Adam was naked.  His foot hurt.  His chest hurt.  His mouth had a wad of dirt and leaves stuck in it.  He didn't seem to be holding his cell phone anymore, which meant he didn't have to finish an awkward conversation with his best friend.  Despite all this, it was the wolf howls that were really alarming.  He'd never heard one in person, but movies always made them sound lonely.  These howls weren't lonely.  They were malicious.  Adam struggled upright, slowed by the ache in his limbs, and began to stumble through the forest that had replaced his bathroom.

"Help me."

Adam almost tripped over the girl before he heard her.  She was as naked as him but covered in bite marks and deep scratches.  The sight of blood mixed with her freckles and red hair was surreal, unlike anything he'd ever seen.

"I've got you." he didn't think about his response, just whispered soothing words and tried to get the girl up and on her feet.  "It's gonna be okay." she was completely limp.  "We'll-" he rolled her onto her back to try a fireman's carry.  There was so much blood.  Her legs and crotch were covered in it.  A chunk the size of his fist was just missing from her inner thigh.

"Help me."

Adam could hear the fear in her voice, the panic and the growing weakness.  Her eyes were closed.  Her mouth hadn't moved.

"Help me."

What was happening?  He didn't understand.  It didn't make sense.  It-

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Help me."

There were shadows in the woods around him, moving swiftly from tree to tree, never quite visible.

"Help me."

Adam ran.  The shadows, the wolves, chased him.

"Help me."

Adam ran.  He was surrounded by barks and yips.  It felt like cruel laughter.

"Help me."

Adam stumbled over roots, ignored the growing pain in his chest and his feet, the eyes that glowed yellow, the blood covering his hands.

"Help me."

He tripped on a rock.  Feet, chest, stomach, everything hurt.  Something bit his ass, maybe a little lower.  Adam screamed in rage and terror, flailed his arms and kicked out blindly.

"Help me."

It was almost the same spot the girl-

Barking, howls, and mocking laughter surrounded him.

"Help me."

Adam tried to tell the dead girl to shut up but didn't have enough breath.  He forced himself back up, tried to ignore the pain, and ran.  He was limping, barely able to use his bitten leg.  The wolves were all around him, but he didn't stop.  He burst out of the woods and into a grassy field.  He fell again.

"Help me."

Adam couldn't stand, so he crawled.  He could hear laughter behind him and a dead woman's voice.  Ahead, there was a mound of dirt, hundreds of feet wide and taller than a man.  It looked like a wall.  It looked like safety.  Adam kept crawling, tried to ignore the pain and the awful sounds.  

They went away.  He kept moving but it didn't work.  His legs, his arms, something was wrong with him.  His chest was cold.  Eventually, Adam felt warm hands on his back, heard quiet voices.  

"You're safe."  "It's okay."  "We've got you."

Safe, he stopped moving.  Safe, Adam slept.  He dreamed, and in his dream, he heard four voices.  They asked him what he wanted, asked him who he was, and asked him who he wanted to become.

"Help me." he could still hear her.

Adam answered their questions, more honest with them than he'd ever been with anyone else, or even himself, but the dream didn't end there.  He dreamed, and the voices spoke to him.  Adam wasn't safe, maybe no one was, but the voices would help him change that.