RUN

SCENE FOUR (MEG)

Bifurcation - Passage - Divert

Ransacking the cabin, my hands fumbled through its ashy remains, uncovering our suitcases, clothes, all entombed in stillness. This was our cabin - The passage of time had become a riddle I couldn't solve. 

What had happened? How long had I been running? This couldn't be real, it couldn't be.

Inaction was a sinking trap, and I refused to yield to its grip. I attempted to wash away the dirt caked on my skin and the blood clotted at the back of my head but the water that flowed from the tap was an inky black. When it touched my skin, it turned crimson as blood. Madness loomed like a gathering storm, and I knew anything, it was that I had to escape this nightmare realm.

I left everything behind to lay stagnant in the soothe. Foolish, yes, but I couldn't be weighed down. 

The trees seemed to part, granting me passage to beyond the cabin. That's where I stumbled upon Jessica, sitting in the mud with a twisted ankle, mascara-streaked tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh my god, Meg, MEG!" she cried out, but I silenced her with a finger to my lips, swiftly dropping to her side to inspect her injured ankle. Panic seized her, and she clutched the blue of her ankle.

"It's coming, it's here. I can feel it," she whimpered, her eyes wide and filled with tears as her grip on her wounded ankle tightened. I had no time to waste. She could barely stand, and the rustling of the trees behind us told me we were running out of time.

"Find a way out of here, I'll lead it away," I pledged, gripping her face to focus her scattered thoughts. "NOW JESS!"

RESOLUTION

"HEY YOU UGLY FUCK!" I screamed at the monstrously tall silhouette emerging from darkness, a furious challenge hurled into the void, and in response, an axe came whistling past me. 

The disconcerting hum of a woman's voice, soft and haunting, crept closer, its eerie melody signaling her approach. I watched Jessica summon every ounce of strength, clambering to her feet, she limped as fast as her injured ankle would allow. Every step she took seemed too loud, her cries echoing with mounting panic. She moved from tree to tree, desperate she clung to branches but they only snapped under her grip. Like a wounded animal, she whimpered and trembled, exposed and vulnerable, just as the huntress emerged from the shadows.

The tall, ominous figure took shape in the gentle moonlight, her rabbit mask covering half her face. A veil of darkness descended against her back where hair should be, resembling cascading strands of lace. I watched in dread as the killer conjured another axe from the shadows, her eerie humming growing louder as she hurled the weapon at Jessica.

"NO, OVER HERE!" I screamed to get its attention on me, but the axe had already found its mark in Jessica's good leg. Her scream cut through the silence like a pained animal. Desperation overcame me as I gathered rocks, dirt, and pebbles, hurling anything within my grasp at the huntress.

"BET YOU CAN'T RUN FOR SHIT, BITCH!" I continued to shout anger laced in my every words, my voice raspy and raw. The pebbles struck their target, and the killer's head snapped in my direction. In an instant, an axe formed from the shadows, and I whirled around, my feet pounding the earth as I sprinted through the dense forest. 

My thoughts were consumed by a desperate hope for Jessica's survival, as I grappled with an agonizing headache and blurred vision that threatened to rob me of consciousness.