Little Red Riding Hood Never Forgives

3

"Up and at 'em, pup."

Scarlet awoke to the husky voice of Alex, one of the werewolf hunters.

"Huh, wha...?" She muttered; groggy with sleep.

Alex patted her arm and beckoned her to get up, "It's time to get up, sleepy head. Breakfast is on the table."

At first Scarlet was confused. Where was she? Oh yeah, she thought. She'd been kidnapped by four werewolf hunters, the love of her life had been separated from her along with Ariel, who showed a distinct liking for Nick. Another part of the scenario came rushing back to her and she felt her stomach knot with terror. Her knees buckled and she tumbled to the floor the moment she stood up. Scarlet gulped at the thought of the ghost child she had seen the night before.

"Are you okay, pup?" Asked Alex. He bent to help her get up but she smacked his hand away. He chuckled with amusement.

"I'm fine." She grumbled and got to her feet. They lumbered over to the kitchen and Alex slid a bowl towards her. She grabbed it and muttered thanks. As she was shovelling the meal that looked faintly like eggs yet tasted like sour milk, she felt a bolt of electricity slice through the air. Sin entered the room, bearing a grin of cockiness.

"What was that?" Eggs spilled onto the table as Scarlet spoke.

Alex faked disgust, "Learn some manners, will you?"

Sin waved a metal devise in the air, "It's a taser collar, just in case our little dog tries to make a break for it. I was just testing it out."

Scarlet sneered, "You have got to be kidding me. No way in hell am I going to wear that." She jerked a thumb at the collar.

Sin shrugged as she scooped piles of sour milk eggs into her bowl. "Then we won't take you when we go look for Alex. That's fine by me."

Scarlet clenched her fists as she felt her body struggling against the drug Hawk had given her. The drug prevented her from changing into a werewolf. "Fine I'll come." She grumbled and ditched the eggs.

Sin smiled eerily and set down her bowl. She turned to leave the room but Scarlet said something else.

"Just promise me Alex won't cook for us any more."

Sin smiled and nodded in agreement.

* * *

The hunters trudged through the field slowly, each one weary with exhaustion. Scarlet lagged behind and when she wound up too far behind, she would feel an aching bolt of electricity being fired through her body. She scratched at the collar miserably, she really hated this thing.

"Lighten up. This ain't so bad, wide open spaces, great view." Alex slid his gaze to Scarlet who blushed accidentally.

Alex's arm slipped behind Scarlet's back and hooked around her shoulders. She froze and felt another shock zap through her body. Alex laughed, pleased with Scarlet's suffering.

"Oh, shut it, you egotistical fart." Scarlet jeered and brushed past him. But she wasn't enjoying the insult as much as usual. The last few days had drained her. After another hour of walking in silence, Scarlet spoke. "Where are we going again?" She questioned.

Hawk rolled his eyes and secretly wished he could kill the werewolf already. "We're looking for the Skinners' hideout." He answered for the third time.

She didn't respond and instead took off in an entirely different direction.

"What are you doing?" Hawk bellowed just as an electric wave stopped Scarlet in her tracks.

"We're going the wrong way. I can smell his scent and it distant but in this direction." Scarlet waved off Hawk's frustration and continued sauntering west of where they were heading.

The hunters didn't argue since they knew Scarlet would know Nick's scent better than them. And so for once in their careers, the werewolf hunters followed a werewolf. As Scarlet was leading them through the fields she felt her gut clench. What if Nick was hurt? Scarlet knew that she wouldn't be able to survive without Nick. He was everything to her. He was the weight that kept her strapped to the earth when she felt as if she was going mad. Scarlet had to get him back. After a few more hours of trudging through a field of wheat, they came to a stop.

"Okay, we're getting no where." Alex complained, ruffling his hair with impatiens.

Sin and Hawk agreed and they led Scarlet in a different direction.

"I saw an opening somewhere over there." Hawk declared, his voice commanding as always.

They followed him to a small clear patch in the never-ending field. In an hour tops, Alex had made a fire, Sin had found some food, and Hawk was cooking. After a rather nasty meal of leaves and a few rats, they were off to sleep. Hawk went to patrol while the others slept, but two of them didn't really sleep. Scarlet lay awake, not able to sleep so close to predators. She longed to Change into a wolf. It had been nearly two days since her last Change and she usually Changed daily. After a few more minutes of pointless stillness, Scarlet carefully stood up, trying not to rouse the others. She carefully inched away from the camp, they had turned the collar off when she led them in the other direction.

"Going somewhere, pup?" Alex materialized beside her, he had been so smooth and silent that she never sensed him coming. "Wouldn't want you to get lost out here. The big, bad wolf could come and get 'cha."

Scarlet flinched at the phrase, memories started surfacing in her mind and she furtively pushed them down. There was no time to dwell on the past, at least not now.

"Pup?" Alex said, snapping Scarlet out of her reverie.

"What?" She snarled.

He laughed, "Still stingy, I see."

Scarlet scowled and folded her arms across her chest, "What do you want?"

He batted innocent eyes, "What do you ever mean? I just don't want you to get lost is all."

She rolled her eyes and entered the wheat field. Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her back, panic written in his eyes.

"Let go!" She clawed at his hand, his alarmed expression transitioning to its normal, cocky self.

"You're not aloud to leave."

"Why not?" She cried.

Alex held a finger to her lips, making her blush. "Because you...you can't." He whispered. And the mask was lifted once more, revealing someone Scarlet didn't recognize. He looked truly sad for a moment, but then he started rambling. "Because your a monster. A rabid dog! One that needs to be put down!" His voice rose and Scarlet noted how it seemed that he was trying to convince himself rather than her. Alex pulled her closer to the fire. She could see him better now. She could see the dark circles that surrounded his brilliant eyes. He was muscular and ridiculously gorgeous. But the pure panic in his eyes squashed any attraction that Scarlet could possibly feel towards him (not that she was attracted anyways). "You disgust me! You're a demon, a mistake!" He wailed.

Scarlet winced with hurt. She knew that she shouldn't even care about what this madman was saying, he was a werewolf hunter and they always hate werewolves. But something in his desperate cry planted a seed of doubt in Scarlet's mind. Maybe she was a monster, something that should be terminated as soon as possible. She had done things in her past that were practically evil. A sprinkle of sweat washed over Scarlet and she shivered. She felt sadness envelope her and the hurt made her heart ache. A single tear slid down her face. The tear brimmed on her cheek and fell, it flew towards the ground and disappeared without a sound as it hit the cold, damp earth. Alex, seeing the way he had single hurt Scarlet, shut his trap. He opened his mouth to apologize but Scarlet shook her head and he closed his mouth.

Scarlet knew that in the morning, it wouldn't matter that Alex had hurt her so bad. He would be arrogant and insulting again, as would the rest of the hunters. The one thing that did matter, though, was that with that single tear filled with all the pain Scarlet was feeling, she had shown Alex her humanity. She had proven to herself that she wasn't a monster. But still, she couldn't ignore the seed of doubt Alex had inadvertently planted in her.