Scout Stories: Caged Curses

Run

There was no moon that night. The boy held onto the horse as it ran down the path. He didn't know horses could scream before it had peered into the long grass and seen something he could not.

The horse took off. At first, all the boy could hear was the pounding of the horse's hooves and it's panicked breathing. Then he heard the roar. It came from behind him, closer than he would have liked.

The horse he had stolen was built for power, not speed. It could plow a field all day but sprinting was new to it. The boy had his arms wrapped as far around the horse's neck as he could and was screaming at it to hurry. It was hard to breath as the air whipped against his face. His pulse was racing almost as fast as the horse and his heart felt like it might explode out of his chest.

"COME ON!" screamed the boy, urging the horse to go faster.

Then he made the mistake of looking back.

The creature was behind them. It wasn't black this time but it did have black strips. It looked as strong and as powerful as the horse but it was faster. It was only a few feet behind them and was gaining on them. It jumped.

The boy kicked out, catching it in the middle. It swiped its paw. The creature fell and rolled back into the long grass but the boy could hear it laughing. The horse was still save. The blood was coming from the boy. It had gotten his leg.

He couldn't feel it. Not yet.

He kept the horse running for as long as the poor beast was able to. Even then they didn't stop. The horse walked on while the boy scratched it behind the ear. The horse had saved him countless times over the last few days and the boy didn't even know its name.

The sun had started to rise so the boy stopped to watch it.

"We did it, boy," said Keefe. "We survived another night."

They couldn't stop. Daylight wouldn't stop the beast. It had been three days since Keefe had left his village and neither he nor the horse had gotten to sleep. This couldn't go on.