Fang and Claw

Moonrise

Normally, I'm not one to panic. I like to take things slow, think over my options, and proceed when I have everything planed out. Unfortunately, life doesn't always give the time needed for careful and deliberate planning. Sometimes, you have to make do in the instant things go off the rails. Most people get used to doing one or the other, but I never had the luxury. Every time the full moon rises, my feral nature comes out in the form of a werewolf, and if I haven't planned ahead, I'll wake up goodness knows where covered in someone's blood.

Up until now, I've been fortunate not to have killed anyone. Three people had been badly mauled before I figured out how to keep myself contained. They survived, and thank Heaven I'd only used my claws and not my teeth. The last thing I needed on my conscience was turning someone else into a werewolf.

When my science teacher, Mr. Steinbauer, had announced the class would be going on a field trip to a medical research lab specializing in genetic engineering, I was ecstatic. Ever since I'd discovered I was a werewolf, I'd been looking for a way to control it. I didn't want to get rid of my wolf side as it gave me enhanced senses, speed, strength, and a ridiculously fast healing rate. The only real drawback was the uncontrolled transformation at every full moon.

You may be thinking going on a field trip wouldn't present a problem, but there was one. The trip was to be overnight with a stay in a hotel, and you can mostly likely guess what shape the moon was going to be in during that night. Rather than give up my chance at learning some scientific techniques and a possible way to tame the wolf, I considered my options carefully and came up with a perfect plan.

I found out the hotel where we were to be staying and located the closest storage building. Driving out there the weekend before the trip was to take place, I stashed a series of metal bars sufficient to block the main door and prevent myself from leaving, a small refrigerator stocked with meat, and a pile of rawhide bones to chew on. All I had to do was slip away from the hotel before sunset, lock myself in the storage unit, and come back in the morning when it was all over.

It was a good plan, but remember when I said that sometimes things go off the rails? This was one of those times. The bus broke down three miles past nowhere. When Mr. Steinbauer acting as our driver lifted the hood, the engine resembled a witch's cauldron with bubbling white clouds pouring off it in all directions.

The tow truck had been called hours ago, but there was still no sign of it. The horizon was turning an intense red, leaving bloody fingerprints upon the undersides of the few clouds hanging weightless in the atmosphere. I could feel an itch along my spine, and I knew it would only grow in intensity as the sun set and the moon took its place in the sky. The itch would spread outward during the initial stages of the transformation. When it reached my fingers, I'd be out of time. To be more accurate, everyone else on the bus would be out of time as a hungry predator would be unleashed in their midst. I had to get off the bus.

I didn't know if I'd be able to explain my actions later when required, but I knew I'd rather face questions about strange behavior than try to explain why my entire class was dead. Leaving my seat behind, I started toward the front of the bus and the exit.

Jonas Kopinski was the head of the football team and my mortal enemy. He'd only joined the science class because of Anna Prescott, the pretty redhead at the front of the class. It wasn't like he had a head for science. When not trying to get Anna to notice him, he made my life miserable as a hobby. Seeing me heading for the bus door, Jonas stepped out in the aisle and blocked my way, his six foot tall frame filling the pathway completely.

"Going somewhere?" Jonas taunted.

"I'm not feeling well," I told him. It was the truth. The itching had spread across my shoulders, feeling like a coarse sweater. I knew it was the wolf fur about to emerge.

"Go sit down," Jonas ordered. "If I feel like letting you go anywhere, I'll let you know."

I looked out the bus window. The molten red of the sun was already half hidden behind the horizon. I turned my attention back to Jonas and his smug, self-important smile. If there was one person on this bus I wanted to maul, it would be him, but I couldn't let his interference lead me to kill everyone else as well. I checked the sun's position again and found it setting fast. There was no more time to think or consider. I could only act.

Grabbing Jonas' shirt, I shoved him to my left with one hand. The side window of the bus turned to glitter on impact, and the entire bus rocked slightly. Everyone was staring, but I didn't care any longer. The itch had made its way down to my elbows. Flinging the door open, I ran.

Wind whipped past my face. The ground was fairly smooth and covered in a cushioning layer of grass. I was moving faster than most track stars at our school, but when I glanced back, I could still see the bus. It was much smaller because of the distance, looking as if it could fit into my hand. The setting sun, now almost gone, gleamed in the distance behind the bus. I wasn't far enough away, and I wasn't going to get far enough away. The wolf would still be in range and hungry.

It was in that panic inducing moment when I heard something. A distant howl reached my ears. It was similar to that of a wolf or coyote howling at the moon, but there was a harmonious resonance encompassing it. I doubt a human ear could've heard the difference, but I certainly did. Even though I'd never heard it before, I instinctively knew it was the call of a werewolf. Somehow, I'd found another of my kind.

I ran in the direction of the howl as my fingernails began to lengthen and thicken into claws. As I hunched over and ran on all fours with greater and greater speed, I wondered what I would find when I woke up in the morning.