The Last Moon of Eldervale

Chapter 2 : The Red Moon

Alden’s POV

The barn door exploded.

Wood shattered into splinters, hay burst into the air, and the entire frame shook as something massive crashed through it. I flinched backward, shielding my face from the flying debris.

Mara froze, dagger still raised, her hair whipped back by the force of the impact.

For a heartbeat, the world fell silent.

Then it stepped inside.

A monster.

The size of a horse but shaped like a wolf, though no wolf on earth could look like this. Its fur was pitch black and matted, clinging to flesh that seemed too tight over unnaturally swollen muscles. Its ribs rose and fell with every slow, heavy breath. Its snout dripped blood and saliva that hissed when it hit the barn floor. Its eyes

Gods, its eyes

They burned red. Like coals pulled from a forge.

Mara’s breath caught in her throat. She took a single step back but the beast locked onto her.

I knew she wanted to run. I felt the slight tremble of her hand as she steadied the dagger. But she didn’t move. Brave, foolish and beautiful Mara stood her ground.

The wolf moved before either of us could scream.

A flash of teeth.

A wet, sickening slash and Mara’s head snapped sideways

And then it wasn’t on her shoulders anymore.

Her body hit the ground first, knees buckling, arms twitching. Her head rolled through the hay like a toy dropped by a careless child. Her eyes were still open. Still wide looking at me.

My mind split.

I screamed so loudly my throat tore, the sound ripping from me in a way that barely felt human. I didn’t remember falling, but suddenly I was on my knees in the hay, reaching for her, crawling blindly.

“MARA! NO—NO—NO—MARA—!”

The creature didn’t even look at me at first. It pounced onto her body, claws sinking into her ribs. Bones snapped like thin sticks beneath its weight. I heard the wet tearing of flesh. The dull thud of limbs being tossed aside.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even think. My vision blurred with tears, rage, horror everything tangled into one unbearable knot. My stomach lurched and I nearly vomited. My fingers curled into the hay, knuckles white.

The wolf turned toward me.

Blood dripping from its mouth.

Her blood.

My scream faded into a hoarse, broken whisper.

Then something else screamed behind me.

A man, a villager, maybe a carpenter or a bread seller I didn’t see clearly. He sprinted into the barn, covered in soot, panting, eyes wild with terror.

“HELP! SOMEONE HELP! THEY’RE EVERYW….”

He didn’t get to finish.

Two more monstrous wolves burst into the barn behind him crashing through the partially broken door like shadows made of muscle and fury. The man barely managed a second scream before one landed on his back.

The sounds that followed were worse than anything I had ever imagined.

I closed my eyes, but I could still hear it:

Bones crunching.

Flesh tearing.

His voice choked into gurgles.

The first wolf turned away from me, drawn to the fresh kill.

I realized it then.

This was my only chance.

A small, pathetic window of luck carved out of fear and gore and chaos.

My legs moved before I made the decision. I scrambled backward, slipping in hay, hands shaking so violently I could barely push myself up.

“Don’t look… don’t look… don’t look…” I whispered, though I didn’t know who I was begging.

My knees weakened as I passed Mara’s body or atheist what was left of it. I forced myself not to turn my head, not to see the thing that had been the girl I loved, the girl who had kissed me minutes earlier.

I pushed through the broken remains of the door frame and ran.

I ran like fear itself held a blade to my spine.

The sky outside had changed entirely. The moon had risen but it was wrong an enormous, monstrous red disc hanging in the sky like a bleeding wound. Smoke billowed from burning rooftops. Houses crumbled under the weight of monstrous silhouettes. Fire crackled, screams pierced through the air, and wolves tore through the streets, ripping apart everything alive.

The peaceful Greywood that existed two hours ago was gone.

Wiped out.

Replaced with a nightmare.

My lungs burned. My legs screamed. But I kept running.

I needed my family.

The thought overpowered everything not even the image of Mara dying.

I tore through alleyways, dodging debris, sliding beneath falling beams, sprinting through smoke so thick it stung my eyes. A wolf tore past an intersection up ahead, dragging someone in its jaws. I ducked behind a barrel, waited for it to vanish, then sprinted again.

When I reached the familiar path to my house, my chest tightened with dread.

The front door was halfway ripped off its hinges. The windows shattered. Blood splattered across the wooden steps.

“No… no… please…” I choked out.

I stumbled inside.

I wish I had never gone in.

I will never unsee what was waiting for me.

My entire family…

My father.

My mother.

My younger sister, Layla.

And even little Tomas my baby brother, only four.

They weren’t alive.

They weren’t even whole.

Their bodies lay across the floor, shredded open,intestine lying around. Entrails spilled across the wooden planks like coils of wet rope. The walls were smeared with blood and pieces of flesh I refused to identify. Father’s hand was still clenched around his sword, even though half his arm was gone.

I made a sound I didn’t know I was capable of a raw, animal groan that dragged itself from the deepest part of me.

I fell to my knees in the blood, my hands shaking violently as I reached toward my mother’s face.

Her eyes were open.

Empty.

Gone.

“No… gods please… please…” I sobbed, my voice breaking. “Not you too… not all of you… please…”

My breath came in frantic, choking bursts. My vision darkened at the edges. The world tilted.

I staggered backward, stumbling out the door, unable to stay in that house another second.

Fire raged all around me. Bodies lay scattered in the dirt. Wolves roamed freely, tearing people apart or dragging them away into the darkness. The red moon watched from above like a silent witness.

I didn’t know where I was running. I didn’t even think I was running. My legs moved on their own.

Then someone slammed into me from behind.

A fleeing villager, eyes wide with terror, shoved past me without a glance. “RUN! RUN, BOY! JUST RUN!”

The force of his body threw me off balance.

I stumbled sideways

My foot slipped on something wet

And I fell.

My head hit a stone.

A loud crack filled my ears.

A serious pain shot across my skull and everything went black.