It was a rather nice day outside, especially once they got away from the crowded interstates and onto the smaller roads. Sam was driving his closest friend, Stevie, to the forest south of Fairfax, to their usual spot for when they wanted to get away from the city. They tended to avoid the common tourist trails and instead went to more secluded areas. Both of them were rather fond of nature, so hikes such as these were fairly common for them.

Sam had known Stevie for most of his life, as they were childhood friends. It was a relief to him when he learned she was attending the same college as himself, and that she was willing to be his roommate, both because it meant he would be able to split the substantial costs of living alone, and because he wouldn't have to say his goodbyes to her. For obvious reasons, they had been spending a lot more time together since moving to Fairfax, so they were even closer now than before. He would be lying to himself if he didn't admit he felt something...more for her, but he had not yet said anything about it, mostly because of his own fears.

Sam smiled and glanced over to Stevie, though he quickly shifted his attention back to the road. "So, where shall we go today? I doubt we will find anything as exciting as that fox we saw last time, but still. If we keep a good pace, we could make it to the river to the far side of the forest, or we could just head off in a random direction."

"Hmm lets take a different trail and explore more of this place" she said in a UK accent that was very must noticeable as she looked at her friend with a smile. She checked her pocket to make sure she had her phone on her just in case they got lost and they needed to call someone for help. "This is so much fun dont you think Sam" she said looking out the window as they started to drive towards the forest excitement in her very very light blue eyes. She always loved the woods and if she had her way she would live in it, but knew she couldn't since it was always dangerous especially at night.

"Indeed, you never know what you'll find out here. There are all sorts of creatures that live so close to the city, but we never see them. I think it would be fun to go on an actual camping trip sometime, though we'd need to buy the supplies for it. We would also need a place to put it all; we're kind of light on storage space in our apartment. With the semester ending, though, we should have time." Sam suggested as he pulled off the road, driving along the trail toward the place he intended to park. He stopped his car in a small clearing just out of sight of the road and parked. They weren't exactly on any "official" trails, but he was at least mostly certain it wasn't illegal to be there. Regardless, no one had ever bothered them before, so he felt safe enough leaving his car there, with the doors locked, of course.

Sam got out of the car and grabbed a small backpack from the back seat, filled with a few snacks just in case they got hungry. As usual, he also carried his sidearm holstered with him, just in case they ran into a dangerous creature while on the trail. They did see a bear in the distance once, but they had never actually been in danger at any point during their hikes. Still, he thought it was best to be safe. Once Stevie was out, he locked the doors, then motioned for her to take the lead as he walked alongside her. "So, how have things been going for you? I took my last final yesterday, and I think I did reasonably well. English is always an annoying class, and I wish it wasn't required, but I think I did fine."

"I been alright right now Art us kicking my behind like no tomorrow since we have to draw a male naked by just looking at him which is very tough considering since I need to move around the class in order to get the basic outline of his body but the teacher is being a bloody wanker and wont let us get up from out seats, so right now I am falling a little bit behind" she said huffing as she walked into the woods with her friend. "But other than I am doing just find I am close to getting straight A's except I have a C in Art" she said looking at him. "If you ever need help with English I can help you"

"I am finished with my English class for this semester, but I am signed up for the last one I need next semester. I could let you read my papers for peer review and such. I would definitely appreciate the help." Sam responded, following alongside Stevie as she selected a path for them to follow. The air out in the forest felt altogether much cleaner than that of the city, and the scenery was much more comfortable to him. A city like D.C was definitely impressive in its own right, but being raised in a rural area, he had much more of an appreciation for natural beauty, especially after being in an urban area for so long. "As for art, I would love to help, but you are a better artist than myself, so there isn't too much I can do, unless you're trying to get me to be the model." Sam responded jokingly, nudging her shoulder slightly with his elbow.

She chuckled and looked at him. "If you would be willing to be my model" she said giggling nudging him back. The sounds of a bush moving made Stevie jump and looked down at it thinking something was bad inside before a rabbit came jumping out of it making her relax and smile. "Would that was a surprised dont you think Sam" she asked looking at her childhood friend.

Sam watched the rabbit scurry away after they startled it out of the nearby bush it had been hiding in. "I think it was a bit more surprised than us, being that two giants just walked up to it." He said with a chuckle. The two continued on through the forest for a short distance until they passed a rather colorful, brilliant looking dogwood tree.

They stopped for a moment to observe the tree when Sam spotted a bit of movement at its base. Curious, he walked around the base of the tree and spotted the source of the movement: a Garter snake. It was small, and mostly black with a light stripe down its back. Sam knelt down at a safe distance and looked over the creature, which was coiled up near a rock. "Come and look at this; it's a garter snake." He said, waving for her to approach.

She walked over silently and kneeled down looking at it. "Wow that is amazing" she took out a camera and took a picture of it, there was no flash on since she turned it off when she first got it. "Its a fresh camera I want to have plenty of pictures of the woods so we will have these memories forever" she said smiling at him. She heard a hoo and she looked up to see an owl there and she took a picture of that. "I love the wounds so much Sam...I wish that we can live here without the possibilities of any dangers"

Sam laughed as he leaned up against the tree. "I do love it out here, though I don't know if I would go that far. After all, I can't get internet access out here." He said before a thought popped into his head and he pulled out his smartphone. "Or, well, I can access the internet, but...that's beside the point."

Sam used his phone to take a picture of the snake, then took a picture of Stevie. He smiled as he put away his phone, but on the inside, he was practically yelling at himself to say something to her. He wished he could just bring himself to say something to her about how he really felt about her, but his own fear and nervousness always seemed to get the better of him. This would be the perfect time and place to mention it, but as always, he was just going to end up saying nothing.

Sam sat down next to the tree, then pulled off his backpack and placed it beside him. He took a banana out of the pack for himself, then looked to Stevie. "I brought snacks, if you would like one." He offered.

"Sure I would love one" she said smiling and sat down by him putting on a furry white coat to keep herself from getting cold as she looked up at the canopy of the trees. She looked over at him and took the snack that he was offering her and started to eat. "We should do this often Sam, I feel so much at peace away from the bustling city" she said smiling more at him. She tried not to blush at the sight of him and felt her heart speed up. She had strong feelings for him and had for a very long time and she was too shy to say anything

"Agreed, and with summer coming up, we should have the time to. We could go camping out here, or even take a trip someplace even more impressive. I don't have too much money in the bank, but I would submit as much to the cause as I could." Sam said before quickly finishing off his banana. He leaned back a bit, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing as he looked out across the forest. He glanced to his left when he heard movement in the bushes, but after seeing nothing for a few moments, he turned back to Stevie.

"What about you? Should we come to this forest again, or go someplace else? Maybe take a trip to one of the big national forests or parks? I would be up for anything." He asked.

"Hmmm lets do both when we have the chance because this is our chance to have that sense of adventure we always talked about when we were in highschool" she chuckled when she thought about it before looking at him. She tensed when she heard more movement coming from the same bush and looked towards it. "Perhaps we should start walking again" she said nervously starting to get a bad feeling that something and it showed when she started to bite her thumb nail, a sure sign that she was getting that feeling.

"Alright. Maybe we can see if we can find that river." Sam said as he stood up. He offered Stevie his hand and helped pull her up, but as he did, he too heard the rustling in the bushes nearby. As he shifted his attention in that direction, time seemed to stop when he laid eyes on the being that was emerging from the shadows. It was large: taller than himself and much more massive. It stood hunched over on two legs, had rough black fur, long claws, and a fearsome set of teeth. He could hear a low growl emanating from its maw, which altogether struck fear in Sam's heart. Instinctively, he reached for his handgun and pointed it at the creature, which did not stop its slow walk towards the pair. He could have swore he saw a smirk on its wolfish face.

The relative silence was broken when Sam fired three shots in rapid succession, all of which struck the beast in the torso. Surprisingly, however, the creature did not seem phased in the slightest. It bled much less than Sam would have expected, and it almost seemed like the bullet wounds were closing before his eyes. "Run!" Sam shouted to Stevie just before the creature let out a deafening roar. It fell into a sprint on all fours toward the pair. Sam was only able to fire a single shot which missed before it reached him, smacking him aside into a nearby tree and continuing to chase down Stevie.

"SAM" she cried out as she saw him go flying into a nearby tears tears in her eyes as she continued to run trying to lose the monster that was chasing her. "HELP" she called out hoping someone may have been in the woods like her and her friend was. As she ran she began to get tired, her chest was expanding and deflating over and over due to her heart pounding, trying to pump more blood into her body. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her body and she could hear the pounding paws of the wolf -like creature behind her making tears come to her eyes as she went into a circle trying to get back to her friend.

Sam had the breath knocked out of him when he hit the tree, but he was not seriously hurt yet. As soon as he was able, he looked around the base of the tree and, fortunately, found his gun. However, no sooner did he find it than did he see Stevie running towards him with the beast fast approaching from behind. It was far faster than either of them, so it seemed hopeless that they would actually be able to get away.

Sam aimed his pistol, but could not shoot without risking hitting Stevie. After only a few seconds, the beast pounced on top of her, forcing Sam to take the risk. He took the shot, and by sheer luck, it hit the creature square in the head. And yet, somehow, it did not die. It hardly seemed hurt, though it definitely seemed angry. It looked up and growled before rushing at him. He fired two more shots which did nothing before the beast was upon him. It tackled him to the ground and slashed twice across his torso with its massive claws, leading to four massive gashes which immediately started to pour blood. He put his arms up to shield his face, but that did not stop it from clamping down on his forearm with its powerful jaws, ripping through his muscles and crushing the bone. Once it had done sufficient damage, it stopped its attack and turned toward Stevie, stepping on his leg in the process with its full weight, fracturing his femur in the process. Within only the span of a few seconds, it had pounced on her as well. Sam did not know why it has stopped before killing him. Perhaps it did not want Stevie to escape while it was finishing him off? Regardless, he was not going to squander the opportunity to stop that thing from killing her. He grabbed the gun next to him and, through a mixture of adrenaline and sheer willpower, attempted to bring himself up to his feet.

Stevie screamed as it pounced on her and she started to struggle hard. She could see the pouring blood from her friend's wound and tears poured form her eyes as she screamed. She cried as she struggled against the big creature and gasped when she felt his claw rank across her stomach roughly causing her blood to splatter everywhere around her making her screams of panic turn into screams of pain. She was already exhausted from her running and the struggling was only making it worst.

"SAM!" she screamed as she started to see black dots enter her vision.

By force of will, Sam managed to bring himself to his feet as he heard Stevie's scream for help. The adrenaline numbed the pain he felt in his leg as he stumbled over to her. His left arm, which was his dominant one, had been broken by the creature's bite, so he held his gun in his right hand as he approached and did his best to keep it steady. His Glock had a 17 round magazine, but he had fired quite a few shots already and was not sure how many he had left.Tears came to his eyes as he saw the beast tearing into her with its claws and teeth while she tried in vain to resist. Once he was close enough to actually hit it only using one hand, he fired, which of course did not kill it, but it at least pulled its attention away from Stevie.

"GET OFF OF HER!" He yelled, firing another two shots, both of which missed. The beast readily complied, jumping off of her and pouncing on him once more. He managed to keep his grip on his pistol, but the creature was already going for the kill. It slashed his chest once more with its claws, then opened its jaws wide to go for his throat. In a last ditch effort to survive, Sam shoved his hand which was holding the pistol into the creature's mouth, pressed the barrel against the roof of its mouth, and pulled the trigger three times. Each shot penetrated through the bottom of the beast's skull and entered its brain. The rounds could not penetrate the thick, front part of the skull, so they bounced around inside its skull, doing even more damage. Sam's right hand had been badly cut up in the creature's mouth, but when the beast's lifeless body fell limp beside him, he knew it was worth it.

With the beast finally dead, Sam used all of the strength he could muster to crawl over to Stevie, as he could no longer bring himself to his feet. Both of them were covered in dirt and blood, with open wounds that were gushing forth even more blood. He was staring to feel lightheaded, but he refused to give up yet. He brought himself up to his knees next to Stevie and looked over her rather gruesome wounds. Placing his hand on her cheek, he looked her in the eyes as tears formed in his own. "Don't die, please don't die. I can't lose you." He said in a pleading tone, attempting to put his arms under her and lift her off of the ground, only to collapse next to her himself. "I can't lose you." He repeated, sobbing for a few moments before finally slipping into unconsciousness.

"S Sam" she said in pain as he went unconscious blood pouring out of her ripped up stomach, she coughed and choked as blood from her punctured lungs began to fill her lungs making it hard to breath. She turned her head with much difficulty to look at her equally bloody friend and started to weep weakly, allowing her slowly paling hand to touch his head to play with his hair once last time.

"S s so t this i is h how w we d die h huh" she said to herself and only silence met with her words. She gave a bitter smile as the black dots in her eyes began to grow more and more. She gave once last look to her friend before her eyes closed and she fell into the black depths of sleep not knowing that their wounds were currently healing at a very fast rate. The next morning Stevie opened her eyes as the sunlight shined in her face causing her to wince. She carefully sat up making sure no to josile her still sleeping friend and she looked down at her exposed stomach when her eyes widened in shock. She shook her friend her shock growing.

"Sam wake up wake up Sam" she called out shaking him wildly"

Sam began to awaken when Stevie started to shake him. At first, he was confused on where he was or what was going on, but as his memory returned to him, his eyes shot open. The very first thing he saw was her beautiful face, which immediately filled him with relief. Glancing around, he could see that their clothes were still torn from the beast's slashes and they were still covered in blood, but their wounds were, somehow, nowhere to be seen. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but to smile and throw his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"I'm so glad you're alive. I don't think I could have gone on without you. I don't know how or why, but we're both still alive, and that's all that matters." Sam said as he sat up. His muscles still ached, but he was otherwise fine. He had no idea how any of this was possible, but as he looked at Stevie, he remembered the fear and pain which shot through him the previous day as he watched her get torn apart by that monster. He remembered every regret he felt for the things he had not said to her, but now, it seemed, he was getting a second chance to set things right.

"Stevie, I....there is something I want to tell you. I don't know how it is possible that we're even alive, but I clearly remember what happened yesterday. I remember seeing your broken body and feeling utter terror at what might happen to you. I remember regretting that I never told you how much I care about you, and I don't think I can go a moment longer without saying it. I care about you far more than just as a friend. Do you...feel the same way? Do you want us to be a couple?" He asked, looking her in the eyes with a few tears forming in his own. He didn't care if it seemed strange to ask her now, of all times, as he could not bring himself to go any longer without saying it.

Stevie smiled and tackled him to the ground letting her lips touch his in a light first kiss before pulling back. "Oh Sam I wanted you for years and when I saw you get attacked, I was so afraid that I would never be able to confess to you how much I love you. I would love to date you" she said smiling down at him still on top of her tears welling in her eyes as her mind went back to the night they were attacked and nearly killed.