Chapter 11
This made no sense. I couldn't be seeing something like this. It was impossible.
In place of the cute bunny that had originally halted my searched was now a huge bear, with steaming red eyes and teeth like knives. He gave a roar that was loud enough to shake branches off the trees. For a second, I was frozen in shock.
This couldn't be happening. It wasn't logical.
Whether or not I truly believed that it was a dream, I ran. My breathing became panting and my legs were quivering, but I ran like my life depended on it, because it did. The bear, while growling and groaning, lumbered heavily after me. I heard branches crack like twigs under its weight. Even though I had put a few yards between us by getting a head start, his ear-shattering roar still sent shivers up my spine.
I didn't know where I was going. I took whichever path I noticed that had the least obstacles, but still ended up having to leap over a few brilliantly-colored shrubs and duck under tree branches. Twigs and leaves clawed at my clothes and my face, but I ignored the pain and continued to run blindly. My pants quickened and I harshly cursed myself for never working out. Who knew that it could save your life? Adrenaline pulsed through my straining body and my veins were burning. I found refuge behind a tree with an enormous trunk. Although the bear could probably smell me and my sweat from a mile away, for some reason, I assumed that I was safe momentarily.
What was I to do? What does a human even do in case of a bear attack? Was I supposed to make myself look bigger than him, like I'd seen in movies? I didn't have the balls for that! My lungs were burning as well as my arm. The wicker basket had carved several scratches into my arm, which were insignificant injuries compared to being clawed by a bear.
There was a crack of a twig. My whole body stiffened. Cautiously, I held my breath and peeked around the tree which I soon realized was the dumbest thing I had ever done.
"ROAAAAAAARRRRRR!" A massive claw barely missed my face and, instead, tore the bark off the side of the tree that I had been using as a hiding spot. The wind from the swipe knocked me backwards and eventually, to the ground. I was frozen, my eyes glued to the creature's eyes, as it stood on its hind legs and bellowed. Its growl was loud enough to make the ground quiver.
In the bear's eyes, I saw the miserable and gruesome future that awaited me.
I was going to die, right?
The bear crashed back into the ground and headed for me. I only had a few seconds to act. My eyes were bulging and flooding with scared tears, so I felt around with my hand to find something—anything—to protect myself. I felt something sturdy beneath my fingers and I gripped it tightly. The bear had knocked a few of the tree's branches off with its enormous claws, so I held the ragged and blunt stick in both of my hands. The bear swerved upward, preparing to swoop down for the final blow and, suddenly, I knew what to do. I jabbed the stick toward the bear's large and unprotected belly. Blood spewed from its wound, and the bear yelped and thrust its head backwards in pain.
This was my chance. I dropped the stick, scrambled over twigs and my own feet, and ran as fast as my trembling legs could take me. I dodged trees that seemed to never end. The bear's roar of agony echoed behind me but, soon enough, I couldn't hear it at all. Had I really injured it so badly for it to make such sounds?
My lungs were burning, but I saw a light shine through the shrubbery. I could no longer hear the rustling of animals or the tricking of water; only my own coarse breathing and the painful pounding of my heart. I wonder if I have hypertension. That would suck.
I clenched my jaw as I neared the light, then jumped over a tree stump as I burst into the open.
The landscape inclined, creating a steep hill that I didn't notice until I was already barreling down it. I brought my hands to my face in order to protect it while my body was bombarded by rocks, twigs, and thick grasses from the hill. My body slammed downwards, starting a very unpleasant pattern for my fall. I bounced around haphazardly and I could feel my body cling tighter together, trying to block out the pain. I hit my head, my shoulders, my hips, my knees. The spinning left me dizzy and discombobulated. The world flipped upside-down, sideways, diagonal.
I knew that I had reached the bottom of the hill when my back slammed against a robust tree trunk. The picnic basket that had been rolling by my side slammed into my stomach. My breath left my body and, all at once, I began to feel the bruises that I had just been given. There were parts of me that were bruised, bleeding, and scratched. My clothes were rumpled and dirty, but they were the least of my problems. I was dizzy enough to puke.
"Dammit…" I mumbled as I wiped the blood off my right leg with my palm, which was already pooling into a horrible stain on my jeans.
A bear around here was rare; almost impossible. Even more impossible was someone coming in contact with it so close to a city park. Shouldn't there have been a warning on the news? Had I really…just escaped that? I plunged a stick into a bear's furry stomach—who the hell does that? How am I not dead?
And what about Alex? Did something happen to him?
Maybe I wasn't the only one the bear encountered.
No. Don't even think about that.
I clenched my teeth together, trying to ignore the pain everywhere, and gripped the tree trunk to hoist myself up. When I put pressure on my leg, my knee buckled and I let out a muffled groan. I needed to do something about my leg, so I tried blotting at it with my shirt. I sat by the tree long enough to stop the bleeding, but the rest of my body was still aching. I didn't have the strength to move.
I realized that lying here while a crazy ass bear that could smell my blood was still on the loose was a bad idea. I grabbed the basket with an unsteady hand and thought of Alma. What would she say if she knew what I had just gone through?
I looked behind me and saw a small stream, barely twenty feet across, with small rapids and water more clear and pristine than bottled water. I remembered hearing rushing water when I was searching through the woods for Alex, so I decided to wander along the edge of this stream until, hopefully, I could return to him. I held my hand to my eyes, trying to shield them from the sun's reflection on the water's crystalline surface.
I walked for a long time. Maybe an hour. I saw no field of fox gloves or blankets or people. The only animals that I saw were the occasional squirrels and some wildly-colored insects. I was insanely tired, so I plopped down at the edge of the creek, removed my boots, rolled up my pants legs with a wince, and submerged my feet in the cold water. My body was initially shocked by the temperature, but it felt more refreshing as I relaxed. I cupped my hands together and used water to wash my wounded leg, which was still leaking a thin stream of blood.
I felt fatigued. I hadn't even realized how tired I was until my body burst forward in a desperate, involuntary response to keep me awake. Kind of like being in a really boring class, but being afraid to sleep because the teacher would chew you out if they saw your head on your desk. Maybe I could get out of classes by claiming Post-Chased-By-A-Bear-And-Nearly-Killed stress disorder.
My eyes were dry and watery at the same time, so I was forced to rub them, which only made me feel even more tired. I was pretty sure that it was dangerous for a weak, injured person to sleep in a forest inhabited by deadly animals, but for once, I didn't listen to my own logic. I pulled my feet out of the water and curled up on the soft grass, deciding that I was even too tired to debate with myself what to do about my being tired. Yes, it was stupid, but it wasn't like geniuses had epiphanies, like the Big Bang Theory or gravity, while they were half-asleep.
Nothing could hurt if I closed my eyes for…five minutes. Ten minutes at the most.
My nap lasted about twelve minutes. A crash from down the river shook the ground and my eyes burst open. I clambered to my feet, feeling a new wave of epinephrine come rushing out from my adrenal glands—that sounded weird. Too technical. Anyway, my right hand plunged to the ground, hoping to find something that was either wide enough to cover my head, in case of falling shrapnel, or heavy enough to bash into a creature's skull, if need be.
A gigantic, blurry white mass rose from the shrubbery shadows and darted down the hill, only to stop and stand elegantly at the river's edge. It dove into the water like a submarine and, for a few moments, it actually disappeared beneath the sparkling rapids. On the other side of the riverbank, I saw it resurface, like the little mermaid emerging from the sea.
It wriggled off excess water from its slender body. Its long, silvery mane floated like smoke. Its white hair was sleek and glossy; its hooves were as shiny as pearls. Its tail, which was the same translucent silver as its mane, swished vehemently.
I lowered the rock and gasped as I recognized the beautiful creature.
A horse?
It let out a shrill whinny and nervously pawed at the dirt with its fore hoof. My intake of breath had probably startled it, so its eyes, two huge turquoise orbs shrouded in long lashes, focused in my direction and studied me from across the river.
The horse was probably harmless, granted that I didn't provoke it, so I was content with staring at it for a few enchanting seconds. I should have been more cautious, especially considering the 'bunny-to-bear' fiasco that I still didn't understand. Virginia wasn't exactly famous for its wild horses either, so I assumed that this was an escapee from someone's ranch. We stood awkwardly on our sides of the stream, studying each other with ferocity, until it released another whinny and disappeared into the woods. I was alone once again.
I didn't know what voodoo shit had come over me, but I urgently needed to follow it. I grabbed my belongings blindly and, as if by some 'miracle,' ignored my throbbing leg. I stared blankly into the trees on the opposite side of the river and, suddenly, I was wet with cold water up to my thighs. When I had made it across the river, somehow managing to keep my basket above the water at all times, I raced into the woods. It stood silently ahead of me, perched gracefully between two trees and precisely where there was an excellent source of sunlight. It seemed as though it had been waiting for me. However, when I tried to step forward, it bolted.
"Wait!" I shouted, stupidly chasing after it. What was I hoping for? That it would lead me back to Alex or some form of society? Maybe I was just lonely. Animals, especially dogs, always had miraculous effects on my attitude. I liked beautiful things. Flowers. Landscapes. Sunsets. And puppies made me go weak. Unfortunately, my interactive skills with humans were atrocious.
But that was nothing short of obvious. I had always been this way.
Why?
And really, this place, disregarding the bear, was the epitome of my preferences. Yet, why was I so anxious to return to society, where people scorned me, pitied me, and refused to see me as an equal? All humans can ever do is act to someone else's disadvantage. Humans are creatures of taking and never giving. Of complaining, but never understanding. Of saying one thing, then meaning another. Of wanting and desiring trust, then betraying everyone that had once trusted them.
Why did I want to return to a place like that?
Isn't this a little too philosophical to be contemplating while trying to save my own life?
The horse and I fell into a rhythm. After a couple of seconds that it would gallop over bushes and through trees, the horse would come to a sudden stop and peek at me, teasing me. If it was able to talk, I knew that it would be saying, "Run faster, damn human!" Why am I even following this damn thing? What am I doing?
Somewhere among the trees was a rocky ledge, which the horse leaped down and disappeared into completely. I had to jump over the edge in order to follow it, which aggravated my injuries even more. The horse sank lower and lower into the ground and the stone wall on both sides of this path grew taller and taller. The horse turned a sharp corner but, when I did the same, I looked ahead of me and there was no horse.
I knew that I had seen it com this way. How could it have disappeared when the rock walls on either side of us were twenty feet tall? The path had stopped here, indicated by a large wall made of yellow and gray earth in front of me. Great, that horse was just fucking with me. Now I'm gonna have to trek all the way back—
The ground vanished beneath me.
I experience a millisecond of suspension until my stomach dropped. I felt a sudden gush of wind blow through my hair and I reached my hand out, trying to find an edge to hold on to. But the hole was huge and all of the edges were further than my arm could reach. I felt like my entire body didn't quite fall, but was pulled downward.
I screamed louder than I ever had before.
I was enveloped by the ground. The hold above me closed up, so I was trapped in only thick, suffocating darkness.
**Holy crap! I'm sorry, we're late again! I promised that I wasn't going to do that! I know the next update will be quick though, because we've already written most of it. **