Her toes curled as the particles of glass embedded deeper with each step. She was barefoot and bloody, trying to move quietly through the trees. Sucking in a quick breath, she bit her lip. The pain.

A slight twig snapped underfoot and her hair stood on end. Any noise could be lethal. She dropped into a crouched position, as close to the ground as she dared, her limbs rigid. She might need to run.

No noise came in response. She glanced at the treetops. Not even birds were singing. Not good. That meant a predator was somewhere, close.

***

Could she simply stay hidden under that nearby fallen log, at least briefly, and pry the shards out of the bottoms of her bare feet? But she didn’t dare. Not after what she had seen.

With each painful step, she tried not to think about the dead silence that surrounded her, though her ears were on high alert. As she continued, snippets of memories from previous days flashed through her mind.

If only she hadn’t found that newspaper article with the promise of an all-expense paid trip for five lucky winners, she wouldn’t be here now. Her friend had said it was too good to be true. She was right.

***

Stumbling through the trees, pain shooting through her bloodied bare feet, she tried to calm her racing heart. And quickly gave up. This was a very different scenario from the vacation she thought she was going on.

She wiped her arm across her face, willing her eyes to stay focused on each step forward. Tears kept threatening to cloud her vision. Glancing ahead, she spotted a towering chain link fence, razor wire looped across the top.

Coming to the fence, she hooked her fingers through and stared straight up. It didn’t matter how torn up she might get, she needed to get through that razor. She feebly yet steadily climbed, pausing only briefly before tackling the wire at the top. She screamed.

***

Lying twisted on the ground, the wind knocked out of her, she stared up at the razor wire she had just pushed through. She couldn’t bring herself to look at her shredded clothing or the deep cuts that crossed her skin. Was she going to bleed out? Was this the end?

The scene she had stumbled upon only hours ago flashed into her pounding head. She squeezed her eyes shut tight. No! If only she would pass out, not have to remember. But the brutality remained. The man who had driven her from the airport. She had walked in on him stringing something up to the rafters, like hunters do with a deer.

But when he had turned toward her, she realized it wasn’t “something” he had strung up. It was someone. And the person had been savagely ripped apart. Her heart stopped. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the man grin. She couldn’t quite remember what happened next… Only that she had ran. She screamed, trying to push the horrific image from her mind.

***

Her throat was raw from screaming, but it didn’t compare to the pain throughout her razor torn body. Could she move from the contorted position she was in on the ground or was this going to be the end for her?

A thunderous roar filled the silence, causing chills to tingle her spine. She looked the direction she had come from and spotted a huge tiger on the other side of the fence, pounding toward her. Her adrenaline jacked, propelling her to scamper haphazardly up a slope where another fence came into view.

She clambered up the five foot chain link fence, no razor wire this time, and dropped to the other side. She kept moving through the trees and suddenly stumbled into an opening, next to a highway. Collapsing to the ground, she had never been so happy to see an overly busy gas station across the way.

Her vision went in and out, changing from sky to black and back again. The blurred form of a uniformed officer came into view. The last thing she heard before the sweet relief of unconsciousness was the sound of his voice. “We got you. You’re going to be alright.”

***

This post was inspired by the hope*writers writing prompts for June 2022.

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