Walls shake as if the foundation to the cabin itself was becoming uprooted. Jack strains his weight against the door with his left shoulder, his right arm reaching out for anything to use as a weapon. Amy wipes her matted blonde hair away from her face and looks around the cabin she was sitting in, still trying to absorb the shock of the situation she was in. A vibrating deer head mounted on the wall bounces up and down with each ram, its cold eyes seem to stare through Amy, fixating on the dying hope that so desperately tries to cling to her.
“Kid, the room to the right there’s a gun cabinet. It’s unlocked, grab me something to blow a hole in this thing!”
Jack barricades the door with his shoulder and with his foot anchored into the ground, his weight leans into one center point. The door rattles again with a loud THUD. Rusted screws dribble outward of the hinges, dangling and teasing that a couple of more hits will make this night a hell of a lot shorter for the survivors.
Amy runs into a dimly lit room and sees a towering cabinet near a corner, one door was cracked open exposing the b**t of a rifle. She pulls it back and grabs one with both hands, it was heavier than she imagined as Jack made it seem so easy to hold. Lugging it back she almost drops it when a screeching howl echoes into the night sky, it was louder than before and drove fear into her soul. Jack tries to be brave, pretends to be, hopes to be, but the truth was that if given the chance he would take a coward’s path and leave Amy behind. Fear sometimes has a way of exposing you more than you would hope. He wanted to help at first, wanted to be a hero, but between him and a thick piece of wood stood a beast that only existed in horror movies, nightmares. Yet this nightmare was a reality coming to maul, to feast, to destroy.
“Hand it to me!” he stretches one arm out, twitching his fingers outwards for a solid grip. She gets within reaching distance, and locks with fear. The door hinges were becoming loose, a screw hits the floor and spirals around past Jack’s pale face aiming towards Amy’s twisted mouth clamping down onto her lower lip. She tightens her hands on the barrel and feels her face flush with heat of embarrassment. Urine begins to run down a trembling leg forming a sporadic puddle around her sneaker. Jack’s reflection forms in it showing terror, anger, and suddenly, shock.
A bristle covered arm splinters a weak spot on the door and reaches in, quick as a flash. Rock hard fingers grip around his face, pressing the tips of the claws past his grizzled beard and into leather skin. Jack feels the weight of his oversized body bring him down as he crashes into the door, yet the impact isn’t what vacates his pain index. His face, still clamped in a hardened vice, slides outwards through the splintered hole. He presses one hand on the door and another on the wall, pushing as hard as possible. On the other side the wolf stares its glowing eyes into Jack’s, almost in a taunting manner. Under the moonlight it seems unimaginable of what features the shadows surrounding it are hiding. He feels saliva fall into his thick hair, it smells like copper.
One paw grips onto his face, creating dime sized pockets into his neck and jaw, the other raises upwards. It shears claws into his face rearing his cheek back into a folded mat of wet flesh, the skin separates apart from nerves and tissue like tenderized pot roast, revealing his left row of teeth. Some are in tact, others are missing. Jack begins to gargle on his blood, choking and sputtering while still fighting to pull himself inside.
Amy lets out a scream without thinking, her mind couldn’t handle what was happening before her eyes, it was too much. She finally reached a breaking point and felt her mind start to float in a cloud. None of this was real, it couldn’t be. Any minute her mother was gonna wake her gently as she always did when she had nightmares, snuggle up with her for a moment while her mom reassured her she was safe, then tuck her back in bed. The nightmare would be gone, the thick blankets would be back up to her chin, and she would softly drift into sleep again.
The door pushes open with Jack’s remains dripping down both ends of the hole, his lower body crumpled on the floor, missing the upper region. A piece of collar bone rests inside a glob of brain oozing into a neat pile next to his head nearby a tree. The wolf takes a step inside, walking on two legs towards Amy. She stands in the same spot, urine still residing in a warm puddle around her new white sneakers. The gun still in her hands, she has her eyes closed, almost giggling. “It’s a nightmare, none of this is real. It never was. Mommy, please, come get me already. Please, I’m scared.”
She opens her eyes as the beast lunges towards her, jaws hinged open.