The Silence (GxG)

Chapter 20 - The Hunt

(*TW - mature sexual themes, Animal Death, hunting)

▂▃▅▇█▓▒░ Grace ░

I ran through the dark forest, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. The branches and bushes scraped against my skin leaving painful cuts and bruises, but I didn't slow down. I can feel the cold breath of fear tickling at the back of my neck, urging me to move faster through the thickening brush.

The only sounds I can hear are the pounding of my own footsteps and the rustling of the trees around me. I can't see anything in the darkness, but I know something or someone is chasing me. I don't know what it is, but I can feel its presence, just out of reach and gaining on me quickly.

I stumbled suddenly over a thick tree root and fell to the ground, gasping for breath as I looked around frantically, trying to see through the darkness, but there's nothing there. I'm still alone. Forever alone...

Or am I?

I heard a low growl and suddenly, a pair of glowing eyes appeared in the darkness, illuminated by the silver moonlight. My heart raced as I realised what's been chasing me...

Infected.

I've been warned about those. I tried to scramble to my feet, but the lunger is too fast. It pounces at me with it's teeth bared ferociously, and I barely managed to dodge out of the way. I kept running, the infected hot on my heels. It's almost as though I can feel it's ragged hot breath on my neck.

I can't let it bite me!

Finally, I seen a light in the distance, and I ran towards it with all of my might. The infected snarls and snaps from behind me, but I made it to the light and found safety in the nearby building, only an oil lamp providing a dim glow to the extremely dusty room.

Trembling with fear, I looked around, wondering what to do next whilst the lunger rattled at the door, snarling and screaming at its inability to break through. I curled into a ball on the cold stone floor and allowed my fear to manifest into tears, succumbing to the conclusion that if I don't make it out alive... at least I'll be with my parents.

"Grace!" I heard someone yell from a distance, the familiar voice echoing lightly around the room.

"Grace! Wake up!"

———

My eyes shot open, and I found myself staring up at the ceiling, panting heavily. Sweat was beaded on my forehead and my heart was racing wildly.

Almost immediately I realized I had been dreaming, but I couldn't remember what it was about, which angered me. I have a weird feeling it was about something important.

"Hey... You okay?" Kenzi asked softly, placing her warm hand on my arm and snapping me out of my trance like state.

I turned my head and saw Kenzi's concerned expression, nodding and trying to speak, but my throat was extremely dry so I stuck with the nod.

"Shh, it's okay" Kenzi said soothingly "You were having a bad dream. Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, feeling a little bit embarrassed. Honestly, I didn't want to admit that I had been scared by a stupid dream, never mind the fact that I don't even know what it was about.

"Okay..." Kenzi replied, just above a whisper "But if you change your mind, I'm here to listen"

She proceeded to protectively pull me closer, adjusting the blanket properly over us both and resting her head just barely on my shoulder. I sighed into the movement and got myself comfortable in her embrace.