Raven's Will

12. You Can't Hide From Me

It hurt.

His entire body felt like he'd been trampled by an entire herd of rabid pigs. In fact, it felt like one was sitting on him right now. Its butt must be planted on his chest, while its front hooves dug gleefully into his throat. Or maybe he had it backwards, and its butt was squashing his airway and its hooves were kicking at his ribs.

Somewhere far away, a raven croaked. It sounded familiar, comforting even. Jett's fingers twitched. Why couldn't it have been a raven sitting on him instead of a pig? He liked ravens. Not pigs.

The raven coughed, a raspy hacking sound. If he didn't know better, Jett would have thought it was laughing at him. Wings burst into motion, whispering through the cool air before sharp talons dug into his forehead.

After a beat of silence, a higher pitched caw was blasted right up his nostrils. Jett jerked, eyes flying open. He threw one hand upwards to smack away the offending noisemaker, but the bird on his head deftly hopped forward with perfect timing. As it landed on his chest, Jett successfully managed to slap himself in the forehead.

"Gah!" Scowling, he started to rise. He had gotten himself up onto his elbows when he heard it.

A soft sound came from a few feet away. It was a gentle, barely audible noise, like a quiet exhale or a shift of movement. To Jett's ears, it may as well have been a gunshot.

He instantly grew still, as if he'd been turned into an icicle. Only his eyes moved, slowly shifting towards the source of the sound. He didn't want to look. He didn't want to see what was there. But he wasn't given a choice. His gaze moved without his will, as if dragging themselves deeper and deeper across a bottomless pit of mud.

The darkness of night surrounded him, so at first, he saw nothing. There was only the prickly grass beneath him and the cool breeze ruffling through his hair.

Then a single yellow glowstick burst into existence a few feet away, illuminating the surrounding area. Jett saw that he was in a open, grassy field. Various rocks dotted the ground, as if someone had dropped an entire mountain from somewhere high up and it had shattered into hundreds of pieces upon impact.

The glowstick was tossed towards Jett. He flinched as it arced towards him, but it merely fell by his feet. Its light made his suit glow bright. And Jett suddenly got the feeling that he was incredibly visible. It wasn't really the fact that he see himself very clearly despite it being so dark out.

No, it was more the fact that he felt like something was staring at him. Like he was the prey. A tiny, helpless rabbit beneath the hungry stare of a prowling wolf.

Jett's gaze shifted past the light of the glowstick. A dark shape crouched just beyond its reach. His heart fluttered. The shape stretched upwards in eerie silence. His breath caught. His arms were shaking, threatening to give way and let him crash to the ground once more.

The shape took a step forward. That was when Jett realized it was a man. And as it came even closer, he realized that he was wrong. It wasn't just a man. There were wingspikes along the arms, so it was a flyer.

Who -?

The flyer stepped beside the glowstick. His head tilted downwards, allowing the glowstick's light to reach his face.

Jett saw that face. His own black eyes were captured by an identical pair. Horror rose even as he managed to stammer, "Y-you!"

Thin lips curved into a cruel smile. "Hello, Jett."

Jett's body burst into motion without his permission, scurrying backwards as quickly as it could. The movement hurt, but he hardly noticed through the adrenaline rushing through his veins like ice. The only thing that mattered was getting as far away from that monster as fast as possible.