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“Oh snappers.” Etho groaned, jamming the power button on the side of their phone. Their frustrated reflection stared back at them, barely visible in the low light. No one was around, the forest was unnervingly quiet. Usually at night crickets and animals could be heard, but this deep in there was…. Nothing. “These directions aren’t working when all the trees look the same!”
A twig snapped behind them. Etho yelped and whirled around, eyes scanning between the trees only to spot him.
Ren theDog.
He was following them about thirty feet back, a low heavy growl snaking through the silent air. Etho sped up their walk slightly, ignoring the unsettling smell of iron in the air. “Where is it, where is it…” They looked around near desperately, searching for any semblance of safety. They looked behind themself to check, the hair on the back of their neck standing on end. The wolf-shifter growled. He got down onto all fours and broke into a dead sprint, gaining on them.
Ren theDog.
Etho desperately looked for their car as they ran, looking for anything but the endless and endless trees. But they were all turned around, the smell of iron was only stronger the deeper they went. He was almost upon them, and his face was covered in red- in blood. He was trailing blood, there was blood everywhere . Etho gagged at the smell, running faster.
They ducked under low branches, legs burning as they ran from Ren theDog.
Everywhere Etho looked they saw Ren theDog brandishing a knife. Lurking in the shadows, behind every corner. Was this real? Etho felt like they were going insane every time they saw him.
The king himself, Ren theDog
Etho panted, pressing their back against the rough bark of a tree. They could hear Ren theDog stalking them,hunting them for nothing more than sport. He was probably living deep in here. THey felt sick as they realised why there were no bodies. Ren theDog was eating them.
Actual cannibal Ren theDog.
It was dark, Etho had seemed to have lost him. But they were so lost themself.
“Fuck.” A sob breached Etho’s lips, knees buckling. They were stranded in the middle of nowhere, lost in the woods with a murderer. They moved quietly through the underbrush, ignoring the branches clawing at their face.
There. In the distance, a flickering light. As they approached they saw a cabin, sturdy wooden walls keeping out the dark. Suddenly a scream pulled from Etho’s throat, scratching through the air like nails on a chalkboard. Their boot- their leg - was in a bear trap, metal prongs pierced through the leather. They gasped for breath as tears streamed down their face, hands shaking as their dull nails tried to pry apart the cold steel, blood sluggishly spreading across their shin and making the metal slick and hard to grasp. Their leg was broken, they could tell that much. They tried to pull away, only serving to drive the teeth deeper. Finally, they managed to get a grasp on the springs to press them down with an anticlimactic click. The mouth fell away, allowing them to limp away. Pain shot up their spine with every step, gaze only focused on the cabin in the distance.
Quiet sobs wracked their chest as their blood slicked hands fumbled on the handle, pushing open the door with far too much effort. Sitting in a chair in front of a fireplace was Ren theDog, back to the door, sharpening an axe on a whetstone. Etho had a chance. They could end this.
They limped silently behind him, trying to find something nearby. There was a heavy rope hung on a nearby hook.
Etho grabbed the rope and pulled it around Ren theDog’s throat. Ren theDog gasped, clawed hands coming up to his neck to try and pull away. Etho closed their eyes, unable to witness exactly what they were doing. They tried to push his hands, fumbling a knife away from Ren theDog. Etho dropped the rope and grabbed the folding knife in their shaking hands, plunging it deep in his stomach. A sob tore from them as they pulled the knife out and stabbed again and again, blood staining their shirt and splattering across their face and the walls.
They threw the knife to the ground before vomiting on the floor. Bile burned up their throat, joining the blood on the wooden floor. They killed a man. But he was going to kill them first. It was self defence. Was it? Etho’s eyes burned with tears as they ran, weakly sobbing with each step on their broken leg. They were safe, finally, from Ren theDog.
Cold metal pressed against the back of Etho’s skull. Their eyes widened in terror, Ren theDog holding a gun to their head with death in his eyes.
“Oh snappers.”
Etho stood straighter, connecting their shoulder with his nose with a sick crunch. They pressed all their weight down, sending the other to the cold, damp grass. Ren theDog had dropped his axe in surprise, and it was the only weapon Etho was going to get. They grabbed the already bloodied handle and tried to hit him with it, but Ren theDog rolled out of the way. He dodged every movement of the axe, moving faster than Etho could keep up. Their leg was still heavily bleeding, they felt lightheaded. Ren theDog lunged to the left but Etho raised the hatchet in time, catching him in the neck. They shoved their body weight behind it, blood blinding Etho’s vision as it spurted from the wound. They screamed as they managed to fully separate the spine and through the other side.
His head rolled away, body crumpling to the ground. Etho fell to their knees, chest heaving. Feeling too tight, too much. The sound of crickets grated against their ears, rattling their brain inside their skull. Ren theDog’s head furrowed its brow before the expression smoothed out, eyes blank and skin pale as blood oozed across the grass. They couldn’t catch their breath. They curled into a ball, head between their knees, and cried.