[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Bh20knA.png[/img]
[i][b]In ... The Beast Within: Pt. I[/b][/i][/center]
[b]Kitimat, British Columbia[/b]

Heather MacNeil had been holding her hands in front of the heater for the best part of ten minutes and they were no closer to being warm. Beside her James Hudson was bristling in the driver’s seat. His face was as white as a sheet and the blankness of his expression worried her. Rather than break the silence, MacNeil slid one of her icy cold hands around Hudson’s as he reached to shift gears. Usually it elicited a smile from him, but this time he didn’t so much as acknowledge the gesture. Finally the silence became too heavy for Heather to bear anymore.

[b][color=#93c47d]“What’s wrong?”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#f4cccc]“It’s nothing,”[/color][/b] Hudson murmured without so much as looking in her direction.

[b][color=#93c47d]“It’s [i]obviously [/i]not nothing, James,”[/color][/b] Heather sighed. [b][color=#93c47d]“You’ve hardly said a word all evening.”[/color][/b]

Both MacNeil and Hudson worked for the Can-Am Corporation. Three years ago, Heather had been secretary to Truett Hudson, James’ half-brother, but she had given that up to follow James to Kitimat because she believed in him – but most of all because she loved him. It had been hard living for both of them, but the research James was doing had the potential to change everything.

Perhaps sensing that he’d been too brusque, Hudson cleared his throat quietly, and looked away from the snowy road for a second.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“They gave to grant to Langkowski.”[/color][/b]

Heather’s hand slid back around Hudson’s and she gave it a sympathetic squeeze. [b][color=#93c47d]“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#f4cccc]“I’ve got to break the news to Jaxon in the morning.”[/color][/b]

Jerome Jaxon was Can-Am’s chief executive. He’d humoured Hudson’s little venture in Kitimat out of sympathy more than anything else. James had needed an escape when Truett passed away and the Guardian project had provided him with it – but it was leaking money like a sieve, and having missed out on a grant for three years running now, there was no way that Jaxon would support it anymore.

[b][color=#93c47d]“God, Langkowski’s such a hack,”[/color][/b] Heather sighed. [b][color=#93c47d]“I can’t [i]believe [/i]it. There must be some other way? What about next year?”[/color][/b]

The grimace that appeared on Hudson’s face as the words left her mouth all but confirmed the impossibility of their being some way out for the pair of them.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“You don’t get it. We’re screwed, Heather, without that money we’re not going to make it through the winter, let alone to next year. Everything we’ve done, everything we’ve worked for these past three years, it’s all been for nothing. Absolutely nothing.”[/color][/b]

Suddenly MacNeil perked up as if struck by a lightning bolt.

[b][color=#93c47d]“You still have that money that Truett left behind in his w-”[/color][/b]

James shook his head grimly.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“We might as well pack up and head back to Toronto because the Guardian project is [i]officially [/i]dead in the water as of this afternoon."[/color][/b]

A deflated rattle left Heather’s lungs and she glanced out of the window at the unpressed snow reaching out into the darkness. Hudson’s icy hand switched on the radio. He flicked past a news station, then past another playing metal music, until he settled upon something more to his liking. Kenny Rodgers echoed around the front of the truck as they crept through the cold towards the ranch the pair called home.

[center][i]“I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in,[/i]
[i]I watched myself crawlin' out as I was a-crawlin' in,[/i]
[i]I got up so tight I couldn't unwind,[/i]
[i]I saw so much I broke my mind,[/i]
[i]I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.”[/i][/center]
For a second, Hudson’s eyes began to close with tiredness but he jolted away just in time to see a sudden flash of movement appear in his headlights. His foot crashed down on the breaks and the truck skidded along the icy road, very nearly flipping onto its side at one point, before coming to a screeching halt.

Heather’s eyes were fixed on him in desperate confusion. [b][color=#93c47d]“What the hell, James?”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#f4cccc]“There was something in the road.”[/color][/b]

Hudson could tell from the look on MacNeil’s face that she didn’t believe him. He let his hands, now wet with sweat, slip free from the wheel and cut the engine. Now the truck had come to a halt it was clear that there was a carcass in the road in front of them, but it wasn’t the carcass that concerned James. It was what was stood over it.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“It almost looked like a [i]person [/i]… but that doesn’t make any sense,”[/color][/b] Hudson murmured with shock. [b][color=#f4cccc]“All the way out here in [i]this[/i] cold? They’d be dead in minutes. It doesn’t make any sense.”[/color][/b]

James tried his best to reconcile what he’d seen with what he knew about the Tundra. Whatever he’d seen didn’t look anything like any animal he’d seen before, but there was no way it could have been a man. He tugged the keys out of the ignition and slipped them into his coat pocket. As he reached for the driver’s side door he felt Heather’s hand clamped tightly around his bicep.

[b][color=#93c47d]“I think we should call the Mounties.”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#f4cccc]“No,”[/color][/b] James said with a shake of his head. [b][color=#f4cccc]“It’s fine, I’m going to go out and check.”[/color][/b]

Hudson pulled his arm free and stepped out into the road. He slammed the door shut behind him, smiling unconvincingly to Heather through the frosted glass, and slowly made his way towards the carcass. It was a deer – or at least what was left of one. He knelt beside it and pressed his hands against it. It was still warm to the touch. There were no teeth marks, only long, straight gashes along its stomach and neck.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“Whatever that was, it's long gone,”[/color][/b] James muttered. [b][color=#f4cccc]“Christ, it really went to town on this poor thing. It’s all torn up. There are claw marks here I’ve never seen before.”[/color][/b]

Hudson tried once more to parse the images that had flickered through his brain in the moments before he’d slammed down the brakes. He was still struggling to make sense of it as he set the deer’s head down on the road and rose to his feet. The least he could do was move the carcass out of the road, he thought, as he took one last look down at the savaged animal.

[b][color=#93c47d]“James,”[/color][/b] Heather called out nervously from the truck.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“What’s wrong?”[/color][/b]

There was a desperation in her voice this time. [b][color=#93c47d]“Get back in the truck, James.”[/color][/b]

Hudson nodded. [b][color=#f4cccc]“I’m coming, I’m just going to make sure this thing’s out of the road. It’s dangerous enough out here witho-”[/color][/b]

Without warning, James found himself on his back with the taste of blood in his mouth. His ears were ringing and there was a dull pain in his chest. In the distance he could hear Heather screaming and managed to lift his head enough to make sure he hadn’t been shot. Standing over him was a hairy brute of a man with blood caked around his mouth. There was a crazed look in his eye that made Hudson’s blood run cold.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7EoSh8Y.jpg[/img][/center]
[b][color=#f4cccc]“Whoa, take it easy there bud,”[/color][/b] James spluttered feebly as he tried to push himself onto his elbows. [b][color=#f4cccc]“I’m not going to hurt you.”[/color][/b]

A guttural growl left the man’s chest as Hudson tried to climb to his feet slowly and James froze. He met the feral man’s gaze but something told him not to hold it. Instead he lowered it, glancing towards the hairy, torn feet that looked as if they were frozen through. After a few seconds, James carefully tried to climb to his feet again, slower this time, taking care to step back away from the man and to seem as small and unthreatening as possible.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“Alright, I get it. The deer’s yours. Look, here, I’m moving away from it. You see? Take it. I’m going to just back away slowly and head back to my truck, you hear me? Nobody needs to get hurt here.”[/color][/b]

The growling quieted as James retreated and he was sure that the truck was only a few metres behind him. He was almost counting the inches as he moved. He felt the hood of the truck hit him in the back and moved to turn around but as he did so made the mistake of making eye contact with the wildman one last time. James heard the roar and saw a glint of metal as the beast seemed to cut the distance between them in a millisecond. It was inches from him when a loud bang rang out.

In Heather's hands was an old shotgun that James kept in the truck in case of emergencies. It was so heavy that she could barely keep it aloft. The naked man had been flung by the impact of the shot into the snow and looked, as far as either of them could tell, to be dead. Hudson was planted to the spot in shock. It took him a few seconds to realise he hadn’t answered.

[b][color=#93c47d]“Are you alright?”[/color][/b] Heather called out. [b][color=#93c47d]“He didn’t hurt you, did he?”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#f4cccc]“I’m fine,”[/color][/b] James mumbled. [b][color=#f4cccc]“Though I don’t think we can say the same for our friend here. That was one hell of a shot, MacNeil.”[/color][/b]

It was clear from Heather’s face that she saw through his bravado. [b][color=#93c47d]“I don't care what you say, this time I’m going to call the Mounties.”[/color][/b]

James took the shotgun from MacNeil and trained it on the naked man’s bleeding husk. Heather scuttled towards the truck in search of a phone as Hudson drew closer to the man. The snow around him had been splattered with blood. Under other circumstances, the patterns in the blood-flecked snow would almost have been beautiful. James set that thought aside as he nudged the body with the shotgun. A gentle groan came from it. Hudson staggered backwards in shock.

[b][color=#f4cccc]“Wait,”[/color][/b] James shouted towards the truck. [b][color=#f4cccc]“This crazy son of a bitch is still breathing. Get some blankets.”[/color][/b]

Heather’s face twisted in revulsion.[b] [color=#93c47d]“What? You’re not seriously suggesting that we try and move h-”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#f4cccc]“The blankets, Heather.”[/color][/b]

MacNeil groaned and ran towards the back of the truck. Hudson shot her an approving look, and then tightened his grip on the shotgun. The man in the snow stirred ever so slightly, revealing the wound in his chest to the elements. Seconds ago it had been the size of a basketball. Amongst the mess of blood and hair, Hudson could have sworn the muscles were reaching out to one another. The naked man was healing.