My feet pounded down the path, trying to put as much distance between me and whatever it was that was following.

‘What are you doing.’

“running away, what does it look like.”

‘And why are you doing that?’

My feet slowed down to a halt. Why am I running away?.  I turned and looked in the direction the howling came from. Am I really gonna start my new life by running away from the first sign of danger? I scrunched my hand into a fist. Hell no, I’m not starting like this. 44 spent all her life being prey for others to do with as they please. I will not do the same.

“Thanks for pointing out my stupidity Alexis.”

‘It’s what I’m here for. So tell me, how do you plan on showing whatever it is that’s following us whos boss.’

I looked around me. I was entirely surrounded by trees. Dammit, I should have stayed in the clearing. Nice open space makes fighting a whole load easier. I paced around for several minutes, figuring out the best way to deal with this.

“I got it.”

I walked up to a large tree and gave it a few knocks.

“looks strong enough.”

I took my hand, and I dug my fingertips into the wood. Securing it to the tree.

“I think ill be able to climb this way.”

I took my other hand and did the same but slightly higher up. I repeated this, moving each hand higher and higher each time slowly moving up the tree. Until I reached a thick branch coming off the main trunk. Using my hands and feet, I clambered around the branch until I could finally sit on the branch.

“Whew, that was a lot of work. I really need to practice climbing when I have time.”

‘ill remind you.’

“thanks”

‘You’re welcome. So what is your plan.’

“Hehe, you will see.”

I shuffled a bit more to get into a comfy position on the tree.

“Ahhhh, that’s better. And now we wait.”

*********

The sun had set a few hours ago, and darkness had settled over the forest.

“it’s beautiful, ain’t it,” I said, staring up at the moon

‘Yeah, It has been so long since I last saw the moon.’

“Me too, the last time I.”

*SNAP*

I climbed around the tree to get a better look at what caused the snapping sound.

A bunch of shadowy figures snaked in between the trees hunting for a target.  And judging by the way they moved, they were definitely wolves.

‘It appears we have company, Alexis.’

‘It appears so.’

I moved around the tree to get a better look at my targets.  There were 5 figures in total one was bigger than the rest; I assumed that one was the leader.

‘will you tell me the plan now?’

‘I will take out the leader first. My hope is that losing the leader will put the rest into panic and allow me to take them out quickly. However, the problem is the leader does not want to move closer.’

I quietly snapped off a nearby branch and threw it close to the leader. This got the attention of all the wolves nearby, and they all started moving towards the stick.

‘good little doggy follow the bait.’ I said to myself as I snapped off another branch and threw it again; this time, it was a little bit close to where I was lurking.  I repeated this several times, luring the wolves closer to me each time.

‘they’re not very bright, are they’ Alexis said

‘No, they are not.’

I snapped another branch and dropped this one directly under me. The wolves again closed in onto the stick.

‘good doggies’, I said as I pulled out my knife and got ready to drop on him. I waited in anticipation as the wolves crept closer to me. I could feel a small grumble come from my belly mouth. I should give it a name once I’m done here.

The larger wolf gave a small bark, and the other wolves stopped. He started to approach the stick by himself.

‘it looks like lucks on my side today. This makes killing it first easier.’

I waited until the large wolf was directly underneath and started my attack. I dropped from where I was hiding and started falling towards the ground at great speed I was aiming to land on top of the big wolf. However, the wolf suddenly jumped back.

“FUCK”

I  looked around and saw another wolf using my legs. I kicked off the tree trunk and dove towards another wolf. I smashed into the wolf with tremendous force, sending the wolf flying. I got up off the ground as fast as possible and began to run to the wolf I knocked down. The wolf was slowly getting up, dazed at what had just happened. Using this, I closed the distance and jumped at the wolf with my knife and impaled it into its side.

There was a yelp from the wolf, and then it started growling and trying to bite me. I took the blade out and then stabbed it several times until the wolf fell silent. 1 down, 4 more to go. I stood up and then turned to the other wolves who had been watching the entire thing unfold. The smaller wolves stared at me with the golden eyes snarling at me. The big wolf stood at the back and watched me like a hawk.  I did the same, not taking my eyes off all of them. Suddenly he barked, and the 3 smaller wolves all started slowly crawling up to me. I slowly retreated until my back hit a tree. The wolves came up to me slowly, hoping to intimidate me, until one of the wolves got impatient and lunged at me. I dived to the left, and the wolf flew headfirst into a tree, knocking itself out. I quickly got up off the ground and started charging at one of the wolves, hoping to tackle it, but it jumped out of the way just in time.

“DAMMIT”

I skidded to a stop and did a 180  face the 2 wolves. They were even more focused on me now. I wasn’t going to get away with a stunt like that again

‘TO YOUR RIGHT’

I quickly looked to my right, but it was too late. I was knocked to the ground by something larger and furry. It was the leader.

“FUCK, THAT WAS HIS PLAN”

The wolf was on top of me and was about to go for my throat. I managed to wiggle my arm out from under him and start to use it to hold his head back. Whilst I held him back with my free hand, my belly maw opened, and a purple tongue shot out through my clothes. It proceeded to wrap itself around the wolf and lift it up off me. The wolf tried to fight against the tongue, but it kept wrapping itself around the wolf. Getting tighter and tighter, the tongue moved up and started wrapping itself around the neck of the wolf. The large wolf started kicking and fighting harder, but it was pointless. The tongue started tightening more and more around its neck until.

*SNAP*

All movement stopped from the wolf. The tongue began to unravel itself, causing the corpse to drop to the ground with a lifeless thud. I got up and started looking for the other wolves, but they must have run away at some point. It was probably when their leader started to lose.

‘well, that was a complete utter disappointment.’

“What do you mean. I killed the big guy.’

‘Yeah, you did, but you almost got your ass handed to you by a bunch of wolves, not smart ones either. That was probably the most embarrassing thing I’ve watched. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.’

“Oh yeah, and what would you have done?”

‘What would I have done!’

Alexis pushed my conscience out of the way and took over my body.

“This is what I would have done.”

Alexis then bolted through the woods at superhuman speed, jumping over any and all hidden obstacles.

“Do you know what your problem is?” she said as she turned sharply to the right and could see 3 wolves running in the distance, and Alexis started giving chase.

“Your problem is that. You still think and fight like a human” Alexis jumped forward at incredible speed and landed in front of the wolves, causing them all to grind to halt. Alexis suddenly dashed in front of one of the wolves and then delivered a devastating kick to the wolves side, causing it to fly into a tree. There was a loud crash, and then the wolf fell to the ground, lifeless.  Suddenly a long purple tongue shot out at another wolf and quickly wrapped itself around the wolf. The wolf, not wanting to end up like its leader, fought with all its life, but the tongue didn’t care. It lifted the wolf high into the sky and then brought it back to the ground with incredible force. It died as soon as it hit the ground. Alexis turned to the last wolf. I didn’t think a wolf could shiver out of pure fear, but Alexis proved that they could. The last wolf was petrified. It shivered on the spot as it just saw its friend get killed without mercy. Alexis lunged at the wolf and grabbed it by the neck with one hand, and lifted it into the air. The wolf whimpered as it looked at us, but Alexis didn’t care. With a single squeeze of her hand, the wolf went limp. She let go of its neck and let it drop to the ground.

“Adson, you have to get it into your head quickly that you are not human anymore and that you are much stronger than you are. What I did here, you are just as capable of as I am. But if you continue to think and fight like a human, you will never get stronger,” Alexis said as she slowly faded away and I took control of my own body.