It was another snowy day in the woods. Not surprising, it's been like this for the last decade if not longer. The harsh weather conditions always drops lower than necessary. Especially times like this. My name is Ken Hoshino, and as pretty much expected, I live in the mountains by myself, where snow is practically my second nature. I'm 20 years of age and currently on my way to retrieve some fire wood to warm myself from freezing to Death.
To my luck, it wasn't exactly too snowy outside but it still didn't help that it was freaking night time at the moment. Which meant I had my troubles seeing through the darkness that befell these ominous woods. There weren't occasional bear visits in my region where I lived, so I atleast felt safe about that problem.
The light I'm carrying in the opposite hand that was holding an axe that would help me cut down a tree, was giving a decent leeway to work through the trees until I found a perfect one. Thanks to my familiarity to these woods, navigation wasn't any burden on my end, so alas.....I found something worthy to become one with my pointy ended friend.
A tree, not too thick or thin stood, clearly waiting for my arrival so I could rope it to someplace warm. Don't worry tree, your calls have been heard. I placed down the flashlight, before I swung my arm back, then slashed my axe through the tree in singular cut.
Thud
Haha!
With a satisfying thud, the tree came crashing down. Pleased with myself, I dragged the tree by the end, heading towards my cabin with my attention fully set on being basked in the results from this wood.
Fireee.
Mmmm.
Crack
Hm?
Crack
My head turned every which way. Was it a wild animal? Perhaps a racoon. Or maybe a buck. Whatever, it wasn't any of my business what creature lurked within the depths of the forest. Mother nature doesn't treat kindly to those who snoop in her territory. And for clearance, I was in her territory!
Whoosh!
I needed to get back, the cold, along with snow was starting to pickup at a steady pace. As much of a curious person I was, I still had something most humans abandoned in these occasions. The obvious answer being, Survival Instincts!
Some call it cowardice, something I feel is personally both hysterically amusing, while being stupid at the same time. What if I try investigating? Sure, the chances might be in your favour that you'd find what you were looking for.
However, the guarantee of abduction, bears, wild dogs, monkeys or just death in general far exceeds the chances. Especially in the middle of the woods at night! I am not the main protagonist in a horror story!
Using my flashlight to brighten my path, I managed to find the path I first strolled through the moment I entered the woods. It seemed two years of chopping trees, was more than enough to understand the layouts like the back of my hand. Hehe! The cabin up ahead, the warm welcoming light of the kitchen shining through my see-through window, was a mesmerizing sight from this sort distance. Aswell as my handy generator, it's humming noises that were once annoying, now makes me ache for more of it's tunes. I was here, just a couple more steps, then this tree could be sliced to pieces of fuel for my-
Crack
Gha!
Everything went black. My face was burning. It was like something or someone lit my face on fire with sand. My lower body, it was stinging a bit. Did I trip? No, I felt like I was forced to the ground, but I barely managed to react.
I lifted my head, it had burried in, face first into the snow. No wonder my face felt like it was burning. Well...now it just felt cold.
What happened?
Gah. My leg. I couldn't move. Something cut my leg. And it wasn't any light scratch, it was incredibly deep focused with precision.
It looked like...
Claw marks
Four of them pieced a great deal of calf. It hurts. Damn, it hurts.
Grrrr
A heard a deep snarl, as if an predictor was focused on fully claiming their prey. It really was an animal.
Fuck!
Step!
Step!
Footsteps were closing in, slow and deliberate, as if wanting my mind to panic about the situation. It was definitely working! With all my strength, I reached out, grabbing my axe, before dragging my body back to the cottage's steps.
I needed to get away, before it caught me. It was getting closer, each step followed by a menacing growl. What animal was it? I couldn't see shit! And where was my fucking flashlight?!
As I quickly scoured, I found it beneath the pile of snow, before holding it up like a sword in battle. As the steps drew closer, I help my axe tight, before flashing the animal with it.
Hya!
My jaw instinctively lost muscle strength, as I saw no beast...no, something more concerningly questionable.
A woman, her hair messy and white, the white shirt she had on was completely covered in blood stains, aswell as her mouth. Something more concerningly questionable, was the noticable feline appearance she had. Cat ears, dilated gold-coloured eyes, and a long white tail.
What the hell was this?!