Chapter One [https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/66905893_2347762585493859_9218588826266501120_n.png?_nc_cat=111&_nc_eui2=AeGw6bIF4JSRiLUDZLy294uLc_dJKzzFj_-qa6ndiNTN3bITwkaYURyk_buC9SYr2IDtU5oYzUytD9OxvceCpnhQp-6Xk9yeIalV237htiRIgA&_nc_oc=AQk-sNR22wqCkbC5itkEwnjwXdlVNcAzL8fAiPvdadXJotCsQ8_2vHby4LWV3lnHPVuchbbUR_xFi-NEfPCOMSz-&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=d82a75fdbca3c8f073e7d3e1dc564b69&oe=5DC360BD] [https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/49116913_2114531961900886_2138727236180639744_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&oh=080a261002778fcf59141522e3c7047e&oe=5CD63F77]

Life can be dangerous in most cities. Some places can be a step above that, as one man was only just realizing. “Son of a...” The man mumbled as he walked down a side street in the late hours of the night. He wore an expensive looking grey suit with a red tie. His brown hair was perfectly parted down the middle without a single strand out of place. His gold Rolex he wore on his right wrist looked like it cost more than his suit and haircut put together. He had worked late at the office finishing up a coworker’s job...as always. When he finally finished the project, he came down to see his ride had left him high and dry. With no money for a cab, he was forced to walk home. His night couldn't get any worse…or so he thought.

“You gotta be kidding me.” he yelled as he stepped into a puddle, soaking his sock through his suede loafer. Without thinking, he turned down a dark alley to save a few minutes on his walk home. He stopped suddenly when he heard an unusual noise coming from behind him. When he looked behind him, nothing was there. “That was strange.” He thought, as he picked up the pace. He heard the noise again but much louder, this time he spun around quickly, as it had startled him. Squinting through the darkness, he looked back the way he had just come. His nightmares of youth came to life. Right in the middle of the alley stood a tall dark shadowy figure. He wasn’t moving, just standing there facing him. It was freaky, watching him just staring back at me. “Who’s there?” He yelled, praying inside that the stranger would just answer with something normal.

There was no response, nothing. Then just as suddenly as he appeared, he moved into the darkest shadows disappearing from his view. The man’s heart leapt in his chest, making him stumble backwards. Once his feet started moving, he couldn’t stop them. Fact is, he sped off as fast as he could go, hoping that it was over. As he ran he could hear weird clicking noises behind him. Kind of like someone’s nails clicking on a desk to the rhythm of a galloping horse.

“Someone help!!” He yelled praying for an answer. Only silence responded, as he was alone, none to hear his desperate shouts. This couldn’t be happening to him, not at this point in his life. Tomorrow was his wedding day. His birthday was just last week, having turned twenty-eight. Right after college he had met her and after four years of dating the most beautiful-full-figured-sexy woman he had ever met, they were finally tying the knot. His dreams of raising a family were finally showing themselves in his life. The woman of his dreams, was finally his. He would have called her to pick him up, but he knew she was tucked quietly away at her parent’s house sleeping after a long day of wedding preparations. There was no way he was going to call her to disrupt her family on this night. But now, with this turn of events, he realized that would have been much better than this.

As his heart raced, he would glance back, catching glimpses of this shadowy figure that was chasing him. He couldn’t figure it out. When he was standing in the middle of the alley, he resembled a man standing on two feet. Now, what he was seeing was very different. While he couldn’t get a good look at it, the image was similar to a large-hairy-mountain of a dog with an arching back. This had to be a dream. His legs actually began to move faster now. This was crazy. He began to panic even worse, stumbling over something in the dark. He jumped back to his feet, expecting to die at any moment. He turned onto a sidewalk, running past storefront windows, hoping someone would be driving down the street that he could flag down. No one was there, only empty streets as far as the eye could see.

He looked behind himself again. With the street lamps he could see pretty good now. It wasn’t following him any longer. There was no way he was going to stop running though. This was a large city and he had a long run through the business section to get to a house where he could find people. After several more blocks of full-out-running, seeing no one following, he turned into an alley again to hide for a minute. The man needed to catch his breath. He wasn’t an athlete, never worked out or anything. He began to feel safe now. As he had moved fairly deep into this alley, he had made his way behind a dumpster and into the shadows there. Whatever that thing was, it obviously decided to leave him alone, once he had moved out into the lighted area.

As he squatted there behind that dumpster, it dawned on him. “Crap!” He sputtered. Whatever that thing was, it doesn’t like the lights of the street and he had just run into a dark corner of an alley. “Oh my freaking god…” He said out loud, as he got up to move back to the street! Just as he stood up, he heard a loud clicking noise right behind him. Suddenly a hot moist wind came rushing over the back of his neck causing the hairs to tickle there to ignite his senses, moving down into his shirt as if something was above him breathing down on him from behind.

As he screamed, all you could make out behind that dumpster was a thrashing figure being pulled into the deepest-darkest corner until the only sound remaining was the tearing of flesh and crunching of bones. It was just another day in a city where danger was common, yet sometimes a step above.

*****

“Yes mom. I know mom. Don’t worry I packed an extra pair.”, Dante muttered into the phone. He loved her more than anything. You couldn’t ask for a more caring mother. She had always been overbearing even after he moved out, always coming over to bring him food or to clean his house. But he could never get her off the phone once she began her motherly duties, as she saw them. “Alright mom, I will. Now don’t forget I won’t be able to call for a couple of weeks. Remember, there’s no service out in the forest. But I will call when I come into town for supplies. Yes I will. Ok I love you too. I’ll see you in a few months. Bye mom.”

Dante grinned as he tossed his phone on his bed. He had worked the winter shift every year for the past three years. His mom acted like it was his first time, same as last year, and same as the year before. He didn’t mind it though. Sure it was a long four months but he enjoyed it. He had always loved the forest, not minding the solitude. He actually felt more at peace out there, never really liking the big city life. Cities were just way too loud and busy.

He went over and checked his bag one more time. He didn’t want to forget anything. It looked like he had everything, his ranger jacket laid neatly on top with his gun underneath. Sure he had a permit for it but he still liked to keep it out of sight. He never was much into guns. He zipped the bag shut, placing it next to the door.

Dante walked from his room to the bathroom which was attached to his bedroom. His bedroom was pretty plain. It had wood panels along the wall that ran all the way down to the brown shag carpet. The room itself wasn’t very big. He only had his bed in the center and a dresser against the back wall. The closet was on the right while the entrance to the bathroom was on the left across from the nightstand. The only thing that seemed out of place in the whole room was a blue lava lamp atop the nightstand, causing blue and black shadows to form ever moving landscapes across the wall at night. Just the way he liked it. No telling how many nights he had stayed up late watching them tumble, filling his imagination with other-worldly scenes of mystery and intrigue.

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Dante washed up real quick, as he wouldn’t have much time in the morning for that. Harry could get pretty gruff with him if he was late. He brushed his teeth, trimmed his beard, liking how his beard matched his short brown curly hair. That was Dante though, always with the perfectly kept features. He liked it that way, making him feel in control. Working outside gave him the perfect tan to match his neat appearance, causing girls to take a second look at his chiseled frame when he passed them.

“Well, I think that’s it.” He told himself. Making an early night of it, he decided to turn in. With a long day looming tomorrow, he had to get an early start. Slipping into his blue cotton peejays which had images of diverse sized planets with space as a background to match his lava lamp, gliding under the covers, he reached to turn the lights out. Sometimes he would just turn the lights out and watch the lava lamp interact with his peejays as he stood against the wall. It was like watching one of those space films tell the story of some far away galaxy being formed. Those were his favorite peejays after all.

A loud noise outside stopped his hand, just as he was about to twist the switch. Leaping out of bed, he quickly retrieved his 9mm from his bag. Not seeing anything as he peered out the window from the side, he decides to go outside. “That was a pretty loud racket, someone has to be out there.”, he thought. Before he opened the front door he peaked through the peephole. With the light on outside, he still couldn’t see any movement.

As he opened the door, he carefully scanned the yard. Jumping back suddenly, as a figure appeared next to his trash can. “Howdy neighbor.” The fear drained from Dante’s face. It was only Bo the hobo as he was widely known. He was one of the local homeless around the city. He mostly stuck to wandering up town where he could grab up throw aways from the surrounding restaurants. But at night he liked to go through residential areas hoping to find some unfinished home cooked meals or if luck was on his side a good pair of cloths tossed out in his size.

“Bo what are you doing?” Dante relaxed his arm releasing his finger from the trigger. “Oh you know what they say. One mans trash and all.” He grinned showing his rotted yellow teeth or what was left of them anyways. He smelled worse than the trash that he had been digging in. Wearing a ripped up brown jacket over a long sleeved grey shirt covered in god knows what and a pair of brown slacks with matching stains. A pair of mismatched yellow and red shoes and to top off his attire was his pink ear muffs with red hearts sticking out the sides.

“Get out of here Bo, it's late. I gotta be up early.” Dante turned to walk back inside glancing back at Bo putting back the trash lid. A knot swelled up in his throat. “Wait here a moment.” Dante ran inside leaving Bo waiting patiently for his return. After a few minutes he returned with one of those big brown paper bags you get from the stores. I had filled it with lots of goodies that would keep, like canned goods, fruit, a loaf of bread and a lot of other stuff. Bo peered inside the bag. “Why I can’t take all of this.”

Despite his situation he was a proud and kind man. He never stole from anybody only taking what they throw out. You would never catch him begging for money on the corner. Heck one time Dante saw him give his only dollar to a woman who was short one trying to buy some diapers for her baby. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going away for a few months. It’s all going to go bad anyways.” Which was true, and he would rather see it get eaten than go bad. Who better than Bo? “Thank you so very much.” Bo’s eyes actually watered as he turned to leave. “One more thing.” Dante reached inside the door and pulled out a black jacket. “You look like you could use a new one.”

He tossed Bo the jacket. Bo took off his old jacket and threw on the new one. Perfect fit, though he didn’t toss the old one knowing he might need it again one day. “You’re a good man Dante.” With that he took his leave. Dante smiled as headed back to bed. This time, he nodded off quickly, with nothing to break the quiet of the night.

*****

Dante found himself running through the forest as fast as his legs would go. Branches slapped him in the face but he wouldn’t slow down. Just behind him there was a huge wolf with blazing red eyes. It was chasing him, closing in fast. The biggest wolf he had ever seen, with fur as dark as a moonless night. Teeth gleaming their white song of death as fear filled every pore of his body, making his heart pound hard against his chest. He looked back to see the wolf was closer than he thought. He could almost feel it’s hot breath pushing against his back.

Coming out of the thick trees, he came face to face with a lake sparkling in the moonlight as if stars were actually swimming through it, alive with life. All choices gone, he came to a stop, spinning around to face his impending death, only to see the wolf a few feet away. Standing there staring him down with those glowing eyes of horror eating through his very being, those damn eyes, tearing through him, peering straight into his soul with an overpowering feeling of impending doom. The undeniable touch of destiny’s hand seeking to render ones’ own desires impotent! Uncaring of man’s inner turmoil’s of righteousness or damnation, the moments turned to slow motion as those blazing orbs of death grew in size, swallowing his world, shaking his soul in despair, as they came bounding ever closer. Leaping in the air to tear into him with the knowing of helplessness in his weakness of life, forcing him to close his eyes, knowing the end, the final moments of his whole life, had finally caught him despite his greatest efforts to avoid this very point of time. After an eternity passed, leaving him standing there cringing with uncontrollable shivers that divided his soul from his body, but the world grew suddenly quiet. Nothingness filled him as deafness of action filled that very moment of epic ending. After a few more seconds passed, leaving him quivering but untouched, he forced his eyes back open. Not wanting to see but after the many deaths of time going unfulfilled, he could not stand the darkness further. Yet it was gone. “What the...”, he thought. As he peered into the night only to find the quiet with all its normal sounds and motions of life. His beating heart, making rhythm with the universe in all its glory, the wolf had vanished, as if it had never been. Turning, looking behind him towards the lake, an image caught his eye. Looking deeper into the water, the image began to come into focus in the clarity of the moment. He stared into his own eyes. As he focused deeper into his own canvas of life, a shimmering reflection stared back in all its horrifying glory. A large wolf with distorted grotesque features of beastly death glared back. Those crazy blood filled red eyes blazing like twin orbs made from the sun itself. Those white fierce teeth tearing into his very soul with fear and dread of the darkness with its unknown hand.

Dante woke with a start, drenched in a cold sweat, his heart still pounding against his chest. He couldn’t manage to catch his breath, his hands clenched tight around his sheets. Scanning his room, making sure he was alone. Of course he was, it’s not like he would actually see a giant wolf with glowing red eyes standing in the corner of his small room with moving images of blue and black clinging to the walls. “Come on Dante, get it together man.” He told himself.

This wasn’t the first time he has had that dream. The earliest he could recall having it was back when he was a kid right after his dad left. His screams had filled the whole house bringing his mother running into his room. Her mind filled with all manner of mayhem and murder. Many times since has found him waking from that horrid imagery, and yet it only grows more powerful as it appears more and more frequent of late. He could never get over how real it felt. Those damnable blazing orbs of death haunted him every day nearly. Every time, he swore it was actually happening. Like a vision or something. Holding a life of its own. Taunting him into submission each time. It didn’t feel like a dream. It was like stepping into another world or dimension. It had a firm grip on his soul, swearing to never release him until it had ravaged his very world. He was beginning to wonder if he needed some type of therapy, but he refused to even consider that as it might cost him his job. If some therapist imposed on his real life with a type of concern for his mental health, his job would disappear just as quickly. He kept it locked inside, never discussing it with anyone. If he was crazy, he would keep that demented soul secured tightly inside his own head.

He reached over and took a drink from the glass of water beside his bed. He finally managed to catch his breath. He laid back down trying to go back to sleep but sadly he knew that it wouldn’t be as easy this time around. It was going to be a long night after all.