Chapter 2: 1.2 Always Prepared

      “Oh, there you are, Grandma. Do you not know that your power’s out?” Grandma doesn’t respond. The girl steps through the door but stops to look down at her feet. The floor is tacky so she alternates lifting her tight-laced boots from the floor. “Grandma, you really need to do some cleaning in here. The floor’s a mess and it smells like death.” She crosses the room to pull the curtains.

     “Ugh,” Wolf starts. “Leave them closed, dear. Your grandmother isn’t feeling too well.”

     “Oh. Well you do sound terrible. Might I fetch you something other than this bread and wine?”

     “No, no. That won’t be necessary,” Grandma rasps. “Come closer, dear. It’s hard to see you clearly.”

     Red steps closer, the sparse light from the window showing her hood is up and a her red cloak hangs over her shoulders. Her hands are clasped in front of her and black wrapping cover her hands and writs. A wicker basket hangs to one side as her arm threads through its carriage handle. “My, my, Grandma. You look just awful. Your hands look so big, might they be swollen?”

     “Oh no, my dear, that just makes them all the better to hug you with.”

     “And your ears…have they grown larger?”

     “All the better to—” Grandma’s ear twitches as footsteps thunder through the cabin. The door bursts open. Grandma yelps and pulls the covers over her snout.

     The red-hooded girl orients on the door, a stun gun at the ready. A tall man stands in the doorway, his face full of beard and his flannel shirt full of muscle. “Jack?” she asks. “What are you doing? I’ve got this.”

     “We’ve got company Sarah. Training is going to be a little more life and death this go round.”

     Grandma’s eyes suddenly fall on the stun-gun in Red’s hand and her wolfish eyes narrow. “What’s going on here?” Grandma asks, pulling the covers from over her snout. “What do you mean training?”

     “Sorry, pup,” Red says with a mock apology. “You’re just helping me get stronger.”

     Jack approaches a window and pulls back the curtain. “Did you bring anything lethal?”

You are reading story Redux Riding Hood at novel35.com

     “Well, of course not. I keep my grenades in my other picnic basket. Why would I need lethal?”

     Wolf pulls the bonnet from his head, curls his claws over his snout, and closes his eyes. “All this time? You’ve just been using me for—for training? Those times I almost had you…was any of that even real?”

     “Sarah, Wolf, we don’t have time for any of that right now.” A thump collides with the window causing Jack to back pedals away, axe at the ready.

     “Spill it, Jack,” Red says. “What did she send after us this time?”

     Jack meets her gaze and says what she’s already expecting. “More zombies.”

     “Well, at least she’s consistent.”

     Wolf growls and stands abruptly, then throws the bonnet on the floor. “You two have been playing me all this—wait, did someone say zombies?”

     “Here,” Red says, tossing the stun-gun to Wolf. He fumbles it before securing it. “You know how to use that thing?” She doesn’t wait for a response as she kneels on the floor, pulling the cover from the basket and tossing the bread and wine aside. Wolf grips the weapon with both hands as he leans to look over the bed to see what she is doing. She pulls a panel from the bottom of her basket and removes a pair of silver pistols. She pulls back each slide in turn to chamber a round, checks the magazine capacities and resets the mag before lifting her skirt to check the extra magazines tucked into her garter. Jack and Wolf exchange glances and Jack just shrugs.

     “I thought you didn’t bring anything lethal?” Jack asks.

     “Are you kidding me? Where do you think the boy scouts got it from? I’m always prepared. Let’s get out of here before we’re surrounded. Oh, and Wolf—” Wolf jumps and fumbles the stun-gun again but recovers his grasp. “Don’t eat them. We have no idea what ingesting them would do to you and I’m not keen on fighting an undead Wolf just yet.”

     She walks past Jack, leaving the room. Wolf’s shoulders slump as Jack offers an apologetic shrug, then beckons Wolf to follow.

You can find story with these keywords: Redux Riding Hood, Read Redux Riding Hood, Redux Riding Hood novel, Redux Riding Hood book, Redux Riding Hood story, Redux Riding Hood full, Redux Riding Hood Latest Chapter