We ducked behind a tree. Our breathing was frantic. I turned to Wanda.
"Where's Joe?" I asked.
"Who's Joe?" She replied. I grinded my teeth, pushing my back against the tree. She had seen him get got by whatever the hell was chasing us. I heard leaves crunching underneath it as it creeped closer. It let out a deep growl.
"Do we have a plan?" Wanda shook her head. Silence ensued. My breath caught. All my energy went into keeping perfectly still. A pitch mass with eyes swung down in front of me. I fought back a scream, adrenaline surging once more. My eyes flew shut and my feet scurried my body around. I covered my eyes with one arm and put my other in front of me. Branches cut me, I scraped against a few trees. I ran until my chest burned too much to keep heaving and my legs couldn't carry me any further. It was all I could do to breathe.
Wanda started calling out to me in the distance. Her voice came from different directions, different distances. A few times it was like a crisp whisper in my ear. I clamped my hands over my ears in an attempt to block out her voice. There was a low growl, so deep I felt it more than I heard it. Panicked, I scrambled to the nearest tree and started to climb. In seconds, I was at the top. I looked down only to find the creature prowling around. I could now see what an obvious trail that I created in my blind race away. As much as I wanted to stay here, I knew I had to keep moving. Reluctantly, I released my death grip on the tree branch. I moved closer to a nearby tree, squatted, and launched myself towards it. I managed to get a hold of it and swing my legs around. I kept at it until I found myself at a cliff. I peered over the edge. There was water at the bottom. There was no way of telling how deep the water was.
A hot breath went down my neck.
I jumped towards the water.
