Within The Moon's Child [Complete]

A loud howl erupted form the silence of the night, disturbing all who lived in the town of Aderzal.

Soldiers with guns and grim faces crowded around the entrance of the town gates. They were overwhelmed with fear, but the full moon gave them the hope they needed to win this battle.

While the rest of the townsfolk evacuated to the safe haven, the soldiers stood still and awaited the enemy. They knew it would attack tonight. The night the full moon shone its brightest.

The dark beast, who caused death and misery, was coming their way.

One of the soldiers, in a different uniform than the rest, held his hand up above his head. Only the breathing of the crowd could be heard by now. It was too silent for many of them.

After what seemed like years, the soldier quickly clenched his fist. Bullets and arrows flew into the once clear night sky. The sound of footsteps approaching was getting louder and louder by the minute. One of the soldiers cried out in a loud voice,

"The beast is going to kill us all! It will kill us all I tell you! We have to do something about it!!"

The soldier who spoke out, broke out of the formation and quickly ran ahead of everyone else, yelling profanities and charging into the darkest parts of the forest.

None of the soldiers went after him, for they knew it would be a lost cause...

The scream of a soldier rung out soon after. The footsteps had stopped, and all was quiet once more...

"D...did he actually do it...?" a timid voice spoke up quietly.

Another soldier, who had been next to the man who ran into the woods, shook his head. "Just wait, Marshall..."

Marshall, the timid one, didn't know what the man was talking about, until something rolled out from the forest.

His eyes widened and he could feel himself trembling as he realized what the thing was.

It was the soldiers head, ripped clean off of the body.

Marshall covered his mouth as he ran to a nearby bush and emptied his stomach. None of the other soldiers were affected by this, only Marshall.

They had seen things like this before, but since Marshall was the newest member of the army, he hadn't. He had been physically trained for things like this, but mentally was a whole different matter.

A few of the soldiers looked at Marshall with masked pity in their eyes while the others either looked away or looked at him with disgust in their eyes.

A loud howl ripped through the once silent night again and Marshall paled, instantly regretting that he became a soldier.

The Beast had come out to play.

A large midnight blue wolf, which looked like it had been made out of storm clouds, had appeared. Its red eyes holding rage and anger, and claws like lightning bolts.

Marshall felt like he was going to have a heart attack.

In a matter of seconds the beast charged at them, fangs bared and sharpened to a point.

"We will not let this beast destroy out village! Even at the cost of our lives!" the leader shouted at his men. The soldiers all ran to the beast, yelling and determined to bring it down.

But not even minutes later, the scent of blood filled the air and dead corpses littered the ground.

Marshall looked up at the beast, too petrified to move. His feet were glued to the ground.

Suddenly, the beast's eyes landed on him, a loud snarl rumbling in the back of its throat.

"Remember these words you lowly human," the beast growled, "your death will not be because of me, but because of your people who you have betrayed."

The beast seemed to have a wicked smirk on its face. It howled in dark laughter before staring into Marshall's eye, to which a searing pain courses through him. Marshall fell to his knees and gripped his head, puking up blood as he felt sick to his stomach.

The beast took a step towards Marshall before lowering its head and sinking one of its fangs into his arm, causing Marshall to scream in agony.

"You, Marshall Smith, were reborn under the full moon tonight. You now carry the spirit of the beast within you."

The Beast picked his head up, licking the blood off his fangs, before smirking and jumping at Marshall. His chest filled with the sensation of being torn apart by a pack of hungry wolves, he felt his heart stop and let blackness overtake his vision.

---x---

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" two children called in unison, running over to said grandpa. The grandfather chuckled happily and hugged the children to himself.

"Can you tell us the story of how you saved the town grandpa?" one of the children asked, her bright green eyes shimmering with excitement.

"I don't know, I think you're a bit too young," he teased with a chuckle.

"Pleaaaaaase grandpa!" the other child, a little boy, begged.

"Oh alright," the grandfather smiled and started to tell the tale of how he had saved the town by striking down the beast that hid in the dark woods.

By the end of the story the children had fallen asleep. The grandfather set them down on the chair nearby and stood up, walking over to a full body mirror.

He sighed and looked down at the bandages on his arms which went all the way up it. When he looked up his eyes had changed to a blood red color. He wasn't scared or even shocked. All he did was sigh and take the bandages off.

The mark of the beast was still there, imprinted on his arm from many years ago....

"Marshall!" one of his friends called from downstairs.

The grandfather, Marshall looked over at his door and hastily fixed the bandages.

"Yes?"

"It's time to go fishing!"

"I'll be down in a minute."

"I'll be here!"

Marshall blinked his eyes and they went back to their normal grey color. He smiled to himself and looked down at his arm once more.

"Well, I guess I did save the town....just not the way as everyone thinks...."

----x----

I know this was a really bad short story.
But I got the idea and just wrote it.
'^' meh.