Richard drove down the narrow dirt road, winding through the trees. The full moon illuminated the blackness, shining through the branches. The night was eerily silent, the only noise his car’s engine and the occasional howl of a lone wolf. Richard gripped the steering wheel angrily, only half paying attention to his driving. He thought of the recent argument, then sighed bitterly. Mom just couldn't understand! All he wanted was a little independance, but nooo, that was too much for her! In the back of his mind, Richard knew that he should slow down and pay more attention to the road, but he forcibly suppressed the thought. Rationality just wasn't on his plate right now. A sharp turn approached, and as he spun around it, the car skidded for a moment. Shocked into a brief moment of clarity, he parked the car and got out.

Standing in the cool night air, Richard realized he was panting. It was probably a good thing I calmed down, he thought. That was asking for an accident. Staring into the woods, Richard found himself blinking as he tried to make out the trees in the darkness. Looking up, he noticed the stars. The sky looked like a quilt, the heavens arrayed in nature’s randomly beautiful pattern. The sight put him oddly at ease, and for the first time Richard really thought about the recent events. I should probably return home and repair the damage. Taking mom’s car probably didn't help. Stepping back to the car, Richard wondered-

And then he saw the wolf. It was huge. There were no other words to describe how utterly awe inspiring it was. It had dark, almost black, glossy fur, and its yellow, lupine eyes seemed to shine out of pure shadow. The cars headlights shone out behind it, the wolf a silhouette in the intense beams. Richard quietly panicked, realizing that the wolf stood between him and his only salvation, a 20-year-old junker, his Moms pride and joy.

The wolf growled softly, yet menacingly, immediately snapping Richard back into the present. Looking around, Richard searched for a stick, stone, or something to make it move away from the car. Seeing a particularly sharp rock, he ducked down to grab it. That was very fortunate because at that exact moment the wolf pounced him, just sailing over his head and tearing gorges into his back. Gasping, Richard took a second to feel the blood seeping down his spine before internally screaming at himself to run. He made it, oh, perhaps three feet before what felt like a freight train hit him in the back. Sailing across the clearing, Richard hit the car head first, adding another dent to the collection. Dazed, he looked back at the wolf, who was now stalking towards him on what looked like two feet? Summoning a burst of energy, Richard yanked the car door open and crawled in.

Slamming the door shut, he sagged with relief.

“Dang,” Richard said out loud. “That was clo-” A fur covered fist smashed through the window. With a grunt, what was most certainly not a wolf grabbed onto the door and promptly ripped it off its hinges. Several moments passed as Richard experienced the most mind blowing, earth-shattering, absolute terror of his life. The-the thing tossed the ruined door to the side like an unwanted frisbee and in one fell swoop lunged forward and clamped its jaw onto Richard’s shoulder. Screaming in agony, Richard slammed the gas. The car roared forward, tossing the surprised beast out the side and sending Richard careening down the road.

Already dizzy from blood loss, Richard was not quite right in the mind when he made a very bad decision. He turned around and saw that thing standing there, watching him retreat. In a surge of irrational anger, Richard swerved the car around. Fixing the-wolf? Monster? Thing?-in his sights, he slammed the pedal. Tires squealing, the Junker in a glorious moment ran without a hitch. Looking ignorant to the roaring car, the wolf-thing almost appeared bored. Finally getting a good look at it, Richard reconsidered his earlier approximations. Illuminated in the headlights, the wolf seemed to shimmer, seeming half a wolf and half a-. Richard panicked and swerved to the right. This was unfortunate for both him and the wolf, for at that very moment, the wolf dodged to its left and inconsequently right into the bumper of Richard’s car.

Screaming, Richard wrestled with the steering wheel, but by then he’d lost all control over the car. Skidding madly, it continued its crash course for about fifty feet, with the wolf jammed under it the entire way, until finally slamming into a tree, flinging poor Richard right through the windshield and squashing the wolf-creature flat. Richard landed with a sickening crunch! He struggled not to pass out. His last sight before he lost consciousness was the bloody wolf slowly retracting into a man. He then had a strange sense of something entering his body...

To be continued...