Prologue

My name is Timothy Jackson. I am 15 years old. I am pretty much your average boy. I play some soccer in school and get fairly average grades. There isn't anything special about me except for a very dark secret I have that I even keep from my parents. Maybe I should point out that they aren't actually my parents. They are actually my foster parents. Ok maybe I should explain that part.

When I was about 5 years old my parents took me on one of their trips to the rain forests of South America. They were pretty famous scientists who were doing a study on mysterious occurrences in the area. Little did they know that this would be their last trip?

We were barely there for a week when we started hearing strange rumors of a mysterious beast haunting the region. Being the type of scientists that they were, they immediately went looking for the creature.

We were only out for a couple weeks when we were attacked late one night just outside the village of Agburgman, a small village where we had heard of the latest attack. We were staying in a tent on the outskirts because mom had a thing for not wanting me to be around the villagers at night because they had differing ideas of what was acceptable behavior before bed. I was too young to realize what was going on but my mother didn't want me to be tainted by their behavior.

I had been put to bed as usual that night, the night that my life changed. It was about 3 in the morning, when I was awakened by a horrible scream. When I opened my eyes I saw through the flap of our tent. There was some sort of large beast attacking my father.

I remember my mother grabbing me and trying to carry me towards the village. She was screaming the whole time. I was crying with her because when we passed the creature I watched it rip my dad's throat out. It was like slow motion to watch the life pour out of my father. I swear I could tell you the exact moment the life left his body because I swear I saw the light leave his eyes.

I heard my mother screaming for the villagers. She was crying for help. I could hear some of the villagers yelling but they seemed so far away. That was when I heard a sound right behind my mother's running feet. The next thing I knew I was flying through the air landing hard almost ten feet in front of my mother.

When I was able to get up I saw my mother on the ground. The creature was between us looking towards me. I turned and started running. I was crying because of how scared I was. I had only made it a couple feet when I felt sharp pain in my back like someone had cut me with a knife. I fell down and rolled over. The creature came at me and bit at my face. I was able to get my hands up in time to get my arm in its mouth which probably saved my life. The creature's teeth were still able to bite pretty harshly across my face and arms but the force would have ripped my face off, if it hadn't been for my arm stopping it briefly.

My mother got up at this point and ran at the beast to get it off me. She ran full speed at it and tackled it off of me. It must have startled it because my mother got up before it did. She yelled at me to get up and run. I was still dazed from the attack but I stood up. When I turned towards her I saw the creature suddenly jump to its feet and face my mother.

I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she heard it growl just behind her. It was the look of a person that knew she was going to die. I was more scared then I have ever been in my entire life even to this day, but the look in her eyes I'll never forget. She looked like she was more than willing to make the sacrifice for her son but it couldn't have been easy for her. I turned and ran. I was barely away when I heard her scream. That scream still haunts my nightmares.

I was having trouble running because of the deep wounds down my back and I was losing blood fairly quickly from my face but I kept going because I knew that is what she'd wanted me to do.

I was just outside the village when I saw a couple of the warriors coming out of their huts. They were carrying spears and yelling but what I heard was the sound of a twig behind me snap and then I felt the hot breath on the back of my neck. I knew I would never make it but I didn't want to give up. Then I felt the teeth close around my neck from the rear. The creature threw me to the ground.

I was sure I was dead then but I still fought with all I had in me because I didn't want to disappoint my mother. I knew she was probably dead but I was too young to realize what that meant. All I knew was that she wouldn't want me to ever give up.

I fought the creature with all my strength. It was nothing compared to the power of the creature but the monster never was able to get in for the killing blow. Just when I thought that I was a goner, the creature yelped and jumped away. One of the villagers had stabbed it in the neck and I could see blood pouring from its neck. The other villagers were circling it and stabbing it continuously.

It seemed that no matter how many times they stabbed it, it just wouldn't die. That was when one of the village women came out. She yelled something in her native language. The others stood back and watched her walk towards the creature. I was barely awake at this point but I remember seeing the creature watch her without moving. The woman walked right up to it like she wasn't afraid. I watched her take a spear from one of the men and push it through the creature's chest into its heart. She had tears in her eyes. I heard the beast howl a deathly lament that actually sounded like the world's greatest heart break. I almost felt sorry for it for a brief moment but then I passed out.

The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital. I was confused and scared and sore all over my body. I remember I tried calling for my mom and dad but they never came. A nurse came into the room and tried to calm me down but I was too upset to be calmed down. The doctor eventually had to come in and give me a tranquilizer so I would go back to sleep.

When I next woke up, I was feeling much better, until all the memories came flooding back. I very vividly remember watching both my parents dying. I started crying again at that point. The nurse came back in and held me in her arms until I cried myself back to sleep.

When I woke up the next day I was finally able to talk to someone that spoke a language that I understood. My parents had been teaching me English, Spanish, and French because they figured that with all the places we went to that someone nearby should be able to speak at least one of them.

A new nurse came in later in the day that spoke Spanish so I was able to talk to her. I found out that I had been unconscious for nearly three weeks. They had been worried that I might not pull through for a while. Then they said my vitals just all seemed to stabilize over night. After that I started healing quite quickly. Old scratches and scars I'd had were disappearing, but the scar on my face healed normally. It still healed faster but it was obvious that I was going to have a very noticeable scar when I grew up.

It took a couple more months but eventually I was taken back to my parents' old home town in America. Once there, they put me in the foster system, because my parents didn't have any living relatives that were willing to take me. It seems that my parents had been the black sheep of the family because they wanted to go into science instead of business.

It took a couple years to find me a foster home that would keep me. I went through quite a few for those two years because I had started to develop some weird behaviors every month. I would develop very high fevers and become very cranky during those times.

Needless to say it took a special family to take me in. My parents hadn't done to bad for themselves and my inheritance was kept in a trust fund until I got older. That didn't help me out now but it did protect me from some gold diggers that tried to take me in so they would be able to get a hold of my money. They soon discovered that they couldn't touch it so they would end up sending me back to the system.

My family that I've lived with since then has been great. They have come to understand that I can't help the way I act during those weird times of month. They never hold it against me. They do try to help me get over the pain and shakes and fevers and yes even the attitude I display during these times.

The Johnsons were a great family. They had a daughter and a son that were both older than me. I was an only child originally so it was something for me to get used to, having siblings I mean. I did come to really appreciate it though. Mark and Alice were both such great kids. They were 3 and 2 years older than me, respectively.

They were very protective of me, even though I know I got on their nerves during my monthly tantrums. They never held it against me. I was a small kid so the bullies would zero in on me. I was stubborn enough to never back down from them. This of course caused me to get beat up a lot. My siblings tried to defend me whenever they could but they couldn't be around me all the time.

When I was 12 or 13, my curse finally came out. It was a normal one of my moody nights when I felt great pain course through my entire body. I didn't understand what was happening but I felt an intense urge to get out of the house. I don't know what drove me out of the house but I am extremely glad that it did.

I don't remember what happened that first night but I remember running from the house as fast as I can. My foster father tried to follow but I was running faster than I have ever run in my life. I soon outdistanced him and ran straight into the woods. It was then that the pain made me stop and collapse. I felt my bones ripping apart and my muscles stretching. My skin was on fire and I thought I was surely dying.

The next thing I remember I woke up not far from the back of my house. I was naked and disorientated. I was surprised at how well I actually felt though. I felt like I could take on the world.

I got up and went into the house. I tried to sneak in the back door but as soon as I opened the door my foster mother came running up to me and grabbed me in a tight hug. She looked like she had been crying. While I was standing there, my foster father came rushing in at the sound. My foster siblings were close on his heels.

I hugged them all and they all cried. I asked them what happened. They looked at me funny for a minute.

"Don't you remember?" Jeff (my foster father) asked me.

"I think I remember running out of the house last night after feeling pain through my entire body." I said.

"You ran away pretty fast. I wasn't able to keep up with you." Jeff said. "I didn't even know you could run that fast?"

"I didn't know either." I said.

"Well I'm just glad you're safe." Julia (my foster mother) said to me. "You scared the daylights out of us. I didn't get any sleep last night. Jeff, why don't you call the cops and tell them that he is back."

Jeff got everything straightened out with the cops and since I couldn't tell them why I did it or where I even went we all just sort of forgot about the whole thing. We all tried to act like nothing had happened and we even succeeded for the most part.

I went to school and had an almost normal day. I used to get cranky at this time of month usually, but for the first time I was actually in a pretty good mood that day at school. Nothing exciting happened but I felt so good that I was almost spoiling for a fight. Luckily for me nothing happened.

When I got home later that night I apologized to Julia again. She told me not to worry about it. She was just glad that I was safe. I went to do my homework. My foster parents had made sure that I always did my homework straight after school. I had inherited my parents' brains so I didn't have much problem in school. I could get B's in school without doing anything but tests. I only did the school work to keep my foster family happy.

I always tried my best to be as little of a burden as possible. We were all sitting in the living room watching TV when the pain hit me again. I think that Jeff had been expecting something to happen because as soon as I started screaming from the pain, he jumped up and got between me and the door.

I got up and started to head to the door again without even realizing I was doing it. Jeff tried to grab me but I just slipped past him faster than a boy my age should have been able to move. It surprised Jeff enough that I was able to get out the door before he had time to catch his balance.