lethaldose
New Member
Prey
by: Brandon Michael Collinsworth
It was really a nice dream. The field was full of grass a beautiful color of copper. A single solitary tree stood tall in the middle. Across the field was a pristine doe staring back at me. It’s beautiful dark eyes peering right into me.
But the dream was starting to fade and I didn’t want to let it go. I didn’t want to wake up, something in me didn’t want to face reality yet. But the beautiful doe face was fading anyway. The harder I tried to hold it, the faster it seemed to slip away. Soon it was gone and I was staring at the trunks of trees and the forest floor. And yet that still felt like a dream.
My mind was cloudy and wouldn’t clear. I shook my head, but that didn’t seem to help either. Everything was hazy and I was afraid that if I tried to stand my feet wouldn’t hold me.
Where the hell am I?
I didn’t have clue where I was or how I got here. I tried to think of the last thing I could remember, but the harder I tried the denser the cloud over my mind grew. Needless to say I began to feel panic. Panic has a way of waking you up, it may not clear up the cloud that seems to be lingering behind me, but my senses started to come alive, to track my world. Looking for danger.
My ears picked up on something. At first I couldn’t tell what, but my senses were becoming sharper by the second. There were two sounds, the first I heard was the barking of dogs, the second was the sound of mens voices. The sounds were still far off, but they were getting closer and they sounded like they were coming directly toward me.
A chain of reasoning took hold of me at that second and a natural instinct. I knew I couldn’t have come to this place on my own and there was no real reason to believe that these men put me here, after all if they put me here shouldn’t they be here now. But all the same I felt that it was imperative that I not be here when they got here.
At first I still wasn’t sure that my legs would support me, but terror and adrenaline was spreading through my body like a wildfire and when I tried them they merely shook for a second. Then they felt strong underneath me and I ran.
The voices and barking had already made a lot of ground on me, but I was fast. In my prime. The idea of them catching up to me was not impossible, but I knew if I could get going and put some distance between us before my legs gave out there was good chance they would never see me.
It would have helped if I knew where I was, but I didn’t, so I had no way of knowing where I was going. I just ran hard and kept the voices behind me. I was starting to feel quite good about my escape and confident that I was going to leave them far behind me in no time when two unexpected sites greeted me.
A tall fence was suddenly in front of me and sitting in front of it was a friend of mine, Farley. I came to a dead stop less than five feet from Farley. A looked down at him. Part of the cloud that was obscuring my recent past drifted away and I remember seeing him shortly before I awoke here, at least shortly in my chain of memory. I realized that however I ended up here. Farley probably had a similar experience. Someone or maybe even something had grabbed us and taken us at about the same time.
Looking in Farley’s face I saw the same terror that was probably mirrored on my face. We stared at each other for what seemed an eternity. Neither of us knew what to say, we were both trying to work out this strange day in our heads and figure out what it all meant. And most importantly trying to figure out just how much danger we were in. It was Farley that finally broke the standoff.
Don’t bother you can’t get over, I tried.
What happened, how did we get here?
I don’t know. I was standing around minding my own business one minute then the next thing I know I woke up here.
What is it all about though, why?
I don’t know for sure, but I think we are being hunted. After I woke up, I wondered around for a bit I came to this fence. I thought I would follow it for a while and maybe find a way out. That’s when I heard voices and dogs off in the distance, and I think I heard a gunshot.
Farley’s words slapped me hard. I already knew I had a sinister feeling about this place, but murder. Why would someone trap us just to murder us, it just didn’t make any sense.
There has got to be another reason Farley. It just doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone kidnap us, drug us, then let us wake up, only to hunt us down again and kill us? There has to be another reason.
Oh yeah, then why were you running.
I had forgotten all about the men and dogs by this point and picked my ears up and listened. They were practically right on top of us now. I didn’t know if I believed Farley, but I was still sure I didn’t want those voices to find me.
Come on Farley we got to go.
No.
Farley, we can’t let them catch us.
No.
You’re the one who said they want to kill us.
I know, but I am not running.
What?
And I didn’t say they wanted to kill us. I said they wanted to hunt us.
It comes to the same thing doesn’t though.
No, it doesn’t! I have wandered around for a couple of hours. I haven’t found anyway out of here, I sure there isn’t they would have made sure of that. So either way I’m dead. I will not give them the satisfaction of hunting and chasing me. I can’t win this game, but maybe I can kill some of the fun of it for them.
I couldn’t deny Farley’s reasoning, but I wasn’t willing to give up that easily. I still wanted to live and he should too, but there was no time to argue. I looked my friend in the eyes and realized all that was left was to say good-bye. I did quickly and darted away, along the fence line. From the sound of men and dogs, I was not a moment too soon.
I was probably no more than five hundred yards away when I heard the gunshot. I had never in my life heard one before, but I had no doubt what that loud crack was. I wanted to weep for my friend, but I did not have the luxury of time.
I thought I was moving quickly before. But now that I had an idea of the kind of danger I was in I pushed my self that much harder. At first the pain in my legs was terrible, but after a while I could no longer even feel they were there. I would have just thought I was standing still if the world wasn’t whipping by me.
At a point the forest turned very thick and it slowed my pace some, but not much. My heart lifted a bit, because I knew the tangle would slow the men with their dogs even more. My hopes and spirits were lifting, I knew that any moment the fence along my side would fall away. I would plunge through the opening and off to freedom. This day would be a horrible fading memory then. But my hope was short lived.
A branch slapped me hard in the face and when my vision cleared it was too late to keep me from running headlong into the fence.
I had found a corner. All the hope that had been filling inside me drained away and I dropped to the ground. Suddenly I knew how Farley felt. It was hopeless. This was there game and they had planned it well. These sick and depraved men wanted their fun, they wanted their blood, and they were going to make sure they got. It looked like Farley had the right idea, the most noble thing I could do was to just sit here and wait. Let the game at least end on my terms not theirs.
I probably would have done just that if logic hadn’t slapped me hard in the face. Of course there had to be a way out of here. After all they got in, after all we were put in here somehow. I was faster than them. As long as I could stay a step ahead of them I could find.
I jumped up and listened. They were still a good way behind me. I hadn’t dawdled too long then. That was good. Time was very precious. Even though I am faster than them they are prepared. They surely have something to drink and eat and I don’t. My body already felt drained, but I was sure I had enough in me.
I was off again, filled with hope, filled with fire, filled with conviction. I was faster than they were. I was smarter than them. And they were behind me, but in the end that didn’t matter.
For the second and last time in my life I heard a gunshot. It did not come from behind me it came from above me. I felt the bullet in the same instant I heard the sound. It hit me directly between the shoulders. My legs suddenly became limp and feel out from under me and I collapsed to the ground.
Death ended up being nothing like I thought it would be. But then again I don’t really know what I thought it would be like. There wasn’t much pain, which seems a strange thing to be grateful for, but I was all the same. I could move my head to see my body, which I could no longer exactly feel. There was a dull thud that seemed to run through my whole body, but that was the only feeling. Somehow I knew my legs must be twitching though, but I don’t know how I could know that since I could no longer see or feel them. But you know I am sure they were twitching. As strange as it may seem you know I started to feel warm and peaceful. You may think I am trying to doll this up for, so you won’t be so scarred when your time comes, but the truth was, death didn’t seem so bad. That was until the men arrived.
I could take the fact that I was dying with a kind of reverence and awe. I had led a full life, sure there were lots of things I would have like to have done or to have done again. But I enjoyed my time and realized in the end I could look back with no regrets. Even though I had died as part of these men’s stupid game, it didn’t seem so bad. But then I had to listen to them gloat about it and talk about me like I was nothing. I could have died at least semi happy if they had only stayed away from me for a few more seconds, but instead I faded out listening to arrogant, condescending pigs.
“Damn, what a buck.”
“Oh We, fifteen points.”
“Goddamn boys, this one is going on the wall.”
by: Brandon Michael Collinsworth
It was really a nice dream. The field was full of grass a beautiful color of copper. A single solitary tree stood tall in the middle. Across the field was a pristine doe staring back at me. It’s beautiful dark eyes peering right into me.
But the dream was starting to fade and I didn’t want to let it go. I didn’t want to wake up, something in me didn’t want to face reality yet. But the beautiful doe face was fading anyway. The harder I tried to hold it, the faster it seemed to slip away. Soon it was gone and I was staring at the trunks of trees and the forest floor. And yet that still felt like a dream.
My mind was cloudy and wouldn’t clear. I shook my head, but that didn’t seem to help either. Everything was hazy and I was afraid that if I tried to stand my feet wouldn’t hold me.
Where the hell am I?
I didn’t have clue where I was or how I got here. I tried to think of the last thing I could remember, but the harder I tried the denser the cloud over my mind grew. Needless to say I began to feel panic. Panic has a way of waking you up, it may not clear up the cloud that seems to be lingering behind me, but my senses started to come alive, to track my world. Looking for danger.
My ears picked up on something. At first I couldn’t tell what, but my senses were becoming sharper by the second. There were two sounds, the first I heard was the barking of dogs, the second was the sound of mens voices. The sounds were still far off, but they were getting closer and they sounded like they were coming directly toward me.
A chain of reasoning took hold of me at that second and a natural instinct. I knew I couldn’t have come to this place on my own and there was no real reason to believe that these men put me here, after all if they put me here shouldn’t they be here now. But all the same I felt that it was imperative that I not be here when they got here.
At first I still wasn’t sure that my legs would support me, but terror and adrenaline was spreading through my body like a wildfire and when I tried them they merely shook for a second. Then they felt strong underneath me and I ran.
The voices and barking had already made a lot of ground on me, but I was fast. In my prime. The idea of them catching up to me was not impossible, but I knew if I could get going and put some distance between us before my legs gave out there was good chance they would never see me.
It would have helped if I knew where I was, but I didn’t, so I had no way of knowing where I was going. I just ran hard and kept the voices behind me. I was starting to feel quite good about my escape and confident that I was going to leave them far behind me in no time when two unexpected sites greeted me.
A tall fence was suddenly in front of me and sitting in front of it was a friend of mine, Farley. I came to a dead stop less than five feet from Farley. A looked down at him. Part of the cloud that was obscuring my recent past drifted away and I remember seeing him shortly before I awoke here, at least shortly in my chain of memory. I realized that however I ended up here. Farley probably had a similar experience. Someone or maybe even something had grabbed us and taken us at about the same time.
Looking in Farley’s face I saw the same terror that was probably mirrored on my face. We stared at each other for what seemed an eternity. Neither of us knew what to say, we were both trying to work out this strange day in our heads and figure out what it all meant. And most importantly trying to figure out just how much danger we were in. It was Farley that finally broke the standoff.
Don’t bother you can’t get over, I tried.
What happened, how did we get here?
I don’t know. I was standing around minding my own business one minute then the next thing I know I woke up here.
What is it all about though, why?
I don’t know for sure, but I think we are being hunted. After I woke up, I wondered around for a bit I came to this fence. I thought I would follow it for a while and maybe find a way out. That’s when I heard voices and dogs off in the distance, and I think I heard a gunshot.
Farley’s words slapped me hard. I already knew I had a sinister feeling about this place, but murder. Why would someone trap us just to murder us, it just didn’t make any sense.
There has got to be another reason Farley. It just doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone kidnap us, drug us, then let us wake up, only to hunt us down again and kill us? There has to be another reason.
Oh yeah, then why were you running.
I had forgotten all about the men and dogs by this point and picked my ears up and listened. They were practically right on top of us now. I didn’t know if I believed Farley, but I was still sure I didn’t want those voices to find me.
Come on Farley we got to go.
No.
Farley, we can’t let them catch us.
No.
You’re the one who said they want to kill us.
I know, but I am not running.
What?
And I didn’t say they wanted to kill us. I said they wanted to hunt us.
It comes to the same thing doesn’t though.
No, it doesn’t! I have wandered around for a couple of hours. I haven’t found anyway out of here, I sure there isn’t they would have made sure of that. So either way I’m dead. I will not give them the satisfaction of hunting and chasing me. I can’t win this game, but maybe I can kill some of the fun of it for them.
I couldn’t deny Farley’s reasoning, but I wasn’t willing to give up that easily. I still wanted to live and he should too, but there was no time to argue. I looked my friend in the eyes and realized all that was left was to say good-bye. I did quickly and darted away, along the fence line. From the sound of men and dogs, I was not a moment too soon.
I was probably no more than five hundred yards away when I heard the gunshot. I had never in my life heard one before, but I had no doubt what that loud crack was. I wanted to weep for my friend, but I did not have the luxury of time.
I thought I was moving quickly before. But now that I had an idea of the kind of danger I was in I pushed my self that much harder. At first the pain in my legs was terrible, but after a while I could no longer even feel they were there. I would have just thought I was standing still if the world wasn’t whipping by me.
At a point the forest turned very thick and it slowed my pace some, but not much. My heart lifted a bit, because I knew the tangle would slow the men with their dogs even more. My hopes and spirits were lifting, I knew that any moment the fence along my side would fall away. I would plunge through the opening and off to freedom. This day would be a horrible fading memory then. But my hope was short lived.
A branch slapped me hard in the face and when my vision cleared it was too late to keep me from running headlong into the fence.
I had found a corner. All the hope that had been filling inside me drained away and I dropped to the ground. Suddenly I knew how Farley felt. It was hopeless. This was there game and they had planned it well. These sick and depraved men wanted their fun, they wanted their blood, and they were going to make sure they got. It looked like Farley had the right idea, the most noble thing I could do was to just sit here and wait. Let the game at least end on my terms not theirs.
I probably would have done just that if logic hadn’t slapped me hard in the face. Of course there had to be a way out of here. After all they got in, after all we were put in here somehow. I was faster than them. As long as I could stay a step ahead of them I could find.
I jumped up and listened. They were still a good way behind me. I hadn’t dawdled too long then. That was good. Time was very precious. Even though I am faster than them they are prepared. They surely have something to drink and eat and I don’t. My body already felt drained, but I was sure I had enough in me.
I was off again, filled with hope, filled with fire, filled with conviction. I was faster than they were. I was smarter than them. And they were behind me, but in the end that didn’t matter.
For the second and last time in my life I heard a gunshot. It did not come from behind me it came from above me. I felt the bullet in the same instant I heard the sound. It hit me directly between the shoulders. My legs suddenly became limp and feel out from under me and I collapsed to the ground.
Death ended up being nothing like I thought it would be. But then again I don’t really know what I thought it would be like. There wasn’t much pain, which seems a strange thing to be grateful for, but I was all the same. I could move my head to see my body, which I could no longer exactly feel. There was a dull thud that seemed to run through my whole body, but that was the only feeling. Somehow I knew my legs must be twitching though, but I don’t know how I could know that since I could no longer see or feel them. But you know I am sure they were twitching. As strange as it may seem you know I started to feel warm and peaceful. You may think I am trying to doll this up for, so you won’t be so scarred when your time comes, but the truth was, death didn’t seem so bad. That was until the men arrived.
I could take the fact that I was dying with a kind of reverence and awe. I had led a full life, sure there were lots of things I would have like to have done or to have done again. But I enjoyed my time and realized in the end I could look back with no regrets. Even though I had died as part of these men’s stupid game, it didn’t seem so bad. But then I had to listen to them gloat about it and talk about me like I was nothing. I could have died at least semi happy if they had only stayed away from me for a few more seconds, but instead I faded out listening to arrogant, condescending pigs.
“Damn, what a buck.”
“Oh We, fifteen points.”
“Goddamn boys, this one is going on the wall.”
