Jaz flashed another look around the landscape until she was confident it was safe to move. She wasn't sure what would happen but she suspected that if she got caught she would be punished for it. The mental image of the totem poles made her walk faster; she was unable to jog or run with stiff limbs.
It took her just over five minutes before she reached the lake. She could just make out the inky blob from the shimmers of light as the moon's rays bounced off of it. The din of the small river filled the air with raucous splashing as the water crashed against rocks. Here the current was stronger. It overpowered all sounds making her uneasy, though she wasn't sure why. The idea of being caught didn't exactly sound like a picnic, but there was something else.
She ignored her paranoia and dipped her toes into the huge stream. It was cool but not freezing. She sighed with delight. She bent down and cupped her hands, pouring the water over her face. She imagined steam hissing off her skin and snickered: the fever made her bubbleheaded and silly.
Holding her breath, she leant forward and dunked her head into the water, staying under for no more than half a minute when a loud, sharp vibration reverberated through the water coming from somewhere above. She jumped back and gasped; her wet hair flopped back splashing water across her chest and back.
She darted her eyes at the border of trees. Nothing. Her gaze panned across the river, then the lake. Apart from the splashing, trickling, crashing water there was nothing. No sounds. No crickets, no wildlife. She listened hard, forcing her hearing to penetrate through the distracting cacophony of the river.
She'd heard something. It was loud and sharp enough to vibrate the water. It had sounded like... A growl, she thought. Her muscles locked. Her blood turned to ice water.
As if the creature sensed her fear, another guttural growl thundered through the night air, coming from her side of the river.
Right behind her.
Before she could see what is was, she spotted movement in the trees to her north-east. Her eyes caught the shape as it lurked in the woods. Whatever it was, it wasn't human. She tried not to squeal, clamping her lips tight.
Something prowled through the grass towards her and she swung round. The field was overgrown, the grass reaching up to her knees, so she couldn’t see who it was. The sight of a creature crouched down about fifty feet away caused her to release a strangled cry. Within the shards of grass there were two dark, piercing eyes, ringed in white, and staring straight at her.
She saw a flash of fang-like teeth as the creature snarled. Her legs reacted so fast she stumbled forward, falling onto her knees. Her right one landed on a sharp rock, sending a shooting pain through her leg. She gasped.
She heard a loud bark that she knew was the creature breaking into a run and she jumped up, wheezing in panic. Her knee cried out in anguish but she forced herself to move, feeling the trickle of blood down her leg. She sprinted across the shallow area of river and crashed through it to the other side. If the predator couldn't see her, it could definitely hear her.
She ripped through the trees knowing it was a bad idea, but she was desperate to get away. She dodged the enormous trees and protruding roots, weeds, and bushes, all the time aware of how much closer the creature was gaining. She looked back and saw the gigantic, muscular beast of death rampaging towards her. She then saw two more Beasts not far behind it. Then another three. She couldn't look back anymore, nearly getting whipped in the face by a low hanging branch as she turned. She sprung forward so fast that she was leaning almost parallel to the floor. Stones, twigs and weeds grazed her bare feet; she winced when a thorn embedded itself in her left foot, but she didn't stop, she couldn't stop, she had to keep moving.
Growls lashed the air; rabbits and other rodents scurried away, hiding in their little hidey-holes in the ground and under tree roots. At that moment she wished to God to be that small and disappear into the earth.
She shrieked when she sensed the Beast a hair away from her. She could feel its hot, damp breath on her back, hear it panting and snarling, its claws clicking on the ground as it ran. She couldn't help but look back again but she misjudged the level of the ground and stumbled into a pothole, twisting her ankle. Her body whipped round as she plunged headfirst, landing flat on her back, inches away from being lashed apart by the Beast's claws. A screech got lodged in her throat as the ground knocked the air out of her lungs. She felt a sharp waft of air as the Beast jumped over her rather than risk tripping, landing a few feet past her head.