Prologue (part 1)

Her paws were leaving a bloody path from where they had made contact with the forest floor. The blood path trailing behind her by many hundreds of miles.

Her pawpads were torn, scraped, and had cuts deep enough you could see the bone. Her white fur, normally so beautiful with delecate patterns of black stripes, was matted with congealed blood.

Deep rents and tears in her skin oozed a hot scarlet liquid which glinted slightly when the fresh blood caught a stream of sunlight that had penetrated through the dense green canopy of leaves.

Her lungs were burning like she had swallowed flames. Her throat seemed to be closing in on her while she struggled for every precious breath needed to keep running. Her mouth and tongue were dry and she was in desperate need of water.

Her legs ached as she sped past trees, leaping over roots, and eventually came to a sudden hault. The path ahead of her rose high and dreadfully steep.

She took a deep breath and prepared herself mentally for the climb. As she pushed herself up the tretcherous slope, she could feel her muscles pulling and tearing in her legs, hips, and neck.

Trees which were in her way provided a laberinth of sorts up the hill, but yet they were nothing more than a blur of green and brown. No matter how many trees she managed to avoid, the branches still seemed to lash out and catch her sides, tearing more flesh and making the first cuts even deeper. And despite the agony, she still continued to run.

She had been running since mid-day yesterday. The girl didn't even pause for a split second to catch her lost breath. She pushed herself on, even though she knew she couldn't make it that much farther.

As she progressed through the forest, images of the faces she left behind flashed though her head like a film she just wanted to foreget. Each face was full of anger or disgust. Each voice that banished her was laced with hate.

One face shone out of the croud, more clearly than the rest, and was that much more painful. Her mother's green eyes blazed with emerald flames as her voice shook with anger.

"We never loved you! We never cared! We never wanted you! We never asked for you! And I never want to see you again!" And she had stormed away leaving an empty and painful silence behind.

Tears began to stream down her whiskered cheeks making her blue eyes sting from the salt. Thoughts raced each other around her head. Each reminding her more and more why she kept running.

-What else was I supposed to do? He dumped me. Everyone thinks I'm some sort of freak show. My parents hate me. And they kicked me out. My only choice was to run. I cant go back. I wont go back!- Angry and anguished tears spilled faster from her eyes.