The Children of Hare Hill

Free The Children of Hare Hill by Scott McKenzie

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Authors: Scott McKenzie
impossible to turn away.
    The werewolf was the size and shape of a grown man, but it was standing on all fours, covered from head to toe in thick black fur. It paced in front of the frightened unicorn, barking and howling, making false lunges towards it, trying to pick its moment to attack. The unicorn was backing up further and further. Ben could see that the werewolf was trying to corner it against the fence at the other side of the clearing, but he was powerless to help. What could a five-year-old boy do to help in this situation?
    Maybe there's something in the hut I could use to distract the werewolf , he thought, and lowered his binoculars. As he did so, silence and calm suddenly descended on the park. The sound of snarling and howling had gone, and he looked across the clearing to see that the creatures had disappeared.
    What's going on? Ben thought. He looked through his binoculars and saw the creatures once again; now the werewolf had the unicorn pinned against the fence. He looked down at the clipboard and saw that all the remaining boxes on the sheet had been filled in with silhouettes of animals. The last three creatures were a unicorn, a werewolf, and—
    No way, Ben thought. It can't be...
    He raised his binoculars again and saw the same scene: werewolf versus unicorn. The werewolf crouched and, as the unicorn whimpered, resigned to its fate, the werewolf pounced. The creature flew through the air, drool dripping from its long fangs, but it failed to land the killer blow. The werewolf was stopped in mid-air. A gigantic foot came from above and slammed it into the ground in a cloud of dirt and dust. In the commotion, the unicorn made its break for freedom, running through the clearing, past the hut and into the trees.
    There was a deafening thump as a second giant foot slammed into the ground, rattling the wooden planks of the hut. With wide, unblinking eyes, Ben followed the creature's feet to its legs, to its torso; the rest of this behemoth was obscured from view by the hut. With two more giant thumps, the creature's feet turned to point directly at Ben.
    With the binoculars still held to his eyes, he scrambled out of the hut and wound the zoom dial back as far as he could. No sooner had he slammed the door behind him, than the hut was flattened by one of the gigantic feet. Splinters showered all around and, in the cloud of debris, the beast leaned over and let out a blood-curdling roar. Ben spun round and found himself face-to-face with a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
    Time seemed to stop. This creature, only inches away from his face, was majestic in its horrific beauty. He was staring down the biggest, most fearsome killing machine that had ever walked the earth. He had seen the T-Rex in books and in films, but nothing had prepared him for the sight before him. He could feel this monster's breath on his skin; it was blowing his hair like he was staring down a thousand hair-dryers. The rows of razor sharp teeth were never-ending and Ben knew it could swallow him whole if it wanted to.
    And it did want to. The T-Rex lunged at Ben, its jaws open wide, and Ben saw the dark abyss behind the sharp teeth coming towards him. He fell backwards and dropped his binoculars. He heard a smash as they hit the ground. Ben scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could, then stopped when he realised the sound of the ravenous dinosaur had gone.
    He turned round. The scene behind him was still. The hut was still in one piece. Ben found the binoculars and picked them up. Anticipating another dinosaur attack, his body tensed as he looked through them. But he saw nothing, apart from a magnified view of the hut, distorted by the cracks in the binoculars' lenses.
    He started to walk back down the path to the hut, but he stopped at the fourth hare when it suddenly started to glow. The ring of ashes whirled around it, then there was a flash and the hare was released from its spell. Right on cue, it ran away.
    Ben felt a warm, positive

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