The Story Of The Beast With The Four Dirty Paws

Full Moon - Morning

Remington awoke with a gasp, sitting up as he tried to catch his breath.

Holding a hand over his heart as he steadied his breathing, he noticed he was somewhere new. He scanned the area around him in bewildered glances.

It was a part of the forest he didn't recognize. Tall oaks and pines loomed around him, buds of flowers broke through the warm soil in the early spring, and the occasional litter was strewn around.

Remington realized he was lying on top of a moss covered log, disturbing the track of a colony of ants. He crawled away from them, wincing as his body ached from the movement.

His clothes were strangely dirtied and torn, as if he had spent the night running through the forest.

He rolled his head, but instinctively reached out to his shoulder as it produced a sharp bout of pain, seething. He pulled his shirt down to get a better look.

Small nicks and impressions trailed down and around his shoulder, terrifyingly reminiscent of an animals bite mark.

Remington gulped, trying to get a better look, when the incisions started to grow pale. He could swear he saw the sunlight wash away the markings, and in seconds, his skin was clear like nothing had ever been there before.

His eyes widened, and he slapped his face a few times to regain his composure, glancing as far as he could down his back desperately and returning to his collarbone.

He shook his head, astonished couldn't describe the shock he was feeling. It was just there... He didn't know if he could trust his eyes anymore.

He exhaled shakily, rubbing them, but then he noticed that the litter next to him wasn't just any litter. He moved closer, making out the words of the packaging of raw steak.

Remington looked around, seeing similar packages with their contents missing tossed around him in a circle, torn apart like a dog had come at them. He looked back at the package, the logo of the store nagging at him.

The blurry sight of the neon sign overwhelmed his thoughts, plunging him into a fuzzy memory.

It was dark and cold as he ran, sprinting across the forest floor with an aching emptiness in his stomach. He followed the thump of hooves that retreated from him in a hurry. As he came close to catching the silhouette he chased, lights blinked in between the trees.

He froze in their appearance, distracted away from the silhouette that escaped him, and entered into the newfound clearing. He cautiously made his way towards them.

A brightly lit complex stood in front of him, surrounded by rocky ground and large vehicles. He checked around in curiousity, and as he glanced at one of the walls of the building he came face to face to a distorted creature.

He yelped and scurried away from it behind one of the vehicles, but saw it right in front of him once again as he looked at the black vehicle across him. He growled at the creature, baring his teeth, but it reciprocated. He tried batting at it, but the effort was futile as it mimicked the action, and he gave up, letting out a soft warning bark.

He was turned away from the stand-off when his ears picked up on muffled conversation, that became louder as it neared him.

He shied away to the back of the vehicle he was hiding behind, and saw a lady and a man coming towards where he was, their words seeming foreign to him.

He hid away as they came close to him, but peeked out when he heard them leave to the front of the car, a click resonating.

He cautiously edged around the corner to glance at them, and saw they had left a full cart next to him. He caught an enticing scent coming from it, and sniffed at it carefully, nipping at a plastic holder with his teeth. He managed to dislodge it and grabbed a couple in his mouth, when he heard the voices nearing once again.

He scampered away from them, disappearing into the woods, leaving the glaring lights and words of the disgruntled couple behind him.

Remington snapped back down to earth, holding his head as a pounding headache hit his head.

The stimulated memory had also reminded him of the few moments that he remembered before he had blacked out last night, of the unnatural spots stretching across his collarbone, with a glow that seemed to reach towards the moon...

He whimpered, blanching as he put two and two together. He covered his face, not wanting to believe whatever the hell he had just remembered. It was just insanity to believe it, it must have been some kind of trick of the eyes, or a crazy lucid dream, or anything else that could explain it, anything other than this. But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed real, and the more his unease grew.

His head turned to the whirr of a car engine passing by near him, was there a road nearby? He looked hopefully, and struggled to get to his feet, almost collapsing from the weakness.

He managed to gain his balance, and staggered in the direction of the sound he had heard. What should've taken fifty seconds, took him five minutes to reach.

He finally found himself on the side of a road. A car whooshed past him, and in the split second that he glimpsed his reflection he saw he looked battered and filthy. He looked, to put it simply, like shit.

He spotted a sign just across him, and made out the words "Highway 308". He sighed in relief, recognizing that he knew how to return, and made his way back, trudging home.

~ ☀️ ~ ☁️ ~