It had been the wrong place, yes... but more than anything? It had been the wrong time. Oh god, it had been the wrong time...

It was around midnight when Nino quietly slipped out of the house, stepping lightly over the worn brick that made up his family's entryway and watching the windows carefully. He took a few steps more with that same sort of care, waiting for any sign that the lights of the house were about to flicker on and he'd be scolded back into his room, but no one saw. He smiled to himself as he left, reaching up to firmly fit his headphones over his hat as he set out.

It was stupid, sneaking out. There was no real cause to he just got antsy. Logically he understood it wasn't safe to be out at night but he lived in a peaceful neighborhood where the tree line of the forest reached out and the people were kind. Sometimes... he just wanted the freedom to be alone. He loved his family, but there were few things better than an hour uninterrupted. So in the silence of midnight on September 16th, Nino went for a walk.

Nothing was supposed to happen. Maybe nothing would have. If when he was presented with a fork in the road he had chosen to head into the dimly lit safety of the town perhaps he'd okay. If he had stopped at the corner and turned around perhaps then too. But instead, without any passing thought, he turned to the right, absentmindedly strolling through a dark path in the forest he had grown up in.

He had paid it no thought in the moment, there had been no reason. In daylight he could have recognized any curve in the path, but in the light cast by the full moon looming overhead every shadow was unfamiliar. He had walked bravely for a while, but soon he found himself pulling down his headphones, suddenly so painfully aware of the trees and shadows around him. He had stopped short, reaching down to silence his music so he could listen, turning slowly on the spot.

"Hello?" he called out, nervously settling his headphones on his shoulders. He waited, looking around as his voice rattled hollowly through the trees. It sounded thin, so he swallowed and called out again, the sound fuller now but still receiving no answer.

It was probably the atmosphere that made him so uneasy, just the looming trees and hard shadows but...

He turned again, his shoes on the stone riddled path the loudest thing for miles.

He attempted to speak, to bravely call out and demand to be answered... but on some silent, primal level his body begged him to be quiet. He could feel sweat on his palms and a taut rigid breathlessness in his chest that he couldn't explain, his throat running dry and his mind suddenly screaming. He didn't understand; there had been no noise, no rustle of a bush no howl in the distance. There had been nothing... so why did he feel such a deep instinctual need to hide?

And why did he know, with every part of his soul, that there was no way he could?

"Nino, we need to go soon."

The memory from there was indistinct, scattered and buried somewhere in darkness he would never look through. There were only two things he remembered, burned so clearly and potently that they were as deeply memorized as his name.

The first was pain.

The second, was its intention.

It was so deliberate... it was cruel. It could have killed him, but it chose not to. It lunged from darkness and overtook him instantly, throwing him with all the force of a truck as it sank its teeth into his shoulder. The fangs sank through him, tearing through the muscle and dragging him from the ground as it pulled him back, biting deeper. He was screaming, the pain of its claws cutting through his legs irrelevant to the pain of its teeth.

"Nino?"

He had been so afraid, shaking with shock and horror as it released him and let him fall to the ground. The pain was blinding, the one hand he could still move fumbling to clutch at the gushing flow of blood. It stuck to his hands, soaking into his shirt and turning the dirt path to mud, and it could have killed him.

It should have killed him. But it didn't.

What he looked up and saw had been something that chose to do this too him. Its eyes were too aware, too intelligent to conceal its intent. It wasn't a mindless animal compelled forward by irrefutable laws of nature... it was watching, looking down on something weak and crying and wondering what it could be. What it could make it be.

It was a wolf, towering above him at a size completely unnatural, matching the misplaced intelligence of its eyes. It was powerful, monstrous, and watching him closely, its head tilting as he desperately crawled away.

It had stood a moment more, deep green eyes with its unsettling flecks of gold assessing him smoothly, before slowly... it turned. And left him there to bleed.

"Nino!" his mother's voice suddenly cut through, her son jolting roughly as he looked to her in sudden fear.

Nino looked into the face of his mother, his heart pounding as he fought to re-center himself, his shaking hand curling into a fist.

He could see how startled she looked, staring at him in concern and worry. It was so clear that he was falling apart, his right hand self-consciously reaching towards his left shoulder. His fingers met a bandage, wrapped thickly around the shoulder and leading into the cast of his arm, but perhaps more concerning than that was how he looked. He knew he was sweating, shaking weakly as he waited on his next appointment. But there was no point in them, none of them had answers.

"Are you in pain?" his mother asked wretchedly, her eyes tortured as her hands hovered uselessly. He could see the flash of panic when he retreated, pressing his back to his bedroom wall.

"I- I'm-," he tried to speak, desperately trying to stop and relax. He was home, he was alright. His parents were here, it was okay.

He swallowed, grinding his teeth as he forced himself to be still, taking an extra moment before he answered, "I'm fine momma. I'm good."

"Don't try and be brave!" she snapped crossly, her irritation coming from a place of worry, he knew that. "We're going to get new medication... it's going to be fine honey; they say there's no infection. I-," she stopped.

Mrs. Lahiffe looked over her son, her words dying in her throat as she tried to tell him nothing was wrong. The doctors said nothing was wrong, they said he shouldn't be sick. It was just a dog bite, something they could clean and stitch.

Her sixteen-year-old son stood so near her but seemed so far away, his back pressed to the wall as if he was waiting for something else to find him. He was pale and weak, eyes sunken and dark from weeks of nightmares. His hand clutched at his shoulder, obsessing over it in a way he didn't with the long healing scars on his legs.

His mother was quiet, her hands clasping in front of her as they found nothing else they could do. Nino was recovering from whatever thought has possessed him, her son bravely forcing a smile as he attempted to justify himself.

"Sorry," he said gently, laughing a little unsteadily. "Was just thinking about it."

"It's been weeks honey..."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, it's just-," he swallowed, looking away from her before continuing. "I'll get over it."

His mother pursed her lips, unconvinced as she always was when he tried to brush it off. There were times where he succeeded, able to go right back to laughing like some waking nightmare hadn't seized him but other times... he still looked shaken.

"Seriously momma," he spoke again, smiling now though it looked hollow. "I'm alright, we should get going."

She was about to speak when she heard the tell-tale jangling of a collar announcing another member of the house, and as always these days she went rigid, watching as her son tracked the noise to the door.

"Hey Carter," Nino greeted the German Shepherd kindly, kneeling to pet his dog as it decided it needed affection. Nino's smile was a little warmer now as his dog stuck his cold nose against his neck in an attempt to hug him. When he finally looked up he noticed for what felt like the hundredth time how uncomfortable his mother looked when Carter was around, and for the hundredth time he reassured her. "Mom just because I got bit by something doesn't mean Carter is dangerous. I'm not scared of Carter okay? What bit me wasn't anything like him."

"I know honey I just..." she paused, looking down at the family dog as it stood next to Nino's bandaged shoulder. Neither the dog nor her son looked uncomfortable by the proximity, and it confused her.

"I just... expected you to be a little more cautious of dogs. You don't react to them at all, I'm just trying to make sure nothing frightens you."

"I'm not scared of dogs," Nino answered, his voice somewhat stiff now as he looked away again, roughing up the fur around his dog's collar with his good hand. When he spoke again it was quieter still, and distant. "No dog is like the thing that bit me."

Carter whined now, looking to his boy with worried eyes that sometimes seemed so empathetic but Nino shook his head, standing before his mother could say something else.

"We're gonna be late," he said matter-of-factly, making it clear he was over discussing it. His dog reached up to nudge his free hand, uncharacteristically needy ever since Nino had stumbled home almost a month ago. The family's German Shepard had silently decided it was a one-person dog then, and was with Nino almost every second he was home.

The Shepherd looked at him expectantly, it's tail wagging when Nino sighed and spoke again. "Can we bring Carter? He'll get pissy if he doesn't get to go with me."

His mother looked at them both before laughing breathily, shaking her head as she dug for her keys in her pocket. "Yes alright, but bring his leash. He can wait in the lobby with me."

Nino reached down to pat his dog on the head, gesturing for it to follow him as he stepped out of his room and into the rest of the house. It took him a second to find the old leather leash but when he did he snatched it quickly from the counter, jogging to the front door with Carter at his heels.

"...the new medications can help with the pain itself but there seems to be inflammation around the bite itself which is... unexpected," Nino's doctor droned, his patient sufficiently zoned out pretty much ever since he stepped through the door. It was only when the visit suddenly became interactive that Nino was forced to look up.

"You're saying it's been irritated correct? How long has that been happening?" The doctor asked patiently, wearing the same expression every other doctor had when visited by him. It was the 'I have no idea what this is but don't want to say it' look.

"Past few days," Nino answered dully, hardly committed to putting in effort if nothing would come from it.

"Can you elaborate?"

Nino ground his teeth together to keep a groan from slipping out, focusing his gaze directly ahead on the medical white paint and different worn attachments found on every doctor's office wall.

"It itches," he said plainly, his temper getting worse the longer he was kept there. "It's hot and I feel sick. I feel like I'm going to puke whenever I turn my head too fast and I get these migraines that nothing helps with. My whole body aches it isn't just my shoulder anymore, it started a few days ago but it keeps getting worse."

"It's possible that the bite lowered your body's tolerance to outside viruses, it's working so hard to heal the tissue-,"

"It is the bite," Nino suddenly snapped, zeroing in on his doctor and was slightly surprised to see the grown man flinch. He wasn't sure what his expression must have looked like to get that reaction, but at this point he didn't really care. No one was listening to him.

"The bite itself isn't infected-," the doctor tried again but Nino interrupted him again, his tone that much darker.

"It is an infection, why is no one listening to me!? Just say you don't know what it is! I'm the one who's dealing with it, I know me being sick has something to do with it, I have never felt like this before."

The doctor was gawking at him, floundering for something to say but Nino just groaned, reaching out to grab the new prescription for pain medication that wouldn't do jack from the counter near him. If yet another overpaid pharmacist was going to tell him nothing was wrong, then he wasn't going to wait around.

The sudden lurching movement made his stomach churn but he ignored it as he started to leave, not even focused enough to tell if the doctor was trying to talk to him still. He really doubted he was saying anything of use anyways.

Nino stormed into the hallway, painfully aware of the sweat that had broken out over his forehead. That same pulsing ache he felt through his limbs was still there, and he could swear it was worse now, even worse than it had been that morning. He wasn't usually this agitated, normally he'd never shout at someone like that but-

He was panicking. He was freaked out and no one could tell him anything.

He swallowed back his nausea and kept walking, ignoring anyone who spoke to him and working his way steadily through the office until he was back at the lobby, wondering what in the world he looked like when his mom caught sight of him.

"Nino?" she asked instantly, standing with Carter's leash gripped firmly in her fist. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"Fine," he muttered, turning to zero in on the front door. He could see the parking lot outside and the street that lay beyond it. It was overcast outside, the lighting of everything muted but still a hundred times more inviting than the office was.

His mother was saying something but he headed towards the door, wanting to at least have the fresh air as he tried to make up some excuse as to why he looked like hell. He knew she was following when he felt Carter bump up against his legs, whining and demanding his attention as he stepped outside.

The cold air of October hit him like a wall, chilling the sweat and providing instant relief, small though it was. He actually sighed as he paced to the end of the cement, letting the tips of his feet hover over the asphalt of the parking lot.

"Did they at least prescribe something new? You should have let me in with you...," his mother was saying, and with what peace of mind the fresh air could give him Nino turned to answer.

"Yeah, new pain killers but nothing else. He said something about my old ones uh... don't think they can be uh, mixed or something."

"You weren't listening?" his mother sighed in frustration, and he had been about to make an excuse when he felt something solid and furry push past his legs.

Nino glanced down when he heard a low, violent growl build up, his mother jolting as Carter suddenly pulled her forward, his entire body rigid.

"Carter!" his mother called out in shock, attempting to drag him back but the dog wasn't having it, every fiber of it's being on high alert as its vicious growls grew louder. Its feet were splayed, its posture defensive and teeth bared in a clear show of aggression.

"Hey!" Nino shouted at him, attempting to track where he was looking. "Carter what the hell! Bad d-," he stopped.

Nino was aware of his mother's voice as she attempted to pull the dog away, but the words themselves failed to reach him as he caught sight of someone standing a fair distance away. She didn't look like anyone, just another person standing idly in the business district just like him, but she was the only one nearby. She was the only person that Carter could have so suddenly been agitated by; no one else was around, and she was looking directly at him.

The woman herself seemed unfazed by the dog that was now straining against its owner, barking incessantly as it was dragged towards the car. In fact, she seemed sorta... endeared, but her focus was on Nino.

When her gaze shifted back from the dog and towards the boy her expression shifted, minutely so but he could see something change despite the distance between them.

Nino watched her for a second, his body turning to follow his mother but he kept his eyes on her, and just when he was going to look away... he saw her gesture.

It was a small movement, subtle and easy to miss, but as he watched her she lifted one hand and beckoned him towards her.

He froze, the sound of his dog's now desperate barking a short distance behind him as he turned to face her completely, confused and wondering if he had been seeing things. But after a moment, there it was again. A clear and quiet indication that she wanted him to come over.

"Nino!" his mother was calling for him over the sound of frenzied barking, but he ignored her, admittedly intrigued. His mother shouted for him again, asking him to help her but he didn't respond, and with a huff of irritation she just assumed he couldn't hear her and continued to wrestle the German Shepard away.

Nino hesitated, looking once more to his mother before finally he started to walk, guarded as he closed the distance. She didn't move towards him or away, she just stood there waiting for him.

As Nino got closer he could see her more clearly, a little surprised to find her younger than he expected. She was a young adult, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two and seemingly fit from what he could see. She had a gray tank top on that showed her to be thin and showed tone arms but her legs were concealed with baggy black sweats. Her hair was choppy and short, sticking out and admittedly a bit disheveled, and her black rimmed glasses were scratched. However, the thing that threw him the most was how weary she looked. As he approached he could more clearly see her expression, her face gaunt and eyes sunken from fatigue. When he finally came within speaking distance of her he realized she wasn't looking at him, not exactly.

She was looking at his arm.

"Can I help you?" he asked after a moment, his irritation with the doctor fading in the face of someone who looked just about as bad off as he was. He stopped a few feet from her, noticing now that she was a foot shorter than him.

She was quiet for a moment, staring still at his arm in a sling before she spoke without looking away from it, saying, "Yeah. Or, well... I've got something to say to you at least."

He didn't respond, he wasn't exactly sure what he could even say and was regretting coming over at all. This woman looked sick, and intense. Something about her made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"You got bit by uh... something. Yeah?"

She said the words hesitantly, looking up at him and meeting his eyes for the first time as if hoping he'd deny it, but whatever he might have said fell from his mind the second they made eye contact.

Her eyes were a deep green, dark and guilty. A few scattered flecks of gold were dotted throughout the iris and in that moment he felt... he didn't know the words.

Terrified, disbelieving. Furious and unsure. Frozen to the spot.

"Hey..." she said quietly, not entirely sure what to say in that moment but her expression suddenly determined, looking away as if to grant him some kind of distance. "Listen, alright I know you're freaked out. Just listen to me okay?"

"Who the hell are you?" he said tensely, his throat thick and his chest tight. He watched her intensely but she did not meet his eyes again.

"Don't stay home tonight," she said quickly instead of answering, taking a step away. "I don't give a crap what your mom or that doctor says, this isn't something that gets fixed with bed rest. It doesn't get fixed ever but..." she paused, taking another step away. Her eyes were fixed on nothing at all, distant and... just as afraid. "It gets better. Sort of..."

"What are you talking about?" he shot back aggressively, advancing on her but she took another step away to compensate. She looked ready to run. His free hand was in a fist.

"Don't stay home," she repeated, the words earnest and pleading. "You love them? You want them alive? Go out into the woods, go as far as you can run before the sun goes down. No matter how much pain you're in keep running, just do that okay? I'm trying to help you."

"What-!?" he started to say again, getting angry but she was backing up faster now, turning away.

"I warned you!" she shouted at him, glancing once more over her shoulder. "I've done my part, I tried to atone. I- I-," she stopped, still for only a moment more before she looked towards the forest and back towards his arm. "I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry, but nothing can change now. Just take that advice. Don't stay home tonight, don't tell anyone where you're going. Just go and disappear. It's what's safest for everyone now."

"Who the hell are you!?" he shouted again, and though he didn't yet notice, he was shaking. Her eyes were stuck in his head, that same primal sense of horror stuck in his chest and making him feel like he was suffocating. His shoulder ached and his voice cracked as he spoke again. "You can't just spew crap and expect me to take you at your word. Who are you!?"

She stopped. And without looking she spoke quietly, so quietly he almost didn't hear her.

"I'm the monster in your nightmares kid. Just run... just run and don't look back."