Wolf’s ears follow her footsteps as she moves to the bedroom door, which creaks as it swings inward. A short cloaked figure stands within the door frame, back-lit by the still open front door. Her arm is bent as she cradles the handle of a wicker basket at her side.
“Oh, there you are, Grandma,” Little Red says as she steps into the room. “When you didn’t answer, I was afraid something might have happened.” She gets distracted by something at her feet and looks down to the darkened floor as she alternates lifting each of her boots. “Grandma, I don’t remember you being such a slob. Your floor’s tacky. How about doing some cleaning once you’re feeling better?”
Wolf cants his head as he looks at her. What the hell’s wrong with this girl? he thinks.
A narrow column of light shines through the drawn curtains and Little Red looks to it as it bisects the front of her hood. “The powers out, by the way,” she blurts. “Don’t suppose you know anything about that?”
“No---” Wolf says, then coughs at the sound of his throaty voice. “I’ve been in bed,” he continues in a higher pitch.
Little Red makes her way to the window, then draws back the curtains as Wolf sinks deeper into the quilts. Her sixty-two-inch height and casual stance don’t seem threatening, but Wolf’s eyes continue to follow her every move.
She turns back while standing in the room’s only source of light. With her fist set against her chest, a black fabric wraps her knuckles and wrists where it contrasts the red of her chest. The basket’s handle hangs from the crook of her arm as she looks back over to Wolf.
“I really don’t see how this was ever a great mystery,” she whispers, shaking her head.
“What do you mean, Dear?” Wolf asks.
“Oh, you heard that, did you? Well, your hearing seems to get better with age.”
“Yeah. My big ears... they let me hear you better.”
Little Red nods and makes her way to the foot of the bed. She extends her hand and allows her fingers to trot across the quilted surface as they travel to the two large tents over Wolf’s feet. “Boop,” she says, poking his foot and causing him to withdraw it.
“Those are some big-ass feet, Grandma. They sure don’t seem very ladylike.”
“They’re not that big,” Wolf says automatically. “I mean, they let me run faster so I can get to you in case you fall down.”
Little Red nods appreciatively. “Well played.”
Wolf blinks. What?
“That’s a big ole wet nose you’ve got there, Grandma.”
Yeah, well, I don’t need it to smell the bullshit of whatever this act is.
“What’s wrong?” Little Red asks. “I figured you’d tell me your nose was to smell my lovely hair or my baked goods or some other superficial nonsense.”
Ugh, I’m pretty sure your baking shouldn’t be used so close to the word good. It smells off. Some sort of preservative, maybe? Wolf’s eyes widen. Or poison... was she trying to kill her grandma?
“Hello? Grandma?”
“Sorry, Dear. I must’ve fallen asleep.”
“Do you usually sleep with your eyes open? And why’s your voice so grating? I’m wondering if Krusty the Clown might be under there instead of my grandma.”
Wolf exposes his fangs as his upper lip curls into a snarl beneath the covers. You’ll think crusty when I bite your damn face off.
“Hello?” she says, smacking the covers near his feet.
Wolf lunges from the bed, fangs exposed and claws reaching. His mouth is yawning as Little Red steps back. Her cloak billows, but to his surprise, his bite finds purchase. His eyes flick down to the basket clinched in his teeth, then back up at the hood looking down at him.
“You’re wrecking my basket, you little shit!”
A blue light strobes, illuminating the underside of her face and causing some facial features to keep others within shadow. Wolf looks at the odd light show, confused, while his bite remains firm.
Then, pain.
Everything becomes muffled and further away. Another set of footsteps thunder through the cabin, but they sound like they’re submerged in water.
Wolf looks ahead as his nostrils fill with the smell of blood and dust, as well as a hint of burned fur. Ahead of him is a column of light, but a single shadow-hump juts out from the surrounding shadow.
A muffled conversation takes place nearby, but Wolf squints and tries to smooth out the blurred edges within his vision. What is that? he thinks as he looks at the shadow-hump. He reaches and wraps his fingers around the familiar metal, then pulls it closer. His focus intensifies as he holds the object a few inches from his face, soon realizing it’s a doorknob.
Wolf glances towards his cheek against the floor, then to the underside of the bed. Why am I on the floor? He relaxes his jaw and allows wicker and bread to fall free of his mouth before sitting up. “Ow,” he protests, reaching for his chest.
Little Red talks with someone nearby, but the conversation seems inconsequential as Wolf collects himself. What the fuck just happened? He holds his chest while reaching up to rub his head, the hat moving with his hand.
“He’s too dangerous, Mioko,” says a male. “You can’t expect a wild animal to act in your best interest.”
“I’m not leaving him behind to be eaten by zombies, Jack,” Little Red replies.
Was I hit with something?
Wolf looks up as a red form approaches to kneel in front of him, but his gaze looks somewhere distant. A Tzzt-tzzt-tzzt sound brings his focus to a pinpoint as he looks to an object held in front of his face with an electric arc leaping between two metal spikes.
Wolf shies away from the stun gun, his gaze shifting to her awaiting expression when she drops the weapon from view.
“You really messed him up, Mioko,” says Jack, looking over her shoulder. “Did you really need to stun him?”
“Look at my basket,” she replies. “He wouldn’t let go, so I had to persuade him.”
“Did somebody say zombies?” Wolf asks. “Or did I dream that?”
Red’s hood is down, exposing her Asian features. Her black braid is overlapping her collarbone and exposing the sword grip rising from the back of her cloak. “We’ll have to call off training for today,” Little Red tells him. “Trouble showed up early.”
“Training?” he asks, scrunching his nose. “What?”
“Where is she even getting these things?” Jack asks.
“I don’t know,” Little Red replies. “Probably some movie world.”
Wolf focus on Jack, whose dark brown beard bends into a warm smile. I know you, Wolf thinks. The huntsman that’s always trying to catch me. Is this some sort of trap?
Red sighs. “We need to get you moving, Wolf. Can you get up?” She grabs him by the elbow and wrist, then levers him into a standing motion. They move away from him once he’s standing.
Little Red rolls her shoulders out from under her cloak and throws a pair of air jabs as she assumes a fighting stance. Red bandages wrap around her torso while its tail hangs free like a scarf. She knocks her wrapped knuckles together, eliciting a *ting-ting* sound of metal striking metal.
Their backs are to Wolf as he studies them. The shape of Jack’s dark-green flannel shirt does not imply a life in the wilderness. His muscles bulge as the sleeves roll up to hug the base of his biceps. An axe rests over his shoulder as he watches Little Red handle her pistols. She ejects and checks each magazine from her pair of Springfield 1911s, then resets them and actions each slide.
Wolf looks down as he rubs his chest. He parts some singed fur to find a red mark, then notices his wet stomach. Did I spill something? he thinks, looking around at the floor to find a nearby puddle. A scent of urine twists its way through to his nasal recognition and he scowls.
“You sure you don’t want to just portal out of here?” Jack asks.
Little Red lifts her foot and sets her black combat boot against the bed’s running board. “No, we need to thin them out where and when we can,” she replies while lifting her skirt to double checking the extra magazines strapped to her thigh.
Wolf looks over to the window to see a decayed figure with a strip of flesh torn from its face. The upper lip, nose, and right cheek are all missing as it turns to orient on the window.
What the fuck, he thinks with widening eyes.
“Hey, Wolf,” Little Red calls and secures his attention. “We’re going to clear a path through the front door. Just stay close and don’t fall behind.”
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