More Victims

Night arrived and brought darkness along with it. Eerie silence surrounded the forest. The only sound was the crackling of twigs as three men stepped on them. 

"Ah, what a boring task," one of them said, walking sluggishly. 

"Yeah yeah, one of our members was killed by the imposter and we still have no clue who it was. But yeah, it's boring," another man replied sarcastically. 

"Hmm," 

"I wonder if we are going in the correct directions," the second man pondered. 

"It would have been great if there was a girl with us right now, Alfred," the first man said with a mischievous grin on his face. 

The third man who was walking ahead of them stopped and turned around to glare at him. 

"Wait wait, I am not thinking anything nasty. Just the atmosphere is romantic. Moonlight, soft cold breeze and this peaceful silence," the man said and closed his eyes enjoying the wind. Opening his eyes he continued, "What do you say, Elric?" 

Elric turned around, shaking his head and continued walking. 

"I must say your features are enhanced in this moonlight. Brown eyes kinda attract me," he said joking around. Listening to the words, Alfred shook head at his childishness. 

"Whatever, Ronald," Elric replied, unbothered.

Silence surrounded them again. Ronald continued enjoying the walk, humming a song in his mind. Looking up, he noticed the clouds which were covering the moon, started moving apart. The moon shone brilliantly, making known its presence to each and every living being existing and depicted that full moon night has begun. Elric stopped in his tracks, abruptly.

"What happened Elric?" Ronald asked, being perplexed. He glanced around to be cautious, trying to find something that made Elric stop in his tracks. 

"Did you find something sus-" Ronald stopped speaking. Words got stuck in his mouth. His eyes widened looking at the red-eyed man in front of him staring back at him with a vicious gaze. 

He saw hairs growing on the face and body of Elric. His fingers turned into claws, his teeth elongated. His chest broadened, tearing the shirt which he wore, displaying his muscles. 

Ronald trembled in fright. He was sure he heard the crackling of bones, which made me terrified. Within a few minutes, he saw Elric turn into a beast. 

"E-E-Elric," words came from his mouth, stuttering at every letter. He had never witnessed something like this in his entire life.

Elric growled at him, taking a step ahead to which Ronald ventured back. 

Meanwhile, the second man, keeping a safe distance from the beast, managed to find a sharp stone that can easily pierce into the beast's skin. The beast had his full attention on Ronald as he was in his vision. The man used this opportunity to attack the beast from behind, throwing the sharp stone right at the centre of its head, causing severe damage. 

The beast groaned in pain. For a moment the two men sighed in relief. But who knew, attacking it would make it more violent. As soon as they felt it was under control, the beast turned at the man who threw the stone and pounced at him, shredding him into a thousand pieces. 

Ronald shivered in fright. He wanted to scream for help but no voice came out of his mouth. His mouth was agape witnessing the wound on the beast getting healed on its own. 

The beast turned around and growled at his next prey. Adrenaline rushed into Ronald and he turned around to run for his life, away from the beast. The beast within no time pounced on him, making him fall on the ground. Ronald struggled hard not to let the beast's teeth sink in his neck. 

Everything failed as the strength of the beast was inhuman. The beast used its curled claw and shredded his body in no time. 

The beast raised his head and howled loudly making its presence known. It looked around and went in the other direction, hunting its next prey. 

*****

"Just a few more hours and the morning will arrive," Gilbert mumbled. 

They had been walking continuously in the forest moving in the direction from where the other candidates had entered. 

"It's good that there haven't been any deaths," Evelyn sighed in relief. 

"Or maybe we haven't come across one. The forest is huge. There is no way to know what happens on the other side of the forest," Felix reasoned. 

Evelyn nodded in understanding. It was true what Felix said. 

"I don't care about the others. I just want to get out of this mess," Gilbert said. 

He was a selfish man, Evelyn thought in her mind and concluded not to trust him even if they got safely from the forest tonight and entered the council.  

"I wonder what a kind councilman you will be," Felix remarked. Sarcasm was visible as he said those words. 

"I am entering the council only for the bonuses, man." Finally, Gilbert said the truth behind his desire to be a councilman. 

"Councilmen are for the help of the people, not for your pleasure Mister and I reckon if that is your intention then please don't join it, smearing its name," Evelyn stated. 

She was displeased by the way he was behaving since they entered the forest but brushed it off not wanting to create any conflict. But this time she couldn't hold back herself as she had seen her uncle work day and night just because of a few members who didn't do their jobs appropriately. 

"Will see what flags you will raise when you join it," he mocked. 

Evelyn was about to retort but Felix held her arm, gesturing her not to waste her energy on someone unworthy. She nodded and took a breath, distracting herself from Gilbert's words. 

"Why aren't we coming across anybody?" Derek raised a question. 

"I hope the count of deaths is still two and have not been raised," Felix said. 

"I am hungry," Gilbert ranted. 

"We are not here for a picnic, if you want some go search for yourself," Felix said sternly. 

Evelyn very well knew Gilbert would never leave their side even for a second being scared of getting attacked by the imposter. She snickered at his cowardness mentally. As she thought about him, she heard a wolf howling far in the forest, from the direction they came.