You're In The Tall Grass

Chapter Four: Gerard

"Run."

Gerard felt like he'd been doused with ice water. His muscles tensed as the word registered with his brain and he screamed. He screamed with all the oxygen in his body, until his throat was hoarse, and his jaw felt like it would dislocate. It was real. There was someone behind him ready to (as teens put it) merk him and probably consume his earthly flesh.

Run. He needed to run.

The start was slow, as his torn up leg was beginning to swell and burn. If the mysterious alien life form hunting him down didn't kill him, sepsis would. After he felt he'd finally gained speed he kicked his shoe from that foot to alleviate the pressure. He zigzagged through the maze in an attempt to throw off his pursuer. And then he heard a laugh. A frighteningly human laugh that pierced the eerie silence, a cackle that sounded like brittle tree branches covered in ice. It was a horror movie laugh, like that of Hannibal Lector or Norman Bates.

A pain shot through his thigh, some sort of arrow projectile. More traps. But he couldn't pause to feel them out, he'd be caught. Gerard would just have to keep running for his life and accept that whatever new injuries he acquired were better than whatever that man would do if he caught him. More spikes of pain hit open, non vital parts of his body as he serpentined through the grass. He almost ran face-first into a suspended strip of barbed wire.

That's about the time the soil under his feet started to quiver. Something was alive under his feet, and it was moving to the surface. Something smooth tickled the underside of his bare foot and Gerard paused in fear. The tickling turned into rubbing, like a snake feeling him out. But this definitely wasn't a snake, it felt like the epidermis of a plant with short grooves that pushed out slightly from the main structure.

Gerard's eyes widened at a small red tendril that poked out of the ground. He trembled in place as it slowly wound around his injured ankle, as if it could smell the blood on him. The little ruby plant pushed out wicked sharp spines like a cat would perk its ears, cutting further into his injured flesh and soaking up the blood and pus.

Before the strange root could go any further, however, a plastic rectangle soared over his head deeper into the maze and landed with a thump. The rectangle started making loud jangling noises that even Gerard could feel through the ground. The sound was enough to attract the roots back into the dirt and away from him. This new noise was enough to distract the plants, causing them to burrow back into the dirt and away from his legs.

"That was close, wasn't it bud?"

Gerard whipped around in fear to look at the ethereally beautiful being before him. Had his attacker caught up? Or was this someone different entirely?

He took a step back from the grinning figure, "Who are you? What is this place? What was chasing me? How do I–" A pale, slender finger pushed his lips closed and the stranger giggled,

"Ah ah ah! One question at a time, please. And ask carefully, because I'll only answer three."

Gerard gulped and waited for the finger to stop touching his lips, "Who are you?"

His already off-putting grin stretched, revealing a venomous set of fangs, "My name is Judas of course! I should be asking who you are!"

Judas? That's already a bad sign.

"I, uh, I'm Gerard."

"Nice to meet you, Gerard."

"Uh, ditto. What is this place?"

Judas's previously friendly smile turned devious and he licked his lips with a forked tongue, "This is the maze, Stupid."

Gerard was too frustrated with Judas's answer to realize his mistake, "No. What planet is this?"

Judas grabbed Gerard's arms and pinned them behind his back, "Why, it's عشب طويل! Nice to have you, and I believe that's three questions." A chloroform doused cloth came over his face, and he was out.

The last thing he felt was a burning needle being sunk into his skin.