The White Wolf in the Dark.

Chapter 6

Jayce stiffened up. He could feel his ears ringing, but he refused to move as if he were facing a T-Rex instead of a wolf. He thought for a minute; the only wolves in Missouri were timber wolves, so he could easily scare it off, he told himself. He turned around and, waving his arms to shoo it away, and said "Get out of here, go-!" 

He stopped when he realized the size of this wolf, which was chest high, and it was bright white. The wolf slowly stalked toward him, and Jayce backed up slowly. The wolf growled slightly, and Jayce turned and ran. The wolf jumped on him, and he could feel teeth sink into his side, ripping his shirt. Jayce yelled out in pain and reached for something to defend himself. He managed to pick up and thick log, and he swung it, hitting the wolf in the side of the head just as it had tried to bite his neck.

The wolf was hit to the side, and it bashed its head on a tree. Jayce turned and looked at it while he pulled himself to his feet. It looked disoriented, so Jayce turned and ran, deeper into the woods. As he sprinted, he could hear a howl behind him, but it was getting farther and farther away as he ran.

Jayce burst into his back door, slamming the door shut and locking it as if a wolf could open a door. He slowly walked upstairs, waiting for his mom to come to look for him, but she didn't. He looked into the driveway and seen their minivan was missing. She had probably gone to the store, he thought, so he went upstairs and took off his shirt.

The bite mark was deep, and it was bleeding a lot. He grabbed a towel and held it to the wound, wincing. Once he swabbed the blood away, he noticed a purple tint to the veins, which were snaking out of the wound a few inches.

He ignored it, decided it was probably an infection and he needed to clean it. So, he grabbed a bottle of peroxide and sat in a chair. He took three quick breathes and poured the bottle all over the mark, screaming in pain as it seared his chest. He panted, waiting for the stinging to subside, which took almost ten minutes. He squirmed in the chair, and grabbed the towel, wiping his chest again. Once he took a closer look, he noticed the purple had moved up almost a centimeter.

He shrugged it off, wincing as he moved. He pulled on another shirt and leaned against the back of the chair. He slowly let his mind relax, calming his heart beat. He slowly felt himself fall asleep in the chair...

He felt that heavy weight on his back, and fell forward, the ground rushing up to meet him. He felt the claws dig into his back, and he winced and yelped in pain. He tried to crawl forward, and he kicked back at the creature, but he felt an intense tearing pain go up his leg. He stood up and ran as best he could while limping, and he looked down to see the purple veins traveling up his shin as if the venom was trying to burn through his legs. He ran faster, but that was when a creature appeared in front of him, so fast he didn't have enough time to react. Before his eyes could focus, he felt the creature hit him in the head, and everything went black...

Jayce sat up. He was laying in the chair still, but it had been a few hours. He looked out the window and seen the minivan. His mom must have seen him in the chair and left him alone. He sighed and went to the kitchen. He needed food, he felt like he hadn't eaten in weeks. He reached into the fridge and took out a piece of ham, then he started to make a sandwich. Eventually, he finished and he ate it quickly.

He shook his head slightly, then held his temple. His head was pounding, so he went into the bathroom and took a few painkillers, then he went to his room. He laid down on his bed and went back to sleep as the pain in his head subsided.

When he woke up, he felt stiff and sore. He lifted up his shirt to look at the bite mark. His eyes widened, and he gasped. The purple veins had grown a lot, inching up from where it used to be at his right side, to reaching almost across his stomach and up his chest. He dropped his shirt quickly, starting to hyperventilate.

It was rabid. Yes, that's it. An albino, rabid timber wolf. That's double the size of an average wolf. I need to get this checked out, they'll give me some rabies shots and I'll be fine. Just a needle.

He walked downstairs and grabbed his coat, deciding to walk there. When he was about halfway to the hospital, he looked down at his feet. He thought about the dreams, the wolf, the bite mark, everything. He thought he was going insane like everything was just his imagination and he was really sitting in some asylum with padded walls everywhere and maximum security.

That's when he noticed, he was walking. He was actually walking, not limping. He stopped walking. His leg felt fine. Just the night before he was struggling to walk in a straight line, he had only made it back home by pure adrenaline. He started walking again, and he felt a slight pain in his temple again. He walked a bit faster. It was only about half a mile away now, he thought. With every step his heart beat faster, his head pounded harder, and his mind raced more.

As he walked into the hospital, he could feel a searing pain across his chest. He dropped to his knees and screamed, it felt like someone had just stabbed him in the chest with a handful of needles. A few nurses rushed over, and he could feel his mind starting to blur. Before he blacked out, he heard one of them say "What's this on his... Oh my god..."