Evolution

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

My emotions were spread evenly at the horrific sight. They were like mayo spread across a soft piece of bread.  Fear, confusion, and helplessness shocked my delicate system, almost to the point of breaking. The trees shook and the ground seemed to vibrate as they stampeded towards me. 

The loud sound of trumpeting exploded into the day and drown out the baboons screeches. In a dazed moment of incomprehensible events, the onslaught of nails and teeth and frantic exhausting recoil seemed to cease.  As the foul creatures turned and ran, leaving me paralysed with fear, a temporary sense of relief washed over me.

The elephants were coming closer, their loud hooves beat against  the ground, sending  tiny tremors across the land, showing their superior size.  I was numb. 

Never before have I faced my own mortality with such willingness. My muscles wouldn’t respond to the instructions from my brain. To compensate, My brain simply went into a bizarre mix of  deep thought and random facts.

I remembered various body structures, like the tiny bumpy prominence located on the back of the skull. 

“External Occipital Protuberance.” came my whisper

Hearing my own voice aided in the confusion. Why was I thinking about anatomy?  I could feel my throat go dry and my chest clench in fear as the footsteps came closer and the tremors seemed to lift my feet from the ground. A pseudo jump. Involuntary. 

“Involuntary” 

I tried to concentrate, but to no avail. My legs seemed frozen in time, heavy, bogged down like a small car with bare tires caught unsuspectedly in a blizzard.

I could actually smell the beasts. Not completely unpleasant, like the day after a rainstorm mixed with a hot cup of chamomile tea and a hint of mold. 

“If they crush me and my skeleton is found in their toes, will I be considered toe jam? Or will they not get such a morbid joke and shake their head at it all? I really hope they at least crack a smile. Wait? Am I giving up?” 

The irritation in my own voice seemed to circulate energy to my body. I could feel myself trying to move once more.  First the left leg, then the right, almost in unison with the abominations marching my way. A death march.  My death march.

That last word stung. Its pain was bittersweet. A healthy dose of fear and reality came flooding back to me. I took a breath and vowed to remember this moment, this realization that came over me. One word. A single five letter word may indeed save my life. I now understand the power words hold and vow never again to speak to others without thinking about this moment. 

Ten feet away and my thoughts finally cleared. My nervous system went into a sympathetic state and my brain simply said…FLEE!

I plunged my feet deep into the ground, and pushed with all my might. Everything seemed so surreal. I could hear my heartbeat ring in my ears and feel their iron footsteps charging closer. I jumped, barely making it over the bush that dared to block my path. 

I heard a low crunch as they charged over it, flattening it like a minor annoyance, nothing more. My hands tingled and my arms pumped up and down, seemingly useless in this struggle. My legs were the only thing that were of importance to me at the moment. 

A sharp pain and trickles of blood gently rolled down my arm like a fat drop of rain down a window pane. I didn’t care. If I survived I would pull the thorns from my arm. If I survived I would regret running through a rose bush.

I could hear a low dragging and feel my chest beating so fast It feels like my heart is trying to leap out of my sternum.  

For a second time, I listened with morbid respect as my former obstacle gets reduced to nothing more than a memory under the giant feet of the mammoths. 

I felt a burn on my calves. A sharp ache. A muscle spasm. 

“NO! no no no no you will not quit Trevor!” My voice echoed, my name seemed vast and repeating. Tiny red dots danced before my eyes. My name still clinging to the wind.

“Trevor!”

It was not my voice I was hearing it was Alex. Wait Alex? 

This thought didn’t want to register. I kept running wildly ignoring the sound. Bees, the sound was nothing more than a bee hive in my brain buzzing around trying to distract me from my own brutally painful death. A car horn?

“Trevor!  Get in!” Alex screamed trying to lift her mousy voice above the rumble.

The truck was inches from me before I realized what was happening. Grabbing onto the side, I flung my body into the bed. Laying flat and breathing deep, I slammed my fist into the cold metal and closed my eyes. 

“GO GO GO!”