Awakening

The beast quickly moved to the end of the alleyway. The only light was coming from a few dimly lit street lamps along the far edge of the street. Two soldiers were walking down the center of the street scanning both sides as they moved. They were moving slowly, very methodically in fact, searching. The beast had the impression that they had no idea what they were searching for. They were probably told it was an animal or something, maybe even just an exercise. The military did that sort of thing. He waited until the two soldiers were about to enter the alleyway entrance. One of them turned sooner then he expected and yelped in fear. The beast was on him in a second, tearing the very life from him, but the second soldier had stepped back and raised his rifle quickly. Three shots rang out in the darkness. One hit the beast in the right shoulder, one grazed his left forearm. He had no idea where the third went, but he thought to himself, how lucky they don't practice on the firing range much in the Guard. He leaped left and away from the downed soldier as three more shots rang out. They missed him completely this time, and as he landed on the ground, he immediately leapt for the firing soldier. He went down quickly and easily, but the beast could hear the footsteps of the last soldier running towards the sound of the gunfire. He ran back into the alley on the opposite side of the street and slid into the shadows to wait. ***** The soldier ran towards the sound of the gunfire. They were told to maintain radio silence, but with the noise from the rifle echoing throughout the town, he didn't see the point. He keyed his radio and yelled, "Can anyone hear me, what's going on?" No answer. Either the other guys were taking the radio silence thing seriously, or they were all too busy to talk. He ran faster, towards where the gunfire came from and, as he did, three more shots rang out. Just as he was approaching the area he thought the sound had come from, he slowed his pace. He leaned up against the wall of a building and slid his way towards the street. He peered around the corner of the building to get a view of the area. In the dim lighting he could see someone lying motionless in the middle of the street. He couldn't tell who it was from where he was, but he also didn't see any movement. He waited a moment and then slowly went around the corner, staying low and close to the building. He kept scanning the area around him for any signs of anything, but saw nothing. He wondered where the other guys from the squad were. Why weren't they moving in on this area? That was clearly an M16 firing, so it was one of them. He kept making his way towards the body in the street. He needed to know who it was. He reached the end of the building. He peered around the edge to look into the alleyway next to it. He saw nothing that he felt he needed to worry about. He turned back towards the street. From this vantage point he could see a second body lying on the sidewalk, hidden from a distance by the dark. Both of the bodies were soldiers, men from his unit. He slid around the corner and crouched into the shadows of the alley. Maybe the attacker would show himself. ***** The beast sat motionless as the soldier backed closer to him into the alley. He could smell the fear radiating from the man in waves. As the soldier found the position he wanted to wait in, he crouched down and watched the street. The beast reached out and killed him before he had even realized there was an attack coming. He moved from the alley and into the street. He could no longer hear the sounds of any more soldiers, but he heard something that he couldn't place. It was something that he kept hearing in the background all night long. Now that he had time to concentrate, it sounded like something running, but barely touching the ground. Wait a moment; he thought to himself, is that what I think it is. He started to back away from the street lamps, back into the mouth of the alley, but it was too late. The impact came hard and fast from his right side, sending a burst of pain from the gunshot wound in his shoulder. He hit the ground and rolled, kicking at his attacker as he did so, enabling him to free himself and get back on his feet. He stood staring at a mirror image of himself. He was right about what he thought he was hearing, just too late to prepare for it. They had sent another werewolf to try to bring him in. They stared at each other for a moment, and then the other wolf spoke to him. "You can hear that there is no one around here sneaking up on you, so I'd like to ask a favor. Let us change back and greet each other as men before we go any farther. A rest, so to speak." the wolf said. "You change first and I'll follow. There's no way I'll trust you otherwise." he said. The other wolf began to change. He had never actually seen the transformation before. It looked horrible, but it was almost instant. The other wolf stood before him and stepped forward in order to catch better light. "You!" he gasped in surprise. "I can't believe it's you!"