Puppet Wolf

Is it alive? A wooden structure that seemingly moves on its own without an energy source of any kind, it is said in the forest there lives a creature that is not of the living nor of the dead.

Ignoring the rumors, you wander through the woods anyway, your curiosity taking hold of your footpath.

Perhaps you're hearing things. Perhaps those unmistakable sounds of clinking, clanking of gears turning and wood scraping are getting closer. You feel something near you and turn. You're standing face to face with an unmoving wooden face but you swore you just saw the eyes move.

You turntail and tear it across the forest floor, stopping only briefly to catch your breath. Curiosity has you by its grip again and you dare to look back. From the corner of your view you catch the shape of a large wolf figure. In one blink, the figure is gone. You stand taught, breath caught in your throat, half cursing you blinked and half doubting your eyes. Before you can further process the events, your feet begin to carry you quickly away again.

Perhaps the rumors were true.