It Lives In The Woods [BxB]

XV

Seven

My friends and I stand, frozen in fear, in front of the old wooden cabin of Cora Pritchard, coming face-to-face with a snarling, mossy creature with orange burning eyes. We all turn to each other, unsure of what to do as our nerves get the better of us. Cora glares at us with a scowl as she stands on the porch, her hands folded against her chest.

"Well? You punks gonna start singing, or are we doing this the hard way?" She seethes.

"I-Is the hard way being eaten by your feral mutt?" Ava stutters.

"As if, ugly thing doesn't have a stomach. It'll just chew you up and spit you out somewhere, hopefully off my property..." 

"Lets get outta here!" Noah exclaims, "If she's really controlling that thing then she's got to be allied with him," 

"Him who?" Cora gazes at him with a shocked expression, then glowers at us hatefully. "It's you! You're the idiots who went and awaken Redfield, aren't you!" She whistles sharply at the moss creature in front of us. It sneers at it stands down, scurrying back to her feet.

"So you do know about him," I announce in surprise, carefully taking a step forward. "Miss Pritchard, we're desperately searching for any information about Redfield, and right now you're our only lead. Any history you tell us about him will be truly grateful."

"History, huh? Well screw that!" She gives me another scowl. "I'm gonna tell you dimwits how to seal that bastard away for good!" 

...

Cora invites everyone inside her cabin, I take a long stare at all the variously strange trinkets and items she possesses. Dark shelves line the wall with bottles of herbs, dusty totems, and skulls. The moss creature obediently saunters to an old, rickety rocking chair.

"This house is officially my dream house," Ava announces with a mischievous grin. 

"Don't touch anything," Cora mutters angrily. I see Lucas' disgusted grimace facing a jar of strange liquid, preserving a large organ.

"Duly noted..." he says. I watch as Cora pours several cups of tea from the cast iron teapot, she hands me one as I smell the lavender and jasmine aroma.

"Is this a mix of lavender and jasmine tea?" I ask curiously. She raises an eyebrow at me.

"You some sort of tea connoisseur or something?" she interrogates. 

"I'm a fan of tea, is all," I say, sipping the hot liquid, it smoothly runs down my throat as it warms my interior. Cora notices Noah recoiling in disgust as he tastes it, sneering at him. Silence wavers us as my friends look at me, unsure. I finish the last bit of my tea as I turn to Cora.

"Cora, I noticed that earlier that we were the ones that awakened Mr. Red, it sounded as though you know us," I question.

"'Cause I do, power's been sleeping peacefully for the past ten years, but I knew someone's broken the balance when I felt a spike of energy rising through the woods," she explains.

"If that's the case, then why not come and find us? Why wait so long for us to come to you?" Stacy asks with a frown, Andy nods in concurrence. 

"The power knows me too well, girlie. I've only survived this long because I know how to hide myself from it," she describes. "How'd you finally find me, though, is what I wonder?" 

I reach for my bag, revealing the children's book. "We found this in the library today..."