Looking up from the chaos at his feet, Boun felt himself freze. It was only for a second or two, but those few seconds were horrifying. He could feel every wheel churning agonisingly and every thought processing in his mind.
All his senses had zoned down to only one thing, the leopard walking towords him. The mighty animal was atleast 90m away, but what difference did that make? It could take down Boun and tare him open in one go if it wanted. Even from this distance, Boun was able to see how the muscles flexed on its back. He felt all air leave his lungs when they made eye contact. Pure terror filled him. He could hear himself thinking of what would happen if the animal ran right now and caught him, how he would be torn apart alive, helpless under it's enormous weight and claws.
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Immediately, all rational thought left him. He didn't give a crap about how the animal had come out, if he had passed it before, what the fuck it was doing here. Nothing mattered. He forgot all the instructions and advice Prem had ever told him to follow in such a situation. All he knew was, the leopard was looking at him, the monkey's were running away, Prem was in the opposite direction and the animal was definitely not Boun's friend.
It took him a few seconds to regain control of his feet. He initally took slow stumbling steps backwards, when the leopard still maintained its pace Boun started a small backward jog. This must have intrigued the animal or it may even have been an illusion of Boun's mind but the animal sped up. By now the last monkey had gone past him.
The next thing Boun knew, he was running in the other direction, terror fuling his every move "PREM!!" He yelled. He knew Prem could handle the situation, his mind burned the notion Prem = Life , in his head.
In his haste he was unable to find where the other was. One part on his brain was looking for a place to hide, another was looking for his mate, while another was just scanning the surrounding in absolute panic. Boun didn't know what the fuck he was doing.
His screams for Prem grew louder and more panicked when he realised that running in a straight line would probably make it much easier for the leopard to catch him. He took a sudden sharp turn to his left and weaved through a few bushes and leves before jumping onto to the elevated clinic deck, in one stride. Boun tried to get up but immediately twisted his ankle and fell back down with an inaudible cry. The deck was hardly 4 feet above the ground, he could hear the crunching of leaves nearby. Shit, no. God no.
"PREM!!" He called out "PREM!... PREM! PREM!-"
He was yelling out of sheer panic. Boun snapped his head to the side when he saw something move in the bushes. There was nothing there. His mind kept chanting for his faen to show up. Boun didn't know what to do in these situations.
He hadn't been trained and had forgotten anything and everything Prem had ever taught him. He found himself unable to hear anything, the monkey's, leaves, himself...nothing. It was as if his auditory senses were zoning out.
