Wolfie, as Lily referred to him, leaned closer to her over the table. Lily looked down, as if nothing was going on. She couldn't make a scene in the middle of the woods, where hunters pried out their guns at sudden movements and noises. The gnome at the foot of her chair listened quietly, as if he were made of stone. A red bird hovered at their conversation, a lookout for Wolfie if anything went wrong.
"We have a deal Lil'?" Wolfie looked Lily directly in her eyes, not letting her line of sight shift. Lily tugged at her red sweater. The offer was too good to pass up. If only she could trust Wolfie.
"I'm not sure," Lily traced the aging marks on the large tree stump of a table. She closed her eyes.
Wolfie's promise to take care of her sick, elder grandmother wavered in her mind. She had met him twice, going through the woods to deliver baker's treats to her Gram. He was clever and fast, flirting with her mind. He'd deliver the goodies for a slice of bread. "To keep me an' my friends alive." He had said. Lily, gaining new friends and having new places to go, made herself an easy target to the proposition.
"C'mon, Lil'...," Wolfie tugged at Lily's hood that was tightly drawn over her head, "Red Riding Hood." His playfulness made her timid. She opened her eyes.
"Alright," Lily rushed into the decision, picking up the basket of goodies that laid on the forest floor. "Deliver them to her by sundown. Knock on the door in a rhythm, hard. She'll think that it's me. She knows the knock." Lily tapped on the wooden table. Wolfie repeated the knock back, a little too eagerly. His dark eyes seemed lighter. The corner of his mouth twitched. He was greedy for the deed. Odd, Lily thought. Before the basket touched Wolfie's sensitive fingertips, Lily pulled her arm back. Wolfie lunged forward for the basket, hitting his chin on the table. The red bird overhead chirped wildly. Wolfie retreated quickly to a sulking position in his seat, fidgeting with his sharp fingernails.
"I- I've changed my mind," Lily said, getting up to leave. She tripped over the silent gnome and tumbled to the ground. She heard Wolfie snarl and bend down to her.
"You already said 'Yes.', Lil'. Hand over the basket." Wolfie yanked the sweets out of her weak fingers and whispered in her ear, "Your Grammy's mine." Lily heard him pant slowly and fiercely. She pushed herself up to a standing position and locked her grip on the basket. Adrenaline pounded at her nerves. The basket came loose and Lily ran. She looked over her shoulder and saw Wolfie bolting at her. Wolfie's accomplice, the red bird, pecked at Lily's head.
Lily screamed and ran faster. A gunshot echoed, sounding so close that it deafened her for a second or two. She turned around and stopped. Wolfie was spread on the ground like a limp marionette, cut from its strings. Lily spun, looking for the murderer. She became dizzy with fear.
The world went black as a man with a thick beard and large body appeared from behind a tree.
"Please don't kill me," Lily remembered whispering before her face became parallel with Wolfie's on the ground.
The hunter chuckled and lifted her, heading toward the direction of her grandmother's house. The sun was already down. Gram was expecting her.
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