The Cursed Kingdom

ONE

Oriana screamed and cupped her mouth as she began bawling uncontrollably, backing away from the sight and swinging her head in every direction to look for a safe escape route.

All I could do was watch in horror, staring as the thing shook its head side to side, growling with its teeth still lodged in Taylium's throat. It reminded me of my dog, Aleah, and how she played with her stuffed toys. I had always laughed when she did it. I wasn't laughing now.

"Tay!" Tylem yelled, seeming to be paralyzed with fear just as I was.

The creature was bigger than we ever could've imagined. Although it was a wolf by physical definition, there were slight differences that confirmed that this was no ordinary animal. Its back was hunched abnormally paired with a shorter tail, and its teeth and claws were grotesque as if their sole purpose of existing was to strike fear. This was no wolf, it was a monster: the same kind of monster we had been taught to fear but hadn't learned well enough to listen.

The thought of our names being written next to the many others whose deaths told the horrors of these beasts had me shuddering from the irony. I had heard them almost every night of my life. It seemed fitting that I should join them.

I was taken aback when I was forcefully thrown off my feet, the wind violently knocked out of my lungs, I gasped in pain. Oriana shouted my name. A large weight suddenly pressed itself down onto my back, my front left cold, wet, and bruised from landing stomach first onto the unforgiving icy ground.

For the first time in my life, I let out a true, horror-filled scream. Before then, I didn't realize that I could make a noise so loud or shrill.

The beast growled in my ear, the terrible sound and hot breath that followed making me scream even more and thrash underneath him, kicking backwards in hope to knock him off his balance. It snapped its yellow teeth at my ear, making me whimper into silence when I felt a canine pierce through the cartilage.

Tylem cried out from somewhere and I heard a distinctive thud of a body hitting the ground.

The monstrous growls sounded like they had doubled since I was knocked over.

Then I felt the wolf on top of me begin tearing at my clothes, his canines scraping the skin on my lower back but not enough to draw blood.

"No! No!" I screamed and kicked and fought, throwing my arms back to try to hit him in the face.

But it was no use.

Its teeth shred through my jacket and shirt as if they were nothing. All I could do was scream over and over again with the knowledge that nobody could hear me. That no one else was stupid enough to travel this close to the Cursed Kingdom's territory.

Past the sound of my heavy breaths and pounding heart, I noticed here were no screams anymore. There wasn't even a whimper. My friends had gone completely silent, making me fear the worst.

As twisted as it sounds, I wanted them to scream.

Screaming meant they were alive.

Suddenly, I felt something hot and heavy and quite hard rubbing against my calf. I yelled louder, realizing what part of the wolf I was feeling on my leg.

The wolf growled and latched its canines onto the back of my neck, forcing my face farther into the snow. If he just applied a little more pressure, he would have severed my arteries and killed me within seconds. A part of me wished he would so I could at least die with dignity.

"Please! No! Please!" I sobbed helplessly, struggling against his weight as he began clawing at my belt. My voice was muffled by the ground but I knew he could hear me. "Please don't! Oh gods—please!"