Bad Moon Rising

Epilogue

There was darkness all around him. He feared it… and at the same time believed that it might actually be better than seeing, and knowing, where he was.

He had the feeling that he should be dead. He remembered the monstrous shape rushing towards him, the sudden pain, and then the darkness had rushed up to greet him. He had been in that darkness, for how long, he didn't know, and he wondered if he would ever escape it.

Soon, however, the darkness changed. It began to lighten, the black giving way to grey, and then to a diffuse whiteness. He opened his eyes and blinked as he adjusted to the change, to the light that shined on him from somewhere nearby.

"Hey. You're awake."

He turned to the voice, familiar and strangely comforting, even though he associated it with the darkness that had been there before. He saw a pair of deep blue eyes staring back at him and was suddenly hit with the sensation of déjà vu. He had seen those eyes, looking at him out of the darkness, before. Somewhere…

He struggled to sit up, but a gentle hand restrained him.

"Don't move too much, kid. Just…try to relax."

"What…" His throat was sore and dry, and his voice sounded entirely unlike his own. "What happened?"

His caretaker put a cup to his lips and the liquid within soothed his parched throat. As he grew more aware, his vision became clearer and he studied the face of the man leaning over him. He felt a stab of fear when he saw the man's expression. He had seen the expression before, on the face of others, when they had suffered a terrible loss.

"I am so damn sorry, Tim." The man looked absolutely miserable as the incredible weight of his guilt was clear.

"Wade? What…"

"There were two of them."

Finally the last piece of the puzzle fell, horribly, into place.

"We only killed one…the other one, it…"

"Yeah."

Slowly Tim tried to raise his arm, but the bulky bandage weighed it down more than he could compensate against. He risked a look and saw the traces of blood seeping through.

"Oh my God…"

"I've never known them to hunt in pairs before, Tim. I swear to you, if I had known…"

"Did it…did it get you, too?"

"No. It…did what it wanted to do to you, I think, and when it came after me I managed to drive it off. I grabbed you and got the hell out of there before it could come back."

Tim let his head fall back against the pillow and squeezed his eyes shut, praying that this was all just another nightmare. He opened his eyes again…and nothing had changed.

"I don't…I don't suppose the movies were wrong about this, too."

Wade sadly shook his head. "No. Unfortunately, they got this part right."

Tim squeezed his eyes shut again as he tried, in vain, to keep the tears from escaping.

"So I guess I've got a week left…That will give you time to…prepare what you need."

Wade was strangely silent, and finally Tim opened his eyes and looked at the other man, which prompted him to speak.

"No. It…I don't have to do that. Not yet."

"What do you mean?"

"There's another way to deal with this."

"Oh. Something quicker? I'm ready. Please, put me out of my mis—"

"No, Tim."

Tim felt a hot rush of anger. "Yes! I don't…if what I think is going to happen, will happen, then I don't…I don't want to be one of those…those things! I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"You don't have to."

Tim blinked in surprise. "What?"

"There is a way to control it. For…for those who haven't yet killed…there's a way to prevent them from becoming…like what we were hunting."

"How?"

"It's not pleasant, and it's not easy…but I've heard of a way to contain…the transformation."

"You mean…I won't become…"

"Not fully, no."

"So what…what do I have to do?"

"Right now, you need to heal. Nothing is going to happen to you, not yet. At least, not for about three weeks. Until then, we have time to get ready."

"What about…what about the other one? Won't it come after us again?"

"No. It knows what it did to you, and considering the fact that that's all it did…it's not going to come after you again. It got its revenge, on both of us, and it's gone to ground."

"You said I could be…contained." Wade nodded and Tim thought about what that could mean. "I'm not going to be able to…I'm not going to get any of my old life back, am I?"

"I'm afraid not…but I've heard… rumors that there may be…there may be a cure."

Tim raised his head and looked at Wade. "A cure?"

"As I said: rumors. But you better believe I'm going to be looking at them. If there is a cure, Tim, I will find it. What happened to you is my fault, and if there's any way at all that I can fix it, I swear to you, I will."

"I…I believe you." Despite what had happened, Tim did know that Wade would do everything he could. He could only wonder if it would be enough.

Wade put a hand on Tim's forehead, and the comforting gesture only served to emphasize the empty feeling he was now experiencing.

"Get some sleep, kid."

He didn't answer and soon Wade turned out the light and left, leaving Tim to his thoughts.

They had eliminated a threat, it was true. The creature that had terrorized a community was no more. No one else would have to experience the loss that the monster had meted out with impunity .

On the other hand, what had he lost?

As he lay in the darkness, he wondered if everyone he had left behind would understand.

The end…


The final part of this series, Dance With the Devil, is being written for the Hope in the Darkness Challenge and will be published soon.