tall grass. I side-jumped and avoided being bitten, "I told you!"

Up ahead the path that I was telling Twili about was coming into view.

Almost!

I stopped in my tracks when I heard a voice.

"What is wrong? I thought you wanted to go home?"

"Shhh…" I told Twili.

That voice… it was Bryanna…

"STOP! You are hurting my arm!"

I turned to Twili, "Bryanna is in danger! I have to help her!"

"I'm right behind you!"

I ran up the pathway alongside the hill in time to see a guy pulling Bryanna by her left arm. He let her go and backhanded Bryanna across the face.

I grabbed him from behind and threw him over me.

"PAUL?!"

I looked at Bryanna who was crying on the floor and gave her my hand to lift her up.

"Where were you? We were all worried about you."

"That is not important right now," I told her and turned to look at the person who did this. The guy slowly got up and was none other than her dad. Her mom who was waiting in the car stepped out.

"How dare you put your hands on me!"

"That is no way to treat your own daughter!" I yelled back at him.

"She needs to come home with us, this instance! I will not tolerate her not coming home and doing whatever she wants. She always wants to do whatever she wants and disrespects our home and her parents. She is an ungrateful, undeserving, and disrespectful child! I will take her home and properly punish her!"

I looked at both of them, "You will have to take her from me first!"

Her dad charged at me and from the side, Twili tackled him and dragged him by the shirt.

"Get this damn dog off of me!" He screamed.

Her mom pulled out some incense sticks and lit them while chanting, "There is your target, and suffocate him with smoke!"

Does her mom know witchcraft?! But how? Bryanna told me that her mother is super religious.

The smoke burning from the sticks grew and made its way to Twili.

"Twili! Look out! Let him go and run!"

She did as I told her, but the smoke still followed Twili.

Damn it! There is only one thing to do!

I charged at Bryanna's mom.

"You think that you can stop me?! Take this! POISONOUS ASH!"

One of the other incense sticks smoke turned into a darker smoke and blew in my direction.

I did not care what the smoke will do to me, I went through it and took the sticks away from her, "Give me that!"

"Ouch! Stop!"

I turned around to see Bryanna's dad on top of her viciously repeatedly beating her.

I threw the sticks away and pulled her dad off her and slammed him on the ground while giving him a growl.

"What the hell are you?! Some kind of animal?" He yelled scared.

From the background, I can hear Twili tell me, "Go ahead Skinwalker! Bite his head off! Don't worry, I have the mom trapped inside the car! She is not going anywhere! Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!"

"Please don't hurt him!" Bryanna begged me.

"Why shouldn't I?! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't! He hit you! He hurt you and made you cry! I cannot forgive that or anyone that touches you!"

She started sobbing, "Because he is still my father!"

I sighed and slowly got off him, even though I did not want to.

Bryanna is just too nice, that is her greatest weakness…

Her dad slowly crawled backward and got up still trying to act tough, "If you want that worthless piece of a shit daughter of mine, you can keep her, she is useless to us anyways. She can never do anything right. We never care about her." He raised his voice louder, "You hear me Bryanna?! Don't you ever show your face around my home ever again! You are dead to us! See if your friend will take care of your sorry ass!"

"I will take care of her from people like you and I will always defend her! I will take full reasonability for her, so you won't need to worry about her! I will cover all of her expenses. She has a home and a real family here where she is always welcomed." I told Twili, "Step aside and let him get off our property."

As he was slowly walking by Twili, she barked at him making her dad run to the other side of the car.

He flicked me off and peeled off in front of our home.

I looked back at Bree who was still behind me, "Are you going to be okay?"

She shook her head while tears were running down her face, "No… How am I supposed to be fine knowing that my parents don't want me anymore?!"

"They never wanted you, remember? They would constantly belittle you as well. They always put you through crap."

"I know! But they are still my parents!"

I hugged her and tried to comfort her as she cried.

Bryanna cleared her voice and looked back up at me, "Why are you naked? And as a matter of fact, where exactly have you been? We have been worried about you… I was worried… I sometimes feel like you don't care about me as well…"

Hell no! She is not going to turn this one on me!

Twili brought me a towel to cover myself in and I pushed Bryanna away, "It's a long story and where is Wes? I need to talk to him."

Bryanna shook her head from side to side, "I am not telling you anything until you explain yourself and tell me what is going on with you?"

I sighed and told her, "I will tell you everything you need to know after all of you are initiated. I promised that I wouldn't say anything until then."

"You can tell me! I will not say anything. We are close friends, and we don't hide secrets from one another."

"True, but you hide the secret about Mark."

"I told you about him and what he did to me!"

"Yes, you did." I said nodding my head, "But you never said anything while you were with him and the terrible things that he did to you. So, as I said before, I will not tell you anything until your initiation is over and you have passed it."

"Fine…"

With that, I walked past her and went inside to take a shower, but paused while I was on the front steps, "Twili, do you want to stay here with us? You can become a huge help to all of us, including me."

"Are you serious?! I can stay?!"

"Of course, we can be your new family too. Go ahead and make yourself at home."

"Who is Twili?" asked Bree.

Twili ran past her and up the steps, "You brought a dog home?!"

"She's not a dog, she is a wolf and family now."

Bryanna looked at Twili nervously, "I don't know about this… what if she goes savage because she is a wild animal?"

"It will be fine. Twili and I understand each other." I smiled back at Bree, "I can't say the same with the rest of you."

I started to walk inside when Bree shouted at me from behind, "She better not bite me!"

"Don't give her a reason to!"