Bites, Fights, and Lovely Ladies
Ch. 01
"Where thee hell am I?" she asked herself.
She didn't know where she was, but she knew that she wasn't supposed to be there. Hiding her backpack behind a phone booth that was against the wall of a local pharmacy, she decided to take a walk around.
The reason she had the stupid idea to walk around an unfamiliar town at night was because she had been cooped up inside of an airplane, and then a car, for several hours and just needed to walk a bit. So walk she did.
The pharmacy was a bit away from the other stores in the town and seemed to mark the end of them. It seemed that there was a forest surrounding the town and she decided that walking through the woods would be more interesting then walking around town, mostly because she didn't think that weirdoes would hang in a forest.
Why would they? With an old town occasionally dotted with orange lights that flickered whenever someone near them felt scared, being the sadistic lights they were, why would creeps choose a forest instead of the town?
So, she headed away from the last of the flickering lights and into the dense brush.
She had walked about twenty feet into the trees when a snap came from behind her. Her entire being screamed at her to swiftly turn around, but not wanting to look scared in case a creep actually was there; she turned slowly, trying her best to look bored and almost uninterested.
There was nothing there.
Of course, she told herself, it's a dense forest; lots of animals must come through here, even near the edge.
So, she kept walking ahead, but after a few minutes she heard chuckling.
Now, you can say what you want, but she had never heard any animal chuckling and she was sure that they couldn't.
This time she didn't bother to hide her rising fear, and she started walking quickly deeper into the forest. You may think that she should have turned around and went back, but the noises were coming from behind her, why would she go straight at whatever was there?
Unlike most people, she wasn't curious as to what the sounds actually were, she just didn't want to be anywhere near them; so when she heard the chuckling again, louder, she took off running.
It really was a wonder she didn't trip, there was all sorts of plants and vines growing along the forest floor, not to mention upturned tree roots. But it was more like instinct, she knew she had to get away, so when she suddenly caught a glimpse of something on the ground, instead of wondering, like most people, she reacted.
For example:
Other people, "Oh my god! A tree root!" *falls on face*
Her, "Tree root!" *jumps*
See the difference?
Anyway, as she was running, a bird took off near her, squawking as it did so. The sudden change made her jump back and inevitably fall onto her side.
As she started getting up, a low-hanging branch snagged her shirt and pulled it up.
As she reached up to free it, a pain erupted from the left side of her ribs. It was almost a stabbing sensation, but that was soon forgotten as it flared up and what felt like liquid fire raced through her veins.
Gasping, she fell onto the ground. Clutching her side, the only thing she saw was a dark figure walking away.