Prologue: 17 years ago.

The night sky was full of bursts of colors. People were sad. People were happy. It all depended on what you believed. Drake believed in the war, and all its glory. He celebrated by the fire and bragged about how many werewolves he'd gotten--how many he killed. Tonya, on the other hand, stayed alone in the tent--but she wasn't lonely at all. She held her stomach tight, and told the small baby inside what was happening.

"We've won the war, but what did we really win? Why should we celebrate murder? We murdered so many innocent people." She got up, still holding on to her belly. She glanced out the window at Drake. He was moving wildly, making all types of movement she guessed were reenactments of how he killed the werewolves he'd killed. She shook her head. "Your father is happy. Will you be like him?" she asked, looking down at her stomach. She secretly hoped not.

She watched at the window a bit more until the celebration was coming to a close. There were fewer fireworks, and some of the kids that were watching Drake intently were shown back to their homes to go to sleep. Drake seemed disappointed by his audience leaving, but finally decided it was time to go back inside. Tonya left the window and sat back down in their bed and welcomed Drake when he came in.

"Why weren't ya out there?" he asked her.

"I haven't been feeling well," she said, rubbing her tummy.

"Does that mean its close then?" he asked, excited.

She laughed and shook her head. "I don't think so. I think we still have awhile."

Drake sighed and poured himself a drink of water and took a swig. He always talked about how excited he was for the baby to finally be born. He told Tonya about how he would teach the kid the ways of fighting, and making him into a legendary warrior. Tonya never discouraged him, though. She kept quiet.

He sat down next to her and put his arm around her, squeezing her lightly. "I can't wait," he said like he did most nights.

"I know you can't." She smiled and leaned over to peck his cheek.

He smiled and blushed, embarrassed by his excitement. They both lay down, side by side, looking at each other. "Have ya thought of any names?" he asked her, yawning.

She nodded. "A few. I think I'll pick when we find out if it's a boy or girl."

He looked at her with a confused expression. "You still haven't went to Clyde yet?"

Clyde was the doctor in town--a mage, the best kind of doctor. He could tell Tonya if the baby was a boy or girl at anytime, but she refused to go every time Drake had asked her to. "I don't want to know yet," she told him.

Drake laughed and rolled his eyes. "I never understand ya."

She shrugged and smiled at him.

"Oh," Drake rolled over to his back. "I'm so beat. So much happened today. Did ya think we were gonna win? Nah. But we brought it out right at the end."

Tonya sighed. "It was amazing," she lied, "get some sleep though. Remember tomorrow you told me a whole day spent with me and not out battling."

"Now that it's over, no big deal!" he told her. He leaned over and gave her a long, hard kiss. They said their goodnights, but Tonya couldn't sleep. She listened to Drake's heavy breathing for awhile until she finally got up and went outside. It was dark except for the full moon's glow that lit everything up in an eerily dim light. The campfire was almost burnt out completely, just a little lonely flame danced in the center. She sat down and held her stomach again, hugging it. She thought about her baby--what it would it look like, what would it be like? She wondered if it would even want to fight like Drake did.

Finally she noticed the noise, though, and her thoughts shattered.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

What was that? She looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

The woods. It was coming from the woods. And it was getting louder.

Someone was coming. No. It was more than just someone. There was more than one.

Tonya ran to the tent, trying to be careful of not to trip, and shook Drake awake.

"Uh? Eh?" he groaned awake.

"Drake. Drake. I went outside and someone's out there," she breathed.

At first Drake was still, but then he jumped up and pulled his boots back on. He went outside slowly, first his head to look around, and then he was completely gone. All of a sudden Tonya felt incredibly stupid--it could have been an animal, or someone from the village taking a step outside like she was. The war had made her jumpy.

It was silent outside for a long time and Tonya wanted to look outside, but she couldn't.

The tent's door opened and Drake looked inside, "Just checking on ya," he said, "I don't hear or see anything."

Tonya's face got hot with embarrassment. "I--"

I'm so sorry, she was about to apologize, but then Drake screamed in pain. He disappeared from the tent's entrance, and Tonya was frozen in shock. What just happened? She quietly, quickly moved to her window and peeked out. She saw sleek, thin shapes moving around the town in the weak light--and people were coming out of their tents to see what the scream was--only to get attacked too. Drake was on the ground, holding his leg. Tonya could see his leg was covered in something dark--blood? She rushed outside and kneeled down next to him.

"Drake! Drake, what is it? What is going on?" she asked frantically, out of breath.

"Werewolves," he breathed slowly, "leave here," he instructed.

She kissed him, and bolted. She ran. She didn't know where she was going, or if she was even going the right way, whichever way that may be, but she just kept running.

But then she was hit. Something sharp dug into her back, and a force pushed her down--she tried to land on her side and grabbed her stomach, screaming in pain, and then she was swallowed into darkness.

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think.

Reviews

[DJKRach]

Very quick punches, and a good beginning to a story. This could do with a bit more development (setting, character, emotional development especially when Drake tells her to go, which she seems to oblige without hesitation).
Otherwise, very captivating.

[MoriartyMesa]

I think, I want to keep reading cause damn it this was too interesting and i actually had to stop my music and re read it, just to enjoy it proper.


Nice work.....