The forest was quiet, too quiet. Crickets should have been chirping, owls should have been hooting, but all the night offered was silence and the sound of leaves crunching under two pairs of sneakers.
"Dude, I swear, if we get eaten by some hillbilly with an axe, I'm haunting you," I muttered, tugging my hoodie tighter around me.
Delan smirked, walking ahead with a flashlight that barely pierced the darkness. "Relax, man. People say this place is haunted, but when have rumors ever been true? It's just trees. Spooky, creaky trees."
I sighed. That was the problem. With Delan, there was no arguing. If he wanted to explore the creepy forest at night, I was apparently signed up for the adventure, no questions asked. He'd been dragging me into his "brilliant ideas" since we were kids. This was just another one.
Still… something felt off. The air was heavy, damp with a smell I couldn't place. Almost metallic.
We'd gone maybe a mile in when the first sound reached us—a low, guttural growl that vibrated in my chest. I froze.
"Please tell me that was your stomach," I whispered.
Delan's smirk faltered. "That… was not my stomach."
The growl came again, closer this time, followed by the crack of branches snapping under enormous weight. Delan killed the flashlight, and we ducked behind a fallen log. My heart hammered against my ribs as shadows shifted in the clearing ahead.
Then I saw them.
Two wolves. But not wolves. They were too big—each the size of a horse, their shoulders rippling with unnatural muscle. One had glowing red eyes, burning in the dark like coals. The other looked ragged, mangy, its body scarred and twisted.
They collided with a sound like thunder. Claws ripped through flesh, jaws snapped bone. It was savage, brutal, nothing like a nature documentary. These weren't animals. They were monsters.
Delan's mouth hung open, but for once, he didn't say a word.
The red-eyed wolf—the Alpha, though I didn't know the term then—fought with terrifying precision. Every strike was calculated, every movement dominant. The ragged one, desperate and feral, lunged wildly but was overwhelmed. The fight ended with a sickening crack as the Alpha snapped its rival's neck and flung the body aside.
And then… it looked at us.
Its head lifted, nostrils flaring, ears twitching. Slowly, its eyes turned, glowing straight through the shadows, locking on our hiding spot.
Delan whispered, "Don't. Move."
Too late.
The beast was on us in seconds, faster than thought. I barely had time to shove Delan back before it hit me. Jaws clamped down on my shoulder, white-hot pain tearing through me. I screamed, the sound muffled by its snarl. My vision swam, every nerve burning like fire.
Delan shouted my name, throwing rocks, trying anything, but the Alpha swatted him aside like he was nothing. My knees buckled. Blood soaked my hoodie.
The last thing I saw before darkness swallowed me was those burning red eyes, inches from my face, staring into me like they were branding my soul.
I woke up a week later.
In my room. In my bed.
Bandages wrapped my shoulder, though the pain was… gone. Too gone. My body felt different—lighter, sharper, restless. The tick of the clock was thunder in my ears. The smell of breakfast downstairs clawed at my nose like I hadn't eaten in days.
I stumbled to the mirror. My reflection stared back—pale, exhausted. And then, just for a flicker of a second, my eyes glowed faint blue.
I staggered back, heart racing.
Something had happened to me in that forest. That thing hadn't just bitten me. It had changed me.
And whatever I was now… I knew I'd never be normal again.