Red Riding Hood Meets The Wolf: Book One (and Two) of The Hunted Series. (First Draft)

Red Riding Hood Makes an Alliance: Chapter 15

I woke up the next day with my body feeling extremely sore. The bumps and bruises I had received were blue and yellow in color and I worried about the possibility of infection with the state of the noticeably unclean rags I had to use for the deep cuts on my legs and arms. I used some of the clean water in the room to rinse the wounds before retying the binds on the wounds. I rubbed my aching shoulders and back for a bit while waiting for someone to come and let me out of my room, it still being locked for fear of me being a flight risk, so that I could go get breakfast before the day’s classes. I could hear the loud noises reverberating in my room of the girls talking with their friends walked down the halls. The cold stone surrounding the entire place made it easy to hear the sound of feet walking across the floor to my room. The door clanked open to reveal blond hair flitting out of view. I guess not even my display from yesterday earned enough trust to get a good morning.

I walked quickly down the hall, intent on eating a decent size meal before I had to leave for my next class of the day, weapons training. The sound of my boots hitting the ground resounded around me as I walked toward the cafeteria, the noise of talking slowly growing dim. The door was closed and I decided to do what I had always dreamed of doing, I barged in making each door slam against the wall as I did so. It was so hard not to just burst out in laughter at the look on some people faces and the slight squeals at the sound. I walked over to the front of the line for food and was handed a simple omelet and a bowl of fruit, nothing unhealthy about this food line was seen. I went and sat at a table alone, feeling the stares of Carmen and the girl who beat me up after the wolf, who’s name is Elna, beating into me from opposite sides of the room.

The weapons classroom was situated on the complete opposite side of the underground tunnel system from the cafeteria. When I finally arrived at the door I found it lead to a long dark tunnel that I vaguely remember. It wasn’t until I was about half way along it and seeing a light that I fully remembered where I remembered it from. It was the tunnel from my dream, I was walking along it just like I had. I could almost hear the same words from the dream as well. “Come Vanessa, your future is waiting.” It repeated itself relentlessly, over and over and over again until I wished it to stop. I moved forward again and looked down t myself, noticing once more that I was wearing the exact clothes from my dream as I had when I first arrived.

I fingered the leather pockets on the belt, knowing what was inside of them or what should be at the minimum as they didn’t allow me to have weapons yet. I touched the gun on my thigh wishing it had some ammo and wishing the the quiver on my back had more then arrows with suction cup ends for now. They were given to me shortly after I had arrived so I could start practicing aiming at something in my room, I had gotten pretty decent in the past two days if I might say so. The voice still hadn’t stopped repeating its phrase, but continued its relentless torture. I found the door and pushed it open, the light blinding me before I find the room from before full of the same training equipment as when Aretha had taken over my body. How I wished it was then so I could have done things over and not gone to the community pool like Caleb had begged. I was so foolish to think that they hadn’t been following me and that they wouldn’t take me. If only. The phrase reminded me of the song from Holes as it always did and I quietly hummed it under my breath as I walked over to the punching bag.

If only, if only, the woodpecker cries

The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies

As the wolf waits bellow, hungry and lonely

He cries to the moon; if only, if only.

I started hitting the punching bag rhythmically until the talk had died down in the room and I knew the teacher had just entered. Everyone knew that I had ditched out on the Grand Master’s lesson last night and they feared me knowing that I hadn’t been punished or that if I had I showed no outward signs of caring. I just gave the woman a glare that said hand me a weapon now and she seemed to almost pee her pants, pointing to a stack of arrows in a room that had clear windows looking out at the class room that was so stark in contrast to the others. I stormed over to find the door locked, looking at the woman I saw her fumbling to find her keys so I just slammed my foot on the door right next to the handle and it swung open, fulfilling a childhood fantasy of breaking down a door like the cops on TV. I walked in and traded my arrows out for real ones that looked identical, something I could use to my advantage later on when I implemented my plan, the main part that would set it all in motion still within my boot so I would always know where it is.