1 Chapter One

William with his trembling hands in his jeans, shivering beneath his two-layered shirts, walks past the barely lit empty patch-up streets. William could barely hear his footsteps hitting the wet muddied streets. Then suddenly, he hears vulgar loud curses being yelled at each other. A bunch of curses from a bunch of people. He looks up and wishes he didn't. There, just a couple of blocks away, underneath the flickering street lamp, gangsters. He curses just beneath his breath and gets ready to run.

But it was too late, they already spotted him. Without a second thought, William makes a mad dash out of there. And of course, he can also hear them chasing after him while laughing, cursing, and howling at him.

"Finally something to hunt. The hunt begins boys!"

"HUNT! HUNT!HUNT"

William hears the atrocious chants and cheers of the gangsters behind him as they chase after him. His legs are starting to hurt and his breathing is getting heavier. His arms are numb from the cold that they feel like boulders hitting his sides while running. He knows he can't outrun them at his pace. He musters as much strength he can to widen the gap between him and his pursuers and heads for a dark alley.

He sees a dumpster just as he enters and jumps into it. He uses the cardboard and plastics bags full of soiled diapers and rotten food to cover himself for good measure. He almost gags from the smell of one of the plastic bags. But he endures and waits. Then he hears muffled noises towards him. He stiffens and holds his breath.

"I saw him go here!"

"I can't see nothing in this dark."

"Yo, maybe he's in the dumpster! It's the oldest trick in the book after all!" one of the gangsters shouts. And all of them let out thunderous laughter.

William still holding his breath hears his heart pound so fast after hearing those words. His body tensing up. Since it's so dark, William tries to slowly and cautiously feel out anything that he can use for a weapon. But, there is nothing there except plastic bags, cardboard boxes, and a mix mush of rotten stuff. Still searching for a weapon, when suddenly he hears them hit the dumpster and makes it vigorously shake. He almost let some curses out loud but held it at the last moment.

"Man, this dumpster is heavy," They jeer.

Before they can overturn the dumpster, William leaps out landing heavily on one gangster, and makes a run out of there. But before he can even step out of the dark alley, one gangster already gets a hold of his arm and yanks him back. William let out a surprised yelp and staggered from the force of the yank. The gangster that got a hold of him then shoves him to the ground.

Hearing the ruckus, the other gangsters surround William and start beating him while he's still on the ground. William violently tries to free his arm and succeeds only to be unexpectedly kicked in the head. For a moment, Willaim blanks out only to be brought to his senses by a stomp in the stomach making him throw up a bit.

With a flurry of kicks and punches thrown at him, Wiliam could only try to use his arms to protect his head. Try as he might he can't get up with all the shoving and beating that the gangsters are doing. Eventually, William's body grows numb and he can hardly open his eyes. He just gives up struggling and lays there waiting for the gangster to get bored with him.

After what seems like an eternity to William, the gangsters stop. But even then, they spit on him after getting bored beating him up, and leaves him there barely breathing. William, struggling to keep his consciousness, thinks about the not-so-cheap soft, creamy caramel pudding, his favorite, waiting for him at home. He needs to eat it before they cut the electricity tomorrow or else it isn't as good as when it's cold. The thought of eating a lukewarm pudding finally makes William slowly get up.

*sigh*

"Life," William mumbles and slowly and limping starts his long journey to his apartment. All the while his stomach loudly grumbles. He could only pat his tummy to somewhat pacify it.

Finally, with great effort that even William didn't know he has, reaches his apartment. As he is about to enter, one of his neighbors sees him as she exits out of her apartment with trash bags in her hand. She pauses to look at him and gives him a long stare.

"Good evening," William politely greets her but she only nods and walks away without saying a word. Willaim then enters his apartment without giving a thought about the neighbor's response. He believes that it's normal for her to be like that because, in this side of town, there's no use pitying others when life is already hard for oneself.

Sluggishly, William makes his way to the kitchen to grab the pudding on the almost-empty-fridge of his. Taking a spoonful at a time and smiling after every slurp, and ignoring the jolt of pain every time he opens his mouth and smiles, William happily eats the pudding. Even though he is battered and bruised, he still thoroughly enjoys his favorite not-so-cheap pudding.

"It's never enough..." William laments as he eats the last bit. Then, without anything distracting him from the pain, he could feel the acute searing ache throughout his body. He can't help but tightly grasp the edge of his blood and mud-stained shirt hoping it would alleviate his pain.

With the pain being so intense, William's inner instinct kicks in and screams for him to transform quickly. The thought is buzzing in his mind endlessly, and so relentlessly. With cold sweat, William tries not to be swept up by his instinct. Gritting his teeth, he hobbles his way to his bed and lays down still with his dirty clothes now soaked in cold sweat.

'I can't. I can't! I WON'T!" William yells to himself. And yet. even with his vehement protest, he feels his body changing, "No!NO!"

Williams's cries eventually turned to anguish howls. There in the place where William is supposed to be, lies a midnight-colored coated wolf.