“My friends call me Wolf. You must be the little Red Duffle Coat everyone says so many nice things about. Now we’re not strangers any more! Its delightful to meet you, I do love an innocent child.”
“Its nice to meet you mister Wolf” said little Red Duffle Coat shaking his hand “but I must go now, my grandma is sick and I’m taking her this basket of food.” Because even though she was a little bit scared she remembered her manners.
“Oh how lovely!” exclaimed Wolf ”and where does your dear grandmother live?”
“Why, in Gingerbread Cottage, the house with the big oak tree on the other side of this park.” Red Duffle Coat answered.
“Hmmm…” said the cunning Wolf “I bet she’d like a big bunch of flowers, old ladies love flowers! Why not pick some from that flowerbed?”
“What a wonderful idea!” cried Red Duffle Coat “she’d love some flowers, thank you mister Wolf!”
And with that she skipped off to pick her grandmother a big bunch of beautiful flowers.
Wolf watched little Red Duffle Coat skip away and licked his lips.
“Mmmm, It’s a long time since I’ve had a sweet child, if I’m lucky I can have her and her grandma at once…”
Chuckling to himself he turned and prowled off in the direction little Red Duffle Coat had been walking. After a while he came to a run down looking house with a very tall oak tree growing in the garden. A sign on the gatepost read “Gingerbread Cottage”
“This must be the place” Wolf thought to himself, “I wonder if the old bag’s awake?”
He rapped sharply on the front door. There was no answer for a few minutes, so he tried again, harder. This time he heard soft shuffling footsteps coming towards him from behind the door. A feeble wavery voice called out feebly
“Who is it? I don’t want to buy anything; please go away, I’m ill”
“It’s the police madam, do you have a moment?” Said the devious Wolf
There was the sound of bolts and chains being drawn back, and the door swung open to reveal a short scrawny old lady with a worried look on her face
“Has there been an acci…” Was as far as she got before Wolf sprang at her. A quick punch in the face knocked her to the floor where she lay moaning whilst Wolf checked to see if anyone had noticed, then closed the door. As soon as the scene was as safe as he wanted he turned back to grandma.
“If you make a sound, or try anything I’ll cut you.” He told her in a very matter-of-fact way. “Do you understand?”
Grandma nodded timidly and dabbed at the blood flowing from her nose.
“Good, get up.” He told her, which she promptly did. “Do you have a cellar?”
“Y..yes, wh..wh..what do yu..you want?”
“Your lovely granddaughter, but I can warm up on you whilst we wait” Wolf said licking his lips “We’re going to have so much fun once she gets here…”
As soon as Red Duffle Coat had picked a big enough bunch of geraniums she set off for her grandmother’s house. “Won’t grandma be pleased to see me?” she thought to herself as she knocked on the door. But the man who answered the door was definitely not her grandmother, despite the floral nightgown, fluffy slippers and pink hairnet he wore.
“Hello dearie,” Wolf croaked, “Do come in.”
“You’re not my grandma,” Asked Red Duffle Coat nervously. “Where is she?”
“There’s no fooling you is there?” said Wolf with a sigh “Kids today have no sense of tradition.” With that he grabbed Red Duffle Coat’s arm and dragged her in, clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle her screams. He threw her to the floor and locked the door.
“You’re all mine now honey, not a sound or I’ll gut you like a fish” he snarled, producing a vicious looking knife nonchalantly. “I’m going to have to handcuff you to the bed because you’ve been a bad girl, I’ll be back to deal out your punishment after I’ve finished with your cheap whore of a grandmother.”
Red Duffle Coat was too scared to even struggle as Wolf picked her up in his strong arms and carried her through to the master bedroom and threw her on the bed. But when she saw him licking his lips at the sight of her spread-eagled on grannies bed she let out a small moan.
“I warned you sweetie, not a sound” purred Wolf, and cuffed her not too lightly around the side of the head. “Now lie there and stay quiet or I’ll make it hurt like nothing you’ve ever felt before. I’ll be back before you know it”.
Wolf left the room, closing the door behind him. For the next twenty minutes all Red Duffle Coat could hear was her grandmother’s moaning cries and stifled screams as Wolf carried out his atrocities upon her.
Feeling nicely warmed up and ready for his next plaything, Wolf unlocked grandma’s bedroom door and swung the door open with a none-too-friendly smile on his bloodstained lips. This died instantly as soon as he realised that the bed no longer contained a little sweet girl, just a pair of open handcuffs.
*CLICK*
Something hard and cold prodded him in the back of the neck. He didn’t have to turn around to find out who it was; the schoolgirl giggle gave that away.
“How did you…?” He started
“Lock-pick, “came the mocking reply. “How else?”
Red Duffle Coat walked around until she was facing Wolf, with her grandma’s 12-gauge shotgun still pointing towards his head. She stepped closer, until they were almost touching, and with a coy smile reached under his jacket. Wolf let out a small gasp as he felt her small hand brush his chest, and was removed, holding his cigarettes. Red Duffle Coat placed one in her mouth, lit it with a small lighter from her own pocket, and blew the smoke cattishly in his sweating face.
“You need to get with the times man, we’re not all innocent, naïve, ditzy blondes any more.” She mockingly giggled. “Now, what have you done to my grandma? I’m gonna make you pay for every second you spent violating her”
Wolf snarled at the back of his throat and tensed his body, ready to spring.
“My, what big teeth you have Mr Wolf” said Red Duffle Coat.
“All the better to eat you with, you little bitch!” Spat Wolf venomously, and before the last word was out of his mouth, he pounced at her, growling like a cornered dog. They both hit the floor in a writhing mass of struggling limbs and snapping jaws. Wolf closed his teeth around Red Duffle Coat’s forearm, jerking his head backwards to tear the wound open. She screamed as pain flooded down her arm, and lashed out with the shotgun she was still clutching tightly. It came down between Wolf’s eyes with a meaty thud. He rolled backwards; eyes crossed and tongue lolling. Sobbing and cursing Red Duffle Coat struggled to her feet, and, wavering slightly, put the gun into Wolf’s half open mouth. Wolf’s eye’s flashed back to their more equilateral position and a look of abject terror crossed his face. The last thing to cross his mind (before the bullet) was an overwhelming instinct to throw back his head and howl out a warning to his pack, but this is hard to do with a mouth full of gun, and his last cry was only heard by the gangs of mongrel dogs living in the neighbourhood, who threw back their heads, and let out a chilling cacophony of howls and barks, which cut out like a radio in a power cut as soon as the gunshot rang out on the still morning air.
As soon as she’d finished retching Red Riding Hood looked back on her victim, or what was left of him. His head looked like a pumpkin run over by a truck, pieces of it littered the floor, clung to the walls, dripped from the ceiling. Her muscles gave out, and she sank to her knees among the carnage and sobbed. Movement to her left brought her out of her reverie, and turning her head she looked in revulsion. A small piece of Wolf’s skull with an ear still clinging to it like a barnacle stuck to a shipwreck was changing. The hair darkened and thickened, and the ear itself began to taper and deepen, until she was staring at a very canine ear, still slick with blood from its former owner. Feeling the bile rise in her throat, Red Duffle Coat gagged and vomited neatly into her lap, and passed out.
* * *
May 14th 19__ : Feeling much better, but they still won’t let me go. I’ve been here 4 weeks now, and still they carry out their tests. I just want to go home, I want to run beneath the stars and howl at the moon, to be with my own kind. Now Wolf is dead and has passed on his cursed bite, I am the Alpha female. I hear my brothers and sisters calling to me every night. The moon will be full tomorrow, I can feel it. Tomorrow. I’ll do it then.
