This cat is ready to hunt his meal,
and I am RAVENOUS…
Wait… What?
Something slices through the air above me so fast I don’t process it until I hear the sound of impact—a dull, solid thunk above my head.
I freeze.
My eyes lift slowly, dread creeping into my stomach as I see what’s embedded into the tree.
A hunting arrow.
I turn my head. There he is. My masked stalker, standing further down the beach with a crossbow in hand. He waves his illuminated phone at me as mine vibrates again.
I don’t need to read the message.Fuck that.
I just... run!
Fear replaces my earlier reservations with a primal urge to survive. This was all part of his game. I’m the fucking game! Dressed as a stupid deer of all things.
There are no defined trails, only dense brambles and plenty of fallen trees obscuring my path. The noise I make pushing through the branches echoes around me.
There’s no moon out, and I can’t see more than five feet in front of me. But ahead, I hear a babbling stream. I run toward it.
I trip a few times as my dress catches on thorny shrubs, and eventually, I come to a small stream several feet wide. Leaping over it, I slip on the lichen and moss, falling on my hip.
Pain flares. I hiss, pushing up on shaking arms?—
And then, as if tonight couldn’t get worse, the toy inside me shifts and slips free, landing with a small splash in the water beside me.
Good. Finally. Maybe now my body will stop betraying me. My night vision is starting to kick in; I can make out in the shadows ahead a large boulder big enough to hide behind through the thickets.
I make my way to it, ducking into a shallow crevice to catch my breath. I’m nearly hyperventilating, my hands shaking with mortal fear. I hold my hands to my mouth to muffle my sounds.
The forest at night is terrifying. A few birds can be heard cooing in their sleep. A coyote howls in the distance. I also hear the scratching of nearby squirrels, no doubt curious as to what’s going on below.
A noise to my right has me tensing; I squint to see what it is. A harmless little bunny emerges from a shrub.
I’ve nearly got my breath in check when a loud snap of a branch and slow, hard footsteps trigger a new kind of fear—I’m out of time.
I tie up the hem of my dress to free up my legs to move and sneak out of my crevice, trying to stealth myself below its rocky platform. The loud thuds of footsteps are getting nearer and nearer.
I run as fast as I can, hitting every fucking branch on the way down to the bottom of a gully.
Too late.
A heavy body crashes into mine, arms coiling around my waist like steel bands, dragging me down. The ground vanishes from beneath me, and then we’re tumbling, rolling, bodies colliding as we hit the bottom of the embankment. I scream my protests, my arms flailing in defense. My breathing is erratic; my head spins as tears run rivers down my cheeks. I squirm and writhe from his grip.
Slipping out of my fur vest, my elbow connects with his face. He releases me and groans.
Using his distraction, I get up and kick him in the stomach as hard as I can muster before turning on my heels and legging it up the other side of the embankment.
I need help! I need to find somewhere safe!
Branches tear and shred my body.
My ears ring with shock and fear. I feel numb.
