The Howling

I ran down the small and narrow path that winded through the forest, away from the rest of the world. My white nightgown kept catching on my legs, making it hard to run, and my long blonde hair flew behind me, blowing in the dark night. My chest hurt from my rapid breathing, my throat as dry as the ground beneath me. My feet being bare were raw from the tough ground of twigs and leaves.

I held Rakesh’s hand as I ran for my life. Rakesh was a few years younger than me, and was half my size. He gripped my hand just as tightly as I was gripping his. I tried to pump my legs harder and faster, but that only got me another stumble. Rakesh stumbled as well, caught off balance. His whimpers made my heart beat even faster than before. He was so scared…

When I righted myself, I tugged on Rakesh’s hand hard, bringing him back into a run. We could not stop, we could not rest; we needed to survive. The howls behind me made a shiver run up my spine like it had been for the past ten minutes.

They were coming! They were gaining!

“Come on!” I yelled, glancing behind me to look at the black forest behind us. I couldn’t see them, but I could almost feel them. Rakesh tried to pump his legs harder, but he could only run so much.

“I’m tired.” He breathed, trying to breathe deeper.

“We can’t stop.” I said for what felt like the hundredth time. It sounded like I was pleading with him, which I was. We couldn't stop or we wouldn't make it. We had to try and do everything.

The howls and snarls continued as we both ran through the forest, our bodies ready to give up, but my mind still strong enough for the both of us. The full moon was the only light guiding us through the darkness, not much help at all. I saw a hill up ahead of us, wishing that it wasn’t as steep as it looked. Rakesh let out a small whine as we inched closer.

We had to keep going; they were gaining.

I got to the bottom of the hill and started up. Dirt and rocks started to fall down the edge of the hill, hitting our shines, a large one slicing open my leg. The rocks weren't falling because of us, they were from the top of the steep hill where the growls were low and yet vibrated the ground with the force of them.

“They’re coming!” I yelled, yanking on Rakesh’s hand to turn our course around, ignoring the now throbbing pain in my leg.

Rakesh screamed and started to cry, knowing that the end was getting closer. All I could do was squeeze Rakesh’s hand tighter.

The howls sounded again, more this time. I was beginning to cry now without any tears, knowing the same thing as Rakesh. The end was near. We were going to die like the rest of them; our world was coming down before us.

The dreams I had been having flashed through my mind, one in particular showing me what was to come. Everyone had told me that I just had a very active imagination, but I could have told them what I saw in my dreams rather than what I thought they wanted to hear. I hadn't told them the details, the despair I had felt every time I looked outside to see the moon inching closer to its fullest potential.

Now, none of that mattered. Nothing could be done now and no one had listened to me. Like a movie, the last few hours flashed before my eyes in slow motion.

The dark pink sky and filled with clouds, threatening to over take the world in a whirling wind storm. Rakesh stood outside with his hunting dog, throwing sticks and other things to see if he would catch them in his mouth. I smiled brightly at the scene as I looked out the window of our one story home on the edge of the woods, our fields of wheat behind us.

My parents stood behind me in the kitchen, talking to my uncle, aunt, and their oldest son about buying more land for farming because this had been a good year for us and next year would only be better. I paid no attention to them, only focusing of Rakesh. The dream that had last night wasn't about him, it had been about me, alone in a wheat field with no where to go, but I felt a certain doom looming over Rakesh like a dark cloud. It was a very unsettling feeling.

The sky quickly became dark and I couldn't see Rakesh any longer from the window. I rushed outside to see if everything was okay. He was sitting on the front step, looking up at the starless sky, a grimace on his face. "Do you think a storm is coming?" he asked me. He was really the only one that ever took me seriously, all of the dreams I have been having, all of the feelings. I had told my parents I thought some one was doing this to me, telling me that something was going to happen and we needed to be prepared, but no one ever listened to me.

"I know there is a storm coming, now come inside." I told him, holding out my hand toward him. He took it and patted the dog's rump before coming in the house after me.

Just as we went inside the house, my parents came out of the kitchen with my uncle and aunt; their son still sitting at the table. "Off to bed you two. Today was a long day and tomorrow will be another. You both must get some rest for tomorrow's field work."

I helped Rakesh down the hall, my cousin Dalton following us into the small bedroom that was mine and Rakesh's. Dalton was currently staying with us, sharing the cramped room. He was about the same age as I, fifteen, and very mature for his age, but he was shy and didn't talk to me much. Just like his parents, he thought I was a little crazy for believing something was out to get us all.

He wasn't the only one to be skeptical about what I saw in my dreams; I was sure I was more torn than all of them. I saw it in my mind, felt it in my heart, and yet it was hard to believe that it would ever really happen to my family because we had always had such good luck.

But luck ran out eventually.

Rakesh was dressed and in bed quickly, his white shirt and pants warm from being close to the fireplace on the far side of the bedroom. I change in separate room, too modest to have Dalton near as I dressed into my white nightgown. It was the only thing the girls and women were allowed to wear; dresses and nightgowns.

Rakesh was almost sleeping when I came back into the room, stoking the fire a bit to make the flame larger. Dalton was the floor, his legs crossed, and his eyes on me. They were large with wonder and confusion as we both stared at each other for a moment. Dalton looked exactly like his father, medium build with long legs, light, almost blue hair, and eyes to match. His eyes were the thing that always got to me, looking so innocent and yet…so menacing like they were hiding some deep secret.

Crimson rushed to my cheeks as it always did when I caught Dalton's stare; never sure what exactly to say or do.

I broke the silence with a quiet, "We should get some sleep." I crawled into the bed next to Rakesh, glad to not have to stare into Dalton's dark eyes. I listened to Rakesh and Dalton breathing, thinking of my dream the night before. I was always hesitant to fall asleep these last few days, unable to shake the dreams that I always woke in a cold sweat from.

Finally without much protest, my eyelids drooped and I finally was able to sleep. The dream I had wasn't as pleasant as the other ones were, not that they were pleasant at all, but this dream was more than terrifying.

I couldn't make out what it was about at first, then it clicked. Rakesh and I were running away from a burning house…our house…and we were also running from something. Dalton was running just in front of me, his father's gun in hand. He was the leader now, the protector.

I don't know how I knew this, but everyone that was supposed to be with us, just seemed to have been dead, or maybe in the burning house, I'm not sure. But I did know, as I ran holding on to Rakesh's hand, that no one was going to make it and everyone was going to die.

As the dream continued, I grew more and more distressed as the monsters who I hadn't been able to see, kept chasing us, farther and farther in the woods so we couldn't escape. Dalton's figure ran faster than Rakesh and I, but he slowed his pace so he could help me along with Rakesh. We heard all of the demons around us, boxing us in and we started to panic.

Dalton and I spoke silently as we made a plan to spilt up, he would go left and Rakesh and I would go right on the path, meeting up with him in the church about a mile away.

We split

Then, Rakesh was suddenly gone, leaving me alone in the woods and having to fend all of them off myself. The dream continued, me still running, the monsters still chasing. I don't know how long it went on until for the last time, I fell to the floor and didn't get up, not able to continue.

The demons came, still so dark outside that I couldn't see them. I saw in the sky that the moon wasn't visible, it was almost like it had suddenly disappeared with the doom and despair of it all.

The demons didn't attack, or they didn't attack fast enough because I was suddenly awake with fright, a large crash echoing in the small bedroom that I was lying in. As I jolted up right, I could feel the cold sweat on my back, my neck, my chest, making my nightgown stick to my body.

Dalton was staring at me from the floor, his face inches from mine. His face read more terror than I felt at that moment, his eyes wider than normal, his own face just as sweaty as mine was. His chest heaved in rhythm with mine, almost as though he saw the same thing I had just seen.

"They're here." He wheezed quietly.

I jumped from my bed, Rakesh still sleeping soundly.

“Who’s they?”

Screams echoed through the house as another loud crash sounded. It was something being knocked over on the other side of the houses. I ran out of the room, Dalton right behind me. He was so close to me his breath was on my slick neck. I didn’t mind. For how scared I was right now, I needed the closeness.

I could feel the heat from the fire immediately, stinging my eyes. I closed them automatically, opening them again to try and see exactly what was happening.

Dalton yelled, clambering back down the hall. “Rakesh! Get out here now! Come on!” He came back a second later, holding Rakesh in his arms.

I was frozen in place, trying to find out where the fire was. The smoke was so thick all I could see was a faint glowing.

My mom was screaming from somewhere, and I called to her.

Dalton grabbed my arm and tugged me along, bring me outside. I coughed then, trying to get all of the smoke out of my lungs. He placed Rakesh down beside me and ran back inside, his hands covering his head.

I saw it then, the house I had just seen in my dream. Most of it was glowing orange red in a flurry of heat. I could no longer hear my mother’s cries and I knew exactly why. My eyes wouldn’t let me cry, not even a tear. Rakesh now awake with fright, tugged on my arm to get me farther away from the burning building.

I let him pull me, waiting for Dalton. He would come, and he would be holding his father’s gun. It was how it was meant to be.

A second after I had the thought, Dalton raced out with his father’s gun in his hand. “Run!” he yelled at us. His chest was bare and blistered, his night shirt completely gone. It took me a second to respond to him.

His face had startled me to the spot. His eyes were wide and frightened like before, but they no longer looked like a fifteen years old. They looked haunted and worn down like he had seen too much.

A long and loud howl came from the burning house.

A shiver ran down my spin as Dalton reached me.

He tugged on my arm. “Run Luna!”

I didn’t turn fast enough. Before I could, I saw the creature leap from the flames of the house, its teeth bared at me. Three other joined it, their fur slightly singed from the heat. Their red eyes were glowing, staring at me as if I was something to eat. Other than that, I don’t know what they were. They almost looked like wolves, but not like any wolves I have seen.

Rakesh’s hand in mine and Dalton’s hand on my arm, we ran. We ran as fast as we could, our bare feet slapping on the ground.

“But dad!” Rakesh screamed, trying to go back. “Dad’s in there!”

Neither Dalton nor I answered. We both knew what had happened to them. No one survived but us.

Rakesh lost his foot as did I, tripping over something warm and sticky. All three connected by our hands fell to the ground. I lie on the ground, my face in the dirt. What was the point of going on? Very thing was going to go as I had seen it. It always does.

Rakesh screamed. “Boy? Are you okay?”

I looked at the thing we had tripped over and scrambled to my feet, dragging Rakesh along with me. He didn’t protest then, but ran just as fast as I was going. Dalton ran just ahead of us, the gun swinging in his arms. He looked around, trying to see them as they gained on us.

Rakesh was crying as we ran. The thing that we had tripped over had been his hunting dog. It had been a very pretty sight. The dog’s throat was no longer attached to its body, and it had only had two legs left. The poor animal was in pieces.

I whimpered as the howls started again, and the growls reached me.

Dalton looked at me, his eyes swimming.

“You saw it?” I asked quietly, trying to convey to him that I knew I was the one that was going to live.

He nodded. “All week.”

I looked away from him then, concentrating on our running.

The gun in Dalton’s hand went off as he shot at something in the woods, still running in front of us. A whimper from my left made me want to cheer in victory, but I knew better. There were way more than just the three I had seen.

Dalton looked at me again, still running on the path. I nodded to him, understanding that this was where we would split up. He ran faster, into the trees where I would never see him again.

I wanted the tears to come now, but they still didn’t.

Rakesh started to sob again, his hiccups making it hard for him to breathe as we ran. I stirred his right, staying on the trail. We needed to survive.

No, we would survive. I would do everything in my power to survive.

Rakesh’s hand suddenly left mine, a scream escaping from his lips. At the same time, clouds from the storm that had been over for about an hour, covered up the moon, making the world around me completely dark and making me feel helpless.

“Rakesh!” I yelled, stopping my sprint, and turning around to find him. We had picked a bad place to turn to and run away from them. The trail did not go this way, making the forest thicker and much denser, not to mention the now complete darkness. The forest seemed to hear the panic in my voice, the wind starting up to scare me even more. Now that the wind blew and made a huge noise with all of the tree branches and leaves rustling, I couldn't hear the growls or snarls that had alerted me to the presence of these demons.

“Luna!” Rakesh answered, seeming farther away than he should have been. I took a chance and started back the way we had come, my heart thumping in my chest.

“Rakesh!” I yelled again. My eyes still wouldn’t let me cry. I was in shock from how fast this had gone. “Dalton!” I yelled, even though I knew it was useless.

I couldn’t see a thing, and I much I tried, all I could hear was my own feet scrambling on the ground.

The trees suddenly faded and gave away to a huge wheat field, my family’s wheat field.

I still ran until I was in the middle of it. I stopped then, starring up at the sky. The moon was still shining at me, and I wondered if my vision was wrong about this part. Maybe the moon wouldn’t disappear just yet.

“Luna!” Dalton yelled from behind me. I didn’t have enough time to turn before he hit me from behind and kept running, holding my arm in his firm grasp.

His chest was heaving as we ran through the wheat, trying to get across the field to the church. I saw the large building, its large cross on the roof shining in the moon light.

The howls began again, doing the same thing to my body as before. A shiver ran up my spin and back down again until it touched my toes.

Dalton looked older than his age now, running with his hand grasp on the gun, his jaw set.

I looked up at the moon. Clouds were starting to cover it. It was almost over, we were going to survive this.

The beasts came out of their hiding places, running behind us. Their growls and huffs of air were loud in my ears. I pumped my legs faster, trying to get to the church before anything else could happen.

Dalton thrust the gun into my hand. “You’re going to need this.” He said quietly between breathes.

“No!” I screamed, trying to give it back.

I dropped it then, and we both stopped running. He went back to get it just as the moon was officially covered up by the dark clouds in the sky. Everything went black and I couldn’t see anything.

Dalton screamed once, and all was silent. Nothing moved, nothing breathed, and nothing attacked. The demons had gone, no longer being able to be fueled by the moon.

“Dalton?” I squeaked, knowing as much as he had that I would be the only survivor.

I stood stalk still in the wheat field, trying to figure out all that happened. I was all alone now; no one to hold me close and tell me everything was going to be okay for the rest of my life. My parents, my uncle and aunt, Rakesh, Dalton; all were gone forever. They had never believed me.

“I love you.” I whispered to them all, the tears finally falling from eyes.