It was yet another snowy day in the woods. Not surprising, it's been on a streak for the last decade if not longer. The harsh weather conditions always drops lower than necessary. Especially times like this. Pretty unfortunate for those living nearby, namely, Ken Hoshino, and as pretty much expected, he lives in the mountains by myself, where snow is practically his second nature. Reaching 20 years of age and currently on his way to retrieve some fire wood to warm himself from freezing to Death!
To his 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 he had my troubles seeing through the darkness that befell these ominous woods. There weren't occasional animal visits in the region where he lived, so he atleast felt safe about that problem.
Equipped on his trip, he carried a trusty flashlight, while in the opposite hand, he held his reliable axe that would help him cut down a tree of his choosing. Using his flashlight's illumination, it gave him a decent leeway to work through the trees until he found the perfect one. Thanks to his familiarity to these woods, navigation wasn't any burden on his end, so alas.....he found something worthy to become one with his pointy ended friend.
A tree, not too thick or thin stood, clearly waiting for his arrival so Ken could rope it to someplace warm. 'Don't worry tree, your calls have been heard', is what his thoughts bellowed. He placed down the flashlight, before he swung his arm back, then slashed the axe through the tree in singular cut. His raw strength and coordinated precision, had required intense examination by the world's brightest minds.
Thud
Haha!
With a satisfying thud, the tree came crashing down. Pleased with himself, he dragged the tree by the end, heading towards the cottage with his attention fully set on being basked in the results from this wood.
Fireee.
Mmmm.
Crack
Hm?
Crack
His head swayed every which way. Was it a wild animal? Perhaps a racoon. Or maybe a buck. Whatever, it wasn't any of his 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, he was in her territory!
Whoosh!
A cool gushed drew past him, enveloping him with warnings of what awaited in him that dark snowy night. He needed to get back, the cold, along with snow was starting to pickup at a steady pace. As much of a curious person Ken was, he still had something most humans abandoned in these occasions. The obvious answer being: Survival Instincts!
Some call it cowardice, something Ken felt was personally both hysterical and amusing, while being stupid at the same time. What if he tried investigating the sounds that was unsettling him? Sure, the chances might be in his favour that he'd find what he was looking for. That would hopefully be a lost cat.
However, the guarantee of abduction, bears, wild dogs, crazy monkeys or just death in general far exceeds the chances. Especially in the middle of the woods at night! It wasn't as if Ken was the main protagonist in a horror story! He surely wasn't. And he clearly sought not to be one.
Using the flashlight to brighten his path, Ken managed to find the path he first strolled through the moment his presence entered the woods. It seemed two years of chopping trees, was more than enough to understand the layouts like the back of his hand. He was like an animal with exceptional navigation instincts. Hehe! The cabin up ahead, the warm welcoming glow of the kitchen, shining through his blinded window, was a mesmerizing sight from this sort distance. Aswell as his handy generator, it's humming noises that were once annoying, now made him ache for more of its earbleeding tunes. He was here, just a couple more steps, then this tree could be sliced to pieces of fuel for his-
Crack
Gha!
Everything went black. Had the flashlight suddenly died on him? No, that wasn't the case, however, his face was burning. It was like something or someone lit his face on fire with sand. Ken's lower body, it was stinging a bit. Did he trip? Unlikely, it felt like he was forced to the ground, but Ken barely managed to react. Not only that, he felt an ominous pour seeping from his legs. It was warm. Why was it warm?
As he quizzingly pondered his thoughts, Ken finally stirred up the strength to lift his head, it had burried face first into the snow. No wonder his face felt like it was burning. Well...now it just felt cold. What happened? Gah. He flinched; his legs. He couldn't move. Ken turned himself, letting his eyes oversee the possible cause of what attacked him from behind. To his shock, his eyes widened in disbelief, something cut his 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', his thoughts screamed. He let out a strained grunt, as he struggled to process what could be cause of the sudden injury.
Suddenly, he heard a deep snarl, as if a predator 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 his mind to panic about the situation. It was definitely working! With all his strength, Ken reached out, grabbing the axe he firmly squeezed on pre impact, before dragging his body back to the cottage's steps. He didn't understand why this was suddenly happening, however, what he did know was he needed to get away, before it caught him. It was getting closer, each step followed by a menacing growl. What animal was it? He couldn't see shit! And where was the fucking flashlight?!
While sliding his body through the snow, he quickly scoured, Ken found it beneath the pile of snow, before holding it up like a sword in battle. As the steps drew closer, he didn't hesitate before flashing the animal with it. He kept his grip tight, never releasing the axe, incase the animal suddenly pounced him...but. Hya! His own jaw, instinctively lost its needed muscle strength to stay clamped, as he saw no beast...no, something more concerningly questionable. Ken had to blink twice, he wasn't sure if his eyes were processing what he was seeing as it should have, or perhaps, the slow blood loss from his legs, was playing an early affect to confuse his perception. Because...
A woman, her hair was messy and white enough to match the snow, the white shirt she had on was completely coated in blood stains, aswell as her mouth, bringing even more horror to the sight before him. Something more concerningly questionable, was the noticable feline appearance she had. Cat ears, dilated—vertical split gold-coloured eyes, noticable fur that streched down to her left palm, but not on her right side, and a long white tail.
What the hell was this?!