Suddenly, pain, burning, all-consuming pain surges through your flesh, turning your blood to fire as you scream out in pain, howling upwards to the moon, wishing its light could wash you clean from this fiery hell.


You collapse off your prey, your once mighty stature shrinking to that of a tiny, weak, terrified human. Lying in your warm blood, you gasp for air, feeling your body set alight, your pain barely dulled by the moon's light. 


"W-w... William?" a voice gasps. 


Your head rolls to the side, as you find yourself staring at Wyatt. The boy's chest has been torn to shreds. He's barely breathing, his face looking at you with a torn expression.


"T-they... they got you," he manages to gasp through horrible, wet breaths. 


Breathing heavily, you paw at the burning, stabbing pain in your side, your fingers wrapping around a polished wooden handle. Realizing what's happened, you slowly slide the long blade out of your side, groaning in pain as blood pours down your skin. You slide out the silver knife, tossing the weapon across the dirt as you scream. You groan, feeling your muscles tighten and contract. 


Rolling onto your back, you slide over to Wyatt, ignoring your own pain. The knife hit has quietened the beast within, quashing the monster's howls. As far as wounds go, yours is fairly non-lethal, barely two or three inches in a non-lethal place. You doubt it would kill you normally, but with the beast within you, it's almost certainly non-lethal. You grit your teeth, rolling onto your knees as you stare down at the victim. His body's decimated, a barely surviving hulk.


You lean down, pressing your hands against his bleeding chest wound as you try to stem the bleeding. Wyatt weakly bats at your arms, the occasional fear-wracked sob breaking out of him. 


"P-please... ple... please..." Wyatt begs, before his words disappear into a jumble of gurgling and dying chokes. 


The light in Wyatt's eyes goes dull, as the heat begins to drain from his pale skin. Blood runs down his chalk white skin, as you slowly let go of him. You hear a faint screaming that, somewhere in the back of your mind, you recognize as your own. You bash your fists into the earth, screaming as you feel the wolf howl inside you. Tears well up in your eyes, as you bash your head into the dirt, hoping to quash the wolf inside you. If you'd only been a man... if you'd only went out with Féval...


You take a deep breath, calming yourself. You wait for several minutes, before you stand slowly, looking down at Wyatt's body. The boy lies there, limp and cold. You stare to the side, looking at the rifle that lies alongside him. You reach down, picking up the gun by the wooden stock, lifting it into the air. You pull back the bolt, loading a silver round into the chamber.


For a moment, you stand there, feeling the cold air on your naked skin as you stare at Wyatt's gun.

You finish what you started

It's time to do what needs to be done. You can't let the deaths of tonight be for nothing.


A chill runs through you, as you realize you need new clothes, and there's only one place you can get them. You lean down, unbutton Wyatt's jacket as you try not to look at the body. Slowly, 


The underwear are soiled and the inside two layers of Wyatt's clothes are soaked with blood, but you manage to scavenge the boots, socks, pants and jacket, pulling them on. Once you've bundled yourself up in clothes, you raise your rifle to your shoulder and begin walking, leaving the corpse behind you. You don't have the time to bury it, and being around the corpse is only sending pangs of hunger through your body. You try not to shed a tear, heading off into the woods.


Your senses quickly detect the faint smell of smoke and coal, and you begin heading towards it. The beast within you is quiet for now from the stabbing, but thankfully the beast seems to almost be absorbing the pain, and it's little more than a dull ache to you now. 


You walk in silence, and for a moment, it seems almost unnatural. Everything about you seems wrong now. You can tell you're walking loudly, almost falling and stumbling about. Your movements are as stealthy as ever thanks to your abilities as a hunter, but compared to your lupine form, it's clumsy. Your senses are dulled without the powers of the beast, your entire body weakening from exhaustion and blood loss.


Your eyes are still bright, and you find yourself staring through the darkness at a trio of werewolves prowling through the undergrowth. The creatures are streaked with gray and black fur, growling as they slowly move forward, muscles moving under furry hides, their teeth glowing in the moonlight.


They must be following your scent, and if they are, they have it now. The beast within you is quiet now, but the rage in your heart is burning. Time to do your duty as a Hunter.

You open fire from a range

You raise your rifle, shouldering it as you quickly take the target in your sights. You aim at the lead werewolf, targeting the creature's head. It takes a moment for you to aim, unused to Wyatt's hunting rifle and preferring the pure blast power of your shotgun, but you quickly adjust. You've used pretty much every weapon under the sun over the years, and a simple hunting rifle is in every Hunter's arsenal. You see the bright of the wolf's eyes glinting in the moonlight, and pull the trigger.


You pull the trigger, the werewolf's skull exploding as a silver bullet bursts through its brains. The other two werewolves burst off into the trees, trying to take cover. You scan the underbrush, looking for the signature fur of the creatures, but they race through the leaves, in opposite directions. 


Shit. Hitting both seems unlikely, and they're faster than you on foot. Perhaps retreating up a tree and climbing to the top to take shelter would be your best bet. Or perhaps that'll leave you as the perfect prey.

You retreat up the tree

Your eyes scan the trees around you, as you pick one tall enough to escape up into and with thick enough branches that you can climb in. You jump into the air, your hands wrapping around a branch as you pull your body up on it. Your boots find another branch, as you quickly begin to scale the tree as quickly as you can.


However, the werewolves and soon upon you, and leap into the air, claws digging into tree bark as they burst up the tree. A claw slashes at your ankle and you scream, blood bursting out and pouring down. Another claw slices into your thigh, sending you falling from the tree. You fall through the air, smacking into branches as you scream, before you slam into the dirt beneath you with a painful thud. You scream, as the werewolves around you howl in victory, leaping forward as they tear you limb from limb, devouring mouthfuls of flesh as soon, nothing is left.