Alex ran through the gigantic forest, jumping over a few fallen trees, and avoiding smacking into the ones standing. She was breathing heavily, panting, wheezing. The more she ran, the more exhausted she became. Her legs were aching, her bare feet stung, bloody and bruised. She wore nothing but a huge, dark green shirt that reached down a little over her knees, the front of it soaked in blood, some of it hers and some of it belonging to someone else. Her hair was a tangled mess, some loose strands sticking to her sweaty forehead.
She was sporting a busted lip, a bruised cheek, and several small open wounds all over her body, the effects of her grand escape. Her muscles ached, her feet felt like they were on fire, and her heart was beating so hard against her chest it hurt. She felt like collapsing, just dropping to the ground and falling asleep, but she couldn't. She couldn't stop. She had to keep going, she needed to escape far, far away from that pain inflicting, fear inducing hellhole. She just had to keep running. She could hear them. They, surprisingly, sounded like they were a pretty good distance back, but she just kept going. It could just be that the blood rushing in her ears drowning out the sound of their footsteps being much closer to her than she actually thought.
The fear still radiating through her body, drove her to run faster, make it out alive. Unfortunately, she mad the mistake of looking behind her to see how far back those creatures were. Because of that mistake, she failed to notice the hill up a few feet ahead of her, than was practically just a drop down. As she turned her head back to face forward, she tripped over a tree root, right at the edge of the drop that came up out of the ground. Letting out a small shriek, she almost flew for a few seconds before plummeting down the hill. She could feel sticks and thorns piercing and scraping against the uncovered skin on her arms legs and face.
She came to an abrupt stop, slamming into the thick trunk of a tree, her brain rattling inside her head. She let out a cry of agony, feeling imense pain in her head and ribs. She gasped, feeling as if her lungs we completely crushed. Blood ran down her forehead, mixing with her tears. She tried sitting up, only to feel that sharp pain in her side again. She bit her bottom lip, so hard it drew blood, to stop from screaming. She exhaled slowly, her breath shaky. Her eyes widened and she froze, the sound of a chuckle sending a shock wave of terror up her spine. She slowly looked around, her eyes quickly darting around, trying to see any sounds of movement. Everything was quiet. It was dead silent, except for the ringing in Alex's ears.
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A loud, ear piercing scream startled the group of people huddled together in the far corner of a dark, cold, and foul smelling cellar. The scream caused a few people to tremble in fear a few of the youngest began crying, the adults frantically trying to calm them down, in fear of one of the "them" coming down. One if the youngest in particular, feel more fear than the others. Not fear for himself, but for the one who the scream belonged to. For he knew who it was and felt his heart break and mind swirl with thoughts of what could have happened. He prayed she was brought back still breathing.
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A short story piece that I was proud of and decided to publish.
