Connor Ray Hook's Story

The wound still stung, and the angry red edges where the beasts teeth had sunk in looked worse than ever. Connor knows he should go to the clinic, get the bite checked out. Or in the least put some ointment on it, an easy fix if he ever could remember to do so.

"Something wrong Connor?" Julia asks, two lanes away from him at the checkout counter. With four in total it wasn't a huge distance. The two of them were the only ones manning the counters. Only a few customers come in this late in the afternoon. Connor checks the clock hanging up above the atm.

"Bored," He answers honestly, drumming his fingers along the counter top. He must say it just a bit too sharply, because Julia turns away with a little huff and flick of her long brunette hair.

Theres a strange feeling in his skin today, almost feverish but not quite sick feeling. Antsy is the word he would use, like something big is about to happen but he just can't figure out what it is. Hes itchy too, but it isn't a normal itch that just goes away with a scratch. This itch is below his skin burning through his reserves of patience. He just wishes shift change would happen soon so he can go home and sleep off the feeling.

30 minutes to go, he knows he can't wait that long. Not when the sweating suddenly starts up, soaking him in an instant. Only it isn't exactly hot so Connor doesn't know why hes sweating. Its worrying to say the least, and when a pulse of pain shoots through his hip, where the damn wolf bit him his legs nearly buckle. He grips the counter and looks down at where the bite is, watching as the skin ripples, like something trying to claw its way out from within. He blinks in shock, and the skin returns to normal.

Consequences be damned, Connor needed to get home and sleep off whatever the hell this feeling is.

---

The end of his shift came faster than he expected, and thankfully so. He knew by this point that it wasn't safe to cut through the woods, but it was the fastest way to get back home. He needed to rest, take some aspirin and possibly a long shower. Maybe that would get rid of the strange feeling.

His focus on the feeling is so intense by that point that he doesn't even notice that he has gone deeper into the woodlands, nowhere near his home. But once he realized this his curiosity got the best of him, walking a little further in the direction he had been walking - until abruptly realizing he didn't recognize this area at all. Something that came as a surprise given he grew up in New Haven and spent much of his time in the woodlands.

"Well shit," He says to himself, settling down to take a quick rest against a tree stump. Its getting dark, and the feelings is only getting worse as time ticks on. Connor wills himself to move, to do anything but sit there.

Angi pulled the worn blanket closer to her chilled body, the flame of her dying fire flicking up in a last ditch attempt to touch the sky before dropping back down to it original position. The wind swept through the trees and rustled them, causing her body to shiver and forcing her to curl into herself for a moment.

It had been little under a month ago since the bit she had received from that wolf, a little under a month since she had been forced to leave her home and start living rough in the woods. She felt her concern for the children growing each day she was away and they were left along with that man, but each day Thomas would come with food, telling her that everything was okay, that they were all okay and that she should just stay put in the woods for now.

Lost deep in though, Angi probably wouldn't of noticed the burning if it hadn't been for the fact that the cold no longer bothered her and she had to throw off the blanket because she had become to hot. There were other things as well, she had the desire to tear off her cloths and run, just keep running, to where she had no clue, but fortunately she managed to quell that desire, even if she couldn't stop herself from getting up and walking away from the small circle of light her fire cast.

It was dark, and late, and the full moon shone over head, illuminating her blonde hair so that it shone like silver and turned her skin milky white, her cloths were ruined from days spent sleeping rough and her hair is a tangled flowing mess. If any of the villagers were to have seen her that night, they would of sworn it was a spirit and not a girl that had walked through the woods.

As if in a trance, she moved a path unseen by the rest of the world to a location she had never been but knew all to well. She could sense others, a man, 2 women and a young girl, she could hear them, smell them, almost taste them on the wind, and yet that couldn't be possible...

Then the burning was back, and all thoughts were discarded from her mind as the pain started. Closing her eyes she couldn't stop the inhuman scream that erupted from her lips as bones cracked and her skin burst open, dropping her to her hands and knees. Then the pain was gone, and her once scream turned into a Howl, one that seemed to echo off the trees and drawn out the other noises of the night.