The End

This was the end. He knew it. There was no doubt in his mind, he would live out his last moments in this dilapidated old barn. He checked the door once again, it was securely locked, the bar in place. There was no way whatever it was out there was getting in at him, not this time. Was it really what it had looked like? The fur, the teeth, the sheer size and bulk of the creature that had savaged him that couldn’t possibly have been what he thought it was.

He had lost his phone in the struggle that had resulted in his evisceration, then someone else was there, shooting at the beast. He had no recollection of who, what they might have looked like, just the gunfire that had distracted the creature long enough for him to crawl to an abandoned farmstead and inside the barn. Then he had heard the screams, and more gunfire. Then silence.

He lost consciousness for a short while, coming back to the world upon hearing a snuffling, growling noise from the other side of the door that he had been leaning against. The bar would hold, he reasoned, but he still gathered himself and moved agonisingly further away.

Whatever was on the other side pushed against the door, first gently, then with more force. A snarl of rage followed by a THUD! As the beast slammed against the barrier. Then another. Then silence again. He looked around, finding a ladder up to the hayloft, figured that he could probably climb up it in one relative piece.

His missing phone was an issue. If he had had it with him, he might have been able to call for help. He hoped that the gunfire had been from police that had called for some backup before their demise and not some random gun-toting wilderness-dwelling lunatic. He was not that far away from civilisation as all that, it had taken him perhaps half an hour to drive out here. The beast had destroyed his vehicle, however. Driving out was not an option. He was right, he was going to die in this barn.

A noise from outside startled him; whatever it was had knocked something over, something that clattered noisily. The beast snarled angrily from the side of the barn. It seemed to be searching for a way in. He spotted movement out a dusty, grimy window; a huge, shaggy mound that vanished from view almost quickly enough that he thought he might have imagined it.

Blood soaking his hands made climbing the ladder a little more difficult than it should have been, even with his intestines half hanging out from his belly. The pain was leaving, though, which he thought might be a bad sign. Heaving himself up onto the hayloft floor, he just lay there for a moment. Remembering the feel of the creature’s teeth rending the flesh of his leg, the claws tearing his stomach open; it was getting difficult to recall these events. Pain and blood loss was taking a toll on his brain function.

Another thud came from the barn door. The thing had completed its circuit of the barn, finding no other way inside. Whatever it was, it was clearly an intelligent being. It knew the only way in was the door and it was doing its best to open it. Or its worst. Again, the beast slammed its bulk against the barn door, again, and again.

Glancing over the edge, he saw that the bar on the door was starting to splinter. His only hope was that the creature would get tired of trying to get inside before it broke. Another slam came from the door, the bar splintering even more. Slivers of wood littered the floor of the barn next to the door. Again, the beast threw itself against the door causing more splinters to fly off of the bar.

He was going to die here, he knew it. He just wanted to avoid being eaten for as long as possible.

The door exploded inwards.

The creature snuffled at the blood trail, then stood to its full height. Walking on hind legs, the shaggy beast stood perhaps two and a half metres tall, with the general size of a large bear. It was not, however, any kind of bear that he had ever seen.

He took in the entirety of the creature in an instant. The beast had a vaguely canine appearance, doglike legs ending in enormous paws took a cautious step forwards as it tested the air with its snout. Lips pulled back in a snarl, revealing vicious, huge teeth that he knew far too intimately. His leg burned at the sight. Triangular ears twitched and he hoped that the beast couldn’t hear him breathing.

Then he caught sight of the thing’s eyes. All too human in that wolfish face, they locked onto his. The snarling maw turned up in a grin. He knew what this thing was, now. All the signs were there. The eyes, the teeth, the full moon confirmed it…

Panicking, he tried to kick the ladder down with his uninjured leg. It clattered to the floor below, but it was no use. In an instant, in a single bound, the thing had leaped up and over him. It snarled angrily.

A large, too human-looking hand, coated in coarse fur and tipped with claws rather than nails reached down, covering his face. The claws dug excruciatingly into his flesh; his scream muffled by the beast’s palm. He felt the creature’s teeth at his throat then, biting in, tearing.

As consciousness, and life, fled, the creature howled in triumph.

The end had come.