Uninvited Guest

Chapter 3

From behind the tree, Ziel could see the shadow of the creature closing in on her. At that moment, she couldn't hear anything else but the rapid beating of her heart. Her hands trembled as she pulled out the knife from her pocket, screaming profanities in her head as a single drop of sweat slid down her cheek.

This is going to be a disaster.

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She raised the knife, holding it close against her chest. She was prepared for a bloodbath, to get injured, to risk her life.

(Wow, she must love that fishing pole!)

As for the fishing pole, she can try and make a new one later.

(Nevermind)

Right now, survival was the most important thing. Ziel gulped nervously and pushed any unnecessary thoughts aside, "Alright, calm down. You can do this." she encouraged herself and forced a cocky grin. As she was going into a defense position, she heard the culprit bellowed and didn't anticipate its next move.

A large cracking sound echoed through the forest, and the next thing she felt was a headache as her vision becomes hazy. She rested her hand on her head. Then she felt a sharp pain at the side of her head, something warm was trickling down from where the pain had come. She touched it and looked at the red liquid. But she was in too much pain to acknowledge the red liquid.

There were a few seconds where she had just sat there, not even realizing the situation. Those few seconds felt like forever. Her head was spinning, a sick feeling in her stomach. The 'feeling' rising to her throat, threatening to spill out. She swallowed it back and instead focused her attention on the figure that was in front of her.

She saw a silhouette of something big behind what looked like a tree, broken in half. It took her longer than it should have to realize that the broken tree was the tree she was hiding behind.

She shook her head and looked in the direction of where the silhouette was. Her vision had cleared, and this time, she got a better look at the menacing figure. It had a dark grey coat with tiger stripes decorating its back, sides, and face. The dark colors faded into a lighter color, as its abdomen and legs are mainly white. It had one blind eye with a scar accompanying it.

Her eyes widened in realization as she quickly grabbed the knife beside her and dodged another attack. After avoiding the attack, she didn't even bother to look back and bolted the other way. She ran for her life, running through bushes and getting scratched by branches of leaves. Blood still dripping from the side of her head. Quickly while running, she grabbed the bottom of her cloak and ripped a part of it off. She lifted the piece of cloth and wrapped it around her head to slow down the bleeding. But she wasn't paying enough attention to where she was running until she tripped on a stray root. However, the roots didn't stop her as she quickly got up and started running again. She could hear trees getting knocked down from behind her and the growl of a hungry animal.