Chapter 2

There, in front of him, was Cappy. He was lying on his back, and was partially eaten. Pieces of bones and other bits were scattered about, and the only trace of what had been there was a set of bloody pawprints leading away into the bushes. Sandy and Maxwell ran up by Stan, and they were just as equally surprised. They just stared at Cappy for a few seconds, but soon looked away and ran, fearing whatever had killed him might come back.

There is no way . . . this must be a horrible nightmare. Cappy . . . gone?

Not one of them said a word until they found Boss, Hamtaro, and Oxnard.

"B-boss! W-we found C-c-cappy." They could hardly talk under their heavy breaths.

"Good! Is he all right? Tell him that he doesn't have to be 'it' again if he doesn't want to . . . "

"NO! Not good! Cappy's like, dead," Sandy said as she fought back tears.

"Yeah. We found him in a clearing, and he . . . he . . . was torn up. Bad," Stan added.

"WHAT!" the other group shouted, in shock. "What happened to him?"

Maxwell tried to recall the scene. "Well, there were pawprints. It could have been a cat, but the pawprints were a bit too small to be a cat's."

"Pawprints . . . wait a minute . . . you don't think . . . Howdy's story . . . it can't be true, can it? With the werewolf?" Oxnard was turning white.

"I doubt it. There's no such thing as werewolves," Maxwell stated.

"What else was there?" Hamtaro asked.

"Ugh. Do I really need to describe it?" Stan said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Oh. I guess not, then," Hamtaro said. "If he was so badly hurt, how could you tell it was him?"

"Like, his hat," Sandy said, sounding a bit sarcastic.

"Uh, guys?" Stan interrupted them, "Do you think we should tell the others?"

"Good idea. Let's go." They gathered up all the rest of the groups, but did not tell them what was going on until they reached the clubhouse. Once there, they broke the news.

X X X X X X X X X X

"Cappy? And he was so young," Panda said. Then Maxwell pointed out the pawprints he remembered from earlier, and everyone's eyes turned to Howdy.

"What? I didn't do a thing! I just told that story because I didn't want to go outside, that's all!" Howdy told them nervously as their suspicious gazes didn't leave him.

Hamtaro sighed. "I guess he's right. We shouldn't blame him just for some lame story he told us. Besides, werewolves aren't real, remember?" The ham-hams nodded in agreement.

"But, Maxwell said the pawprints were too small to be a cat's!" Oxnard said.

"There are plenty of other predators out there that have small pawprints," Maxwell told him.

Boss narrowed his eyes at Maxwell. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, there are raccoons, and weasels. And it might have been a kitten, too, I guess," Maxwell said.

"A kitten? I think not. Did you see what Cappy looked like out there?" Stan mentioned.

"Maybe it was a weasel or something," Boss said. "I don't even think cats wander out this far. Especially kittens. Their mothers wouldn't allow it."

"If it comes back, we'll know what it is. I don't think we should waste our night together arguing about something we'll probably never know," Dexter said

"I don't think I want it to come back!" Oxnard whined.

Boss reassured him. "Don't worry, Oxy. Everything will be fine."

X X X X X X X X X X

Outside, the werewolf had followed the ham-hams to the clubhouse and silently waited outside the door to the inside of the tree. The door wasn't locked, but it didn't try to get in. It lifted its nose to the dark, summer sky and sniffed the air for a few moments, like it was trying to pick up a scent. The werewolf looked back down at the door, and then over to its left, where it spotted a tunnel. Figuring it lead inside, the beast crawled down it. It knew that the hamsters would find him if he went in through the door.

Its assumption was correct. The tunnel lead to one of the back rooms of the clubhouse, which was even better because the ham-hams rarely ever went there. It backed into a shadow to avoid being seen, and then it just waited . . .

X X X X X X X X X X

"Do you know what would be fun? A sleep-over! Our owners will be home so late that they'll be tired and won't even notice we're gone!" Hamtaro exclaimed.

"I don't know . . . after what happened with Cappy. I would feel so bad that we would do something without him," Bijou replied.

Stan looked over at Hamtaro. "Bijou's got a point, you know. But we also don't get a chance very often to do something like this, so I think we should just go for it. It'll be fun, right?"

"Yeah," the group mumbled.

Hamtaro looked glad. "Good! We should all find a place to sleep for the night, and then maybe we should come back here by the table and eat some sunflower seeds, and tell scary stories . . . "

"I think we've had our fair share of scary stuff for the night, don't you think?" Pashmina said.

"I don't mind, as long as they're not really scary," Dexter said.

"Deal. Everyone go find a spot to sleep for the night and meet back here when you're done," Boss told them, and then they were off.

Most of the group went upstairs, while a few picked a spot in the main room. Panda, because every other place was taken, walked down to the back rooms. He picked one and went inside.

This place is so dark. Boss really needs to get a decent electrician back here.

He turned to go back to the center room but stopped as something caught the corner of his eye. He noticed the dark outline of a figure, but he couldn't quite make it out. Ever curious, he walked up closer until he could make out fur, then hands, and set of nasty teeth. The hair stood up on the back of Panda's neck as he thought of the werewolf in Howdy's story, and he took off like a rocket down the hall.