House of Scales

Chapter 11: Fight or flight

The branches creaked in his rush to freedom. His long, deep breath accompanied him in the darkness. His agitated breathing caused a mist that melted into the black night. He couldn't detect what was behind him, for the darkness around him prevented him from doing so, but he couldn't stop looking back in fear. He felt the lurking shadow approaching; he could feel its presence, even though he couldn't see it.

He didn't want to die there, didn't want to end up like that, he couldn't. That couldn't be the end. He kept running with a lump in his throat. He had difficulty breathing, felt an intense pressure on his chest and his legs were pricked from the effort of running all that time. He couldn't do it much longer, feeling as if needles were going through his muscles, he feared it wouldn't take long for him to fall senseless to the ground. But he had to keep going, no matter what. Beyond that, he didn't know how far, his salvation awaited him.

He couldn't surrender to despair, to the frustration that all that chaotic situation made him feel. That race he was betting his life on. Why him? What was that thing that was chasing him? Would it have stopped? He had been running for a long time, longer than he had in his whole life. Yet the thing that haunted him was still close, for he could hear the strange, high-pitched hisses that echoed through the place. His long strides and his efforts to keep going had little effect: no matter how many paths he left behind, his pursuer's perseverance seemed to know no bounds.

And then came the light, with the faint glow of the moon that could barely filter through the treetops. His goal was just a few steps away from where he was. If he tried hard, he could make it: that was where it would all end. It had to be. He couldn't waste any time. It was now or never. Once that gap in the dendritic immensity in which he was lost had passed, he could find a solution and return to civilisation. It was the last effort.

Dodging the trees that grew in strange shapes here and there, jumping over the roots hidden in the shadows of the ground, bending down to avoid some low branches and continuing. He couldn't stop now. Everything was close. He was so close... A few more steps and he would have left behind the nightmare he had plunged into.

He noticed late the branch protruding from the ground hidden under the leaf litter, and the strength of his foot couldn't withstand the resistance of the tree. He rolled forward, getting small cuts and dirt all over. The blood streaming from his lip filled his mouth with a foul metallic taste that almost made him vomit. He kept his composure as best he could and got up again. It was time to ignore the sharp pain in his left ankle, which didn't respond well to him, or he would never be able to get out of it. He kept running as he felt the burning in his leg and the paralysis of his muscles. Tears of pain and anger ran down his cheeks; his jaw hurt from clenching his teeth. All this was necessary to survive.

"Not going to let you catch me, you damn bastard," he grunted in the air as the screams at his back gave him one last push to get to the exit.

When he arrived, he couldn't help but stop for a moment. His mind, which had gone at breakneck speed, stopped suddenly. He was exhausted and lost. The light he had been waiting for came on another, an unexpected one, which couldn't help but make him smile.

"Help!" he shouted as soon as his feet, one of them with a half-destroyed shoe, touched the asphalt. "Help me! Can anyone hear me?"

Abandoned the dark mantle with which night covered the forest, hope seemed to surround him and cover the rest of his world with colour. He had seen the rear lights of one of the cars that had just come down a nearby bend, on their way to town. His chance, within reach, lay in the already unmistakable noise of that car, which could take him out of that place and away from his pursuer.

"Over here!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he saw vehicle's lights reflected off one of the signs in the distance.

Yet another light distracted him from that hope. He was in the middle of the road, waiting, knowing that what was chasing him hadn't found him. He turned as he heard a sharp hissing sound behind him, followed by the rustling of branches and something massive crawling. He cursed, as he turned to run up the road in the hope of reaching the car and explain the situation before that thing caught him, but he couldn't move a muscle. His body froze, and his eyes were stuck in a flash which he hadn't noticed, the reflection of golden eyes watching him from across the paved road to salvation. A similar flash went unnoticed behind his back. Under those eyes, a sharp smile formed that made him abandon all hope. He would have no time to escape.

"Caroline." That was the last thing he could whisper before the golden flash came upon him.

The car went down the road in a hurry. It was late at night, and they wanted to get home as soon as possible. They took the road down from the wooded area into the urban one. There were no obstacles in the way, for the shadows had already made sure of that. The early morning would erase the memories of those who didn't survive the ravages of the forest. As the sun rose quietly without knowing the tragedy the moon had witnessed, hundreds of people awoke ignorant to what those golden eyes had seen fade into darkness.