*Crunch* *Squelch* *Chew*
*Plop*
I watched in horror as the boy's foot fell down from the jaws of the creature. I continued to watch as the beast rose into sight from behind the bush, a monstrosity standing at roughly 8m tall with powerfully thick legs that each ended in a three-toed foot, each toe-capped with a glossy black claw bigger than a hand. It had leathery greenish-brown skin, which would make it all but invisible once it stepped back into the forest, and it had a head longer than most people are tall. Its maw was still messy from its kill. I could see chunks of flesh and clothing between its teeth and blood dripping off its jaw. Worst of all was its eyes, black and glassy little beads that seemed to swallow my soul. As I gazed into them, I saw death.
It's hard to describe the terror I felt, I imagine it would be similar to how a gazelle feels while it slowly bleeds while it lies inside the jaws of a lioness. The longer it bleeds, the colder its body becomes, the more it relaxes into its role as prey and accepts its impending doom.
As I looked into its eyes, my blood froze and my heart pounded trying to circulate the blood in my frosted veins. I gasped for air, unable to satisfy my need to breathe, never quite being able to fill my lungs. My body shook and my soul trembled. I knew that I had seen death at this moment, and I had seen the reality of what I have always been.
I am Prey.
*ROOOOOOAAAARRRRR*
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Before it mounted its charge, it gave a mighty roar that made the earth tremble, and I answered with a howl of my own from my very core. Time seemed to slow down. I could feel my throat tearing open as I screamed, pulling from a source buried deep within myself, so desperate to escape as if it had been trapped there for eons. I followed the burning pain in my throat, traced it back to its source in my core and found a kindling flame. For a moment I had found a new reality beyond my fear, and as I looked into the tiny flame I heard a whisper.
'%!^&'
There was a voice deep within the flame, slowly rising to the surface. I leaned in closer to the flame to hear it.
'L!V&'
I don't know how but I knew needed to hear it. I was so close to reaching it, so I stretched out my hand towards the flame and as my fingers touched I heard it resonate within me. I felt it explode throughout my very being like a supernova.
'LIVE'
All at once, the kindling flame burst into a roaring inferno and the frost in my veins retreated as my blood began to boil. I woke up from my fear, the erratic beating of my heart had changed into the steady pounding of war drums and time resumed. I saw the beast lunge forward, arriving first at the mother who was only a few steps further from the beast. The beast opened its jaw wide and tilted its head sideways as it charged towards the mother.
As she stared vacantly ahead, no one was close enough to hear her whisper " ...Dan...ial?..."
*Snap*
This was the moment when I first noticed the other people screaming, I looked around and saw people all around me panicking, screaming, and running.
'running? Right! RUNNING! I should be running!'
I turned and saw Micheal beside me also frozen. Shaking his shoulders I yelled "Come on! We have to go!"
He looked over at me, made eye contact and I watched his pupils, which were wide and glossy from adrenaline, constrict before he nodded. I turned back towards the train and started moving before Micheal pulled my arm to the left. "This way, trust me." He started running away from the train not giving me a chance to argue, so I followed him.
I looked back to see hundreds of people fighting to get back inside the train; clawing, kicking and punching to claim whatever protection the sheet metal and glass would provide.
'How had I not noticed before?' I wondered as I watched the beast charge into the middle of the first car where the largest crowd had been. Several people disappeared into its maw as others were crushed under its talons and more were sent flying by a whip from its 3m tail.
The metal screamed in protest and was torn apart as it pushed its massive head into the body of the car, shifting the entire train as it did.
I looked back towards where we were running, not wanting to see any more of that carnage but I could still hear it. Even as we reached the trees and entered the densely populated treeline, I could still hear the screams of people dying, the screeching of metal tearing and roars of the beast as it proclaimed the triumph of its hunt.
I tried to focus on Micheal's back as we ran and tune out the nightmarish sounds still drifting between the trees, it didn't work but I still tried and we never stopped running. The sounds gradually grew more distant until they disappeared completely but still we never stopped running.