Ulfheonar Unleashed

In the dark I watch and I wait. The others are sleeping but not me. The jungle never sleeps. It speaks to me as I stare into its black heart; a constant hum which creeps into my soul and courses through my body. I close my eyes and the sound slowly starts to bleed, to break away into its individual components. The chirping of birds high in the canopy, the hoot of monkeys scrambling through the trees, the scratching of mice moving slowly across the leafy floor and the buzz, the ever steady buzz of the innumerable insects that cloud my vision and crawl over every uncovered scrap of skin. I hear the shifting of weight behind me and turn my wrist to check the time. Floating green numbers tell me that it’s almost three; time to change watch so I can grab some sleep. Tomorrow we move.

The dappled light incessantly tickles at my eyelids and with a groan I wake. No fires burn, no clattering of pans and plates to welcome me back to the living, just the silent movement of men taking stock of their surroundings as they slowly wake. The cold seeps into my joints and the strips of meat I pull from my bag are tough but tasty all the same. I think back to last week, a world away from here, when we were inside away from the rain sipping hot steaming tea as they instructed us on the mission. They have used us for tasks like this for as long as I can remember, always secrecy is paramount; no-one can ever know we exist. The orders are passed through the men and we rise and set off towards the enemy position. We should get there just before nightfall which is when we work best.

Stretching the march out of my limbs as we reach our destination, I take a seat in the leaf litter and wait for darkness. Grabbing my knife, I start to pick the leeches from my skin, horrible sucking masses that seem to shudder with the pleasure as they drink my blood; a more primal version of our superiors sitting warm and dry miles from here. I think through my orders, step by step. I look around me, at the faces that are by now as familiar as my own, anything to try and keep at bay the anticipation that threatens to envelop me. The waiting is always the worst; we are dogs straining at the leash, waiting to be let free to run, to attack, to kill. The light is fading and the order is given to prepare. I start to undress, packing my clothes away in the waterproofed sanctuary of my Bergen for when I return. Naked, we kneel on the damp earth and look to the sky.

As always, her simple beauty astounds me. Her pale angelic silver face high in the darkness, calling me and my kind to her. I can feel her power start to trickle through my veins; the elemental voice that commands whole oceans now steadily increases until at last it crashes through me and I feel myself, my real self emerge. My screams pierce the night as my spine snaps and reforms. I feel my fingers break one by one as they elongate and nails tear through the tips curving to razor sharp points. My hip dislocates and my entire body feels like it is being hammered and twisted by giant hands. My jaw stretches to breaking point as the canines push through the bloody gums and as the skin sloughs from my body it reveals the coarse hair below. My howl joins the others as we answer her in the way he have for hundreds of years.

We can smell them now, cowering in the depths of the forest, eyes wide at the sudden new additions to the jungle chorus. Order, discipline and stealth are distant memories to us now as the rage surges within us, our only need is for blood and we crash through the undergrowth towards them. Night is our ally. Our eyes see more in this absence of light than humans could on the brightest of days and confusion reigns within their ranks as we rip and tear into their helpless bodies. The sound of gunfire and screaming fills my ears and the realisation of the inadequacy of their weapons still does not keep their fingers from triggers as they react in the only way they can. My claws rake across faces and plunge into soft bodies as we lay a spreading red carpet to welcome Her back once again. Panting, I look around at the chaos we have unleashed and the human part of me understands that for now at least, we are done and I allow my pulse to steady. I curl against one of the others and let myself fall into an exhausted sleep waiting for the Keepers to arrive.

They pull us up and cover us with blankets to keep us warm now that we once again have taken the feeble form that we are forced to endure for most of our lives. They herd us coughing and shivering into a clearing where huge metal helicopters wait to ferry us back. Many years ago, we lived alone. Each of us hidden from sight, hidden from those that did not, could not understand us. The unwanted, the demons of the moon, forced to wander alone until at last we could change and run with Her. Now we are kept together, once again hidden from view but at least with each other for company. Mothers used to warn their children to stay inside when She was full. Now, instead of hushed fearful voices, stories of us litter the world. Bring us out in the open to keep us safely tucked away.

The great metal beasts rise into the sky and we return once more to the cells where we stay until we are called.