Chapter 1. Welcoming to a hard place and a gun to the head

Cameron Marland Millerd

Age: ten years old

Last seen since: August 27

Last Reported Location: The Ernie s General Hunting Store, Idaho

Eye color: Brown

Appearance: young Caucasian male with birthmark on neck

If found please call police, FBI, or child security agency.

(October 23. Montana, just twenty miles from the state line bordering Montana and North Dakota)

Ten year old Cameron Millerd walked silently alone down a crumbled and cracked road that looked like it should have been repaved years ago. The young boy himself looked ragged to begin with. His mousy brown hair had obtained a new level above bed-head and his demeanor and appearance was one of an exhausted child that had came back from a woodsy camping trip with the hint that it may have rained the entire time. That was only half true though. The ten year old carried a big backpack like the one nerdy middle school kids like to bring with them everywhere, so filled up inside the bags bottom fabric was beginning to slowly snap away each strand that held it together.

Cameron himself didn't exactly have the look of a nerd, more like a kid who was average at least if he wasn't so skinny, but with his backpack he looked like one of those 'first day of school' cards people see whenever September rolls by.

Inside his bag was, as one might guess, a couple of simple necessities for camping; a refillable water, a flashlight, Cams inhaler, a first aid kit, a mushed up sleeping bag that was torn through the bottom, and tiny assortment of small dried food packets. Inside his pocket their was also some bit of beef jerky and a pocketknife.

Off to the right of the road of which Cam was wandering on was a thick forest laying at the bottom of a group mountains. Cameron had passed a rusted sign yesterday on his little venture that said the nearest town was about twenty miles west laying at the foot of the mountains as well just simply on the other side. Well not simply actually, this town was currently the focus of Cams life.

About seven weeks ago, Cameron had run away from his foster home in Idaho. The details that led up to this decision were ones pertaining to abuse in the house and a negative background the young boy simply couldn't escape, so as a child that no longer wished to endure any of the horrors and tiring fears he faced, he chose the one solution every small child seems to always keeps as an option, running away. Needless to say, for a kid who had already been exposed to a large harsh bit of life and loss of innocence, something Cameron hadn't exactly learned was just had ridiculous and truly hard it was for a child of his age to run away.

For a boy his age living in a foster home, he had been surrounded by a majority of older kids who spent most of their time playing video games that involved hunting and watching survival reality TV shows, so in in a child's sense, Cam felt he had proper knowledge of what to do. Unfortunately about three weeks after hitting the road and coming down to the last twenty dollars he had saved up for his trip, life had hit the young boy in a different way than it had in the past.

Around that time, Cam had been more than half way through Montana after using the strategy of walking to each bus stop along the road, using his hundred dollars of saving to buy food at gas stations, and usually sleeping under highways bridges due to the seldom traffic the road he was walking on had.

After the third week, when Cam came down to his last twenty, he chose to save it and simply walk for the rest of his trip. It hadn't gone as smoothly as planned. After promising to save his last bit of money for pure emergency, Cam had found himself short after fishing out of foul smelling dumpsters, stealing food from a seven eleven, and stopping at every single water fountain along his way just so that he could wash his small face quickly and gulp down some liquid to sate his ever growing hunger.

Another major pothole on the ten year old's decision was that he hadn't actually decided on a destination yet. For now though it was the town on the other side of the mountain. That was how it had been working in Cams minds. Just last till you reach the next town, try to find a community pool to bath in and maybe a place that food could be stolen or found in then hit the road until the next town.

It had shockingly worked between the first town Cam tried his tactic on, but as for the one he was going for now, well it was a bit farther and challenging to travel to.

In a car, it would take a couple hours from where Cam had started from. For a ten year old boy who was slowly going malnourished and sleep deprived, the journey had taken about two days so far and he still had a mountain pass to clear.

Cam trudged on miserably onward in hopes that he could find a safe place to climb a tree and sleep. His first night of camping had resulted in him waking up in the horrid chill of night at the sound of a wolfs howl. The pure terror he felt eventually drove him to begin exercising his ability to climb to higher ground.

The setting sun coupled with the slowly chilling air of the forest around him began to suggest that he was going to have to resort to that again soon. Another cold pre-Autumn night and a hollow stomach were hopefully the only hardships and possible dangers he would have to endure tonight. Cameron looked on to the road in front of him as he studied the long stretch of asphalt he still had to cover until he got close to the mountain pass the road led to. The forest next to him was teeming with large trees, some with high thick branches and others so thin they could only hold birds. Another lesson running away brings to a child of Camerons experience and ability was that although the area around him was somewhat relatable to nowhere, every now and then a trucker or group of people would roll by in their cars, all of which probably would not take to kindly to a small boys traveling all by himself.

Looking off into woods to the side of him, Cam decided it was probably best to call it a day. The skinny little human walked two feet off the road until he looked back, taking a metal picture of the area around him. He planned to go just deep enough in the forest where he could still see bits of the street yet not having to worry about people in cars seeing him.

Muscling through a thick growth of bushes, the ten year old scrambled through the woods taking note of every large tree he came by. Cam spent the next thirty minutes exploring the forest for a tree that's branches where low enough to climb onto.

The sunset was entering its final stages as soothing warm colored light was Camerons final warning to find a place to camp for the night. The young runaway looked around the forest desperately while lugging his inflated backpack as a cursed extra weight.

After the sun began to peer down its last bit of light from the mountains centering around the forest, the young boy found himself in a similar situation he had been careful not to repeat during his last few nights.

Cameron mentally scolded himself for being caught without shelter at dusk. Even worse was the falling temperature and the unfortunate fact that all the trees around him were a bit to tall and high to climb.

'Nothing good happens to me,' he thought miserably. The backpack on his shoulders was beginning to give him a numb feeling with all the extra weight and the lack of nutrients his body had to support it.

Cameron walked fast pace as he felt his childish manner begin to take control of him. Gulping down any desire to cry for help or foolishly call for help, he forced a few bad and hardening memories into his mind to keep him focus.

'Remember the way everybody fought each other and would hit you. Don't cry, your the man now,' Cameron chanted repeatedly in his head. He would not give into his child based desires. He had to stay strong or else all his progress and his holding on would have been for nothing.

Finally as the dark began to roll in and the moon slowly came into focus, the young boy was hit with a hard stroke of luck. After wandering around and losing sight of the road, Cameron came across the most welcome sight he had seen all week.

A group of giant fallen trees lay in the distance from where Cam was panting. Surrounding the ruin of the enormous wooden logs was a cement building no big enough to be a gardening shed. It had a rusty roof made of dented iron sheets, a window without any glass or covering, and it's door lay five feet away from the actual house. From the looks of it, the handles binding it to the small structure had rusted over and fallen off.

Cam felt his heart stop in pure tear bringing relief. Racing over to the small miracle of shelter he had been blessed with, the young boy ran to the entrance. Taking his backpack off and rusting his hand around inside, he took out his flashlight and torn up sleeping bag.

An assortment of dry and wet leaves littered the inside of the cement shed, most probably since the window served more as a wide gap to blowing winds. Cam brushed them all out, most relieved that no snakes or secret animals where living underneath the pile. The building had little spots of jagged and broken cement areas Cam was careful to avoid. Setting his belongings down in a corner farthest from the window, Cam took his flashlight out side with and and went to go pick up the door.

Nothing good would come if an animal can in during the night and found him. Cam bent his tired knees down as he tired to pick up the heavy wooden door from its prone position in the dirt it had laid in for so long.

Unable to actually stand it upright, the ten year old dragged it until he reached he edge of the doorway. hoisting the door up, Cm stood satisfied as the door leaned itself against the frame leaving only a small triangle shaped opening for his to peek through.

'This is excellent! I'll rest here for today and tomorrow so I can find the road again and sleep!' Cam thought excitedly. The only flaw that kept bothering Cam in his newly discovered shelter was the wide open window, but for now he would hope the only thing the window would bring through it was the view of the full moon.

Cam unloading his crumpled up sleeping bag and took a swig of his water. He still had quite a bit left so he would just have to be mindful of his thirst. Curling up into a protective ball inside his little bag, he fished in his pocket and held his pocketknife close to him just in case. After a few minutes of listening to the air and forest sound coming in through the window, the young boy fell asleep in his tiny shelter, unaware that his life was about to be changed forever.

Off about a mile away from where a young ten year old boy was sleeping, stood a wolf. Pound and grand was this animal as it's stark black fur bristled at the sight of the full moon. It's eyes where the colors of two brilliant sapphires against the moons glow and its great size and power made it only assumable that this wolf was the Alpha.

Behind it stood a loyal pack of seven, awaiting their leader for instructions. The black wolf raised its nose to the sky and took in a deep sniff of the air. The smell of fresh forest moss and leaves where the first thing the wolf recognized, along with the fading smell of a rabbit in the area. Perhaps tonight him and his pack would find something to sate their hunter instinct.

The Fall moon was upon them. A much colder and viscous weather would soon be upon them all and now was the time to run as a pack until winter came.

Beyond the edge of the forest was lake, hidden secretly in the heart of that no man could wander to alone. There the wolves planned to do their full moon hunting as a celebration to the new season approaching.

Lifting his nose to the small assortment of woods where a small group of lumber men once cut down trees, the alpha wolf took a quick sniff just to ensure that there was no scent of them left. A couple months back, an unwelcome group of men had thought it clever to try and cut down their seemingly unguarded forest for free profit. The alpha and his pack were quick to show them the errors of their ways. From then on few cars and travelers stopped near the road cutting through the forest in fear of the Savage Wolf population it held.

The Alpha halted his actions all of a sudden. Something wasn't right. He smelled a distinct smell of human in the air. It was faint, but it was not in the air yesterday so whoever left it was near by today.

The great black wolf turned its gaze to his pack. Each one of his companions stood on their thick paws with the look of dumb-folded wolves. The alpha himself was a bit confused by the matter as well. One of the men probably returned for some reason, but since he didn't take the same hint his friends did, it looked like a message had to be sent. If any man of greed with a purpose of destroying their home thought that simply the colder weather would keep the pack away, they must be proven otherwise.

The alpha flashed its eyes to the sky and with the quick leap, the giant wolf and its pack raced off into the forest to pursue the smell of the human.

The wolves all ran with tremendous speed and strength in each step.

Eventually the pack reached the street separating the forest into two sides. The road had little purpose in the world itself and why it hadn't been dug up and taken away was still a question the Alpha wolf pondered.

The scent of the human was extremely fresh, just a few yards into the forest near the old camp those lumber men set up. Swiftly the pack of wolves wove through the trees without making a sound. Not another animal was out from the humans smell which seemed to cover a few trees for some reason.

Creeping farther into the woods the pack finally found the freshest mark of the scent at an all too familiar tool space that had bee the only remaining reminder of the former people who had been there. The alpha wolves ears flattened on his head at the upsetting sight of sawed down trees. It was just one or two but such large life sustaining plants with great history had simply just been torn down and left to die was an insult to life.

The wolves formed a half circle around their trusted leader as the black wolf simply looked at the small and tiny cement structure. The door that had bee thrown to the ground had bee dragged up to its door frame and pathetically leaned against it in an attempt to shield whatever was inside.

The pack waited quietly as they all listened with their sharp hearing for any signs of movement. A small breath could faintly heard from inside. The Black wolf looked to his Beta, a russet colored wolf with soft brown eyes and white paws.

'Stay here. I will investigate,' the Alpha said through his eyes. The beta grunted in subordination and signaled the rest of the wolves to step back a bit.

Stepping forward the Alpha crept closer to the door that led only enough space for an eye to peek through. The Wolfs night adjusted eyes could make out a small lumpy figure curled up in a tiny ball against a corner. Backing away from door, the wolf could hear the anticipated growls from its pack. The need to hunt and chase was strong. Perhaps it was time to rouse their unwelcome visitor from his sleep and tear him down so that his friends would know better than to come back.

The brilliant blue eyes looked devilishly at his pack. It was time to hunt.

Welcome back from the Holidays! If any of you reading this are feeling the same after-holiday misery I am, leave a review. Other than that Happy New Years to all you readers out there. I've decided as my New Years Resolution to practice my writing more in a more public site so that people can leave their critiques and comments so I can get better. Other than that, yes this is a werewolf story and for now I will not be writing any smut or naughtiness. Honestly my entire Christmas break so far, I've been too busy doing all the freaking assignments my school assigned me so I haven't exactly been feeling the family spirit at all so I think that's what I'm going to go for here.

I've had this story idea for the longest time now and this is the first chapter of a story I've written that I haven't lost inspiration for yet so I can promise with high hopes that I won't leave anybody hanging.

Excuse any silly grammar errors any of you find, I tried my best to look everything over but it's in my nature to miss a few things.

Anyway please read and review and keep your chin up if you're feeling the same after holiday syndrome I'm getting.

Chapter two will hopefully be around shortly :)