Aramora

Chapter 9: Outside the Walls

As her mind wanders and her thoughts become nothing more than a cloud of fog in the dark that spirals with doubts, confusion, and spite, she's left with it all piling into a headache.

She stops walking and holds the side of her head with irritation and huffs, breathing out the frost from the crisp autumn air. The drumming in her skull manages to push all thoughts aside, not only the ones of Lavern. It takes her a moment to stifle the annoyance enough to notice that only silence surrounds her.

The howling has stopped.

She slowly lowers her hand from her head and looks around, seeing only fog and trees, the rest is darkness aside from the moon's subtle glow overhead.

She feels a sense of danger that she recalls having a few years ago when she tried walking home from school and somehow ended up in a completely different city. She was young and alone in a big place filled with strangers with no clue how to get home. The whole time, she felt as though she was being followed, but she never was.

She hopes this situation is the same as it was back then, that it's all in her head. But unlike back then, she isn't going to be brought home by her dad who drove across the city to find her.

She comes to realize that the apprehension isn't just in her head as the silence is broken by the snapping of a twig, followed by a low growl from the infinite shadows engulfing everything in sight.

She quickly turns towards the source of the sound to see the glow of crimson eyes pierce through the dark.

In her sudden movement, the growling switches to a vicious snarl and a rasping bark. As the beast comes into her view and her eyes slightly adjust, her body grows cold as her face drains of blood and she freezes in place.

The monster rises to its hind legs with its arms hanging to the ground, bearing daggers for claws and razor-sharp teeth, its eyes hold a wild hunger that falls fixated on Naomi. Its body is covered in gnarled black fur and mottled patches of dark skin etched with scars left by animals and humans alike.

Naomi's mind runs blank which makes her fail to stop herself from unconsciously letting out a nervous laugh like she would when talking to a stranger who is an obvious lunatic.

The sound makes the beast let out a salivating roar and lunges towards her with bladed claws ripping through the fog. She doesn't know how she managed to avoid getting hit, but she did and falls back.

The werewolf emits a savage growl and towers over her. As it fully comes into view, her mind finds some aspect of clarity and she forces herself to push off the ground to sprint back the way she came, but she halts as she realizes she can no longer recall the direction she came from through the dark and mist.

With her back turned and her mind frantically searching for an answer on what to do, she fails to act in time before the beast sounds a spine-chilling roar and lunges at her, slicing its claws down the moment she turns around.

The lethal blades slash across her shoulder and chest and throw her against a tree. As the pain kicks in and fills her with the most agony she has ever felt in her life, she lets out a scream. Her cry echoes through the forest.

She looks down at the wound to see her skin has been torn to bloody ribbons. She shakily tries to cover the gashes with her hands, but it would only hurt more and do nothing to stop the bleeding. Her head begins to feel dizzy but she fights to keep hold of her consciousness.

The beast bounds at her again and repeats itself, slashing its claws down across her arm this time and howls ruthlessly.

She cries out again and tries desperately to crawl away, but it grabs her throat and pins her down. Its grip tightens beyond the point of allowing her to breathe. She tries pulling its hand away, but it only tightens its grip and roars wetly in her face.