Rhydian stuck his head outside his tent, his eyes already yellow. The teachers were at the other end of the camp, and would never hear him. Rhydian sniffed the air -he could smell Maddy and Jana to his left. They were moving, and he could hear that too, their feet pattering over the leaves. The moon was rising, a perfect white sphere against a backdrop of dark blue sky. Rhydian unzipped the tent all the way, the sound jarring through the stillness that came after nightfall. Tom was inside, awake but staring at his phone, bored.
"'Night." Tom said, his eyes not straying from the brightly lit screen. Rhydian said nothing, instead hopping out the tent, landing on the wet grass. He zipped the tent up again, and stood up. Two figures with golden eyes moved swiftly and silently across his vision, and Rhydian began to grin. He ran, making no sound -nothing a human could hear anyway- and faded in amongst the trees. Their trailing branches whipped across his face, but he paid them no heed. Rhydian followed the shadows that streaked far ahead of him, and slowly caught up. Maddy stopped, slamming her heels into the ground, a wolfish grin spreading across her face as she looked up at Rhydian and Jana.
"There's no one here." She whispered, though to the three of them, it was as loud as a shout. "No humans for miles."
Jana grinned, too. It was clear that none of them were thinking rationally, but no-one cared.
"Who needs tunnels?" she asked, dropping to the ground. The other two followed suit. The energy of the moon was running through their veins, and with a thrill Rhydian felt himself change. In a second, Maddy, Jana and him transformed, filled with a sense of pure, complete happiness. Jana tipped her head back, letting out a howl to the gleaming white moon above.
Jimi raised his eyebrows as Liam pulled a musket -complete with several very shiny, very silver bullets- out from the hollow of dead tree. Sam snorted, with the kind of expression that showed no surprise. It was like Liam, after all, thought Jimi wryly. Liam retrieved the gun, and made the signal to wait. They stood in the cold night air for about a minute, completely silent, completely still. Jimi was considering if taking off his shoe to get out a pestersome stone was worth disobeying Liam's rule, when two figures darted into the trees to his right. There was no need to tell the others -Liam was grinning madly and Sam's eyes were wide. Jimi made to run after the figures, but Liam held out an arm, pointing. Another figure, this one unmistakably of Rhydian, jumped out from his tent, closing the zip before running off. Liam took a few steps forward, and then the three of them were off, darting among the trees, grabbing their phones from their pockets, Liam clutching his musket with savage excitement. It was good luck that Jimi was a fast runner, for he would have certainly lost Rhydian by now if he hadn't been.
The night air was freezing, the wet leaves causing Jimi to skid in different directions. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, his mind racing faster than his feet. Everything made sense, all the puzzle pieces were fitting in now. He held up his phone, hitting the play button on the recorder. The moonlight shone through the gap in the trees, the only source of lighting. The three figures stopped, and Jimi realised with a start that their eyes were golden. Just like in Liam's video. They dropped to the ground, and Jimi zoomed in his camera. The change was so quick, so simple, that he almost missed it. Then fur sprouted, snouts formed and within a second, two wolves stood in the place of Maddy, Jana and Rhydian. Sam's jaw dropped, and Jimi gasped. The one with the red fur -Jana, Jimi supposed- tipped her head back, howling to the moon. Liam held up his own phone, clicking like crazy. Jimi gulped and stepped back, uneased by the sight of the howling werewolf. As luck would have it, he stepped on the one twig that wasn't covered by leaves. Crack! Damn. Jimi thought, feeling his legs turn to jelly. The three werewolves stopped. It was like something out of a movie, or a cliché book. They all turned their heads towards the sound, slowly, carefully. Their eyes glowed like little lamps and their fur was illuminated by silver moonlight. They started to snarl.
"Jimi…" Sam said warningly, as the biggest one raised its hackles. The wolf's eyes travelled to the phone in Jimi's hand and jumped, growling furiously. Jimi leapt back, slamming into the trunk of a tree. Pain flared through his back and fear through his head as the wolf opened his jaws, snapping shut mere millimetres from the phone and Jimi's hand. Jimi screamed and the wolf landed, rage painted across it's features. There was a deafening bang and a flash as something streaked past the wolf. Jimi tore his eyes away from the werewolf and turned to Liam, who was pale, shaking. The musket was sliding from his hands and it took Jimi a few seconds to realise what had happened. The wolf in front of Jimi turned, sprinting towards the third wolf, whose paw was covered in blood. With a shock Jimi realised it must be Maddy, because of the size and colouring.
"Let's get out of here." Sam said, his voice thick with fear. None of them needed to be told twice. They fled, not daring to think what might happen if the werewolves decided to come back for revenge.
A/N: My plan is to update every Tuesday, but I found several plot holes in the next couple chapters and it might take some time to fix that. So if I don't update next Tuesday (Australian Time, that is) just know you have been warned. And as always, it would be AWESOME if you could leave a review, especially constructive criticism, so I know how I could improve this story. Thankee, and hope you enjoy! -Always A Dragon. :P
