A Wolf's Tale

by Blake Seeger

the sink from it but not enough to fall to the floor. That flesh drew me in like a cat to catnip. I guess you could say I pounced on it. I put it in my mouth and licked up the little bit of blood that had pooled around it. Again, please do not judge. I am telling you what I had to go through. It wasn’t pretty. My new set of instincts kicked in and I could not help myself. Yes, when I went hunting for rats, was my own decision. We do what we must to survive. For the time being, I cut a piece of myself off at night just before bed and wrapped myself up. This though, would not last long as the final phase was about to take place. Yes, I am talking about the final change in the full moon. The site I was got my info from said that once all the changes to your body have occurred, the next full moon would complete the transformation, and for me that was in just a few days. I was thinking that with my luck, the heightened speed would happen the very, next day. Sometimes it’s not good to be right.

  The Fear of Change

  Fear is a natural reaction to anything you cannot face or comprehend, and I was sure feeling it. The thought of becoming a monster, or should I say what society has labeled a monster, had me curled up in a corner. You would think that a man with a dead end job, no family, and no friends, would have no problems facing a new life. Well that’s just it. A new life is difficult for some to comprehend and for me it was like living in a horror film. I would think about how I would live life if it were real. Would I need to move, what about my crappy job? Questions about my old life began to flood my mind. This wasn’t a simple case where you’re just moving. It was changing lives.

  Alongside thoughts of my old, or at that time current life, I was also trying to think about how I would live day to day knowing that I wouldn't be human. How different would I look? Would people see me as hideous? These thoughts only strengthened my fears.

  If you still can’t understand, take this situation. You walk up to a door at the end of a long hallway and you unwillingly open it to find your worst fear just behind it. What would you have done? I can almost certainly bet you would run away screaming. That’s exactly how I feel but this was something that I couldn’t run from. Reality is a harsh truth. We face this truth each day. Though this is true, some truths are harder to deal with than others are. Say for instance the love of your life dies, you face the reality that you will be alone, or until you find someone else. Though you may find someone, you still have that part of you that still fears facing each day without him or her. That is another great example of my situation. Losing a loved one is just like facing a new life. Therefore, if you think about it, fear is reality.

  Therefore, you can see that humanity has a natural fear of change. This is sad but true. Once change does happen though, most will find that it’s not so bad. Others, well, just look at history and you’ll see what I mean. Wow, I can get pretty deep sometimes.

  I’m sorry for my ramblings. One good change that happened was that I became more intelligent. No longer am I that sad sack of flesh that had no social life. I have found a way to face my fears, or keep my mind of them. I found that talking or writing keeps me from thinking about what I fear currently. Everyone is different so you will obviously have your own ways of dealing. The fear I faced was possibly the worst pain I had felt well emotionally. So might I suggest the next time you know you are about to face a fear, to find some form of distraction. Again, I am sorry for my rambling. I will now get back to my story.

  The Transformation

  Well this is it. I’m guessing this is what most of you were waiting for. As I mentioned before one more change had to take place before the final transformation. Heightened speed came just as I thought it would. Two days before the next full moon, I was out shopping for more medical supplies. I was expecting something more embarrassing but nope. I was simply crossing the street when I had the need to run. Yeah, I didn’t run like normal. It was more of a record-breaking run. I ran the rest of the way home and up the stairs to my apartment. That is something I would never do. Knowing that that was the last on the list, I started to prepare myself. I was scared but I couldn’t keep that fear from stopping me from finding a way so that I couldn’t hurt anyone. I had decided to head out into the forest just outside the town I lived in. I went to the nearest junk yard to find any loose chains to tie myself up. I found plenty. I grabbed them and left. Moreover, I stole them. The reason justified the action. I checked the site to make sure I had enough information before packing up some necessities. I packed a few change of clothes as I decided to leave that evening. I still remember the look on my face as I looked around my apartment for the last time as a human. I was nearly in tears if you could believe that.

  Once I hit the forest, I walked for a good two hours to make sure I was deep enough. I spent about another hour looking for the right tree. I had finally happened upon a tall oak tree with a very wide trunk. I placed my stuff down and set up camp. It was only when it got really dark that I remembered that I didn’t bring any lights. Thankfully, something happened to me that the website failed to mention. Everything around me started to get brighter. My vision had gotten better. I look back at it now and feel stupid. It was pretty obvious. Wolves can see in the dark, just like most animals. From there, I unpacked the blanket I brought to sleep on. Yes, I was even too cheap to purchase a sleeping bag. Anyways, I slept soundly that night. I guess I should have done that when I had trouble sleeping before instead of cutting into myself.

  The next morning I got up and decided to try to hunt for my food. I mean if you have supernatural abilities, why not test them. My new sense of smell told me there was a stream near-by. I hadn’t had fish for a while. I refused to pay the price for it. Meat was too high. I wasn’t going to pay an arm and a leg for robotic labor. The fish I could understand but beef and pork prices are just ridiculous. Oops, there I go again. I found the stream and saw that it was lively. Schools of fish were swimming up and down it. I rolled up my jeans and tried to step into the water as slowly as possible. I barely touched the water when I saw the fish scrambling to clear the whole area. I thought I was going to hungry until I spotted a rabbit on the other side. What you normally see as cute and fluffy, I saw as sustenance. Nature must take its course. It’s either eat or be eaten, hunt or be hunted. My legs reacted quicker than I could think. Before I knew it, I was on all fours chasing after it. I ended up catching it seconds after I made it to the other side. I would have preferred it cooked but my feral side said otherwise. I was tearing into it as if I hadn’t eaten in days. I couldn’t stop myself. The rabbit was quite small so it was picked clean within minutes. Part of me felt sorry for the little creature while the other side enjoyed the chase and the spoils.

  My human belly was full so I decided to return to camp. I proceeded to build a fire and ready the chains. The next evening was going to be a crazy one. I linked the chains and wrapped them around the trunk a couple times. You can never be too safe. Besides, I didn’t know how strong I was going to be. I wasn’t even sure what form I would be taking on. There are so many myths and legends that tell of different versions of werewolves. The most popular in today’s culture are the upright version and the much larger wolf. If I had a choice, I would rather be the larger wolf. The upright version just seems too freaky to me. The rest of that day and the most of the next, I tried to capture and not eat prey. I intended to place them in a pile within walking distance of the chain. Well I wanted to but every animal I caught I ate. I guess I would have to go hungry the first night.

  The night I was meant to go through the final transformation was a creepy one. I had chained myself up about halfway through the day and just sat and watched as the sun set. Not only was it getting dark, but a thick fog was rolling in as well. Talk about a cliché. The full moon had risen nearly halfway when I could see it. Almost immediately, I felt different. Pain was shooting through me. Every nerve in my body was screaming, and then my bones started to creak and change. My teeth were growing and my mouth was changing its shape. I was growing fur as my whole body began changing sh
ape. I had forgotten to take my clothes off so those had torn. Hey look, another cliché. Anyways, at one point during the change I had lost consciousness, well that’s what I call it.

  When I had awoken, I was in a barn lying in a pool of blood. First thing that came to my mind, was that I had killed the farmer. I looked around and saw a cow right behind me. I’ll say it again ladies, werewolves are not the romantic creatures they are portrayed as in most books. I got up and took a step outside. The sun wasn’t fully up but it was enough to tell me that whoever owns that farm, will be coming by shortly. Seeing as how I was butt naked and I had nothing on me, I high tailed it out of there. As I was running back to camp, with my nose leading the way, I began to wonder how far away I really was. The nearest farm from the town I lived in was fifteen, maybe even twenty miles away. I got worried as I used my own scent to head back to camp. I had no idea how far off I was and seeing as how I had gotten free, I had no idea if I was seen or if I had even harmed anyone.

  I eventually happened upon a cottage in the woods. My new speed