A Tale of Fur and Fangs: The Facility (working title)

Chapter 1: Dr. Sullivan

 The night was harsh and cold. As the stars shone down on the snow-covered mountainside a lone figure sprinted through the trees, panting and breathless. There was a wild fear in its eyes as it ran headlong through the brush, not daring to look behind itself to check for pursuers. A sharp pain was burning in its side, yet it pressed through this, the danger of its current predicament spurring it onward. It was dark, however, and the ground was heavily laden with snow. It was this blanket of frozen down which hid the up-raised root that snared the fleeing figure's foot.

The dark form stumbled over the thick protrusion and fell flat. Before it had time to get its limbs under itself it was beset upon by a much larger and much darker figure.

"You thought you could escape?" asked the larger figure as it restrained the smaller's arms. It's voice was a deep, rumbling growl that reverberated slightly in its throat. "I am 'The One Who Hunts'. None escape once I am loosed upon them." Roughly, he wrestled the smaller figure to a standing position. "Come." he commanded. "We're going back to The Facility. If you're lucky they'll just kill you for the trouble you've caused."

Stricken by a sudden panic, the smaller figure lashed out at the larger. While kicking and biting, it tried to wrench free from the iron grasp of its captor. "No! I won't go back there! I'd rather die than go back! You'll have to kill me, you monster!"

An evil grin spread across the darker figure's face. Just then a cloud shifted, and moonlight reflected from the blanket of snow to reveal the larger figure as a creature of nightmares. It was larger than any man and unnaturally thick with muscle. Covering its musculature was not skin, but rather a black and tan-colored, shaggy mass of fur. It's head was distinctly canine in form, massive and resembling that of a scarred and evil Saint Bernard, however it stood on two legs like a man and had fur-covered hands with clawed fingers in the place of a set of paws. The grin on its cannid face glowed with a large, pearlescent expanse of pointed teeth. "As you wish." came the foul voice of this creature. The other figure cried out as the snow beneath it was sprayed with crimson.

* * *

The monstrosity carried the corpse of its victim back to the compound from which it had fled. After yelling a few obscenities at the guard and identifying himself, the creature was allowed inside with his quarry. The compound was as non-descript as one might imagine. There were several small barracks-style buildings as well as what seemed to be a central sheet metal building that lacked any name, insignia, or other identifying marker. Aside from those few structures and several guard shacks littered about, the base was wholly barren. The fence around the compound was chain link in design and topped with razor wire with a wheeled gate that could be opened and closed to allow vehicle access. The monster walked up to the central sheet metal building, leaving a trail of blood as he went. He carried his limp prey in a fireman's carry across his shoulders as he kicked open the side door and passed through the threshold.

Inside of the seemingly ordinary warehouse a man in a white coat stood waiting for him with a stainless steel gurney and an expectant look upon his face. The hulking brute slammed the figure onto the gurney causing the man in the coat to jump back a pace.

"Damn you to seven hells, dog!" yelled the man when the lifelessness of the creature dawned on him. He fumed as he examined the corpse that was now oozing the last remains of its death-thickened blood. The corpse was much like its murderer in its lack of humanity. It had the physical shape of a man, but rather than having the same thick fur which covered the dog-man, this creature had a short and dense white coat that covered it tip-to-tail. It also had large curved horns on its head, two long cloven fingers, and its horizontal pupils gazed lifelessly from its dull eyes. After examining the large bite wound on its neck the man in the coat whirled on the muscular monstrosity next to him.