A Strange Encounter

I pushed my legs to pump harder, like an overworked crankshaft. Behind me, the beast ripped out three more trees but never slowed down. I didn’t want to die alone and in so deep a jungle.

Two more palms crashed and splintered. A roar and hot breath filled the air. I smelled a red-eyed death that chased me. I smelled my own terror and piss. I jolted left.

Red stone buildings rose above the brush and trees. Sentinel-like walls surrounded and protected a nearby ancient city. A gnarled iron gate opened and a withered man stepped out. He smiled as I ran toward him. “Why the hurry, young man?” he said. I struggled to say something. To breath. He dismissed me with a hand gesture and mumbled. The jungle hushed.

Panting and sweating, I turned around and gawked. A surrounding thicket of smashing chaos was now just nesting birds murmuring somewhere within a calm Amazon. The creature that hunted me had vanished. Everything went black and my legs buckled.

-M. Duda