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    A Friend in the Woods
    A Friend in the Woods
    A Friend in the Woods
    Ebook152 pages2 hours

    A Friend in the Woods

    By A. Foster

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A man crashes in the forest. The friends that come to help him out, may eat him instead? Well, the fact is the animals are Shifters. They are human scientists with genetically altered and upgraded DNA. The alterations allow them to become other forms. They are hiding out to stop the Company from using their Science to create Forever Soldiers. Slaves! But they may get more then they bargained for!

    This Book was written during the Month of April and received the 2018 Camp Nanowrimo Award!
    Thank you to everyone that supports the author and artist in all of us!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherA. Foster
    Release dateApr 30, 2018
    ISBN9780463330166
    A Friend in the Woods
    Author

    A. Foster

    Hello friends,Thank you for taking a moment to check out my site. I hope one of my stories catches your attention. Love to hear from you. Please like me, follow me and above all, tell someone else. I would be so grateful.I love to write, all kinds of stories. I am interested in real pirates from long ago, spaceships of tomorrow and all the time travel I can get. When I am not writing, I am thinking about new stories to tell and try out. Love to attend campfires and volunteer in classrooms often. A great place to entertain and experiment on themes.Hope to be invited to your campfire one day...Have fun and keep reading, dreaming, writing and hugging those you love most.

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      Book preview

      A Friend in the Woods - A. Foster

      A Friend in the Woods

      By

      A. Foster

      We all find

      that we need a friend.

      Sometimes…

      What we want is not …

      The same as what we need?

      A short note to say…

      Thank you!

      Thank you very much,

      for supporting, a true dreamer.

      God Bless!

      "This is a work of fiction.

      Names, characters, places, and incidents

      are the products of the author's imagination

      or are used fictitiously.

      Any resemblance to actual events,

      locales, or persons, living, dead,

      mistaken for dead, or undead,

      is entirely coincidental."

      Thank you.

      Table of Contents

      1. The Landing

      2. Fear

      3. Lonely

      4. Getting to know you?

      5. Meetings

      6. Careful what you want?

      7. First Impressions

      8. Maxel

      9. The Way Home

      10. Help, Least Expected

      11. Stay or go?

      12. Seasons

      13. Extinction and Denial

      14. Queen Everlasting

      Hail to the Queen

      The Edge of Nowhere!

      A teaser first chapter… just for you.

      Notes and Acknowledgements

      God Bless America!

      1) The Landing

      It was a quiet, cold morning. The people were happy and things were as they should be. Simple! Everyone was busy with their own lives, going about their own business. It was still early but the sky above was dark with snow clouds and the promise of altogether, bad weather. That was not unusual for this time of year. In fact, it was expected. No one minded, because it was anticipated. There was a certain rhythm about things that made the people joyful and content.

      The trees all around had a light dusting of snow from the night before. They would just be heavier soon. The little ones were mostly bedded down for the cold winter. The larger animals were preparing in their own way, for the freezing. Then, a great thunder roared from the heavens. A boom, a sound like a giant drum followed, then twice more. Boom. Boom! There was a bright light shown in and out of the clouds, in and out from view. It was beautiful and terrible all at the same time.

      The burning brightness exploded in a ball of fire and continued on a reckless path toward the hard waiting ground. There was still something at the center of the molten light. Something, important! The clouds swallowed the brilliance from sight for a long while then it hit. Whatever it was, found the ground. Not all at once, but rolling like a bouncing ball in a kid's game. Again and again, skipping and hitting trees, pulling them from their roots, or sheering them from their stumps like a lumberjack with a giant ax. The ground trembled with the final blow as the thing came to a sudden, complete, halt. It was positioned crazily against a bolder that had halted its forward motion. If the giant rock had not been in the path, the object would have toppled over yet another cliff to a lower valley below. That would have been another hundred foot drop, or so.

      There, next to the huge stone, the object may have quit moving, but the heat from the descent left the surface smoking slightly and seared in places. No other markings could be seen anywhere on its surface. Just the blackened, charred exterior, that stopped and was now still. The ever-darkening sky ignored the interruption. The storm was going to do a lot worse to the land than just a few trees knocked down if it continued to grow.

      And, that was exactly what was expected, it was the way of the land.

      Two friends… on a rise…

      higher than the other hills around them.

      What is it Tes? Rin chattered to her big friend. They had watched the thing in the sky for several heartbeats. In and out of view, it was ominous and horrifying. Whatever it really was equaled trouble. That was plain enough. They needed none of it.

      I do not know. I can not see anything past the trees. It was briefly there and then gone. Like a star falling from the heavens. Tes spoke in awe. We will have to get closer to see well. I think that it is coming down near the big caves. Tes, lumbered forward slowly. If it overshoots the caves it may end up in the Blade. The Blade! That is… was… the named the people had given the place. It was the definition too for the huge valley to the north of their home. It was a bad place. The ice that never melts could be found there. There were also the weak paths, those that looked safe but swallowed travelers. Few entered the Blade and even fewer returned. It will take us a while to get that far. If we are going to go, and check it out, then we should leave. If it falls past the caves, we will not follow. The last part was more to her self then to Rin. Making a decision to do a thing and keeping it, was a good plan.

      I can not just leave? Rin chattered higher in frustration. She glanced to the right and then to the left. Rina always felt like she was being watched. Then after a few moments of hesitation, Okay, I will go with you. She changed her mind. You are going to need me. You always need me. Right? Rina chattered a little lower. I know you need me.

      Tes did not answer. Rina did not notice. She simply figured the answer was yes.

      I will come with you, Rina stated clearly this time out loud. Her nose twitched in curiosity. Nothing could happen when she was with Tes. So Rin was not afraid. It was okay to be curious. On her own, maybe not so much? But Tes was never afraid. So it was reasonably safe to be inquisitive, or even nosy… if she was with Tes. Maybe it was her size? Rina, or Rin most of the time… was so much smaller then her big friend. Well, that had been the way of things. Why? The choice! It had been sudden, and Rina liked being able to climb well. There were so many trees here. Thinking about all that made Rina happy. It was good to be happy. It helped keep being scared far away. When they had first come here, Rina had been scared. Not a little, but a lot, and all the time. Tes had promised that nothing would happen, and she had been right up until now. Why should this be any different? So Rina decided that trusting Tes was a great idea.

      Okay then. We agree that if it is farther than the caves we will come back. Tes stated out loud. Was she trying to talk herself out of going somehow? No. Watching the thing in the sky was new. Tes liked new. Remember. Have a plan and follow it. Tes told herself for the third time, inside her head. No further than the caves. Tes stood high on her two hind legs for a moment to sniff the air and get her bearing. Good to know where home, was too, as not to be lost later. The best place to start any long journey was on the right path. Know where you come from, so you will know where you can go back to. Then, Tes dropped back down.

      That was a funny thought or maybe even a memory, about home. The very idea was unsettling to her core. Like the feeling(s) she had forgotten something important but knew it would come to her soon enough. It was a disturbing underlying emotion, but the strange thing in the sky, now on the ground could have been, and probably was… the root of the unrest. Obviously, she needed to sort things out for herself.

      A moment later; Tes was off. There was no fan fair, about anything that Tes did. She just made up her mind, and then things happened.

      Tes's bear body was perfect for traveling. In that, she could walk great distances and not be nearly as tired as Rina. They had covered two mountain slopes in distance quickly, but likely there were several more to go. Tes heard Rina breathing hard long before she actually complained. There was no discussion, The big animal simply grabbed her little friend up, and placed her on her own back. Rina hugged Tes's neck with her two tiny arms, and then they moved on.

      The sky above continued to darken steadily. Tes felt the first drops. The smell was extremely strong. There was going to be a mighty storm… raining down upon the land, soon. She picked up her pace. Not many of the people ever go north. None want anything to do with the Blade. Because of that, Tes had to make her own way. There was no direct path. It slowed her only a little. Being a bear had many advantages.

      Together, Tes stopped with Rin at the top of a slope.

      Rin, go up this tree and see. Tell me if we are close or far? Tes had an excellent sense of direction, but she could use a moment's rest, and it would make Rina feel better to help out. Tes was always aware of her little friend's needs. She had promised her own mother, Liza… she would take care of things.

      Wow. Where did that come from?

      Tes had not thought of her own mother for so long. It used to make her sad, now it filled her with dread. Something bad must be really at hand for the old memories to come back.

      Rina dropped to the ground from Tes's back. Okay. I can do that right away Tes. She chattered a bit. Nervous! Do you think we are close? Rin waited a moment. No answer. So she waited just a little longer, another moment.

      Finally, Tes looked down at Rina. Rin, I will be right here. Right here, do you understand? Go, up. I will not wander. Tes assured her small friend. The tone in her voice was serious… calm… and even solemn.

      Rin knew Tes would not leave her but it was good to hear the words anyway. It gave her a kind of comfort, like soft music. Rin ran up the tree as if it were, easy. For a squirrel it was, what would you expect? Climbing that is. Rina being a squirrel found dancing in the limbs the best fun ever. Now she could even help Tes. That was a good thing. That was two good things at the same time! Climbing and helping.

      The gray squirrel felt a rare human emotion, love. Rina had been with Tes since she was born. Rina had been a middle-aged woman at the time too. She had been on her mother's science team as head, planner. Growing up, Rina and Tes were more than friends they were family. Tes was the daughter Rina never had. She had grown older, while Tes was still growing up. As a Lifer, Tes would reach an age and time would stand still. Not so for the little gray squirrel. Not all things were fair. It was never planned that way anyway.

      Rina had long life from the upgrades, but not that of a Lifer. That was okay with Rin. It had allowed her to be surrogate mother, wonderful childhood friend, sister's in life and now again mother, aged but not useless. Rina had been there for… all of it. Rina would die, and Tes would go on. That was okay with the squirrel. She was happy to have been in Tes's life at all.

      Rin went all the way to the top and looked. North, toward the Blade there was smoke. Trees, they were on fire in places. There was also flashing lights all around. A memory came back. Lightning 401. Then it was gone. Rin chattered a little fearfully and let that moment pass. That had been a scary word and what was the other part? That had been an even scarier memory. Rina did not like memories. So she pushed them aside. Tes needed her to be accurate so Rin took another long look.

      Rin glanced up at the sky too. The clouds were mostly black now. The storm was going to be very bad. It suddenly dawned on Rin. She had told no one they were leaving to go and see the fallen thing. No one knew where they were. Rin was going to be in trouble. Tes was going to be in trouble also. Tes would not care. Rin knew that. Tes had broken the rules in the past lots of times. The elders punished her lots too. Then they lost some of their sharpness. The way you know, a blade becomes overused? Dull. Rina was thinking too hard again. She looked all around so she would remember what she saw and then headed back down to the ground. Rin liked this tree, it had a strong smell. That was comforting.

      Rin's stomach ached with

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