Frost peppered the grass beneath Frank's feet as he walked across the field as the tiny shards,crackled with every step he took. The large pine tree's popped from the cold pressure beneath the bark as the cold temperature,left the leaves hard and rigid as like sharp blades.
Frank exhaled the warm air from his lungs,leaving clouds of smoke that quickened his intake. He wasn't used to these temperatures,nor was he accustomed to walking just great distances in the mid mornings of winter.
His padded jacket was no match for the blistering winds that soared through the tree's like a maze. Every time a gust found itself toward him,it was like fire agianst his cheeks,leaving his flesh scortched by a cold flame.
His nostrils burned also as his sinuses began to open a narrow pathway for the wind to run through. His finger's had went numb through the gloves he had on,yet Frank was sure that the pain would surface from his fingertips when he found time to warm them.
He constantly continued to raise the straps from his back pack as it would began to slide from his shoulders. His eyes began to comb his surroundings as echoes of howling erupted from the depths of the mountain side.
Wolves were not the traveling companions he wanted,in his weakened state his efforts of surviving a pack attack was short to slim. Besides there was only one resident in these mountains and if hypothermia didn't claim him first,he should be there soon.
Frank exhaled deep,looking up at the cloudless sky as the star's glared like diamond's in a oil pit of darkness. Suddenly a twig snapped behind him as he turned quickly in a panic as he saw what looked like a dog fifteen inches from him.
Frank took a step back slowly as the animal stood still like a statue but it's eyes never missed a beat of his motion. "Easy cujo..." He wasn't dumb,naive maybe but not dumb,he knew wolves were strategic hunters and this one before him was a decoy.
Frank gently maneuvered his head from side to side while slowly stepping backwards;just as he had presumed other wolves were slowly advancing from both sides of him. The snow had built a sort of incline depth,that made walking harder for Frank and a challenge for the hungry beasts.
They had to gallop to move forward as Frank took long strides up the incline as he did he found a broken limb from one of the cedars. Picking the limb up,he used it as a crutch to help him up from the pillars of snow.
Finally the incline had come to a halt as Frank could peer over to see a little shack at the bottom of the hill,smoke pertruded from it's chimney as a candle burned in the window. Relief poured over him as he began to find strength enter in his limbs,but before he could get a foot on hilt of the hill,his foot slipped causing him to fall backwards down the hill in furious speed.
Rolling down his face impacted the hard powder snow that felt like putting his face in flames. Gasping for breath as his body slowly came to a stop at the hilt of a wooden stake. Mind racing,Frank shuffled to his feet in fear he would be pounced on by the wolves;only to look up to see the pack of mutts keeping their distance from the shack.
Relieved,Frank propped his back against the sturdy stake as he caught his breath,while wiping the snow from his watering eyes. Leaning off the post,he slowly turned around to be jolted in shock as he leapt back in shock,looking up at the stake seemed to be a frozen scarecrow.
Ragged drapes hung from the stake as what looked to be a decomposing wolf's head wearing a straw hat. The scarecrows arms were binded by wire as little paws were attached for hands. There was a stitched up garment for the torso as Frank's curiosity made him approach the grotesque figure.
Slipping one of his gloves off,his numb finger's began picking at the stiching as it unmoved the ripped garment and Frank's eye's widened as hundreds of corpses of rats spilled out into the snow before him.
Stepping back,Frank looked back up the hills as the wolves hadn't moved from atop the hill and now he may know why. Turning toward the shack,Frank began to march through the knee deep path that led to the lonely cabin as the sun still hadn't begun to arise.
Thoughts began racing through his mind as he drew closer to the door,wondering how this interaction would go,it wasn't a secret about this shack in the mountains. Many of times Frank would listen to the grim and grisly tales the old folks would share to frighten the children around a roaring fire in the dead of night.
They called her the weeping wasp,her sting was deadly and she left many of her victims weeping for their death's far before it even came. A witch of the mountains,a rogue daughter of satan that hated even her own kind. It was said these mountains were her's and her's alone as she drove off settlers and slaughtered other witches that tried to settle claim in the cold no man's land known as Devil's Tooth Canyon.
She was supposedly excommunicated from her clan of witch's after trying to breach the the doors between hell and earth. Even more shocking was she was known to have intercourse with demon's in return for greater power.
