Prey wouldn’t look at me like that. Not when I’m so brazenly staring back. Which could only mean one thing…
Predator.
I dash forward, through the woods, my bare feet crunching on twigs.
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK…
The sound is deafening, resonating against the trees. I risk a glance back and see a blur of color charging, closing the distance between us.
My lungs burn as I struggle to suck in air. There’s no way I’ll be able to outrun the creature.
A flicker catches my eye, and I veer towards it, rushing over fallen trees and angled limbs. My shackles feel heavy. So heavy. Everything hurts. It would be an easy thing to slow and let this foreign world consume me.
But then those spiteful girls back at the shore would win. And I can’t have that.
I focus on the flicker, which grows into a flame with smoke billowing upward.
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK…
I run harder. I’m close now. So close. Almost.
CRASH!
I fall to the ground, rolling on impact.
Stabbing pain shoots through my shackled wrists as I struggle, trying to right myself.
I look up at a campfire.
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK…
I scramble to the side, pulling myself up. A strong urge to lunge sideways overwhelms me, and as I do, something flies past me into the fire.
A wail rises from the flame as a dark beast bucks wildly.
I need to go back to the shore, but just as I turn to leave, I see something that makes my heart stop.
A giant man is seated on a log, gazing at me intensely.
And I use the word ‘man’ loosely, because I’ve never seen someone as tall and as big around as him.
But what’s perhaps most alarming is the bluish-grey color of his skin. Something akin to what you’d hear in stories.
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK…
In my confusion, I’d nearly forgotten about the beast. I look over to see it staggering from the flame, its golden eyes fixed on me.
No, no, no—this can’t be happening…
I look at the giant, my face awash with terror, silently pleading for help.
Which could be folly because I don’t know which is worse: the beast or the giant man.
The beast will make a quick meal of me, but this…whatever it is, could very well torture me.
Hard silver-grey eyes bore into mine. I could get lost in their mystery, and almost do, but the damn clicking sounds again and my attention is drawn away.
Free of the flame, the beast stalks toward me, one foot in front of the other, squatting low. It’s slow, perhaps having learned a lesson from the fire.