The almost two hour drive had my butt screaming in pain even when it went numb. The only time Mom would stop is to get gas, which didn’t give me nearly as much time to stretch my legs.
Mom must really be in a rush to get rid of me because she made a two hour drive into an hour and a half drive. We made it to Grandmas in no time. Mom pulled onto a dirt road which led to Grandma’s house, the path looked like it hadn’t been used in ages.
I sighed when we got there; Grandma’s home was miles away from civilization. Her little white house was almost hidden behind the trees. So this is where mom grew up. I don’t know how she did it. There were triple amount of trees around here, than there were houses, stores, and people all together.
I’ve never been here before, I only see Grandma once a year when she decides to visit.
“Great,” I said sarcastically, realizing this is where I was going to have to stay until I turned eighteen, which was next year.
I wondered what school would be like here. They probably put all ages in one classroom because there weren’t a lot of kids living here.
“Even you can’t find trouble here,” Mom mumbled, “now hurry and get out before Mother comes to talk.” Mom was never a fan of Grandma, not for as long as I could remember which is why I knew Mom must have been really fed up with me to have asked Grandma for help. "And Sweetheart, I love you,” she told me with feeling, but I was too angry at her to return her kind words.
Angrily, I grabbed all my belongings, which wasn’t much, and got out the small BMW.
I stood there and watched my mom back out. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest as I was regretting not saying I love you back or at least a goodbye. I loved her no matter what or where she sent me. Like I said, we’ve been through a lot together.
“Well then,” a soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see Grandma. She was thin, had a ton of wrinkles and her snow white hair was piled up in a bun. “Let’s go get you settled in.” She picked up my suitcase and I followed her into the house.
And so it began.

Actually, nothing began. Just two weeks of boredom. I would sit in ‘my’ room all day, watching movies, playing card games and eating Grandma’s endless cookies. It all seemed normal, but something strange was going on.
Grandma would disappear every night. So tonight I decided I would find out where she was disappearing to. I was lying in bed when I heard the front door open and close. I walked silently to the window to see my grandma walking down a trail. After she disappeared into a thick cloud of fog and out of sight, I left the house, throwing on a black cloak I found in the closet and followed her. Hours of wandering around made me realize 1) I would not find her and 2) I was lost.
One the way back to Grandma’s house, I felt someone’s breath on the back of my neck. My heart started to speed up like it was a car in a race and something wet and slimy touched my neck. It was like I was being licked. The smell of wet dog assaulted my nose and I had the urge to sneeze, but fear held back the noise. I stood frozen in place, mimicking a statue.
After gaining the courage, I spun around but nothing was there. Something in the woods howled and I didn’t pause to think about it. I took off running, the sound of my breathing filling my ears and sometimes being drowned out by the sound of howling wolves. Leaves and sticks snapped and crunched under my feet as I basically flew towards Grandma’s house.
I ran for what seemed like hours before I found myself in front of Grandma’s house again.

Sometime later, someone knocked on the door. I looked out the window to see Grandma. Immediately I unlocked and threw open the door as if my life depended on it. Grandma was covered in blood. Wet and dried. She clutched her shoulder and side, leaving against the door frame, her hair hanging loose on her head and her clothing torn.
It looked like she had been in a fight. Or war.
“Grandma!” I shouted, rushing to help her inside.
“You need to kill me,” she spoke so softly that I thought I heard her wrong.
“Grandma? I don’t understand. What’s going on?” We made our way to her bedroom. I helped her lay down on her bed, careful not to hurt her or touch her wounds.
“My dear granddaughter. I’m sorry. I thought if I brought you here that you could help save my town. I needed someone young to fight with me. All the other hunters were getting old and most of them are dead.”
I shook my head, not understand what the hell was going on.
“Grandma I don’t get it? Hunters?” Was she talking about the wolf problem this town was obviously having?
“Yes. We hunt the Infected.”
“Infected?” I asked, but I wasn’t really paying attention to her words as I tried examining her, seeing how badly she was hurt.
“The wolves that were once people. Once bitten you turn into a wolf.” She started to cough.
Oh. My. Gosh! Grandma was crazy. She thought the wolves were once people! Poor thing probably hit her head. All these injuries! Did the wolves do it?
“Grandma…” I didn’t really know what to say to an insane person. “Werewolves aren’t real.”
“No, not werewolves… But Infected… Once you turn into a wolf you can never turn back. This town… was… always… run by....them.” She started choking with every word and she became out of breath. She needed a hospital. Badly.
“Shh, Grandma it’s OK. The wolves can’t get you here,” I tried to soothe her, but I needed someone to soothe me! Was I about to see my grandma die?
“They already have,” she croaked, turning her head to cough, her words sending a shiver down my spine. “Kill me now, while you have the chance.”
That’s when I saw her ears. “Grandma your ears!” I exclaimed. They looked so big! She looked up at me. “Grandma your eyes!” I couldn’t help but say. They were so big and round. She gave me a creepy smile and I saw her teeth. “Your teeth, Grandma!” I shouted as she fell back against the bed, but it wasn’t her.
It happened quickly. Fur sprouted from her skin, causing my eyes to widen and before my wide eyes she changed into a snarling wolf. Oh, no.

I was in deep trouble. I shrieked and she-I mean the wolf threw back its head and howled. I took the chance to run out the room, closing the door along the way. There was a bang behind me.
My heart was leapt into my throat and my stomach churned as I ran into the kitchen. I had just grabbed a knife when the wolf came for me. I turned just as it leapt at me and I held the knife awkwardly in front of me. Luckily the knife stabbed into its jaw. It was like I could feel the knife going in and it felt so disgusting.
I sighed in relief as it fell to the ground, dead. My relief turned into despair but that had to wait because I heard several howls outside.
I looked out the window to see about a dozen of wolves, who were once people. I’ve never would have believed it if I happened seen it with my own eyes.
The wolves outside were growling and howling. It was like something out of a horror movie. White eyes and snapping teeth that was dripping drool, shone in the moonlight.
With clarity, I looked around and found an axe under poor, dead Grandma’s bed. You would have thought a hunter would have more weapons. She must have kept them hidden, but I didn’t have time to look for them.
I gripped hold of the axe as tight as I could, not having an idea what the hell I was doing, but survival instinct was kicking in. Everything in me was screaming to either fight or flight and I only had one choice.
My heart raced as I waited by the front door for them to come for me. I always had been good at getting into trouble, but I was never good at getting out of it. I knew one thing though, if I was going down, so were a couple of the Infected. The filthy bastards.
“Thanks for taking me out of the hood and into the middle of the woods run by wolves’ mom,” my words came out shaky instead of rude. I wondered if Mom knew about this when she left me here. That would suck if she did. I couldn’t have done anything to make her hate me this much.
Starvation and living in a one bedroom apartment with two people seemed like luxury right about now, I thought as I tried getting a better grip on the axe with my sweaty palms.
I couldn’t think anymore because there was one final howl before I heard them coming closer. My heart felt like a wild bird in a cage, beating against my chest. My breathing quickened as adrenaline rushed through my veins.
This was it. No more thoughts, just action.

The door crashed open and the first wolf jumped at me, snarling, its large jaws just waiting to devour me whole.
I swung the axe.