Howls of Chaos. Gabrielle Boyd

kiss that I remember to this day, and then Little Hawk and I took off deep into the forest. We didn’t stop running until we reached a cave that wasn’t too far from the village.

      We quickly went inside and remained there for a few hours. After a while, I made Little Hawk stay in the cave while I decided to peek outside to see if the coast was clear.

      As soon as I stepped out of the cave, something grabbed me by the arm and slung me down to the ground. I began to scream. I tried to get up and run, but whatever it was quickly slung me back down on the ground and jumped on top of me, pinning me down so that I could not get up.

      It was a beast that was holding me down, one of the wolf-like creatures that had raided our village earlier. The wolf-like creature hovered over me and just glared at me with its yellow, glowing eyes.

      The creature’s fur was black and somewhat gray tinted and was wild and entangled as if it had never been brushed. Its claws were long and dirty, maybe about six inches or so.

      I struggled to get away from the creature, but could not manage to get away from its grip, not even enough to grab the bow and arrow that Strong River had given me.

      The creature began to growl at me while showing its gruesome teeth; it opened its mouth and bit down onto my arm. As soon as the creature bit me, I cried out so loud that my voice echoed throughout the forest. I looked over toward the cave and saw Little Hawk standing on the outside, crying and yelling, “Get off of my mommy, wolf!”

      After the creature bit me and scratched me up some, it threw its head back and began to howl at the moon. Then it ran off and disappeared into the wilderness.

      I can only recall bits and pieces of the rest of that terrifying night such as lying in the spot where I was attacked, crying and screaming for minutes, Little Hawk sitting on the ground right beside me crying and yelling for help, hearing people’s voices in the woods nearby, and being rescued by a couple of the warriors from the village. Those are the only things that I remember before I passed out.

      The next day I woke up in the chief’s house with Strong River by my side and members of the council examining me.

      After a couple days, I had completely healed from my wounds and began to act somewhat strange. I can recall going to sleep in our summer creek house and waking up in the wilderness naked and mostly craving raw meat for meals. One day I caught a raccoon and started eating it alive. Once I realized what I was doing, I turned it loose. My temper would usually rise at just the slightest mistake and any little thing would cause me to have an outburst. Plus I felt as if I was stronger, and things that were usually heavy to me were not anymore.

      I later realized that I could run a lot faster than usual without getting tired. I could outrun anyone and anything. I could hunt a deer in just seconds. I tended to keep most of this to myself, but eventually members of the tribe began to notice my strange behavior.

      It wasn’t until the day of the first full moon that I sensed something was wrong and that something was going to happen. I had a horrible feeling come over me all at once, and I began to feel sick. My body didn’t feel like my own.

      That afternoon I went to the river to wash off. While I was bathing in the spring, I heard a man say, “Hesci (translates to hello in Muscogee Creek), Four Rivers.” I quickly jumped and turned around. As soon as I turned around, there stood Carlos. It was like he had popped up out of nowhere.

      For some reason, I just stood there and glared at him. It was like I knew him, and he was a part of me. I was not afraid of him either. Most women would have covered up immediately if a strange man came up while they were bathing, but I didn’t. I was attracted to him and felt like we had known each other for many moons. I just could not understand why I would have feelings for this stranger because I was married.

      Carlos walked over to the edge of the river and said, “This is the beginning of us being together, and you will understand everything after tonight, beautiful.”

      I looked at him and said, “What do you mean?”

      He smiled and said “Wow! You speak English.”

      I glared at him and repeated, “What do you mean?”

      Still smiling, he said, “The wolf, the dreams, the cravings, the hunger, waking up in the middle of the wilderness nude. You’re changing, and you know it.”

      I stood there listening to him, and then I thought, How would this fool know all this about me, and how did he know my name? This frightened me. Plus, no one knew about anything he mentioned. They just noticed that I had a more aggressive attitude.

      I quickly got out of the river, grabbed my clothes, and began to run. Then all of a sudden, he appeared in front of me again.

      “Get away from me! Who are you? What do you want from me?” I yelled in Muscogee.

      He yelled back, “My name is Carlos, and you need to come with me!”

      “No,” I said.

      “Four Rivers, you are marked, and when the full moon rises tonight, you are going to change. Now if you don’t want to hurt anyone, you will come with me,” said Carlos.

      I stopped and looked at Carlos. Then I began to run once again. This time I did not stop until I got back to the village. I put my clothes on along the way. For some reason, the words that Carlos said, talking about being marked and it being a full moon, stayed in my mind. What did all that mean? I thought. I did not know, and it sure did not seem pleasant or make any sense.

      The rest of that day I spent with my husband and son. That night was a full moon, and I was curious about what was going to happen. I remember that night right before the moon began to rise, I kissed my son and husband goodnight and good-bye and whispered I love you. Then I quickly snuck out of the house and ran deep into the forest. It was like I was drawn to the forest, and I had to go there.

      I went to the river that I had bathed in earlier and stopped to take a break. Carlos was there waiting for me with a smile on his face.

      “I knew you were coming,” said Carlos.

      “How?” I asked.

      He totally ignored me, placed his hands on my face and said, “Are you ready?”

      “Ready for what?” I asked.

      He smiled and said, “To hunt, to feed, to be extremely fast, to never age, to have major strength, to travel the world with me and go on adventures throughout the nations, and more.”

      Not too long after that, the transformation began and the two of us hunted, and I made my leading kill that would count for eternity. After that night, my whole life changed. Everything changed. After that night, I became an immortal.

      Carlos and I became lovers, and we lived in Chaosville for some time, but after a while, the town became quite suspicious of us because everything and everyone was changing except for us. So we had to leave.

      The two of us traveled the world along with members of our previous packs, and we settled in places such as Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, New York, California, Colorado, Spain, France, England, China, and so many other places. We used to move around like crazy, especially right after I turned because I kept making mistakes and it was so hard for me to control my actions.

      We moved to California in 2002 and remained there until a few weeks ago. We thought it would be nice to move back to Chaosville since we haven’t been there for almost two centuries. Not only have we moved around the world a lot, we have had quite a few professions throughout the years. I have been a bartender, stay-at-home girlfriend, teacher, hair stylist, pharmacist, business woman, and outlaw. I usually try to keep a low profile.

      Carlos, on the other hand, has been everything, including a knight, cowboy, doctor, businessman, and lawyer—due to the fact he is a little over five hundred years old.

      Right now he is a lawyer and has been since the 1970s. Even though we have moved like crazy, Carlos has managed to stick with something he enjoys.

      Since we