The Champion *ON HOLD*

Chapter 5- Pitfall

A/N: Okay so to those of you who did not read the last chapter due to the violence, here are the last few paragraphs of the previous chapter to give you an idea of what happened: 

"Even though she was bone tired, and numb from all the killing, she came to full attention when she heard a twig crack off to her right. She froze and searched into the darkness, gripping her gun tight, the moon illuminating the area for her. What she saw made her gasp. It looked like the mix between a deer and a horse, and it was completely white in color. Her jaw dropped when the animal daintily pricked its way through the underbrush and lifted its head. It had the head of a horse; sort of anyway, it was too fine-boned and delicate looking to look like a horse. That, and the fact that it had a two foot, spiral, ivory horn protruding from its forehead.

'Dear, sweet Lord, is that...a unicorn?' She mumbled to herself. The creature turned its head and looked at her. Avery stopped breathing, afraid even the tiniest breath would scare it off. It lifted its head and sniffed the air. It let out a sound so unique and strange, and then turned and ran. The sound was similar to that of a whale's call mixed with a horse's neigh. It was rather eerie sounding the way it echoed in the darkness.

Koda, still in hunting mode, took off after the creature. Diesel, despite his wounds, followed. Startled, Avery cried out and ran after them, shouting at them, trying to get them to stop. She could just see the backside of Diesel as they ran ahead. She pumped her tired legs and chased after her dogs, desperate to catch them before they attacked the unicorn. A part of her mind was shocked, and skeptical. It couldn't be, could it? Unicorns just didn't exist. They were a myth, a legend, a fairytale that people told their children. But another part of her knew that what she had seen had been real, and that no matter what, she could not let her dogs harm the creature.

She was close enough to see both Diesel and Koda now. She could also catch glimpses of the unicorn as it ran away. When the white rear disappeared behind some cedar trees, she thought nothing of it and continued to run after her dogs, as they too, disappeared behind the cedar trees. She turned the corner and had a split second to register the bright, seven foot tall wall of light before she ran into it...and fell in knee deep snow."

Alright! So now that you're all caught up, here is chapter 5 of The Champion.

Avery landed with a surprised shriek and thrust her hands out into shin-deep snow to catch her fall. Her face landed in the snow as well and the cold was a shock to her. She reeled back gasping and fell back on her butt. It was freezing! Her body immediately convulsed into hard shudders, despite her long-sleeved shirt and pants. She looked around wildly, her heart hammering in her chest. What just happened?!

She could see that she was in a small field surrounded by woods. Deep tracks broke the wide expanse of snow and here and there she could see bits of red. She immediately recognized it as blood. Standing up, she brushed the crisp snow off her clothes and called for her dogs, worry creating an unsettling ache in the pit of her stomach.

"Diesel! Koda! Idite syuda!" She shouted, her foreign command for "come" echoing about the empty air around her. She listened hard but heard nothing around her, which was strange. Usually birds or squirrels were a common background noise in forests, the absence of such common noises unsettled her even further. Even the air was still and quiet. After a few moments, she placed her thumb and forefinger in her mouth and blew a deafeningly loud whistle. She stood there for a moment, listening. Nothing. She frowned. A part of her was still reeling over what happened and was wondering what the hell was going on.

Where was she? What happened? Why was it suddenly freezing cold, and where the hell did all the snow come from? Did it have something to do with the wall of light she ran through? Did all of this have something to do with the mystical creatures showing up everywhere? She pushed these questions away and focused on finding her dogs, the more sane of her two dilemmas at the moment. She wasn't quite ready to have the mental breakdown that would ensue if she took the time to analyze her situation.