The Hunters (A non-Twilight Werewolf Story)

I'm so sick and tired of rain. Especially at one in the morning in January. It's cold, dark, wet. Ahh. The rain had now turned into sleet coming down from every direction. The wind was blowing strong, It was not a good night to be out in the wilderness. Unfortunately that's where I was. Luckily I wasn't alone. My mentor, Zena was with me. We were sitting close together in a tent She had set up on a decent ridge overlooking the valley.

The wilderness in western Canada had plenty of ridges but Zena chose this one. Something about this type of rock being more comfortable to lay on. She must have been joking because to me it feels just as hard and uncomfortable as any other rock I've had to spend time on. The zip up door to our tent was opened partially so we could watch over the valley for any sign of what we came here for. I sat crossed legged fighting back sleep

. "I hate doing this." I complained, my teeth chattering slightly. The lantern we had hanging over us was off so it was dark, but I could tell Zena had rolled her eyes. "It's all part of your training Rachel, or do you not want to be a Hunter after all?" She asked, some annoyance in her tone. I ignored her and pulled my fur lined jacket tighter around my shoulders. I decided to keep my complaints to myself, the last thing I needed was Zena annoyed with me. Lately she was the only person I trusted enough to have train me. Plus I didn't like her tone, she knew perfectly well that being a Hunter was the thing I wanted most. It was the only thing I've ever talked about since I was young.

The rain and wind were the only noise around us. Her comment was nagging at me so I had to say something. "I don't hate my training, you know that, I meant I just hate the waiting. Especially in this kind of weather." The wind shook our tent violently. "Waiting and having patience is all part of being a good Hunter." Zena replied calmly. I huffed a sigh. I was starting to get annoyed at Zena now, great. "Stop with your groaning already." She hissed. "That was not a groan, it was a sigh." I corrected her. "Whatever, be quiet." That ended our brief conversation.

It was the most we had spoken in the past three hours we've spent out here. I looked at Zena's shape through the darkness. Before we came here she pulled her long red hair back in a thick braid like she normal. She did mine too, against my will though. I prefer my hair in a bun, but Zena wanted my hair like hers, and since she's my mentor I couldn't object. Something about it being easier to keep track of eachother if we looked similar. I wasn't really listening to her when we set up camp. A ripping noise made me jump. I turned to see a hole in the back of our tent forming.

"Find a way to patch it." Zena instructed calmly. She hadn't even turned to see what it was. I got up and dug through one of our back packs for some rope. Once I found it I grabbed two parts of the tent and pulled them together to block the hole, and tied it off with the rope. It wasn't nowhere near perfect but it stopped most of the rain from coming in. I glanced at the ground and realized that my blanket had gotten wet. "Oh that's wonderful, my blanket would be the one to get wet!" I said and picked it up off the ground searching for a way to hang it to dry.

The wind was loud, but I'm pretty sure Zena had chuckled. I draped the blanket over one of the support poles of the tent and went back to my spot on the ground next to Zena, grumbling about how her blanket was still nice and dry. "It could be much worse you know, Mitch and Adam are stationed down in the valley where the water from the river floods over. You have one damp blanket, they have a whole soaked campsite." Zena said while shaking her head. That made me feel a little better, just a little though. "Be grateful we're up here." She added. I turned and tried to make out her exspression in the dark but couldn't.

I wondered if she was worried about Adam being down in the valley. Over the past few months I've noticed the two of them getting closer. I liked them as a pair, both strong and skilled Hunters. He's almost thirty, with sandy blonde hair and is one of the nicest mentors I know of. Zena just turned twenty eight recently, but she acts a lot older. She has a pretty, strong face and beautiful dark red hair. When she was assigned as my mentor it was a great relief. I could have gotten Mitch. Mitch is in his fortys and is my least favorite person at the mansion. A total alcholic smoker who spends his time picking on others.

"If it really bothers you, take my blanket." She offered after a few moments of silence. I felt bad for complaining now. "No thanks Z, you're right, I should be grateful. Sorry for being a pain." I say, hoping she'll forgive me. In all the training I've had so far, the biggest thing I learned was that a Hunter needed to have respect. I could see one of the corners of Zena's mouth pull up into a smile. Apparently I was forgiven. We went back to silently watching through the tent door for the creature we were hunting. The storm finally calmed a bit, the rain turning into a light drizzle.

The walkie radio on Zena's belt buzzed. She picked it up and read the screen. "It's Adam." She murmured and pressed the button. "This is Zena copying, is there a problem?" We waited tensely for his response. "No problem's here, had to move to higher ground because of the water. No problems on your end?" Adam asked. "We're fine, have you heard from the others yet?" Zena asked. The others were Timothy, an older but much nicer version of Mitch. Chelsea, Timothy's daughter and also a friend of Zena. And Zack, my childhood friend who, like me was also doing his training to become a Hunter.

Earlier this afternoon the three groups had set up in different directions to take watch. Timothy's group had went farther up river, Adam and Mitch had taken over an area a few hundred yards away from the ridge, and me and Zena had taken the top of the ridge. We usually had more people on a night like this but we didn't have enough time to call in reinforcements and the weather made things even more difficult. "Yeah, Tim says the creatures are getting closer and to keep an eye out." Adam answered. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. The creatures were close.

"We will, keep safe." Zena said then turned the radio off and hooked it back onto her belt. She glanced at me. "Are you ready for whats coming?" She asked in her all business voice. I nodded my head. I had been born ready. She pulled out one of the guns she had specifically chosen for me and handed it over. I weighed the gun in my hands wondering about how it would feel to shoot it. I've shot before, targets of course, nothing too dangerous that could actually think for itself and come after me. Not until tonight anyways. Zena and I both stood up fixing our big jackets and loading our guns. A gunshot rang out suddenly through the valley and an eerie howl followed. Zena looked at me, face going rigid and serious. The werewolves had arrived.