by Sophia Wilde
Cindy felt sorry for him, so she spoke to Helen about it. This meant so much to him. They were fairly deep inside the woods as it was. What did they have to lose anyway? What did they have to lose in general? It's not as if they had jobs or families to go back to anymore. They were freaking fugitives. They only had each other in the whole wide world. They hated to see Robert's little fantasy go down in flames, but they still decided to go with it. Roaming the woods for a few days would probably wear him out. And who knew, maybe they would end up finding a nice place to hide out at until this whole thing blows over. Maybe it would soften his disappointment at not finding this utopia he was so desperate at finding. The cabin they were at earlier wasn't safe. It was too close to the town. Somebody might think of looking for them there. Somebody might see them in passing. They needed to keep moving. And the further away from there they went, the better.
Robert was sitting on a big rock not far from where they were when Cindy came up to speak to him. She sat down on the naked cold ground in front of him. The dry leaves were crackling loudly underneath her feet. So loudly, in fact, that she thought it impossible that he had not heard her. Or seen her, as she was right there, in front of him. He appeared to be lost in thought. He was somewhere far away. Looking right through her. His face blank. His eyes gray. Until she touched his hand. His skin felt so warm underneath her icy fingers. That was when he finally noticed her sitting there. The deep sadness in his eyes was worrying. He felt guilty about dragging them in this with him. It had all been his fault, he thought, and he was doing his very best to make things better. And they wouldn't let him.
She pulled herself up and kissed him ever so gently. Holding his warm face in the cold palms of her hands, she looked him straight in the eye and explained gently that none of this was his fault. There was nothing he could do to take it back. And even if there was, she wouldn't want him to. That was how she got to meet him. She was there with him. For better or worse. No matter what happened. He could count on her. Always.
With a mild smile on his face, he pulled her in his lap and kissed her passionately. She had been freezing, but it didn't matter right now. He was unbuttoning her shirt, as his lips traced the line of her neck perfectly. Her nipples were so hard under his fingertips. Her breath trembling as his warm hands found their way inside of her panties. His finger gently passing over her clitoris. She could feel the moistness seeping out of her pussy as he kept touching her. His penis getting harder as he did so.
Her hands were roaming over his firm body, trying to unzip his pants and get hold of his throbbing member. In an instant, she slid down on her knees in front of him. She just wanted to give it a little kiss. So she did. She gently licked the tip of it. Then she kissed it. And then, she took all of it, making Robert moan slightly. That was it. He couldn't take it anymore. He threw her down on the crackling leaves and pushed himself inside of her. He did it violently, savagely, and her body accepted him eagerly.
The leaves were rustling underneath them, as their bodies clashed with audible thumps. Cindy couldn't move a muscle, but she couldn't help but keep trying. Her body wasn't listening to her anymore. She squeezed him hard with her legs. Her entire body trembling as she the state it was in was nearing an amazing climax. Her nails scratching at his back suddenly stopped squeezing. Her entire body stood still, as if the time had stopped. Just the movement of Robert's body and a loud moan she was letting out showed that it wasn't so. As a grand finale, she could feel as his strong, sweaty body rammed itself in hers one last time before he backed away and sprayed his hot load all over her belly and breasts.
She smiled at him. Well, she wanted to make him feel better and that was exactly what she just did. He was already back on his feet again, getting dressed. They had to get going. There was no time to waste. Utopia was waiting for them somewhere out there, and it was already getting dark.
Three days passed, and Robert showed no signs of giving up. He would hunt small animals for them to eat, allowed them to rest for a while, and just kept going. The trees kept getting bigger, making the forest even darker. Scarier. But still, so full of life. Life that crept in the shadows, hiding from them in fear. Or sometimes, life that waited in the shadows for a chance to attack its prey. Until they got to a point where everything went silent. They could no longer hear the birds singing, there was no rustling in the leaves as the tiny woodland creatures got out of their way, frightened. Not even leaves produced any kind of sound. It was as if even the wind just couldn't get through this deep. There was nothing. It was as if all life stopped right here. Too afraid to enter.
Just as they were getting used to the deafening silence, something in the distance caught Cindy's eye. It was a young woman, dressed in a bright red cloak, moving around the thick dark tree trunks without making even the slightest of sounds. She had been stopping occasionally, as if to pick flowers, even though there were none growing on the dead mud of the forest ground. Still, the basket she was carrying was somehow full of them. All these brightly colored flowers in the middle of autumn? What kind of magic was this? Cindy looked on, amazed. The young woman seemed to be the only color in this dark world. She was so young, so beautiful and frail-looking. What was she doing, all on her own in this godforsaken place? And where was she going?
Then it hit her. Oh, you have got to be kidding me! It was her! It really was her! The Little Red Riding Hood she got as a gift from her coworkers was still in her bag, and Cindy felt as if they had somehow lost their way and ended up in a freaking fairy tale. She was almost laughing out loud at the sight. She would have done exactly that, had the silence that surrounded them not been so damn perfect, that breaking it even with a soft whisper felt too close to sacrilege.
She glanced over at the other two, and they seemed just as much amazed as she was. Robert looked like a small child in a candy shop, gazing at all the wonderful things he would like to gobble up in an instant. Aaand, there's the wolf, Cindy smiled. It had been all this story needed. This was just too freaky to be true. Wait, was this another one of those freaky dreams she had?
Making a quick little gesture to let them know that they should all remain silent, he started following the woman. Stopping every single time she stopped. Moving every single time she moved. Always maintaining a safe enough distance. But always close enough to lose her out of sight. She appeared to be leading them even deeper into the dark woods and, as she was walking, she appeared to be getting smaller. She couldn't have increased the distance between them to that degree. They were following her step by step. This was strange.
The next time she stopped, they could see how she looked so much younger than before. She was a little girl now. Her pigtails dancing around her beautiful face from under the red hood. The innocent smile on her pale face showed no fear whatsoever, but it did make Cindy tremble in terror. Maybe the reason for that was exactly the fact that this young girl was in the middle of this terrible place without so much as looking behind her to check if the monsters were following her to tear her apart. This was some freaky shit and she didn't want to be a part of it anymore. The look of victory on Robert's face told her clearly that there was no turning back now. He had caught a trace of something, and nothing was going to stop him now. There was something here. And they were getting closer to it.
A couple of flower picking stops later, the girl had turned into a little child. The big basket looked heavy in her hands and Cindy's maternal instincts were urging her on to give the child a helping hand. She had to keep reminding herself that none of this is real. That child used to be a fully grown young woman just an hour ago.
The night was falling now, and a toddler in the cutest little red cloak was on the verge of falling over on its tooshie as it waddled along, dragging the over-sized basket towards a cave entrance on the side of a little hill that rose in front of them. It appeared to lead down, into the forest ground. Minutes later, the child wearing a little red cloak was gone. As they got closer, they could see the brightly red cloak that
was left on the ground at the entrance to the cave. Along with a big basket full of colorful flowers of all kinds. Cindy just had to come up and look at them. Yup. They were all really real. As if they had been recently picked. It frustrated her. All this was impossible. When was this freakish nightmare going to end already?
This was the very first time Robert had broken the deafening silence ever since they got to this weirdly dead part of the woods. This was it. This was what he had been talking about. The legend! It was real! It was all real! His whispers seemed as loud as overly excited screams of a child who had just discovered that Santa Claus really existed. Cindy and Helen didn't understand a damn word, but then he explained that the young woman in red was part of the legend. It said nothing of the child, but the woman was the guide. Her purpose was to lead the stray wolves back to the pack. To safety. He was home at last. After a lifetime of hoping, and days of searching... He had been home at last.
Cindy found herself thinking about how every story in the world had more than one side to it. It was all depending on who told it. And here, both her and Helen were in the middle of listening to the well known story of The Little Red Riding Hood as told by the big bad wolf. There was no grandmother to be eaten in this version. No kind hunter man to save the day. Just a fearless little girl dressed in red, acting as guidance toward safety. It was nice. For a fairy tale.
The wolf was standing at the entrance to the big dark cave now. He was fighting his desire to get in. He knew that they needed to come up with a plan first. That was when he noticed that there was something strange about the pile of red cloth that was still there, on the ground right in front of him. The pile was somehow bigger than it was when they first got there. He walked over and picked it up, only to discover that there wasn't just one cloak on there. There were two of them. He put them back down, as soon as he saw there was something moving in the darkness of the cave.
"Go ahead. Don't be shy. Put them on." – a soft child's voice spoke from the darkness. It had a certain adult seriousness about it, but it still did belong to a child. The little girl from earlier fearlessly walked out of the dark and held the red cloth out for Cindy and Helen to take. It made the two women step back in fear. The little girl laughed at this. Yes, they were being silly. But, in their defense, she was oh, so much scarier up close. Her lovely, innocent face had a certain deathly paleness about it that was too ghastly for words. And her voice was creeping up their spines like a bunch of big hairy spiders.
Apparently, she was the gatekeeper. Not a werewolf herself, so as to be able to look after them when the full moon was up. Cindy and Helen would be granted entrance to the werewolf settlement. But only until dark. After that, they had to leave. Or stay forever. They could come back some other time. During daytime. Always during daytime. They were to wear red as a sign to the werewolves that they had the right to be there. Those were the rules ever since forever. They could not be changed.
There is no way in hell, Cindy thought, as she saw the weirded-out look on Helen's face. She was in the middle of examining the brightly red piece of clothing she was supposed to put on. Her boss wanted no part of this either. It was obvious. It would have been one thing to have gone in there looking just like everybody else. This way, they were literally being thrown among the freaking wolves with a clearly marked sign on them that would let everyone know that they were the weaker beings. Like lambs to slaughter. I love you so much, Bobby, but this here is as far as I'm going, she thought. And she knew that Helen was right behind her on this one.
Still, Robert wasn't about to give up now. Not now that they've come so far. Not now that the distance between him and all of his dreams coming true was a mere couple of steps. They've trusted him so far, why not now? He was going to be with them every step of the way. He was going to protect them, just like he had ever since they ran away. Anyway, the red cloak was a certain way of protecting them too. It made it perfectly clear to everyone in there that the person who was wearing it is not to be touched or harmed in any way. Here they were, handed an amazing opportunity to make a completely informed decision about their future, and they were going to throw it away because thy were scared? And do what? Go back to the little town to get caught? And he thought they were in this together. Cindy said it herself not a few days ago, that she would be there for him. For better or worse. Forever.
Damn it. The freaking guilt trip he was taking her on was working like a charm. Well, what the damn hell! They got this far safe and sound. Even that by itself was a freaking miracle. They might die anyway if they were to try to go back on their own. Might as well make the whole thing a little bit more interesting. Cindy could feel her heart beating loudly. She was turning pale as a heavy gate opened up in front of them, revealing a whole different world. It looked like a large market from hundreds of years ago. People were walking all over the place. Lots of people. All kinds of people. Each of whom glanced at them as they walked in. Their red coats were not the only ones in there. It appeared that humans were not the real problem in this place after all. It was Robert they were all staring at. He was new. An outsider. And they were suspicious of outsiders.
An official-looking young woman dressed all in black walked up to them and, after having expressed a warm welcome for Cindy and Helen, turned to Robert to invite him to a meeting with their pack leader. All newcomers who hoped to have the opportunity to stay needed to be interviewed, so that any level of hostility may be detected and dealt with immediately. Before it was too late for that. This was a place where the werewolves lived in peace. If they wanted to preserve the way of life they had been leading for centuries, they had to be weary of potential troublemakers. The humans would not come with him, but they were warmly invited to enjoy all the comforts their village had to offer.
Now it was Robert's turn to be frightened of this place. His whole adult life, he lived in a strong belief that a perfect sanctuary for his kind did, in fact, exist, and that it was a place where they would all be accepted as equal. Each and every one of them. Now that he found it, it appeared that there was some kind of a test he needed to pass in order to be admitted. He was scared to death that he might just fail. He was scared to death that he was just not good enough to live his dream. What would he do if that were to happen?
Cindy, on the other hand, was not worried about it at all. It was kind of funny, really. Robert is not a troublemaker. He wouldn't hurt a fucking fly. A single look at him would tell them that. This place looked like fun. He was going to fit right in. She wasn't helping. Seeing how much faith she had in him made Robert feel even worse. Failing this test was something he could live with. Letting Cindy down was not. Sure, the person she got to know was this charming gentleman who would never hurt anyone. He was not the problem. Even if he was starting to have his doubts about that too. He did kill that policeman in cold blood, knowing damn well what he was doing. Still, he was not the one they would be assessing. No, they would be looking at the other one. The one who would come out only when the moon was full. And not even Robert could be sure about what kind of a personality that one had. He always made sure no one he ever cared about ever got to meet him. Actually, he made sure nobody ever got to meet him. He saw what happened that one time he got away. It was something he was never going to forgive himself. What if they found out about that?
Oh, well, there was no going back now. He was here, so he might as well give it a shot. What was the worst thing that could happen to him? He might be kicked out of paradise. As if that's never happened to anyone before. The young official-looking woman was waiting, so he told Cindy and Helen not to be worried and followed her through the crowd to meet the pack leader. His heart was pounding in his chest, but still, he decided not to show his fear to the two women, so as not to worry them any further. This place was strange to them as it is. He could sense how nervous they still were. They didn't need him to add more grief to that.
And they were nervous. Well, a lot less than they were before, but still... This
place was so much different than what they had expected. They kind of expected to walk in a village of savage, fierce looking people. That was what you imagined when someone mentioned a werewolf lair. It wasn't their fault, Cindy was feeling kind of guilty, so she was trying to justify these thoughts to herself. But these were just regular people. Or at least that was what they looked like. Normal. Civilized. Of all ages and sizes. They all appeared to be so happy there. Not a single care in the whole world. And they were all very peaceful looking. It was like freaking Woodstock here, Cindy thought, hating herself for making such a fuss about coming here. This place was heaven on earth as far she was concerned. And she was more than glad that Bobby got to find it. And even more so, that she was able to be there with him to experience it. Maybe everything did happen for a reason. Maybe this was where they were all supposed to end up.
The outer part of the village was a wide space, paved with smooth, worn cobblestones. Cindy could almost see all the heavy traffic those cobblestones had seen through centuries. Now, they were being used as a kind of a market, or gathering place. It was always full of people. The murmur of their voices was filling the air. Talking. Smiling. Laughing. You never got something like this in the big city.
