The End

-1-

I have been running for hours and my legs are aching, I want to slow down and catch my breath but I know that I couldn't- The Hunter was still hot on my trail and didn't seem to want to let me go anytime soon. I could hear it's heavy breaths behind me, licking at my neck giving me the adrenaline to keep running. I wasn't going to last much longer unless I can get away from this thing. I pushed myself to go faster my mind not too keen on the idea of giving up anytime soon if I can find a way to escape I can find survivors. Strength in numbers, as my brother always told me.

Thinking of my brother brought tears to my eyes the picture of his body still fresh in my mind, why was I the one to survive? Why couldn't they have died with the rest of them? I couldn't let myself cry or even contemplate why I'm here right now, I had to focus on getting out of this situation alive and get myself into a shelter where I can hide. I cannot let myself fail or get off track, slow thinking and hesitation are what got my family killed and I cannot afford to die right now, it really is survival of the fittest now. Killed or be killed. The real game of survival.

The hunters growl seemed to get louder every second if I don't figure out a way to get this thing off of my trail soon then I'm dead meat so I need to think, quickly. My eyes scanned the landscape before me only being able to see faint outlines of trees and bushes due to the overwhelming darkness that surrounded me. I began to think, I was running on a path as of now. If I can figure out a way to get off the trail without being turned into a souffle then I may be able to make it out of this situation alive, I can't just dive or take a sharp turn because then that would be opening myself up and give this hunter a chance to grab me or injure me worse than I already am and I'm not so sure if I can take another hit.

That's when the terrain starts to change, the trail starts to get smaller in width and the ground beneath my starts to get bumpy, I must have run straight through the intersection when the trail

My breathing turned ragged and my legs began to shake, I needed to get out of this soon. This is when I really start racking my brain. My family used to camp out here in the summer so I knew this place rather well, I can remember there being some old cabins up here from when they used to have summer camps up here but for some reason they stopped. They aren't in the best condition but they are habitable, I won't be staying there very long so it won't matter anyway. Now all I need to do is figure out a diversion to distract the hunter so I can get out the way and make my way to those cabins. The low hanging branches left room for input, I have an idea. It's risky but right now if there's a small percentage of hope that it could save me then I have to try it out.

I sucked in a deep breath as I began to put my plan into action, I caught sight of a low hanging branch and from here it looked quite thick from here which made it better. I began to run closer to it quicker than I realized I would and reached my arms out in an effort to grab it before I ran into it and got myself killed. As soon as it was arm's length I grabbed it and pushed it forward with me and as quick as I grabbed it I let it go. I felt great satisfaction when I heard a grunt from the hunter and managed to dive into some bush before the hunter even realized what happened. I almost laughed in relief as I realized that I might have gotten away, let's just hope that this thing can't see in the dark which it very well may do.

I could see it rough outline get back up through the darkness and mass amount of leaves around me, my body shook in anticipation as I sat and watched it sniff the air and examined the terrain. I sucked my breath in as it began to move forward most likely confused on where it's prey had gone, I trembled in fear as the hunter began to near where I was hiding. It was uncomfortably close to me, I could even smell its foul breath and feel its rancid breath on my face, I prayed to whatever God was up there that it wouldn't find me and that it would just walk away and leave me run to safety.

I froze and stayed extremely still when its head turned abruptly to where I was sitting, it was like death was staring me right in the eyes which in this case it was, its eyes held no emotion and were darker than the night sky and its mouth was aligned huge razor-like teeth shining with saliva that fell to the floor creating a puddle that grew bigger by the second. I am sure that I am dead meat and that I have been found, that my efforts just prolonged my inevitable death and that this is the end of the line. Then all of sudden it turns and walks away, continuing its search for its prey, when I was sure it was far enough away I let out the breath I had been holding surprised I didn't pass out or something for having it held for that long. I then start to stand up, if I have calculated this correctly the intersection I ran through earlier had the trail that would lead me to the cabins, however, I can't just walk on an open trail when there is something hunting me so I will have to get to the cabins a different way. I can't risk not following the trail since these woods are huge and I can't risk getting lost because I could get caught and I don't think I have the strength to run any more than I already have. I have to come up with something quickly because I can't stay here for long it's going to find me whether I want it to or not so moving along can lessen my chances of getting turned into a tasty midnight snack.

I shift on the balls of my feet adrenaline still coursing through my veins as I anticipate what my next move was, I need to get to those cabins but I can't just walk out in the open because that's just a disaster waiting to happen. I take a deep breath to soothe my racing mind as I examine the terrain in more detail finding things that I didn't notice as I was running through here which wasn't surprising, I was more focused on getting away rather than looking at the trees. I could barely see the moon from here as the tree's surrounding me made a high roof over the surrounding area, I took note also that this part of the woods was quite overwhelmed with trees making it almost impossible to see anyone or anything more than five feet in front of you, I can use this to my advantage.

If I can get a plan to get to the cabins now then I can get to them before dawn, that is if there are no problems along the way which hopefully there is not. I sit there and think, debating with myself the best route to take, mulling every idea over picking out every advantage and every disadvantage that could potentially slow me down or get me killed. I was there for what felt like forever until I settled on a plan.

I can use the tree's around me to keep myself hidden, their low hanging branches can come in handy as well, if I need to get out of there quickly I can use the low hanging branches to climb the tree as far up as I need to so that I can prevent getting caught and if I feel like it won't be safe to evacuate the tree any point soon then I can climb from tree to tree until I am able to get down or until I am close enough to the cabins, maybe even get a birds-eye view to see if there is any surrounding danger. There are in fact some disadvantages to this plan such as the tree's do limit my eyesight meaning that spotting danger will be made harder because I may or may not see anything until it is too late, another disadvantage would be I might not be able to climb the tree in time and the branches may be too weak to hold my weight and the fact that climbing from tree to tree isn't the safest no matter how close together the tree's maybe.

It is a very dangerous plan, however, it is the best I can conjure up now. Especially if I need to be there a little before dawn. So taking a deep breath I push myself out of the safety of the bush, my hands quivering and my heart racing, as I checked the surrounding area to scout for any hunters. This can go wrong in so many ways, I need to live through this though. I need to survive and get through whatever this is, for my family, I cannot let them down. They died for me only a couple of hours ago, they died so I can live on and survive.