Howling at the Moon - [A Werewolf Adventure]

'Leave the Lost and Dead Behind' (Auron)

Dim artificial light filtered through the slits in my eyelids as I began to awaken. Tossed over on my side, I saw swift blurs of wolves running after another. What the heck?

I pushed myself up to a sitting position from the uncanny comfortable gossamer feeling of the grass. I'd have to tell mom about the nightmare I just had. It was the worst one yet. Fred, being killed right before my eyes. And Lore, he had come back.

Then, as I completely opened my eyes I came to the horrible, gut-wrenching realization that it was no dream. When I saw Fred's pale body and the other corpses of people I knew, I felt a sense of fear. Tears welled in the corners of my eyes, obscuring my vision from the scenes of mass murder and pain. 

I didn't understand it all. Why? What was the reasoning behind all this?

Then a wave of pain hit me, slamming my nerves. A throbbing, pulsing sensation in my head. I reached for the back of the head and felt warmth, something sort of thick and slightly viscose.

I pulled my hand back and stared at my blood covered palm. I cradled my head, trying to relieve some pain if any. Wait, wheres-.

"Tam! Jax!" I jerked my head around in search of them, my injury becoming something I was least worried about. I scanned the area in hope of their safety. Where's Darion? The last time I had seen them they were in the crowd when Lore and his clan moved on us. If I know my best friend, Darion had shoved Tamara and Jaxon somewhere safe away from all this. But I still needed to know they were safe. They could have been all I had left after tonight.

I mustered whatever strength I had left to try and stand myself up. In the process, I yelled out again, "Tamara! Jaxon!" as I struggled to a knee.

"They're fine." A familiar voice that made this day fifty times better despite the events that have occurred.

This wasn't the first time Darion had come to help me. Three years back, I was practicing my hunting skills. I was stalking a doe out in the forest where it was prohibited that we didn't. I was just about to make a move on it when I heard twigs break under the pressure of a foot and the pump of a gun, readying the trigger. I wasn't too young to know that hunters don't shoot a doe for game, it was illegal. He was out for me. Through the branches and leaves, I couldn't get an exact fix on the hunter. I had turned nearly twice in search for him when I heard a low growl followed by the yelp of a man. We were strictly instructed to not kill humans, but it was either his death mine. Before the hunter could pull the trigger, Darion leaped from the foliage and ended his life.

"Are you...Sure?" I got to both feet and rested my hands on my knees, smearing dark blood on my Levi jeans. I looked up at Darion who had blood seeping through his shirt from his left shoulder to the side of his chest. When he saw that I had noticed, he lifted up his shirt to reveal a bite mark on his shoulder. Blood had only fallen to his chest. Good, no fatal injuries there. 

More cries of pain and death surrounded us. I looked up and saw bodies of people who I didn't recognize and then the bodies of people I did: Myra and Neil who were the newlyweds and moving into their new house, Shane the restaurant manager, even Brake, the towns freeloading Siberian Husky. It lay on its side in a pool of its own blood, dead from an eviscerated throat.

"I'm positive, Auron, now let's get outta here," Darion said holding out his hand.

I looked past him and his outstretched hand and just as quickly as I had widened my eyes, they narrowed, watching the enemy in front of me. 

My canine teeth grew longer and sharper and my mouth formed into a snout with a wet nose. I grunted in pain as flimsy ears sprouted from the top of my skull. Grey, white and some black fur ran across the smaller form of my body.