Terror of the Woods

She ran as fast as she could, her heart pumping so hard she found it difficult to breathe.Her legs were on fire and burning intensely from the frantic run she had been keeping.

Long brown hair in knots and tangles all about her oval face, her normally peaceful almond shaped eyes were wide with terror and her lips were cracked and split from being chapped in the biting cold that was this night in the woods.

She panted and continued to run, her long white gown was in tatters and shredded being ripped and torn from the many sharp branches and thorny bushes that had snagged her in her wild run. She could not stop though, for she knew if she did she would be dead.

The light of the full moon was the only thing that she was able to see by. She carried no flash light and no other means to light her way. She was running blind, acting on pure instinct to stay alive and get away from the thing that was chasing after her.

Dead leaves and twigs snapped and crunched under her bare feet, she wore no shoes since she had been wearing heels and she threw them away to run bare foot for more speed.
She kept running until suddenly she tripped and fell face first to the hard solid ground. The wind was knocked out of her and as soon as she made impact she groaned in pain.

Then she heard it....an ear piercing and bone chilling howl that made her skin go bleach pale white from fear.

I have to keep moving she thought, I have to find the strength...

She picked herself up and she could feel her ribs must have bruised from the fall, she was sore there now but she blocked out the pain continued her run.

She could see up ahead a small clearing with a lone cabin resting snugly in between a few sparse trees.

Finally! She thought to her excitement, salvation.

Salvation only came to soon because she could hear a loud panting and low menacing growl closing in on her. She picked up her pace and broke through the clearing and headed for the cabin's front door. She went up the three steps onto the small porch area and began to hammer on the wooden door.

"HELP!" she cried frantically "Someone please help me!" She pounded on the door some more with her palm grabbing the door knob and jerking on it madly but the door was locked.

She looked over her shoulder and she could see the dark outline of the beast that was chasing her through the trees. Attached to that dark shadow was a pair of glowing red eyes that looked like the embers of hell itself.

She turned around and slammed her shoulder into the door a few times. She went to kick the door but she heard a click and then the door opened suddenly and she came tumbling through to land again face first on some hard wood flooring.

She gathered herself and then looked up to see an elderly man roughly 70 years or so and wearing a red and black flannel shirt with some very worn and oil stained jeans. He had clouded gray eyes and his white hair was very thin though he wasn't bald.

His face looked like old leather and he looked as if he had not shaved in almost two weeks.

The old man closed and locked the front door and looked down at the woman.

"You ok there darlin? Look like you've seen a ghost."

Oh if it was only a ghost she thought.....

"Th-thank you..." she gasped and she slowly stood up wincing in pain as she did. "something was chasing me through the woods and i was so scared."

The old man looked her up and down, his eyes squinting then he said "Well yes there have been rumors of some rabid wolves running about out there."

What was chasing her was not an ordinary wolf, nor was it even rabid, it was much worse. She kept quiet about that and simply nodded.

"well your safe now sweetie why don't you sit down here and i'll make you up some stew." The old man said as he moved towards the fire place. There was a huge cauldron hung from a spit. Smoke drifted up from the pot and from what she could smell it didn't smell very good at all...in fact...it smelled like rotten meat.

The old man moved over to the pot. His back was turned to her and he began to stir the pot with a large metal spoon.

"I hear those wolves can't be killed. Some hunters went out to shoot them down and one came back barely alive saying the bullets wouldn't drop 'em."

Again she said nothing. She began to look around the cabin. It was a one room cabin with practically nothing inside of it save for a chair, the bench she was sitting on, and the fire place. She suddenly began to feel like she wanted to leave.....

She was about to stand up and head for the door when the old man suddenly said...

"i wouldn't do that sweet heart...you go can get killed out there...." The old man turned around and suddenly his eyes were glowing blood red. She watched in horror as his body began to change.

The snapping of bones could be heard and his skin began to bubble and rise up from his body. His muscle tissue began to thicken and expand. Coarse and thick white hair began to grow all over.

She slowly began to back up towards the door watching with horror as the old man's face began to extend into a wolf snout filled with huge sharp fangs. He grew in height from 6' to over 8' tall and now stood on two wolf like shaped hind legs. His hands were now enormous claws.

The were wolf howled and the sound sent a wave of ice cold fear into her so much so she couldn't even move. She was shaking uncontrollably and totally helpless as the were wolf with incredible speed, leaped towards her muzzle wide open and fangs bared.

The last thing she ever saw were the fiery red eyes and the fangs as they closed down on her throat.