TT: Hoof it 3
From Create Your Own Story
No time to lose! Gotta get back to town before dark!
Your oil's getting low, so you put out your lamp, making sure you have matches to light it again should you need. Taking a deep breath, you exit the castle. You start down the path at a steady jog. You're racing the sun, and you know it. The downhill nature of your journey helps, too. Unfortunately, you can't keep that pace up the whole way. You're starting to gasp for breath, and you slow to a walk. It's getting dark, and the forest seems somehow wilder. You can't tell how far you've gone.
When you've caught your breath, you run again, but soon it's gotten too dark for that. Fortunately, the full moon gives enough light to make out the trail. That doesn't reassure you at all. Neither does that howl. You try to tell yourself that it's just a wild animal, but you're a little worried. What if it's not just an animal? You finger your weapons, hoping you don't have to use them. Another howl, and this one's closer. You trot down the trail toward the town, but you're not paying good attention to where you're going. You trip over something and fall. The fall stuns you for a second, and you lie there, just breathing. Something moves through the brush. You can't tell if it's getting closer to you or not. You fumble for your lamp.
You're shaking so much it takes you three tries to light it. When finally it flares to life, you almost wish it hadn't. Two huge, yellow eyes stare at you from a dark patch in the forest. You put down your lamp and draw your knife. The eyes step out from the brush, and you get a full view of the creature. It stands on two furry legs, and has a snout baring the sharpest teeth you've ever seen. Werewolf you think.
The creature lunges at you, and you instinctively hold out the silver knife. The werewolf impales itself on the knife as it claws at you. It howls in pain but doesn't stop its attack. It clamps its jaws onto your arm. You scream in pain. Fortunately, though, it's the arm that wasn't holding the knife. You pull it out and jab again where you guess the heart to be. The werewolf lets go of your arm and slumps to the ground. It shimmers and turns into a man. You drop the knife and slump to the ground too. You're in shock over what just happened, and your arm is badly injured. Part of your mind is still firing correctly, though, and manages to get you back on your feet and pointed in the direction of the town.
After a couple days, you wake up in a hospital bed. You remember nothing about how after the attack, you wandered into the bar bloody and disheveled, or about the ride to the hospital in Hans' ancient truck. You begin to wonder if everything you experienced at the castle was made up; just something to help cope with the stress of being attacked by a wild animal, but you'll get a jarring reality check next full moon.
