The noise they were making outside of the cabin woke him. Evan lay there in the darkness for a minute in silence. He could hear muffled voices just outside the window across the room. The faint sound of a spade scraping at the dirt accompanied them. He couldn't tell what time it was. There was no digital clock in the cabin and his watch was across the room on the kitchen counter. By the looks of the light coming through the kitchen window it seemed as though the full moon was still overhead. Evan slowly moved to his feet being careful to not make the floorboards creak. Clad in only his jeans from the day before he moved towards the door on the balls of his feet. He picked up the old shotgun and cocked both barrels as slowly as he could. He opened the wooden door gently, peeking through the crack first then stepping lightly out onto the front porch. In the moonlight of the cove noticed two ATVs parked at the bottom of the hill next to his stolen truck. He started to make his way around to the side of the house the voices were coming from.
He could hear more clearly now. Someone was definitely digging. He heard the sound of the spade hitting the pine box he had put in the ground just hours before. "Ooweee, looks like Imma finally be able to teach this ole redskin a lesson!"
"Quiet Jeb!" Another voice whispered fiercely. "Yer gonna wake that half-skin son o' his."
"Bah, I don't care Isiah. Let the boy come out here. I'll teach 'im good too. He deserves it for toolin' up the Sheriffs kin like he did in town."
Evan came up to the corner of the house and peered around. What he saw shocked him. Dirt was piled on the sides of the hole he had dug just hours earlier. With a crowbar in hand the one named Jeb started prying off the lid to the casket. The one named Isiah was holding the flashlight carefully illuminating their sinful deed. Evan heard the pine lid crack under the pressure of the crowbar. The lid was thrown out of the hole and landed on the fresh dirt nearby.
"Time to teach this old injun a lesson," jeb said. Evan heard the sound of jeans unzipping. "Shine the light down in here nice Isiah. I wanna see the look on this dead injuns face when I slide my meat right in his mouth."
"C'mon Jeb. Get this over with so we can gets on back over the hills. That boys gonna wake up soon." Isiah was shaking trying to hold the light steady and stay on the lookout at the same time.
"Ahhh yeaaahhh. You like that real man meat in yer mouth don't you, you dirty cherry nigger. Feels nice. Don't it?"
The shotgun blast from both barrels rang out in the clear moonlight. Jebs' chest exploded in spray of blood, tissue and bone. He fell down in the grave with his cock still in his hand and his pants around his ankles. Slow, wheezing breaths still escaped his lips. The breathing stopped. Isiah and Evan turned and stared at each other. A whippoorwill sounded off in the distance.
Isiah was out of the hole and charging at Evan faster than he would have thought possible. Isiah let out a fierce scream that was a cross between a pig squeal and dog howl. He cracked Evan hard across the face with the crowbar. Evan staggered back a few steps, trying to regain his footing and bring the shotgun up in front of him. Even though it was empty he needed something, anything in front of him to help ward Isiah off.
Isiah moved more quickly. More quickly than Evan was ready for. The redneck swung hard at Evan's knee. He felt something give and hit the ground hard. He let out a loud cry of pain. Isiah was on top of him now alternating cracks across Evans face with the crowbar and boney fist. Evan felt his lip bust open and a gash open above his eye. Evan tried a few things he could remember from his army training to get out from underneath the crazed yokel. Nothing worked. Isiah was too spindly, too spider like. His legs and weight had Evan pinned down on the damp grass and dirt.
"This is what you get fer killing my brother you dirty redskin!" Isiah yelled.
Then Evan felt it. The rage he had dealt with all his life. The fire in his belly. He felt it come rolling forth from his stomach. Images flashed through his mind like a film that was playing on high speed. His mother passed out and drunk in a corner with empty liquor bottles around her. The boy stealing his cherry pie. Nola's headless dolls in the dirt. Going to bed hungry at night. The huge gaping hole he saw in the ground yesterday. The dirty redneck defacing his father's corpse. There was no stopping the rage now. This was fury's furnace and the fire was stoked to the top.
Evan let out a howl that was half man, half wolf and pure fury. He felt his body growing and changing. His jeans split as his legs grew and were covered in fur. His chest, arms and legs all changed size and grew fur. He felt claws out of his fingertips and the shape of his skull change into that of a giant wolf man beast that was pure nightmare. His jaw was now strong and his teeth sharp.
Somehow Isiah was still on top of him. Evan reached an arm up, grabbed him by the throat and threw Isiah into the outside cabin wall. The yokel landed with a thud. He felt so strong. The strongest he could ever think of feeling in his life. Evan howled again as if he was talking to the moon and tell her of the rage in his heart. The crazed redneck was now slumped against the wooden log wall. Evan stepped toward him. He had thrown Isiah about twenty feet. It only took Evan about three strides to reach him. He picked up the redneck with one hand that was at the end of a massively muscled furry arm. He pulled the man close to his own muzzle. Evan could smell the cheap tobacco, the chemicals in cough syrup and the fear. Evan let out a low growl. That was all he could seem to manage from his own throat. The fear was plain to see in Isiah's eyes. Evan crushed the man's neck with one twist of his hand. To Evan it felt like he was just snapping dry kindling before he started a fire. He reached over with his other hand and palmed the top of the dead mans' skull. He pulled hard. Isiah's head and neck separated with a sick, wet tearing sound. Evan threw the two pieces down in disgust.
He smelled it before he saw it. It smelled of sickly sweet perfume, rotten food and death. Why could he smell everything now? It was a bastardized version of what Evan thought he might look like. It was about seven feet tall and covered in motley fur that seemed to be falling out in patches. Sloped, hunched back and gangly arms hanging almost to the damp ground. Sharp, crooked teeth were prominent in a jaw that was hanging wide open with a tongue thick with slaver lolling to the side. They eyes in the head of this cruel beast were a sickly yellow green. Those eyes seemed as if they had just been watching in the wood line for far too long.
Evan heard the sound of the whippoorwill bounce off the trees as the two huge wolf beast men stared at each other. Motely fur turned and ran. Evan gave chase. At first he was running on just two legs but found he was faster on four. He felt his body change again slightly. He was smaller now and not as strong but he was faster. This was the fastest he ever had ran. Evan was sure he would still tower over any normal wolf. He chased Motley fur through the hills and woods, over streams and through rocky ravines. He wasn't sure how far he had travelled. He just knew he had to kill this thing. It was all that was in his mind. When he lost sight of Motley fur he used his new sense of smell to pick up the trail. They ran for hours but Evan still had yet to tire.
When the moon finally set Evan had his chance. He cleared a ridge, following Motley's sickening stench and saw him running along the paved road beneath him. Evan ran and leapt. He hit Motely with the full force of his eight hundred pound dire wolf frame. The two forms rolled on the paved road. Evan came out on top. He bent his head down and tore at Motley's neck. When he lifted his head to howl Motley's windpipe made a wet thud on the black top.
The last thing Evan remembered before he passed out was truck head lights winding their way down the road towards him.