Chapter 2 Be wary of strange red liquids.

It took some time for John to process everything, something that most humans were doing at the moment. John took a long time thinking of everything “god” had just announced. What he was most interested in was the sentence “rise to godhood” if taken at face value would mean most humans can become a god. Which seemed absurd to John, however everything "god" did was extremely absurd, so it was not to outlandish to think so. Something else he got quite caught on was the words, “out there” meaning you had to go look for it, it would be too convenient if everyone could become a god from the comfort of their sofa. John was unsure on what to do, but in the end, he decided to put his life on hold for the moment and head to his fathers hunting cabin, which was more like a badly insulated shack than a cabin. Even though some people find the big open forest to be more dangerous than the city, John was not a normal man, he loved the outdoors. He had spent large parts of child hood in that beaten-up shack and the forest. To him the forest was the safest place, since animals are predictable, and humans are not.

He Hurriedly start packing together items needed for survival in the woods. While rummaging through his closet for his old military clothes, he spots his fathers old Remington 700. John hesitates or a moment, unsure whether to bring it or not, but eventually decides its more of a boon than a bane. While looking at this old dusty rifle John feels a bit melancholic, lamenting over his father’s death. Maybe if he had lived a few more years, he might have been able to rid himself of his cancer. After reminiscing for a while he, snaps out of it and gets back to task at hand, I have no time for bygone ages. I need to get out of here before someone shoots me for my toilet paper and baked beans. After gathering some food that will last for a long time, John locks his door and heads out.

After a week in the wild, eating granola bars and berries, John realizes his decision might have been a hasty one. However, his gut was telling me that this was a smart move. Even though this might have been a hasty, or even stupid idea, John was the kind of man that trusted his gut more than most. Through out his life, his gut feeling had saved his life several times or at least saved him from serious harm.

After three weeks, he had already ran out of processed food, but with some waiting and marksmanship he was remarkably able to kill a few rabbits. Together with some berries, roots and other edibles he managed to keep himself feed for a few weeks.

By week seven however, he was starting to become famished, after not eating for almost a week. After failing to find a new rabbit to eat, John got lost in the woods and couldn’t find his way back his fathers cabin. His hunger pains were getting to a level rarely felt by people in the western world.

It was getting dark, John was tired and starving, after all this time all he wanted was a place to sleep that offered some protection from the sour weather. After slowly dragging his body a bit further he suddenly stumbled upon a 20-foot-high cliff. Leaning on the cliff, using it as support, John continued scanning for something that could work as a shelter. In the distant darkness, he spots a oddly shaped rock, jutting out of the cliff. Finally, he thought something that can keep me dry through the night. However, once he got closer he noticed that underneath the odd rock the cliff was gone, replaced by a large oval opening. A cave? He thought.

Creeping closer to investigate, John forget most of his hunger, out of fear that this might be a bear cave. Using what little energy he has left he focuses his attention on the surrounding area, the evening is still at twilight, so his sight was still quite good, at least this close. John had learned about bears early on in his life, considering where he lives, it was a very valuable life lesson, to know such things as telltale signs of bear activity. Yet he couldn’t find any signs, no scratch marks or tufts of fur. Eventually he makes it up to the cave, his rifle locked and loaded and slightly shaking. Peering into the cave, John can’t see anything or hear much either. At this point, John was so drunk on adrenaline and hungry that even if this was a bear cave, he might just eat the bear. Continuing on into the cave John suddenly notices a red glow in the distance. What could make red glowing light in the middle of the forest? he asks himself. Eventually after some hesitation his curiosity takes over, and he can’t help himself from slowly creeping forward, eventually after seems like an eternity, he stands in front of the glowing red object.

Surprisingly the glowing red object, is a vial of red liquid. John carefully pick it up and inspect it. On the front, there is a picture of a pitch-black wolf. At this point his mind is boggled, his first thought is that this is a practical joke, set up by someone after “gods” announcement. However, he quickly dismisses that thought, after all John is, god knows how far into the woods. The odds of someone setting up a prank here is very low. After that John’s mind is immediately drawn to “gods” announcement, more specifically the words “out there”. Could this really be one of god’s gifts, just left out here for anyone to take. Surely it can’t be this easy to acquire. Yet, no matter how much he tries to dissuade himself he can’t contain his curiosity, and eventually pulls out the stopper and chugs the entire bottle in on swig. Much to his surprise, the red liquid tasted much better than expected. Which immediately eased his mind a little, if it had tasted horrible he might have thought this was a actually a prank. At this point, John got extremely tired and he turned around to find somewhere to sleep, when he suddenly lost consciousness and fell face first onto the hard rock ground. Maybe drinking that potion wasn’t so smart.

John woke up with the worst headache he had ever had, worse than any hangover. He felt like someone was hitting his head with a sledgehammer every other second. He got up from the cold hard ground and rested against the wall trying to mitigate some of the pain he was currently feeling. After a few minutes, he was feeling quite a bit better, and he started scanning the cave in the morning light that was streaming in. Except for the pedestal the vial was on, and some bones that belong to a rabbit, the cave was completely empty. That is when John suddenly noticed the dry puddle of blood on the ground where his face used to be. Did I break my nose when I fell? He pondered, however, after touching his face, he noticed to his surprise that his nose was fine except some dry blood on it.

However, at this point John noticed something was different, he could see more clearly, and his sense of smell had exponentially risen. He felt powerful, like his body was about to explode from pent up energy. Feeling his muscles, he notices that they are much tougher and miraculously he had developed a six pack during the night. John tried to feel what was different in his body, that’s when he suddenly felt like there was some weird “thing” in his chest, specifically his heart. It was as if some weird globule of something was inside it. John got a bit freaked out, however he quickly calmed down, since it was already inside him there was not much he could do. He experimented a little more with his body, when he remembered that the vial had a picture of a wolf, his mind immediately went to those shitty werewolf movies he had seen on TV a few times. He felt like there was a connection, and he tried what most children had done at some point in their life, he told his body: transform. Suddenly he feels his body convulsing, and spasming and his bones breaking and snapping, the sound is excruciating. However, he felt no pain, whatsoever. John doesn’t even dare to look at himself, as he feels himself growing bigger, and bigger. He takes solace in the fact that, at least he governs when he transforms and not the moon.

Opening his eyes, John has to stand hunched over to fit inside the cave. The first thing he notices is long black snout sticking out from his face, for a second he is completely dazed. He lifts his arms and sees that hey have become extremely long. His forearm is filled with lean muscles as hard as iron and his upper arms are bulging with incredible muscles. His fingers are long and somewhat unwieldy, with almost two-inch-long razor sharp claws at the end. What in god’s name am I? he asks himself. He continues to study his new body in great detail. Most of his body is covered in black fur and filled with muscles exploding with power. At this point, John can do nothing except admit he has in fact turned into a werewolf. Feeling a bit cramped inside the cave, John elects to move outside and stretch his body.

My god, the ground is so far away was his first thought, when fully extending his body. Although he’s not sure, he realizes he must be at least 9 feet tall, and weigh a 1000 pounds. At first his feet feel a bit wobbly, like a toddler trying to walk, but he quickly learns how to move properly. Even though he is not able to run, he can do a slight jog, which is already faster than most humans running. He thinks back to the bad movies he saw, and remembers that all the werewolves run on all four, considering his abnormally long hands, it makes quite goods sense. Standing on all four feels very comfortable and natural to John, he is even able to move his head up and down in 180 degrees, unlike most humans.

John starts running forward, to his surprise he is easily able to surpass max human run speed at just 50% effort. His mind is filled with glee as he pushes it 100% and zooms away at over 70 mph. As he reaches top speed things seems to slightly slow down, unlike speed blindness, everything seems to move much slower around him. And his extreme sight makes him able to see a leaf falling 100 feet away. Unbeknownst to John, he is one of the first evolved people on earth at this time.