Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 29

Peppy paced anxiously in his and Poppy's pod, having no clue where his daughter has been for the past 24 hours...

Was she safe? Was she hurt? Had the wolf gotten to her before he could!?

Suddenly, the squeak of the front door being opened notified Peppy someone was entering his home, the old king quickly turning around to see Poppy, her head low and ears drooping...

"Poppy!" he shouted out in relief, quickly rushing over to hug his daughter tightly in his arms. "I was worried sick! Where have you been!?"

Silence...

It took a moment for Poppy to answer the question, but when she did... the old king's heart shattered...

"The... the hospital..." Poppy muttered softly, Peppy's eyes widening in shock at the sound of her horrifying words...

"Oh my god..." he muttered softly before quickly beginning to check over his daughter for injuries. "Are you hurt!? What happened!?"

"I'm fine, dad..." the young princess muttered with a slight sigh. "I'm not hurt..."
"Than..." Peppy started in confusion. "Why were you at the hospital?"
"B... Branch..."

Peppy's eyes widened at the sound of that one little word, his heart seeming to skip a beat...

"Branch?" he muttered in a soft whisper to which Poppy nodded in reply.

"I was... he... he's in the hospital..." she finally muttered softly in despair, refusing to make eye contact with her father...

     "What happened?" Peppy asked in concern, completely worried about the gray troll's safety...

     Poppy still didn't know for sure what the answer to that question was... Branch didn't remember... and he was the only one who would actually know what had truly happened to him...

     But the young princess did have an idea...

     The scratches on his body seemed older than the bullet wounds... that lead her to one big assumption...

     The wolf had attacked him before her group of friends had captured it, and through all three weeks of the beast being locked up... Branch was wondering in the woods... weak and alone... literally fighting to get back to the village to find help... then... when he finally got close... that was when the wolf was escaping, leading two of the many bullets Creek had fired at the monster to hit Branch instead, putting the survivalist in an even worse situation than he had already been in before...

     "He... he..." Poppy started, but she just couldn't find the words to tell her father...

     Her heart aching in sorrow, the young princess finally broke down into tears for what felt like the hundredth time that day, quickly running into her father's arms for comfort...

     "You were right, dad!" she sobbed, burying her face deep into the old king's shoulder. "That wolf is dangerous! It... it could have killed him! It's the reason Branch is in the hospital..."

     Peppy was frozen... he just couldn't believe what he was hearing...

     Finally... his shocked expression faded away from his face, turning instantly into one of pure rage...

     With a soft growl, the old king pulled away from his daughter before beginning to stomp angrily towards the door...

     "Where... sniff... where are you going?" Poppy asked, turning to watch her father leave as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

     "To find that wolf..." he grumbled. "And this time... it won't be getting away..."