Read The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series) for Free Online Page B

head back to civilization, she also decided not to put her clothes back on right away. She remembered there was a small stream not too far from the cave. But when she slowly turned in a circle to remember which way to go, she couldn’t believe what surrounded her.
    The more she looked around, the more devastation she saw. Trees were felled, claw marks marred the ground that wasn’t covered in fallen leaves, and as she followed the trail of destruction, blood and animal remains began to lead the way like a grotesque version of breadcrumbs. However, it did lead her to the stream. Whatever blood-crazed monster she turned into the night before had the instincts of an animal, and it knew it needed water.
    Mackenzie dipped a toe into the still water and pulled it out quickly, the frigid temperatures too much to bear. Staring down at her body, the brown dried blood mixed with the red of the still slick blood from what she assumed was her last kill, she wretched. Her stomach ached and her throat constricted, coughing, and gagging until she expelled all of the water she just drank. She couldn’t stand the nauseating thought of killing anything, let alone eating an animal that had been breathing just moments before. She had eaten meat that her father had killed on hunting trips, but by that time, it was already cleaned and usually cooked, looking nothing like its live counterparts.
    She couldn’t stand the idea of their blood covering her any longer; she plunged into the water all at once. When she had rubbed herself raw, when the only red left on her body was the irritation of her skin from the friction of the water plant she had found to use as a washcloth, she emerged from the water. Quickly pulling the sleeping bag she brought with her from the backpack, she wrapped up, pulling it as tight around herself as she could, urging her body to warm back up to a normal temperature, her new normal temperature.
    Sitting on a large rock as time passed by, she tried to remember what had happened. She searched her memory, but not a single moment of the night before was there. She could only imagine what monster she had become. Every time she attempted to force herself to leave, she couldn’t. Facing the human world when she wasn’t sure she qualified as one anymore was not appealing. It could have been minutes or hours later, she really didn’t know, but she finally worked up the courage to return to the well-worn path back to civilization.
     
    ~*~
     
    Sadness flooded Mackenzie as she crossed the barrier that kept people from wandering off the trail. It was there to keep them safe, safe from wild animals and creatures they didn’t even know existed. She was one of those creatures and there was nothing she could do to change it. She knew she would never be able to keep her life as it was. She continued to lose control of herself when she did look like a normal person and who knows what she did when she turned.
    “Hey! You! I thought I told you to stay out of there!” The man from the day before had run up to her. Mackenzie couldn’t stop the tears from springing to her eyes. His look of utter annoyance softened as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched and his hand vanished.
    “I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I had to. I didn’t have a choice. No choice.” Her words were mashed together and half covered by sobs. She wiped at her tears for who knows how many times since she woke and started to walk away. The man followed her for a few steps, but stopped abruptly.
    Her hearing was apparently still quite sensitive as she heard the crack of a walkie-talkie being turned on and the man behind her hurriedly speaking into the microphone. “I need an immediate search of the east quarter of the reservation. If there is anything out of the ordinary, report it immediately. Send the sketch artist, too.”
    Mackenzie couldn’t figure out what had sent the ranger into panic mode. She didn’t want to turn around to look at him, but instead