THE RED HOODY
PART 2
Chapter 9:

The Darkest Part of the Forest

   Well, I may have exaggerated with a few of the facts in that last bit.

   OK, OK! You got me! I lied. Well sort of. Not really. Well, just a little.

   I'd better explain.

   Jackson Wolfe did grab Gus and he did bite down to make a meal of ours and Brian's sweet sixteen. But when he did he felt as if he were biting down on red hot coals and a fire burned his mouth and tongue all the way down his throat.

   Wolfe howled and yowled and jumped away and out of the bed. He rolled on the floor in agony. Gus as well jumped up and turned on the light.

   Then he stood over the tortured Wolfe and yelled "Where's my grandpa, asshole!?"

   But Wolfe could only howl and roll and gargle in agony, holding his throat.

   "Your...hood....your hood....howww??"

   Gus stood over him, wearing his pants, no shirt and his Hoody in full cape mode. The hood was up. He had taken off his shirt to fool the Wolfe but...

   "A very wise man told me to never...ever take off my Hoody!" he declared proudly, misunderstanding completely.

   "But...how....how...did you get...it like that!?"" Wolfe rasped.

   "What are you talking about?" Gus looked around and caught sight of himself in a mirror for the first time since he had entered the forest. He gasped.

   His red hood was now a golden one. It was as if it had been made out of spun gold and shone as brightly as the sun at dawn's light. The rest of his cloak....

   "RRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

   Wolfe was recovering slowly and pounced, jumping across the room in one bound. He grabbed Gus by the throat, completely encircling his neck in one huge furry hand. He pulled his other huge fist back and tried to squeeze. But the more he tried the more he couldn't. And he couldn't strike. He roared again, so loud it made Gus' ears ring and sprayed him with spittle.

   "Dude! Breath mint!" Gus was revolted.

   "Hmmmmmm. It seems in this transformed state, I can finally get near enough to wipe that smug little smile off your face! But...I just...can't...kill you!"

   "Well good! Now leggo! Leggo!"  Gus thrashed around trying to escape.

   Wolfe just laughed and tapped him in the solar plexus. This felt like much more than a tap to Gus though and he instantly had the wind knocked out of him and Wolfe easily threw him back on the bed.

   "WRONG!! It's very, very bad!! For you! Since I can't kill you, I'm going to make you regret each and every day you live from now on! You'll pray for death and you never will until your last day!! And I can feel it...this ...this thing is expanding your life span!" He laughed cruelly and jumped on top of Gus.

   "Get off! OOOFFFF!!! GET OFFFFFF!!!" Gus yelled and with strength he didn't know he had rammed an elbow back, which knocked Wolfe off sideways. He struggled up and kicked Wolfe in several places....groin, stomach, head....until he knocked the monster off the bed and onto the floor again. Then he made a run for it...reached the door...wrenched it open...was through and down the hall. Along the way he overturned tables and chairs, threw vases, anything to slow down his adversary.

   He reached the staircase and ventured a look back before sliding down the banister. Wolfe was dashing after him, blowing through any obstacle like it was nothing, reducing everything to matchsticks. His wolfy face was open in a hideous, continuous roar. His teeth were like butcher knives. He foamed at the mouth and it fell off in thick gobs.

   Gus slid as fast as he could down, made a dash for the forlorn front door and was through. An instant later, Wolfe smashed through, putting the forlorn door out of its misery and reducing it to pieces the size of playing cards.

   Gus ran as fast as he could across the yard but it was no use.

   Wolfe easily caught up to him, tackled him, throwing him to the ground, his claws piercing the flesh of his thighs in several places.

   Gus screamed in pain and fear. He was brought to the ground hard and found himself on his back looking up at a nightmare. Wolfe straddled him at his waist and screamed right in his face again.

   "Why!!? Why me??" Gus sobbed.

   "Because...You are the first....the first born of those...those abominations that transformed me!!!"

   "What!!? So this is a hate crime!! This is because they're gay!?? You monster! They're the best moms and dads I could ever have! I wouldn't trade them for any hetero thing ever!!"

   "You foolish young simpleton! If only it were that easy! I could care less about that!! Who they decide to share their bodies with is their own concern!! No! It is because whatever magic and love that created that castle and maze and everything else, transformed me! Transformed me into one of YOU!!" The last was spat out as if he were mentioning a cockroach. "And for 11 years I have endured being...one of you...and I cannot stand it a minute longer! And because they are the source...ground zero...of all that love and magic and...goodness...(he shuddered)...and everything, I cannot touch them, themselves! And so I chose you! The one who when gone will cut them the deepest and cause them grief forevermore! This is only halfway back to my normal state but I'll take it over being one of you a second longer!! And it's true I cannot kill you but I'll leave you something to remember me by!"

   He raked his claws down Gus' face leaving four red deep scratches.

   Gus screamed in pain again.

   "Not such a pretty boy now are we, little Prince! And now...one more thing! To give you something else that will haunt you the rest of your days!!!"

   He raised up and flipped Gus onto his stomach. He lay full length on top of him and he was so heavy that Gus couldn't move.

   Wolfe bent so that his mouth was near Gus' ear. "Now youngling! If you thought my ears and arms and teeth were big wait until you see my big...fat..."

   "PICKLE AND EGGS! PICKLE AND EGGS!" screamed an escaped mynah bird that flew over the scene. Before he had escaped his cage, he had belonged to a deli owner.

   "NOOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOO! I WON'T LET YOU!!! HELP! HELLLLPPP-MMMMPPHH!!" Gus managed to scream before Wolfe's huge hand closed over his mouth.

   Wolfe just laughed and held the boy immobile with one arm and with the other flipped up the cape and then undid his pants. He pulled them down to expose his ass.

   Gus struggled mightily but it was no use. Tears streamed down his face and mingled with the blood. He knew the bastard was going to rape him.

   Slowly, he struggled and flailed with his hand, hoping to accomplish one thing before his pants were pulled down enough so that he couldn't reach. He grabbed once...twice...three times...

   Oh God! He could feel the monster's length! He was huge. He was going to split him in half.

   Wolfe laughed and howled in happiness. His triumph was complete. He stroked his huge, monstrous length against Gus' asscheeks a few times. He rose up. He spread Gus' asscheeks and prepared to enter...

   The instant Wolfe's disgusting hand was off his mouth, Gus kicked, twisted and brought the silver whistle to his lips. He blew it...hard.

   It sounded like an angel screaming.

   Wolfe screamed in agony as the sound went on and on, the blast sustaining unnaturally long. Then it started to fade at last and died away in the green forest gloom. Wolfe rolled of Gus, screaming at the horrible goodness of it all.

   Gus got up, kicking and screaming and yanked his pants up. He made a break for it and ran out the gate. He blew the whistle again.

   Wolfe had gotten through the gate but at the second peal he collapsed again. He screamed in agony, at the pure and terrible, terrible goodness of it all.

   Gus brought it to his lips again and blew but nothing happened. The silver whistle collapsed and blew away in a cloud of silver glitter. It was gone.

   Wolfe shook his head to clear it. Slowly he got up and stalked toward Gus on all fours.

   Gus whimpered in fear and tried to run away. He hobbled a few steps but then stumbled and fell as his pants were not all the way up yet.

   And then the wicked Wolfe was upon him again. He straddled him, and then raked his claws across his face horizontally. Gus' scars now looked like a tic-tac-toe board.

   Gus screamed in pain.

   Wolfe flipped him over again and ripped his pants to shreds and pulled them off. Gus struggled, screamed and cried but it was no use

   "And now....where...were...we? I don't know what that was but it seems it has failed! AT LAST!!! I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE!!! YOU ARE MINE!!!!"

   "NO! NO! HELP!! HELLL-MMMPHH!!!"

   Gus bit the finger that gagged him till he tasted blood.

   Wolfe roared in pain.

   "NO! NO! LEO! LEO!! HELP! LEEE----MMMMPPPHHHH!"

   "Fool! No one can help you now!" Again he raised up. Again he positioned his cock, which was about twice the size of a horse cock. Gus screamed through his gag. Wolfe prepared to enter....

   From out of the bush, Leo came running. Somehow, the trees didn't touch or faze him. His silver axe was in his hand and there was blue fire in his eyes.

   Several things happened at once. Both Gus and Wolfe caught sight of the burly woodsman at the same time. Brian and Justin rounded the curved in the path that led to the castle and took in the scene in horror. Wolfe lifted up. Leo kept coming and took the last few steps with a spin. He held the axe straight out and with perfect control and precision, spun one, two, three times and on the third time reached them and: THWOCK!!! He decapitated the Wolfman in one clean blow. The head went flying off into the forest and his body collapsed over Gus.

   Leo bent down and rolled the offending corpse off Gus and picked him up. He enfolded him into a huge hug and rocked him as Gus cried and cried.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

   Brian and Justin approached slowly, feeling, strangely enough, as if they were the ones intruding on a private scene. However, Gus was his son, dammit! thought Brian.

   "What the HELL is going on here!!!" he yelled.

   Leo continued to rock Gus like a baby. "It's over....Everything's all right...Your fathers are here....Shhhhh....." he whispered other sweet nothings to the traumatized boy. To the dads he said, "I am Leo. I am the Ward of these Woods. That...creature was about to rape and traumatize your son for all his days. But I broke my orders...to bodyguard and rescue your son. And now that the worst is over, I must return to my domain."

   "So....you're a Ward?" asked Brian, surprised.

   "I am now. I've disobeyed the Power by helping you. But don't worry, little Gus. I wouldn't have changed anything for the world. I love you so much. I'll miss you more than I can say." He looked down and saw the damage that Wolfe had done as if for the first time. "Ahhh well! In for a penny, in for a pound," he said, regretfully.

   He took Gus' face and stroked his forehead, his cheeks, everywhere with both his big thumbs and everywhere he touched the red marks vanished until there was nothing left and Gus face was as clear and whole as it had been before all this had happened.

   "Thanks Leo. And my hoody...did you do that too?"

   "Yes. Remember in the woods? When I touched your hood and brought it over your head again. It was then...I thought it was time... besides....I like it better this way."

   He started to back away. "Well...it's time for me to go...I can feel the Power drawing me towards my long exile."

   "Shit!! No! No..." choked Brian

   "Goodbye little Gus! Good bye all! Oh...Your grandfather is tied up in his bedroom closet! Good bye! I shall miss you all! I shall miss the castle!"

   Leo began to shine. He began to glow. His features grew indistinct and hazy. And then he was nothing but light. He returned to his original form as a Bright Man.

   And then something horrible happened. Leo's light, his brightness, went out. It was as if someone had thrown a terrible light switch and he went from bright as dawn to black as night in one split second. It was a nasty shock and they all screamed a little at the suddenness of it all.

   "No!! It's not fair!" whispered Brian.

   "Goooodbyyyee......" they all heard a voice push into their minds and the black Ward was pulled up into the air and away in a huge arc, over the house, over the trees and then down somewhere deep in the forest until at last he was gone from their sight.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

   Gus drew his cloak around him as he was now otherwise naked. "Uhhh....What just happened here? Daddy, what's wrong?"

   Brian still looked distraught. Then he shook himself and yelled, "Oh my God! What did he say about Tim? Shit!!" And he was running toward the house and was inside.

   Justin turned to Gus and held out his arms. Gus ran into them gratefully.

   "You look so different with your Hoody like that," Justin remarked.

   Gus looked at himself and agreed. He was Red Hood no more. As well as the Hood being made of threads that resembled solid spun gold, his cloak had returned to its natural state. It was shining white mottled with random patterns, streaks, and lines of gold throughout. He was Golden Hood, if he was anyone.

   "I guess, Leo was able to turn it back now that the Evil One exposed himself," said Gus.

   "Evil One?"

   "Jackson Wolfe!" Gus spat out the name. "But he wasn't a man! Something happened on the day the castle was created. He was transformed somehow. Maybe from a real wolf, I don't know. But he was a man and waiting and wanting to kill me for 11 years and it was this Hoody that was protecting me the whole time. And Leo. And Leo! What happened to him!? And how did you get here?"

   "Whoa! One thing at a time!" Justin chuckled at his youthful enthusiasm. "Brian and I both heard a piercing whistle and felt an irresistible pulling to come here. We left the kids in the playroom." The playroom was a daycare playroom the size of a football field.

   "As for Leo....I think I know what happened to him. Long ago...I kind of saw...the reverse of what just happened here. But if something unfair has happened, I promise, Brian and I will get to the bottom of it."

   And at that moment, Brian came running out of the house with Timothy cradled in his huge arms, looking very worried.

   "Shit! He was in the closet, all right! Tied up and gagged. I don't think he was getting enough air! Or something! He won't respond to me at all!"

   "Let's get out of here! We'll have the hospital check him out!" said Justin, already moving.

   Brian ran ahead, and after whistling for Lucky, Justin and Gus followed.

   Brian looked down at the old man in...shit, no! He didn't do fear! Concern, that was it! Yeah! The old man was tinged with blue, semi-conscious, breathing (thank God) shallowly with wide and staring eyes. He wouldn't respond to Brian's shouts, a finger snap or....anything. He was like...what was that word...? Catatonic....yeah that was it. He ran towards the hospital wing as fast as he could and yelled: "MEDIC!!" as loud as he could. He hoped Timothy would be ok. He just had to be. He just had to.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

   Timothy was in the hospital for a week. They put him on an IV and an oxygen mask and several other tubes and wires that monitored his condition.

   After a few days of this, the doctors took him off the oxygen as it seemed not necessary and he was breathing better. But he still wouldn't wake. He would sleep, wake and be catatonic and then sleep again.

   Gus never left his side except to wash and have short breaks. It was one of those times when real life was pushed aside and nothing except this one thing seemed the least bit important.

   Four days in, he suddenly sucked in a huge breath and began flailing his arms. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" he screamed, "Take me! Leave the kinder alone! Leave the kinderrrrr..."

   Gus jumped up and grabbed the flailing arms and for a minute Timothy was fighting him tooth and nail. His eyes were wide and staring at a nightmare of the past.

   "Opa! Opa! It's me! It's me! It's Gus! Everything's all right! Everything's all right! You're safe! I'm here! You're safe!"I'm here." He yelled this several times and slowly the wild look faded from the old man's eyes and his arms stopped hitting and then they wrapped around Gus and refused to let go. Gus sat on the bed holding onto Timothy as well and they just sat there, hanging onto each other like life preservers for a long time. Eventually, Timothy's hold lessened and Gus pulled back and realized that the old man was asleep again. He laid him down on the pillows and tucked him in.

   Five days in, he awoke for real but was very weak. He couldn't get up and he spoke in a whisper. He told them to fetch the carpet munching lez. (Melanie)

   She strode in, eyes blazing and ready for a fight. "Look old man, if you called me here just to insult me in person, I am out of here! As it is, I have a few things I wanna say to...."

   Timothy shook his head weakly and motioned her closer. She bent down and listened as he whispered in her ear. After a few seconds, she was all business and shoo-ed everyone out of the room, including Gus. Then she closed the door and they remained alone for several hours. When she emerged, she stalked away without a word her eyes blazing and her ass tight. As usual, she refused to explain herself in the slightest.

   On the sixth day, Timothy woke up late. He was very weak and was sleeping more and more. He motioned to Gus.

   "I love you, kinder. When I was a hermit, I forgot what it was to be loved and to love. I have forgotten my own name. But I remember how to love now. You...and Justin...showed me that."

   "Opa, try to rest! You're going to get better! You have to get rest to get stronger!"

   But Tim made a slight gesture with his hand. Gus was quiet.

   "I talked with the lez. You can have my house if you want it."

   "But..."

   "You need to take care of Lucky for me," This was already being done as if it were taken for granted. Lucky was ecstatic to be around so many energetic, wiggly, laughing, screaming children. He was getting a little fat with all the treats and was in a constant state of bliss of tummy rubbing. But he remained primarily loyal to Gus.

   "I'll take care of you. I arranged it." said Tim.

   "No. You're going to get better. I'm going to take care of you," said Gus. His voice started to wobble. "I will. I'm taking care...of you."

   "Now...don't...you...worry. Everything's fine. I took care of it. Love you, Gus. Love...you...kinder..."

   "I love you too Opa." Gus was crying now but he hardly knew why. Opa was going to get better. He was going to make sure of it. He would.

   Tim heard him, sighed in contentment and slipped back to sleep. He slept all that day, all night and on into the next day.

   On that seventh day, he didn't wake up for breakfast. He didn't wake up for lunch. And sometime during that day, no one could really say when, Timothy slipped away and stopped breathing.

   Gus was sitting by his bedside when he died.

TBC