Hood

Rebecca squeezed her eyes tightly shut, and curled up in a ball, waiting for the attack. She winced as she heard a growl approach her position. And then carry on past. Gingerly, she opened one eye and caught sight of a fox, her grandma, leaping for the wolf, teeth bared.
The fox clamped its jaws shut on the great wolf's neck, but was unsuccessful at causing much of an injury due to the thick fur that covered it. The wolf swung its head around hard, knocking the fox off and on to the wooden bed post, where it yelped and fell to the floor, unmoving.

Hesitating, the wolf stared at the downed fox, its head cocked slightly to one side. It gave a little whine before shaking its head, as if trying to dislodge water from an ear, and turning back to Rebecca. This time, she did not shut her eyes. She was frozen with terror, transfixed by the wolf's salivating jaws and lolling tongue.

The wolf leapt just as her adrenaline kicked in. She pulled her grandma's red bath robe off the back of the bed room door as the huge beast pounced on her. She was pinned to the carpetted floor by its massive paws, but had managed to get some of the robe in front of her as the wolf lunged. She screamed as its fearsome jaws snapped shut on the faded and worn bath robe.

"Becca?!" a gutteral voice shouted through the house. "Rebecca!"

The wolf tore through the toweling robe, ripping it away from the struggling girl. She screamed again, turning her head quickly, as the huge jaws crashed shut by her ear.

"Rebecca!"

The door flew open again, narrowly missing her head, and someone, something, hurtled through knocking the wolf from its position astride her. She scrabbled to a sitting position and backward-shuffled into a corner.

In the centre of the room, by the big wooden bed, the two creatures fought tooth and nail. A man - no, not a man, a man-shaped thing: all muscles and hair with ripped and tattered clothes still hanging from its powerful frame - looked like he was getting the better of the wolf. Although smaller, he was heavier and managed to beat the wolf off a couple of times.

In a brief respite from the fighting, the man turned his head to the girl cowering in the corner. "Go. Get out of here, now" he ordered.

"M... Marcus?" Rebecca breathed.

"Yes. Just go-Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrghhhhhhh!" The wolf had taken advantage of the distraction and bitten down hard on Marcus' arm. "Gaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" he screamed as he was shaken bodily by the massive wolf.

As Rebecca scrabbled to her feet, hurridly leaving the room, she turned slightly, in time to see Marcus change completely. Instead of a half-naked, muscular, hairy young man, was a large, powerful, reddish-brown fox-wolf crossbreed. It's front left leg hung limply, but that didn't stop it from going for the wolf's jugular. The wolf reared up, hot blood spurting everywhere, taking Marcus with it. It overbalanced with the extra weight and fell, it's head smashing into the corner of the chest at the foot of the bed with a resounding crack.
The wolf lay still. Marcus, the fox-wolf, stood over the prone grey form, prodding it with his nose, checking for any signs of life.

On the other side of the bed, the small elderly fox - Marcus and Rebecca's grandma - slowly got to its feet and tottered over to the fallen wolf. She looked at Marcus with sad amber eyes and he backed off, his head down as he limped from the room. She nuzzled the blood-matted fur on the wolf's neck, then slowly laid down next to it.



to be continued...