Moonrise part 2
575 Words
The air outside Silvercrest carried a damp chill as Lara stepped beneath the towering trees. The forest greeted her with a silence that felt unnatural—not empty, but waiting.
Moonlight filtered through the canopy in fractured beams, painting the ground in shifting patterns of silver and shadow. Every step she took seemed louder than it should have been, her boots crunching against leaves that sounded too brittle, too sharp.
She adjusted the strap of her camera, steadying her breathing.
This was familiar territory. She had spent years chasing elusive animals, tracking movement, reading subtle signs most people overlooked.
But tonight felt different.
Tonight, she wasn’t sure if she was the one doing the tracking.
A faint rustle echoed to her left.
Lara froze.
Her eyes darted toward the sound, scanning the undergrowth. Nothing moved. No shape broke the darkness. No animal revealed itself.
Still, the feeling lingered.
That prickling awareness at the back of her neck.
She turned slowly.
Nothing.
Her grip tightened on the camera.
“Get a hold of yourself,” she muttered under her breath.
Another sound—closer this time.
A twig snapped behind her.
Lara spun around, heart hammering, raising her camera instinctively.
“Hello?”
Her voice sounded too loud, swallowed almost immediately by the forest.
Silence answered her.
Then—
Beep.
The sudden electronic chirp made her flinch. She glanced down at her camera screen.
A message blinked across it:
Subject detected. Low light enhancement activated.
Her breath caught.
“That’s new…” she whispered.
Slowly, she lifted the camera again, scanning the darkness through the lens.
And then she saw it.
A figure stood between the trees.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Unmoving.
For a moment, Lara thought it might be a man. The outline was almost human, its posture upright, its presence unmistakably solid.
But then it stepped forward.
And the illusion shattered.
Its eyes caught the moonlight—no, they held it—glowing with an eerie, icy blue that pierced through the darkness like twin beacons.
Lara’s pulse roared in her ears.
“What… are you?” she breathed.
The figure didn’t answer.
It moved closer.
Too fast.
Too fluid.
Lara instinctively raised her camera and pressed the shutter.
Click.
The image blurred instantly.
The figure convulsed.
A sickening c***k split the air as its body twisted unnaturally. Bones shifted beneath skin. Muscles rippled, expanding, reshaping.
Lara stumbled backward, horror rooting her to the spot as the transformation unfolded before her eyes. This wasn’t possible. This wasn’t real. And yet—
The creature threw its head back and howled.
The sound tore through the forest, raw and primal, vibrating in her chest like a living thing. It wasn’t just a sound—it was a declaration.
A warning.
A claim.
Fur burst through its skin as its form elongated, claws replacing fingers, its human shape dissolving into something monstrous.
Lara’s hands trembled violently.
Her camera slipped from her grasp and hit the ground with a dull thud.
“This… isn’t…” she whispered, shaking her head.
But the truth stood before her. Breathing. Watching. Real.
The werewolf’s icy blue eyes locked onto hers.
Time seemed to stop.
In that moment, Lara felt exposed—seen in a way that went beyond sight, as though the creature could reach into her thoughts, strip away every layer of doubt and denial.
She couldn’t move.
Couldn’t breathe.
Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared—
It was gone.
- Writer
