• I sat curled up next to an old tree that towered over me. Around me the cold night air stole my heat and slowly froze me. I had gotten lost in the forest again. It wasn't my fault though, not really.
    Tracy, my eldest sister, didn't want to walk the dog today. She wanted to go over to her friends house instead. So she blackmailed me into doing it. While I was cleaning dishes she was rummaging through my backpack. What did she find? My progress report that said I had been failing Algebra II.
    Not wanting to mom to find out I agreed to take Gege for a walk while she went over to Jaylin’s house. The only reason she's friends with Jaylin is so she can get to know her brother Josh.
    So I had taken Gege for a walk, carefully avoiding the woods, when a stupid tabby cat ran into the woods sending a hundred and some odd pounds of dog chasing after her. So there Gege went into the woods that I was told to stay out of.
    Our family had just moved to this cold foresty town just one month ago and in that single month I had gotten lost about four times in the forest. Out of those four times I had needed stitches, after falling out of a tree when I was trying to find out which way to go or at least get reception on my phone, and twisted my ankle because hey I'm a klutz so nice rocky ground and me would not get along.
    Now back to the point. If a dog you've had ever since you seven ran into the woods were there are wolves, snakes, spiders, hunters and other things would you just walk away or go after her?
    I went after her of course.
    I realized about twenty minutes after I went to search for her that I had no clue were I was. About another forty minutes after that I realized exactly how dark it was getting and that in all my four times of being lost I had never seen these parts of the forest. For another period of time that felt like eternity I roamed aimlessly looking for salvation.
    You might be thinking 'Why not use your phone or something?' That's a wonderful idea! But hey did I mention that I fell out of a tree? Yeah so did my phone but it didn't make it out of that situation alive.
    Eventually my energy drained, the temperature dropped, and I ended up snuggling with a tree. No one had found me this time. I knew how cold it got at night and that I wasn't dressed accordingly. If I didn't freeze to death some animal will eat me most likely. And if none of those work out maybe a nice spider will bite me and poison me.
    I know most people don't like gloomy narrator and normally I'm not so doom and gloom but have you ever got that feeling when you just know something bad is going to happen? Or felt like you were facing a quarter toss for life or death? Well I was getting that feeling and it tends to drag your emotions down.
    Of course today had to be a new moon so the forest was even darker then usual. I could hardly see anything around me. The only light I had was the stars and many of them were blocked by clouds.
    Every breath I took stung my lungs and created a puff ball of white when I exhaled. I shivered uncontrollably while rocking back and forth hugging myself. My eyes felt heavy and I reluctantly closed them.
    Then I heard the howls of wolves.
    My eyes shot open and a new shiver spread through me. One of fear. I remember my father telling me to avoid the wolves because they were unnaturally violent here. There had been reports of the wolves attack people for little reason. Only one person died from a wolf attack but none the less everyone was warned and told to avoid them at all costs.
    Unable to drag myself up I began to crawl on the hard cold ground.
    "I have to at least find a better place to hide," I told myself. Yes I know wolves have a wonderful sense of smell but it's all I could do to increase my chances of survival.
    Soon I heard the sound of paws against the ground. They were heading my way. My body froze but I pushed forward not wanting to get eaten. I was almost to cover when something tackled me.
    I let out a piercing scream as I felt fangs bite into my side. My arms moved on there own and I grabbed the wolf that was attacking me. I rolled onto it trying to stop it from trashing, biting, and clawing at me.
    Eventually it slid out from under me and jumped away from me growling. I fell to the floor holding my side as warm tears left my eyes. I get cold and distant.
    I saw a group of people and heard them yelling. I couldn’t really make out what they said but they stopped dead when they saw me. The wolf stood with them staring at me as well. I noticed these people from town and a few went to my school
    I even knew one of them. Gale, a guy who hung out with me for the first week while I made other friends. He was very nice and outgoing.
    "Nice going Derrick. You hurt another human," Gales voice was sarcastic. He took a harder look at me then turned pale, "Oh gosh it's Helen."
    "Hurry and pick her up. We need to take her to the house. She's still conscious so she might survive the virus if not she'll just be another lost to the wolves," said an elderly man.
    That was the day I, Helen Ashton, found out that werewolves existed. And that was the day I became infected with the virus.