As soon as she saw it, she dashed out of there and the wolf got down, growling.
It wasn't that big. It was the size of a regular dog, but it was fierce, and its three glowing red eyes screamed hunger.
'You've gotta be kidding me.' Alice thought and glanced towards the cargo.
There were a few weapons close to the cargo, but they were all next to the red gate, and she could not take that risk.
The red wolf lunged at her, and she changed her mind right away, running towards the gate.
If she could just pick up one weapon. One weapon that could help her escape the red wolf.
There was also the thought of running out of there, but then other people would know of the red gate's location, and while she was running, they would call the agency and take the loot.
No, she couldn't risk losing her reward.
She picked up a dagger but before she could turn around, the wolf had already caught up to her and bit her shoulder.
"Ahh!" Alice screamed in pain but then it turned to anger.
She stabbed the wolf while it was still hanging on her shoulder, but its skin was too thick. Her weak human strength could not force the dagger to penetrate its skin.
Or so, she thought.
"Ugh, just die already, fucking mutt," Alice yelled in an irritated tone, twisting and turning till the wolf lost its grip on her.
But it didn't actually lose its grip; it tore a little portion of her flesh, but she was too engrossed to notice the pain.
Blood flowed out of her shoulder and soaked her clothes.
Rather, while the hungry wolf was chewing on her flesh, she attacked it, burying the dagger deep into its body while it whimpered in pain.
"Don't take it to heart. One of us has to survive and it has to be me." Alice said and fell on her butt. "I killed it. I actually killed a monster. Haha! You see that, Big stach, I'm not entirely useless."
Then, she started feeling the pain in her shoulder and groaned in pain.
"It fucking hurts." She cussed, hissing at the sting.
The pain in her shoulder was so much that she couldn't think straight. But she had her priorities straight.
"Where's my phone? Gotta call the agency and get my loot." She managed to stand while grunting in pain. "Haha, if I get the loot right away, maybe I can afford their fancy healing potion and end this pain. Ugh."
But to her horror, the red gate had started fading and so was the red wolf.
"Fucking...! No, no. This can't be happening." She yelled. "Where's the gate."
It was as if the gate had never been there.
"Where's the freaking gate? Where did my loot go? Is this some sort of joke?!"
She was seriously vexed. A gate wouldn't just disappear into thin air.
Was it an illusion? Was someone playing a prank on her?
The gate, as well as the dead red wolf, disappeared, so why was her injury still there?
"It freaking hurts." She hissed.
She couldn't understand what happened there. How the hell did a freaking red gate suddenly disappear? It was unheard of.
It was almost as if she cleared the gate or something that was why it disappeared, but that was impossible. She killed one weak three-eyed red wolf, and that was it.
And besides, she had never heard of a gate being cleared from the outside.
"It's all lost, dammit!" Alice twisted her lips and kicked the sand. "How do I explain how I got hurt? No one will believe I fought a red wolf or that I stumbled on a red gate. They'll laugh at me for mistaking a dog for a red wolf."
She sat down and slowly and carefully took off her sweater.
A little piece of it had been beaten off but it was thanks to it that the wolf was only able to take a little piece of her flesh.
At this point, she could also use it to stop the bleeding, but only for a while.
"I won't get rabies, will I?"
She wondered.
People who got attacked by monsters like that usually ended up dead or they were taken to an awakened hospital and were treated with the money they got from selling their loot from the gates.
"I don't even have money to go to the hospital. This is such a bad day." Her eyes fell on the weapons on the floor. 'Maybe I can sell those to make up for my loss.'
She got up and started picking up the weapons with one hand while cussing out every time she felt pain in her shoulder.
And then, right on the spot where the red gate once stood, she found a red gem glimmering.
"Well, I'd be damned. Where did that beauty come from?" She dropped everything in her hands and went to pick up the red gem. "Ah! If I sold this, I..."
Her words were cut short when the gem slowly started fading. It faded and nothing was left of it.
Seeing this, Alice's face contorted and she stomped her feet to the ground in anger, which affected her shoulder.
"Aish, dammit! It's also a fake. Who did this? Who's playing this game with me? Come out right away, you bastard. Do you think it's funny? Huh? I'll knock your teeth out. Come out."
But there was total silence.
Alice was fed up. To be given hope, only for it to be dashed before her eyes.
It was frustrating. It was awful.
She squatted on the floor.
What could she do?
For a moment there, she thought she was finally going to have money of her own. She thought she wouldn't need to steal for that stuck-up bastard just to be able to survive.
She thought...
"Aish, what am I doing?" She ruffled her hair and got up. "Alright. Let's not let this little trifle bring me down. It was too good to be true anyway. I'll..."
*Wake up and open your eyes*