Cade woke up slowly, and with a massive pain in his head. Clutching it, he looked around to see he was sitting in some kind of canvas-covered truck; he could feel the bumps as it drove over the terrain.
He then heard a scuffling and snarling noise across from him and looked to see a figure about a foot taller than he was that was covered with fur and bore a wolf's head. It was currently gnawing on what appeared to be a giant turkey leg, but Cade knew exactly what the creature was; he had seen enough movies. He immediately shouted in fear, causing the wolf to look up.
"Oh, you're awake. That's good." It said before holding the turkey leg out. "Want a bite?"
Cade remained unmoving for a few minutes as the wolf shrugged and resumed eating it.
"Wait" Cade began; this was beginning to confuse him, "Aren't you gonna bite or something?"
This caught the wolf off guard, "Come again?"
"You're a werewolf, aren't you? Isn't that what they do?"
The werewolf burst out laughing at this. "Classic human paranoia; it never gets old!"
The creature laughed for a few more moments before calming down and saying, "Well, to answer your question: no, I'm not going to bite you. I have no reason to. Besides, why would I bite someone that I just saved."
"Saved?" Cade asked.
"You head me. Saved. Me and Mara rescued you from the Scrunt."
"The what?"
"That grassy, dog-looking thing."
Cade was just too confused at this point. "Ok, time out. Who are you and who is this 'Mara'?"
The werewolf straightened up, his ears touching the roof of the truck. "Right. Well, my name's Zeke. Mara's the one driving the truck. With the red hair."
Cade looked through the window to the driver seats and, sure enough, he could see the back of a head covered in bright red hair that was tied back in a ponytail. It would have been pretty, except of the handle of a machete and the stock of a rife holstered on her back.
"Well, she seems tough." Cade observed. Zeke nodded. "Very."
"So, where are we going and what is this?"
Zeke looked at cade, confused, "You mean you don't know."
Cade shook his head. "To be honest, I don't remember anything before being chased by that…what did you call it?"
"Scrunt." Zeke replied, stroking his chin, "No memory, huh? Well, looks like I'll have to give you the crash course. To put it plainly, you come from a long line of hunters. Monster hunters, to be exact."
"Wait, there are more monsters out there?"
"A LOT more. However, there are only a few who can even see and interact with them. Many of these people are in mental hospitals due to others thinking them crazy, but those who are lucky enough make their way to us: the Hunter's Guild. We train others like us to be like the police force, monitoring the monsters that live among people, regardless of whether they are good or evil because it can flip at any time."
"I'm guessing monsters can join this guild too?"
Zeke nodded. "If you can prove yourself. It's mostly werewolves, like me, but I do know they're have been a few trolls, a couple Sea People, and some other miscellaneous things that aren't worth mentioning right now."
Cade leaned back and exhaled deeply; this was a lot for him to be taking it in.
"Let me guess," he said after a few moments, "We're going to the Hunter's Guild right now?"
Zeke gave a toothy grin. "Now you're catching on!"
"Zeke" came a girl's voice; Mara had opened the window to the back, "You better not be boring him to death back there."
"Relax," Zeke reassured, "I gave him the crash course, just like you said."
Mara nodded. "Good. We're here."
Just then, the light around the truck went dark as it drove into a hidden cave, coming to a stop among other, similar trucks, though some had armor and weapons on the top. Zeke pulled back the flap on the canvas, letting Cade exit out. As he looked around, Cade could see he was in a well lit hangar filled with different armored trucks, helicopters, and other vehicles. Different people were mingling around, though Cade could also see other werewolves, girls with flowers in their hair that Cade assumed were nymphs, among other things.
One nymph even noticed him get out. "Oh, a new guy!"
She ran up to him before he coud say anything. "Hi! Welcome! My name's Aquamarine! You must be new! What's your name?"
Cade could only stutter as she overwhelmed him with questions. Thankfully, Zeke climbed out and noticed. "Hey, take it easy, he just survived a Scrunt attack."
Aquamarine backed down a bit. "Oh, sorry. I just get so excited to see new people!"
"It'll get you killed one day, you know that, right?" came a voice as Mara climbed out of the truck and walked up. Cade was completely taken back at the sight of her. She was, in a word, beautiful; her lightly tanned, smooth skin, sea green eyes, and cute freckles. She wore a dark green slim shirt, black pants with a brown belt, brown boots, and a brown leather vest covering, all of which fit snugly over her slender form. A knife was strapped to her left leg to complete the look.
"I gotta take him to Tex" Mara told Aquamarine, "So now's not the time for pestering."
"Oh, right" the nymph replied before running off.
Mara turned to Cade. "Sorry about that. Nymphs are a bit too excitable around people."
Cade only managed to say. "Uh, right."
Mara looked at him, slightly confused yet suspicious. She shook it off after a few seconds though. "Whatever. Come on, Tex is gonna want to see you."
"Tex?" Cade asked.
"He's our boss. The current Guild Master."
"Of course he is" Cade said. Mara scowled. "Cut the attitude. I get you're still trying to process everything, but our enemies are not going to let you take your time. You're gonna need to start accepting stuff fast, and I mean FAST. Now, let's go see Tex."
As Mara walked ahead, Cade leaned over to Zeke. "Is she always like that?"
"More or less." Zeke grunted, "She's one of our best fighters, even if she usually acts like she just bit into a lemon."
'Beautiful AND strong', Cade thought to himself, I like it.
"I heard that, Zeke!" Mara snapped. The werewolf simply chuckled as the two continued on through a labyrinth of lit hallways. Eventually, they reached a large set of double doors. The skull of a horned creature hung above it and a gold plaque spanned both doors with the words "Guild Master Tex" etched on it.
Mara walked up and knocked in a series of knocks on the door before the two started to open.
Mara then took a deep breath. "Ok, here goes. Come one, guys, he's expecting us."
The three then entered the room, and the doors closed shut behind them with a resounding boom.