“Ronald!” was all Ronald had time to hear before he fell on his back and the mutant thingy’s teeth sunk deep in his arm. Ronald felt the burning pain and he screamed, kicking and hitting the mutant blindly. He was sure he was going to die because the mutant didn’t seem to want to let go.
But suddenly the mutant disappeared from on top of Ronald and it didn’t even take his arm with it which was positive. The pain was awful but Ronald stood up and saw the mutant trying to dodge the rocks that Lucas was throwing at it.
“Ron, run!” Lucas yelled.
Ronald did just that. He started running towards their camp, holding his unharmed hand over the wound in his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. He was going in a shock but he continued running. He heard Lucas running after him and after Lucas he heard howling and then the mutant came after them.
“Oh, my God...”, Ronald and Lucas muttered in unison when they reached the other group’s camp. All four lied on the ground, dead. They still had their eyes and mouths open and the blood that was shattered everywhere looked black in the moon’s light.
Growling could be heard from behind them.
“Run!” Lucas said and pushed Ronald forward. His head was spinning and he wanted to throw up but Lucas forced him to keep going. They arrived in their camp and stopped when the mutant jumped in front of them from over their tents. It had circled around them and now it blocked their way.
“Lucas, we are going to die”, Ronald whispered. His arm was hurting like a bitch and he was sure he would faint soon because he was losing a lot of blood.
Just when the mutant was about to attack them, somewhere came a bright green light. Ronald narrowed his eyes, trying to see what it was. It looked like a green fire and it hit the mutant straight on it’s ribs. The mutant flew a few meters and hit a tree, whining loudly.
“What the fuck was that?” Ronald whisper-yelled.
“Who cares, run!”
They didn’t have time to see where the green fire had came or what happened next because they were too busy running through the woods towards the bus stop where the bus had left them yesterday.
When they reached the road, they tried to look around but saw no one. Of course they didn’t see anyone, there didn’t live any people near the woods. Both of them had completely forgot that.
“Do you have your phone?” Ronald hissed through his teeth, trying not to pass out.
“Oh, right, phone!”
Lucas started digging his pockets and pulled out his iPhone. It had five percent battery left.
“Hope it’s enough”, Lucas said and called the police.
The police and an ambulance came one hour later. It had been the longest hour of their lives. Lucas had wrapped his own shirt around Ronald’s arm to stop the bleeding. Every rustle made them jump in panic, expecting the mutant to attack again. Minutes went by slower than normally, at leas so it seemed. But fortunately nothing came out of the woods and eventually both the police and the ambulance came and they could breath again in relief.
Ronald was pulled inside the ambulance immediately while the police men questioned Lucas who told them almost everything, saying that some creature attacked them and killed four people. When the police men asked what the creature looked like, Lucas was just about to say that like a half human and half wolf but caught himself right on time and instead said that it had looked like a sick wolf.
They ordered Lucas inside the ambulance too and then they disappeared on the path that lead to Ronald and Lucas’s camp.
The police man returned two hours later. The paramedics had checked Lucas and Ronald carefully during that time. Ronald’s arm was covered in pure white bandages and he had little bit of fever. Lucas had a couple of scratches here and there from the tree branches that hit him when he had ran but other than that he was fine. They were both in a shock and felt nauseous and cold, but they had looked at each other and made a silent agreement to not tell what the mutant had really looked like.
“It was a sick wolf”, Lucas whispered to Ronald who was lying on the bed in the ambulance. “Nothing else. Just a sick wolf. And they will get you healthy again in the hospital.”
When the police men opened the ambulance’s side door, Lucas snapped his mouth shut and he and Ronald turned their eyes on the police men.
“We found the both camps”, one of the police men said, “but we didn’t find anything else. No blood, no bodies, no sick looking wolves.”
Lucas and Ronald’s mouths dropped open and they stared at the police men in disbelief.
“What?” they asked.
“We believe you were in a shock from the animal attack and might have hallucinated the bodies and the blood.”
“But… where are those four people if they were not in their camp?” Lucas asked.
“Maybe they went hiking”, one of the police men said.
“In the middle of the night?” asked Ronald.
“Listen, kids”, the oldest of the police men said sternly. “There’s no bodies. No one died. It might have been a wolf or just a really big dog. The main point is that both of you are okay and you–“, he pointed at Ronald, “–need to go the hospital.”
Lucas and Ronald shared a knowing look. A look that said that they should play along and talk later, just the two of them.
“Fine”, Lucas said out loud to the polices.
“Okay”, Ronald agreed.
Soon they were driving towards the town’s hospital and the paramedics called their parents.
“My mum’s going to go nuts”, Lucas muttered.
“Good, she can keep company to my mum”, Ronald said dryly.
When they arrived at the hospital, Lucas had to stay on the hallway waiting for an hour until he was allowed to go see Ronald again.
“What did they do to you?” Lucas asked as he sat next to Ronald’s bed.
“Stitched me up, gave me some medicine and shots because you can never know what infection I could have and stuff like that”, Ronald said.
They were silent for a moment until Ronald decided they had to talk about it.
“What was that thing?” he asked quietly.
“I have no idea...”, Lucas muttered. “It looked like...it looked like a– a–“
“A werewolf”, Ronald finished for him. “But it can’t be, can it? I mean… werewolves don’t exist.”
Lucas shrugged. “Not that I know of. I guess we will find out by the time the next full moon comes.”
“How so?”
“Well if it was a werewolf then you’d be turning into that same thing during the next full moon if the stories are correct”, Lucas explained and grinned.
“Not funny, Lucas!” Ronald hissed.
“Sorry”, Lucas said. “But whatever it was, we stick to the story. It looked like a sick wolf. No one’s gonna believe any other thing and they will just send us to a crazy house.”
“Don’t say ‘crazy house’”, Ronald muttered.
Lucas rolled his eyes.
“Mental hospital”, he corrected. “Let’s just… try to forget this and never talk about it again, okay? Life is hard enough as it is, we don’t need this kind of shit.”
“But what about the other campers?” Ronald said. “They were all dead, Lucas.”
“You heard the police men”, Lucas said. “There was no bodies. We were in a shock, we can’t know for sure that what we saw was real.”
Ronald bit his lip. Lucas was ready to swipe everything under a rug but Ronald wasn’t so sure he could just let the whole thing go so easily.
“What about that green fire? Without it we would be dead.”
“Honestly, Ron, I don’t know, okay? Let it go. Forget it, this has been a crazy night and we need sleep. Both of us. And our parents will be here soon and you know it won’t be funny reunion.”
With much difficulty Ronald swallowed what he was going to say and instead just nodded and sunk deeper down in his bed. The medication was kicking in and he didn’t feel the pain anymore. He just wanted to sleep and forget for a moment.
“Mind if I close my eyes?” he asked.
“Go ahead. I will go to the hallway and wait for our parents”, Lucas said, patted Ronald’s healthy arm and walked out of the room.
But suddenly the mutant disappeared from on top of Ronald and it didn’t even take his arm with it which was positive. The pain was awful but Ronald stood up and saw the mutant trying to dodge the rocks that Lucas was throwing at it.
“Ron, run!” Lucas yelled.
Ronald did just that. He started running towards their camp, holding his unharmed hand over the wound in his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. He was going in a shock but he continued running. He heard Lucas running after him and after Lucas he heard howling and then the mutant came after them.
“Oh, my God...”, Ronald and Lucas muttered in unison when they reached the other group’s camp. All four lied on the ground, dead. They still had their eyes and mouths open and the blood that was shattered everywhere looked black in the moon’s light.
Growling could be heard from behind them.
“Run!” Lucas said and pushed Ronald forward. His head was spinning and he wanted to throw up but Lucas forced him to keep going. They arrived in their camp and stopped when the mutant jumped in front of them from over their tents. It had circled around them and now it blocked their way.
“Lucas, we are going to die”, Ronald whispered. His arm was hurting like a bitch and he was sure he would faint soon because he was losing a lot of blood.
Just when the mutant was about to attack them, somewhere came a bright green light. Ronald narrowed his eyes, trying to see what it was. It looked like a green fire and it hit the mutant straight on it’s ribs. The mutant flew a few meters and hit a tree, whining loudly.
“What the fuck was that?” Ronald whisper-yelled.
“Who cares, run!”
They didn’t have time to see where the green fire had came or what happened next because they were too busy running through the woods towards the bus stop where the bus had left them yesterday.
When they reached the road, they tried to look around but saw no one. Of course they didn’t see anyone, there didn’t live any people near the woods. Both of them had completely forgot that.
“Do you have your phone?” Ronald hissed through his teeth, trying not to pass out.
“Oh, right, phone!”
Lucas started digging his pockets and pulled out his iPhone. It had five percent battery left.
“Hope it’s enough”, Lucas said and called the police.
The police and an ambulance came one hour later. It had been the longest hour of their lives. Lucas had wrapped his own shirt around Ronald’s arm to stop the bleeding. Every rustle made them jump in panic, expecting the mutant to attack again. Minutes went by slower than normally, at leas so it seemed. But fortunately nothing came out of the woods and eventually both the police and the ambulance came and they could breath again in relief.
Ronald was pulled inside the ambulance immediately while the police men questioned Lucas who told them almost everything, saying that some creature attacked them and killed four people. When the police men asked what the creature looked like, Lucas was just about to say that like a half human and half wolf but caught himself right on time and instead said that it had looked like a sick wolf.
They ordered Lucas inside the ambulance too and then they disappeared on the path that lead to Ronald and Lucas’s camp.
The police man returned two hours later. The paramedics had checked Lucas and Ronald carefully during that time. Ronald’s arm was covered in pure white bandages and he had little bit of fever. Lucas had a couple of scratches here and there from the tree branches that hit him when he had ran but other than that he was fine. They were both in a shock and felt nauseous and cold, but they had looked at each other and made a silent agreement to not tell what the mutant had really looked like.
“It was a sick wolf”, Lucas whispered to Ronald who was lying on the bed in the ambulance. “Nothing else. Just a sick wolf. And they will get you healthy again in the hospital.”
When the police men opened the ambulance’s side door, Lucas snapped his mouth shut and he and Ronald turned their eyes on the police men.
“We found the both camps”, one of the police men said, “but we didn’t find anything else. No blood, no bodies, no sick looking wolves.”
Lucas and Ronald’s mouths dropped open and they stared at the police men in disbelief.
“What?” they asked.
“We believe you were in a shock from the animal attack and might have hallucinated the bodies and the blood.”
“But… where are those four people if they were not in their camp?” Lucas asked.
“Maybe they went hiking”, one of the police men said.
“In the middle of the night?” asked Ronald.
“Listen, kids”, the oldest of the police men said sternly. “There’s no bodies. No one died. It might have been a wolf or just a really big dog. The main point is that both of you are okay and you–“, he pointed at Ronald, “–need to go the hospital.”
Lucas and Ronald shared a knowing look. A look that said that they should play along and talk later, just the two of them.
“Fine”, Lucas said out loud to the polices.
“Okay”, Ronald agreed.
Soon they were driving towards the town’s hospital and the paramedics called their parents.
“My mum’s going to go nuts”, Lucas muttered.
“Good, she can keep company to my mum”, Ronald said dryly.
When they arrived at the hospital, Lucas had to stay on the hallway waiting for an hour until he was allowed to go see Ronald again.
“What did they do to you?” Lucas asked as he sat next to Ronald’s bed.
“Stitched me up, gave me some medicine and shots because you can never know what infection I could have and stuff like that”, Ronald said.
They were silent for a moment until Ronald decided they had to talk about it.
“What was that thing?” he asked quietly.
“I have no idea...”, Lucas muttered. “It looked like...it looked like a– a–“
“A werewolf”, Ronald finished for him. “But it can’t be, can it? I mean… werewolves don’t exist.”
Lucas shrugged. “Not that I know of. I guess we will find out by the time the next full moon comes.”
“How so?”
“Well if it was a werewolf then you’d be turning into that same thing during the next full moon if the stories are correct”, Lucas explained and grinned.
“Not funny, Lucas!” Ronald hissed.
“Sorry”, Lucas said. “But whatever it was, we stick to the story. It looked like a sick wolf. No one’s gonna believe any other thing and they will just send us to a crazy house.”
“Don’t say ‘crazy house’”, Ronald muttered.
Lucas rolled his eyes.
“Mental hospital”, he corrected. “Let’s just… try to forget this and never talk about it again, okay? Life is hard enough as it is, we don’t need this kind of shit.”
“But what about the other campers?” Ronald said. “They were all dead, Lucas.”
“You heard the police men”, Lucas said. “There was no bodies. We were in a shock, we can’t know for sure that what we saw was real.”
Ronald bit his lip. Lucas was ready to swipe everything under a rug but Ronald wasn’t so sure he could just let the whole thing go so easily.
“What about that green fire? Without it we would be dead.”
“Honestly, Ron, I don’t know, okay? Let it go. Forget it, this has been a crazy night and we need sleep. Both of us. And our parents will be here soon and you know it won’t be funny reunion.”
With much difficulty Ronald swallowed what he was going to say and instead just nodded and sunk deeper down in his bed. The medication was kicking in and he didn’t feel the pain anymore. He just wanted to sleep and forget for a moment.
“Mind if I close my eyes?” he asked.
“Go ahead. I will go to the hallway and wait for our parents”, Lucas said, patted Ronald’s healthy arm and walked out of the room.