The snow beat against me as I ran. It fell heavily, the large white flakes sticking to my face and jacket. I was surrounded by trees, tall, thick trunk-ed oaks, with branches hidden by the night’s blackness high above. By contrast a blanket of untainted snow spread out before me, snow of the purest white complexion that sparkled under the light of my flashlight. But despite the beauty of the setting I continued to run. Or more accurately, I plodded quickly, with my heavy boots collapsing with a crunch into each labored step.
I wondered if I lost it, the thing that was chasing me. A “thing” because I really don’t know what it was. It had wings; yes wings cause it swooped down upon us but after that all I know was screaming, terrible screaming and then running. And now I’m here. The screaming stopped long ago. In its place was an eerie silence that was interrupted only by the sound of my disordered steps. I slowed my toiled progress and leaned against a tree. Its ridged bark scratching my back as I slid down its length to sit. I could see my breath envelope around me, while I gasped for air. Cold drops of sweat streamed down my forehead and a frigid chill enclosed my frame. I folded my arms tightly around myself to retain what little body heat I had.
I sat there for a long time, bewildered and out of breath. I wondered how far I had run; in fact I didn’t even know how much time had elapsed since the chase began. It was all so sudden and I had no time to realize where I was even going.
What happened to the others? Did they escape? My God. I wouldn’t even know where they were even if they did. Suddenly a new fear grabbed hold of me. I am alone. I shivered, partly from fright, partly from the cold. Fingering the lens of the flashlight, I lowered its beam on to my still fresh footprints. Another horror descended upon me. My footprints led straight to me. There was no escaping the beast if it was so determined to find me. Where could I go? Wandering farther into the forest was pointless. I had no bearing of my whereabouts and who knew what other terrible beings lurked in this cursed woods.
My only apparent option was to follow my footsteps back to where we were ambushed. From there I will know the way out of the forest. From there the path was familiar to me. I got up slowly, steadying myself with the tree trunk behind me. The snow were falling less fervently as before, instead lone flakes were floating towards the ground languidly. The cold air was still and all was silent. I began to retrace my steps, the snow crunching under my feet. I lowered the beam of my flashlight and made my way as quietly as I could.
For about twenty minutes I continued on my way until I reached what appeared to be the sight of the ambush. The snow that had fallen during the interim since the attack had somewhat disguised the commotion that had occurred. It was a small clearing among the trees. Slowly, I walked to the center inspecting the nearest trees with my flashlight.
Suddenly a sound!
It was a guttural sound. It was close by. My body was shaking and I swung around haphazardly for whomever or whatever had emitted the sound. With my flashlight I detected movement low to the ground just outside the clearing. My breath came in shortened, almost neglected gulps.
I heard the sound again, this time it was softer and hollower. It was most definitely coming from the spot just outside clearing.
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