Hunted

Survival... Or Not

I turn around and see the man. He is tall with long muscled arms and legs. His clothes hang off him, ripped and stained all over. The stench is strong as well, the metallic smell of dried blood is thick around him, coupled with the vulgar smells of rotten flesh and someone who hasn't washed for many years. The expression on his face is ecstatic, a wide leering grin spreading from one side of his face to the other, eyes lit up with intense excitement. I automatically start backing away and shout out to Rachel.
           

'Run!' My voice comes out harsh, loud and full of fear.

The man's arm flashes out and grips my left forearm strong enough to leave bruises. I wrap my hands together and yank my left elbow into his noes, releasing it in the process. I jab a couple of blows into his jaw to very little effect and then hear Rachel's response.

'What?'

She has a sort of stunned expression, like she has no clue what's happening, let alone any idea what to do.

'Get out of here, run, I'll hold him off!' I yell.

The man's foot is suddenly on my knee and I trip to the ground. I scramble to move along the rock strewn ground but fail and end up sprawled on my back with his foot coming towards my face.

'Hold who off?' Rachel questions, her eyes glazed over as she stands stock still in the middle of the camp, staring at the man not six metres from her, about to murder me.

His foot comes into contact with my face, pain shoots across it as I hear the loud crack of my jaw and cheek bones as they splinter into pieces. Clutching my hands over my broken face, I feel blood oozing through my fingers. I run my finger across the skin and eventually feel the bones sticking through my flesh. I struggle away from him and eventually get onto my feet. I dodge out of the way as he swings his leg towards me another time and launch myself towards him, clawing at the his eyes. As I'm attempting to inflict some kind of harm, I see out of the corner of my that Rachel still isn't running.

'Run Rachel! Just get out of here! I can't hold him back for much longer.'

'That's right missy, soon your dead corps will be cooking in my fire just like that of your sister." The man cuts in, his voice deep, gravely and menacing. It's sort of crackly in a way that implies that he hasn't used it for a very long time.

'Amanda! Look out!'

I duck, only just missing the punch that was about to make contact with my already broken cheek. I shoot an elbow into the guy's stomach and knee him in the groin in retaliation to no avail. Punching his nose, I try to make a dash for it but he grabs my leg and pulls me back. Now his hands are digging into my sides, his nails slowly penetrating my skin, who knew nails could be so strong. I turn in a desperate attempt to break free and in doing so see Rachel digging around in my bag but I can't imagine what she's looking for, it's not like I have a teleporter hidden in my backpack. The hands move from my sides leaving ten bloody semi-circles and land on my neck, squeezing with all their might. I'm finding it hard to breath and I'm slightly light headed but I'm not going to give up without a hell of a fight.

I lash out, hitting him in ribs with my elbow. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to feel a thing, this isn't good. Fighting for all I'm worth, I can't help but notice that Rachel is fiddling around with something on the ground but I can't see what it is. The guy still has his hands around my throat and things are starting to go blurry at the edges, I can't go on for much longer. My limbs are flashing back and forth in my last dich attempt to get away but I know it's hopeless, they no longer have and power behind them and he's just getting stronger. This is my last fight.

The darkness is closing in, the lights going out, I'll be unconscious in any moment and then dead. I'm going to die, no, I am already dying.  People say that in your last moments your life flashes past your eyes but I know now that it doesn't, in your last moments you just think. I'm thinking about a lot, what's next, how it will all end, why dead exists, whether anyone will find my body, if my parents will even care and what's going to happen to Rachel. She'll probably be next, die soon after me or maybe she's already dead, I can't tell anymore, my brain is too overloaded to remember, I can't remember anything that just happened... Or ever happened and I'll never know again.

BANG!

And then...

I die.