I looked around the open field and found no sign of life in any direction. The mansion ahead was the only thing with any substance to it so I started walking toward it. It was old architecture, almost castle-like in its proportions, with large turrets rising at the front and a grand staircase leading up to the entrance. My bare feet moved through the tickling grass and clover and I kept my eyes down to watch my footing, tuning my hearing outward for any sound.
My feet found a dirt track just as the smell of burning wood reached me. I looked up.
Wolves were pouring from the tree line, charging toward the house. Their fur was matted and their bones showed through the coat in the way that rogue wolves looked when they had been running without a pack for a long time. There were many of them. They swarmed the building and the sound of snarling and snapping came from the far side, followed almost immediately by screaming.
I ran without deciding to.
