Mud. Chapter 5
"See what you've gotten yourself into, Kristine? You fucking idiot!" I growled loudly to myself, sitting in front of my computer. I had about half of my story typed up, though Sunday loomed dangerously close. A minor three days. Avoiding Sam was impossible; half of me was so insanely attracted to him it was crazy, but there was this other half of my mind that kept screaming at me the real reason why I even talked to him in the first place. He was someone new, and I knew that he was dangerous. I could feel it, deep within that prey center in my brain, that I should just end it and never talk to the boy again. 'He's dangerous, Kristine. You know that.' My mind muttered as I began drumming my fingers on the wood of my desk. Sam was most certainly not a normal boy, that's for sure; I couldn't just abandon my story, either, because it took my entire two weeks to find and create something decent, usually. I'd become Sam's girlfriend over the time after our little dinner, though I hadn't told anyone. What would my friends think if they saw me doing this?
They'd think I was a whore, that's what they'd think. They'd think I was in Sam's bedroom every night fucking him for the next big scoop, when in reality I'd only seen the inside of his room when I snuck in. He hadn't mentioned anything reminiscent of sex, which either meant he wasn't attracted to me or he had quite a lot of self control. I knew it definitely wasn't the first; even though I pretended like I didn't notice, how could I not notice the boner he got whenever we kissed? Jesus, those extra large condoms weren't a joke. I doubted the capacity of the rubber for that boy, let's leave it at that. I closed my laptop with a tired grunt, looking at the clock. I'd been hunkered in my dorm, trying in earnest to avoid Sam. I had a little flashback to a few days earlier as I heard his door close and nearly silent footsteps cross the hallway. 'Don't come in, please don't knock.' I pleaded in my mind, but his sounds didn't stop as he passed my room. I laid back on my bed, pressing my palms into my eyes. "Oh, God...What am I supposed to do?!" I complained to the ceiling, as if something in the rough plaster could give me an answer. I didn't get one and I sat up, swearing and throwing my pillow at the wall. It thumped pathetically, falling to the ground.
"Pull yourself together, Kristine! You're stronger than your fucking hormones; you're a reporter first and foremost! Grab your camera and tail him, right now!" I demanded of myself, stomping my foot on the ground repeatedly to get the idea in my head. Once I did I steeled my resolve and took my dusty Nikon with one hand, putting on a pair of shoes and walking out of my room. It felt different, now, tailing him. I wasn't exactly sure how to describe it. I began to walk again, watching him move towards the back of the school. The back? There was nothing back there. Nothing. I walked carefully, my way illuminated by the full moon; I just hoped he wouldn't realize I was following him. I was wearing almost nothing, damn my reporter's impulse, clad in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt in the cold Maine air. I realized for a bit how pathetic I looked, though I didn't care. Sammy was picking up speed as he walked, and I raised an eyebrow as he took a jump at the chain link fence that designated the border of the property. He clung to the links, easily vaulting himself over with a few climbing motions. He was surprisingly light on his feet, that one.
How the hell was I supposed to follow that? He'd hear me for sure. I bit my lip as he receded into the thick forestry, wondering what I should do. I quickly began to pad around the fence, trying to find a gate or something. I wondered for a moment as I saw the bottom of the gate turned up, realizing that students must slip out of here to play KGB or some related game. I nodded, going back to where Sam slipped over and tossing my camera over. It thudded dully in the cold dirt, marking where I needed to go. Running to my right, I knelt and got on my belly, beginning to wriggle through the opening, using my right arm to try and hold the metal up. I managed to get through, trying to rotate so I could hold it up for my legs. "Nnng!" I resisted a scream as I felt the metal tear into my leg through my sweats, eyes tearing up. I could feel the burning lines in my flesh but pulled out, running to get my camera. 'I swear, this better'd be more than a nighttime walk to calm the nerves, or I'm gonna be really pissed.' My mind growled.
I turned straight, taking a deep breath and beginning to walk. It was colder in the forest, which surprised me, and my fingers started to feel numb as I followed straight, ducking around trees and below branches to try and catch up with him. The twigs and leaves had all fallen, so I anticipated a lot of noise as I walked; not so, they were mostly rotting, so a strong woody scent overwhelmed me and the rotting vegetation also muffled my footsteps as I walked. Crickets, birds, and other things were also making their noises in the forest so I felt pretty safe, though for a moment I thought I was lost. 'Fuck!' I mentally cursed, and then I heard a couple twigs snapping ahead. Footsteps? Hopefully Sam's, by the sound of them. I clutched my camera, having made sure to put it on 'silent'. Honestly, I'd rather get a shittily lighted picture than to get no picture at all and get reprimanded by Sam. That was scary, for sure. I nearly let out a gasp as I saw him less than three feet ahead of me as I wormed between two trees, watching him. How could he not notice me? He appeared preoccupied and I noticed the headphones in his ears. I knew he had an iPod-he had the shitty thing ever since he was a little kid, and it was still working. Okay, so he was listening to music. Very good. I let him get ahead of me and I snapped a picture of him walking into the dark trees, and I bit my lip once I realized how far we were from the college. He abruptly stopped once we reached a small clearing around a river, and I ducked behind a tree.
'You were right.' My mind giggled, and I peeked out. 'Right about how your boyfriend is definitely not normal.' It continued and I immediately tried to rationalize the reasons why he could be out here. Walk to calm the nerves? Maybe. Drugs? I hoped not. I don't know...I lost all theories as I watched him...begin to strip. What? I immediately felt like a pervert for watching but I took a picture anyway (from the backside, I wasn't a porn artist), then saw what I realized that I should have never seen in my entire life. The boy doubled over, clutching his torso with his muscled arms. I was enraptured, similarly to when I saw something disgusting and gruesome on the television and couldn't look away. I zoomed in and took picture after picture as the giant actually grew, reaching what I would imagine a good height of...yeah, probably about nine and a half feet tall. This was...this was crazy.
I winced as he vomited into the lake, collapsing down onto his side as his feet cracked and changed, turning to what looked like large dog paws, kind of how I'd imagine a puppy's to be like (they looked a little big for his body, even with his big size), and his toes curled and grew claws that sent a shiver down my spine. He couldn't be. I was still in shocked denial, though my mind kept repeating the same word. 'Werewolf. Werewolf. Werewolf.' It kept saying, and I bit my lip to keep from whimpering as his spine extended from his tailbone, his face cracking and extending as well into a thick snout. It was disturbing to see this thing with no fur, just skin and looking like a... 'werewolf.' My mind finished for me. The fur was the last thing to really happen, the stuff spreading over his form. It was black and I had an irrational urge to run forwards and bury my face in the stuff, apologize for following and seeing this. I took a picture of his face as he half-turned, though my heard stopped as he locked eyes with me. 'Holy shit.'
M y eyes had only a chance to flick over him once before he turned to completely face me, massive body heaving in the cold air. The changes were almost done, if not complete-I could hear cracking and wet sounds, probably his insides shifting. 'What the fuck are you doing, standing here like a sack of horse shit?! Run!' My mind reminded, breaking me out of my catatonic staring. I turned and began to book it, hearing him fall to the ground with a thud in pursuit. I threw a glance and saw he collapsed, clutching his body. Okay, still changing. I had a chance. Branches that acted as cover before now whipped and stung at my face, heart pounding as I tried to find my way back without him following. I heard a triumphant roar from behind me and I nearly pissed myself as I realized he must be up on his feet now, and tears began to pour from my eyes. 'I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die...' I began to think, praying to God to deliver me from this. I missed crashing into a tree by an inch, my arm aching as I hit my shoulder on it. I could feel my knees and legs bleeding as the undergrowth, once easy to dodge now seemingly diving into my path, cutting me up.
I began to see lights peeking out through the trees and I panted hard, my abdomen heaving with effort and breath puffing out in gusts. I yelped as my foot caught a root, sending me crashing to the ground. I could've sworn I heard my arm crunch, but that could just have been my hope. Whatever. Burning pain seared through me and I saw two spots of yellow in the hazy darkness in front of me, doing a blind roll and beginning to openly sob as I saw a massive paw crash down where I once was, tearing up the roots. I forced myself up, a subsequent swipe crashing into a tree. I could hear the claws sinking into the virgin wood, and realized that could have easily been my head. He appeared to be stuck and I continued to run, seeing the spider web of the chain link fence beckoning to me, acting like a safety net. I expected a scream of agony to issue from the tree as I heard a tearing from behind me, seeing the disgustingly cute little curl of the chain where it was turned up. I dove towards it, scrambling like my life depended on it under the metal. A paw crashed into the metal above me, where I'd been standing a second earlier. I didn't care as the chain dug into my flesh, realizing how fucking close this thing was to me and, perhaps more sinisterly, the throbbing red erection protruding the thick black sheath. The only thing I could compare it to was my bicep; this, of course, spurred me to get out of there even faster (if that was possible right now.) . I pulled my legs through, imagining the consequences as I felt a heavy weight land on my left. I tugged it, tearing it free from his black paw and feeling those razor claws take a chunk out from the flesh. I nearly screamed but I kept running, throwing a glance back as I neared the main buildings. He wasn't attempting to get past the fence, though I could see, from here, the predatory instinct in his eyes.
The electronic clock in the front of the dorm said it was about midnight and even the woman that sat in front of the dorm to help newcomers was fast asleep in her room. I unlocked the door with shaking hands, adrenaline still coursing through me. I stumbled through the hallway, the pain only hitting me now as I reached my room, opening then closing it, locking it firmly before the lack of adrenaline in my system would render everything impossible to me. I fell to all fours as my stomach churned, managing to crawl to the bathroom and vomit in the toilet as the reality of what had just happened caught up with me. I just hunched over the porcelain, vomiting out my confidence, my famous reporter's composure, my control that I'd prided myself on having over my life.
Control. Yeah fucking right.