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Brian sighed in relief as he bent down to drink from the creek’s water. It had been a while since they’d encountered any fresh water and he relished the taste.

It was cold, freezing his stomach, but he drank greedily. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Nick and Baylee filling up their bottles as well.

They’d been walking for two days now and the lake of their destination was getting closer, but they weren’t there yet. He held his right paw under water for a while. The cut had closed up almost entirely and it wasn’t bothering him as much anymore, but he didn’t want to get it infected either. The forest ground was dirty and alive and full of germs. In another life, he would have run screaming from this place immediately, but now... Now it had a charm to it.

He sniffed the air first; then the ground. There was so much to explore here, so much life and nature.

“You turning into a sleuth, Dad?” Baylee laughed, “Want me to throw a stick?”

Brian grumbled at him, offended. He wasn’t a dog. He was a wolf. No. He was a human.

Right.

Nick was already on his way again and Brian scrambled to follow him. Nick was their leader; he’d know what to do. Nick had fire. Brian had to follow. He walked next to Baylee and nudged the backpack. There was food in there, and he was hungry. He wondered if Baylee still had that chicken breast left. That was great food.

“Not now, Dad,” Baylee mumbled and Brian sighed. He could smell no ducks or rabbits or other small prey.

And he was hungry.

So he waited. Like a dog. And he wasn’t a dog, dammnit.

He was a wolf.

No.

Human.

What did a human do when it was hungry? Brian frowned, remembering something about three meals a day. It was a dumb concept really, especially out here in the woods.

Why not eat while there was food? The smell of bread was intoxicating as if wafted through the backpack into his nose. It wasn’t fair. That was his food as well, not just Baylee’s. And he was hungry.

He started to grumble softly as he walked with his head low, trying to resist smelling the backpack now. They were walking far too slow. In his own tempo, they’d already be at the lake right now. In fact, Brian believed they’d already be back at the car right now.

The smell of bread was drifting into his nose again and he gave a frustrated whine. No. He had to try and think of other things. What would he do when he was turned back to normal again? He would ground Baylee for at least three years; that was for sure. He wasn’t exactly angry at the boy, because he hadn’t really meant for it to happen, but still, he could be at home right now, working in his studio with nobody to bother him. He could sing and sing and sing and maybe then one day, it would sound good again. He sighed.

He looked up at the sudden smell.

Deer.

A deer was too big to catch on your own, he knew that.

But wouldn’t it be nice? He could eat for days off of that. And he wouldn’t need Baylee’s stupid sandwiches.

Licking his lips, he slunk even lower to the ground, soundlessly following his son’s footsteps and trying to put the thought of deer out of his mind. God.

He was hungry.

When they finally set up camp, he shot Baylee a sour look for making him wait this long. Like a dog. He wanted his own bag. He wanted to determine when and what he ate. It was unfair. Baylee gave him two sandwiches, which he ate in a matter of seconds and kept staring at his son expectantly.

“Want another one?” Baylee asked and Brian nodded impatiently. Another sandwich was thrown his way and he caught it in midair. There was cheese on this one. Not as tasty as the chicken ones, but it would do. Baylee gave the last sandwich to Keeko, who had jumped off Brian’s back to collect her food. Brian growled at her.

She hadn’t even bothered to walk the whole way here, had instead lifted on his back the entire time. What had she done to deserve a sandwich?

And then the bread was gone.

And Brian was still hungry.

And he hadn’t meant for it to happen. Looking back, it was one of the worst mistakes he could ever have made.

It wasn’t his fault. It happened almost automatically.

He couldn’t stop it, he wasn’t in control. The hunger was. It was consuming him, making his decisions and telling him what to do. And he was sorry. So, so sorry.

It wasn’t his intention.

But yet, deep in the middle of the night, while Baylee and Nick were sleeping, the hunger became a living, breathing thing. And there were no squirrels. No deer.

No ducks. Not a single rabbit. He’d scoured the entire area around the campsite and there was nothing but bugs and earthworm and moss and tree. And he was so hungry.

He’d winced at the loud squeal when he bit down. He turned when he heard the stirring inside the tent. He instantly dropped his prey, burying it under a few burned out logs of wood. The flashlight that shone in his face was blinding him and he blinked, flinching away from the intrusive beam of light. After a second, Baylee’s face appeared above the light and the boy frowned deeply at him. “Dad?” he asked, urgently, “Dad, what did you do?” Brian stayed still as Baylee panicked. “Dad? What happened?”

Brian stared back at him. He knew he was guilty, but he was hungry as well. Nick came up behind Baylee and cursed out loud at the sight of the red that painted the wolf’s entire front. “Dad?” Baylee asked again, fear layered deep within his voice, “God, Dad, where is Keeko?”

That was the moment for Brian to start moving again. He growled aggressively at the two people that were closing in on him and flinched backwards.

“No!” Baylee screamed as he caught sight of the small Maltese that lay underneath the wet logs. The dog was breathing heavily, a deep, long gash in its neck draining the life out of it. Brian saw Baylee fall to his knees beside the while little dog and growled again, defensively this time. The boy looked up at him, horror in his eyes, “No,” he sobbed, shaking his head in disbelief. “Please tell me you didn’t do this.”

Brian stumbled backwards, unsure of what to do. He’d done something very, very wrong. But he was hungry. Why did nobody acknowledge that? He growled again, this time arching his back and baring his teeth. Baylee scrambled backwards with a dying Keeko in his arms.

“Get back!” Nick’s voice came from above him and Brian had just one second to jump back before the torch was waved in his direction. He let out a noise that sounded somewhere between a growl and moan and kept jumping backwards as Nick kept swinging the torch at him. “Get back!”

Brian snarled, trying to duck underneath the tall man to get back to Keeko and Baylee, but Nick would have none of it. “Get out of here!” he yelled at the wolf.

Brian looked at him for a second, then turned around and sprinted into the darkness.