Escape (Solaris Cane: Book One)

Escape - Chapter 3

I’m not quite sure how long I’ve been running, and I’m pretty sure the forest did not used to be this dark.

I must look absurd right now. I’m running in the forest with a knife in hand and a huge ass wolf behind me.

Lord help my soul.

The sound of padded paws and breaking branches keep me running because I know that at any moment, it could pounce on me or catch up to me and I’ll sure as hell die.

“Run, Solaris,” a voice says to my ear. I don’t know where it’s coming from, and no one’s beside me.

“No shit, Sherlock!” I shout as I keep running. I don’t have time to question my sanity at the moment.

“Turn right,” the voice says. Since I have nothing better to do, plus the fact that I can’t think straight at the moment, I follow.

“Where am I going?” I shout as I stumble turning right, dropping the knife as I do. I don’t dare stop to pick it up.

There’s no reply.

A low branch hits my cheek and I feel something drip down my face and into my hand. I don’t have to look at it, from the smell I know I’m bleeding.

I encounter more low branches and I curse the voice that told me to go right. By the time I get to a clearing, my clothes are ripped in several places and I have several cuts all over my body. I can feel rather than see them, but despite the cuts, I keep running because Lord only knows what’ll happen to me if that wolf catches me.

I turn my head just in time to see the wolf crouch down and leap. Something akin to a car hits my back and I fall to the ground. It pushes me down to the ground, knocking the air out of my lungs.

I hear a crack, and a sharp pain follows. I’m pretty sure that’s my rib – or ribs.

“You shouldn’t have run,” it says, and now I know that it is actually a he.

Great, and there goes my sanity.

I feel his sharp nails pierce my skin and I cry out in pain. Oh, God, I think one went through.

Blood is seeping through my shirt and jacket, unto the ground. I can feel it pooling with my cheek.

A scream escapes my lips as he shifts his huge paw.

My vision starts to dim, and I struggle to stay awake because if I don’t, well, that would be the end, won’t it?

I don’t know what happened, but the pressure lifts out suddenly, and I’m free. I stand and barely hear a struggle behind me, but I don’t dare look back as I start to walk. I can barely feel anything.

I manage a couple of steps, until I’m a little over the edge of the forest. Unsure of what to do, I sit down at the base of a tree and just wait for the end to come, because with the amount of blood I’m loosing, I’m sure it’s not far.

Closing my eyes, I start to think of life. Four years of memories and this is how I die. I guess it’s not as bad as I thought it’d be. Better than dying in a car accident or some other painful death.

No, wait.

This is a painful death.

“Solaris!”

My eyes are so heavy, I can’t open them. I can’t tell where the person calling me is.

“Solaris!”

I try to say something, but it comes out weird. Someone touches my cheek.

Jerking away was a bad idea, because my head can’t take any more of moving.