Prey

By David Vorhees I sit here in an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, I am sitting here waiting, terrified of what is about to come. I am writing this as a testimony, possibly my last. I want to tell my story before it’s too late. I am being hunted; I am being hunted by a beast that I cannot kill. It’s coming for me and it soon shall overtake me. I do not have to time to start from the beginning, but I will give you a quick summary. I was born a rich man's son and I did what many other rich men's kids do. I attended the best school, dated the most beautiful woman, I partied and spent money that I didn’t earn like there was a never-ending supply of it, and if I am being honest, for me there wasn’t. I was at a friend place out in the middle of the woods in upstate New York when the hunt began. We were having a bonfire in the woods at the edge of his property, I stumbled into the woods, drunk, looking for a place to take a piss. As I was relieving myself, I heard a sound coming from behind me. At first, I thought it was one of my friends. I told them to go away but when I finished talking all I heard was a low, rumble. The sound sent chills up my spine. It reminded me of a dog’s growl but so much deeper and angrier. Realizing there was no way it was one of my friends I slowly turned to see what was behind me. At first, I could see nothing but I could hear something breathing heavily. The I felt it’s warm breath on the back of my neck. The odor the things breath smelled liked rotten flesh. The low rumble began to get deeper and louder until the sound vibrated in my very bones. I thought of turning and facing what ever was behind me but I just began to run. I ran as fast as I could deeper and deeper into the woods. It was right behind me making some new growling sound that was like a hoarse laughter. It was mocking me, playing with me. I was it’s food. I felt the creature coming up on my right side and I made a sharp turn left trying to lose the creature in the darkness. The woods fell silent except for me so I stopped running. I could no longer hear the beast. There was no growl, no hoarse laughter, not even any heavy breathing, save my own. The night was quiet, deadly quiet. I leaned up against a tree trying to gather my senses, catch my breath, and regain some of my energy. I had run for awhile but I knew not in what direction. I was lost. I looked around trying to get a bearing on where I was, trying to remember every turn I may have made, how far I had run. Trying to remember how to get back to my friends, to safety, to civilization. That was when I saw it. At first, I saw its eyes leering at me through some bushes. As it came nearer to me, I saw what it was. It was a wolf. Yes, a wolf but it was larger than any wolf I had ever seen. On all fours it was nearly 5 feet tall. Then it did what I had never seen a wolf ever do, it stood up on its hind legs. Standing up and walking on two legs like a man the beast was over 8 feet tall. It stood there staring at me, and I tell you I swear it was smiling, almost like it was begging me to run again but run again I don’t think I could. I started to back slowly up and the giant wolf matched me step for step. Then it left, I darted out of its way but it was able to snatch my legs it its jaws. The pain was excruciating and I screamed out in agony as the beast’s razor-sharp teeth bit into my leg. It began to shake me back and never loosing its grip on me. Then it flung me a few feet away. I lay there as it walked menacing ly towards me. My leg bleeding and throbbing I tried to crawl away. It began that horrible laughing sound as it drew nearer. The quick as a flash of light it pounced on top of me. I could feel its breath on my face. My hands slid all over the ground looking for anything, anything I could use as a weapon. Then my hand came across a jagged rock. I grabbed it and swung it as hard as I could into the beast’s face. It yelped like a dog but it did not get off of me. I hit it again and again. Until it fell over. I got on top of it and brought the rock down again and again until I had broken every bone in its vile face, until you could not tell it was a face. I sat back covered in the creature’s blood, panting heavily, the creature lay before Stull. It was dead… or at least I thought it was. As I lay there on the cold ground, I began to hear a strange clicking sound, like a tree limb being snapped. I looked up and saw the beasts face was reforming. Then I heard that low growling laughter but this time it sounded more human than animal. I watched in horror as the beast transformed into a blood covered man laying naked in the ground laughing. He turned to look at me and that’s when I recognized him, it was my friend. It was him but his eyes were wild like the beast still but he was no longer a wolf, just a man. Speechless I began to back away from him as he got up and closed in on me, I saw the wild go out of his eyes and recognition come into them. The laughter died and the sickening grin faded from his face. A look of horror took over his face and he had seen the carnage he caused. He turned and ran into the woods without a word. I was able to make it back to the house by the next morning but it was too late, my friend had killed himself. He had blown his head of with a the desert eagle he had bought his father as a birthday present some 10 years ago. Another layer the hint would begin for me in Earnest. At first, I would wake up naked in the woods feeling tired like I had been exercising all night. Sometimes I would be surrounded by dead animals and covered in their blood. It didn’t take me long for me to learn what I know was, what I had become. A lycanthrope, a werewolf. I read all the existing lore and learned all that I could and found there was only one cure for me and it was a cure I was not ready to take. The following month I killed my first human. I remember it all as if it was a dream. I followed her, tracker her by her scent. I moved stealthily until I was so close, I could hear her heartbeat and them I pounced. I remember tearing into her flesh and oh how sweet it all tasted. From there I killed many more people, sometimes two or three a night. I had become the ultimate predator and I liked it, no I loved it. It was then that I did the unspeakable. Up to this point I had been killing adults and mostly homeless people or people no one would really miss, but on that night, I had lost all control of the beast and I killed and ate a child. Disgusted with myself for the first time since this madness had begun, I vowed to never kill again. I have secluded myself up here in this abandoned hospital. I have chained myself to the building foundation, hoping it’s strong enough to hold me but if it’s not I hope it will bring building down upon me. So, I sit here in this abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, I am sitting here waiting, terrified of what is about to come. I am writing this as a testimony, possibly my last. Hoping it is my last.