Under the dark blanket of stars and the tall, menacing trees, the light is dim. You fumble in your pocket for a moment and pull out a lighter. "Oh, god, please..." you whisper to the dark wood as you flick the lighter a few times. It fails to light. In the middle of your absentminded clicking, you look over at the body. It still hasn't moved from it's position in the middle of the path. You throw the lighter away in disgust and watch as it lands in a small clump of red leaves. You survey your surroundings and see a gnarled stick lying just off the path in the dark, wet grass. You pick it up in your trembling hand.
Suddenly, the wind picks up. The leaves seem to whisper long-forgotten secrets as they brush against each other. The dead tree's gnarled, dry branches rattle against each other like old bones. Picking up the stick, you sit the middle of the path, wind whipping your jacket. You get onto all fours and slowly, cautiously, crawl toward the body in the path. You prod it with the stick. It still doesn't move. But something on it is. There seems to be something all over it's body that is whipping, ruffling in the menacing, swift wind.
You decide to give your lighter another go. You turn around to the clump red leaves and stare . Your lighter is gone. You scoot away from the red leaves in shock. You look down at the pebbles on the overgrown, dusty path, smaller than your lighter. Even those didn't get blown away in the wind. So what happened to your lighter?
Suddenly, you hear a creaking noise. You whip your head around and stare into a particularly dark tangle of trees nearby. Something is thrown from the inky blackness, glinting in the moonlight. It hits the path about five feet in front of and tumbles the rest of the way until it lands in between your legs.
It's your lighter.
And you're not alone.
Horror sweeping over you like a tidal wave, you moan and scramble to your feet. The wind suddenly stops and the wood is deathly silent. No birds, no crickets, no nothing. You squint your eyes at the dark tangle of trees and think you might see a figure standing there, but it might just be a trick of the dark. You back away slowly, hands outstretched in front of you, Your leg hits something and you scream, stumbling over the body once more.You land on your back hard, knocking the wind out of you. You slowly catch your breath and get up to your knees. Your flick the lighter and it lights on the first try. It emits a feeble light, certainly not allowing you to see into the tangle of trees. You'd be surprised if the light could allow you to see more than five feet in front of you.
You bend the lighter down toward the body and you finally get a good look at it. One sight and you scream in terror and throw the lighter up in surprise. It flies over your head and lands in a dirty tangle of grass, light going out immediately, plunging you and the surrounding wood into darkness.
The body was covered in a modest amount of grayish-white fur. The feet were elongated slightly, and the beginnings of black claws were showing on the smallish paw-feet. The legs were slightly bigger and more muscular than a humans, but not by much. The chest and stomach were muscular, almost as big as a decent bodybuilder. The biceps and forearms were muscular too, but still, nothing to write home about. The hands were small and the fingers were replaced with about six-inch long, sharp claws. The neck was thick and muscular, and the face was pushed out about six inches into a wolf-like muzzle. The teeth were yellow, slightly sharp, but had obviously not finished growing yet. The body's nose was black and wet, about halfway between a wolf's and a human's. The ears were covered with a light gray fuzz and at the sides of it's head, but only slightly pointed. Turning him over, you saw the beginnings of a wolf tail growing out of it's tailbone. But what was really jarring were the claw marks. Long, jagged gashes ran across the wolf-thing's throat and chest. Blood had splurged from the jugular vein and had soaked through the fur, leaving it a bloody, matted mess. Someone (or something) has obviously killed this poor an in the middle of some kind of werewolf transformation.