Part 1 - Alayna

My name is Alayna Carmine, but you can just call me Layna. I live in a broken world, surrounded by death and disaster. There once was a time when my world was whole, were I could go about my day normally, have a job, friends, and be safe. It has been three years since the outbreak, three years since my family was murdered, three years since men have been slain, and the woman taken hostage.

Everything happened so fast, one night I went to sleep and the next I woke up to find my world in ruins. Fantasy became reality, blood covered the streets, humanity started to dwindle. I looked up at the abandoned house before me, much like the one I used to live in peacefully. It was empty now, blood stained the front steps, the windows were busted and vines were climbing the walls.

The entire street was deserted, just like the street after it and the streets after it, never ending. To someone who was clueless, it would seem as if my world was dead, void of any life. I knew different though, there were people out there, scavenging, hiding, fighting for their lives. Just like I was, and the others who traveled with me.

I suspect you are rather curious as to my world and how it came about to be this way. What terrible events could have taken place, what horrors have I seen? Why is it that trash lines the streets and the surviving humans hid in fear? I will tell you, after all, you are along for the journey with me.

I was sixteen when I woke up to find that I had awoken into a nightmare. The news was buzzing with pictures of mutilated bodies, tore apart by animals. I looked out the window to see police cars lining the streets here and there, body bags laying on the side walk, blood staining the windows of my neighbors houses. Families all around the world had been attacked in their sleep, awoken to find their houses invaded by monsters, being torn apart by their teeth and claws.

You read books, watch movies, about creatures of the night; Men who transform into animals at the sight of the full moon, stalking the night clad in fur. A simple story of fiction, make believe to scare children and entertain adults. Not for me though, I woke up to find out nothing was make believe, that wolfs stalked the streets and fed on the innocent.

You heard me right, I woke up to a world suddenly swarming with wolf men, demons of animals, better known as were-wolfs. They had taken over, killing all the men they found, taking the women as their slaves, using them to procreate.

I had been forced into hiding after my family was murdered, living in the shadows, fending for myself. That was, until a group of women found me one day when I had broken into an abandoned house looking for food. They had been taking shelter there, banned together to strengthen their odds of survival. I had been welcomed into their little clan, and we have been fighting together ever since.

Nothing is as it seems though, I woke up to find my world taken over by monsters, though the wolves were my greatest enemy, they were also my strongest protector. I have come to know that there are three different kinds of beasts in my world.

The average wolf, stuck in the form of an animal, yet still, somewhere inside there is a human consensus. These wolves are usually the lower class in packs. Then you have the most commonly known were-wolves, a man and beast combined, transforming from one body to the other. These creatures I have come to know are the most dangerous, murderous, uncaring, unfeeling, driven by their inner animal.

Then, there are the wolf demons, men who are one with their beast, able to control their animals inside, and unable to transform. They look like the average man, with a few added features; the tail of a wolf, maybe ears, claws, and of course, keen senses.

These wolf demons, these men, are what keeps us alive. As I have said before, the wolves have no use for the men and usually slay them; But us women, we are important to them, without us their existence will wither and die. They need us to procreate, and so, there are packs who take us in and protect us, in hopes to use us to bare their children.

The women and I avoid the wolves as much as we can, but there are times where we are found and attacked, and forced to accompany them. The last pack we traveled with was cruel and abusive, though we all made it out alive, some of the younger women will forever be scared for life. We have been traveling on our own now for months, and though we are a costumed to scavenging and protecting ourselves, we were left in a town with little to offer.

The children were hungry, out clothes were torn and we were running out of supplies. We tended to stay away from the towns, living on the outskirts where we had better chances of not being found; Today some of us had traveled into town together, hoping to find food and supplies, enough to get us through the next couple of days so we could move on to the next town.

It was dangerous for me to stray from the other women, but I had been drawn to this house, looking so much like my own that I had lived in so long ago. I didn't dare go inside, for fear of my memoirs coming back to haunt me. I was about to turn away, when I heard a noise, the quiet sobs of a young child, coming from inside. My heart jumped at the sound, the desperate cries of a young one, all alone and afraid.

I rushed inside without another thought, searching for the child. I froze in my tracks when I found her, hanging by the collar of her dress, the claws of a monster ripping at the cloth. I took a step back and scowled at him, disgusted by his actions; Using the child to lure in others, willing them to follow her cries just so he could kill them.

He was laughing at me, his eyes gleaming as he threw the girl aside and stepped towards me. I did not regret my actions, I could have stayed with the other woman and saved myself, but I could not let him use the girl, could not let him kill others after me. He was tall and strong, brawny, I would not win in a fight, but I had to try.

"Run!" I yelled at the little girl as he jumped at me. He was fast, despite his size, and I was tackled to the ground, his claws tearing into my arms.

I might die today, I thought, but the girl was safe. No doubt the other women would find her and take her to safety. My life was worth the safety of the others, I had no qualms with that. The others would flee, running to safety in the next town and away from the killer that loomed over me. They would live on, and I would die, as long as they were safe, as long as they made it, I had no regrets.

I was saved though, by a man who was dressed in the fur of his kind. He tore the wolf away from me, slamming him into the far wall and attacking him. The fight was over within seconds, and I gazed upon the demon who had saved me. A pelt of brown fur around his waist, a chest plait of leather, with matching arm bands; Fur covering his shins and his feet bare. His eyes were the color of violets, and his hair was long and up in a ponytail on top of his head. His bangs framed his face, sharp feature and piercing eyes.

I lay there on the floor, my arm bleeding with the marks of claws, my mouth open and eyes wide. Why had he saved me, a lone woman, and against his own kind? I caught a movement out of the corner of my eyes and turned to see the little girl I had saved. She was running to the demons side, tears streaming from her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his legs.

He was protecting her it seemed, and I had saved her, it would only make sense that he would save me in return. Yet I was still confused, why was a lone child traveling with the wolves? She had no use to them, she was too young. My mind started to get fuzzy, the blood from my arm pooling around me. I passed out with those confused thoughts running through my mind, the last thing I saw was the demon approaching me, and then there was nothing.

Reviews

[SweetRainDrops]

That's amazing!! I love it!!