16 Nightmare

After eating, John lays down, promptly falling asleep.

"So, you're finally out of the marines," His sister states as the two walk along the mountain trail, the setting sun shining down on their backs, "I, still don't know how to feel about how, you haven't changed at all...well, personality wise, looks wise it's easy to see you've been lifting weights and finally gotten some sun on your skin,"

"...Thanks," He responds as he looks around at all the trees around them, "Shouldn't we head back? It's, gonna get dark soon,"

"What? Is the big, tough, marine scared of the dark?"

"Sure," He shrugs as he turns to her.

"Alright,"

They turn around, walking back down the trail. A cool breeze blows through the trees, rustling the leaves at their feet that crunch under each step. Walking through the growing night, John finds himself glancing up at the crescent moon.

"So, what'd you do in the marines?" His sister breaks the silence, "You uh, never really told us anything after you finished bootcamp,"

"Just boring patrols," He lies.

"And, nothing interesting happened?"

"Nope," He shakes his head.

"Come on, something must have happened. Our cousin was in air force and got cut by a drug addict. You were in the marines, something, must have happened,"

"Nothing happened. It was just, six years of working out and, applying sun block all the time so I wouldn't get burnt, even after I got this tan. If anything had happened I would have told you guys…"

They return to silence, John starting to maintain a bit of distance from his sister. They come to a stop when a breaking branch catches their attention. It came from the right, the side John's on. He takes a step toward his sister as something approaches them. Getting an uneasy feeling, he draws his gun, the small flashlight shining onto some trees as some branches in the distance start to shake.

A pair of red, glowing, eyes appear from behind a tree, glaring at him. Something about them seem, familiar.

"John?" His sister asks. He turns around, expecting her to be looking at her, but she's not there. He hears a footstep in front, turning to see her standing at the trail's edge, staring into the woods in both shock and terror.

"Sarah?" He calls out. A low, deep, growl shakes him at his core, drawing his attention to the woods once more, the eyes much closer. Aiming towards it, the light shines onto himself. He's much larger and more muscular, his body covered in scars, and blood.

John finds himself just standing there unable to process what's happening. The other him lets out a beastly roar before suddenly charging at Sarah. He drops his gun and runs for her, jumping at her. He grabs onto her, expecting to get rammed into from behind but the two of them fall down to the ground.

As they lay on the ground, John feels something wet on his hands, and smells a sweet, intoxicating scent. Sarah rolls onto her back away from John, and that's when he sees the blood on his claws. It's fresh and still warm.

"Sarah? Sarah?!" He calls, grabbing onto her cold shoulders, trying to shake her awake, "Sarah!"

His hands begin to tremble as he turns them towards himself, seeing the blood drip down. His reflection stares back at him.

"Sarah!" He calls out as he sits up. He looks around, finding himself back in the woods from last night. It's very early morning, only small traces of sunlight peaking over the mountain tops. He's naked, but the cold air is unable to get past the heat radiating from his body due to his racing heart.

Even with the realization that it was all a dream, worry and anxiety dig into his chest. He clutches his chest as his heart suddenly beats violently. He falls onto his side, the pain curling his body up. He tries to fight it off, slamming a hand into the ground in an attempt to bring himself up. He manages to push himself up onto his hands and knees as he struggles to breath, feeling the transformation beginning.

He digs his claws into the ground as he tries to fight it.

"Cahal!" A woman's voice screams far off in the distance. John looks up, knowing who the voice belongs to. He gets up, taking off for the caern.

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