Exitium

The Predator

           Most qualified officials agree species known to exhibit intelligent behaviors are prone to living out their lives in close proximity to those of the same species. It is in their very nature to long for social interaction with that which they can relate. Common examples of this are prides of lions or flocks of birds. To be deprived of this nature has been proven to cause irrational and morose behavior. That is the biological reasoning behind animal packs and the very structure of organic communities. 

          Yet while standing paralyzed at the rivers edge the girl was utterly alone. With not a soul for hundreds of miles, if that, just the way it had been all her life. She lacked that one quality that delivered balance to the mind. Maybe that is what made her so comparable to that of an animal, the only catch is that even animals aren't as completely alone as she was.

          Her eyes darted quickly towards the woods. There it was again, coming from the tightly packed trees. The forest provided the ability to conceal, a capacity that could be both useful and a nuisance. This was the last stream within miles of the cliff caves and she could not afford to lose it like she had the others. The noise, closer now, it was coming, coming to claim the river, the land around the river, and the ecosystem that thrived in its region.

         The shady water bed supplied all who dwelled nearby shelter from the merciless summer rays and enough food and water for each entity in the vicinity to thrive.

          In the beginning, she had been able to survive a fortnight before the thirst consumed her. It hadn't taken her long to realize that if she were to survive she would have to venture beyond the cliffs into the wild. She would have to find food and currently the more pressing issue, water. That's when she had discovered the stream a half a mile from the caves. As well as the assortment of animals and fish that all used the stream as an essential survival tool. These days, she had been pushed nearly four miles upstream by the predators in the night.           Again, the noise, shrill and loud enough for its source to be only a moment away, though still veiled by the masses of leaves overhead. In the Fall, the leaves turn to gold and deep shades of maroon, the warm afternoon sun shines through the gaps in the canopy as she lyes in the soft lush grass, surrounded by bright wildflowers that grow sporadically upon the hazy forest floor. Staring for hours past the breaks of color at the striking blue sky. Bathing in sunlight, with not a care in the world.           It is not Fall though, and as she sprints to the cliffs running in a jagged path so as to disorientate the predator, she realizes she will probably never again be permitted enough carelessness to lye in the sun without the ever-looming fear of the creature. The killer. The predator.          As she ran she stepped with precision. The slightest snap or crackle could draw the attention of the thing. And again the creature let out a high scream that sent a shiver down her spine. 

          The ground began to climb as she neared the cliffs. Three miles, there was rustling behind her but she wasn't sure if it was the creature perusing her, or the natural sound of the woods. Two miles, with a sudden and ungrateful lurch, she tripped over a moss ladened log, landing hard on a rock protruding from underneath a tree root. She could feel the hot trickle of blood on her knee but did not dare to look at the extent of the wound. The forest had gone completely silent. The creature had sensed her presence, had heard her fall, had smelled her blood. She rose and ran. Forgetting or just not caring enough to step carefully. It already knew where she was...it was already coming after her.