The Animal Inside

Slugs of Silver

Flames shot from the end of his gun. The sound was deafening. My ears rang with agony. The burning powder flew from the barrel, singing my cheek. I clutch my face and let out a cry of pain. I look back at my new found protector, as I do a hulking shape descends rapidly onto his back.

     "Look out!" I yell. "There's one behind y--"

     "Arghhhhh!"

     "This can't be happening, this just can't be happening to me!" I think, my thoughts racing in dizzy circles, but when I looked down at him, I was met by a sight I wasn't prepared for...

     Long snapping jaws, soaked in thick dripping blood.

     His gruff fingers gripping tufts of matted fur holding back the vise-like jaws, preventing them from clamping down on his throat.

     Still gripping his hefty revolver, he slid his hand into the great creature's mouth, and fired a shot into the back of its throat. The shot splattered blood and brain matter all over me as it blew a hole in the back of the creature's skull.

     The body quickly goes limp as life leaves it.

     It is at this point i finally get a good look at one of them for the first time. Its eyes were a thick yellowy cloud, each with a dark shining pupil, glinting at me, evil even in death. The thick hide was matted with grey-black fur, sticks and leaves clinging thickly to its pelt. The fore limbs were long and lean, inhuman, but with elongated clawed hands, thick fingers with heavy pads for running on. The back legs were like that of a dog, but massive, with a paw as wide as my face. Hooked claws protruded from the paws, shining wickedly in the moonlight. A thick, woolly tail curled around the creature's hind leg. Even when the creature was long dead, I was unable to look away from it.

i can hear the sounds of a struggle not far off, he had obviously moved on and was in the throw of battle yet again.

howls, yelps and the bellows of these monsters filled the cool night air, cutting me to the bone.

     standing there peering down at the corpse i suddenly had a freezing chill ran down my spine, and a thick rotten smell flooded my nostrils. I felt this awful feeling of despair filling me as I came to the horrifying conclusion that there had to be one right behind me. Even knowing that, I found myself turning ever so slowly, my shoes squeaking on the spongy wet moss carpet of the forest.

     To my terror, I was right.

     when i am turned about, i am eye to eye with a massive beast.

     Saliva drips from long, sharp, yellowed teeth. The ripping, tearing growl that comes from it is deafening. I feel my blood freeze over in my veins. I vaguely feel my pants get warmer as urine runs down my leg collecting in my shoes.

     "This is it. This is how I die," I think to myself.  

     It was at that moment that it lunged forward, springing at astounding speed. it was on me in an instant. The wind was knocked from my lungs as I was tackled to the forest floor. My life ran past my eyes in that moment as its jaws closed about my throat. My breath gurgled weakly, and I look up in desperation, frantically longing to see my savior once again standing there, gun in hand...But he wasn't. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, running towards me, but I knew in the pit of my heart that he wouldn't make it in time to save me from this horid fate that awaited me.

     My eyes found the sky, gazing up as I watched the clouds float past.

after a few moments the moon emerged from behind the low lying clouds. My shoulder and neck burn so intensely I just wanna die already. The monster is thrashing, tearing at me. whimpering, begging death to come swiftly to save me from this agony.

i would give anyhting for the pain to just end, to drift off into nothingness. but death did not come for me, he ignored my pitiful pleas for mercy.

     Then I feel it.

     The burning fades into a pulsating throb. It spreads down my neck and arms, my spine and to my feet. with every beat of my heart, the heat spreads throughout my body.

  My skin grows tighter, like a drum being tightened. Every muscle in my body is tensing up into tight knots. I feel my jaw pop and snap out of place as if my skull can no longer house it. I can hear my bones breaking, with sickening cracks as they shatter and fragment like splintering saplings in the wind. My hands claw at the ground to find purchase. My feet slide on the wet moss, then--then the fun really begins.

my teeth tear through my gums as they rapidly grow like spear points tearing through canvas.

     I feel my shoes beinning to rip at the seems.

     My fingers pop from their sockets and rotate as if being pulled by some unseen torture device.

     My shoulders shift back, i can feel every single musce fiber swells and engorge in blood as my muscles bulk up about my neck and down my back.

     Tension builds like coiled steel, muscles contort like serpents slithering beneath my skin.

as suddenly as it began, the agony came to an end.

I feel no pain, no cold, no fear.

     Only anger.

     And I see only red.

A primal scream tears forth from deep in my soul, clawing its way out of my throat. Then, it turns to a throaty howl. In a flash, I rip the creature off my neck. I throw a left hook up under its chin. As my fist connects, I hear the sharp crack of knuckle on bone. The creature is snarling and spitting blood, undoubtedly my own, as it swipes at me.

but his futile attempts at goring me were to no avail, in my new found vigor this beast didn't stand a chance against my limitless thirst for retribution.

     I grab the massive head, and bite off its ear, snapping and tearing as I try to get a grip. My claws cut deeply into its skin about its face. I feel a certain satisfaction to hear the howls of pain fill my ears as my mouth fills with warm thick blood. My teeth find flesh and sink deeper and deeper into it, taking in the unique taste.

     The whimpers are silenced as the air is stopped in its throat. I can feel its life slip away, but my anger is unstoppable, continuing to claw and tear the corpse limb from limb.

     Instinctively, I stop, sensing an adversary behind me. With no sign of warning, I pounce.

     My clawed feet find hold. My jaws almost clamp down, but before they make contact my eyes meet those of the heavy-coated figure. Looking down I see a blade in his left hand.

"Oh christ, I knew you'd be turnin' soon, but I coulda never guessed it'd be this quick, or that you'd be this wild." His voice cuts the cool air. He cackles at himself, and before I know what is happening a rope is tightened around my neck.

     I growl and lunge for the man, but the rope pulled tight from behind me, and more ropes are thrown around my arms, pulling them back. My legs are pulled from beneath me, and I fall to the ground, rolling around as I am tangled up in the cords.

there must be a dozen other men, just like this one who had come from the shadows and were now binding me.

     The man just stands in front of me and laughs as he lights another cigar with a match. By the light of the flame his face is illuminated against the dark sky, and I see him clearly for the first time. His face is rough and weathered, four long scars running down his right cheek. His teeth are yellowed and cracked. His eyes glow like the end of his cigar in his hand.

     He lifts a heavy leather boot into the air and brings it down on my face hard.

With this my sight bleeds into a inky black and all sense of time was lost.