Wild Heart - chapter 1

"Guys...I'm not sure if this is a good idea." Stiles Stilinski said for the hundredth time since Scott McCall convinced him to doing this.

"Can you stop it, Stiles!" Scott hissed while elbowing him in the ribs. "You're repeating this since you got in the car."

"Oh, sorry," Stiles said sarcastically "I'm repeating myself? Maybe because this is not a good idea!" he said retaliating with a punch on Scott's shoulder.

The two began to argue there on the backseat

"You two, stop it." Jackson Whittemore said from the driver's seat, looking at the two boys through the rearview mirror.

"I knew he couldn't do it." Danny Mahealani said from the passenger seat.

"Of course he can." Scott hissed and turned his attention to Stiles who looked through the window to the woods out there.

What Stiles Stilinski was doing in Beacon Hills Preserve on a Friday night? Easy answer: It was a challenge.

Actually, it was more like a prank. Spending the night in the woods? Seriously? This was not just a bad idea, it was the worst idea ever. He still could not understand how he had let Scott convince him to do this.

All boys of the Lacrosse team had already done it, even Scott, and it was now Stiles' turn. This was a sort of 'baptism' which every boy of the team had to go through. Stiles thought that was just dumb. He could understand why Jackson was doing that, he was a bastard. He could understand why Danny was doing that, he was Jackson's pet. But not Scott, Scott was his friend, his best friend. He could not believe he was agreeing with this bullshit.

"Hey, it's not so bad." Scott said with a smile, trying to assure his friend.

"Yeah Stiles, think of it as the camp we went in eighth grade." Jackson said amused.

"Bugs, poisonous plants, rabid animals ..." Danny said.

"But I have not went to that camp in eighth grade!" Stiles countered somewhat anxious.

"Oops!" The boys who occupied the front seats said.

"You guys are realizing that a storm is coming, aren't you?" Stiles said eagerly. His breathing started to getting fast and Scott realized this.

"Stiles! Calm down! There is no reason to panic."

"But there is this Wolf." Jackson said.

"Wolf?" Stiles said looking from Scott to Jackson "Wolf ? What Wolf? Nobody told me there'd be a wolf here! Wolves are totally not good. Not good at all!"

"Thanks for your support, Jackson." Scott said staring at Jackson who just laughed. He then turned his attention to his friend. "There's no wolf here, Stiles."

"But some people have seen his tracks near the Hale House." Danny said teasingly "A half-eaten deer here, a tree with claw marks there. No need to see the wolf to know he's here."

The Hale House? Stiles vaguely remembered that there was an abandoned house in the woods. A long time forgotten family lived there. He remembered, vaguely, that a tragedy had happened, a fire, many years ago. Stiles was probably still in kindergarten when it happened. Some boys at school said that the house was haunted. Formerly, the bravest students organized trips to the woods, trying to break-in the house, just like in that book Salen's Lot, but nobody had the balls. The Sheriff, Stiles's father, never allowed him to join them.

"We all have done that." Scott told Stiles and saw a flash of lightning followed by a thunder. "These two are assholes and they just want to scare you. Don't listen to them."

"Do you remember the rules?" Danny asked finally turning to look at Stiles with a serious expression. As much as this game was fun, it was serious thing to spend the night alone in the woods and nobody had to get hurt.

Stiles huffed and closed his eyes, trying to remember the rules.

"From dusk to dawn, no cell phone, stay on the trail."

Scott handed him a backpack.

"There's everything you'll need on it. Water, snacks, a sleeping bag and a flashlight." Jackson said seriously. "We'll come back for you in the morning. Be here, right here."

Stiles smiled sarcastically and made an obscene gesture with his finger. Jackson just smiled. He opened the door and got out of the car. In that moment another flash of lightning lit up the night in the forest and another thunder was heard. Stiles opened his survival kit and pulled out the flashlight and lit it. Jackson's car was parked on the dirt road, in front of the entrance of the trail used by campers. That was the trail that led to the Hale House in the heart of Preserve, but it was an old trail, since there was no one living there, there was no need to keep in clean. Before he knew it, Scott was at his side, helping him to adjust the backpack on his shoulders.

"I'm going to get lost." Stiles said defeated.

"No, You will not. If you stay on the trail you'll be fine. You will walk for half an hour then you will reach a cave. It is almost in the middle of the way, there's no way you can miss it. You will spend the night there, totally safe from the rain."

"If I don't survive this night, you can keep my 'The Walking Dead' comic books. Tell my father that I love him and that has ice cream in the freezer. Oh yes, go to my house and delete the browsing history on my laptop. It has some pretty embarrassing things there ..."

"Stiles, shut up." Scott said before hugging Stiles. He pulled away from the boy with brown hair and golden eyes and went back to the car. "Remember, stay on trail."

"Why are you implying that I won't stay on the trail?" Stiles asked intrigued.

"Because I know you." Scott said before entering the car.

Scott waved at Stiles and nodded to Jackson before he start the engine. The car pulled away and soon he was no longer visible. Stiles looked around. He was on a trail in the woods. The trees towered ghostly and there was no lighting in there that was not the lightning and his poor flashlight.

A cold wind blew causing him chills. He really was not dressed for such an occasion. He was wearing his red hoodie, black jeans and (unfortunately) his brand new shoes. Damnit. He couldn't do anything when he was caught by surprise.

Scott had went to Stiles's house that evening, inviting the boy to a sleepover. It was Friday, Stiles loved going to Scott's house at Fridays. He should have realized something was wrong when Scott said that he would not have to drive his Jeep since Jackson would come to pick them. When he got in Jackson's car, everything was already plotted, the backpack was there and Scott spent the next forty minutes from Stiles's house to the Preserve trying to convince him to participate in this trap. And now, instead of being in his home comfortable under his blankets, he was in a forest. Alone. In a forest, alone, in the rain. In a forest, alone, in the rain, with a wolf who might or might not be real or imaginary. Yay! Such a perfect way to spend the weekend.

He heard another thunder and thought better start to move if he wanted to reach the cave before the rain starts falling. He took a deep breath and got in the trail walking fast and lighting the way with his flashlight. The silence of the forest was heavy, being broken only by the sound of twigs breaking under his feet on the ground. It was so dark, it was so quiet, there was not there to distract him from the overwhelming feeling of being alone.

"I walked across an empty land. I Knew the pathway like the back of my hand." He began to sing the first song that came to his head, just to hear the sound of his own voice. "I felt the earth beneath my feet, sat by the river and it made me complete. Oh simple thing, where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need someone to rely on. " He sang and walked through the woods with a flashlight in hand. "So tell me when you're gonna let me in. I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin. I came across a fallen tree I felt the branches of it looking at me ... " He stopped singing abruptly. "Okay, now it's getting weird."

Stiles shook his head and kept moving forward. He was already walking a few minutes when he heard a noise behind him, like leaves rustling. Stiles was startled and turned around, aiming the flashlight toward the noise, but there was nothing there, only trees.

"This is the perfect time to get paranoid." He muttered to himself.

He turned again to keep his search for the shelter. Again, the cold wind blew and the boy winced. He held tight the straps of the backpack on his shoulders and kept walking. Stiles would not admit that his heart was racing. He wanted to be able to ignore the fact that he was in a creepy forest, but he was having a hard time.

He heard the noise behind him again and he turned, only to find nothing there. "I shouldn't have watched all those horror movies." He thought as he turned to walk now with a slight tremor in his hands. "Jason, Freddy, Predator ... Why?" He thought all these things when he saw a figure in the trees. Stiles was paralyzed.

"Shit," he swore softly.

It was a great dark figure, it seemed to be a large animal, at least. He stood there among the trees, a few steps away from Stiles, it was too close. Trying to ignore the creepy dark figure he took a few steps forward. With his peripheral vision he saw the dark figure has moved again. Stiles closed his eyes. "This is not happening, this is not real. This is just in my mind." He thought, trying to convince himself that the dark figure was not real. It was then that he heard the growl. He was a loud-totally creepy growl, and very real one. Stiles felt chills throughout his body, a bad feeling. Fear. "Holy shit!" What kind of animal would growl like that? He realized that the growl was coming from right behind him. He held his breath.

"Shit, shit, shit ..." he hissed.

Stiles heard the growl getting closer, and this time he was already shaking. That was a big animal, perhaps the Wolf Jackson had mentioned, and it was right behind him. Then another thunder rumbled, accompanied by a roar from the creature behind him.

With a yelp (which was totally manly yelp, thank you very much ) Stiles ran off, dropping the flashlight on the ground and ignoring the basic rule of not running from an animal bigger than you. But Stiles did not care, he ran down the trail, stumbling and getting up, like he was in a fucking marathon. He knew that the creature was chasing him, but he had to keep running.

Stiles looked around. He had no chance of surviving if he kept on the trail. He had to find a place to hide. The boy heard another roar, and had no doubt, he left the trail and walked into the forest.

It was even more difficult to run where there were rocks, roots and fallen branches, but the forest was thick and he could hide from whatever it was that was chasing him. However, now he no longer had the flashlight. In the woods the darkness was terrible. He kept moving forward, running and feeling his legs burning. His breathing was irregular and the heavy backpack did not help. Stiles kept running until he had reached a large tree and leaned against it.

"Oh my God." he panted, leaning his back on the tree.

His legs were throbbing, his chest was burning, he could not take another step. Stiles tried to control his breathing, panic now wouldn't be a good idea at all. He closed his eyes and tried to be quiet. He could no longer hear the growl of the creature. Would he had foiled it? Stiles used one hand as a support to stand and thought it was funny that his legs seemed made of jelly. He tried to focus his vision and he could see, there, about five feet from him, the creature that had hunted him. A wolf. The Wolf. He was big, very big, his fur was black, or maybe it was just the darkness. He looked in the eyes of the wolf and two bright green eyes looked back to him. He did not growl, he was just standing there looking at Stiles.

"Hi wolfy!" Stiles said with trembling voice (entirely because of the effort of the race and not because of the fear he felt). "Cute wolfy" He said taking a step back."Good wolfy..."

The wolf took a step toward Stiles and this time, Stiles could hear the growl, but it was a different growl, it was like if he was ... purring? Kinda of making fun of him before devouring him? Nevertheless, Stiles kept taking steps backwards, trying to get away from the big-creepy wolf in front of him. Stiles took another step back and didn't saw that there was a sizable root behind him and he snagged his foot on the root and fell on his back, hitting his head on a rock. Stiles have not blacked out immediately, he felt the sharp pain and his body went limp, then he became dizzy, like when you spin too fast, but it was a stronger feeling, it was as if he felt it all over his body. He tried to raise a hand, but it wouldn't obey him. He looked up and everything was black, and felt cold. All he could think was that he was there, unable to move and that the wolf would kill him and eat him and he couldn't do nothing to defend himself. He tried to scream, but he couldn't open his mouth, or if he could, his voice did not leave it. And why would he scream? Nobody would listen. He was alone in the forest and no one would find him.

He heard the sound of footsteps, human footsteps. Stiles began to laugh, feeling hot tears running down his eyes at the same time. That was pretty cool. He would die and he was hallucinating. The footsteps were getting closer and he tried to move again, with no success. He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened it again, there was a man leaning over him. The man had black hair and a stubble. His eyes were green and, God, he was gorgeous. Stiles laughed again. He would die, and he was hallucinating, who would say, hallucinating with a guy. Not with Lydia, no, with a guy.

He felt the man leaning over and he could feel his hot breath close to his neck, like if this guy was sniffing him, but he hadn't much time to find this weird because his vision went blurry and he closed his eyes, falling into unconsciousness.