The Safety

For the longest time, I'd been running. Just. From so much, yet so little, my legs forced me forward and away. I couldn't go back. It would seal a fate of imprisonment for life, or worse, death.

Survival kicked in about the second I was out, not only because they'd come looking for me but because of what was out there. There was nothing more dangerous than the unknown, which I'd come to know early on. All you had was yourself and your resources.

But right now, all I had was myself. And legs that I'm grateful moved exceptionally fast.

I tore through trees and bushes, running through rigid paths and stoney, muddy territories. I knew where I had to go. I just wondered if I'd make it there before something made it to me first.

That couldn't happen.

Exhausted after running for what felt like days that was actually 2 hours, I laid down to rest, thinking I was a safe enough distance from the place I was being hunted by for now. I had a little time.

I looked around me, trying to figure out where I was now. "Oak... dirt... stream... wo—Stream!"

I rushed over to the nearby stream, my breaths ragged and a bad cramp on my left side. Practically dunking my head in the water, I drank from the stream, sighs of pleasure following every gulp.

I washed my face, tending to some of the cuts on my arms and legs with leaves and water. I knew how to survive in the wild; it was a trait I'd been taught since I could walk because there was no other way to live if not out in nature. There were no more houses to occupy—or at least not any we'd found—no more canned food to eat, and certainly not many clothes to wear. If you couldn't live by the resources offered by the earth, you couldn't live at all.

Yet, somehow, the place I escaped from did.

I was just beginning to leave after filling a canteen with the stream water when I heard it: an echoey, low growl out in the distance. From how loud it had been, I knew it wasn't too far away, either.

I had to run or die. Right. Now.

Without another moment's thought, I sped through the brush, seeing that the sun was growing dimmer.

No, no, no, no, no, I kept thinking, willing my legs to pick up the pace. I could not afford an encounter with the source of that growl. That was sure death, and I couldn't—

I wouldn't die. No. Not now. I had to get to the safety.

The woods were darkening with every step I took, and I was so caught up in that fact that I didn't see a root sticking out from the earth—

The next thing I knew, I fell flat on my face from tripping, failing to find oxygen in my lungs as I lay still on the ground in agony.

"Help," I whispered to no one in particular after a long moment, inhaling a sharp and painful breath. The world surrounding me was still and quiet. Quiet. I couldn't hear any growls or tramping anymore. They must have gone a different way.

I escaped them. For now.

It took my body a few minutes to function again, my breaths returning back to a regular steadiness. Shortly after, I managed to stand up, ears and body alert just in case.

I normally managed fine in these conditions; it never took me this long to get back up. I was confused, but at the same time, not at all. I must've been prisoner there in that place for longer than I thought, away from my regular way of living that I'd grown... accustomed to it in some way. It was time to switch back to my life now and leave theirs behind.

I figured that walking was the safest way of travel now so I wouldn't attract anything from making too much noise. Night was emerging, the moon in the sky growing fuller than the sun.

"Tomorrow," I swore to myself. "Tomorrow I make it to the safety or not at all."

***

I awoke to a crunching sound somewhere in the trees, immediately tightening my grip on a spear I'd constructed from a loose branch. One thing that I'd always known was that when you hear a sound, it always means something is there.

Something was in the woods.

My heart beat fast against my chest, and I cautiously moved behind a tree. Peeking out every few seconds, I waited for something to emerge.

Nothing.

I knew something was there. Something was always there—

Another rustle sounded in the bushes, and I raised my spear. And then—

A bunny, one not taller than a raccoon, came out from the bushes, sniffing around.

I lowered my spear with a sigh of irritation, when right about then an arrow stabbed right through the bunny's small body.

With a gasp, I forced myself against the tree as much as I could to hide. Two pairs of footsteps turned up from within the forest. Two voices.

"This should make a good snack," one of the men said, picking the bunny up by the arrow tail.

"We shouldn't stop for a snack, Titus. The girl's still out there. And so are those savage animals," the other voiced.

"Just make an area check then—to make sure nothing else is here."

Titus scoffed in annoyance but did what the other guy said, beginning to peek behind trees and bushes and check the ground for footsteps and pawprints.

No, no, no. There were only two options now. Run—or kill these two men. But they had arrows, so running would do nothing.

Oh no.

"Hey, Mane, I think I found something...—"

Right then—my spear raised—I came out from behind the tree and struck Titus with it, watching him fall to the ground before I made my way to Mane, who was speechless long enough for me to strike him with the spear too. With both men on the ground and still, I ran with my spear as fast as I could in the direction I knew to go. The safety wouldn't be too far now.

I ran and ran and ran and ran, not looking back for the life of me. Looking back slowed you down, so you had to learn to only look forward in these situations.

I passed a lone stump, which was the first sign that I was close. About two miles, and I'd be there. Though, a lot could happen in two miles when you were in these forests.

More running, more running; one, two, three, four stumps; more running—

Spotting the fifth and final stump, I looked around urgently for some kind of passage or door or sign of the safety.

Nothing, as far as I could see. Just trees, an owl—

And owl. It was a barn owl from what I could see. Another thing I knew: everything you saw was a piece of the puzzle. Everything you saw mattered in some way.

The owl was the passage.

When it spotted me, the owl signaled passage with a hoot; like a doorbell to indicate an arrival. I threw my spear aside and got down on my knees. Exhausted and scared, I raised my arms up in mercy. "Please. Please help me. My name is Tera Trah, and I come in peace."

Another hoot, and something shifted in a mount of rocks. An opening.

I held my breath, wary, quickly making my way over to the small entrance in the rocks. There, an armor-covered person stood, a weapon in their hands.

"I come in peace," I said, cautious with my arms raised. "My name is Tera Trah. I am only seeking passage—safety."

The person looked me over a long moment, then shifted. He nodded for me to follow, and with a few short steps, I'd made it to the safety.