Sophia kept running without looking back, not even to check the liquid that flowed from her. At first, it felt cold, and then it became sticky as it found its way to her feet. She was losing her strength and indeed her life with every stride. All she wanted was to get as far away as possible from them all. Then suddenly, she stopped running. As if forgetting something vital, she turned to face the direction she had fled. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then a quick glance at what turned out to be her own blood smeared with sand all over her feet, she reached for a dry twig close by. With both fists clasped around the one metre long twig she picked up, she took slow but steady strides toward the creatures that turned her an emergency athlete. While she moved with steadfast feet but shaky hands, she felt her heart racing even when she had long stopped running.
There had been stories of bites recently in the neighbourhood, but none of the victims could tell what they were or what they looked like; they only all returned every time with similar bite marks, one that Sophia now had too on her thigh. It must be where the blood that soiled her feet came from.
Determined to be the hero for all others, she looked around trying to catch a glimpse of the creatures, while her feet readied to resume the sprint once her eyes were satisfied.
While she waited and glanced around, her mind joined her heart in the race but to a different destination, she wondered why she had come into the woods alone despite the rumours flying around town. It was one of those times she really wished Ebuka, her self-acclaimed crush would be stalking her around creepily. But sense seemed to have gotten the better of him that day, sadly.
Her mind retraced its steps swiftly to reality as she began to hear several approaching steps, her heart skipped a beat, or four maybe. She dropped the twig in her hand and ran for cover between the thick plantation. As she settled to crouch and be as invisible as possible, something jumped out from between her thighs, then another. It was dark, she couldn’t see. The footsteps she heard were closer now, searching for her and threatening in familiar tones.
It all came back to her now, what she was really running from in the first place. She bit her lip as she realised what must have jumped out from her. Her hands scrambled on the surrounding ground for a feel of what it was, it was a familiar smell, her own blood.
They closed in on her fiercely, as they parted the leaves and the sun shone through, she saw once again her worst nightmare. She blacked out as he grabbed her, with help from his backup crew.
Round two begins.
