Chapter 1: noises

Nicole had just been woken up by weird noises that seemed to be coming from the sitting room downstairs, the sixteen year old was scared and confused. Sitting up slowly, she impulsively called out to her parents but there was no answer.

     Curious, she decided to slowly check out what the noise was. As soon as she opened her door, the muffled noise seemed to have become more pure and now she was listening to what seemed to be a struggle. Fear gripped her even more but she kept on walking as slow as she could, making her way down the staircase. Just a few stairs to go, and she realized there was a stranger in their house and her dad was struggling  with a man.

     The individual had a mask on, concealing his face from them. He wore a black leather coat, he dressed like the other guys who had been coming after them all this while. One thing all the men had in common was that they had superhuman strength to an extent. The events played out quite fast, fear kept her locked in her position as she watched in total disbelief while her dad was being attacked by the ferocious man.

     The individual much more stronger and faster than Nicole's dad but his skill seemed to complement a lot.

     From the side of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of her mom, Amanda, groaning in pain across their living room.

     “mum!” Nicole called out, with tears in her eyes as she ran to her mom to help her. It was obvious that she had encountered the intruder that her dad was trying to fend off, she was soiled in her own blood as she layer helplessly on the pile of the broken glass table.

     Nicole helped her mom up, Amanda had pieces of glass embedded in her skin and she was bleeding a lot from her legs where she had sustained a deep cut.

     “where are you going mum?” Nicole asked her mom, “I am scared,” she told Amanda.

     “Your dad needs my help right now but there is no need to not worry dear, we will come back for you,” she assured Nicole, just before she closed the door.

     After about twenty minutes, the noises from the living room stopped and everywhere went quiet. Then Nicole heard footsteps coming towards the basement door, there was no way she could fight off that individual if he attacked her.

     Just before the door was opened, Nicole found a place to hide. She was so scared, she made no sound as she slowly heard the door open.

     “Nicole, where are you?,” Amanda asked, “you can come out now,” she said.

     “okay mom,” Nicole replied as she came out and ran to her mom, “Is dad okay? And who was that scary man I saw earlier?” She inquired, Nicole was still cared from the ordeal.

     “Your dad is fine and there is nothing to worry about dear, I just need you to do one thing for me,” her mom said to her, “get a few of your most important stuff, we are leaving this night,” Amanda said to her.

     “But you said there was nothing to worry about, so why are we leaving?” Nicole asked her mom, she did not want to leave the town. She had made so many friends already and that had been their fifth relocation in just six months, but that was the longest they stayed in a location and she loved the place.

     “Trust me honey, it is all fine. We just want you to be safe,” Amanda uttered, trying to pacify Nicole, “I am truly sorry you are experiencing all this, but it is the only way,” Amanda explained to her, as she gave Nicole a kiss on the forehead.

     Even if they had won this battle, it was not over yet and they knew it. They needed to leave the house immediately because they knew that their location had been uncovered by the werewolves, and it was only a matter of time before they face more attacks.

     They left most of their belongings in the house, as usual since they mostly left in a hurry. Just before the break of dawn, they had already hit the highway to another location.

     This time it was going to be different because unlike before, they were going to be going to a totally different state all together.

     This time, the werewolves were actually a step ahead of them. They had placed a monitoring device on Nicole a few days before they attacked, they found out about Nicole’s school initially but they needed her to lead them to her parents.

     Neither Nicole’s dad, Leonardo nor Amanda had any idea that they were being tracked. They were both surprised that they had been found, they literally never stepped out, rather they had a few workers to get their works done.

     They were being followed and tracked throughout the journey, it was a long journey from Denver to Los Angeles and it was going to take them about seventeen hours to get there.

     To ensure that their movements was not followed, they abandoned the initial vehicle after the first few minutes of the journey. Then Leonardo hard to get a brand new car on their way to Los Angeles.

     A few hours into the journey, it was about noon and Nicole’s dad, Leonardo received a call while he drove along the highway. It was an unknown call, but he could not forget the voice, it was Peter.

     “there is no need to try and escape, your efforts would always end up futile,” Peter told him, “I will always be a step ahead of you, I am inevitable,” Peter uttered, followed by a mischievous laughter.

     “you do not scare me,” Leonardo replied to him.

     “You should be scared actually, especially when I know your every move, even before you make them,” Peter told him.

     “you speak without even thinking of what is possible,” Leonardo uttered.

     “we should not have any discussion, whatsoever with this guy, he is only trying to get into your head.” Amanda told Leonardo as she switched off the call.

     “arhhhgh!” Nicole screamed as loud as she could, her voice so loud pitched as if her vocal cords would explode. Nicole’s parents were distracted by the call, and a huge truck nearly collided with them.

     Although her dad was able to narrowly evade the collision, he lost control of the steering and drove them into the woods.