Little Red and the Wolf

pressed back against the tree, her sneakers digging at the ground as though she could push herself through the thick trunk to the other side.

“Nice doggy. Now, go away. Go home.” It was worth a shot. But the massive wolf came nearer. Slow, deliberate steps, its eyes focused on her so intently she could feel the icy chill of it working to paralyze her body.

She had to get away. Maizie leaned to her right, pivoting against the tree trunk, ready to spin around to the other side. But just as she shifted her weight to her hip, a warm wash of air rippled over her shoulder and the side of her face.

She glanced sideways and caught the snarling jowls of a second wolf. Its coat was a light brown, the ends tipped with blonde. The female wolf that’d chased her the other day. It was close enough its saliva dribbled over her shoulder, the hot wetness soaking through her T-shirt.

Shit, how’d it get so close without her noticing? Maizie didn’t waste time wondering. She spun the other way and got to her knees before a third brown-sugar wolf met her face to face-eye to eye. “Fuck!”

Maizie pushed back on reflex, landing on her ass again. She pressed her back to the tree, shoved herself up and managed to get her feet under her. The shortest of the three wolves came to her hip at its head. The tallest, the male with the honey-brown fur, was only a half inch shorter than her silver wolf had been.

The growls mixed and merged, uniting to become one low rumbling sound that vibrated through her body like nothing she’d ever heard or felt before. They were too close, the larger wolf creeping nearer, snarling and drooling. Caged with wolves in front and on both sides, with the tree at her back, she was running out of escape routes fast.

Maizie rocked around the tree and ran. The soft fur of the wolf waiting at her left pressed against her leg, snagged through her fingers as it lunged to try and stop her escape. She got away.

No. They let her get away. On some level Maizie knew it was true. Why? Screw it. She didn’t give a damn why they’d let her go.

She was free, running full-out toward the flicker of lights from Wood Haven. Maizie’s panicked mind raced, trying to map the most direct route, but something was wrong.

She could only see one light now and it was fainter, as though a thick blanket of trees blocked it from sight. Where were the other lights? The dozen or so street lamps, the warm glow from living rooms and TV screens? There should be more lights. They should’ve been closer.

For a split second she shifted her attention from the hope of a single flickering light to the forest around her. The faint overgrown path she’d been following was gone. In her panic she must’ve run the wrong way. So what was the light she was running toward if not Wood Haven?

The soft thumping sound of padded feet crunching behind her chased the question from her brain. They were coming. The wolves had given chase. The hunt was on. Is that why they’d let her go? So they could chase her?

Maizie’s heart thundered in her ears, her blood pumping adrenaline-rich oxygen through her body. Her lungs burned but she wouldn’t slow up, couldn’t, or risked being caught, eaten. Oh God.

Up ahead a huge fallen tree blocked the way and she veered to the left to go around it. She barreled through the old limbs, cutting the distance she had to travel by several feet. The instant she broke through her whole world slammed to a halt.

A wolf. A fourth one, every bit as tall as her big silver wolf and only a few pounds lighter, stood before her. Its fur was the same brown-sugar color as the other two, its eyes a haunting luminous blue. Its lips hiked over its canines, trembling with a low menacing growl.

A trap. She’d been herded to the slaughter like a stupid sheep. The forest crunched and rustled as the other three wolves caught up and circled in. The brown, blonde-tipped wolf jumped to the fallen tree, towering over her right shoulder. The other smaller wolf stayed at her back and the last, the big darker- furred wolf, came around to her left.

Maizie’s muscles trembled from the sprint, from fear and the overpowering urge to run. Her body tingled, flight instincts warring with common sense and odds of success. There had to be something she could do. Some way to get out of this, to get help. Only one glimmer of hope came to mind.

“Gray.” She spoke just above a normal tone, unsure what the wolves’ reaction would be. The growls rose in volume but otherwise they remained where they were, each a good four feet away.

“Gray, help! Help me! Someone hel-” The wolf in front of her stepped two feet closer then stopped. Maizie’s breath caught. Shut up. Shutup shutup shutup. Self- preservation and fear screamed at her not to make another sound or risk the beasts’ attack.

Intelligence told her, her voice was her only hope. She needed to use it while she still could. She breathed deep to get as much volume as she could. “Heeeellllp-”

The big dark wolf on her left lunged, slammed into her, knocking the remaining air from her lungs. Maizie opened her mouth with a silent, breathless scream as its sharp teeth snagged on the hem of her shirt, barely grazing the skin. The biggest wolf lurched toward her, but his massive body slammed into the darker wolf and they both tumbled into the weeds.

An instant later her shoulder stabbed with pain, as the smallest wolf drove sharp teeth through muscle and meat. In the next moment, Maizie gasped air and made the scream real and loud. But the wolf’s powerful jaws clamped tighter.

Maizie writhed under the weight of its body, her hands frantic, pushing against its neck, fingers tearing out chunks of fur. The beast wouldn’t let go. She looked around, searching for something, anything to use against her attacker, but all she saw was a quick blur of blonde-tipped fur racing toward her. She held her breath, braced herself for the next stab of pain, the next bite.

It came from the exact same spot on her shoulder, when the wolf’s teeth ripped from its hold on her, its body flying off several feet away. The blonde-tipped wolf had knocked her loose. Who cared why?

The wound was deep and it hurt like hell. Even the slightest move sent a shower of pain pulsating out from the spot. It didn’t matter. She had to get out of there. Maizie rolled to her hip, pushed up, trying to get to her knees and then hopefully her feet. She didn’t make it to her knees before instinct told her things had suddenly turned from bad to fucked-up-beyond-all-recognition.

Her gaze shifted to the honey-brown wolf standing between her and the only manmade light she could see. He was creeping closer, low, as though stalking wounded prey. And he was.

She glanced behind her and saw the big brown-sugar wolf staring with unblinking blue eyes, recognizing her for what she was-food. Off to her right were the two wolves that had attacked and freed her. The latter still pinned the former to the ground, but both had their attention riveted on Maizie.

She was bleeding. The red smear of it was everywhere. There was enough blood the odor of it must have saturated the air, triggering instincts they had no reason to ignore. Definitely FUBARed.

The wolf in front, the darkest of the four, lunged first. Maizie saw it coming in time to spin away on her hip, but not fast enough to keep his huge white teeth from catching her calf and sinking in. She screamed and another set of powerful jaws snagged the back of her T-shirt. The fabric ripped just as a third nipped at her leg, catching her sweats in its teeth, scratching the skin beneath.

“Help me! Help! Heelllllpppp!”

Maizie tucked her head between her arms, protecting her face. Heavy paws scratched at her back, pushing against her, walking on her, fighting over her. She peered down her body at the enormous furry heads, nipping and snapping, tearing at her clothes, at each other. And then there was one less.

She blinked just in time to see another wolf sail backward into the woods. A big hand clamped around the neck-scruff of the third wolf, lifted, and sent it flying, its whole body squirming and twisting through the air. Finally two hands clamped on the muzzle of the fourth wolf, the wolf whose teeth were still deep in Maizie’s calf.

One hand on top, the other underneath, he pried open the wolf’s jaws. Maizie jerked her leg free, her gaze darting to the face behind the hands. “Gray.”

Still holding those powerful jaws in his hands, Gray twisted the wolf’s neck, forcing it away. The wolf’s long legs stumbled back and Gray let him go. It shook its big head then snorted as if trying to realign its senses. It glowered at Gray, growling, its front shoulders lowering as though it would attack.