Moment of truth

He was gradually moving closer, ever cautious not to make even the slightest sound. At one point, he started hearing noises coming from a very close distance. He lowered his pace and began to move even more slowly and quietly, with his heart beating with curiosity. He soon arrived at an open space in the woods, lo and behold, he spotted someone kneeling over what seemed to be a motionless figure. Oliver couldn't identify who either of them was, as he couldn't see their faces clearly enough, with the limited supply of moonlight, though he had a very strong conviction that he had finally found who he'd been searching for.

He quickly hid behind a thick trunk, and quietly brought out from his bag, a really weird object for a weapon. It was a toy water pistol he had repurposed and weaponized into a junky but functioning flamethrower, by replacing water with ethanol (a colorless flammable liquid) and attaching a cigarette lighter above the nozzle, with the trigger connected to it. He made the weapon himself with the available materials he could find within the orphanage since they were not allowed with even a mere pointy object, or anything else resembling a weapon. He figured this kind of weapon might come in handy since he was dealing with an enemy whose natural weakness included fire.

Oliver took a deep breath, then slowly he stepped out of his hiding place, aiming his weapon at the individual kneeling over the motionless figure on the ground.

"Hey, move away from him and turn around slowly," Oliver ordered, still in his calm voice and composure.

The individual seemed really startled when he abruptly heard Oliver's voice command. He froze immediately at the spot, muttering something to himself.

"I said turn around!" Oliver demanded.

"Oliver?" he muttered with shuddery gasps of panic and puzzlement, as he slowly turned around.

Oliver's eyes widened a bit when he heard the voice, and then a bit more as he saw the face.

"It is you…" he muttered under his breath.

Standing right there facing him in the moonlight was the very person he so desperately was hoping he would see, Jasper. Just seeing Jasper gave Oliver a sense of fulfillment. This was all he had been looking for these past several weeks, that one proof to finally solidify the validity of his investigations.

"W… What are you doing out here?" Jasper stuttered, uneasily.

"I believe that question should be the other way around, Jasper, 'cause let's be honest here, who else wouldn't be curious about why you're in the woods, standing over a motionless person in the middle of the night?"

"No no, this is not what it looks like, I promise," he pleaded.

Oliver flashed his torchlight at the person on the ground, there were a series of claw marks across his face, and several more on his neck and body.

"He's dead," Jasper mentioned shortly as if answering the question displayed on Oliver's face.

As Oliver looked more closely, he suddenly recognized the face of the victim.

"It's your roommate," he muttered in shock and utter disbelief.

"Oliver, I can explain," Jasper pleaded, "I didn't do this."

"I'm sorry, but we're way past explanations," Oliver replied.

"Are those tears in your eyes?" Oliver asked, noticing the wetness of his face and eyes.

"I'm telling you, I am innocent," Jasper replied, "You know Shelter is like a brother to me, just why would I ever do that to him?"

"Because you're not yourself, Jasper!" Oliver answered shortly.

"You…you think I'm dangerous? Is that why you're pointing that weird object at me, whatever that is?" Jasper said.

"This is an improvised flamethrower I made in case you try to attack me," Oliver replied, "Certainly your highly improved olfactory sense must've picked up the scent of my fuel already."

"I'm not the monster, Oliver. I know you must've found some evidence and clues connected to me, but trust me, I'm not the werewolf, I didn't harm those people," Jasper explained.

"What are the holograms for, then, the very ones in your room even as we speak?" Oliver asked him.

"Shelter and I had those set up when we first found out about the werewolf, so that the hostel master wouldn't know when we weren't in our room at night, also because we discovered that our suspect had found out we were tracking him at night. The werewolf is a mastermind, Oliver, he's been playing us around like pawns, all along, showing you false leads, making you think you're right. He's always been one step ahead of us. He tried to frame me when he attached Alex, just like he's trying to frame me now, trust me. I know who he is, Oliver. Shelter is dead now because he did too. I could've told you, but I was afraid you wouldn't trust me. I need you to trust me now." he explained to Oliver in a really panicky voice.

"My investigations and clues were never wrong," Oliver insisted, "I don't believe you."

"Oh come on Oliver, why won't you just trust me this once?!" Jasper cried, his eyes wide with desperation.

"I've tried trusting you, Jasper" Oliver replied, "I almost believed you were innocent, now I have no doubt. I finally did it, I finally put a stop to your streak of brutality, it's over."

"No it ain't over!" exclaimed Jasper in anger, "This is where you mostly get it wrong, Oliver, you've stooped nothing! You're gonna regret this!"

Suddenly they started hearing sounds of very fast movements around the woods. Oliver immediately felt a bolt of panic hit him.

"What is that?" he muttered.

"It's him, it's the werewolf!" Jasper cried out, his eyes wild with terror as they darted from side to side.

"You've got to help me here, Oliver, he's gonna kill me!" he pleaded, "I told you it wasn't me, man, I told you!"

Oliver felt a blaze of frustration and panic clouded up in his mind. He could not believe his theories, proofs, and investigations could all be wrong. He tried using his goggles to find where the creature was, but its batteries were already dead.

"Stay close!" he shouted, holding out his weapon defensively.

At this point, he found himself trying to protect the same person he had before, always believed to be the werewolf, from what he was now convinced was the actual werewolf.

"Oh, shit! I'm gonna die! I sure am gonna die!!" Jasper exclaimed in panic, "I told you to trust me this once, now we're both gonna die!!"

"Stop it!" Oliver scolded, "If you keep acting like this, you will die. Put yourself together!!"

They both began to move quickly along the narrow tracks that led towards the outside, in between the trees. All of a sudden, they heard something charging towards them at a very high speed. Oliver was lucky enough to duck out of the way on time, right before it knocked down Jasper who was just right behind him. He immediately began to hear Jasper's loud yells along with the frightful growls of the beast.

As he quickly got up from where he lay, he saw the large horrifying build of the werewolf, standing over Jasper; eight foot, with seven inches of unforgiving dagger-sharp claws on all digits. This was the exact same werewolf he had seen in a vision weeks past, the very same werewolf that had consistently plagued his dreams since then, only now it looked even more wild and terrifying.

It had already taken a large paw swipe along Jasper's left shoulder; which was now bleeding uncontrollably, and was about to take another one. Oliver found his flamethrower and aimed at the werewolf. He pulled the trigger, expecting flames to proceed from it and scare off the beast, but instead, the liquid just sprouted out like an ordinary toy water gun would. He tried again, but the liquid only put out the little flame from the cigarette lighter, instead of amplifying it like should. Oliver was mad with panic, he tried again and again but it was still the same outcome. Totally confused at this point, he tasted the liquid, and was shocked to find out it was just water. At this point, the werewolf had already taken several more claw swipes at Jasper.

Oliver found a long dry branch on the ground. Driven by pure instinct and adrenaline alone, he struck the branch against the back of the werewolf. Immediately, it left Jasper and redirected its attention towards him, as he then took an offensive stance with the branch in his hands, provoking it even more. As it charged towards him, he docked quickly out of harm's way and took on his heels, but unfortunately for him, his speed was no match for that of the lycanthropic beast. It caught up with him shortly, and effortlessly shoved him to the side, sending him crashing against a tree trunk. He landed hard on his head and passed out.