"Haa… haa… haa…"
Her ragged breathing tore through the suffocating silence of the woods. With every steps, pain was sent stabbing up her legs, her body almost crumbling, yet she forced them forward, stumbling through branches that clawed at her skin.
She couldn't stop.
She mustn't stop.
Behind her, the forest was alive with pursuit. Snapping twigs, rustling leaves, and the pounding rhythm of footsteps, too many to count. Too many to get distracted and stop.
Her lungs burned. Her vision blurred. Time had lost all meaning; there was nothing but the frantic beat of her heart and the terror sinking its claws deeper into her chest.
"Haa… haa… haa…"
She slowed for a fraction of a second, ears straining.
Footsteps.
One, two, three, then more. Dozens. Surrounding her.
Hunting her.
Coming for her.
Inhale...
She dragged air into her lungs, sharp and shallow. Her body screamed to collapse, but the shadows pressed closer.
And then...
A sound. A growl. Low. Inhuman. It slithered through the trees and froze her blood.
Her knees buckled, but she forced them onward, crashing through the undergrowth. Directions don't matter no more, just somewhere, anywhere that is safer.
The ground shook beneath her as the pursuit gained speed. Louder. Faster. Hungrier.
"I'm not dying tonight," she whispered, a fragile oath against the dark.
But fate chose otherwise.
Something lunged from the shadows.
She saw it.
Grotesque, shambling things with vacant eyes and clawing hands. Their teeth, jagged like broken knives, gleamed in the pale moonlight, ready to rip through flesh and bone alike.
Their stench hit her in a suffocating wave, rancid and unbearable.
Her body didn't wait for thought. For any thoughts won't matter. Training, instinct, call it anything, so long it will kept her alive.
BANG!
The loud earspliting sound shocks the night.
Her hand was steady, her aim true. The shot tore straight through the creature's skull. Brain splattered, staining the forest floor.
Red color.
It should have been enough.
It should be.
But...
Momentum don't die along with the body.
THUD
A loud crashing sound, two bodies slamming on each other.
The thing's weight slammed into her, dragging her to the ground. Dirt scraped her skin as she hit the earth, the dead creature collapsing on top of her.
Even lifeless, it bore her down like a curse, as if whispering that escape was an illusion.
That no matter how fast she ran...
There was no way out.
Pinned beneath the stink of rot, her chest heaving, she realized the truth...
...