The dull familiar pain in my stomach woke me from my deep slumber. The ever-present hunger that had always followed me was particularly intense today. I struggled to open my eyes only to find a bone-white snout attached to my face. It was a shock but not unfamiliar, I reached up to touch it only to realize that my fingers had jagged black claws attached to them. Again a shock but not entirely unfamiliar, glancing at my hands I found what was well within my expectations. They were boney, draped in dark grey skin with inhumanly long fingers and extended palms.

I knew exactly what I had become but the more important thing now Is to lessen the hunger that was consuming me. I steadily stood up and examined my surroundings, a pitch-black cave with uneven walls and a low ceiling. I could feel a draft coming from the tunnel in front of me so I followed it. After a bit the ceiling finally got so low I had to crawl, I was comfortable moving on all fours so it didn’t bother me. After a few more minutes I came across a three-way split, one was on the ceiling going up and the others going left and right respectively. The draft was coming from the one above so I leapt up and hooked my claws onto the sides and quickly advanced up until I came to a dead end.

The wall of stone and dirt in front of me had a small crack near the top that was letting in air, my hunger did not allow me to turn back so I started ramming it with all my strength. After three hits the wall caved in and I busted out with a roar. With ease I climbed out and observed my surroundings, giant pines hung overhead and needles littered the floor, the moon was at its highest bathing everything in a red hue. With a quick sniff, I could smell the heavy musky scent of deer in the air, which only served to aggrieve the hunger.

My hunger was starting to control my mind, I needed to hurry. With quick steps, I lunged toward the smell of my new prey. I quickly came upon signs of my prey, a hoof print there, a few hairs here, and some droppings. This only increased my hunger causing me to race forward even faster now. In a few minutes I finally spotted them, a herd of ten ran frenzied through a lush clearing. They looked like deer but they were almost the size of an elk, each was a deep brown color with a full set of antlers, even the ones that smelled like does.

I did not have time to ponder about their appearance, they obviously sensed my presence. With a lunge, I launched out of the sea of trees roaring with maw open, a few scattered but three were frozen in fear. In a couple of seconds, I appeared in front of the first one and slammed my shoulder into its flank sending it flying with a sickening crunch, the other two finally started moving but it was too late. I raised my claw and slapped the second one across the head partially decapitating it. Still not satisfied I leapt at the last one and bit its back and with a snap I bit through its spine. The hunger finally consumed me as I feasted on its corpse.