Feral Moon

[VampiricTouch]

Lakeview really was a picturesque place. The hills that flanked the town made a beautiful backdrop as the forest extended its reach to fill the valley. True to it’s name, the other side of town was perched against a small lake and was once the favorite getaway for an outdoor lover. Times since then have changed.

The town was dead. The shops had long since been boarded up and the window panes smashed through. The roads that led into town were soon left forgotten, and as the years went by, nature had taken its toll.The wooden signs that once read “Welcome to Lakeview” were quickly overtaken by foliage and the people there had fled, taking with them the lustre of the small secluded community. Those that remained were either killed... or turned.

And abandoned.

They were all abandoned. What was left of the framework was ugly but solid - just like those that were left behind.

She could smell the reek of blood in the air, having followed their rampage for food. They’d hit the town several miles out from Lakeview. Despite the distance, it was still perhaps the closest bit of civilization to their makeshift home.

It couldn’t be helped. Not when half of the pack was ravenous. It was during these times when the curse of their condition was forced upon them that the the change drove them wild. The virus pulled them closer towards the baser instincts that had now become a part of them. These moments when they were lost in the haze of hunger were dangerous. It didn’t matter who or what they fed upon. Fresh meat was all the same whether it was from fowl or deer, man or were. They were monsters.

So was she.

She was just like them. Waking from her own rampages to find her paws soaked with blood and the air so filled with death she could smell nothing else. There was a time when she was sensitive to death, shaken by the loss of life. Those times were long gone. The virus had made her calloused.

Winter months were looming ahead and with wild game scarce and dwindling, the hungry pack expanded their hunting grounds to the local towns. After all, unwary humans were just as easy - if not easier - to pick off.

It was only a matter of time before they came to hunt the pack, and it came as no surprise to her now. The company laptop she’d taken had proven to be immensely useful for tracking such events.

The laptop clicked shut under the gentle press of a finger tracing over the company sticker - Howlette Genetics Incorporated - plastered to the top. Scrawled there was her name, Michelle Chang, a name that must've already been forgotten and left behind. The laptop was an old outdated piece of shit, but it was the only tie she had left with the corporation that she once belonged to... the corporation that now hunted them.

It was a small blessing that her name was still on the servers and as long as she had an internet connection, she had scant access to major corporate dates, plans... and hunts. It was a small measure of security for her pack.

She packed the PC away, knowing she’d need to find another place to steal internet once authorities noticed the family of three plus several neighbors were missing.

She stretched lazily, her eyes drifting to the floor length mirror standing across the room. The reflection depressed her, reminding her of the past, of her humanity, of her name, Michelle. She had once been proud of her body, but now, her reflection showed a canvass of scars. A deep set ‘V’ stood between her breasts, coming full circle to ring about her neck and claw marks clustered about both hips, stretching upwards to stand against her ribcage to mar an otherwise toned body. The only thing untouched by the virus was perhaps her hair. There was a small aspect of order in the straight black hair kept meticulously clean despite what she had now become.

Her reflection scowled and the table lamp went flying to shatter the mirror. Dispelling with it the gloom it’s reflection had brought her.

Life moved on. She couldn’t afford to wallow here now.

Her change was quick and ugly. The distorting of even facial features as her face become obscured was reflected in the broken pieces of glass. The black fur that sprouted to densely cover her skin was accompanied by the crackle of bone as cartilage shifted beneath her skin. Dropping to all fours she picked up the laptop bag and padded out of the house.

Those that came to hunt followed her lead, dragging with them the kills they’d made.

Their destruction was minimal. Their purpose had been to feed, leaving most properties untouched save for the occasional spills of blood. The edge of hunger had been eased making the group far less reckless as they recognized the dangers of loitering too long

They had long outstayed their welcome.

 

[poohlive]

Randall lived for the hunt. There was a certain mindset he fit into as he stalked his prey that transformed him. He imagined himself as some ancient warrior of times passed, a neanderthal in hides with a spear going to battle the elements of nature.

And that was the best part of the hunt, wasn't it? To stalk one's prey and endure whatever shit mother nature throws in your way. Randall lived for these moments.

"We've got movement, three o'clock."

Randall had set himself up against a tree, his camouflage armor blending him somewhat into the background. He imagined he wouldn't be safe her for long, they would see him.

He searched for a better position, crouching down and settling back against a rotting log. He turned off his radio. They were telling him the positions, but even that small amount of sound might give him away.

He couldn't let them have a single chance. Damned wolves would tear him apart if they could. No, he would lie here on the ground as quiet as a church mouse, until they were right on top of him.

He held his breath when he heard a twig snap. The forest all of a sudden grew silent, as if the silence itself were some weight coming down over him. It was like the forest itself knew what was about to happen, nature delighted in finding out who would win this match.

Silence and nothing.

Deadly... so deadly around him right now. The tension cut through him, making his hands shake. As adrenalin started pouring into his system, he tried to stop himself from doing anything.

Instead, his mind raced over the hundreds of things which could be wrong at this very moment. Doubt turned to panic inside of his head, sweat pouring over his brow, stinging his eyes.

Then he heard a grunt and a cough. Just behind him, not more than ten feet. He heard the soft steps of careful feet upon the ground. Lithe. Just above a whisper.

Silence broken.

"Now!" Randall shouted as he stood up. He aimed the shotgun at the first thing which moved in his line of vision. When he squeezed the trigger a large silver mesh net flung from the barrel.

Randall didn't see what happened, he ducked down before the fight could even register in his brain.

There was shouting, smoke, more gunfire and a feral sound of pain and anger.

Randall closed his eyes at all of this, smiling.

He lived for the hunt.

Randall loaded the net-shotgun and rose up once more.

 

[VampiricTouch]

The raid that had been dated on the calender made her uneasy. Not knowing time or location only made it worse.

She hated waiting for things to happen.

The agitation wore on her, making her skittish, further wearing on her patience. But it was the nagging agitation that saved her when the trees exploded with action. She dropped the laptop as she leapt out of the way. The silver shimmer of the Howlette net narrowly missing her as it closed over another. Michael was a greedy one that insisted in hauling the entire corpse back to Lakeview. A decision he was certain to be regretting now as the weight of his prize slowed him down.

Her snarl rose over the crack of gunfire that filled her ears, bearing down on the nearest man as she knocked his shotgun aside and her jaws closed about his neck. She flinched as the gun misfired, her jaws tightening even more to snap the neck between her teeth. She could hear her captured pack-mate whimper as the silver weave singed his fur and burned his mouth in his struggle to gnaw through the net.

She released the dead, the shrubs that had served as his cover now served as hers. Black fur melted wonderfully into the night. She went after the flash of motion of a man rising over the tree line, and she hit him hard. It was a bruising impact as he hit the ground and her bloodied maw came scant inches from snapping at his throat.

She almost killed him.

It was the familiar smell, and now face that stopped her, that brought back the flooding rush of her past. In that moment she lost her form. Fur melted away to bare smooth skin, a clear complexion and a scarred body. The snarl died in her throat and faded into open eyes of shock.

“Randal...?” It was a whisper of disbelief.

The moment ended as quickly as it had begun when the silver bullet grazed the side of her head, a bullet that would’ve killed her if she were in her larger wolven form. It drew a cry of pain, a keen reminder of the battle at hand. The pain made her head throb as she surged towards the man that shot her, changing back into the beast as she moved. Her ears pinned flat against her head and the growl rumbled in her chest.

The pain made her reckless.

She never saw Randal scramble for the still loaded shotgun. Neither did she see the silver net fly over her. The silver netting hurt as it pulled tight against the V shaped scar about her neck. It was a bare patch with minimal fur to protect her against it’s burn. But it was the net that saved her. Bringing her down just before the man fired, and missed again.

She heard another shot go off and from the corner of her eye she watched Michael crumple to the ground, accompanied by the howl of his death. He’d been so close to making it through the net that tangled him.

“Get away and get home.” She barked at the remaining boys. “Don’t take anymore casualties.”

They hesitated a moment longer before she snarled, “Leave!”

It startled the man approaching her, and he leveled the gun at her, his finger ready to pull the trigger. Her gold flecked eyes met his, and the growl that rumbled dared him to kill her.

 

[poohlive]

The chaos of the battle roared around him and Randall loved every second of it. He only had two passions in his life, and this was one of them.

It was over in two minutes. Fur and fire in a dance among the forest. Randal stood among it all with only one word whispered on his lips.

"Michelle."

Randal walked up to her now.

No. It.

Randal walked up to it now. The feral darkness in her eyes, the mutilated body burning from the silver, the scars that once showed only flawless porcelain skin.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" he shouted to the world. The battle around him stopped.

Randal walked up to this thing, crumpled on the ground. He took out rope, wrapping its ankles together and throwing the rope over a low hanging branch. He pulled until the thing now hung from the ground.

Someone else held the rope as he examined the body.

It had her flesh, but that's all. He kept telling himself that as he looked down at this abomination.

"Michelle?" He grabbed her hair and forced her to look at him.

"I knew you once. Do you remember? I was a ... partner."

He said that word as if it had some deeper meaning. A tremor ran down his spine.

IT.

It was not her. It was an it.

He shivered, trying to make the shock go away.

"What the fuck are you doing out here?"

 

[VampiricTouch]

Adrenaline was still pumping a fast beat in her veins, even after the man lowered his gun. She had stopped fighting the silver weave and now that she was certain he’d not shoot, her eyes closed as her chest heaved.

Randal.

She didn’t fight him.

Not him.

Anyone else, she might’ve kicked. She might’ve fought some more, might’ve struggled to snap at hands that came too close. But not him.

She didn’t look at him. Even as he strung her up, trussed up like a spider’s dinner. Only after he’d made her return his gaze did she finally look at him again.

Why did he have to be here?

The question rose as her own forgotten past surged in her mind. Of course she had the memories of what it was like to be human. Of course she remembered. She just chose to stop thinking about them. It was a choice made out of necessity. She did because she had to. It was the only way she could find the will to live, to move on, to accept herself and... to survive.

But Randal. How could she forget?

He was why she was like this, why she was out here, why she had become what she was.

No. That wasn’t true. He never knew.

For whatever reason his team had been pulled out the night she should’ve died... She likely would never know.

“Sir, we’ve recovered the laptop. It’s a match. Even the sticker matches the name that’s been accessing our data base.” Their thoughts were interrupted as a man approached, carrying her precious laptop in his hand. “We’ll take the laptop back to headquarters.”

“What do you think we should do about this one?” The one holding the rope motioned to her, an act that made her body do a sickening dip towards the ground.

“You think it’ll stay put in one of the trucks? I mean that other one made pretty short work of the net it was caught in.” Another stranger motioning towards the now dead Michael. She didn’t look. She knew that by now Michael would’ve returned to his human form.

It was the only solace that she had in death. Knowing that she would at least die human.

The dead never died as wolves.

 

[poohlive]

Randal saw a moment's glimmer of recognition. The large wolf strung up by its feet drew those hollow eyes at him, and saw him. He had seen those eyes before, looking into them, loving them. A small lurch in his chest made Randal look away, sick with himself.

His men made short work of the situation. Laptop found and recovered. Good work. The mission had been a success.

"Bring one of the trucks out here, as close as you can get it. We're hauling IT back to base. This one they'll definitely want to keep."

A couple of men ran off south, while the rest took watch around the area to make sure no wolves doubled back on them.

Randal was left more or less alone with Michelle.

"Is that one of your friends?" He asked aloud, looking over at the dead man covered in silver netting. The transformation after death came pretty quickly. The fur left revealing only pale flesh on the cold ground.

"What in the fuck happened Michelle?" He said, loudly, louder than just the two of them here in this forest together. Loud enough for some random bird to fly off in protest.

"You used to kill things like these for breakfast," He kicked the dead man on the ground. The body limp against the silver net splayed from his side to his back. One arm flopped on the ground.

Randal watched her hanging there before him. The dark fur almost black against the surrounding forest.

From behind them there was a sound of a truck. It came slowly through the treeline, parking only about thirty feet from the attack. That was good enough for Randal.

"Get some more rope. We just keep her in the mesh netting, tie her up and throw her in the back."

Randal took out his gun and showed it to Michelle.

"You know what this is loaded with," He pointed it at her head, "You bite anyone, you try to escape, you even bark funny and I spray your brains all over the ground. You understand?"

One of the young cadets giggled at that as he took the rope and began to tie up the very large wolf.

 

[VampiricTouch]

Her hackles rose when he reached for his gun and a growl emanated from her chest as he pointed it at her. She gave him a glare that would peel paint before snarling at the cadet that found amusement in her situation, the vocal warning enough to stifle his snicker before the safety clicked.

She went rigid and her ears flattened against her head. It was a familiar sound. One she remembered all too well.

The cold barrel pressed sharply against the back of her skull, chilling her skin as her body swayed gently to the ties of more ropes tightening around her paws. With help they carried her to the truck and heaved her into the trunk bed. She skid across the smooth metal bed until her back hit the far end.

Michael’s body was the last thing she saw before Randal clambered into the truck with her and latched the back. There was a time when she would’ve mourned the loss of a pack mate, but those times were gone. Those that died were just more food. Either the rest of the pack would get to the bodies, or the scavengers would find them.

It didn’t matter that he was a werewolf and it mattered far less that he was once human.

She knew protocol. There would be time later to get out of the rope. For now, it was a matter of dealing with it.

Another undignified haul ferried her into one of the cages, tossing her in before the heavy door latched shut. Cage was a harsh word for the room she was in. It was a name given because the cell was designed to keep werewolves inside, but the chair and cot it provided spoke volumes of their understanding of the human side of the monster that she was.

She shifted. A quick, practiced transformation left the ropes loose around her wrists and ankles. Standing, she pulled loose the webbing of silver-lined nets, it was not without effort, but the extra slack had provided the freedom she needed as she dropped the weighted nets to the ground with distaste, rubbing the reddish areas that had chafed for too long under the fine silver.

Modesty had long become a delirium dream. A fluid transformation would easily ruin any clothing she tried to maintain, and she’d long given up on the effort. She recognized the room, now that she saw it with human eyes. Her fingers traced the wall as she circled her confines and picked out the cameras that watched her.

Stopping to lean back against the window of bullet proof glass, Michelle leveled a stare at the camera staring at her. Certain that a pair of live eyes were watching her through the lifeless mechanical ones in her room.

 

[poohlive]

Four hours before Randal got to see Michelle again.

The team moved out with the transport, first going south of Lakeview where they had a chopper rendezvous. The cargo, as everyone was now calling Michelle, had been loaded up and taken back to base. Randall followed as closely as he could without breaking protocol.

A flood of memories went with him. The more important had been those last days with Michelle. The days of old were calling to him, and he found himself more than once staring out towards the horizon with a heartstring being pulled.

By the time they landed he had several debriefings. He spoke only the truth. He had no reason to lie. They had found her and caught her, what they thought was a simple hacker had turned into a former ally turned wolf.

"I want to interrogate her."

It took them an hour of convincing before they let him into her cage. The brass thought he might be too close to the source, but he pointed out that might be exactly what was needed to get her to open up.

So they finally showed him to a clean room with bullet proof glass, a simple chair and several cameras. He walked into the room, standing in the middle, and turning as the door opened.

They had her in simple chains, lead by two men. A third was behind her, holding a gun to her head. They weren't taking any chances. Randal didn't blame them.

"You can take those off," He said, "And leave."

Reluctant, the officers released her confines and left the room, locking the door behind them. The door slammed shut. The sound hollow in the room.

Randal got to look at her for the first time. He didn't know what he thought. It was ambivalence, like going to revisit your hometown only to realize that while the old pawn shop was still there and still had rusty siding, there was a brand new grocery store right next to it. The same but not the same.

"You are alone. Even though you know." She paused, her eyes still focused on the toes of his shoes. "You know what i am."

"I also know who... who you are, Michelle," Randal says quickly, "Or has that changed too now?"

She flinched at the name, her own name. Her shoulders sagged soon after. "Michelle...." Her voice broke at that word. Her finger traced the scar along her neck, following the divot in the skin to the very end. "Michelle is gone." It was a whisper. Almost reluctant

"Michelle is - was - human. Was like you. But things are different now. There was no place for that." Her voice returned to her as she finished with finality

"What happened, Michelle?" Randal spoke slowly now. He found himself more interested in what she saw herself as now, why she had changed so fundamentally, but the people watching their conversation would want results more than explanations.

Why did you leave me.... us?"He made a small face for that little slip, taking care to walk a slow arc around where Michelle stoo.

 

[VampiricTouch]

Her head lifted, and for the first time since he'd entered the room, their eyes met. Her gaze followed him as he moved, the way a predator would stalk it’s prey. She scrutinized him for a long moment, until he left her field of view. Michelle didn’t turn to follow him, but whatever it was she was looking for, she seemed to have found it in him.

“Our last mission...” She started, and then paused “When shit hit the fan.... I lost the team.”

“And... I was infected.” It was a simple statement, a simplicity that made her voice even more hollow. Her hand rested against her hip. The cluster of scars there were covered by the lab coat they gave her, but it didn’t take away what her body remembered.

Her shoulders shook, and the hollow sound of a mirthless chuckle broke the silence. There was no humor in her laughter and it subsided quickly as she turned to face him.

“You ask me why I left. Tell me. Where can I go like this? “Her eyes held his for a split second, shining an ominous gold before she glanced to her hand, held out towards him in a partial gnarled transformation of what she’d become if she changed. She held the change long enough to make her point before her head snapped back up to focus on him again.

“Where can I return to? What can I return to?” Her hand returned to normal but each question brought her a step closer to him, each step punctuating the bitterness in her words. “I didn’t choose to leave, Randal. ”

“There was no where else to go.” Those words came as a whisper. He had held his ground and her last step had forced her to look up at him. She’d forgotten how tall he was. It was a reminder that made her heart ache for the good times gone.

A brief reminder.

The door slammed open as the pair that had escorted her surged in weapons cocked and ready to fire.

“See what I mean?” Her lips curved in a resigned smile as her head tilted towards the intrusion.

Her smile never reached her eyes.

She took a step back to ease the guards. That was when her stomach chose to growl a loud complaint. Her smile vanished as she took two more steps and turned away. “Get out of here. Even I avoid hungry weres.”