Reality Not Fantasy

Part 2

The rest of the month went relatively smoothly. The police did close the case and called it an animal attack, especially since there wasn't another death. I wasn't surprised, though, in most werewolf mythologies, they could only shift on the night of a full moon. Other murders happened, of course, but none were related to the two culprits I was interested in.

I didn't see that mysterious guy again either, and just blew it off as a crazy homeless person spewing nonsense. It wasn't the craziest thing I heard from those guys. All during that month, however, I planned for the next full moon. It wasn't on a weekend, so I would be spending a weeknight in the park.

Which meant that I would be dead tired the next day. It wouldn't be the worst I've had to go through. I've spent many all nighters in the lab. My skills as a hunter could finally come into use for something more than the usual game. Though my usual game mostly consisted of deer and turkeys, I did kill a bear once, so I believed that would be enough for me to kill a werewolf.

At sunset, I left my work early to set up. I grabbed all my needed gear, like my hunter's roost, longbow and arrows, and my camouflage clothing, and packed it up in my car. I then set off for the forest the murder happened. Now that the case was closed, the forest would be open for visitors. Good thing this one wasn't a protected game reserve.

By the time I was pretty deep in the forest and set up my roost, it was night. Just in time, because now that it was night, the werewolves would definitely be out. I held my bow and notched an arrow, ready to shoot my prey. As I sat there I thought about werewolves and if these would be anything like what I read about. Just in case they were, I tipped my arrows in silver. Better safe than sorry.

About an hour into the night, I heard a rustling in the forest to the north of me. Because it was a full moon it wasn't entirely dark out, so I could see silhouettes of prey. I raised my bow and pulled back, aiming it in that direction.

The rustling stopped and I heard some directly behind me. I looked down, thinking that it couldn't get behind me. My blood froze when I heard claws scraping the bark of the tree behind me. I never used this against things that could climb, and it didn't occur to me that werewolves could.

Before I could even turn around, the straps were cut and the seat fell down, taking me with it. I was thankful I didn't mount it too high, and I landed fine. I got out and looked behind me, whatever knocked me out of the tree was gone.

Rustling could be heard from all around me now, and I was jumping around, trying to find the target. That's when it hit me, this was a pack of werewolves. I saw a glimpse of fur and fired an arrow at it, praying that I had hit my target.

Suddenly, something charged towards me at an alarming speed. I dodged it, but it reached out and grabbed my arm, knocking me to my feet. Before I could stand, I saw a shadow looming over me. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my knife before looking up.

The figure was tall, and definitely a werewolf. It glared at me with its cold yellow eyes while it licked its lips. It leapt at me, but I struck it with my knife. It yelped and pulled back. I quickly jumped to my feet and picked my bow back up, quickly notching another arrow.

The werewolf I struck had gone, but I stayed vigilant for the next attack. It came with another charge, this one from the side. I wasn't able to dodge and the beast slammed right into me, knocking my bow out of my hands again.

I hit the ground with a gasp and was unable to move, or breathe for that matter, because the beast was standing on me on all fours. Its feet were holding my legs down and its hands were firmly resting on my chest.

My hands were still free though, so I tried feeling around for my knife, but the werewolf moved in closer and snarled at me. I stopped moving so that it would get its disgusting breath away from my face.

I was defeated and closed my eyes, ready to meet my end. That was when I heard a terrifying scream, like something that an angry ape would make. The expression of the werewolf changed to terror and it quickly fled. I heard quick rustling in the forest all around me, sounded like the scream scared the rest of them too.

I slowly sat up and grabbed my bow, afraid of what made that scream. Soon, I heard slow footsteps coming towards me. I notched an arrow and aimed it in that direction.

"Don't worry, I'm not your enemy here." a voice said.

I paused, that was the voice of the "homeless man" I saw a month ago.

He didn't fully come into view and stayed in the shadow of the forest. "You can lower your bow, I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I was the one who saved you, so you should be thankful." he said.

I lowered my bow as he suggested and stood, taking a step towards him. But he took a step away from me. "You let out with that scream?" I asked him.

He laughed. "You liked it?"

"Can a human even make that sound?"

"Have you ever tried?"

"No, can't say I have." I replied.

"Then there's your answer."

He confused me and I didn't have any other questions to ask.

"So, why are you out here on a full moon?" he asked.

"To hunt werewolves," I replied.

He laughed loudly. "Really? I thought you were just suicidal. You don't hunt werewolves like that."

"How do I hunt werewolves, then?"

"You don't."

"Why not?"

"Because they are too strong. You should already know that answer by now, since you were almost killed by them."

I sighed. "Then I'll just have to get them when they're human."

He laughed again. "Good luck with that. Then you'd be a murderer."

"Not unless I send the police after them."

"With what evidence?"

"I'll have to gather that up."

"Good luck on that, no matter how much of a forensic biologist you are, you cannot convict them."

"How would you know?"

He took a step closer. "Because science cannot prove fantasy. These werewolves are nothing like what you read, trust me. Until you step back and look at this from a scientific view, your efforts will be for naught."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked him.

"You tell me, scientist. Now gather up your stuff and go home, because I won't protect you again." he told me and walked away.

I sighed. I wanted to stay, but after the terrifying encounter, I thought it would be best to heed the words of this strange man. I packed up my ruined roost and gathered up my arrows and walked back to my car. Loading it and driving home for the night.

I found it hard to sleep once I got home. The attacks scared me more than I thought, because every time I closed my eyes I saw the eyes of those beasts, which were scarier than the ones in my nightmare. The worst thing about my encounter was that I had to keep it secret. Everybody would think I was crazy or hallucinating. I should've brought my camera.

I made a note to bring one next time. Even though that man told me not to return, I had to. There had to be a way to catch these werewolves. And I would find out that way.