Joni Marks was born on May 28th, 1980, to Jonothan Sheppherd and Brenda Marks, just outside of Detroit, Michigan. The youngest of 2 children; her sister Meriam Sheppherd, a Kinfolk, is 5 years older than Joni. Both of Joni's parents were blood kinfolk of the Black Furies, though neither of them knew it. Jonothan's mother was never known to him; he was given up for adoption at birth, according to the records around his birth, and Brenda's father was a Child of Gaia, a male Garou, with the blood of the Furies in his veins. He died when Brenda was just barely out of diapers, and she never did learn that the stories she was told, about her father, were true.

Right from the start, things were bad for Joni. She was an unwanted child, conceived because of her fathers’ angry lusts. Angry at being laid off by the Ford plant he was working for, and had worked for the past 10 years. Believing that the job would last forever, he had not put any money away, and around the time of Joni's conception, they didn't have enough money to afford either birth control pills, or enough condoms to satiate Jonothan's desire. After a long day of searching for work (but what work could an uneducated line assembly worker find in an area that was full of uneducated line assembly workers, all looking for work?), Jonothan would come home, and felt the need to release his pent up frustrations somehow; Brenda was more than willing to have sex, if it meant he didn't hit her, or Meriam. (he had never laid a finger on her, in all their years together, but... other women got beaten by their husbands, so best not to take the chance)And so, unplanned, unwanted, Joni was conceived, and was born.

Was abortion an option? Almost; it was too expensive for them to afford, and Brenda was too frightened to try a home abortion. (stick a what up where? or drink what? are you serious?) As the months went on, and abortion became less and less of an option, a small seed of resentment grew in Jonothan and Brenda, for their unborn child.

It was probably only because of Meriam that Joni wasn't given up for adoption. Meriam, as soon as she learned there was going to be a new child born, became ecstatic, and no matter how angry or depressed Jonothan and Brenda were, just seeing Meriam play with her dolls, calling them "little Joni, little sister Joni", was a bit of a balm. Enough of a balm to have the parents put off trying to get money for an abortion for one more day, and finally, what tipped the balance between adoption and keeping Joni.

Meriam was more of a mother to Joni than Brenda was, for the first years of Joni's life. Brenda was there, but distant; Meriam wanted to be the mother, wanted to take care of Joni, and Brenda was more than happy to let her do it, even though Meriam was only 5 when Joni was born. Learning to walk, to talk, potty training, learning what was good to eat, and what she had to eat, tying her shoes, getting dressed, etc, was all taught to Joni by Meriam, with only minimal input from her parents, both of whom were working full time when Joni was 1, at two jobs each, just to make ends meet.

As she grew up, she was always one of the bigger girls in the class, usually the same size as most of the boys. And was always angry about something; even as a child, her rage was strong enough to scare her classmates, and her teachers. She was constantly being singled out by groups of her "peers", to be made fun of, and goaded into fights. Which always ended up being her fault; the teachers didn't trust her (she was always just a little bit off, compared to the rest of her classmates) and they were easily manipulated into believing it was Joni's fault, and that Joni had started it.

Which always brought Meriam down to collect her little sister, as Brenda and Jonothan were just too busy (and didn't really care enough) to be able to take Joni home after her incidents, which happened almost on a daily basis. It always brought a lecture from Meriam about turning the other cheek, about not answering their taunts with punches, and maybe if Joni would wear the dress to school, they'd be happier with her. For Meriam, who was the only person that Joni never got angry at, nothing would make Joni get angry with Meriam, for Meriam, Joni worked hard to turn the other cheek, and not to answer their taunts with punches.

But no force on earth could get Joni into a dress.

She hated them. Passionately. Not once has Joni ever willingly worn a dress, always preferring the toughness and the pockets of jeans, especially in her romps in the countryside. Whenever she could, she would steal away, into the small forests between the housing projects, (filled with the garbage that people know won't be taken away by the garbage trucks, and they don't want to pay to have it disposed of properly, so they're dumped where no one cares), which disappeared, one after the other, as the years went on, and more Joni's were born. She always knew, instinctively, what to touch, what to not to touch, what little wild berries might be good to eat, and what bright berries not to eat, etc. It was just second nature to her, she rarely had to think about it. And the ground beneath her feet just felt right. It was the way that life was supposed to be, in Joni's mind. Jeans, running shoes, and being alone in the forest, were all more real to her than anything other than being with her sister.

Until just before her teenage years, this was Joni's life. School for as little time as possible, home to eat as quickly as possible, and hopefully before Dad got home ( Dad hates you, even if he's too much of a coward to admit it), then as much time as possible in those little forests - pale shadows of the great forests of old, but large enough that in the middle, you couldn't see the houses surrounding them - then back home to sleep, in the bedroom she shared with Meriam. One double bed, for the two of them, growing up. Neither girl ever complained about it, so their parents never bought them separate beds. Even when Meriam started to change, physically, she still didn't seem to mind sharing the bed with her younger sister.

That changed when Joni turned 12. It was winter, and there were a few nights when Meriam didn't come home until late, and each time she did, she came home smelling different. It's not something that most people would notice, but when you share a bed with someone for your entire life, you notice those things. And Joni did. She also noticed that each of those nights, Meriam would either take a shower before going to bed ( if their parent's weren't home) or wear extra clothes to bed. Joni asked, Meriam just told her it was nothing, and to go back to sleep. Gradually, Joni came to realize that each night that Meriam was out later, and came home like this, she was always, always out with her boyfriend, a big brute of a boy who's only redeeming quality seemed to be the fact that he didn't beat Meriam. That and he was good looking, or so almost all the girls said. Joni didn't think so; he was taking Meriam away from Joni, and that was wrong in Joni's books. Meriam was Joni's, not his...

Joni was the first to accept what happened, even before Meriam. Joni watched as Meriam started throwing up in the mornings, outside if their parents were home, in the bathroom if they weren't. And Joni was the one who noticed that Meriam was more distracted than usual, and resisted the normal cuddling that the two of them often did, when it was colder out. Nothing sexual, just enjoying each others company, offering the silent comfort of a hug after a long day, or a bad day, all things that Meriam had been open to before, but now, shied away from. It was Joni who noticed that Meriam was more irritable, more snappish, than ever before, and always looked like she had more on her mind than she should have.

Joni was the one who finally figured out that Meriam was pregnant, and was the only one, at first, who accepted it without question. Unlike Jonothan and Brenda, who went through the roof when they finally found out, almost 7 months into the pregnancy. The fifth and six months were the hardest for Meriam; her smaller body, slightly smaller at age 17 than Joni at age 12, did not help her hide the pregnancy. If she didn't take measures to hide it, at 5 months, she was showing. At 7 months, there was no way to hide it anymore, and the parents found out.

Was it Coincidence? Was it Fate? Was it Pegasus, looking out for one of hir's lost children? Was it Luna stepping in, and saving one of her kinfolk with a Freebooter arriving in the area just a week after Meriam was kicked out of the house, and onto the streets, at age 16, 7 months pregnant? Maybe. Maybe it was just a coincidence... but one week after Meriam was thrown from the house, banished by both parents for being a slut, and a whore, Clarice Tosopolous arrived in town for a night, staying at a local motel. The same motel that Meriam was staying at, with money that she had saved, and that Joni had taken from her parents. Coincidence...?

Gaia works in mysterious ways. Clarice was introduced to Joni by way of breaking up a fight; several of the boys in the neighbourhood had started to pick on Joni because of Meriam, and Joni had lost it, attacking them, and doing a fair bit of damage to them before they had started to fight back in earnest. No matter how good Joni was, she wasn't good enough to take on all 3 of them, and after a few minutes, the tide of the fight turned, until she was knocked to her knees just as Clarice turned the corner, with a small bag of groceries.

It was an easy thing for the Theurge to do, scaring off the 3 boys, and then leaning down to take a look at the injuries on the kinfolk girl, an unexpected find in this backwater town. Right from the beginning, Clarice liked Joni. "Why'd you scare'em off, lady... I coulda taken'em..." was the first thing Joni ever said to Clarice, and Clarice just chuckled, and carried the girl into her hotel room, to take care of the wounds. It was here that Joni explained to Clarice why Joni was here, and about her sister; even Joni found it strange that she felt so comfortable with the new woman, but she did.

Or maybe it was the labrys. In retrospect, that was probably more of the reason for Joni trusting Clarice, stronger than just Clarice being a woman. It was one of the first things that Joni noticed, in Clarice's room, the ancient double headed axe, leaning against the wall, out of sight unless you were in the room itself. Clarice noticed Joni's interest in the axe (it would be hard not to notice; Joni had never been subtle in anything, and this was no different), and made an off the cuff remark that Joni might be able to have one, when she grew up. No concrete promises, just the statement that when Joni grew up, she might be able to have one. That is likely what opened Joni up to Clarice, and made Joni feel she could tell Clarice everything.

Two weeks later, Clarice was gone, and Meriam left with her. Left behind, unknown to anyone but Clarice, was a kin-fetch spirit, to watch over Joni. Clarice performed the ritual, knowing when Joni had been born (and some quick research to find the moon phase), delaying the rituals for a night of the full moon, when she performed two rituals in the evening; the first ritual, Baptism of Fire, on Joni, a less magnificent ritual than would normally be, but the Veil had to be protected here as well. Then secondly, when Joni had been sent home for the night... then soothe the scars on Meriam, purging her of the small bit of taint that had started to fester within her, as the father of her child and her parents all cast her away, leaving her alone, and resentful. Clarice revealed to Meriam who and what she was, and the next day, the two of them left for a Black Fury controlled sept in Illinois.

Meriam's leaving didn't help Joni's attitude any. More and more, Joni became resentful of her parents, who she blamed for casting her sister out, and the arguments began. Many of them started by Joni; subtlety was never her strong point, and was even worse when she was younger. After a few months of the arguments, the same ones, over and over, something snapped in Jonothan, and for the first time, he raised his hand, and smacked Joni. In all her 13 years of life, and in all the years before that when Meriam was at home, Jonothan Sheppherd had never hit either of his daughters. But that changed in an instant. An open handed smack, but hard enough to break her jaw. It surprised the three of them - Brenda, Jonothan and Joni - enough that they all went to the hospital, together, and not a word was spoken about how her jaw had really be broken. The excuse given was that Joni, on one of her jaunts into the small forests, had fallen and broken it, landing hard on an abandoned car. The doctors in the emergency room didn't buy the story, but the way all 3 of them told it (or agreed with it, in Joni's case) convinced them not to waste their time in investigating it.

The broken jaw only bought the small family a month's peace, before the arguments started up again. Mostly over the way that Joni was now using the rulers at school to beat up the boys (and in one case, that earned Joni a weeks suspension, a girl) who were tormenting her and she couldn't answer their taunts, because her jaw was still wired shut. Had Joni simply stopped pushing... maybe life would have been better. But she was angry, and wanted her parents - the source of her anger - to feel it as well, and to punish them the way she thought they were punishing her. She pushed her parents to the brink, and each time a hand came up, she would point to her jaw, mockingly, and her parents would back down. But that didn't last forever; the wires had to come out sometime...

After the wires came out, life got a lot worse for Joni. Now able to talk again, and to spit out the cruel insults that she had been forced to keep inside for the months of the broken jaw, she spat them out regularly. And her father raised his hand again, but this time, when Joni pointed to her jaw, he didn't put it down. He hit her, with a fist, in her side. Then again, and again after that, only stopping when Joni had lost consciousness. Still enraged over the way his daughter had taunted him, all Jonothan did this time was carry Joni, roughly, up to her room (that huge, empty, lonely room...) and throw her in, on the floor, slamming the door, leaving her their to recover, and think about what had happened.

When Brenda got home, she found Joni on the ground, curled up, shaking like a leaf and crying, piecing together what had happened, and confronted Jonothan. The argued until late into the night, finally ending with Brenda coming up to tend to Joni's wounds, and spending the next three nights with Joni, leaving Jonothan alone in the master bedroom. It was three entire days before Joni could walk without pain, Jonothan had beaten her so severely. And Brenda stayed with her the entire time, nursing her through it.

The house was quiet for a few months after that; none of them could really believe what had happened. Jonothan had never been a really violent person, and while he still didn't like his youngest daughter, he had never dreamed of actually beating her the way he did. It scared him, almost as much because he did it, as because of the way he had felt when he was doing it; he had never realized just how deep his dislike for her ran. How much he wanted to punish her, for ruining their lives, how much he wanted her out of their lives, like Meriam, who wasn't planned either, but was at least a likeable girl. He found he missed Meriam, and now that Meriam was gone - no one knew where, not even Joni - he was left with his bitch of a daughter, a daughter who caused more pain and grief than any one had a right to cause. But he didn't hate Joni.

Joni's 14th birthday came and went, with more fanfare than was expected. It was almost as if Brenda and Jonothan were trying to make it up to her, trying to make things better, in a way. They even bought her a softball bat, hoping to get her more social, and more in touch with other kids. Joni readily accepted the bat, even though it brought with it the price of being around the other girls, who she openly despised.

The softball league turned out to be a great thing for Joni. She was easily the best in the league, stronger than almost any other girl, and definitely fiercer than any of them. Each game brought a new way to vent her anger and frustration, and, in a strange way, the same could be said for her parents, who attended every game, cheering her on louder than any other parent. It wasn't an over the top attempt to mend bridges with their daughter; they were actually using the games to vent their own frustration, yelling at other parents, at the Umpires, and generally being stereotypical bad sports parents.

The league ended in September, and for another month, things were well in the Sheppherd household. It almost seemed like the family would be getting along, for the first time, but that was not to be. By October, they were back at each others throats, and often times, Joni would disappear into the ever shrinking forests - by now, there were only 3 left, each of them too costly to clear for developers - too many car parts, too many mouldy mattresses, too many washing machines, dryers, fridges, etc, that would cost too much to cart away and dispose of "correctly" at this time, so they left them, and the forests. In there, she would swing that bat around, imagining it was that axe - Labrys, Clarice called it a Labrys - and what she was hitting were her parents, or the other kids at school, the girls who giggled and laughed at her clothes, the boys who were always making rude remarks to her, and about her. Each swing she took she imagined another one of them was being killed, and she was revelling in it.

In school, her grades started to slip. They had never been very good to begin with, but now, they were getting worse. Much worse. To the point of failing, and a conference was called with her parents, her teacher, and her. All involved knew it wasn't a good idea. They all knew what was going to happen. But the principle insisted on the meeting, even if he himself wasn't going to be there. And they all knew who had called it, and who wasn't going to be there.

The meeting was a disaster. It started well, calm, rational, polite, but the moment that the teacher suggested that maybe the parents weren't involved enough in Joni's education, sparks flew. Joni agreed wholeheartedly, throwing all the blame for her failing grades on her parents. Her parents threw the blame back on her, and on the teacher, who got upset over that, and lost her cool, yelling back at Jonothan. At the height of the argument, Jonothan snarled at Joni, and raised his hand at her. Immediately, and unconsciously, Joni pointed to her jaw, the same jaw he had broken with a slap over a year ago. And like the last time she had done that, Jonothan ignored it, balled a fist and swung at her. Only this time, Brenda jump in front of the fist, taking it herself. A heartbeat later, her teacher jumped in to try to subdue the enraged Jonothan, ending up being thrown over her desk and into the blackboard for her troubles, breaking her collarbone, and causing a slight concussion. Brenda managed to shield Joni from most of the blows before the teacher became the target, but not all of them. And the ones she took were hard enough to break several of her ribs.

What stopped Jonothan was Joni. With a bat. Clubbing him in the stomach, then to the side of the head, a blow that should have killed Jonothan instantly, but only knocked him out cold. Standing there, shaking in anger, victory, and fear, Joni stood over the unconscious bodies of all three adults, and howled her first howl, loud enough to attract the janitor, who immediately called the police, and all 4 of them were taken to hospital.

Jonothan was charged with 3 counts of aggravated assault, and plea-bargained the sentence down to 6 months in prison, as it was only his first offence. Joni was transferred to another school, and her records in the matter sealed. If only they could do that with the emotions at home.

Brenda became lonely without Jonothan; it was the first time, in almost 20 years together, that they had been apart for more than 2 days. After a week, the arguments started between her and Joni, becoming vicious in tone, but never breaking into actual violence, as Brenda was not able to pull up enough courage to hit her daughter, and Joni had a feeling, deep in her gut, telling her that hurting her mother, hurting a woman, was somehow wrong. But she wanted to; it was as if there were two angels on her shoulder, one telling her to hurt her mother, to make her suffer as Joni had suffered. A voice she had known for a long time, and had mostly resisted for a long time.

And the other, who councelled her to save her rage for the men who caused this pain. Her father. The principal. The father of her sisters’ child. The men who laid her father off, and who always made him work late, for little pay. And who did the same thing to her mother. That voice had only started to come around after Clarice had taken Meriam somewhere safe. It was a voice who Joni wanted to obey, but the other one was just so much more... enticing.

Finally, after 6 months, Jonothan was released from prison. It was Joni's 15th birthday. It was the last birthday she celebrated.

For the first time ever, Joni actually had people she would call friends. They kept her sane when her relationship with her mother - always a strange one, with her mother jumping in to save her one moment, and berating her, insulting her, and just making her life a living hell the next moment - flared up into almost violence. Three girls, and even a guy - a gay guy, everyone knew it, except him, but even he had to know - were at the house when Brenda came home with Jonothan. A much different Jonothan. Harsher. Bigger. Stronger. More dangerous looking than ever before. With just a look, he scared the 4 friends away, all stammering that they really had to get home for... anything at all.

As they fled, Joni confronted her father. "Just get out of jail, and already, you're trying to ruin the best thing I've ever had in my life, huh?"

Jonothan just smiled, a cold, calculating smile - a new smile, for him. "I missed you to, my dear." was all he said, before walking upstairs with Brenda. Then almost before the door was closed to their room, a stifled scream could be heard from Brenda... then sounds of the most passionate (violent...?) sex that Joni had ever heard from the room came, disgusting Joni, sending her fleeing into the night, after her terrified friends.

For months, Jonothan didn't utter a single angry word to Joni. He just turned the other cheek, with that cold, calculating smile on his face, answering all her accusations with a patient smile, and no accusations of his own. Meanwhile, Brenda seemed to retreat into herself. Joni knew what was going on, or thought she did. It was hard to try to tune out the sounds of Jonothan's vicious sexual attacks (it couldn't just be wild sex anymore, not the way Brenda would scream occasionally, and was often heard crying.) each night, and Joni started taking to wandering the forests, or what was left of them, alone most nights, just to get away.

Summer turned into fall, and Joni spent most of that time with her new friends, or playing softball, learning how to switch-hit, just to give the other teams a chance. The days were spent on the diamond, the nights either in the shrinking forests (only one left now, the others were bought and developed, now with low income housing, and all the crime that goes with it) or with the friends, who seemed to take an unnatural interest in her. Slightly unnatural, at least; no one else would approach Joni, except her friends. Who seemed normal enough.

Fall turned into winter, and Jonothan started insulting Joni again, subtlety. At first, Joni wouldn't catch the insults, but soon, she started to, and started throwing her own back at him. Which seemed to actually please Jonothan, and infuriated Joni. But he never raised his voice, or a hand against her, the entire time, just stinging with words, a fight she had no defence against.

Her grades started to slip again. Her teachers started to call her on the slipping grades, but her replies became more and more hostile, and more and more, her fantasies involved hurting them as well, male and female alike. The only thing that kept her from it was that small voice, counselling to wait until the men who had caused this could be targets, and leave the women alone. That alone is what kept her from rampaging through the school, with a stolen fire axe, killing all in her way, no matter how often that fantasy played itself behind her eyes.

Winter turned into the spring, and Joni's 16th birthday was fast coming up. The arguments between Jonothan and Joni became much more heated, and Brenda seemed almost a vegetable, existing only to be used by Jonothan. She didn't even work anymore, having quit both jobs she worked at, and just stayed home, in a robe, all day long. She never took part in any of the arguments, never said anything that wasn't vitally important, like "Dinner is ready." or "Why is the kitchen on fire?" (the latter being from a time when Joni tried to make herself dinner, and failed miserably), but nothing else, at all. If it wasn't for all the arguing with Jonothan, Joni might have noticed sooner, but she didn't. She was too busy focused on her next jab at Jonothan, trying to make him lose it again, so she could use her bat to defend herself again, so she could feel the power she felt when she stood over his prone body, and howled, in the school those years ago now. She wanted to make him give her a chance to do that again, it became almost her goal in life, nearing her 16th birthday.

May 28, 1996. 6pm. Scene: Brenda, sitting at the table, staring at 3 empty plates on the table. Jonothan, upstairs, in Joni's room, arranging things to make them perfect, but perfect for what? And Joni, out with her friends, choosing to spend this birthday learning how to drive a motorcycle, illegally.

-7pm. Brenda picks up a bread knife, a large, serrated knife, then sits down at the table again. Jonothan is still upstairs in Joni's room, still trying to make things perfect. Joni, driving a motorcycle, feeling more free than she had ever felt, in her entire life.

-8pm. Brenda very calmly cuts off her own left hand, seeming not to feel any pain from it. As she finally cuts through the last bits of skin on the other side of the bone, cutting her hand clean off (or as clean as can be, considering the knife is dulled to almost spoonlike dullness after it cuts the bone) Brenda collapses, dying of the blood loss. Jonothan comes downstairs, having finally perfected Joni's room. And Joni starts to drive home, with her friends, on the motorcycle.

-9pm. Brenda is dead, lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen table, knife still in her right hand. Jonothan is calmly watching TV in the living room. And Joni walks in the front door...

"Hello, our darling daughter." called Jonothan as Joni walked in. "Your mother has made us dinner; you had better go get yours before she's cold." he called, and laughed. Joni didn't pick up the meaning, and walked into the kitchen, then screamed as she saw her mother, dead on the table, in a pool of her own blood. Screaming hysterically, she backed up into the living room, where Jonothan was now standing, smiling at her, that cold, predatory smile. "Ah, too late for dinner? That's too bad. Guess that means you need to be punished..."

Joni was hysterical, and her first thought was to flee to her room, her territory. Just as Jonothan had predicted, and he followed her, chuckling, calmly undressing himself. In her room, Joni stopped dead in her tracks; this wasn't her room anymore. She didn't have whips and chains, and handcuffs, and... worse... in her room. Her room wasn't covered in white sheets. This wasn't her room anymore. As she turned to flee, her father stood there, naked, smiling.

"You're not going anywhere, my dear... your mother lasted longer than we expected, but in the end, she was weak, and needed to be replaced." the cold, predatory smile was there, in full effect. There was almost no lust at all in his voice, just... the sound of a predator playing with his prey. "Now, why don't you save all of us the trouble, and just strip down quietly? We don't want to hurt you any more than we need to, but sometimes... sometimes it's more fun that way."

Joni screamed again, and tried to rush out, seeing how her bat had disappeared from the room, but Jonothan stopped her with unnatural strength in his arms. "Ah ah ah, no escape. This is what you are here for, now. You resist us, that's fine. You won't for long." He let go, slightly, enough for her to twist away a bit, but then he grabbed onto her shirt, ripping it from her roughly, and tearing off her bra at the same time.

That shocked Joni for a moment; the shirt was denim, and the bra was a sports bra, meant to take some punishment, and her father ripped it with almost a casual motion? That was wrong. No one should be able to do that, but he did. And while that sunk in, he grabbed onto her, tearing her jeans off of her legs, literally lifting her off the ground as he tore.

When one of his fingers brushed ever so gently over her most private of areas, something inside her snapped. In an instant, she felt the pull of the moon on her, spurring her to action. Under the light of her birth moon, the rage so long suppressed came to the surface, and Joni shifted into a massive Crinos monster. In a full frenzy, she savagely tore into her father, only a shade off the taint of the Wyrm in herself, a taint that she had just thrown off... for the time being.

But the being that had been her father was much stronger, and faster than it looked. Her claws cut deeply into it, taking it by surprise for a moment, before it also sprouted massive claws, and attacked her back, cutting deeply into her chest, stomach and arms. Blood from both monsters stained the sheets of the room, and they continues to fight, tooth and claw, until finally, Joni, now a 9ft tall hairy harbinger of death and destruction, shoved both clawed paws into it's chest, and pulled sideways, tearing the monster in half. As it hit the ground, the ground started to burn, like it was burning her hands, and the monster melted away, partly, until only the skin and skull of her father was on the ground, looking up at her with a sneer in death.

Horrified with everything that had happened, Joni ran. Ran through the streets, heading for her forest, the only remaining safe place, not knowing how to change forms, just knowing she had to run, to get away from her home. People in the streets - not many, but some, like her friends, and some neighbours, screamed as she ran past, and ran away, yelling about the monster in the streets. Joni ran to the forest, but the forest seemed wrong now, and the only answer was to keep on running, to run faster, run faster on four legs, and by the time she stopped running, miles and miles outside of town, in the middle of a field of corn, a thin, black wolf collapsed, exhausted, frightened and confused, acting purely on instinct now.

In the morning, she woke to the sounds of surprise, as the farmer found a naked 16 year old girl asleep in the middle of his field. Her first thought was to attack, and she did, catching him with a blow that, had he been prepared for it, would have done nothing more than knock him back a few steps, but this time, knocked him out completely. Quickly, she stripped him of all the clothes that would fit her, and stole what little money he had in his wallet, then ran again, running in any direction but home.

A month later, Clarice found her. But that's for later...