text: “That’s the thing about this city,” I tell the young girl. “You don’t want to go out at night. Monsters lurk in the shadows, and who knows what they will do to you.” She looks up at me with fear in her eyes, and I know she’ll take my words to heart. “I just wish we didn’t have to go out and get her medicine,” I say, nodding toward the bundled up figure on the couch. “Me too,” she whispers, glancing at the motionless figure. “We’ll be back,” I call out to the figure. “We’ll be careful. Take care until we’re back.” The figure doesn’t respond, so I shrug and open the door. “Quiet now,” I tell the girl in a low voice. “Follow close behind me.” She nods, and we head out into the night. The moon gives us enough light to see by in the dark alley, and the streetlights will light the way. We creep down the alley, hugging the walls until we reach the street. I glance out, looking both ways, and see the way is clear. Waving her to follow, I slip out into the street, hurrying across it to the other side, where I dart into the next alley. The girl follows behind me, a little too slow for my taste, but I have no choice but to bring her. I’m too big to fit through the window where we need to get the medicine. I hurry her into the alley, looking up and down the road. I ducked back into the alley as I heard footsteps hurrying our way. I pressed myself against the wall with my arm holding the girl to my side. I closed my eyes. I heard the footsteps slowing as they neared us and stopped breathing for a moment. I let out my breath as I heard the steps go by, then breathed a sigh of relief. Opening my eyes, I look down at her. Her eyes are wide with fear, and I can feel her shaking. “Was that...?” she asked in a shaky voice. I nodded and said, “We need to be more careful. Stay close to me.” She nodded back and swallowed. We moved down the alley to the end. I looked out, then drew my head back in when I saw the figure standing under the streetlight. It had been looking away from me, so it didn’t see me. Kneeling down, I looked the girl in the eye, putting my hands on her shoulders. “There’s one out there, so we need to be extra careful.” She nodded, swallowing again. She looked out of the alley, then back at me. Giving her a smile I hoped would give her some encouragement, I added, “If we can do this, we will be on the backend of the building we need to get the medicine from.” She smiled, but then it disappeared as she looked back out of the alley again. “Focus on me,” I told her, giving her a small shake to turn her attention back to me. Her gaze met mine. I blinked, then smiled again. “We’re going to make it,” I told her. “I can feel it. Then we can get the medicine back to her.” She nodded, then I could feel her straightening her shoulders under my grip. My smile got wider, and I let her go, getting to my feet. Turning, I peeked out once more. The figure was still turned the other way, and nothing else was in the vicinity. “Ready?” I asked her, glancing back. She nodded. “Let’s go,” I said, pushing her out in front of me. She ran across the road, ducking into the shadows of the building on the other side. I followed close behind her. A sound came from up the street. I glanced toward the stoplight, and my heart nearly stopped when I saw the figure hurrying toward me. Crap! We’d been spotted. “Go through the gates!” I hissed at her. She nodded and darted through the gates that were just wide enough for her. I put myself in between her and the figure, waiting. The figure got close, but didn’t enter the darkness of the shadows. I eased back toward the gates, keeping my eye on the figure pacing back and forth but not coming closer. Letting out a sigh of relief when I reached the gates, I pulled them apart so I could go inside them to follow the girl. I knew we’d be safe in here, but we still had to find the medicine and get back. I saw the girl ahead of me, so I hurried toward her. “Do you see the building?” I asked her when I reached her. She pointed toward the structure ahead. “Let’s get what we need and get back as quickly as possible,” I told her, heading toward it. She followed me until we reached the side of the building. Pausing at the open window, she looked up at me and said, “Boost.” I linked my hands together and held them out for her to step into. She put her hands on my shoulders, and I lifted her to the window. She scrambled inside, and I leaned against the wall to wait for her. I looked around and noticed the moon was peeking out from behind the clouds. I shivered as I remembered the stories I’d heard as a child about what happens during full moons. Shaking it off, I listened for the girl’s signal. Hearing her whistle, I looked up at the window. Perched on the ledge, she waited for me to help her down. “Did you get it?” I whispered. She nodded, so I held out my arms for her to jump down. Once on the ground, we headed back to the gates. I peered out to make sure it was safe to leave, then slipped through. She followed me, and we made our way back to the alley. I looked up and down the street, but it was empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, we hurried across and ducked into the alley on that side of the street. Just as we reached the opening, a figure stepped into the alley. I pushed the girl behind me. “Who’s there?” I called out. The figure crouched down, and I told the girl, “Run as fast as you can while I take care of this.” We both headed toward the figure, but I got there first, leaping at it to distract it from her. She darted past, and I saw her head into the building with the medicine. I turned my attention to the figure who pushed me against the wall and was clawing at my eyes. Snarling, I pushed off the wall, using my weight to push my attacker away from me. It circled around me, trying to find an opening to attack, but I kept it at bay. It lunged toward me, only to pull back. I kept my eyes on it, not realizing another had come up behind me until something jumped on my back, wrapping its arms around my neck. Taken off guard, I fell to my hands and knees, then let out a howl of pain as something sharp went into my side. A blow to the head had me seeing stars, but I tried to shake it off. I let out another howl of pain as what felt like claws raked down my side. Struggling, I swung out my arms, but didn’t connect to anything. The grip on my neck tightened. I gasped for breath as I clawed at the arms, but wasn’t able to break its grip. I could see blackness clouding my vision and knew I would not last much longer. Just before I blacked out, the grip released, and I could take a deep breath. I looked up to see a large wolflike figure attacking one figure and a smaller one snarling at the other. I smiled, glad to see the medicine had worked. The moon overhead came out from behind a cloud, and I lifted my head, filling my eyes with its beauty. I knew the transformation would heal the wounds the humans had inflicted on me. My last thought before the transformation was that it was a shame the humans couldn’t co-exist with us as we just wanted to live in peace, but they had to be greedy and be the only ones at the top of the pyramid.