Chapter 1
And then, the sky fell.
Glass shards and drops of water fell like acid rain, landing on the ground in thuds. The wind blew a storm, clouds growing thicker and darker before landing below like a suffocating blanket.
Anyone who survived that day wouldn’t be able to tell you what happened afterwards, but the whistling howls echoed an experience no one was able to forget.
The bodies of the unlucky ones stood like stone, unmoving, unbreathing.
Dead.
What a miracle, the people say. Though the unmoving ones may have been the lucky ones, knowing how survival was a struggle.
The sky fell, but it rose back up again. It forgot something, left it behind for everyone else to suffer.
Humanity had been researching and studying this phenomenon to find a way for humanity to survive to the next generation. But for research, you need a scientist. And for a scientist, you need a lab. And for a lab, you need safety from what remained.
They built a wall.
Bell towers at intersections, walls in between. A gate stood, controlling who came and went. Travelers were rare, if not nonexistent; most usually kept to themselves rather than traveling to nearby villages. The bells rang every morning, scaring all the monsters away.
But they also agitated the wolves inside the walls.
“Tilly, Tilly! Don’t worry, it’s just the bell.”
Little Red really wishes they were more considerate with the wolves; they couldn’t stand the bells, especially pups at the age of three weeks, since they’ve only started to hear sound. Loud sounds can agitate any predatory animal, which is what triggered the idea of the bell towers in the first place.
But the wolves had protected them for way longer than the walls ever have. What was so frightening that they’d abandon their own protectors?
“C’mon, it’ll be quieter inside,” Little Red assured the growing pup before carrying them inside.
She closed the door behind her, and went to her room as fast as she could with the cub still in her arms, and closed the door.
Foam and cotton were hung up on the walls of her room in an effort to muffle all the ringing. As soon as Little Red set Tilly down, she walked to her favorite cushion and curled up in it.
“Y’know, for a wolf, you’re taking the loss of your pack really well.”
Tilly didn’t respond, already fast asleep. Little Red snorted.
“I guess that’s my cue to leave then. Sweet dreams, Tilly.”
She had some errands to run anyway: bread to buy and a walk to take before going back home and waiting for her parents to come back.
The walk to Grandy’s bakery was relatively uneventful. It was just Granda looking at her with a disgusted resting face as Little Red picked the bread and bought it. Overall, an amazing woman.
Then cue walking around, skipping happily with her new red boots and greeting the wolves with head pats and belly rubs she sees along the way.
She saw a sheep wearing a bell collar running as fast as his stubby legs could, and a boy running after him.
They were running in circles. With a bell.
Is he dumb, or is he du-
Oh wait, that’s the shepherd’s boy. Of course he’s dumb; he’s been running around collecting runaway sheep for the past who knows how long.
Yeah, no, this is getting a little hard to watch.
Using the shepherd’s boy’s “Please stop running,” “Come back here!” “How are you still going?!” as distractions, Little Red stopped in front of the sheep, stopping it dead in its tracks. Using its shock as an advantage, Little Red scooped up the relatively small sheep in her arms.
“Found your escape artist,” Little Red told him. “You know where I found him? Right in front of you.”
The shepherd’s boy scratched the back of his neck
“Yeah, I’m bad and new, I know, but these sheep are unfairly fast,” he said, taking the sheep from her arms. “Especially Ricky here; he’s gonna get Tony a run for his money.”
“First off, don’t compare him with Tony; what you have there goes at the speed of a sloth. Second, no, you’re not; I’ve seen you go on sheep chases for the past six months. Get good.”
“The sheep are qualified escape artists.”
“The sheep are sheep and need a good shepherd.”
“And I will continue to try,” he said, getting ready to leave. “Goodbye, and thanks for the help.”
“And one more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Use a different collar. We have enough bells as is.”
Well, that was a strangely eventful walk with an unnecessary amount of stupidity and bells.
