Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 11

     Branch had been walking for hours now... how far away from home was he? And why the hair would a Cuddle Pup... or any other critter for that matter... take the little troll just to leave him in the middle of nowhere...

     "Ugh..." he groaned out in exhaustion, falling to the ground as he panted heavily from thirst...

His mouth had been super dry since a few minutes before he lost all awareness of the world around him the previous night... but now... with the sun beating fiercely down on his gray skin for so long... he almost couldn't even breath with how thirsty he was...

     Lucky for him... he was a paranoid survivalist, and never... never... left his bunker without all the necessary tools for survival...

     Panting heavily, his whole body sweating profusely, the little gray troll reached into his hair, pulling out a canteen of water which was fully filled to the brim of flowing over...

Quickly, he opened up the bottle, guzzling down the lifesaving liquid inside... He had never been so thirsty in his entire life...

     The water gave him a bit more energy, helping the village grump to rise back up to his feet, looking around the area once again...

Wait... where did the paw prints go?

He looked around in confusion, a bit of fear suddenly filling his heart...

It was then that he realized... for the past hour and a half... he had just been walking aimlessly through the forest, distracted from the trail leading him home by his overwhelming exhaustion...

"Ugh!" he groaned out in utter disappointment, hiding his shameful face inside the palms of his hands...

Great... he was completely 100% lost... what was he going to do now!?

     Wait a minute...

Branch lifted his head, looking around as he sniffed slightly at the fresh afternoon air. The clear smell of maple and pine told him exactly where he was...

The gray troll often came here to collect sticks for his bunker... He knew how to get home!

     Quickly, a hopeful smile coming to his face, Branch took off running in the direction of the village, wanting to get home and out of this forest once and for all...

Pushing his way through a patch of wild flowers, the gray troll finally entered town square, pausing for a moment to look around in pure joy.

He made it! He was home!

But wait... where was everyone?

The village was unusually quiet, not even a single troll wondering around the square... Strange...

     "Branch!" he suddenly heard in a worried voice, the village grump turning his head to see Poppy running straight for him, finally wrapping her best friend in a tight hug once she was close enough to her objective. "Are you ok!?"

     He looked down at the young princess who had her face buried deep into his chest, crying softly with concern...

     "Uh... yeah..." he muttered softly, slightly confused. "I'm fine..."

"I was so worried..." she sobbed. "I thought you were eaten..."

She was worried... about him? Why?

It was then... that her words suddenly sunk in to his brain...

"Wait..." he gasped, pulling away from the hug to look the princess in the eye. "Eaten?"