"Probably," agreed Riley. "But we can't take any chances on missing something when we could have found it right away."
The three guys walked at a determined pace through the most trafficked areas of the college grounds, hoping to at least protect the population if they couldn't narrow the search down to one specific place. They had hit the courtyard in front of the cafeteria before they even saw a single other person. The bright night lighting cast their shadows onto the concrete, twenty foot tall likenessess following their every move.
"Not a very lively place this time of night," Gunn commented with a nod at the solitary student who dashed quickly between the cafeteria and the dorm next door.
"If you learn one thing at this university, it's not to stay out too far past dark," Riley said before stopping suddenly.
"What is it?" asked Gunn.
Riley leaned down and put his hands on his knees. "It's nothing. I just want to take a minute to pull everything together in my head before we encounter anything."
Gunn glanced over at Graham to see if the other noticed anything out of place, but the quiet guy said nothing. Gunn shrugged, assuming they would know the each other better than he did, and started to scan the areas surrounding the courtyard.
"Did you guys just see something move over there?" Graham said quietly, shading his eyes from the lights as he peered over to a densely-treed corner.
After a few more self-fortifying deep breaths, Riley turned his head toward the spot of his friend's discomfort and watched for a few seconds. "No, nothing."
Gunn was about to concur with this observation when a loud roar burst from the bushes to their right, followed by a giant blur of brown fur and claws. He was knocked off his feet and hit his head on the bicycle rack next to the building. With fuzzy vision, he watched what was happening, trying to get his senses back enough to help.
A tremendous beast set upon Graham and Riley, the scent of death emanating from it. Its tangled, matted fur was streaked with the blood of a recent kill, but it was obviously still hungry--either that or it simply enjoyed the thrill of the hunt.
Graham swung his fist at the creature's side, but it barely faltered and focused it's attack on Riley. The thing could sense his weakness and reveled in it, slashing at the young man with its claws and trying hard to rip his throat out. Riley fought it back with as much strength as he could muster, but he was still pushed to his knees.
The beast was caught in the side of the head by a large tree branch that Graham had snagged from nearby and it was temporarily distracted from its onslaught on Riley. With a snarl in its attacker's direction, it swung a paw and easily snapped the stick in two.
"It's a werewolf!" Gunn cried out, having recovered from his head trauma quickly enough. "We're not equipped to fight it. Let's bail!" He swung at the thing and managed to daze it for a moment.
"Riley, come on!" Graham pulled his injured friend to his feet, supporting most of his weight. Gunn came to the other side and the two struggled to get into a building before the werewolf could snap back.
A haunting howl followed them, but the creature had decided there was more worthy prey in the other direction and left them alone on the campus once again.
Riley sank to the floor in the lobby of the cafeteria as Gunn watched the beast run off. Graham tried to coax the wounded man back up, but Riley was barely responsive.
"It isn't like Riley to lose a fight this easily," Graham said, obviously worried at the other's condition. "We should take him to a hospital."
Gunn examined Riley's injuries, a shallow cut on his right arm and some bruising around his rib cage and shoulders. They didn't seem very major--certainly not enough to take a strong guy like Riley down like he was. Then Gunn saw his eyes, half-veiled under the eyelids of the nearly unconscious man: they were a glossy black.
"I don't think this is anything a hospital can help."