Chapter Three

I didn't have any time to think, before my eyes, the impossible was happening. We had been left tied in the forest, one of the girls was crying and praying to the moon goddess to rescue us. I had never been so scared in my life, there’s no such thing as a beast, theres’s no such thing as a beast, theres’s no such thing as a beast was all i could keep saying in my head to hold it together. 

“D-do you guys…hear that?” Someone whispered, I think it was dennis.

“Y-yeah…” 

It was faint but something was coming towards us. “Maybe someone has come to save us,” said Mary and I scoffed.

“Yeah sure, the pack would come untie us.”

 But maybe she was right, another pack might have been freeing the other girls who were sacrificed . We needed hope to survive. I hated it, I was desperate for hope. 

“Yes, probably,” I agreed with a sigh. I heard the sound of twigs breaking and a shrill howl. Something was coming towards us, when suddenly—

“you guys, relax, it’s just a plain wolf.” 

We all let out a sigh of relief. But our relief was short-lived.

Before us stood a small grey wolf, it came closer to sniff us and then a huge gust of wind blew. It shook all the trees, causing leaves and little twigs to break free and fall down. It was all picked up and blown in our faces by the harsh wind. The trees groaned and sounded like they were going to fall. the clouds covered up the moon and darkness fell. The wolf whimpered, and ran off with it’s tail tucked in between it’s legs.

My ears picked up something running towards us rapidly, faster than anything i knew.

“Something’s com—'' Sarah let out a bloodcurdling scream and a large shadow appeared and disappeared around the trees. It was so fast that i wasn't sure if i really saw it. The shadow growled and snarled, I turned my head sharply to where sarah stood, only her ropes and a shred of her clothes were there. “It’s the beast! It’s the beast! We’re d—” dennis started screaming and suddenly, she vanished too. Whatever it was was terribly fast and grabbing us one by one.

I struggled to free myself but it was useless, i couldn't escape and we were down to three. 

My hands trembled and the air was thick with a strange aura. Whatever that beast was, it was very powerful, alpha theo’s wolf would have pissed if he came near it. The others had been so scared they passed out. It had been a few minutes and the beast was nowhere to be found. 

A tree fell and I snapped my head in that direction, it was the one that the last two girls were tied to. The moon came out from behind the clouds and at the corner of my eyes was the beast. Before it disappeared, I realised to my horror that it looked somewhat like a wolf, but with long shaggy hair and a huge head. A half wolf-half abomination. I didn't realise I was screaming when a growl sounded from behind me and before I could turn, I was snatched from the tree. A sharp pain ran through my body. I was being carried in the mouth of the beast, and its teeth pierced through my skin. It was running so fast that i felt dizzy, and the last thing I thought of was there’s no such thing as a beast.

“Nola, can you hear me?” a voice said. “mom?” i replied, it sounded jsut like my mother, if i could hear her did that mean i was dead? “No it’s me, dennis. Nola please snap out of it” my ears pricked up, dennis? Then it all came rushing back to me—the ritual, being left in the forest…and the thing that took us. I was not bound and tried to stand, my head hit something hard like a rock. “Shit!” 

“I think we’re in a cave,” said amelia. She sounded like she had been crying. Everyone was. I felt around and it was true, we were trapped and there was no light getting in. I tried to crawl and winced in pain, the monster’s teeth had grazed me badly. I let out a sigh and kept crawling to where the others were, it seemed I had fainted whilst being brought here, I wondered what it would do with us. “We need to escape you guys, one way or another. That monster has kept us here, it will return, and when it does, that might be the end of our lives.”

“How are we going to do that? We are all hurt, I think someone has a broken leg. It grabbed her wrongly and at that speed…”

“We can try!” I felt around for them and came closer. “Are we just going to sit around and wait for our death? Not me, i refuse to die here,” I said. “I'm going to find a way out, don't worry. There must be an exit to every cave. I’ll return if i find one.”

“And what if the beast comes back before then, what if you bump into him whilst trying to escape?” asked dennis. She had a point but it was better than sitting around and waiting patiently waiting to die. “I don't know, dennis, i really don't know…”

I had been crawling on all fours for a while, admist the pain, the cave was endless but i noticed it grew bigger the more i crawled. Big enough to stand halfway but not fully upright. I picked up some footsteps from a corner. That couldn't be, “Dennis?...Sarrah? Amelia?...” I whispered.It was impossible that they followed me. I followed the direction the footsteps came from. The cave split up into two paths. I took the right path and crawled faster, in the distance I could make out a very faint light. The cave did have an exit after all. And someone was out there, they could save us I thought excitedly.

The cave had widened enough for me to stand, so I stood up and took to walking towards the light. I noticed that the light was coming from yet another corner. It seemed to open to a secluded area of the cave. I tiptoed towards it and peered in.

My hairs stood on ends and I covered my mouth with my hands, i had stumbled into the lair of the beast. It was standing on its hind legs like a human, and it paced about and grunted. There was a hole in the cave from above, it was where the light I saw had come from. In the brilliant moonlight, I could see the beast properly. It took everything in me not to scream. It had steely grey eyes which bulged out of its massive head and glittered dangerously. The beast’s fur was long and mangled, with twigs tangled up in it, its paws were big, and I remembered that they were powerful enough to snap a tree into two. It’s mouth hung open and thick saliva drooled down, it tossed its head about in distress and groaned at intervals, baring its teeth which were as big as my fingers. The beast groaned and fell on the floor, it’s arms wrapped around its body, hands then went to its head, clawing and tugging at its thick silvery fur. I wondered if it had been hurt when carrying us. Either way,  I needed to find a way to leave before it sensed my presence.

It stretched out and let out a pained howl. The sound of cracking bones came from it, as it contorted on the floor. To my horror, the beast’s claws retracted, it bent its head back and the teeth reduced in length . The monster was shifting, but into what? It bent its back into an arch, let out a final guttural howl that sounded almost human, and went silent.

I stared at the spot where the giant beast lay, and its position was a man bent on his knees.

He had the palest of skins, like a corpse and long silvery hair, just like the beasts. The man began moving, he stood from the floor and stretched out. I let out a gasp, I couldn't believe the man that stood before me was the same beast that prowled the forest. His hair fell to his shoulders and shone in the faint moonlight. The only thing that reassured me that this was the same beast was his aura and the wicked glint in his eyes. Fear rooted me to the ground. This was what it meant to be face to face with death. I struggled to move back, and in doing so, I stumbled on a rock.

I caught myself before falling, but the damage had been done, the beast whipped his head in my direction, corked his head and took a few steps towards where I was hidden.

Grey eyes like lighter met with mine. He had caught me. Redhanded.