Break the Hunting Ground

Chapter Four

The Alpha dragged you by the collar down the hall, passing several people who still did not pay you any mind. You had to wonder: was this a normal, everyday occurrence? Were the big bad men in the First Order always dragging helpless women down the halls and their members were just desensitized to it? You struggled to keep your feet moving in tune with his. His strides were long and fast whereas you had to practically run to stay with him. Should you falter or slip and fall, he’d simply drag you back up by the back of your collar and tell you to keep up. It was torture, and what hurt even more was the sight of the same set of doors that you had been shoved through to be hunted the first time. 

“You have thirty seconds to run and hide,” He said as the floor beneath you began rumbling with the opening doors. The cold air hit your face once more and you could already feel the bitter cold that would come with running through the snow in just the thin, slip resistant socks that had been given to you on day one of your captivity. You stared out at the snowy landscape as it came into view inch by inch, unable to believe that you were going to have to fight for your life again. “Rest assured, I will find you, and I will kill you.” The instant he stopped talking a loud, whirring noise filled the space around you. You jumped, stumbled back into the wall as the man held a glowing, hot red stick at his side. The entire room lit up red in its glow, and the only thing you could imagine was how much it would hurt when that thing was driven into your flesh, and it was the violent nudge you needed to start your run through the snow again. You didn’t even wait to see what else he had to say. Instead, you bolted away from him, squeezing yourself through the smallest crack in the door and instantly running toward the trees. If you had one more shot to fight for your life, you were going to take it.

Even though you felt like your ability to run, jump, and hide had decreased since you were being kept in a prison cell for a week, you still charged as fast as you could through the trees. Inhaling so much cold air through your mouth and nose hurt you, but you didn’t stop. You had to get far enough out to be able to formulate a plan. So you ran, jumping over boulders and running through bushes just as you did the first time you were out here. You didn’t stop until you got tired, too tired to run any further. You collapsed into the snow, using it to cool your hot body as your mind raced with the possibilities. Was this area fenced in? If it was, could you climb it and free yourself? Could you run back to the doors and try to open them again? If you kept on running? Could you get far enough away from him that he’d just give up? You pressed your face into the snow, swallowing some to soothe your burning throat. There had to be something, someway you could save yourself from this hellish nightmare.

Off in the distance cracking noises could be heard, and when you picked up your head you watched in horror as one of the trees furthest away from you began leaning. Snow fell from its pines, and when it hit the ground the earth beneath you quaked. All it took was a quick sniff to know he was there, close, zeroing in on you. You had to run, and you had to figure out how to get back inside. 

You stood to your feet, immediately turned to your left and began running like your life depended on it. Your lungs burned, your legs were tired, but the sound of trees still hitting the ground so far behind you kept you going. You could only imagine he was using that weapon he had to cut the trees down, knowing it was a tactic you used to hurt him last time. You could still faintly smell him, could smell him getting closer and closer to you. That could only mean he could smell you getting further away from him. Your options were limited, but you thought to give yourself the best chance possible you’d have to find a way back inside. This meant going back to the building and risking him seeing you, but it was a risk you had to take. With trees still falling in the background you made your way back to the building, trying to remain low so that he wouldn’t see you. The sound of the trees falling every few minutes and his depleting scent told you that you still had some time, and it’s what kept you going until you finally came up to a thick, metal wall.