The Pack

By S. Ryan Thomas

At the end of what seemed like the perfect evening, Max and his date encounter a mysterious creature in a parking lot on the edge of town. After being knocked unconscious by the animal, Max wakes up in a hospital to find out his date didnt survive the encounter. A strange man appears and tells Max he may become a creature like the one that attacked him. Is this stranger lying or just plain crazy? If what this strange man says is true, can Max prevent himself from turning into a ravenous beast? Wait, monsters arent real, right? If they were, we would know by now. That is what Max keeps telling himself. So is he going crazy and imagining these things, or has he been exposed to a whole new world? What Max doesnt know is, no matter what he decides, he will have blood on his hands. His date may have been the lucky one that night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504915427

S. Ryan Thomas

Ryan Thomas has been an avid reader of science fiction his entire life. He went to college and entered a mundane job, then decided to try writing himself. Not only did he create his own stories, but they were liked by both fans and non fans of the science fiction genre. His stories not only entertain but leave the reader wanting more. He takes a topic or genre written many times over and tries to reimagine it in a way that can reignite the reader's interest of that over saturated genre. He is glad to bring joy to others the way that many writers have brought joy to him.

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AuthorHouse™

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© 2015 S Ryan Thomas. All rights reserved.

Cover Art by: Josh Ison

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/08/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1543-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1542-7 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

I would like to thank my amazingly supportive wife, Kari, and our little princess, Parker.

You both inspire me more than words can describe.

Also thanks to a great friend and amazing artist, Josh Ison.

You took a mumbled idea and brought it to life.

It was a clear night and the moon was lighting up the sky. It was almost a full moon. It seems like long time ago and like yesterday at the same time.

A young couple is walking in the moon light along a shore. No one else around and quiet except for the sounds of nature.

It was our first date … and our last. Sarah was gorgeous. We had dinner and then she suggested going for a walk by the lake. How was I supposed to say no to her? So we drove up and parked in a secluded area. We wanted to be alone, well I wanted to be alone and hoped she did as well.

He is fit and muscular, with brown short hair. She is thin with very nice figure, with long black hair. Both are smiling as they walk in the bright night.

Little did I know this would be the last normal day of my life.

She looks up at the boy as they walk. Thanks for dinner, Max. I love Italian food.

No problem. I was just surprised you said yes when I asked you, he replies.

Yeah, well you’re kinda cute.

Kinda? he says with a smirk.

Ok, cute. She gives him a flirty smile.

Thanks, you’re pretty cute too.

She smiles, leans in and kisses him. Then turns and starts to run away.

Where are you going? he yells.

Only one way to find out! she shouts back while continuing to run.

He runs after her. She stops near the edge of the lake and she kicks off her shoes.

Now what are you doing?

She just smiles at Max and pulls her shirt off, leaving her standing in the moonlight in a bra and her jeans. His face lights up with a surprised look.

Don’t tell me you’ve never been skinny dipping? she asks.

As she says this she starts to pull down her pants, revealing thin black underwear. Max looks around to make sure they are alone as he starts to pull off his shirt. He bends down and pulls off his shoes. When he straightens back up he sees Sarah already heading into the water completely naked now.

She looks back over her shoulder and says. You just going to stare or are you coming in?

She dives into the water and starts swim out further. Max stands watching her with a goofy grin and says to himself, I love college girls.

He runs into the water after her, naked. The couple wrap their arms around each other, waist deep in the water, and begin kissing heavily.

A short while later Max is tying his shoes and Sarah pulls her shirt back on. He finishes and looks up at her and says, Didn’t expect us to do that on our first date.

Neither did I, but I am glad we did, she says smiling at Max.

He smiles back and responds. Me too, he replies.

You know what sounds good? Ice cream!

It’s not that late, I am sure we can find some. He stands up as he answers.

The two start to walk back the way they came, holding hands. They come to a small parking lot with one light. Theirs is the only car there, a small dark blue SUV. The parking lot backs up to a forest, which is the side where they are parked. As they near the car Sarah gets a startled look and stares into the woods.

Did you hear that? she asks scared from behind Max.

Sounded like something running through the woods.

Now they are both staring into the woods about ten feet from the car, near the only light in the parking lot.

Yeah and it sounded like it stopped right over there. She says holding onto Max from behind and peering over his shoulder. She points to a small gap between two trees, just barely big enough for one person to walk through.

Probably a deer. He takes a step forward peering into the gap.

Sounded a lot bigger than a deer. Her eyes still wide, she is obviously frightened.

Well whatever it was, seems to be gone or too scared to move. Come on, let’s go get that ice cream.

Max steps forward and something in the woods lets out a loud angry growl. Both of their eyes light up and Max puts his arms up keeping Sarah behind him.

OH, GOD! IT’S A BEAR! SHIT!!

It’s ok, just don’t move. Maybe it will … he never finishes the sentence.

A crash comes from the woods and two trees snap and fly like toothpicks. A large black, fury blur moves at them too fast to make out. Max stands between Sarah and the animal but it throws him aside like a bug, sending him ten feet to the side. He crashes into the passenger door of the SUV. The door dents in and glass flies. He falls to the ground on his stomach. He tries to get up and sees blood spreading on the pavement beneath him. His vision starts to blur as he looks back toward Sarah. He sees the large black animal over Sarah, who is now on the ground.

At that moment several howls can be heard from the woods. The creature over Sarah turns and looks back towards the woods, then at Max. It appears to have a face of a wolf. Max squints, trying to see what is happening. Its eyes glow bright orange. It bares its teeth at him, lets out a low growl, spraying and drooling blood. Then in a blur disappears.

Max holds his left arm out reaching for Sarah. His left arm has several large gashes that are bleeding severely. As he reaches he lets out a scream of pain, AAAHHH!

He collapse on the pavement, still looking toward Sarah as his eyes close, Sarah …

To this day I wish I could have done something to stop that thing. Although even if I could have stayed conscious, it probably would just ripped me to shreds.

When Max wakes up he sees he is in a small bed. He looks around and realizes he is in a hospital room. He starts to lift himself, Ow! He looks down at his left arm and it is wrapped and bandaged.

A slightly overweight nurse walks in the room, About time you woke up.

What happened? He asks, looking confused.

Apparently you were attacked by a bear, lucky to be alive. Really lucky someone found you and called it in. As she says this, she is checking his IV and then his bandages. It clawed your arm, BAD. You lost a lot of blood. Not to mention some bruised ribs.

Must have been from hitting the car. He feels his side that impacted the car door, trying to see how bad it is. Still coming to his senses and remembering what happened he suddenly looks up excited, Is Sarah, the girl that was with me, is she okay?

The nurse suddenly looks down. She didn’t make it. I’m sorry.

Max’s jaw drops and he stares at her in disbelief. His head drops and he stares down. The nurse starts to leave the room.

The doctor will be in shortly, and if he says your arm looks ok, you can leave later today.

Still looking down Max asks her. Did they catch the bear? Did they kill it?

"No. That was the weird thing. They couldn’t find any evidence of where it