Chapter 15：Driving through the Woods

Red is turned around to see her father looking down at her with a mix of anger and concern.

"Run back to the house, now!" He commands. As she starts to take off she takes a glance behind her to see the figure still approaching, their eyes now glowing red. With her flashlight guiding her through the trees the surrounding darkness seems to be attacking it, the cone of light seeming to slowly grow smaller. She sees movement in the dark all around her as if the trees are reaching out, trying to stop her from escaping into the clearing.

Her beating heart pounds in her hears as she her breath becomes cold from the chilling air. She can just make out the clearing where the house sits when she her arm brushes against something sharp, cutting through her jacket, and deep into the side of her arm. She almost drops her flashlight from the pain but manages to hold on. Finally getting into the clearing, it's still totally dark, the moon not even visible in the sky anymore. Running blindly in the dark with the small hint of light from her almost dead phone, she finds the backdoor.

She pulls it open as fast as she can, darting into the house and slamming the door shut behind her. She hurries over to a nearby light switch and flicks it on, a warm light cloaking the kitchen. She walks back to the backdoor, trying to see where her father is, but he's nowhere to be seen. Her breath starts to become heavy as more panic floods her as she finds herself trying to find her father in a maze of darkness. She should have kept looking back. She should have made sure he was right behind her.

As she stares out the window, praying that he survives, she starts to feel a burning sensation in her arm. Looking down at it she sees just how bad it is, blood is already covering the broken parts of the sleeves. She heads to the bathroom, turning on every light on the way, and tries to find stuff to cover it. She has to take her sweater off and pull up her sleeve to wash the wound in the sink with warm water. She starts rubbing some disinfectant on it with a cloth when she hears a scream far off in the distance.

"Dad!?" She screams, before quickly grabbing some gauze and running over to the backdoor once more. As she's wrapping her wound up she keeps an eye on the backyard, everything deathly still. She checks her phone to see that it's almost dead, and puts it back in her pocket.

I need to go back out. I-I can't just stay here while he's out there. I have to find him...I need to know if he's okay...

She starts looking through all the drawers for a flashlight but to no avail. Steeling herself, she enters the garage, the light illuminating the eerily empty truck. In a drawer in a large toolbox she finds one of those large square flashlights. She puts her jacket back on and heads for the backdoor. Taking another look through them she checks to see if there's any sign of him, or the Demon Wolf. Nothing.

She takes a deep breath in.

And breathes out.

Red's footsteps start to quicken when a low growl starts emanating from the dark. She tops for a brief second when the light shines onto a pair of shimmering red eyes, glaring at her. She quickly turns back to the house taking off once more, the sounds of heavy stomping soon following. She swings open the door and slams it shut, quickly locking it as she sees the Demon Wolf charging at her.

It's not slowing down.

She drops the flashlight as she darts for the stairs. As she enters the living room the wolf bursts through the wall, breaking down the doors and making a large hole in the wall. She leaps for the stairs as the creature catches up. She can hear the sound of its jaws snapping shut as it barely misses her, its momentum carries it past the stairs and it slams into the front wall with a heavy thud. Flying up the stairs she runs into her dad's room, locking the door as the creature starts tearing down the railing as it tries to climb onto the second floor.

Looking around the room for some sort of escape she finds a bat l;laying against a nightstand by the bed. She grabs it and heads into a bathroom. There's a window rather high up. There's no way she could climb out of that without injuring her legs. She's trapped. She hears more stuff breaking outside. Her grip on the bat tightens as she steels herself and walks back into the bedroom. She quickly notices some keys on the nightstand.

If I can just hit it when it comes in, maybe it'll buy me enough time to run past it and get to the truck...

Though she knows the odds are slim, it's her only chance. She stands to the side of the door, waiting for it to barge in. She has to move back a bit as the wall suddenly seems to explode as the Demon Wolf breaks into the room. Before it can turn to her she swings the bat with all her might, hitting it in the eye. As the wolf recovers from the sudden blow to the eye, Red drops the bat and squeezes past it out onto the hall. She jumps past its moving backside as she hurries down the stairs.

She enters the garage and hits the switch for the garage. She jumps into the truck, which to her luck is facing towards the garage entrance.

Come on, don't stall like in the movies...

She puts the key in the ignition and turns it.

Stutter.

Stutter.

To her relief the engine roars to life as she hears the wolf landing on the first floor. As the garage door is opening she moves the chair so she can reach barely reach the pedals and buckles up. She looks at the gear shift knob and all the letters.

Um, um...P, R, N, D, drive that must be it!

Before the garage door can fully open she switches gears to drive and slams down on the gas, the truck darting forward and scraping against the bottom of the door. She hears the wolf burst into the garage as she drives out of the clearing onto the dirt road through the woods, the car's headlights illuminating a large cone that's her only area of visibility as the surrounding dark quickly engulfs what the lights dash by.

As she does her best to figure out the keep her hands steady on the wheel she sees the eyes appear in the rear-view mirror. She keeps her foot steady on the gas as the truck continues to pick up speed, trees passing by faster and faster, the engine's roar breaking the silence. There's a sudden jerk as the truck suddenly starts slowing down. She looks in the mirror and doesn't see anything but when she turns around she see the red eyes glaring at her and the back of the truck bed in it's mouth, its sharp teeth easily ripping through the metal.

She soon realizes that the truck is now completely stopped as it struggles to escape the jaws of the beast. Looking around for anything that could help she sees the "R" on the gear shift. Making a split-second decision, she grabs the gear shift and turns it to reverse. The truck rams backwards into the wolf, making it release its grip on the truck as the truck slams into its head, the torn up metal cutting its face up a bit. She quickly changes back to drive and takes off.

The wolf stands there, shaking its head to trying to get back its focus. Finally getting its sense back it stares off at the truck as it slowly fades away out of view. It starts to snarl as it gets ready to chase after it once more but then stops as it finally realizes what it's trying to do.

"...Red?!" It mutters to itself as dread and panic fills it. It stares down at the ground, panting as it recalls everything it just did. The wolf lets out a sudden roar of anger before taking off into the woods.

...

As Red sees the town she finally eases her foot off the gas. She has to brake to slow down fast enough as she enters. Driving at a slow speed, with one eye on the mirrors, she drives through town, trying to figure out how to get to the police station.