26 Skinwalker

"Where am I?"

I slowly got up from the ground I was laying on. The sun was out, and I was somewhere in the woods.

I felt a cool breeze and looked down, "why am I naked?!"

There was black fur all around the ground and both of my arms were covered in blood.

"What did I do?!" I remembered Wes and Anthony—

And I… Oh no! I must have shapeshifted! It finally happened. I hope I did not hurt them! I need to get out of here, but I don't see any sign of civilization anywhere. The only thing to do is choose a direction and hope for the best.

This is crazy! I must have been running for at least a good hour. I paused and sat down for a moment to relax a bit when I smelled something tasty.

*Sniff, sniff. *

I followed the scent, and I heard a woman's voice, "This is tasty! I kind of got tired of eating hare."

The voice was coming over a small hill and to my surprise there was a black to grey with white wolf eating a white-tailed deer.

Is this the scent that I was following?! But the deer is not even cooked! What is wrong with me?! And where did that voice come from?

Maybe the wolf is trained and has a human as a companion. That must be it!

I moved in closer to the wolf in hopes of finding the person that it belonged to. I moved from tree to tree slowly tip-toeing my way to the wolf.

"Who's there?" asked a womanly voice.

There is that voice again?! But where is it coming from?

I popped my head out to look at the wolf, but it was gone and only the deer's corpse remained.

"What is a human doing here?"

I slowly turned my head to my right and the gray wolf was staring at me three feet away and was at least four feet tall.

"Did you just talk?" I asked it.

It took a step forward, and I braced myself because I thought that it was getting ready to attack me, but instead, the wolf just stared at me, and I dazed off.

No! No! No! I must be going insane.

I felt something sniffing my butt, "Hey! Don't smell there!" I said as I was pushing her head away from my ass.

"Say human, what exactly are you? I can see that you look like them, but you are not like them."

She did talk?! I am not going crazy!

"So, you can speak English, and I am able to understand you."

"I don't know what English is but yes, I can understand you as you can understand me."

"But how is this possible?"

The wolf tilted her head sideways, "I can tell that you are no regular human, but I can also tell that you are somewhat like me, and then you're not at the same time. This is weird. I have never encountered something like you." Her tail started to wag, and her ears jumped up, "Are you a shaman?!"

"No, I can't do witchcraft."

"If you're not magical… then what are you?"

"I have been cursed, in other words, I am a werewolf or somewhat like you."

She jumped up and placed her paws on my chest, "You're a Skinwalker!!!" She jumped back off and started to spin around in place. "This is so cool!"

She stopped in her tracks and asked, "But what are you doing out here?"

"I'm trying to figure that one out myself. I need to get home because I am worried that I might have hurt people that I care about." I looked down at the dried blood around my arms.

She walked over and sniffed my arms, "You don't know what personal space is, do you?"

"This is deer blood mixed with human, my guess is that it's a male, but there is not much of it, and faint."

Male blood?! Please don't tell me I killed one of them!

I started to walk away, "I need to find my way back home, I don't have time to stand around and waste."

"Nice! An adventure! Can I come?!"

I looked at her, "Do you even know where the closest town from here is?"

"Yes! Just let me finish my meal. We wolves must eat twenty pounds per meal. Hey! Would you like some?"

There is no way in hell that I am eating an uncooked animal…

"Come on! I insist! These deer are delicious I tell you. I normally don't share my food, but I can make an exception today just for you, Skinwalker. Here, have the heart, it's the tastiest part of any animal we hunt."

I kneeled and she was just staring at me. I don't know about this… I reached for it, pulled the heart out, and held it in my right hand. I looked back at her, and she nodded her head up and down. I stared back at the heart, well, here goes nothing. I took a small bite and blood squirted all over my face.

"Well?! How is it?"

I stopped chewing and looked back and forth between the wolf and heart.

"Don't just sit there? Say something?" she asked.

I shoved the rest of the heart in my mouth.

How was it so delicious?!

We ate the entire deer leaving nothing but bones and skin.

"That was good! I never had deer before until today!"

We rested for a bit, and I asked her, "Say, do you have a name?"

"Twili. It's what I call myself."

I stared at her, "I'm Paul, and what did you mean by call yourself?"

"I am what they call an Omega wolf. Our kind does not have a pack, and we roam the land as loners."

Now that she did mention it, I did not see any other wolves around, "What about your family?"

"Your kind killed them when I was only a pup, and they wiped out the pack that I was in. Those hunters made a coat out of my mother and some female wore it as if it were a piece of jewelry."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Twili got up and looked at me, "Come. Let's get you to that town."

I quickly got up.

She led the way, and I smelled river water, "We must be close to the river!" I said with excitement.

"Yes, it's about two miles that way. You have a good sense of smell Skinwalker. I'm impressed."

Speaking of Skinwalker, "Have you ever seen another Skinwalker like me?"

"No." She replied, "I have only heard about it when I was a pup. Never thought it was real, until now."

Time passed, and we finally arrive at the city…

"Crap?! This is the wrong city?! This is Livingston Lake! The city that I need to go to is in the opposite direction!"

"You said to bring you to the city, it's not my fault you humans live in so many different territories."

I paused for a moment to think, "I can follow the river back down and It will lead me back to Liberty!"

"Skinwalker! Wait for me!"

We have been following this damn river for hours now and it is almost nightfall.

"You know that you don't have to follow me anymore, right? You already did enough by feeding me and taking me to a city as you promised."

"I know, but I have a feeling that you are going to need me. You are going to have to feed again, and by the looks of it, you do not look like a hunter. I don't need the first Skinwalker that I have ever met to starve."

"I will be fine as soon as I get home. We have plenty of food there. By the way, there is no need for us humans to hunt. We have a grocery store to buy food."

"Grocery store?"

"It's a place where they have all kinds of food, and anyone can go in to buy a specific food that they need."

"That sounds convenient. I wish I had a location with food running around in on spot."

"They're not alive anymore," I told her.

"Whaaat?! Where is the fun in that?! It's all about the thrill of the kill."

I stopped to get a drink from the river, and I noticed the reflection of the moon on the water's surface.

It is a waxing moon, and it is almost full. I probably have two days at the most before I shapeshift again.

"Maybe we should call it a night?" Twili told me.

I shook my head, "No. I can't stop. I have people that I am worried about. It does not matter if it gets dark. I will keep following the river."

The moon was high above the ground, and no light except that which came from the moon shun upon us.

"How can I see perfectly in the dark without any sort of man-made light to help guide me?"

"That is because we wolves have more light receptors than humans do, with the exception of you, of course, and it makes it easier for us to see at night. It's almost a mirror like and we can see every movement."

Makes sense.

"Hey! Skinwalker! You have glowing blue eyes just like mine!"

I ran over to look at my reflection on the surface of the river. She was right, they are an icy blue color.

This is so cool.