It was dark. Dark enough to question the existence of light, dark enough to uncover even the toughest man's childhood nightmares. But Ron wasn't the toughest, and luckily, wasn't in total darkness. The young man fresh out of high school clenched a dim flashlight, aiming it at the ground in front of him, and a full moon was present above him. His heart pounded as he strode one foot in front of the other, his purpose in the eerie, dank woods sent a chill down his spine. It was his girlfriend, Kim, who had suggested to split up, but he had protested, knowing the horrible outcome of dispersing in horror movies. She had just laughed and dismissed his comment back then. Now Ron wondered if she regretted her decision.
He continued on forward, bringing out and unfolding a topographic map of the area, reviewing the places he had circled. He had decided to scan the places closest to their campsite, while Kim ventured further out. It wasn't necessarily the lack of illumination that scared him straight, it was what he was supposed to look for that did. An owl hooted in the distance as Ron went a little faster. Two days ago, five people from different campsites in the national park had nearly been mauled to death by an unknown animal, though presumed to be a grizzly, but the authorities had still put his girlfriend in charge of finding it. Ron recalled how vividly one of the victims had described his attack, claiming to have been ambushed by something considerably large and furry with smoldering amber eyes and teeth that seemed to gleam in the darkness as he had been attempting to use the bathroom.
The fact of how silent the creature had stalked the man was equally frightening, and Ron prayed that he would never come upon it while the sun was out or not. Around half an hour had passed as he checked his cell phone for the time, and he had been told to return to the site in two hours, whether he found anything or not. He halted dead in his tracks when his flashlight pointed out something of interest on the bed of dead leaves and soil. A footprint was visible and Ron breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was just a human one. But this also got him thinking, was that his? Had he been walking in circles this entire time? Had his crusade into oblivion been in vain? Out of sheer curiosity, he put his foot next to the print, proving that indeed, it was not his, but much smaller. More questions flooded into his head. Who else would be out in the woods close to midnight? Why? Ron knew he was never going to go anywhere if he resumed brooding on his grim theories and resolved to simply think about how the s'mores Kim had promised to make after the search would taste and how he would giggle and guffaw over his silly fantasies.
But no more than two seconds after his resolution did his ideas return with a particular vengeance. The footprint had become a trail, every print appearing farther apart. Having no other path to follow and an hour time limit, he thought it worthwhile. After about the seventh or so track, it began to be obvious that whoever made it, was in a hurry, the marks never coming close together, except for one part of it, where the person slowed down, nearly stopping, to ditch his or her shoes, and resumed the run barefoot. Then things became stranger as the footprints started to look less human and more animal, until they were completely feral. Ron's concentration was broken, however, when he heard a strangled cry and hurried to where it was coming from in a clearing a few meters away.
A huddled shape wearing a blue puffy jacket and leggings streaked with fresh blood was quivering off to the side. Ron immediately recognized it as Kim and instantly rushed to her side. "What happened?" He asked, scanning the area frantically with his flashlight. But alas, he could not get a serious answer out of her, for she was delirious. Finally she uttered one word that made sense. "W-wolf…" She stammered before she lost consciousness. Well, this was a fine turn of events. Ron checked his cell, but as luck would have it, there was no signal. To top it off, the time read exactly midnight, there was no hope of any search parties coming at this hour, and his battery was low. He didn't want to leave Kim, and he felt if they just waited, the wolf she had mentioned might return, so he made a difficult decision to go back to the campsite with her. He first pulled back out his map, illuminated with his flashlight, and estimated where he was. If Kim was near the lake and wandered to his designated area, he was farther from camp than if he was the one who wandered into her area, which was the more believable situation. Nevertheless, he had to act fast and soon, for he knew not how bad his girlfriend's wounds were.
Ron struggled to lift her up, but in the end, was successful, and managed to tread around half a mile where he was almost certain the campsite was. He took a short break, setting the unconscious girl down, and heard an ominous howl in the distance and picked her back up and went forth into the woods again. The odds were almost never in Ron's favor, and it showed when his flashlight died, leaving him in total darkness. The dim light of a lantern glowed just a five minute jog away, and relief washed over him. He quickened his pace and reached the campsite, except something was different, save for the lantern that was definitely not out or on when either of them had left, but the twin tents were in the same place and Ron set her down in her sleeping bag in her tent and zipped up the door flap. Just as he turned around to face the deep, dark woods, he heard a voice that at past midnight, his sleep-deprived brain could not distinguish.
"Welcome back," it said. "We've been expecting you." Then he heard the growls of not one, not two, but three, bloodthirsty wolves with sharp, electric eyes and gleaming white teeth emerge out of the darkness, waiting for the signal to attack. "Sic him girls."