Chapter 2

The night air was still and quiet. The sun had long ago dipped away to rest and yet the moon was bright and full. Its rays reflecting light and shadows across the greater Wolferton Valley area. It was that time when all manner of insect and bug or even small animal had found a private spot to rest.

As Gabe walked home the sound of his sneakers slapping the sidewalk was the only thing breaking the quiet late summer air. Gabriel decided to take his normal shortcut thru the high schools lacrosse field. It wasn’t really allowed at night, but it would take off at least fifteen minutes from his route home and no one had ever caught him. Plus it was so nice out.

The school was completely dark. Gabriel had never seen it like this before. There were normally some lights, on for security. But he couldn’t recall if he had been to the school this late at night either. The lack of lights made the layout of the grounds a bit confusing even with all the moonlight. It take Gabe maybe the better part of an hour to find his bearings and locate the “shortcut” to his street.

The grass on the field was wet. Why was it wet? There hadn’t been rain in days and Gabriel knew that the school didn’t use the old sprinklers. Dean Wells had installed astro turf years ago. It didn’t really make a difference to him, but Gabe had heard so many of the guy of the lacrosse team bitch about it. About how it didn’t feel the same when they had cleats on. Gabe knelt and reached out, touching the ground. He looked at his hand, but couldn’t make out what the liquid was. A small cloud had suddenly passed in front of the moon, blocking its bright light and shrouding the field in darkness. The wetness was much warmer than the cool night air, but Gabe couldn’t see what the liquid was. He fumbled for his phone in his pocket. Struggling to turn the light on, his heart was pounding in his chest, his hands shaking. Gabe couldn’t tell what the dark liquid was. Finally, the cloud moved and the field was lit up brightly.

He needed to blink for a moment as the sudden glare had blinded him. With his vison clearing, Gabriel looked down at his hand, and saw a horror. Is that, was that? Yes it was blood. His hand was coated in warm fresh dripping blood. The smell of the blood now filled his nose. It overwhelmed him. It was metallic and grassy. Gabriel shuddered as his body ran cold.

“Gggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr”

The growl was very low and chilling. Every single piece of his body froze in place. Terror gripped his heart and squeezed. Scared to move, Gabe slowly shifted only his eyes up. There across the field, hiding in the edge of the shadows, Gabriel could just barely make out a figure, a shape. It was like a dark cloud of shimmering terror. He could very clearly make out a pair of bright red eyes. Eyes that looked like two hot pokers from hell, staring at him as the thing continued to growl.

Gabriel knew that as long as he remained still, motionless, unmoving he was safe. But the primitive part of his brain, the flight part of flight or fight part. The scared part of his mind, turned small rabbit, forcing him to bolt. Logic brain screamed no, trying to force his legs to stay still. His feet took off and he ran. He heard his mouth open as Gabe screamed with a mix of rage, terror and fear. From the corner of his eye Gabe saw the thing take off after him. And he thought he could have sworn he heard the thing chuckle.

With one or maybe two steps Gabriel found his full speed. Then as quickly as he found his track speed he lost it. His left foot came down, landing full speed on a patch of that blood wet grass, causing Gabe to stumble down and hard. With the first bounce he lost his grip, his phone spinning out far from his body. The camera light finally coming on. As it spun it strobed flashes of light toward the creature.

Time seemed to slow as the monster approached Gabe, his eyes focused on the blood covered fur and claws. Gabe didn’t believe what he was seeing. The thing was standing just under six feet tall, but hunched over making him taller, he was barefoot but wearing tattered jeans and a shredded polo shirt. He, it, the thing slashed at Gabe as he tried to defend himself. Gabe felt the sharp claws rip into his flesh and his blood soak his clothes. He wailed and thrashed trying to fight for his life. Gabe got a few good kicks in before he felt the things teeth sink into shoulder. Pain coursed thru his body and every nerve was lit on fire. The beast pulled away, coughing and spitting. Gabe started to black out as he could feel his blood squirt across the side of his face. Darkness consumed his vision, but with his last few moments of consciousness Gabe looked up at the thing. Having let go of Gabe the thing turned its face to the moon and mirror reflection of the Wolf’s Head comet on the other side. And it howled!