It came from... nowhere
Oct. 21st, 2004 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xansI originally wrote this piece in my deadjournal. I liked it a lot. Now I've made it better.
Silver moonlight filters through the tall dark pines, illuminating a shivering figure in a semi-clearing. Ordinary night sounds--insects, the hoot of an owl, the rustling of small critters through the underbrush--are muted, distant, and the figure whimpers. They are out there, and coming closer.
Gasping, the man--for it is a man huddled there, bleeding--glances up to see the creature. It's joined quickly by another, and a third, perching atop a fallen tree that looks down upon the small clearing. With a cry, the man backs up, and spins rapidly at the sounds of growling behind him.
He is surrounded.
The moonlight serves to make them look more hideous than he imagined. They are wolf-like, only larger, the fur coarser and more bristled, hackles raised menacingly. Gleaming white fangs that glow in the cold moonlight are unleashed in feral grins. The pack circle around him, randomly snapping and barking at him: delighting in his cries for help and pleas for mercy. Now there is another atop the fallen log, only it stands on two feet, not four. Stepping down to face the man is a new fur covered terror that is... a woman?
She is covered in animal furs, with scraggly white hair past that falls past her waist. Where bare skin shows, it is often pitted with scars. Dried blood darkens one cheek. In her hand she carries what appears to be a scythe made of bones. The pack resumes their circling, but snaps less; wary it seems, of provoking this woman. She... leads these creatures?
"Please, you have to help me! Don't let them kill me!" the man screams and throws himself at her feet, begging for her aide.
She holds out a hand, helps the man to his feet. He sways and is panting as adrenaline courses through his body. The woman sniffs, and closes her eyes as if enjoying the smell of fear permeating from him. A low growl from her, and the beasts move behind her. She opens her eyes and leans forward to be sure she has the attention of the man. She speaks, uttering one word that sets his fate.
"Run."
Fin.
Edit: 12/09/2005 New and improved version of In the Night.
Silver moonlight filters through the tall dark pines, illuminating a shivering figure in a semi-clearing. Ordinary night sounds--insects, the hoot of an owl, the rustling of small critters through the underbrush--are muted, distant, and the figure whimpers. They are out there, and coming closer.
Gasping, the man--for it is a man huddled there, bleeding--glances up to see the creature. It's joined quickly by another, and a third, perching atop a fallen tree that looks down upon the small clearing. With a cry, the man backs up, and spins rapidly at the sounds of growling behind him.
He is surrounded.
The moonlight serves to make them look more hideous than he imagined. They are wolf-like, only larger, the fur coarser and more bristled, hackles raised menacingly. Gleaming white fangs that glow in the cold moonlight are unleashed in feral grins. The pack circle around him, randomly snapping and barking at him: delighting in his cries for help and pleas for mercy. Now there is another atop the fallen log, only it stands on two feet, not four. Stepping down to face the man is a new fur covered terror that is... a woman?
She is covered in animal furs, with scraggly white hair past that falls past her waist. Where bare skin shows, it is often pitted with scars. Dried blood darkens one cheek. In her hand she carries what appears to be a scythe made of bones. The pack resumes their circling, but snaps less; wary it seems, of provoking this woman. She... leads these creatures?
"Please, you have to help me! Don't let them kill me!" the man screams and throws himself at her feet, begging for her aide.
She holds out a hand, helps the man to his feet. He sways and is panting as adrenaline courses through his body. The woman sniffs, and closes her eyes as if enjoying the smell of fear permeating from him. A low growl from her, and the beasts move behind her. She opens her eyes and leans forward to be sure she has the attention of the man. She speaks, uttering one word that sets his fate.
"Run."
Fin.
Edit: 12/09/2005 New and improved version of In the Night.
