MidnightScreams

Full Story:

I.

Dan took a long drag from his cigarette, the ember burning bright in the cold Montana night. Smoke curled around his face as he exhaled, watching the neon flicker of the roadside bar sign—Lupine Lounge. He didn’t come here for the drinks. It was just another place to pass time, to exist without the weight of his own thoughts pressing down.

The town of Silver Pines, nestled deep in the wilderness of Montana, had always been a quiet place. It wasn’t famous, not in the way big cities were. But if you knew where to look—deep in the history books or the old folk stories—you’d hear whispers about wolves. And things that looked like wolves but weren’t.

Dan had never been one for superstition. He believed in what he could see. And right now, all he saw was her—Emily, sitting at the bar, staring into her drink like it held all the answers.

She was the one thing that scared him. Not because she was dangerous, but because she made him feel something. And Dan hated feeling.

“Late again, cigarette man?” she teased, her dark eyes lifting to meet his.

He smirked, sliding into the seat beside her. “Some habits die hard.”

Emily sighed, running a hand through her messy brown hair. “Well, better cigarettes than—”

A howl cut through the air. Not the distant call of a wolf, but something deeper, rawer. The bar went silent. A few of the older locals exchanged looks before hurriedly finishing their drinks.

Dan’s hand instinctively went to his pocket, feeling the lighter between his fingers. His father had always told him that wolves never howled that close to town.

But this wasn’t a wolf.

II.

The town had been on edge for weeks. Livestock found torn apart, claw marks deep in tree trunks. Some whispered about bears, others about things they dared not name.


Dan didn’t buy it—until now.

That night, he walked Emily home, their boots crunching on the frost-covered ground. The air smelled of pine and something else—something musky, primal.

“I swear, it’s getting worse,” Emily said, tucking her hands into her jacket. “This place… something’s wrong, Dan.”

Before he could respond, the streetlight above them flickered. A shadow moved between the trees.

Then, the growl.

It wasn’t a sound that belonged to anything natural. It was too deep, too layered, like something trying to sound human but failing.

Dan pulled Emily behind him just as it stepped into the dim light.

A man. Or at least, something that used to be one.

His skin was scarred, stretched too tightly over an unnaturally large frame. His fingers twitched, long and sharp like claws. His eyes, golden and wild, locked onto Dan with something between hunger and recognition.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the thing whispered.

Dan clenched his jaw. “Neither should you.”

The creature smirked, his lips peeling back to reveal jagged teeth. “You don’t understand, do you?”

III.


The fight wasn’t fair.

Dan barely had time to react before the creature lunged, sending him crashing to the ground. He could hear Emily scream, but it was distant, as if the world had slowed down.


Pain seared through his ribs as the creature’s claws raked across his side.

“Stay down,” it growled, its breath hot against his face. “You have no idea what I’ve lost.”

Dan gritted his teeth. “And you have no idea what I’m willing to do.”

With a sharp motion, he drove his lighter’s flame into the creature’s face.

It roared, staggering back, giving Dan just enough time to scramble to his feet.

Emily pulled him up, her hands shaking. “We have to go—now.”

But Dan didn’t move. His eyes locked onto the thing as it writhed in pain, clutching its burned face.

And then he saw it—the sadness in its eyes.

Not rage. Not hunger. Just sorrow.

“I wasn’t always this,” the creature rasped. “I had a family. I had a home.”

Dan’s grip on the lighter tightened. “What happened?”


The werewolf—because that’s what it was, wasn’t it?—let out a shuddering breath.

“They took everything from me. Left me like this. You’d do the same if it were you.”

Dan hesitated. For just a moment, he understood.

But understanding didn’t change reality.

With a final, swift move, he struck.

The creature collapsed, the light fading from its golden eyes.

For a long moment, there was only silence.

Emily touched his arm. “It had a choice, Dan. Just like you did.”

Dan didn’t answer. He just lit another cigarette and let the smoke blur the night.

Some monsters weren’t born. They were made.

And that was the scariest part of all.