The werewolves sniffed the air, their ears pointing eagerly upwards. John has caught their attention.

“Aaawwwooohhh… aaawwwooohhh!” A grayish black werewolf howled wildly. This seems to be the leader of the pack. It stared at the direction where John was shouting.

The werewolves gazed at their leader and began to move their eyes gradually to where John was standing. Then all of a sudden, with a burst of speed, they scampered towards him.

Noticing this, John quickly sprinted towards the riverbank. He knows that werewolves are afraid of water and if he just stays there, he has a strong chance of surviving and consequently he would be able to buy enough time for Annika and Gio to rescue the young lady.

As he nears the river he observed an unexpected circumstance, the river is dry!

He immediately gathered his wits and thought of an alternative plan.

“Aaawww… aaawww… aaawww!” The werewolves are nearing the place where John is.

John caught sight of a nearby clamp of trees. The trees are so close to each other that it would be impossible for the beasts to navigate around them quickly.

He ran towards them and waited.

“Haaah… haaah!” the werewolves started to gather in front of John one by one.

John is scared but he cannot let this defeat him.

He grabbed a nearby twig and broke it off from the tree. He swung it wildly at them to put them out of their tracks.

As he did this, he deliberately headed towards the tree line. The beasts were reluctant to follow. They kept on glancing back and forth, trying to figure out where to go next.

Suddenly, one of them broke out of the pack and jumped at John. John shifted to his right to avoid the attack. The werewolf hit the blunt side of the tree.

“Eeewww… eeewww!” the beast cried.

Avoiding any more attacks, he crept into the trees… getting deeper and deeper each step.

Meanwhile, Annika and Gio have reached the platform where the young lady was tied to a post. Gio brought out is jungle knife so he can cut the lady loose.

“Thank you… thank you…” the girl uttered as she got free of the ropes.

“I thought I was gonna be dinner for these werewolves.”

“No worries. We wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you.” Annika replied.

Gio stood there watching the two ladies talk. Then he noticed something peculiar. The lady had red eyes and fangs to boot! The lady is a werewolf!

He moved close to Annika and slowly pulled her away. Alarmed by this, the lady pounced at Gio and grabbed him by the neck.

The lady and Gio wrestled on the ground violently as Annika watched, still shocked by the events that just transpired.

He pulled out his jungle knife from its holster and stabbed the wolf lady on its side. He stabbed her at least three times.

Blood oozed out of the wound. The wolf lady dropped dead beside Gio.

What seems to be a simple rescue mission turned out to be a kiss of death in disguised, it almost got Gio killed in the process.

Back into the woods, John was still struggling to find a way to escape the clutches of danger. The werewolves wouldn’t stop from hunting him down.

He was in this precarious situation when he observed a small opening on a mound of soil near one of the trees. By his gauge, the opening is large enough to accommodate him.

Acting on instinct, John ran towards the opening and with a burst of speed, jumped in!

It was a cave. The werewolves couldn’t follow him inside the cave. He was safe at last…

The werewolves listlessly gathered outside the cave, waiting for John to come out. Hours passed by and no John emerged from the opening!

The beasts gave up their hunt and started their way back to their territorial grounds.

John peeped out of the cave. He saw the werewolves leaving.

Annika and Gio trekked the woods searching for John.

“John… John!” shouted Annika.

There was no answer. The two continued their pursuit to find John for almost an hour. Until, as if by stroke of luck, Gio chanced upon the cave where he was hiding.

“John… John… Are you in there?” he hollered.

“Annika… Gio…” a soft voice emanated from inside the cave.

“Yes! It’s us!”

John crawled out of the cave. He quickly approached the two.

“What happened?” Annika asked John.

“The werewolves almost got me! I ran towards the river thinking I would be safe there, but the river was dry. I had to change plans to save myself. Good thing I saw this cave.”

“Thank God you’re safe!” Annika uttered with a sigh of relief.

“Were you able to save the lady?” John queried.

“No” Gio answered.

“It turned out the lady was not a victim but a bait to lure us into their trap.”

The night was already deep. The three decided to camp beside the cave where John hid. Gio and John gathered some twigs from the nearby trees and started a fire.

Hungry and tired, Gio immediately fell asleep.

Unable to sleep, Annika and John talked for hours.

“Why are you fascinated with werewolves Annika?” John questioned his friend.

“I already told you that, right?” Annika responded.

“Yes you did. But even up to this moment, it is not yet clear to me why you would take the risk and go on this expedition with me.” John continued.

Annika was taken aback by John’s reply. She didn’t know what to say.

“The friend I was talking about was not just a friend. She was my little sister Alicia. It took me sometime to accept the reality that she’s already gone. Although years have gone by, I still blamed myself for her death. Had I not convinced her to play with us that night, she would have been alive by now.” Annika narrated while tears started to fall from her eyes.

John didn’t know how to react.

“Enough with that!” Annika retorted while wiping the tears from her eyes. “Now is not that time to be sentimental about it. I am here only for one thing, to find out how I could kill these werewolves!”

“How about you, why are you so passionate about werewolves?” she asked John.

“Hmmm…. Hmmm”

There was a long silence before John answered.

“I was once a victim of a werewolf myself. I got bitten by a werewolf when I was young. The bite was not fatal so I never told my parents about it. It was only a few years ago, when I began to feel strange every time there is a full moon in the sky. Alarmed by this discovery, I decided to pursue my quest for a cure to this malady that has befallen me.”

Annika was alarmed by what she heard from John. It turns out John might be a werewolf after all! Even though she admittedly felt the fear of being with John at this moment, she never showed it to him. Afraid that if this happens, they might go on their separate ways, and this is not what she wants. She needs John and John needs her…