"RUN FASTER!" a young girl with pink hair screams in fear as she looks over my shoulder. Not daring to look back I continue to sprint forward jumping over tree roots as I go.

"I'm TRYING!" I say just narrowly avoiding a tree. "It's kind of hard to do that when your caring children with you!"

"There's another one!" a younger girl with blue hair yells, tears streaming down her face.

"FUCK!" this is getting ridiculous! Okay think! How can we get out of this? There has to be a way to get rid of them. Sure they're big, Fast, And did I mention big? But everything has a weakness...right?

"On your right!" The older one yells. I jump to the left just narrowly avoiding a scorpion tail. What. The. Actual. Fuck...

"What the hell are these things!?" Seriously what type of creature has a scorpion tell that size?! And besides when I last checked it looked like a lion! Not some scorpion monster out of some b-rated horror movie!

"Tia I'm scared! I don't wanna be eaten!" the youngest one is hysterical now. This isn't good she's shaking too much. I don't think I'll be able to hold on to her much longer if she keeps this up.

"Hey Pinky! You need to calm your sister down for me! If she keeps going like this I don't know if I'll be able to keep my grip on her!" God how did this even happen? One moment I'm gathering herbs for that crazy old man, the next I'm running away from a lion's and scorpion's love child!

The weight in my arm shifts a little bit as the now named Tia scoots closer to comfort her little sister.

"It's going to be alright Lulu. The manticores aren't going to get us! I promise!" I can hear it in her voice she's terrified and uncertain about what she just said. I personally don't blame her. This whole situation is bad. But hey if she can convince the little one that's all that matters right?

...Wait did she say manticores? As in the big motherfuckers from mythology with a Lion's body a scorpion tail and bat wings?!

Just then one comes swooping down from above crashing down any and all tree branches in its way blocking our path forward. I narrowly dodged to the right holding the children as close to my chest as possible.

As we come to a stop I immediately check to see if the girls are okay. Overall just a few scrapes here and there nothing to be worried about at the moment. I look up to see our pursuers closing in on us.

Well Lulu wasn't kidding when she said there was another one, now we have two manticores circling us... Great. Setting the girls down in front of me I kneel down next to the oldest one and whisper in her ear "Can you keep her calm?" Never once letting the manticores out of my sight.

"What?" she whispers. I can hear the beginnings of hysteria seeping into her voice.

"Okay let me rephrase that. I need you both to keep calm. Trust me okay?" I whisper soothingly to her. Well as much as I can anyway in this type of situation.

"What can you do?! Are you going to fight them off with that stick on your back?! You can't fight off two manticores with that! Let alone one! We need to keep running!" she whispered yells back. Okay new plan.

"Look we do NOT have time for this. So please just listen to me keep your sister calm. And it's not just a stick." I say, mock hurt in my voice "It's a Magic Stick!" I stand up slowly as Tia shoot me an uncertain look but scoots slowly over to Lulu nonetheless. She starts whispering calming words to her. God I hope that's enough.

Slowly I reach for my back where my staff is. I can't help but reminisce in slight disbelief of how it's only been one month since I got here and I'm already in this type of shit.

'Just imagine what it's going to be like in a year or two.' I shudder at the thought surely it can't get much worse than this.

...Right?

ONE MONTH EARLIER
(??? POV)

There are approximately 7.6 million people living on this little blue ball called Earth. But even though there are 7.6 million people living on this planet none of them are the same. Some are similar very similar but never truly the same.

Every single one of them has a story to tell. Again similar but never the same after all everyone has their own perspective their own ideas. Their own hopes and dreams.

Yes there are 7.6 billion people on this little blue globe. But we don't have time to hear all their stories. No this story isn't about them. This story is about one Kyle. J.Walson and how he got more than he bargained for.

Messing with things he didn't truly understand.

Kyle's POV

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE*{SMASH}*

"Go fuck yourself you goddamn clock... It's too early for this shit..." I mumble into my pillow. Knowing that it's futile and that I still have to get up makes me hate the alarm even more.

Sluggishly I began to try and remove myself from my warm cocoon of blankets. It's a fierce battle with no winners, I'm sad to say. As a break from its warm embrace into the cold and cruel greeting of my bedroom.

Groaning I'm able to shimmy myself into a sad excuse for a walk. Heading in the direction of my bathroom. I'm halfway there when I remember that I'm out of towels and I have to go down to the laundry room to get more. Groaning louder I change my direction to go get one.

' Why can't the morning come in the afternoon. It would make life so much easier...' I think to myself as I reach my destination. Grabbing a towel I turn around and set a new course for the bathroom... again.

Finally after one near death experience I make it to the bathroom. I quickly walk inside and lock the door. Immediately stripping, I step inside and turn on the shower. I forgot in my still half awake stupor that generally when you turn on the shower at first it's really cold. Especially in the middle of fall.

"OH SHIT!" I yell fully awake now. I stumble out of the shower trying to get away from the cruel unforgiving cold. After calming down from the shock of having my body temperature drop a couple degrees. I decided to wait a couple minutes for the water to heat up.

After a couple minutes and not wanting a repeat of what happened I gently stick my hand under the water testing the temperature. 'Just right' I think as I hop into the shower. I let out a sigh as the warm water washes over me. I began bathing myself. As I switching my body to autopilot as I run over a mental checklist of what I need to do today.

'Okay so I have to go meet JR up at the steel. After that, pick up my package from the post office, still don't know what it is. I haven't ordered anything recently. And on my way back pick up groceries for Mom. Should be easy enough' Giving a sigh I rinse off and step out of the shower.

After drying off and wrapping a towel around my waist. I stepped in front of the sink and turn on the water. Grabbing my toothbrush I gently run it under the fresh liquid coming out of the faucet. After I cut the flow of water I then apply toothpaste and begin brushing. As I do I look at myself in the mirror.

Borderline sickly pale skin from lack of sunlight. Black unruly hair that could probably use a good cut and bags under the eyes from staying up too late.

'I really need to get a haircut. I look like a hobo.' a chuckle to myself spitting out the toothpaste. Unlocking the door I head for my room.

Walking quietly as to not wake up anyone in the house I make it to my destination without difficulty. Repeating the process of stepping inside and locking the door.

Dropping my towel I walk over to my dresser and shuffle through a drawer to find some underwear to wear. After shuffling around in the drawer for a little bit I groan as I pull out a splotchy pair of pink underwear out.

Now I don't hate the color pink. I actually have a couple shirts in that color. The problem is I don't own any pink underwear. No these used to be white. Turning slightly I open the drawer to my right which happened to be the sock section of my dresser.

Letting out an aggravated sigh my eyes glanced over all of my previous white now splotchy pink socks. Slamming the drawer shut I grab my pink undies and slip them on.

"Seriously he had one job. To do laundry. And somehow in that process. He dyed all my white clothing pink... somehow." I grumble. "There weren't even any reds in that basket mom told him to do!"

I stopped my totally not a pouting fit when my phone went off indicating that I had a message. Walking over I grabbed my phone. Seeing that it was a voicemail from JR. Just missing him by a couple minutes. Pressing play I hold it up to my ear and listen.

I could hear shuffling in the background as he begin to speak. " Kyle? Kyle where are you? Y'a were supposed to be here an hour ago! Y'a were supposed to come make sure noth'en happen to the steel! and t'au make matters worse a pack of raccoons came over here last night and chewed their way into one a my moonshine barrels! Now we have a barrel full of drunk raccoons!" I hear something get kicked in the background followed by something crashing indicating that something was toppled over. Jr was cussing up a storm. Then I hear several confused hisses and Jr stops abruptly."..."

I hear an aggressive hiss " ...Now now you wouldn't want to hurt little o'l me now would ya?" More aggressive hissing "Here! I can get you more moonshine... if ya want?..." I can hear the nervousness in his voice. Come on man it's only a couple raccoons. Right?

I hear Jr pop open a barrel "Here y'a go drink up little ones hahaha... Kyle git y'a ass here now!" he whispers to me before hanging up. I laugh nervously as I hurry over to my closet throw on a pair of jeans a simple t-shirt and a hoodie. I rush over to my dresser and grab a now pink pair of socks.

Grabbing my phone I rush out of my room down the stairs stopping only to put on my boots then continued out the door after grabbing my keys. I hop into my car and throw it in reverse...nothing happened.

"..." it would probably help if I started it first.

(~~~OWO~~~)

After driving for about 30 minutes to get to the still I stumble upon a very amusing site. Now for someone who's never met him. When you first meet JR the first thing you notice is that he's built like a grizzly bear. He's like a six foot seven mountain of black hair and man. He has the muscle to back it up to.

Now imagine that...But place him in a tree. And at the base of that tree about 12 raccoon scratching to get up to him

"What are you doing up there JR?" I yell up to him trying and failing to suppress my laughter. " Quit laughing y'a idjit and come help me!" he yells. I try, I really do. But the ridiculousness of the situation finally catching up to me.

I collapsed onto the ground laughing. Seriously it was like watching a big dog run away from a kitten!

"Kyle y'a baby cheeks!" pulling myself together enough to get up I reach into my car and pull out a strip of chinese firecrackers left over from the 4th of July picnic we had and take out a lighter. I light the fuse and throw it towards the raccoons.

The effect was instant as soon as they went off raccoons bolted everywhere like bats out of hell. Though I'm not sure...I think I saw one run off with Jr's lunch box.

"HA! TAKE THAT Y'A LITTLE BASTARDS!" he screams in triumph "It's about goddamn time y'a got here boy! Now help me down" Seriously how did he get up there? Walking up to the tree I look up at him.

"Are you stuck?" he looks down at me, a neutral look on his face " I'll neither confirm or deny... But I may or may not need y'a assistance getting down from this here tree." he replies, completely serious.

Chuckling I walk over to where the still is and start looking for the ladder. As I'm looking around I noticed that two of the Moonshine barrels are empty. Did raccoons really drink two barrels of 'White Lightning'? How is that even possible?

Finally finding the ladder I heave it over my shoulder and bring it to the tree Jr stuck in. "There you go big guy one extra long ladder. Reinforced to hold your fat ass too." I joke. A small smile on my face as he climbs down from the tree.

"Ha Ha laugh it up baby cheeks at least I look like a man. Y'a look like you're still in high school!" he laughs. I laugh along as his feet finally touch the ground.

"Well yeah I graduated a year ago. I'm going to look like I'm in high school for a while." I chuckle rubbing the back of my neck "Hey listen...I'm sorry I was late today I know how much this still means to you. I promise it won't happen again" I apologize. The still used too belong to his father after all. And before that his grandfather. His family has been making moonshine here for generations.

JR look down at me and laughs a big hearty laugh and put his hand on my shoulder." It's okay y'a idjit. What they got was for my personal stash, not the ones we'er going to be selling." he replied. JR might look like a bear but he has a kind heart. Willing to forgive almost anyone.

I laugh looking up at him. " If you say so. I just wanna know how they chased you up a tree! Your like six times their size!" I say. he looks at me with narrow eyes, taking his hand off my shoulder and crosses his arms.

"Any critter that can handle that much 'White Lightning' y'a better believe that I'm not gonna mess with him. Let alone 12 of thu'm." he replied I nearly lost it again at that exclamation of his.

I chuckle as I survey the steel. Seriously it look like a Civil War reenactment took place overnight "So what are we doing today?" I ask

"Well the little fuckers got into the corn meal supply. Meaning yours truly is going to have t'a run t'a town and get more" he replies the aggravation clear in his voice." If only you could magic some more here." he says with the snort.

"Listen I've told you that's not how magic works." at least not anymore." It's primarily used to influence nowadays." Which is true the more powerful spells from the past don't really work anymore.

"I still think it's a bunch of hooey" he replies. "Believing in something y'a can't see is ignorant thinking nowadays. In my opinion" he says picking up an empty bucket which was previously filled with corn meal.

I snort." Look you don't have to believe. I just find it fun to research stuff like that." I mean come on mystical powers that can influence the very universe itself? Who wouldn't want that?

"Even if it was real it would be too dangerous to use. The governments would use it as a mind control method or a weapon" he doesn't believe in outside forces but he believes in conspiracy theories. I don't know which one's worse. Believe there's a big man upstairs that controls everything or that the government putting chemicals in the water and making all the frogs gay.

" Yeah yeah yeah let's just get to work" I cut in knowing that this is just going to devolve into a argument between the two of us it's happened in the past. Though its was always in good fun.

"Ye'ah. Y'a probably right." and thus our day began.

"Hey Kyle...Have you seen my lunch tin?"

The sound of something falling and booming laughter echoed through the forest.

<~~~UWU~~~>
3 hours later.
<~~~UWU~~~>

"Well I believe that's all we can do for the day" JR says wiping the sweat from his brow. everything was straightened up from the now dubbed 'the great raccoon disaster' G.R.D for short, and we were able to 'harvest' three new barrels of moonshine.

"Yeah even though it was short it was a good day. At some points more than others." I chuckle

"Yeah laugh it up y'a idjit. Here's y'a pay from last week's batch" he says handing me over a hefty stack of bills.

I begin to count."JR this is more than my share." I tell him. Trying to hand back the portion that wasn't mine.

"Keep it" he says. pushing it back towards me"Think of it as a bonus for being such a good worker" he laughs

I hesitantly put it in my pocket giving a weak chuckle"If you say so..." just then my phone dings, fishing it out I noticed it's the notification I set yesterday for the post office so I wouldn't forget.

"Hey JR I gotta run by the post office and pick up a package. Is it okay if I go ahead and head out?" I asked glancing up for my phone.

"Y'a I don't mind, where finished here anyway. We can't really do much without corn meal. Damn raccoons." he mumbles. I chuckle as I had towards my car.

"Thanks man. You take care now!" I say waving over my shoulder. I hear a laugh.

"Alrighty y'a too. Just don't do anything I wouldn't do!" he yells with a laugh. I chuckle as I open my car door and hop in. Starting it up I headed back to town. Thinking all the while wondering what could be waiting for me at the post office.

I'm sure it's nothing too important.

end of prologue

Author's Note

Alrighty! Prologue. Is. Finished! I hope you guys like the introduction to this story. It's my first story so don't be gentle! Any mistakes you see tell me immediately so I can fix it. I've always wanted to write a fanfiction... I've read them for years and I finally decided to scratch the itch as it were. I know it was kind of short but this is just to introduce you to the main character, and you were able to see a snippet of what's in store for our protagonist. The ball should be rolling by next chapter as it were. Let me know how you enjoyed it, and if there's any way to improve my writing style. Again this is my first story so I'm kind of flying by the seem of my pants here. Any questions you all have I'll be happy to answer, "without spoiling the story of course."

Anyway thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully you enjoyed it enough to keep wanting more. I'll see you in the next chapter. Have a good day!...or night...

...you know depending on when you read this...

I'll just go now...