My Prey

Chapter 13: Little Bunny

Evelyn's pov:

Is he going to let me escape? I'm running down the alley but the only footsteps I hear are my own? Darting down the Web of streets and pathways, I'm hopelessly lost but it doesn't matter. I just have to run.

The world is unnaturally silent. Nothing but my own panting and the echoes of footsteps. It should be safe to stop now right?

As soon as that thought crosses my mind, I can hear the scrape of metal on concrete. The echo of distant, controlled footsteps, slowly persues. He was never going to let me leave. I played right into his hands. I'm the fly in this spiders web.

Taking off running again, I desperately try to strain my ears, in hope of placing exactly where my pursuer is. Corner after corner, alley after alley. I'm hopelessly lost, running this maze without a destination. My only goal is escaping the hunter. I will not become his prey.

It's getting dark and fast, what little light remains casts shadows up the sided of the buildings and across the floor. Shadows are watching, laughing at my plight; Demons mocking my fleeting hope. I'm nothing more than a spectacle for them, a short burst of entertainment in an otherwise lifeless domain. The cracks in the pavement are veins carrying sustenance to my shadowed observers. Their silence mocks me, the tendrils of darkness contorting into sinister, toothy grins.

The footsteps of the monster are paced carefully; a faux heartbeat instilling fear into it's prey.

Each distant thud getting closer yet the location remains disguised under each echo. Even the walls are a player in this sick game. Every few minutes, the same sound of metal scraping claws at my ears. Slowly, carefully, he's telling me where he is, reminding me that this is his playground. Even what little of his face I saw through the mask was a warning sign. From the way his lips contorted into a sadistic grin to the once blue eyes, turned almost black with a feral, predatory hunger. Even the mask itself, a black half mask, matte and unreflective, complimenting the eyes that slice into my soul.

As he gets closer, a low chuckle leaves his throat, vibrating the very core of my fear. He's getting closer, stalking like a lion, waiting on the opportunity to pounce.

I run into a small, circular opening and from it are three pathways. I can hear his footsteps circling. This is it. This is the turning point. I can either escape or risk capture and who knows what after that?

If I make the wrong choice.. I might never see the sunrise again. Path one is a no go since that's the one I came down first. That only leaves two options, both of which are dominated by the echo of the hunter, pacing back and forth in wait. Left or right. Life or death.

Left.

I take off in a sprint as fast as my legs can manage, straight down the alley without looking back. This is my chance.

I hear a disappointed sigh behind me before it's made startlingly clear how close he actually is. As I turn a corner, he comes out of a t junction, almost catching me with his knife; the same wooden knife he's used on me time and time again.

The metal on concrete.. He's toying with me, scraping it on walls and buildings as he passes by. I'm just a toy to him, the newest game to entertain him for a while.

Fueled by pure panic, another jolt of energy courses through my bones, shaking my core. The moonlight glints off of the blade in his hand, demanding my attention as I turn to run.

The alleys and streets seem to be getting shorter with every corner. His voice begins to echo behind me, low and deadly. Every syllable laced with venom and mallice. Sadism and excitement. A cocktail of hunger and a fucked up type of enjoyment.

Run rabbit
run rabbit
Run, run, run

His voice bounces from everything in sight; a sickening tune filled with control and paced perfectly with his footsteps. Every step closer towards me punctuates the lines pouring from his lips.

Run rabbit
run rabbit
Run, run, run

My feet pound against the pavement, their pace almost matching the thudding of my pulse. My neck and throat are coated in a thick sheen of sweat. My chest rises and falls with a painful intensity and everything in my body screams for release, for temporary reprise but I know that the second I stop, the game is over.

Bang bang bang
Bang goes the farmers gun

Line after line of his song rings through my skull, ingraining itself in my mind. I can hear my own heartbeat thumping in my ears. The world is silent, no distractions from his macabre song, from the reoccurring scrape of metal on the wall after every corner, corners that seem to be getting closer and closer together. Wait.

Left
Left
Left
Left
Oh no.
I'm spiralling, it's a dead end in the centre. I'm trapped, i can't go back. I need to hide somehow but his voice grows ever closer.

Run rabbit
run rabbit
Run, run run
Run rabbit
Run rabbit
Run run run.

Between verses, he let's out a small chuckle, he knows he has won. This is his playground. This is his hunt. He has made me his prey despite my best efforts. I'm not done yet.
I can still hide. I can still escape. I may have become his prey but I don't have to roll over and give in. I will never give in.

Corner after corner, street after street, each one looking the same I close in on my fate.

Don't give the farmer
His fun, fun, fun
He'll get by
Without his rabbit pie..

The darkness as I draw nearer to the centre of the spiral is almost prophetic. Even the universe does not have hope for my escape but that doesn't mean I can't try.

Rounding the final corner, I find myself in a small rectangle area. Deceivingly, it looks like their should be another corner at the end, hidden in the shadows. Shadows, something I can use to my advantage.

Flattening against the wall and trying to silence my breathing, I stand and I wait for the monster that is my hunter. My eyes dart around for any kind of weapon and find nothing but an old rusty pole. It's within reach; noted.

So run rabbit
Run rabbit
Run
Run
Run

The pause between the final three words, barely a growled whisper, stretched an eternity and, as if punctuating the final one, he rounded the corner perfectly on que.

His mask catching the moonlight did nothing to humanise the monster barely a few feet away. His eyes scanned the area quickly before landing on me

"there you are little bunny"