Guh. Been gone a while. Sorry to continue a story everyone hated anyway, but I’ll write what I want, damn it!

Lupine Dawn, Part 1 – COMMENCE!

It was about midday when Jeremy finished his setup in the camp. The sun had risen by now, and the permafrost was shining and pure.

But of course, as with all scenes so pure, some sort of blemish had to occur. Luckily for the researchers, these were paw prints.

“They measure about eighteen inches in height from the toe to the back of the pad, diameter is about ten inches,” noted an excited Crystal, snapping closed the tape measure. Jeremy stood behind her, condensed moisture puffing silently to the sky.

“What do you suggest we do?” he asked, finally stepping forward and leaning next to Crystal.

“Psh, must you ask? We track the animal down, of course,” answered Crystal sarcastically. Nevertheless, Jeremy nodded, and the two returned to the tent to get a tagging device, a drawing pad and pencil, and a knife – just in case.

The team set out after the prints, carefully surveying the area, not wanting to disturb the creator of such large imprints if they found it. Crystal took down a gesture drawing of each print as they passed it.

After a time, Crystal stopped, looking around her in every which way. Jeremy stopped next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Something wrong?” he asked, looking down upon her.

“Just…,” she started, kneeling suddenly. The quick movement threw Jeremy off balance, his outstretched arm bringing him down to a halt on the snow behind Crystal. “You see, these prints… a mile or so back, they twisted around, and then kind of faltered. Then they vanished for a few feet, and then there was an impact zone. Obviously, we’re dealing with a bipedal canine here, the tracks are too far apart to be a quadruped, but still… what kind of a werewolf or lycanthrope would twist around then jump away? No creature this far out of the icy paths could harm them.”

Jeremy frowned. He brought himself to stand, offering a hand to Crystal. She took it and stood. “Crystal, think about the geography of this place. You’re camped rather closely to the mountains leading to the icy path – maybe a lost yeti and pepe got to this creature?”

“But I see no yepe tracks,” responded the researcher. She flipped backward through her drawings. “Say! Look here. After the jump, the biped started running. These tracks here… they’re much closer together than previous ones.”

“Would you like to go back, Crystal? Perhaps we should arm ourselves more carefully,” Jeremy said, slowly. The cold was getting to him.

Crystal shook her head, furrowing her brow. “Well, obviously, this poor animal was plagued by something. Maybe flyeyes?” She shook her head, taking in a deep breath. “In any case, we’re too far from camp to go back. But we can rest.”

After a small red bean porridge and breathing break, Crystal and Jeremy set out after the tracks again. Crystal, sketching every track carefully, noticed something after a few more meters of walking.

“Jeremy… are those flecks of red in those tracks?” she inquired.

The thief looked down. He rolled his shoulders back, resting his hand on his belt, where his weapon normally was. “Yes… they are flecks of red. I don’t like where this is leading.”

The two still continued, Jeremy keeping closer to Crystal, a protective air about him. But this time, only a few yards away, Crystal stopped abruptly.

“Holy…” she whispered as she heaved a breath. Jeremy quickly stepped in front of her, repeating her action.

In front of the two was the scene of some grisly fight. The tracks that had previously been running had slowed, stopped, started, began running, and finally disappeared all in about two yards. They reappeared a few feet to the left of where they were, where the mat with the tracks of at least four humans. The human tracks had just come horizontally. Before, they were so far off that not even seasoned experts on tracking prints caught them.

“Jeremy…” said Crystal, running quickly to the meeting of the two different sets, “look. There was a tussle.” The snow was packed down harder here, so many prints meshed that none were visible. The snow was tinted a bright red around the whole scene. There were a few tufts of white fur, some brown hair, a few broken spear heads, and two more sets of tracks. One were those of the animal, the snow around them red as the whole fight area, with the tracks leading northeast. The other set was human footprints. They were equally as bloody, and led back towards where they came.

There was one final component to the scene. Before them lay a man. He was unconscious, sopping in blood, and his right arm was gone.

After a moment of staring, his head slowly turned to them. They noticed one of his eyes had been clawed shut. “Help…” he called, the effort of speech bringing blood to his lips.

Yeah so there you go. I won’t write part two if this one gets as bad reviews as the prologue.