Chapter 1
Red Riding Hood pulled the collars of her hooded coat closer together around herself against the cool evening breeze that slipped through the trees of the forest. The grass brushed against her bare ankles as she walked along the narrow path that had been beaten down by both people and animals. She had walked along this path many times before, usually to deliver bread and cheese to her grandmother who lived deep in the forest, but this time she was visiting somebody else, she was going to see the woodcutter who had rescued her many years ago. She carried the very same basket that she had used back then, but this time it was filled with wine, strawberries and cream. She and the woodcutter had a very fun evening planned and she grinned to herself, giggling in anticipation. She shivered in delight at the thought of his hands touching her. He was such a strong and handsome man that she could not resist him.
Little Red Riding Hood was now a fully grown and beautiful, young woman with long red hair, known simply by the name, Red - as much for her red hair colour as for the red clothes that she liked to wear. Indeed, the coat she was wearing right now was red, as were her heeled shoes and her clothes? well, actually she wasn't wearing any clothes today under the coat, just a lacy bra and panties which were a surprise for her lover, and also the reason she was holding the coat-collar so tightly around herself. The breeze kept creeping under the coat and chilling her bare skin. It was spring, and quite a warm evening but she had not accounted for the cool wind when she had thought up her saucy attire. But she just pulled her coat closer around herself, the hood up around her face, and marched onwards with thoughts of the Woodcutter spurring her on.
She spun around suddenly when she heard a wolf howl somewhere amongst the trees behind her. It reminded her of the wolf that had attacked her on that fateful day, but since the Woodcutter had killed that evil creature she hadnt heard or seen another wolf even once, and now to hear one after all these years and after she had finally started to feel safe again, frightened her half to death. She quickened her pace, glancing between the trees nervously as she sped along the path. She heard the creature roar again and broke into a run, despite her high heels, dashing towards the Woodcutters house.
Further along the path she saw a bush quiver and the sound of branches cracking as a grey-brown blur leapt out onto the path in front of her. She screamed and staggered backwards, almost tripping over her own feet as she stared in horror at the creature before her. This wolf was huge, it was much bigger than the one she remembered from her past. It pulled itself up onto its haunches and suddenly it was taller than she was. She couldnt look away, mesmerised in her panic by its grotesque and abnormal appearance. It was like no wolf shed ever seen, stood up like that it appeared almost human in its stance. What kind of disgusting creature was this? Certainly not an actual wolf, maybe some sort of hybrid, but then the wolf that the woodcutter had killed had been able to talk so it was hardly a normal wolf either. It seemed all of the wolves that she had come across around here were abnormal in some way.
The beast dropped back down and raced towards her on all fours. She tried to turn around, planning to run into the trees but she had barely moved before the creature had reached her and she found herself being pushed to the ground as the full weight of the beast collided with her. She was on her back with the huge wolf over her, its huge front paws against her shoulders, pinning her easily against the ground. Her little wicker basket fell against a tree and tumbled down into the grass, the bottle of wine smashing loudly against the tree trunk.
She struggled uselessly, her hands trying to push away the beasts paws with absolutely no success. Something wet fell against her face and she looked up to see saliva dripping from the beasts open mouth. Its sharp fangs were on show and she screamed in terror. She knew that the wolf was salivating at the thought of eating her, and her hero, the woodcutter, was nowhere in sight to save her this time. Blind panic gripped her at the realisation that she was completely helpless to stop herself being killed and eaten by this monster.
