A VERY DARK tale (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 1

For a couple of minutes, I've been watching the bear hunt, and as he paid me no mind, I slowly rose to my feet, and cautiously retrieved to the hill. As appealing as it was to continue our acquaintanceship and maybe even share a tasty raw fish, I had no more time to spare.

The sun was already above the horizon, and I needed to find some human food. I couldn't afford to get sick with food poisoning. So I noiselessly shifted to the stepping out the surface of the hill and swiftly braced myself up.

A rush of adrenalin again spiked my blood, and not caring if my furry buddy will notice my escape, I hurried away hissing softly through my teeth from pain when my body had set in motion.

Soon, some trees started thinning out, bringing me closer to a habited land.

I crossed a two-lane road that was, in a way, a border with the forest, and noticed an abandoned farm surrounded by dried out field and a short row of crooked fence that stood in front of the house.

My feet pivoted towards the farm, and when I was only a hundred feet away, I froze in my tracks and tasted the air. The birds were silent, and honey flavors vanished from the breeze, instead of honey I could taste metal on my tongue. I gulped nervously, and absolutely terrified started stumbling backward.

When I bumped into a tree, I grabbed its trunk and hid behind. My hands started shaking. My reasons began deserting me. I made such a long journey, and to be caught the last minute was a shame. I needed to think and think fast.

Automatically, my eyes searched for any available weapon, and when a stick of a right size came into view, I grabbed it and drew it to me.

From my pocket, I withdrew a butter knife that I've managed to snatch a day ago from the campers, and started feverishly sharpening both ends of the stick. Frankly speaking, it was a rather uneasy procedure. The knife was dumb, and I've only managed to cut out unimpressive points, but an extra set of arms was never a bad idea.

From planning my escape route, I was pulled out by a roar of a speeding car. I dropped down to my knees and jammed myself into the tree trunk praying that the driver won't notice me.

A brand new blue Cadillac passed the farm, and when the car vanished from the view, I inhaled shakily not even realizing how tense I was. My legs sent me forward, and I tripped over a root of the tree that I've been hanging around. Muttering curses I lifted myself up and hobbled in the direction of the road.

I hadn't made three steps when a screech of tires reached my ears, and a sound of roar started getting closer. The same blue Cadillac appeared from the outlet of the road and sat its path on me driving right onto the field.

"Son of a Twitch!" I cried out and clenching my knife and my stick, sprinted the opposite directing leading to the house.

I didn't get far, though. From behind the house stepped out a man in a mustard color trench coat and a hat. His shades hid his eyes, but I still distinguished his stone like facial features.

"Collector," I hissed but continued running feeling my body ready to attack.

The collector raised his arm, and I spotted a gun in his hand that he was holding, pointing at me.

My gasp of fear got trapped in my throat, even though my body turned cold, but before he could press the trigger, on instinct I raised my hand that held the knife and threw the knife into the collector. A loud gasp finally fount its way out and I screamed watching the knife flying. Then suddenly everything changed. A stone face of the collector' transformed into a mask of pure shock and with a sharp yelp he fell onto his knees.

The knife had got him into his eyes. His gun dropped onto the dry brown grass, and he clutched both hands to the knife.

Not fully processing of what I have done, I darted from the man watching the gun with greedy eyes; I knew I had no chance at snatching it, because as I passed thrashing in agony body of the collector, I looked back and saw the Cadillac half way across the field.

A gut filling fear pierced me through. I switched hands to hold the stick and raced ahead into the area behind the house.

A line of a forest stretched only in several thousand feet away. No thoughts entered my head while I was running. The anticipation of the next moment and some visions from the past kept me busy. A face of Mr. Palus popped in my head, and I cringed at the image of him.

This man was pure evil hiding behind his handsome face, impressive appearance and unnaturally polished address. He fooled everyone around, but in fact, he has no heart. He is ruthless and isn't interested in anything but his mission. And his mission was far more terrifying than just wealth and money that he granted to all his applicants.

A roar of the car that was getting nearer and nearer snapped me on instant out of my memories and I peeked behind my shoulder spotting it turning around the house.

I cursed out loud and added speed to my run. I had no more strength left in me and my lungs started seriously hurting. However, I knew what has to be done. I focused on the picture in front. I had ten more strides to the forest.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," I counted to myself and on eight a bang ripped through the air overshadowing the sound of the wind.

A bullet swooshed next to my head and ricocheted from the tree on the ground. My heart sunk in and I leaped forward into the bushes. A BANG sounded again and when my body physically was behind the line of the forest something happened. My body got stung, and I flew on the ground losing my consciousness altogether.

My last thoughts were that the bullet got me...at last.