SET IN STONE

Dusk had long set and the sun's smile was a distant memory as the whole of Autumn Hills stared at the darkness, deep and dangerous. It was an eerie night. The long path of the woods loomed with the threat of some pending doom. The brilliance of a million stars and the gentle glow of a long awaited full moon could not dispel the gloom that fell on Wallwood. In the near distance, some howling could be heard. First it could be thought to be the owls singing in their worship of the night but the rantings grew louder and louder, the creatures were getting close. Do you believe in ghosts? Whatever your answer is, know that you ought to believe in them? Who are they? They are not ghosts, they have flesh, could easily walk but find it more pleasing to crawl, they prefer their meat raw and as human as possible, they reproduce by spreading their fangs rather than their legs. As for the name they answer to, I think you already know The sky stayed, concocting all manner of clouds but was void of any flying birds. The reason is simple really, the eagle is scared of such a night needless to say an owl. The night however scary, will prove to be too tempting for certain four-legged breeds as they ran through broken down trees and decayed leaves in a hot chase guided more by their keen sense of smell than sight itself. Pointed noses for the sniffing, fanged mouths for the howling, eyes that gleamed in the moonlight and claws that left the ground at lightning speed leaving behind trails of heinous prints all over Wallwood. Whoever went running through the woods tomorrow will have one hell of a sight to see, not that any human would dare to come here given the rumors that was widespread in the town. Rumors are only rumors yet no one likes to gamble with his life. Hence this vegetation was abandoned for decades because of its infamous reputation among Autumn Hills and the surrounding cities. It was called Wallwood on paper but everyone knew it as "Wolf's valley" The chase grew fiercer with each passing second, adrenaline surging to unknown heights for the pursuers who were somewhat new to this type of life. Jumping over obstacles and running like the wind, the supposed hunters had no intentions to stop, until they did. "We lost him" taking the face of a human one of them spoke gritting his fangs in anger. "That's not possible" repeating the actions of the first, the second argued vehemently "He was just here, we could smell him" "You could? Why don't you lead the way then, James?" The first speaker probed sarcastically. "It's not time for one of your jokes Eric" James glared at the head of their little operation. He had never been one to respect authority, an outright rebel who was now forced to accept an hierarchy system of the werewolf kind. "Oh I'd love to see you try stop my humor" Eric was glaring back. It was a full moon, they had been through a chase and the beast inside was slowly ripping apart every ounce of humanity they had left. "Enough!" their other companion spoke for the first time since they arrived at Wallwood "We came here for someone, not each other" he growled at his teammates. He was usually quiet, observant, his alpha liked him very much. "Hey James, what do you say we feast on Ethan to get enough strength to fight each other?" Eric said winking at both colleagues. "That's the most sensible thing you've said all night" James smiled as he turned to Ethan, flashing a sharp line of long fangs. Ethan said nothing. The chill returned to the night's sky as the trio stared with unspeakable coldness yet their eyes were blazing with fiery passion. The askance feeling of murderous intent crept up to the heavens as the three wolves circled each other, each one predator and prey. Inordinate senses tingling, the surge of adrenaline rekindling, the whole of Wallwood watched in fearful anticipation of what promised to be bloody. One moment was quiet and in the next… The sound of laughter pierced through the woods and beyond. The friends just stared into the night, howling in between laughs, basking in the glory of their youthful beasts' modes. "Got you there" Eric, the talkative of the bunch broke the howling that had begun to scare little forest animals. "You wish" Ethan smirked. "But we still have hunting to do" James, the hot head of the bunch reminded. With a wink at Eric, he added "The night is still young, eh? "Hey, that's my line" he frowned at James, Eric then bowed to the ground in a final attempt to sniff the one they had been chasing "No luck. Let's just go back. Who knows? Mrs green eyes might still be at the scene of the crime" he grinned. That was wistful thinking and they all knew it. Who would be foolish enough to stay in the same place they were besieged by three animal looking boys. The group's only hope was that some other unsuspecting man, woman or couple will be making a walk home this late. It was the first full moon in a while and their originally superhuman powers were heightened. Having been turned wolves no more than three months, the trio were not patient enough to wait for another full moon as they needed to hunt and kill more in order to impress their alpha. With the anger, hate and passion slowly dissipating, calm was returning into the woods as the young wolves were heading out in search of fresh victims. The full moon was still shining through the night and had begun to illuminate the forest revealing more withered trees, broken tree branches and…. a man. *** "Amateurs" a man could be heard spitting in disgust. A man? Well he had two hands and stood on two legs unlike his earlier pursuers. Two blue eyes, a manly cheekbone and a mouth wherein was embedded a set of moderate length white teeth. He looked completely human yet he was not. He was a legend, even to werewolves. Without a hint of fear for someone who had just been hunted by not one, not two but three werewolves, he just walked home inhaling the cool breeze Mary loved this town Twelve years ago, Adam Stone went camping with his family. He and his father agreed that Autumn Hills was a great place to settle down, green, serene and dawns here were absolutely beautiful. The only problem with this little town was majority of its population were notorious rumor mongers and they had slowly started influencing his wife. "There's no such thing as ghosts, Marie" he said putting his seatbelts on. "Not ghosts, Adam…" she went closer to him so their six year old son will not hear "Wolves, werewolves" she whispered into his ear. The result of which was one Mary could have predicted knowing the mule of a man she fell in love with. Adam laughed out loud till his cheeks hurt forgetting his parenting role as the bad cop to young Nicholas who just sat leisurely at the backseat of his father's car. "I promised Nicholas we'd go camping. He has been looking forward to this all year" he spoke suddenly, the laughter completely gone "His happiness means more to me than anything that may or may not exist" Mary sighed resigned, resting her head on the seat next to that of her husband's. Turning on the engines, he drove his wife Mary, a beautiful green eyed blonde who had stolen his heart from the first time they met, and their son, the best gift he had received in his entire life, to their deaths At each meter the car advanced, she would look behind her as if making sure they were not followed. Adam saw how pensive she was but ignored it, he had no doubt they would be fine and couldn't wait to give her the "I told you so" Minutes passed and Mary confirmed they were the only ones heading towards Wallwood. The few cars they had passed by were all driven by men returning to their homes after a long day's job. "We are the only ones here" Mary commented as soon as the car stopped at Wallwood and Nicholas eargerly jumped out. His parents followed, making sure he didn't wander off. Adam was not a believer but that did not account that he was stupid. A 34 year old high ranking officer in the United States army, he had taken the liberty to come with two assault rifles fully loaded with heart piercing, brain bursting ammo, a set of explosives and a little knife he stored in his pants. Whatever was rumored to be in this woods, if it had flesh, Adam would rip it apart…or so he thought. For longer than a moment, silence lingered as the Stone family stared at the night and then at each other. It was a lovely night to go camping, the skies were clear of any sign of rain, the moon also shone brightly all through Wallwood, it was a full moon. Adam saw it and didn't care, his wife on the other hand had her eyes fixed on it. "Mummy, daddy can we start camping now" little Nicholas broke the silence, both hands holding on to his parents The camping began soon, father, mother and child set up a tent and mother was roasting turkey over the camp fire. Watching how happy Nicholas was playing around the fire, Mary began to relax and she laid her head on her husband's chest. Adam just smiled, his gaze torn between her green eyes, Nicholas running and chattering with some imaginary friend of his, his R-15 assault rifle that laid on the ground not a meter far from his reach and the trees whose leaves had began to shake with the pressure of something more than just the wind. That was when they heard a deep howling sound coming from behind the tent, Adam jerked up to his feet, instinctively reaching for his gun. The rifle in hand, he was becoming his old self again, calm, confident and unbelieving "What was that?" Nicholas was the one to ask as he came to meet his parents standing alert staring at the direction behind their tent. "It's nothing honey" Mary said as she pulled her son close to her side "But I'm afraid we'll be leav…." "It's an owl" Adam said quickly purposely cutting off his wife "Is old Nick scared of owls?" he asked the little kid in a teasing smile. "No. I'm brave like Grandpa" Nicholas said as he folded his little fingers on his right hand into a fist and stomped it into his chest. He had told his son bedtime stories about Roger Stone, a 7-star general in the army and his father. "Or like Papa" Adam corrected running his fingers into his son's black and curly hair. "But…" Mary wanted to protest but her husband signaled her not to. She didn't want to start an argument in a deserted area or worse, in the presence of their son. She calmed her mind with the thought that if the rumors were true then they would already be dead but since they were not, the disturbing sound was probably from owls. "Well the turkey is done" Adam said as he ushered Nicholas to sit down and Mary took pieces of the roasted meat from the fire and placed them on each of their plates. Mother and child sat enjoying a nice dinner by the fire while Adam stood. His face held a nonchalant expression but inside his mind, a battle was brewing. Human logic and his father's upbringing stood on one side while the noise from earlier coupled with rumors stood on the other. The gun still in his arms, he peered through the darkn ess for a reason to panic but found none. Maybe the sound from minutes ago really came from owls.