Chapter 119

Chapter 119: The Path

The wolf was here.

But Yu Sheng could not see it clearly. All he heard were the snaps of twigs underfoot behind him and the scrape of brush being pushed aside. Now and then a muffled whine slipped out. At times he could even smell rot and blood on the cold air. The chill spread through the Forest like winter itself, stealing life and heat as it closed in.

Howls rose again, one after another. They came from every tree, every bush, every shadow. A Wolf Pack circled its prey, drawing the net tighter.

“Run. Do not stop. Run,” the Squirrel squealed from his head, having climbed from his neck to his hair. The little rodent waved its paws like it could push him forward.

“Run to the path. Run to the lights. Run to places the wolves fear.”

Yu Sheng risked a glance back. The Dense Forest was full of shifting shadows. Something was chasing him through the dim shades between the trees, but he still could not see a single wolf’s true shape.

The breath was right behind him. He could feel the wind of foul mouths opening and closing near his neck.

“Where are the wolves?” he shouted. “I cannot see them.”

“Not seeing is good. If you cannot see them, they have not caught you,” the Squirrel screamed. “Seeing them is bad. They will chase and chase and chase until you cannot run, until you turn into a tired adult… wait. You are an adult.”

It suddenly seemed to realize something. It grabbed a fistful of his hair and yelled: “So how did you get in here?”

Yu Sheng had no time to answer. Fresh cuts sprang up on his forearms, oozing blood.

Invisible claws had raked him.

Now he could make out hazy shapes in the Dense Forest. Long, lean, starving Predators. There were too many to count.

He drove his legs harder, feet digging into leaves and rot as he charged in the direction the Squirrel had pointed.

He did not fear death. He was not afraid of being trapped here. But he still did not know what this place was, or what had happened to Little Red Riding Hood. [I cannot let myself get eaten for nothing.]

A warm glow flickered at the edge of his vision.

Deep in the Dense Forest, in that endless gloom, gentle lights appeared, and under them he could just make out a narrow path.

“Run run run. Right there,” the Squirrel whooped. “Ha. You, an adult, run faster than a kid. Good. Good. Adults are usually heavy-footed, but you run like they do when they first arrive. They cannot catch you now. They cannot catch you.”

With the Squirrel’s frantic shrieks in his ear, Yu Sheng burst out of the Forest’s circling shadows. He leaped toward the warm light, and the instant it bathed his skin, the cold breath behind him melted away.

The wolves were gone, vanished at the edge of the path.

Panting hard, Yu Sheng braced a hand on a dead stump by the trail. After a long moment, he lifted his head and looked at the little road that cut through the Dense Forest.

It lay there, sudden and strange, laid with dirt and stones. The winding path seemed to have no end. It ran between the trees into the dark. On both sides stood bright lamps. Yu Sheng could not tell how they worked. They looked like smooth round balls hanging from bent branches. No wires. No flame. Only a soft glow spilling down to light the way.

The Squirrel hopped off his head, bounced up onto the rough, curving wooden rail by the path, and sat down. It let out a long breath: “Whew. That was close. Almost turned into dinner.”

“So those were the wolves chasing Little Red Riding Hood?” Yu Sheng asked as his breathing steadied. He stepped up to the Squirrel and looked it in the eye: “Was the biggest one, the Evil Wolf, among them?”

“Do not say Evil Wolf,” the Squirrel yipped, spooked all at once. It jumped, reached a paw like it wanted to cover Yu Sheng’s mouth, and hissed: “The Hunter has not appeared yet. Do not call the worst, biggest wolf over here. You do not have a gun. It will swallow you whole. Whole.”

“Where exactly is this?” Yu Sheng asked. “I know it is the Forest. I mean, is this Little Red Riding Hood’s dream, or some kind of Otherworld?”

“Forest. This is the Forest. I do not get what you mean,” the Squirrel said, shuffling along the rail and muttering to itself. “Dream? Little Red Riding Hood is not asleep yet. Good kids sleep at night. She is still out there doing her thing… what was it… oh, she said it, she has school. If she started dreaming, then she would be in here already…”

The way it spoke was odd, like it talked to itself in broken bits, but Yu Sheng could follow well enough. He pieced together the link between this place and Little Red Riding Hood.

This should be something like an Otherworld, not just her personal dream. It always exists. When Little Red Riding Hood falls asleep, she drops into this Forest.

And here, the Wolf Pack hunts her without end.

He frowned: “How can she ever escape the wolves for good?”

“Escape? What are you thinking,” the Squirrel said, rubbing its face with a paw and giving him a look like he was slow. “Wolves do not quit. The Forest has no end. You run. That is all. From one safe path to the next safe path. Run into a warm house. Before the house turns dark, run to the next house. As long as you can still run, the Forest will always have a place to hide for a while. That is good. That is good.”

So these were the rules for moving through the Forest.

Yu Sheng thought fast, then asked: “Is this Forest the curse made by the Fairy Tale? Do you know anything about the curse?”

He had no idea what the Squirrel really was, or why a talking guide showed up in a Black Forest that felt like an Otherworld. But since it had helped, it probably was not on the same side as the “curse” Little Red Riding Hood had mentioned.

The Squirrel only blinked at him, paced a few steps, and said: “How would I know. I am just a squirrel.”

Then it puffed up, scratched its fuzzy cheeks with a quick paw, and tipped up its chin: “A squirrel so cute I could pop.”

Yu Sheng stared.

The Squirrel suddenly dug around in its fur and, from somewhere, pulled out a thin little stick. It clenched the stick in its teeth. It rubbed the tip of its big tail along the rail. The tail tip flared with a tiny flame. It used the flame to light the stick, took a deep draw, and blew out a pale cloud.

“Want a puff?” the Squirrel asked, holding the stick with its claws. “This will make you feel better. Pinch it by the very tip with your nails.”

Yu Sheng could only stare harder.

“Oh, not interested? Good. Even if you are an adult, it is not a good habit,” the Squirrel said, tucking the stick back in its mouth. “Ah, I am not used to this. First time I have seen an adult in here. Usually the first one to arrive is the little one. They cry for a long time. Almost none of them dodge the first hunt. The wolves swallow them whole. To be honest, I am a little nervous. You are putting a kind of pressure on a Squirrel that a Squirrel should not have… sip, hiss, exhale…”

Yu Sheng had no idea how to respond. [Okay, this Squirrel is way outside my usual range.] He did have a cursing Living Doll, a Nine Tailed Fox who could launch her own tails, and a house at Wutong Road 66 that regular people could not see. Even so, a smoking, swearing Squirrel was not something he had expected.

“Why are you not talking?” the Squirrel asked after it sucked down the last of the stick. It tossed the smoking butt into its mouth, chewed, and swallowed, then peered up at him. “Oh, stunned? Fair. Grown-ups also get stunned by the Forest. Come a few more times and you will get used to it. Used to their hunts. Used to their feeding.

“Then you will link with some of the wolves here. You will link with the whole Forest. When you are both a lost person here and a hungry wolf here, and at the same time the Forest, the Hunter, and Grandmother, then you will fit in completely.

“By then you will have your own Red Cloak. You will come in every night and run. Very busy. I am curious what kind of cloak you will get, since you are not a child, and also a man…”

“I am not a new Little Red Riding Hood,” Yu Sheng cut in, steady and serious as he repeated: “I am her friend.”

The Squirrel froze. It stared at him, as if trying to spot a lie on his face. After a long moment, it straightened up. Its thick tail swept the rail in a nervous rhythm.

“You are for real? Do not lie to a Squirrel as cute as me.”

“I am serious.”