Chased

Chased: A Short Story

Mountains sprawl across the valley, casting darkening shadows over a variety of trees. A quiet stillness seems to creep from everywhere and nowhere at once. My lungs sting from exertion, my throat is as dry as the cloudless sky. My feet thump against the earth, unsteady and desperate.

The sun disappears behind a distant horizon, and the jungle is cast into pitch-black night. I force myself to run faster, sweat pouring down my face and trickling into my eyes, effectively blinding me. I narrowly avoid a tree, my shoulder skiffing its bark and leaving an angry red scrape on my bare skin. I bite my lip, holding in a yelp. My legs burn, muscles straining to make it just one more step. I pant loudly and try to to smother the sound in my elbow, but as colours drift into my vision and I grow faint oxygen deprivation forces me to remove my arm. I unceremoniously gulp air. My legs slow, exhaustion creeping into my being. I knew I should've taken more fitness classes at the Temple. I mutter a curse at myself.

A sudden crash in the underbrush behind me startles me out of my stupor, adrenaline pumping in my veins. My eyes dart from side to side, every shadow and swinging vine a stalking beast to my terrified and weary brain. The sound of bushes being trampled sends fresh fear pulsing through me. It's catching up.

I was warned—almost constantly—not to stay out after dusk. A poster hangs over my bunk that states, "Sunsets are Deathtraps in Disguise" in bold letters. But I got cocky. The possibility of bagging a Skree-Skree bird (named for the irritating noise they make when threatened) and coming home a hero was far too much to pass up. My show-off tendencies kicked in.

If only I'd listened to reason, just this once.

A fierce roar echoes behind me, chillingly close, sending the hairs on the back off my neck standing on end and my stumbling feet crashing desperately through clusters of Mars-Death Traps. Their sharp prongs dig into my skin, but I don't feel the throbbing pain through my panic. I round a sharp bend and skid past a familiar cluster of trees. Hope blossoms in my chest. The gathering tree. The place where the rest of my squadron and I meet if we are ever separated or in need of help. And it stands just a few yards away from the Temple.

I push myself to my limit, more aware than ever of the huffing and growling of the creature chasing me. Leaves smack my sweat-covered face but I don't notice. My shoulder drips blood and the needles from the Mars-Death Traps rip my legs raw, but I don't care. All I feel is the pounding of my heart and the rumbling in the ground as my pursuer grows closer. Air burns my throat but I can't stop now. Not when I'm so close.

Then finally, mercifully, the Temple shows itself through a tangle of branches and vines. It's only a yard away. I dash towards it, my clumsy feet catching on the many roots snaking over the forest floor. But at the same time, the beast grows closer. I can feel spittle from its gigantic maw peppering my neck, and hear its grunts and growls as if they were my own. Tears spring to my eyes.

Why.

Why me.

Why now.

And then it leaps.