Chapter 5: Chapter Five

Back in my home world, when I was still living with my parents our car broke down. We lived out a bit into the sticks so there was no cell service. We weren’t too far from home, but we were a few miles out. Mom couldn’t walk that far, she was already on a cane by that point. So I had to walk the three miles home so I could get to the house phone and call dad to pick ‘em up. It was in the middle of summer, sun beating down on me. Since it was the country there weren’t any sidewalks so I’d have to step into the ditch by the road any time there was a car. 

This trek reminds me a lot of that time. At least the suns going down so it won’t be as hot, and hopefully there won’t be many cars on the road. I can’t really imagine there would be. I haven’t really seen many cars coming or going at all from the town I just left, though I’ve only been there a few days and most of that was spent indoors.

My body, which was still sore from the days events, was crying out for me to lay down and go to sleep. It was probably right, but part of me wanted to still press on and make as much progress as I could. 

In the end I decided that I should sleep now and save my energy for during the day when the bright sun and heat would make it hard to sleep. I laid out the sheet Clara had given me and laid down on it. The hard ground wasn’t very comfortable and the backpack wasn’t a great pillow. I was having a hard time putting a positive spin on my situation this time around. Even if I wasn’t in some other world, I was still lost and alone sleeping on the ground in the wilderness. The gravity of my situation slammed into me and I cried. Part of it was fear, part of it was sorrow for missing my friends and family, but part of it was also the frustration of my situation. My emotions swirled through my head and out of my eyes until I eventually fell asleep, an unflattering mess.

You know that feeling that you’re being watched? I’d always heard people talking about it in shows and movies but I’d never experienced it before, so I thought it was a myth. But that feeling was strong now, so loud that it woke me up. Something in the night was watching me and I was aware of it. I scanned the surrounding area. It was a cloudy night so the moon wasn’t a great light source, but it was enough that I could see three canine figures in the brush. My mind began to race.

My first instinct was to run, but I was also remembering that I was always taught to walk calmly from dogs so as to show you’re not a threat. So I slowly stood up, hands up as if that would help them understand I meant no harm. As my eyes adjusted I could see more detail. They were in the general shape of dogs, but they either had no fur or it was very short. Their eyes also glowed a pale red in the dark. I couldn’t tell if their skin was black or if it was just the lighting. Whatever they were, there were three of them, they were large, and they were slowly creeping towards me.

I grabbed my backpack and sheet and slowly backed away. Behind me I heard a fluttering sound, but I was too scared to take my eyes off of the giant dogs to investigate.

The dogs started running towards me and my legs began to move on their own.  I booked it down the road, hoping against all hope that some car would decide to use this desolate road. They let out a snarling howl behind me. After a few seconds of running on the pavement I could start to hear their paws hitting the pavement, like three horses galloping after me. 

It wasn’t looking great. I didn’t check my backpack that Clara had packed but I doubted she had left me any weapons. What did I have to work with? A bedsheet, pencil, backpack, nutrition bars, and a lighter. The only things I had that might even be remotely useful would be the lighter and anything flammable. If I had more time to prepare I could use the sheet as a rope to climb a tree. That would be a huge gamble but it would probably be the best outcome.

I had to take a gamble and decided to scan the area for a tree. I could almost feel their breath. I saw a tree veered to the left off of the road. Using every ounce of strength in my body and every drop of adrenaline in my blood I almost ran up the side of that tree, bloodying my hands in the process. While I was on the way up one of the dogs lunges at me, clawing at my leg. I let out a scream of pain and drew my leg up out of reach.

The three dogs began to circle the base of the tree, looking like sharks waiting for their prey to inevitably slip into their grasp.

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I ripped a strip of the sheet off and wrapped it around the wound on my leg. Once I had that taken care of, I had an idea. I looked around for a suitable stick or branch. One I could easily remove from the tree, but not one that was too short.

I found a decent sized branch and ripped it from the tree. It took awhile but I pulled it off, never losing sight of the circling enemies below. One of them was clawing at the tree. I then noticed how long their claws were. He was beginning to try to climb the tree. I wasn’t as safe as I had once believed.

Once I got a branch I wrapped another strip of the sheet around it. I then lit the sheet on fire. If I could at least scare them off, maybe I’d still be safe in the tree. Or at least gain enough of a head start to run. Maybe I wasn’t too far from town. I don’t know if I believe in a god, but I sure was praying right now.

Right after my makeshift torch was lit up one of the dogs swiped at me, having nearly reached my part of the tree. I swung the fire at it, causing it to snarl at me but back up a bit. They were afraid of it. 

A chill ran down my spine as I heard another snarl behind me. I was cornered, until I heard another fluttering sound, a shout, and a howl of pain. I turned around to see what looked like a giant bird sinking it’s talons into the dog. It then took off, dropping the dog from the air. 

I jumped out of the tree and took off running again. Whatever that bird was, it was circling back around, distracting the dogs. I took the opportunity to run. 

I feel like I was making some good ground before I no longer heard the dogs barking and snarling in the distance. It was quiet. Too quiet. I turned around but didn’t see them. Thank whatever deity answered my prayer. The adrenaline had long since run out of my system and my legs suddenly felt like water. I collapsed onto the ground and vomited.

I heard another fluttering sound and something landed beside me. Then a girls voice asked 

“Where are you going?”

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