Little Red Riding Hood

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The wolf stopped in front of us, a few meters away. The wolf was taller than I thought, definitely taller than me when it was on all fours. Its muzzle was covered in blood and flesh and its fur on its paws was stained with it. Its eyes were a menacing red and its pupils almost took up most of the iris.

Its ears were perked on its head, twitching at the slightest noise, its claws digging into the earth leaving large gouges. This thing was a killing machine, anything that crossed its path was going to die, including me.

My hands gripped my dress with such force that my knuckles had turned white. My feet were firmly planted and my body had no control over them at the moment. My head was screaming to turn and run and my heart was beating so fast and hard I thought it was going to jump out of my chest.

My eyes were glued to the beast and they were beginning to dry but I didn’t want to blink in case the animal decided to pounce. My breath was caught in my throat and my lungs screamed for air. I guess this is what true fear was like.

I could hear Matt whimpering beside me. His whole body was shaking with fear. I smelt urine and I guessed Matt had wet his pants. I don’t think, if we even survived which is highly unlikely, that I would even tease him because if my bladder was full I would have done the same.

Matt stumbled back and the wolf turned to him. A deadly growl was emitted and the beast pawed at the ground. Matt held his ground not daring to move again. The animal’s eyes turned back to me and it cocked it head to the side, studying me. That was a more human thing to do, why was a mutated wolf doing such things?

It took a step closer to me and I flinched. I didn’t like it being this close to me. The animal’s step was enormous, bigger than anything a human could do. The animal had almost completely closed the distance between us making me incredibly uncomfortable. I let out my breath no longer able to hold it in. I was hyperventilating because I was panicking. My life could end in a blink of an eye. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my family or even my horse. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes.

I heard screaming and yelling coming from the town, they had finally heard what was going on. The wolf moved his body to face the town. It let out a bellowing roar that scared me so much I fell to the ground. The wolf went onto its hind legs and growled loudly again. People were retreating back into their homes, probably to grab some weapons.

Then the wolf turned back to me and walked closer. He leant over me and barred his teeth, showing the flesh stuck in between its teeth. Its fangs were huge and would be good for breaking bones and ripping flesh. The wolf’s breath stank of rotting meat and was foul. I could taste it when I breathed through my mouth.

I looked into its eyes and now that it was closer and saw that they were human. Human eyes on an animal, how is that possible. It opened its mouth preparing to bite down. It came closer to me and I opened my mouth for a scream. I closed my eyes and prepared for the pain and death that was about to come.

And then I felt nothing. I opened my eyes and saw that the wolf wasn’t there anymore. I sat up and saw Eruphial fending off the wolf. He went up on his hind legs kicking wildly in the air. The wolf was growling back at Eruphial but was still slowly retreating. The beast snapped at Eruphial’s legs but he just strutted forward kicking and neighing at the wolf. I smiled at my horses braveness. The wolf gripped onto the front leg of Eruphial and we both screamed out in pain. Eruphial was hurt and I wanted him safe.

Blood dripped into the wolfs mouth driving it forward, crushing the legs harder in his grip. I heard a shot and the wolf let go of Eruphials leg. He roared at the townspeople who were approaching steadily with weapons that would surely kill the animal. Eruphial, his leg in the air to stop from hurting himself further neighed defensively at the wolf.