4 I Wash My Hook with Blood

Ruby gingerly places the villager's hand on his now lifeless chest. She stands up slowly, dusting off her cloak. A bitter wind passed through Ruby, blowing the cloak off her head which exposed her majestic blonde hair. In her mind, the battle had begun. The night may be silent, but it had already become a graveyard for the unburied.

The sound of raging footsteps are getting nearer and nearer. Ruby pulls the cloak back to her head and picked up the scythe. She grasps its handle tighter than the last time, like her life depended on it. Or maybe it did. The scythe is the only thing standing between her and what's to come.

The footsteps are getting louder. Ruby's eyes were glued to the darkness in front of her. It was faint, but she could see around a hundred shadows marching towards the village. One by one, wolves stepped out of the darkness and walked to where the moonlight can touch them. About three hundred beasts stand in front of her —three times more than the previous attack they suffered. The wolves were bigger, too, and looked like a king on their own right.

The Wolf King makes his way to the center. Wolves moved to the side to give way to their king.

The two locked their gaze at each other. Ruby, with eyes cold as death, looked into the beast's eyes without blinking. Shrugging Ruby's presence off, The Wolf King turns his back to her and orders his soldiers to lay waste on the village.

It is now written in stone. The battlefield was darkness and dirt, bathing under the blood red moon. For Ruby, it was still home. And she has to protect it at all costs.

Without hesitation, wolves came at her from all angles. Ruby swung her scythe mindlessly, unaware whether she was hitting them in a vital spot or not. Some that got hit incurred stab wounds. Others flew to the spikes she set up around town. Whatever flew to her, she had managed to deflect. There was also no way to keep count of the bodies that had began to pile up.

The Wolf King sternly watched Ruby slash her way through his soldiers. Despite the difficulty of acquiring warriors, he felt no remorse as his soldiers laid on the ground one by one. He does, however, acknowledge Ruby's strength. In her honor, The Wolf King starts to gather magical energy on his palm, summoning a huge ball of flame, and throws it to Ruby. Ruby instinctively dodges the fireball while the wolf attacking her got caught and was left to burn on the ground.

The battlefield reeked of blood and burnt flesh. With the wolves relentlessly attacking her, Ruby had started to feel fatigue catching up to her body. Her only chance to rest was the split second between changing attackers.

After the last slash, Ruby fell on her back, dropping the scythe. She tries to catch her breath, but three wolves had already jumped simultaneously toward her. Two landed their fangs on each of her shoulder, while the other got her right leg. Shaking off the wolves fervently, she reaches for the scythe. The three beasts sink their fangs deeper into Ruby's flesh, causing her to bleed. She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming in pain, thinking if she showed any sign of weakness, the wolves would have already won.

Ruby's fingers were only a few inches from the scythe when another wolf bit the arm reaching out for it. She clenches her teeth in pain and struggled to reach for her weapon.

The longer Ruby struggled to free herself from the wolves' grip, the more woozy she becomes. She was about to lose consciousness when she heard four gunshots. Each wolf biting her wailed. She can no longer feel their teeth in her flesh.

Ruby grabs her scythe and uses it as a crutch to get back on hee feer. Her legs are still shaking. Her shoulders are numb from pain.

"How are you, kid?" asks a familiar voice from the shadows.

He wore a golden trench coat without a shirt underneath it, exposing his honed body. The man carries a huge gun with him but looked he would fare well in hand-to-hand combat. It's him, Ruby thought. It's him all right. Everything will be all right. Roger is here.