The Beast Within Chapter 1

It had been nearly four weeks since the incident. I had finished my homework and decided a walk in the brisk night air would help me clear my head and relax. I had walked a few blocks away from my house when I first heard the growling. The thing about where I live is that we live right next to a pretty sizable forest, a forest filled with wildlife, and that wildlife included Cougars, Mountain Lions.

The first thoughts going through my head when I heard the growling was everything my father had taught me about dealing with Cougars. Take out a knife, a flashlight, start waving them around while making eye contact with the animal, all the while acting larger than you really were and making aggressive noises. Unfortunately I didn’t have a flashlight, but I did have my trusty Swiss-Army Knife (never leave home without one fella’s). I pulled it out, and turned in the direction of the growling. The good news was; it wasn’t a cougar. The bad news; it was a wolf! The biggest Goddam wolf I had ever seen (The only wolf I had ever seen). In fact, the damn beast was about the size of a Cougar.

Oh Shit! What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Before I had the time to think any further, the wolf lunged at me. My first instinct was to lift my arm in front of my face to keep it’s massive jaws away from my vital parts. It’s teeth sunk into my arms flesh, then it’s weight hit me full force and knocked me on my back, winding me. As soon as I regained my senses I lifted my legs into a squatting position then kicked the animal full force with both my legs into it’s belly. It’s teeth reluctantly left my arm as it flew several feet back and hit the ground with a thud.

Thank you Martial Arts training!

I pushed myself up as fast as I could, as soon as I stood up however my head began to spin. The adrenaline pumping through my body was blocking out the pain in my arm but I was still disoriented from the fall. What’s more the beast had already repositioned himself, ready to lunge again. My head was spinning but I managed to put together one cohesive thought. I have a knife in my hand. I still had my knife. But it wasn’t opened, and even if I did manage to open it, it was just a Swiss-Army knife. Admittedly a bit larger than the average Swiss, but what damage could it possibly inflict on an animal that big.

It lunged again, but this time when it did, I got a good view of it’s belly. That’s how! Instead of raising my arm to block it’s jaws again, my hand zipped to my knife and quickly pulled it open. As soon as it was open the beast’s teeth had sunk in deep into my shoulder. As soon as I felt my body being pushed back again, I raised the blade and plunged it deep into the beasts belly. As soon as I felt it hit I pulled it down and tore open the animals skin, raining it’s blood and insides across the asphalt. It whimpered and let go of my shoulder as soon as we hit the ground. As soon as it did however, the force of my body hitting the ground shoved my hand (and consequently my blade) further into the beast.

We both lay there, still, barely breathing, until finally the beast let out a final whimper and died. It’s body was still on top of me, crushing my lungs. With what little strength I had I heaved the creature to the side and rolled out from under it. I got to my feet, but soon found myself on my knees. Every bit of my body was in searing pain. I could barely breath and my left arm and shoulder were bleeding heavily. I reached into my jacket pocket to grab my phone and call 911, but all i grabbed was air… I had forgotten my phone again.

“God… Damnit!”

Then everything went black.

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The next morning I awoke in an unfamiliar bed with unfamiliar surroundings. What the hell? I tried to push myself up only to be stopped by a huge bout of pain which forced me back down onto the bed.

Goddamnit! What the hell happened to me?

Almost instantly the events of my fight with the wolf came flooding through my mind. I froze in place as I tried to comprehend all the sudden images. I tried to push myself up again only to be stopped by another bout of pain, but also my left arm felt oddly restricted. I looked at it and saw it wrapped in bandages and a sling. I then noticed that I was wearing some sort of light blue shirt. I finally put two and two together and realized where I was.

“I’m in the hospital.”

As soon as I spoke I felt something stirring to my right. I looked over and saw a woman slowing raising her head up from the bed. She looked at me and I noticed she had been sitting in a chair next to my bed, and had at some point laid her head on the bed in her arms and fallen asleep. As her eyes opened and she looked at me I realized who she was.

“Mom?”

As soon as she heard me speak, her eyes welled up and she started to cry. She reached over and wrapped her arms around me, taking care to avoid my bandaged arm, and began sobbing into my chest.

__________

I left the hospital a couple days after that. From what the doctors say, all my injuries had been superficial. Superficial but painful. Although the wolf’s teeth had sunk in quite deeply, it hadn’t managed to get anything vital. My back was pretty badly bruised from all the falling, that probably hurt more than anything else. But apart from that, and some blood loss, I was fine. After a couple days of being monitored, they released me, saying I would probably be more comfortable resting in my own bed. No argument here, I never liked hospitals much, always made me feel uneasy.

Almost as soon as my Mom and I left the hospital, several reporters rushed us and began asking questions about my encounter with the wolf. Goddamn small town, no other stories to report on other than some high-schooler barely managing to survive an encounter with a larger than average wolf… okay when you put it like that it does sound kind of impressive. But I didn’t care. All I wanted was to be left alone so I could go home and sleep in my own damn bed. But the group of reporters wouldn’t let us through.

“… Young man! Can you describe your encounter with…”

“… Please! A moment of your time…”

“… Just a few questions…”

Their words began to mold together in my head until all I could hear was a loud din. Why won’t they shut up!? Why won’t they just leave me alone!? Get out of my way! As these thoughts swirled through my head I began to feel something burning inside me.