Michelle began to spin around, but before she could even react to the noise, an arm was around her neck, and a hand over her mouth. She struggled, but the grip was like iron on her.
"I'm going to take my hand off of your mouth..scream and you're dead. Do you understand?" The voice she heard was cold, cold as ice, and definitely male. Michelle nodded, turning around to face her captor.
He stood around six feet tall and was very muscular, dressed from head to toe in black. He had close-cropped dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked to be around forty years old, with lines creasing his face. "Good girl," he told her.
"Wh..what the fuck do you want?" she asked, fearing he had rape in mind.
"I'm trying to keep you safe, actually. You kids came camping in a very dangerous place."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, frustrated.
"Are you a local?"
"Yeah, I am. I've lived near here almost all of my life. Why?" she asked, still frustrated, though relieved rape wasn't on his agenda tonight.
"Then you've heard the rumors, I'm sure. The ones about a secret base, devoted to the human genome project, and then cross-species mutagenic work?" he replied, more a statement than a question.
Michelle nodded. "All true. This whole area became contaminated when some of our subjects escaped, and destroyed the better part of the work."
"Contaminated? How?" Michelle asked, now scared for entirely different reasons.
"They poured the vast majority of the chemicals into the lake. Water evaporates, taking the chemicals with it. Nearby regions get soaked with the new rain, laced with the tainted chemicals. The fish in the lake have been swimming in it, and ingesting it. People and animals eat the fish, and carry the chemicals elsewhere. Even the very air around here is loaded with small quantities of the stuff."
"So....I'm infected?" Michelle asked him.
"I'm afraid so. And your so-called friends....they've been infected as well, for quite some time. We've observed them up here at the lake for the better part of the past year, always around the time of the full moon. It's undoubtedly why they brought you here; they want to make you a part of their rogue pack."
"What? Rogue pack? What do you mean? Are you completely insane? Do you even hear yourself?" Michelle reacted powerfully, mostly out of fear.
"Werewolves. Your friends are werewolves. And, judging by the pheremones you're putting off, you are as well. You simply haven't changed yet, though if you go back to that campfire, they'll be sure to trigger your change."
"You know what?" she asked him,"You're a fucking freak!" Michelle began to run away, heading back for the campfire.
"Wait!" he called after her, you don't know what you're getting into!"
"Damn it," he muttered, chasing after her, knowing there was going to be a fight.