I sat on my porch and watched them running around on the beach. This would be the fourth time I'd had to go down there to quieten them down. This time, I wasn't going to be so nice.
Damn those teenagers with their surf boards and loud music! Didn't they know some people were trying to sleep?
"I'm gettin' fed up with these damn kids, Margaret!", I said to my wife as she joined me on the porch.
"Now Ernie, don't go gettin' yourself all worked up. You know what your doctor said about your high blood pressure."
" I don't give a damn about that! We didn't spend all of our retirement money on this cabin just so we could be woke up all hours of the night! I came here for peace and quiet, dammit!"
"Well dear, it is only 9 PM. I'm sure they'll leave soon."
Whose side was she on? It sounded a lot like she was taking up for those beach- bopping heathens.
"I'll give them an hour. If they aren't gone by then, I'm going back down there. "
"Come back inside, Ernie. Premier has just started. Let's watch it together."
I knew getting Margaret that fancy television would be a pain in my ass. Although, this program was supposed to be the first one of its kind in color, so I figured I'd watch a few minutes of it.
An hour later, I was finally back out on the porch. Ed Sullivan had been a hoot to watch. I'd only heard him on the radio before now. Maybe the television contraption wasn't a bad investment after all.
I could see the fire those brats had built. After a day of surfing, now they were all dancing around the flames.
Damn those kids! Why didn't they just go home?
"Margaret!", I called to my wife through the screen door.
"Yes, dear?"
"Gimme my hat. I'm goin' down there."
Margaret shook her head, but got my hat anyhow.
"Don't you remember how it felt to be young, Ernie?"
"I sure do, and I also remember I had respect for my elders. Not like those demon spawn on the beach."
I kissed her on the forehead and swatted her behind, then made my way down the path that lead from our cabin to the beach.
The fire they had blazing lit up the night brighter than the moon overhead.
I couldn't understand why the folks that lived in the other cabins hadn't complained yet. If I had a phone, I would've called the police on those heathens.
A huge rock caused me to stumble and I cursed out loud. It's not like they could hear me coming anyhow. Not with all the laughing and singing they were doing.
I was about 100 yards away when I heard the first scream. Whatever was happening down there on the beach was sending them running in every direction.
I quickened my pace. Even though I was retired, the police detective in me was still alert and alive. As much as I despised those kids, it was my duty to make sure no harm came to them.
As I got closer, I could see the carnage on the beach. Blood was turning the brown sand red. Bodies were scattered all about. A few were still moving, groaning in pain. Something had attacked these kids, and from the looks of the marks left on them, it was a black bear.
I could still hear the screams of the others, but they were further down the beach now, out of the light of the fire and the moon . I couldn't see that far down, but I could hear them.
I bent down to check for a pulse of the young lady lying in the sand. She had one, but it was faint.
She reached up and grabbed my hand.
"Help me..please..," she said softly.
"I'm goin' to, young lady. Just hold on. Can you tell me your name, miss?"
"Brenda..I didn't know, sir. I had heard rumors about Paul.. I just didn't know they were true."
"Who's Paul? I don't understand what you're talkin' about, miss," I said as I glanced around. I didn't want that bear sneaking up on me. I was really wishing I had brought my gun.
She took one last breath and her hand fell from mine. I knew the instant I saw her injuries, she wasn't going to make it. The gashes all over her torso were too deep and she had lost too much blood.
I made my way around to the other bodies, but by now, none of them had a pulse. These kids hadn't had a chance in hell.
Sixteen bodies in all laid scattered out around the fire. I knew from being down here before, that there had been 19 kids all together. That means three of them were still unaccounted for.
I knew I was going to have to go back to the cabin and drive into town and get help. Authorities would need to find this bear as soon as possible. Who knew how many more people were at risk?
I peered into the darkness down the beach, trying my damnedest to see the other three kids. The screams had stopped and now it was nothing but silence.
I had an eerie feeling someone,or some thing, was watching me. Margaret. I had to get back to her. I needed to make sure she was safe. I knew as long as she had stayed inside the cabin, she would be fine.
I turned to walk away when I heard someone call for help. I turned back around the see a young man covered in blood. He was stumbling up the beach, trying to make his way towards me.
"Help! Please help me!"
I raced to him and recognized him as one of the group of teenagers from the beach party. He was hardly able to stand so I slung his arm around my shoulder and carried most of his weight.
"I'm gonna get you some help, boy. You just need to hold on. We've got a bit to go before we get to my cabin. Which way did the bear go?"
"Bear? Umm, yeah. The bear went on down the beach. I think we're safe. "
This boy seemed awfully calm considering what just happened to him and his friends.
We made our way up the path, but with the darkness and the weight of this boy, it wasn't an easy task.
"Are you sure the bear went the other way?"
"Yes, sir. I saw it with my own eyes."
"Where are you hurt?"
"It my legs, sir."
I looked over at him again. His entire body was splattered in blood. How the hell did he get blood every where?
How had he escaped the bear, when no one else had been able to?
Just as I was going to ask him those very questions, he began to cry. Surely the realization of what just occurred was setting in. The questions could wait.
I sped up the pace. I wasn't wanting to stay out here any longer than I had to. That bear could be any where by now. For all I knew, it was on the trail right behind us.
As we got closer to my cabin, I began to yell for Margaret. It took a few calls before she came running out the front door. Her eyes grew big when she saw the young man I was practically carrying.
"Jesus Christ, Ernie! What happened?!"
"A bear attack. Slaughtered everyone on the beach. Except this boy here."
"Get him inside fast, Ernie!"
A retired nurse, Margaret would know exactly what to do with the young man.
"Patch him up enough so we can take him into town with us. And do it fast. That damn bear is still roaming lose down there."
I lugged the young man to our bed and laid him down. He was out cold. Margaret sent me running through the house, gathering the supplies she would need.
As soon as she had all she needed, I went to clean the blood off myself and change. That's what I was in the middle of doing when a shocked Margaret walked in the room.
"Dear, what is it? What's happened? Has he died?"
"No," she answered, "he's alive and he's awake now."
"That's a good thing, right?", I said almost jokingly.
"Ernie, that boy didn't have a cut or mark on him. The blood that was on him couldn't have come from him."
"Are you sure?"
"Am I sure? Ernie, I'm positive. I think I would know what I'm talking about."
"What did he say when you asked him about it?"
"I wasn't about to ask him! You go ask him! What if he did this to those other kids?"
"Margaret, I saw the marks on those kids. No mere human could've done that."
I walked into the room where the young man was still laying on our bed. The investigator in me told me not to come right out and accuse this boy of anything.
"How you feeling, son?"
"My legs still hurt, sir. But I'm feeling a little better."
"What's your name? And where does your family live? We need to get you to your parents."
"It's Paul, sir. And my parents aren't going to care where I am."
Paul.. That's the name the girl had given him earlier. But what had she been talking about?
Before I could ask, Paul continued.
"Sir, I have a confession. A bear didn't attack my friends. A werewolf did."
I burst out laughing at that. This kid must've been reading the same book Margaret had her nose stuck in daily.
"I see you've been reading 'The Book Of Were-wolves', too."
"What? No, I haven't been reading any book. I'm serious!! Don't laugh at me, old man!! I'm SERIOUS!"
In the midst of my laughter, I saw Paul getting up from the bed. And he looked angry. Very angry.
"Now, calm down. No need to get all fired up."
"Too late, old man."
Right before my very eyes, I watched that young man transform into the very thing I'd seen in Margaret's book. This couldn't be real. Werewolves didn't exist!
"Move, Ernie. Now."
Margaret was behind me with a gun pointed at the creature. She was eerily calm.
"Margaret, what are you doing?"
I moved when I realized Margaret meant business. She fired one shot at the werewolf, severing his spinal cord and brain. He collapsed to the ground.
"What am I doing?", she asked.
I looked at her in shock.
"Why, I just killed myself a werewolf, Ernie."
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