Werewolf Song
by Cat Power

“When the werewolf, the werewolf
Comes stepping along
He don't even break the branches where he's gone
Once I saw him in the moonlight, when the bats were flying
Saw the werewolf, and the werewolf was crying
Oh nobody knows, nobody knows
How I loved the man, as I teared off his clothes
Cryin nobody knows, nobody knows my pain
When I see that its risen; that full moon again

For the werewolf, for the werewolf, have sympathy
For the werewolf, is somebody like you and me
Lonely he goes away, now this little flute I play
All through the night, until the light of day, we are doomed to play

For the werewolf, the werewolf, have sympathy
For the werewolf, is somebody like you and me”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pain, unbearable pain
The cool, night breeze blowing across the skin
Extreme speed and endless strength
Smells everywhere, powerful and strong
Sweat and blood, sweet magnificent blood
Hunger, never ending hunger
Then darkness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stench was almost overpowering, it was so strong that it burned in his nostrils and throat. It smelled of raw flesh and dried blood; it stank of garbage and piss and shit, a grotesque mixture of partially rotting meat, dying vegetation and stagnant water all clumped together.

It reeked of death.

His stomach turned and he fought back the urge to wretch.

“You know what’s out there,” His mind said, “You did it! And you enjoyed it!”

He prepared himself and then opened his eyes.

The glare from the bright, early morning sun momentarily blinded him, and then slowly his eyes adjusted to the scene before him.

A light steam hung in the air as the morning dew was cooked off the surrounding plants; the dew reflected the sunlight and created mirror like glints, tiny little diamonds shining throughout the small clearing. Crickets and other insects sang nearby as a butterfly floated gently across the field. Somewhere in the near distance he could hear the gentle sound of water running in a small stream. It was almost like an idyllic dream, but this was no peaceful vision.

Blood was everywhere, covering almost everything around him, including most of his own body and tattered clothing. The blood itself was cold and sticky. Most of it had already dried, but there were areas where it was still thick and wet, almost like syrup.

“Blood! Sweet magnificent blood!” His mind cried, “I want more!”

Corpses lay strewn about in misshapen and unnatural positions, like oversized rag dolls, their bodies bent and broken, their flesh ripped and torn away. It was hard to say exactly how many different bodies there were as at least one of them was literally torn limb from limb, but it appeared to be three, possibly four. He would have to wait for the official reports later to be sure of the number.

“Four,” his mind stated, “two men, two women, the women were absolutely delicious.”

He quickly closed his eyes and tried to push the gory images away, but they refused to go.

“No, no, no, gaze upon your fine handiwork.”

They mixed with all the other dreadful scenes of death he had been a part of, all the other bodies he had witnessed, that he had created. Parading across the black canvass of his mind like some kind of deranged moving picture, a never ending painting that has come to life to haunt him forever.

He took a deep breath and gagged, this time unable to hold back the reflex to throw up, his body heaved and he involuntarily turned and spewed up the contents of his stomach.

Moments later, the smell of fresh vomit intermingled with the previous smell of death, creating a new, even more disgusting stench in the air.

Opening his eyes once more, he stood up and quickly surveyed the area that surrounded him, making certain that no one was nearby who might have seen him.

“If they see you, kill them.” flashed across his mind.

Luckily for him, he seemed to be in a rather remote area of the forest, well away from any paths or trails. This didn’t entirely rule out the possibility that someone may have already stumbled upon the scene, but it made it highly unlikely.
He also figured that anyone passing by earlier would have most likely thought him dead as well and would have probably rushed away to report the grisly scene to the authorities.

“To me, hahahaha” his mind replied quickly.

His eyes stopped on one of the corpses, a young woman from the looks of what was left. Her entire midsection had been brutally torn and eaten away in what appeared to be a feeding frenzy.

“She was delicious!” His mind shouted.

Vaguely he wondered if he had just thrown all of her back up when he had barfed earlier. He quickly pushed that thought away.

A strong urge to be gone suddenly overcame him and he began moving quickly, but quietly, through the carnage and into the underbrush of the surrounding forest.

“Dancing in the blood!” his mind sang.

Gauging the position of the sun he thought that he was in the northern part of the forest, and so decided to head directly south until he came upon the great river, which would ultimately lead him back to the city. With a little luck, he would meet up with no one along the way.

“If they see you, kill them.” flashed across his mind again.

He felt as though he was going insane.

He came upon the small stream that he had heard and jumped in, quickly washing his face and hands, he began to follow it downstream. He sloshed through the water as he went, both to try and clean himself off, and to throw off any trackers that would eventually come after him.

“Catch me if you can!” his mind screamed.

He was certain that he looked like a madman at this point, his clothes bloody, torn and ragged, dried blood still matted in his hair. Had someone seen him it might have been impossible to explain away, had someone recognized him it could have been worse.

“Kill them!”Flashed in his mind.

The stream ultimately gave way to the great river which he dove in with abandon, shedding his bloody and torn clothing down to his undergarments. He floated along with the current, half swimming, half cleaning himself, washing his hair and scrubbing the dried blood off his body.
Before long the walls of the city came into view and not long after that he emerged from the river almost directly below one of the bridged entranceways into the city from the flats of Antonica.

He was standing there wondering how he might get back in without being seen when a shout went up, “you there, stop by order of the city guard!”

He froze, unable to think, unable to act, as one of the guards ran up to him, his weapons drawn.

“Kill him! Eat him!” his mind shouted.

“Identify yersel,…Oh, lieutenant sir, I didn’t even recognize ye, sir,” the younger guard said as he rushed up closer and then stopped abruptly, giving the traditional salute.

“Ah,… it’s all right Hanson,” he replied giving a return salute without even thinking about it.

“Having a morning swim, eh sir?” the young guard blurted out as if he had been caught off guard, so to speak, “there’s nothing like a swim in the morning to wake you up eh, sir?” He smiled weakly.

“Yes, Hanson,” he replied.

“Kill him!” his mind whispered.

“I always enjoy one mys….,” the young guard started eagerly.

“Hanson!”

“Yes sir?”

“Die! Die! Die!”

“Get back to your post,” he replied calmly.

“Yes, Sir!” the young guard almost shouted and with another salute he turned and ran back to his post.

Closing his eyes he sighed deeply and thought how bad this situation was, how utterly terrible it was that he was caught in this irresolvable state of affairs.

“Oh, its resolvable,” his mind said matter of factly, “just kill them all.”

He slowly walked up and back into the City.

With a borrowed towel thrown over his shoulder he looked almost normal as he walked through the streets and back towards his home, and at this hour of the morning there weren’t many people out and about anyways.

The few guards that he passed didn’t question him at all, as a matter of fact, once they identified him they didn’t even look at him.

Just before he made it back to his home, another young guard came running up to him and saluted, “Sir, more bodies found in the forest!” he said panting, “….reports indicate they are just like the last ones!”

He closed his eyes for a moment and just stood there, unable to believe that he would be going through this again so soon.

“Tell him it was you!” his mind shouted, “tell him you are the nightmare that killed them all!”

His mind reeled and he felt like he was getting lightheaded.

“Sir?”

“Yes,” he replied and sighed deeply, “Assemble a patrol, we will head out to investigate as soon as I am dressed.”

“Yes sir!” The guard said as he turned to go.

“Back to the scene of the crime!” His mind screeched.

“Nightmare indeed,” was all that he could think as he watched the guard go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"For the werewolf, the werewolf, have sympathy
For the werewolf, is someone like you and me”