Capturing Luna

The Howl

A soft breeze gently tugged at Lunas hair, letting it swirl behind her as it grabbed her strands. Next to her walking was John, both walking slowly in silence. The sun was standing tall in the sky and the forest had a cool feel to it. The many trees gave plenty of shade even though the summer was warm. Both took their time to stroll down the little path they had chosen, finding their way through the lands. Now and then Johns eyes would fall to his hand, interlocked with Lunas. The chirps were picking up as the day went by, the flowers were stretching towards the small patches of sunrays that would come through the treetops. As the path came to a large cliff they could view the whole valley in front of them. It was a breathtaking view of hills, fields, rivers and settlement. John was showing Luna all the places nearby, pointing to each landmark. He would use his fingers to trace lines where the borders went. He had many stories to tell about the land, and Luna listened inn to his tales with awe. When he was done Luna simply just smiled at him and leaned in to his shoulder. John took his arm and held it around Luna, they stood like that just listening to the life bustling around them. As they were getting hungry they decided to walk back, so they took each other hands and started the trek home. They didn't get far until John got a whiff of something, his body stiffened and his gaze got hard. His eyes were flickering around trying to find something. He sniffed in each direction to find the source of the smell. Luna shifted nervously between her feet "What is it?" Luna bit her lower lip, she wanted to know what was going on. But at the same time she didn't want to know, she knew that whatever he was looking for was not good news. John ignored her question for a while as he was still searching "I can smell something, it's a wolf. Or several. I can't really tell, they are moving fast." Luna was surprised by this, how much information John could get out of just smelling the air. John tugged at her arm making them both run through the forest "this way, follow me, stay close!" John was dragging her as he was much faster than her. Luna did not complain, or ask, she simply followed instructions and did what he did. They bustled over small paths, logs, rocks and small creeks. Now and then John would slow down to sniff the air. At a small creek he stopped and turned to her "we need to run really fast now, I need you to get back as fast as possible. If I stop just keep going. I will be fine, but you have to run." He grabbed her shoulders and looked her in her eyes "do you understand Luna?" She nodded and croaked out a faint uh-hum. Then he took her hand again and started running fast. Luna had a hard time following, but John did not slow down. He would pull her, push her and drive her to run as fast as possible. Suddenly a flash of brown, then John flew to the side. Luna got spooked and shrieked as it happened. On top of John was a large brown wolf. He was holding his arms around his neck trying to stop him from biting him. The wolf was snarling and snapping his jaw at him. John took one hand back, made it to a fist and punched the wolf. By now Luna was looking for a weapon, like a large stick or log she could hit the wolf with. The wolf got distracted enough for John to yell at Luna before he shifted to a wolf "RUN!" Luna made big eyes and turned to the direction they were headed and ran. She jumped over logs and rocks as she bolted through the forest. She didn't look back or slow down, until something tan colored ran in front of her. It ran so fast she couldn't really see what it was, but she dreaded it was another wolf. She picked up speed again and ran, but now the tan colored animal ran next to her, swerved and crossed path in front of her. From the other side came a red-brown animal running, crisscrossing over her line of path. Then the wolves stopped right in front of her, teeth barred and snarling. She backed up a bit, slowly before she heard growling behind her. She slowly looked behind her and saw three other wolves. Luna was breathing heavily from all the running, her cheeks were red and her eyes wide in fear. Small popping sounds echoed through the area, like ice cracking. Now two of the wolves shifted to their human form. One of them walked up to her and punched Lola straight in the jaw. Luna buckled over and slumped down to the grown. A throbbing pain started in her lower face and her vision got darker. It was like someone dimmed the lights in the forest. The sounds got blurred and turned into a swooshing sound. Then nausea hit her before everything went dark. Around a unconscious Luna stood 5 men, looking down at her. One of them men walked up to her, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Then they started walking in a different direction than Luna was running to. They picked up the pace as they heard a roar not many miles away, then a voice booming "Lunaaaa???" "LUNAAAA!!!" But the voice did not get any answer, the forest grew still. Then a frightening and sad sound bellowed, a howl of desperation and fright. It was a call for help and a call for mercy. Further in the forest, where the howling erupted, stood a bloody and desperate John. Behind him was a torn cadaver of a wolf. John sniffed the air, then his eyes glazed over. His expression was now hard, and his eyes pitch black.