The Werecat of Lincoln Forest (Book 1 of The Werecat Novels)

Chapter 1: Lost Shoes & Cat Beasts

BEGINNING OF PART 1

Mae's POV:

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S gone? I saw him this morning!" I asked, Izzy curiously. Izzy was one of my best friends, even though she was a bit boy crazy, I still loved her. I had met her after I moved here four months ago. To be specific I had met her in school, which had unfortunately  started up again.

"Well me and David, were out in the woods, like making out or whatever, when we heard a scream. We ran to it and found this!" She said, holding up a shoe, not just any shoe, Dex's shoe. 

"Where did you find this?" I asked, suddenly panicked. What had happened to Dex? Was he hurt? Was he even alive? I needed to find him!

"Near the creek just off the Trestle trail," she said, very nonchalantly. 

"Great! Thanks!" I said, starting to run off.

"Where are you going? It is already dark! You will get lost and probably freeze to death out there!" Izzy said, honestly worried about me. 

I ignored her as I went to get my shoes from my room. As I put one on I said, "I don't care! Dex might die if I don't find him soon. He could already be dead! Oh man, oh man!" I put on my other shoe and grabbed my backpack headed out the door, before Izzy could protest again.

However, as soon as I got outside my Dad was there. I tried to pass him, he grabbed my hand and looked at me skeptically. I just smiled, a cheesy smile. 

"Where do you think you're going young lady?" He asked me.

"Okay Dad, you might not believe this but, Izzy said that while she was in the woods with David that she heard a scream. She went to check it out and she found a shoe. Dex's shoe. Now I need to go find him so that he doesn't die, alone and afraid in the forest tonight!"

"You're right. I don't believe you. And as for Izzy, that girl's nuttier than a two ton bag of peanuts. And you know Dex is camping to do some research thing. He has been planning it for weeks."

I sighed sadly, knowing that I had already lost this fight. He would never let me go. He probably thought I was going to a party or to see some boy. Which I might have done a few times, give or take. Hehe. I turned around to go back indoors. I could only hope that Dex could hold on till morning.  

*  *  *

Dex's POV

As I walked through town to get the remainder of the supplies for my camping trip tonight, I saw the local newspaper with a strange heading to it. Local Monster Strikes Again! it read. Now I wasn't one to say that there were unicorns and magic everywhere, but this was something odd. I purchased the newspaper and started to read the article. 

The Local Monster, also known as The Cat Beast, has been attacking unsuspecting campers and dragging their dead bodies into the middle of the street. There are few survivors of The Cat Beast's attacks. They mainly survived by staying silent and still. However there are only a few, poorly taken images of The Cat Beast, the survivors say it looks very similar to a mountain lion, only a tad bit smaller. It has silver fur and dark eyes. It can walk on two legs or on four and it seems to be alternating between the two. 

If you see this Beast do not attack it. A hunter reported shooting it and the bullet just seemed to bounce off it's skin, making it even more mad. You must hide and hope that it doesn't find you. If you run it will attack, if you climb a tree it will attack, if you even go into water, it will attack. The only known weakness of the Beast is electrical light. It will normally stay away from that. However it isn't enough to keep it from attacking.

If you are planning to go camping in the next few weeks, don't. We advise everyone to stay away from the forest area. We have a professional monster hunter, coming to investigate. He will be on the local news channel at ten tonight. If you have any information please contact...

I stopped reading there. The only picture of the Beast was put near the bottom of the article. It wasn't a good photograph but you could clearly see that there was a cat looking creature standing on it's hind legs. It was a odd looking thing.

I then thought about taking the paper's advice and postponing my camping trip, but I quickly shrugged that idea off. This 'Beast' was most likely more myth than truth. Yes there was a image, but so what? It could have been photo-shopped. It most likely was. So I continued on my way, getting camping supplies, not knowing what a mistake I had made, or how much it would cost me.

-=+=-

AN:

Hello all three people who are going to read my story! I hope you liked it... If you did please press that like button, it really makes my day. I hope it wasn't too short and stuff. Also I just made that cover to entertain myself, if you my lovely 3 readers have any ideas for the cover I would love to hear them. Thanks!