Tooth and Claw

A muscular man bounded through the woods, his white T-shirt was soaked as the wet leaves swiped at his face and body. The dark woods thinned out and gave way to a moonlit field with scattered piles of debris. A glow could be seen from the city in the distance. He wore jeans and untied loose black boots, his eyes were dark and intense, his face had a bit of scruff and his black wavy hair fell wet over his brow . . . his jaw clenched with anger. He looked and noticed others emerging from the woods . . . large men. They emerged with the same determined expression . . . construction workers, bikers, tough looking men. They all glanced at the dark haired man looking for a sign . . . growles could be heard from the woods . . . no . . . from the throats of some of the men!

Just then lights appeared at the other end of the clearing. A large black SUV approached the clearing from an old gravel drive. The large SUV stopped, it’s bright headlights pierced the woods, revealing the 12 or so men, all with angry expressions on their strong faces. Their eyes inhumanly glinted in the light. One of the men growled and raised a hand to shield his eyes from the light. He was a bald buff man, who wore nothing but jeans and tan work boots. His muscled tensed as he walked forward a bit towards the SUV. The dark haired man yelled, “NO” firmly before the man stopped. The men continued to walk to the clearing from the woods and stood together staring at the SUV, the dark haired, rather large man stood front and center . . . clearly the leader.

The SUV turned off and the doors opened. Five men emerged from the vehicle, each wearing what looked to be some swat gear, with black pants, under-armor tight shirts, and knee high black boots. The men had helmets and strange looking guns in their hands. The helmets hid their faces, but the men were rather large themselves, each clean cut and looked more . . . militarily organized than the large group of men before them.

Neither party said a word before another man emerged from the SUV. He was a tall, athletic looking man. He had thin handsome features and thin lips with dark, short cropped hair. He looked like a lawyer or a banker. He walked among his men in silence. He looked at his men with keen interest, before looking up at the group before him. A smile stretched on his perfect chiseled features. He carefully avoided a mud spot on the ground to avoid ruining his nice leather shoes.

“So this is where you want to . . . end things?” The man asked, looking at the large dark-haired leader before him. “Humans are weak, but you and your group of . . . Dogs . . . have made things quite difficult for us for quite some time,” he said matter of factly.

The large man smiled at that. “Oh, we were just warming up. We may not be human . . . anymore . . . but we use to be, and that’s more than I can say for you and your little swarm of roaches.” Some of the men from his group let out a deep guttural growl, “. . . and don’t misunderstand us . . . we may not always place nice with humans, but we definitely aren’t going to site by as a bunch of aliens try to take over our planet using your cheap . . . underhanded tactics!!” he yelled. The men cheered behind him, each flexed their muscles and began to spread out in a semi circled before the men with guns.

“I see you brought your little toys with you . . . I’m assuming we’re too much to handle without them?” the dark haired man said with a nod and a wink.

The handsome man just stared for a bit . . . his jaw clenched, “. . . hardly.” he said. He slowly turned his back to the scruffy leader and made his way back to the SUV, positioning his men between him and the mob. Drop the gun and lose the suits, we do this now the old fashioned way.” he said with a smile.

The men dropped their weapons to the ground and took of their helmets. Each man was clean shaven and handsome as hell. Their faces were smooth and perfect, they complexion flawless. They began to drop their belts with other odd weapons on them and took off their shirts, revealing their tight muscular abs and muscles.

“Hold on”, the handsome man said. Why don’t you all reveal yourselves . . . and let's see how many of you it takes to take down just one of my . . . what did you call them again . . . roaches?” he said with an evil smile. “Let's start with two vs. . . . one.” With that he tapped one of his men on the shoulder and nodded for him to step forward. The man walked forward. He had a blank expression on his chiseled perfect face. The man walked forward with his large boots, which conformed nicely to his feet. He stopped and stared for a moment before he smiled. His dimpled cheeks pulled back to reveal his perfect white teeth.

“You see, our technology has gotten a lot better since the last time we came to this planet . . . you won’t believe how . . . small we can become.” he said with a little laugh.

The handsome man reached down to a small wristband and pulled it apart with a snap. Immediately there was a deep low guttural growl. The man's’ smiled widened as his body began to bulge. His smile drew back impossibly wide and his teeth shattered to reveal sharp black teeth. His skin became tight and he hunched over. His back bulged, his muscles slide beneath his skin and pressed out. The man, now with a crazed twisted look, reached behind his head and dug his fingers into his scalp and pulled the skin apart. There was a ripping noise as the skin gave way to an emerging brown and black slimy surface beneath. The man's face stretched and folded apart as the skin on his back also ripped. Soon the bulky slimy surface below bulged out. Limbs emerged from the man's skin and began to pull the flesh away from it’s body. His boots bulged and ripped open and his legs split in two as an enormous monstrous alien bug broke from from the last remnant of human flesh. It stood before the men at least 7’4 ft high, with claws and pincers and a long tail with a sharp barb at the end. The other men stood behind the monster unfazed. The alien looked like a giant preying mantis. It roared as it reared up to its full height.

“You two”, the dark haired man said, “get it!” With that, two men walked towards the giant alien. The muscular bald man and an athletic looking man wearing shorts, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt. As they walked forward their eyes glowed yellow. They began to growl and hunch over in pain. The men got on their hands and knees as their bodies shifted and pulsed. The bald man bowed his back as the skin began to tear apart. He began to get up as fur began to emerge from his skin. He reached up to his face and dug his fingers into his strong looking lips and cheeks. He pulled his face apart as a muzzle emerged from his once handsome human confines. His pants and boots bulged and burst apart, skin and cloth fell away from a massive furry wolf-like humanoid. It roared. The athletic man next to him stayed on all fours as his shirt ripped apart as his muscles grew. His skin eventually split apart as well and a muzzle protruded from the man's’ mouth. His handsome features wrinkled back as the muzzle pushed out of his jaws. The skin eventually gave way to a furry wolf’s face just as his legs and shoes burst apart, revealing a similar wolf beast as his friend. The two large beasts stood at about 6’5 and began to circle the alien.

With a sharp growl the two werewolves launched themselves at the alien. Their jaws clamped down on the sickly brown and black flesh of the alien. One wolf sunk it’s teeth into one of the aliens limbs and the other into one of its legs. The alien reared up and screeched. In one quick violent movement it whipped it’s dangerous tail out and stabbed one of the wolfmen through the chest pinning the beast to the ground; the werewolf made a quick high pitched whimper before it fell still. The other werewolf shook it’s massive head while continuing to claw at the aliens sides before the limb broke away from its body. Green blood caked the werewolf's fur and dripped from it’s jaws. The alien shrieked and backed away, yanking its tail out of the other werewolf's chest. Without hesitation the werewolf launched at the alien again, it’s jaw snapping open with a vicious roar. The alien quickly dodged the attack and whipped its tail out again. It’s point dug into the werewolf’s shoulder. The werewolf quickly turned its body and grabbed the stinger before sinking it’s teeth into the alien's tail. There was another blood curdling screech before the alien before it whipped its tail out again flinging the werewolf towards the crowd of men.

The werewolf landed with a thud at the feet of the dark haired man. It tried to get up, panting hard and whimpering. The werewolf looked up at the dark haired man, who had a look of pity on his face before it collapsed . . . dead. The dark haired man nealt down, his face had a solemn dangerous look. His jaw clenched as he looked at the dead wolfman’s body. “Poison”, he whispered.

The alien limped back in front of the 4 remaining half naked men. The each had indifferent looks etched on their handsome faces. The man in the suit just smiled, leaning against the SUV. “I told you . . . we are far more superior, even without our toys. You may have the numbers, but we have the strength.” he said lightly, his eyes fixed on the dark haired man. Just then the injured alien collapsed to the ground . . . it’s wounds were too great. The business man stopped smiling.

“Oh no . . . don’t underestimate us . . . we have . . . . BOTH!!! The dark haired man said as his eyes turned bright yellow. He crouched down, his boots tight as they began to stretch and widen. His muscles bulged as he growled. His body began to grow. His skin and clothes began to rip apart. His face was wild and tight. Wrinkles began to form, distorting his handsome features. The skin on his back began to shred apart, his claws pushed out of the tips of his fingers, his neck thickened and wrinkled. In one swift motion, he reared up, the skin on his chest folded over and off his white furred, muscular body. He reached up to his stretched distorted face and dug his claws into his cheeks and pulled. The handsome features shredded and fell away from a snarling wolfs face.

The other men began to howl and hunch over. Their bodies pulsed and moved awkwardly. Muscles shifted, arms flexed, clothes tore away, abs rippled, bones broke, feet pushed against leather and elongated, faces became crazed and tight, teeth broke, nails grew. The men in a cacophony of moans and growls began to scrape and pull at their once human vestiges. Handsome features fell away to reveal teeth and fur. Before long, their human forms lay wrinkled and empty at the feet of beasts, their large yellow eyes glowed in the moonlight, their teeth bared as they began to circle the aliens.

The man in the suit wore a complacent look . . . it rested on his face like a mask. Fake . . . emotionless . . . empty. “Let’s be done with this once and for all.” He said as he rose his hand. With that the stationary half naked men nodded and broke formation. They each took a position surrounding the man in the suit. One by one the men broke the bracelet they each wore on their wrists. Their once emotionless faces became tight and began to wrinkle as their sleek, smooth, chiseled bodies began to bulge and their muscles shift. The hunk closest to the man in the suit grunted as two alien limbs burst out of his back before he hunched over. His black leather boots tightened and stretched, his toes wiggled before the boot tore apart to reveal clawed pincers. He reached up to his stretched face and grabbed a fist full of flesh. With one tug the skin broke apart and slide off the body of the familiar bug-like alien. The other men did the same. One simply reached up behind his head and dug into his scalp. He pulled the skin apart when abruptly the smooth skin on his back tore open revealing the brown and black slimy surface beneath. In one movement the skin was pulled down and away as the alien wiggled out of the skin suit. The last two roared and their handsome slack faces burst apart revealed the large toothy grin of the alien beneath. There were rubbery tearing noises and the sound of cracking bones as the alien bodies emerged from the tattered remains of human flesh. Limbs unfolded and tails whipped out, flinging the loose wet flesh suits aside.

The four aliens stepped up to the semi-circle of wolfmen. They towered above the wolves . . . all except one. The white wolf directly across from the man in the suit roared and met the alien closest to him in a flurry of teeth and claws. The other wolves howled and viciously attacked the now screeching aliens. The man in the suite smiled wide and jumped inhumanly high up into the air and landed far back away from the commotion. He looked down and shook some mud off his leather shoe with a look of disgust and adjusted his tie.

The aliens whipped their stingers out at the wolves. Four wolves already lay dead from their poisonous sting. The remaining 7 wolves had already taken two of the aliens out, literally tearing them to shreds. Two including the alpha surrounded one and the remaining 4 wolves surrounded the other. The wolves circled them hungrily. There teeth bared, their coats coated with green blood. The alpha howed before grabbing the alien (he was approximately the same size) by the neck and wrestling him down as the other two wolves dug their teeth into it’s tail. The alien screeched as the tail was severed from its body. It quickly lashed out a leg that caught one of the wolves holding the stump of its tail in the eye. The pincer came out the the back of the wolf’s skull as it crumpled to the ground. The alpha roared and tore its neck to shreds with his massive teeth. The other alien was on the ground twitching as green blood poured out of its neck, however two wolves lay dead from the struggle.

The remaining wolves, had a dangerous look on their blood smeared faces. The moon glinted in their eyes as they gathered together around the silver alpha and began their approach towards the man in the suit.

The man had a serious look on his handsome thin face. He began to approach the wolves in kind, paying no heed to the mud he stepped in on his way. His fists were clenched and his jaw was pulsing from anger. “WHY DON’T YOU JUST GIVE UP!!!” he yelled. He rolled his neck and began to take off his suit. He casually walked towards the wolves who now stood before him snarling. “This little game doesn’t really matter. We already won, there are more of us than there are living beings on this little blue rock.” He casually tossed his coat aside and began to undo his dress shirt. “YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO THE UNIVERSE . . . NOTHING!!!” He whipped his nice dress shirt off revealed his toned lean smooth body. “And now I have to ruin this nice human suit for the likes of you” he said in a pouting tone. His hair was messed up and his skin now looked tight . . . his eyes changes . . . similar to cat eyes . . . but . . . wrong. He rolled his shoulders as an audible clicking noise emanated from his body. His dress shoes seemed worn now . . . they wiggled and stretched . . . seem to widen. His muscles shifted slightly . . . but not with each movement he made . . . against it. A thin smile stretched across his handsome face as he looked at the alpha. “This battle doesn’t mean anything. You will all die tonight. As soon as I get back to my ship, I will give the word and everyone will join you in oblivion. You are simpLY . . . the . . . APPETIZER . . . Before . . . A THREE . . . “ His smile widened as he reached down to his right wrist and broke the bracelet. His teeth began to fall out giving way to inhuman sharp teeth beneath. His body began to grow, his skin stretched and bulged. His shoes began to bulge as claws began to poke through the tips of his well manicured fingernails. The man continued to smile, the laugh lines and creases on his neck made him look deranged . . . the teeth made him look monstrous. There was a deep inhuman growl as he reached a claw down to his other wrist towards another bracelet! “COURSE . . . “ he broke the bracelet, and roared, “MMEEEEEEAAAAAAALLL!!!!”

His hands rose above his head as his shoes tore apart to reveal large insect-like pincers . . . similar to the others but much . . . much bigger. His chest and back bulged and the skin ripped as a bulbous limbs tore free. His face stretched beyond recognition as his body expanded and more of his flesh ripped apart to make way for this giant monster. It’s fleshy limbs and the bulk broke free of the skinsuit with such force the wolves backed up. Giant insect arms and claws emerged from the wrinkled remains of the once handsome human man. This creature was nothing like the others . . . it stood 10 ft tall and looked more like a praying mantis merged with a centipede. It looked down at the wolves with hatred and hunger and roared, opening its mouth impossibly wide.

Without hesitation the wolves attacked the beast. Two wolves clamped down on two of the aliens limbs as the alpha went right for the things neck. The alpha roared as it became a silver blur of speed and fury. The other two wolves bit down into the aliens flesh as green goo spewed out. The alien screeched and launched two of his giant scythe-like claws at the wolves clamped on its limbs. The wolves were quickly split in two as their carcasses fell to the ground. Then the alien lashed at the alpha with its sharp tail. The alpha spun out of the way and instead clawed out at on the thy scythe-like claws and before the alien could react, it was severed at the wrist.

Both the alpha werewolf and the giant alien backed away from each other, both tired and injured. The alpha stood upright, eyes glowing in the moonlight. Rage eminated from his body as green blood dripped from his bared white teeth. “You aren’t going to make it to that ship, not even close. You again overestimated us . . . you will pay for this.” the wolf said in a low voice looking for a moment at the corpses of his pact.

The alien just stared at the wolf with his . . . wrong eyes. “This isn’t the end for me . . . “ it said in a booming deep voice. With that he launched his body over the wolf towards the SUV while at the same time whipping its tail out towards the wolf’s head. The stinger whizzed past the wolf's ear as the wolf leapt up and dug his nails into the top of the giant bugs tail. It’s many legs dug into the ground as its bulk slid across the field. With that the alien twisted to attempt to throw the wolf off of its back. The wolf bared its fangs and clawed its way up the back and dug his fangs into the aliens mid-back. The alien screeched as its tail came up again in an attempt to piece the wolf through the skull. The wolf grabbed the stinger and severed its tail with one mighty roar. The giant alien screeched and then stopped moving. Green blood flew everywhere. The wolfman roared again and dug his teeth into another one of the aliens many limbs, then . . . . there was the sound of air . . . like a car speeding past you in a parking garage. The wolf looked down and there was a smoldering hole in the middle of his chest. He looked up at the alien's face then down at a weird gun . . . held by one of the aliens many limbs.

The wolf’s eyes rolled back into his head as he whispered, “cheap tricks . . . “.

The alien roared with laughter as its massive body rolled out from under the wolf's body as it landed with a thud in the clearing. The alien continued to laugh as it circled to the back of the SUV. Still laughing it broke the back window of the SUV and reached inside. As it rummaged through the back it said to no-one in particular . . . “Didn’t I tell you? Nothing you did matters, and that includes your foolish prideful rules!” It hissed in a deep booming voice. It’s body curled around the SUV now as it pulled a small box from the back of the SUV with two of its smaller claws. With a click of a button the alien pulled out two bracelets, just like the ones the aliens wore before they shed their disguises. The alien cracked it’s massive neck one more time before slipping one of the bracelets around one of its claws.

The massive creature shuddered as the bracelet glowed bright blue. It’s body quivered and began to move and squirm. It’s black and brown body began to deflate as there was a sickening cracking noise emanating from all over. The alien hissed in pain as his limbs and body contorted and began to fold in on itself. Before long the giant centipede creature that took out so many of the massive werewolves before, now took on the form of one of one of his minions without a tail and stinger. He was still massive and definitely not the size he was originally.

“GuyahaAAAHHH, I HATE THIS FORM SO MUCH . . . I’M IN ENOUGH PAIN ALREADY FROM MY WOUNDS . . . AND NOW I HAVE TO GO BACK TO THIS TIGHT DISGUISE AGAIN . . . ,” the alien roared before slipping on the other bracelet onto it’s now somewhat humanoid wrist.

The alien folded over again, the cracking and fold began again. It’s flesh and limbs decreased in size and took on a small humanoid shape. Before long the alien looked like a brown and black colored . . . skinless muscular man. It’s claws and teeth were folded and revealed at different parts of it’s body. A tooth contorted to a collarbone or a claw was folded back to form a fingertip. The alien growled and looked at itself in the passenger window.

“Ugh, so gross. I’m not putting on a full suit, I don’t have the time.” it said in a more human voice now. He opened the back door and pulled out a suitcase. He opened it and pulled out a human mask with human looking gloves. He reached into the car again and pulled out a pair of black boots, black pants and a black coat. The human-like creature put on the black pants before sitting down on the grass and began pulling on the tight black boots. It slid its human-like feet into the leather boots with some efforts since they were a bit small. The boots stretched and wrinkled . . . and as soon as he stood up his massive feet seemed to widen the boots. The alien then slipped on the flesh colored gloves around his alien hands before grabbing the human mask.

He opened the bottom and slipped it over his brown and black slimy head. The handsome features bundled up before he began to slowly pull the mask over his own alien features. He pulled and prodded the skin on his new face until it matched as closely to his own features underneath as possible. The face looked almost exactly as he did before. Those handsome thin facial features settled into a smirk just as he did before . . . however the eyes . . . they were so . . . alien and wrong. The man slipped on a pair of sunglasses he pulled out of his pocket and threw the all the guns and equipment he could find into the back seat. He then pulled out a device . . . it looked like another gun and aimed it at the now silent battlefield. The gun emitted a mist of some sort over the blood, both green and red, limbs, bodies, bones and shredded human skin causing them to get wet by some sort of liquid. A smile stretched on the alien's face before he lit a match and threw it on the ground. A strange green fire erupted all over the field. The man looked into the driver side mirror and touched his smooth face one more time before jumping into the SUV and backed up and out of the field as it quickly burned with bright green flames.

The lights from the SUV faded into the horizon of the now rising sun as the green flames began to fade. This gave way to a barren black field of dirt and soot. The morning came, yet the field was silent. No one would know what happened here until tomorrow . . . when it was too late.

The End