Cindy Bellows tucked her crampons under the holding straps on the outside of her pack, making sure the points were facing backwards.   That way, if she fell back, and landed on the pack, they might help slow her fall.   At least they wouldn't tear her pack or damage anything inside.   She didn't expect to need them tonight, but it was better to have them along, in case.   She considered slinging her ice axe in it's carry straps, too, but decided it might be safer to have it in hand, in case she missed a spot of ice.

Looking up to the near full waning moon, Cindy figured she should have enough light to see, even under the trees, since their leaves were now all gone.   Pulling her pack on her back, she adjusted the straps so it carried well.   Leaning the ice axe against the bumper of her Honda Civic hatchback, she debated calling friends to let them know where she was, so they could send out searchers if something happened to her, keeping her from being back when expected.   With a sigh, she realized that any of her friends who knew the area well enough to be useful for this would argue that she was taking stupid risks.   It would be a hard argument to win, since she knew they'd be in the right.

Closing the back hatch, and locking her car, she turned for the head of the Waupak Trail that would take her to the top of Pack Monadnock mountain.   Did she really want to do this?   The last few weeks at work had been hellishly stressful.   She felt she needed a good adrenaline challenge.   A night hike up a small nearby mountain seemed like a fine idea when she was sitting in her office cubicle.   The ice and snow seemed a bit early, in October, but not unheard of.   Now, the crisp air filling her lungs, and the clear night that promised an excellent view from the top seemed to urge her on.   Yeah, there was some snow on the ground, but not that much, or that deep.   The biggest danger from the snow was that it might hide ice patches underneath, but she thought she could spot most of them, even with just the moonlight.

She did a last check of her headlamp, and saw that it was shining brightly.   After turning it back off, she unzipped her parka enough to slide it into an inside pocket where it would stay warmer, helping the batteries stay useful.   She was hoping to do the whole hike by moonlight, but it didn't hurt to have a backup plan.   Crossing the low stone wall that marked the edge of the parking lot, she set out on the trail, under the trees.   She was relieved to confirm that it was fairly easy to spot the trail, even in the comparative darkness, and her heart lifted as she started her ascent, being wary for ice.

Just over an hour later, she came out of the trees into the clearing at summit.   The ice hadn't slowed her too much, and it wasn't that big a mountain, after all.   Climbing the old fire tower on the summit, she was able to look off in all directions.   Keene was easily visible to the west.   To the east, the lights of Manchester and Nashua almost blended together where they met, though it was easy enough to identify particular areas.   Southeast, off on the horizon, Boston's tall buildings were clearly visible.

Cindy leaned against the railing in the tower, washing a granola bar down with some water from her pack.   Looking off at the lights, and breathing the night air, she realized it had worked, and she felt more relaxed than she had in weeks.   "Now I just need to survive the descent," she muttered.   It wasn't that she was particularly worried, though she knew that's when most hiking accidents happened.   Slipping her pack back on, she went down the stairs of the fire tower, and headed back to the trail.

Some time later, as she was nearing the parking lot, the sounds of something moving carelessly through the woods came closer.   She scanned the area, looking for what or who it might be.   She wasn't overly worried, since there weren't any predators in the area that would bother humans--except maybe other humans.   Even so, she thought this was a pretty safe area.   Still, she clung to her ice axe a bit more tightly, as the noise grew louder.

Suddenly, a nearby howl turned her blood to ice, and a shadow seemed to leap at here.   Momentarily frozen, she had the impression of yellow eyes and large teeth coming at her from the shadow.   The shock of that was enough to let her shake off the paralysis, and she was able to take a swing with the ice axe.   Not knowing how many shots she'd get, she swung into it as if she were at bat at a softball game.   A shock ran up her arms as the pick of the axe connected, but it was overwhelmed as the shadow hit her, knocking her backward.   The wind was knocked out of her as she hit a tree, but she barely noticed as her head smacked against the trunk of the tree, causing her world to go dark.  

# # #

Recurring, though fleeting images of teeth, claws, blood and fur haunted her.   She felt restless and trapped, with a sense that this was a nightmare she wanted out of, if only she knew how.   Periods of darkness provided some relief, only to plunger her back into the nightmares all too quickly.   Finally, the darkness gave way to light, and pain.

Cindy closed the eyes she'd barely registered opening as the light entering them was like driving a spike into her pounding headache.   She felt bruised, tired and dirty, and seemed to be supine in a bed.   Slowly squinting her eyes open a bit, she tried to see her surroundings.   She didn't yet care to turn her head, but the medical equipment in racks by her bedside argued strongly that she was in a hospital.   If any of the machines noted a change in her consciousness, it escaped her, but the door opening into her rooms implied either someone had noticed, or coincidental timing.

A middle aged woman in cheerful print scrubs that screamed nurse walked in quietly, checking on the patient in the bed.   By this point, Cindy's eyes had adjusted more to the light, and were further open, which the nurse noticed, and she brightened as she approached the bed.

"Back with us, finally?" The nurse asked, and then turned to scan the machines.

"Wha..." Cindy started to croak out, but realized her throat was very dry.   The nurse took a cup of water from a nearby table, and held the straw to Cindy's lips.

"Just a few small sips, to start," she warned.

Cindy drew on the straw, grateful for the relief to her dry mouth and throat, before pausing to try again.   "What happened?"

The nurse looked at her in concern, "It's not uncommon to not remember traumatic events."   She smiled reassuringly, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Cindy frowned as she tried to recall recent events, "Hiking...night...great view..."   It seemed the last thing she remembered was the view from the summit of the mountain, "Did I have an accident on descent?"

The nurse frowned in concern, seeming to debate how much to reveal.

"Please, don't keep me in the dark," urged Cindy.  

"Well..." the nurse temporized, before revealing "You seem to have been attacked by some animal near the parking lot."

Cindy frowned at that news, no clear impression coming to her, "What sort of animal?   There are no predators in this area that would bother a human, even on a winter night."

The nurse raised one arm in a shrug, "I can't say, though maybe Fish and Game or the police will have more information.   I expect they'll want to ask you questions when you're a bit better."

"Speaking of better, what's wrong with me?   I know I hurt, sort of all over," asked Cindy.

"You have a head concussion, and while there was some torn skin on the back or your head, that's minor was stitched up.   You have deep lacerations to your abdomen, which are our biggest worry, since the risk of infection is as bad from the inside as the out, there.   They did some surgery on you to patch things up, there."   As an afterthought, she gestured to her bandaged forearm, and added, "You have a bite mark on your arm, but that seems fairly clean, discounting any disease whatever attacked you might have had.   Since we can't find it, and the unusualness of predators in the area, a course of anti-rabies treatments is needed, and that might seem worse than bite, itself."

"It's best you rest up and try to heal, as much as you can, in the meantime," the nurse added, dimming the light on the way out of the room.

Cindy was going to ask for more info, but had mostly reached the limit of her current endurance, and was soon back to sleep.

# # #

Cindy sat curled on a futon couch by the woodstove, reading a romance novel, when her doorbell rang.   Slipping a ribbon into the book to mark her place, she rose to answer the door.   As she moved toward the door, she noted how good she felt, and marvelled that the doctors had advised her to take a couple weeks more to recover, based on the original severity of her injuries.   In fact, she felt better than she could recall feeling in a long while, though didn't mind a spot of enforced leisure.

Opening the door, she saw a blond woman, about her age, dressed like many of the suburban women of the valley, in clothes that were more timeless than trendy.   The woman smiled in a friendly fashion as the door opened, though Cindy couldn't quite suppress the sense that there was something feral about it, as well.

"Yes?," Cindy asked.

"Cindy Bellows?"

Cindy nodded, and the woman continued, "Hi, I'm Jane Fredricks, and I have some information you need to know about your recent attack while hiking."   Here, she paused, and as Cindy seemed hesitant, asked, "Might I come in?"

Cindy considered for a moment, but the woman didn't seem threatening, and it wasn't as if anyone else had been able to offer much in the way of explanation about her attack.   She stood aside from the door, and gestured for the other woman to enter.

As they moved back into the living room, Cindy, while curious, fell back on habits of hospitality, and offered the woman something to drink, but the offer was declined.

"So, what sort of information do you have?   The authorities have been able to tell me almost nothing, it seems."

"That's not really surprising.   They try to fit circumstances to things they understand, and when faced with things outside their understanding, they either fit them to the wrong thing, or just give up.   What I'm going to tell you falls well outside their understanding, and likely yours, too, so bear with me, even if it seems a bit unlikely."

"How unlikely are we talking," Cindy asked, "I'll warn you that while I like a good story as much as the next girl, I'm tend to favour rational explanations for things that many would credit with a bit of mysticism."

Jane nodded, "That's understandable, but sometimes you have to adjust your view of what's possible.   I was going to try to build up to this, but if you're not believing me, you won't be paying attention to some of the things I have to tell you, so we'll get the proof aspect out of the first.   The truth is, you were attacked by a rogue werewolf.   As you're probably about to tell me that there are no such creatures as werewolves, I'm about to prove otherwise.   Don't be alarmed by the big wolf you're about to see.   I assure you I'm quite in control of her and she means you no harm.   We'll talk more when I'm back to human."

Jane stood, and started sliding her skirt down her legs, giving an apologetic shrug to Cindy, "No sense ruining my clothes."

"Wait!   Stop!   You can't be serious.   And put your clothes back on," Cindy urged.   She had a hard time believing that this strange woman was stripping in her living room, and was thinking where she'd left her phone and how quickly the police might get here to take this crazy person away.

Cindy recalled that her phone was still in her purse, by the front door, and ran to grab it.   She fumbled briefly with the zipper of the small compartment that held her phone, and grabbed it, turning.   She flipped the phone open and was about to explain to the crazy woman that she had a last chance to leave when she realized the woman was no longer there.   Standing in her place was a large wolf, or at least it had the shape of a wolf, even if it was coloured more like a golden retriever.   The wolf settled onto its back haunches before stretching its front paws out, and set its head on the paws, looking up at Cindy and thumping the floor with its wagging tail.

"No frakking way!" Cindy muttered to herself, as she moved sideways, with her back to the wall, until reaching a chair she could fall into.

# # #

Cindy paced nervously around her house, her mind churning on the information Jane had given her.   While there was a great deal she needed to know, it was expected that it would probably make sense to her after she first changed, at the next full moon.

"Amputees have even regrown limbs," Jane had casually stated, while explaining the phenomenal healing as one of positive benefits of being a werewolf.   It was clear as she mentioned it that it was an being offered as an extreme example, of no particular relevance to Cindy, for Cindy clearly had all her limbs.

Yet that one statement had overwhelmed all of the other information Jane had tried to impart after she changed from the wolf, back into her human form.   Cindy had tried to steer the conversation back to that point, for clarification, asking about plastic surgery, and whether that was undone.   Jane couldn't really say, though, since she didn't know of any werewolves that had had nose jobs.   She'd looked at Cindy curiously as she mentioned that, but Cindy had shrugged it off while trying to fight the rising panic.

"No, this is my original nose," she'd weakly offered, not yet ready to share her real worry with Jane.   From that point in the conversation, she'd been so distracted, that she was sure Jane must have suspected something was up, but neither again raised the subject, and Jane had left, leaving her number and suggesting a safe place to meet for the next full moon, just after Halloween.

Cindy wondered if the Google might offer any reassurance, and hopefully sat at her computer.   What keywords might give the best results?   Cindy clicked in the search box of her browser, and entered "werewolf regeneration transsexual" and started combing through the results.   Sadly, most of the entries seemed to be either fiction, or coincidental hits that didn't really address her point, and she was too keyed up to sit patiently at the computer and dig through them all.   She tried a few other combinations, but all seemed equally useless, at least in her present mental state.

It had been four years since her surgery, and over a year of hormone treatments before that.   It was something that she mostly thought she'd put behind her, other than the daily hormone pills she still took.   Life was so much better now that she'd fixed that developmental defect.   The thought that years of hormones and surgery could be wiped out by some paranormal event at the next full moon had Cindy on the verge of panic.

"I can't go back to that," she said, while feeling bile rise in her throat.   She ran for her bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time to throw up.   After flushing the nasty smelling contents away, she sat curled in a tight ball on the floor, trying to blank her mind and break the rising terror.   How would she make it to the next full moon?   And how would she cope if the worst happened, and she found herself male, again?   She'd been able to fix it, before, but wasn't facing the chance that her body would reset to male every full moon!

Cindy finally got to her feet, though seemed to be a bit shaky.   She ambled into the kitchen and went fishing in the liquor cabinet for something to help her sleep.   Being honest with herself, she realized that might take rather more than she normally drank, so she took down a large glass.   Hopefully, the morning would present a less bleak picture.