The road seemed to continue on as an endless endeavour in the horizon. The grey pebbles crackled under her feet as she ran, not pausing to catch her breath as it caught in the back of her throat with the scream she could feel caught there. The skyline looked like a skyscraper in one of those old cities from the old days; it towered above her and seemed to go for mile and miles, continuing on past the distance her eyes could see.
Red hair, which had been contained in a ponytail, blew free, into her face, as it grabbed at her, ripping the band that had held it and some stands of hair from the back of her head. She tried to scream, but the scream was stuck in her throat still, and it wouldn't tumble free. She stumbled as she panicked and something grabbed at her.
Reefing herself free, she veered off the road, into the dense forest beside her. 'Please oh please' she begged inside her mind. 'Please don't let this be Greyhorn forest.'
Greyhorn forest was believed to be cursed by the old people, the people before her time, who lived in big cities with big skyscrapers, of which she had only heard about in the forbidden books her father kept hidden in the library. If the guard of the people found those books… 'No stop thinking and get out of here' her mind screamed at her cutting herself off mid-thought.
The forest housed many mutated creatures, and only one of the hundreds who had ever ventured into that forest had ever returned. 'And even he barely lived the experience,' she thought bitterly.
Of course, everyone was taught to never, under any circumstances, enter Greyhorn forest. 'This is a bit of an emergency,' her mind told her. 'Oh, shut up' she thought grumbling.
Stumbling on a root caused her mind to return to what was happening. She could no longer hear the sounds of pursuance so she broke into a walk to catch her breath. She continued at a walk, completely lost, cold and scared until she heard a low growl.
Spinning around, she screamed.
It was hideous. It looked like a bear, but it had two heads, five eyes and three feet. Screaming, she scurried back, tripping over something in the dark. The bear-like thing advanced on her, growling and snarling at her. Scurrying backwards on all fours she closed her eyes. 'This is it, after everything, I'm going to die.'
As suddenly as the growling had started it stopped. She opened her eyes, and the bear like thing was fighting something. Before she got a good look at it, she got up and bolted. Running, boy did she run, without stopping for hours upon hours, before finally, collapsing, withering with dehydration and hunger. Her stomach hurt, every time she tried to move, a bolt of pain would shoot through her lower abdomen preventing her from being able to get up and find any food or water. Everything went black.
Everything was disoriented and fuzzy, white and black blending together to create a mysterious shadow which loomed over the stiff cold bench she was laying on. Blinking furiously, she could make out a blue shape over in the corner of the room. She sat up, immediately regretting it, and feeling sick, she bent over the side of the bench and hurled. Sitting up, her vision had cleared and she didn't feel sick anymore. Looking down, she realised she was in a green, paper weight gown. Panicking, she threw herself off the bench and hurled across the room. There, on a blue chair were her clothes she had previously been wearing.
Reefing her clothes off the chair, she yanked the gown off of her, slipping on her own clothes, all the while feeling disgusted that someone had undressed then redressed her while she was unconscious. Yanking on the door handle, she was surprised to find it was unlocked. Without casting a backward glance, she ran.
Surprisingly, the front door was also unlocked. Pulling it open she raced outside and back into the trees where she didn't stop. Panicking, she ran and ran, until she reached a road. A road she had never seen before, a road that was some sort of black thing that was stones, but they were stuck together. This road was very holey, and patchy, in dire need of repair. Gathering her courage, she ran along it, stumbling in the holes, and jumping over tree branches that had fallen across it. It was obvious this road had not been used for a very, very, long time. She wondered ironically, if this was a before time road, that had been abandoned and lost when this forest became a dangerous place.
She kept running, darkness fell and a low groan was heard above her. She looked up, and screamed, jumping out of the way as a branch that extended over the road fell, crashing and splintering on the ground. Trying to calm her racing heart, she stumbled off of the road into the ditch at the side and lay down. She passed out from exhaustion before her head hit the ground.
She felt groggy, and her limbs felt heavy as she pulled herself into a sitting position. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she was able to focus on where she was. Pulling herself up, with the help of a low branch from the tree above her she looked up at the road. Looking at the big branch that had smashed and the debris that was left from it, the memory of the branch crashing as she leapt out of the way flashed before her eyes, causing her to shiver.
Struggling, she pulled herself out of the ditch and up onto the road. Looking back at the way she came, she noticed storm clouds in the distance. Thinking this day was going from bad to worse she trudged along the road in the opposite direction of the storm.
After a few hours walking, she could hear the sound of water running. Senses alert, like a deer when the wind changes direction, she pounced off the road, with new energy she did not know she possessed, towards the sound, into the dark, dreary forest.
A few metres in, she found a small creek. On the opposite side of the creek was a deer. Her breath caught in her throat as she gasped softly. The deer cocked it head towards where she waited behind the bushes before turning and bounding away.
Crawling through the bushes she reached the edge of the creek, shoving her head into the creek and drinking the water. Finally, when she was not dying of thirst anymore, she dipped her hands into the water and splashed some onto her face and arm, scrubbing away the dirt and grime. Feeling as if she was washing away the events of the past few days, she breathed a sigh of relief, before pulling herself up and walking back towards the road, with a regretful look at the creek, wishing she could stay there forever in the peace and serenity but knowing she must continue on to try and find civilization, she passed back through the trees.
Upon reaching the road, she noticed that the storm she had noticed earlier was getting closer. Scared that, she would get caught in the storm, she started to run along the road once more, when she realised that she could hear the sound of something pursing her, she panicked and made herself run faster. As she ran, and concentrated on the pattern and sound of her pursuers footsteps, she realised it was the same as what had been chasing her along the other road, a few short days before.
If she listened closely, she could make out the faint irregularity of the footsteps, and the softness of one foot falling and the other loud. Was her pursuer hurt? Or was it an old battle limp? Maybe she should stop over thinking and just focusing on getting out of there, was what her mind started screaming at her. But how did it find me? What was it? Who was it? What did it want? Her? Why her? What does she have to offer for it? Nothing. She is no one important. But the question remained. Why did it want her? Why did it track her? She has never even seen it for Christ sake! Maybe it wanted a... 'No,' she cut herself off mid-thought. 'I am so not going there right now.'
She ran for hours, not stopping for a break until she realised the sound of a pursuer had stopped. She slowly stopped and turned around; bracing herself for something, anything but there was nothing there. Slightly panicked, she looked around. There was nothing, nothing in the trees, behind or in front of her. Slightly nervous, she closed her eyes, before they snapped open as she jumped at the sound of a crack of thunder. Looking towards the storm she noticed it was only a few minutes off. 'Must have frightened off my pursuer.'
Running towards the trees she ducked under a big, old branch, with a gnawed end and curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth muttering incoherent thoughts to herself in an attempt to calm herself down.
She woke up gasping and shivering. It was raining; the wind was really strong and horrific. She was drenched and cold, scared and shivering and she had nothing to protect herself. The rain continued to pelt down, when a flash of lightning flashed across the sky. Panicked, she whimpered and rocked herself to try and calm down. She had always been scared of storms, only this time, she could not hide in a house, under a roof, dry and comfortable. No, this time, she was by herself, no one to comfort her, in the cold and out in the open. Frightened she started to sing nursery rhymes her mother used to sing to her when she was little in a desperate attempt to try and calm herself down.
A few hours later, she was awoken to a scratching noise. Looking up, she was baffled to see a squirrel in the tree that she was under scratching at the bark. Feeling mystified, she stood and slowly retreated as to not disturb the squirrel. Right before she turned around, the squirrel turned towards her, it had a head growing out the other side of its head. Horrified she swallowed back the scream that was building in her throat and ran like hell itself was following her.
When she was back on the road, she bent over, resting her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. After a few minutes, she felt calm enough to continue on her way, down the road. Looking up, she squinted against the sun before her eyes adjusted.
"Wow" she breathed.
The mountains ahead looked magical. The mysterious aura they held captivated her. They towered over the rest of the horizon, creating a ghastly affect which both intrigued and mystified her.
The sound of a twig snapping behind her broke the spell.
Panicked she shot forward, racing away, and too scared to look back. She could hear the unevenness in her pursuers' steps again. 'Does he not give up or something,' she thought sarcastically.
She could feel something grabbing at her shirt, arms, scratching her and her clothes. Panicked, tired, thirsty, hungry and sore, she did not know if she would be able to run for much longer, or even if she would be able to outrun her pursuer again.
The sound of fabric tearing registered in her mind as she realised her shirt was being ripped from her body. Feeling it go, she panicked and tried to pick up the pace, but her tired, beaten and battered body would not let her. She stumbled causing whatever was behind her to scratch at her arms, cutting deeply and causing her to cry out.
With the blood running down her arm at a fast rate, she started to get woozy and she started to feel herself slipping. 'No,' she screamed at her body in her head. 'Don't give up yet!' She grunted with the exertion that it was causing on her body and the toll from the past few days took over and she crashed to the ground.
Panicked she started to crawl away but a foot on her back pushed her to the ground.
She looked up at her pursuer to see a flash of gold and screamed.