Once in a Lifetime

Prologue

The crunch of snow echoes underneath your feet as you run as fast as you can. Your chest is already hurting but you know that you have to keep running. You glance behind you and fall down a small hill. Snow falling in your wake as you slide down. Luckily you don't twist anything and you get up quickly and look around.

There! You spot a small opening in another hill not too far away. You start to run again, this time the voice of your pursuer announcing that he is close to you. You make it to the opening and crawl in, you make some snow fall in front of the opening to cover it up.

"Where are you bitch?" Brock Rumlow's voice yells as he runs past your hiding spot a few minutes later.

You cover your mouth and nose to keep from making a noise. You can hear his footsteps as he walks around the small cave. It wouldn't be long before he finds you. He always did. You look around and can see that the cave continues further back. The burning in your chest is starting to ease up so you begin to crawl.

Your hands scratch and scrape along the rock and your thick coat almost makes it impossible to squeeze through but you just know you have to get away. Then your heart stops. You can hear Brock cursing and scraping inside the cave.

He's found you! You pick up the pace and begin to crawl faster until you can finally stand up, then you begin to run. If you had been paying attention, you would've noticed that the air in the cave was getting colder, snowflakes blowing in front of you but your only thought was getting away. Finally you see light. Maybe if you can get out of this cave, you can be safe.

You have to climb up a bit to make it outside. Hearing Brock scream after you gives you the adrenaline to make it. You crawl outside, standing up as soon as you are able and you stop.

What you see is nothing but a frozen dead forest. No way this was on the other side of the hill you had just crawled through.

It was cold before you had entered the cave but here in this forest, it was bitterly cold. You take a step when a hand reaches around to cover your mouth.

"Caught you, Bitch!" Brock says.

Shit ! You had forgotten about him. You begin to struggle to get away from him but he is way stronger than you.

"Did you really think you could get away?" He turns you around and his fist connects with your cheek.

You let out a yelp and fall to the snow covered ground. He picks you up roughly and starts to drag you away.

"I'm going to fucking kill you when we get home." He slaps you this time. "Well, I'll let the others have their fun first."

His grip on your arm hurts, though you figure you should be used to it by now, but it doesn't stop the tears from falling down your face. You hang your head as you are dragged along. You couldn't escape him. There was no point in trying again. After an hour of walking through the dead forest, Brock stops.

"Where did you bring us Bitch?"

You don't answer. You're not even sure you can as your face feels frozen from crying and the punches that Brock gave you. Brock continues to pull you along while cursing you with each step.

"This is all your fault! I knew you were dumb but I didn't think you were this stupid to try and run away from me and get us lost."

You just follow along behind him. Your feet are numb. You are suitably dressed for winter but whatever this place is, your clothes are inadequate. You hope you freeze to death before you make it back home. Freezing seemed to be the better way to die. Suddenly a low growl makes you look up and Brock stop walking.

An animal the size of an 18 wheeler stalks in front of you. You see nothing but teeth and claws. It growls again as saliva drops from its mouth. You are so frozen, now, in fear that you don't even notice that Brock has let go of your arm. The beast opens its mouth and with a roar begins to run towards you two.

Brock immediately begins to run away but you stay frozen in place. The beast runs past you, ignoring you as it chases down Brock. You can hear him screaming for help as he tries to outrun the animal.

You realize that now is your chance. You begin to run again. If you can get away from the beast then you can be free. You didn't want to die from being eaten to death. If you can't get away from it, then hopefully you can freeze to death before it eats you. You run as fast as you can away from the still screaming Brock and the Beast.

Your lungs begin to burn again and you stumble more and more as you fumble your way through the forest. Finally you see a line of trees marking the end of it. You break through to see what looks like a village. Houses made of stone line the streets behind a wall also made of stone. There is a big stone building in the back.

You begin to walk towards the village. Maybe whoever lives here can help you escape Brock. Keep you safe from him. That is, if he manages to escape whatever that creature was. You hoped he didn't escape it. The village was a good ways off from the edge of the forest and the adrenaline you had was leaving you quickly.

You were shivering and your legs felt heavy, stiff, and numb. The fear that you would die before reaching the village began to fill your head. Well, even if you didn't make it to the village, you would still be free of Brock. You stumble and fall. You don't try to get up. There's no point in trying. If you're going to die then you might as well die. Just before you close your eyes, you could swear you see two sets of blue legs coming towards you.