Save Me

Chapter III

Darkness. Winds howling around him, the rustle of branches, the occasional crunch of dead leaves, and the cry of an owl told him well enough where he was once more. Ice cold terror shot through his body as he struggled to get back onto his feet, wanting nothing more than to get out of this hellish place. Anything was safer than just sitting there in the open, ready for something to grab him like he was an injured bear cub that was barely a week old. He tried his best to see anything, something so that he'd know where he was going, but all the light he got was the menacing dark orange glow that sat at the edge of the horizon, the rest of the starless, midnight sky looming over him and slowly trickling down into the light he already had.

John steadied himself and blindly began running, silently pleading that he was going the right way and getting away from whatever it was that was chasing him. He tried to keep track of every turn he made, hoping that he wouldn't end up running around in circles and finding himself in the same spot he had been in earlier. A sharp cold wave crashed over him as an icy wind blew across the forest, any remaining heat that was evident swiftly being washed away. He stifled back his groans of pain at the strings of cuts that were being slashed across his body from the low hanging branches of the trees and continued running, knowing he had no time to stop and nurse the small scratches along his arms and sides.

His lungs burned in his chest, the air around him making them ache even more so. Every gulp of air he tried to take in just made everything seem hazier and made him feel as though he was moving slower. The air wasn't natural, that much he was sure of. It wasn't purely toxic, or else he would've been knocked out long ago, but there was just enough toxicity inside of it to make him sluggish and to make his body feel as though he was inhaling pure ash. Yet he wouldn't dare stop, he couldn't stop moving. It'd find him, even though he wasn't too sure what it was. He just knew he couldn't face it, not yet. He couldn't see anything ahead of him or off to the sides and his hearing was compromised from both the rush of wind from around him, the blood pounding in his ears, and the hard beating of his heart inside his chest blocking out almost every sound surrounding him.

His mind and body froze as he heard a loud snap in the distance, a low rumbling sound following it as the crunch of leaves came soon after, steadily growing louder. He frantically looked around, trying to pinpoint where exactly the sounds were coming from so that he could run in the opposing direction. Soon he gave up and ran in yet another random direction, hoping with everything he had that it wouldn't be able to find him. His sight was growing less and less helpful as the orange glow began to darken as well, the warmth of the yellow slowly disappearing as more and more red began seeping its way into the orange, the black of the sky compromising his sight even more so.

"You're not safe! Can't hide from this forever!" A low, booming voice called out, echoing through the trees and almost making him stop completely. He opened his mouth to argue, yet all he got was the blistering pain in his throat as he tried to speak, earning a fit of heavy, loud coughs and forcing him to slow his pace to try and recover.

"Look at him trying to escape! He's just a weak coward, too afraid to face a damn thing."

"I can see you! No point in running from me now."

He ignored that voice, shoving the now thicker branches out of his way and paying little attention to the scrapes they left behind along his hands when they whipped back into place. He wanted out, yet this woods seemed to go on forever. No light in the distance, no decrease in the number of trees, not even a single person there to help guide him out. He was alone with that horrendous voice towering over him, every sentence it spoke sending a cold shudder down his spine as though it was breathing right down his neck.