• Sharp stabs of pain shot up her legs as each rock and twig left its mark on the soles of her feet. She stumbled and her face hit the ground, leaves and sticks once again pushing their way into her flesh. One deep breath, two. She couldn’t go on without catching her breath. The girl’s hair fanned out around her head, a silver sheet in the rising moonlight. Her skin glowed, almost translucent against the light that filtered through the trees. She was innocent, that much was plainly obvious, untouched by the evils of the world. The growling that had been following her was growing louder. She may have been untouched by evil, but she knew a warning when she heard one.

    Her knees ached, her legs burned and her slender torso still rose and fell with every breath. It was over. She knew that running would be suicide. She would get a little further and collapse again. It was only a matter of time before the creature caught her. Saying she knew exactly what was chasing her would have been an outright lie. She didn’t have the slightest clue what was after her, but it was big and in this case, big was bad.

    She turned to her back, blood making a smooth path down her face and neck. She hurt, she ached all over but she refused to cry. She had been crying since the chase had begun more than an hour ago. The fear had to be attracting it, or maybe it was the blood that made a steady trail onto the forest floor.

    A crack.

    The soft sound of animal-like paws thudding on the ground came closer. A cold nose snorted as it neared the girl and hot breath left a cloud in the chilly February air. She closed her eyes in pain and cringed as the animal bit into her side with savage abandon, ripping at her flesh as if it were wet paper. That was when the girl dropped the courageous act and started crying, sobs tearing from her body as she reached up to cover her face with her hands. Before her right arm had risen off the forest floor, the creature had it in his powerful jaws. She tried to curl into herself, make herself smaller, but the pain in her side prevented any such action.

    Darkness loomed like a terrifying cloud; she knew that if she gave into it she would be gone. Her eyes opened, crystal depths of silver blue stared at the carnage that was her own body. Her bones rubbed together in her wrist and a moan was torn from her throat. The creature dropped her wrist and looked at her face. It was some sort of tiger, but it couldn’t be normal, could it? The size wasn’t quiet the same as a normal tiger, it was slightly smaller. Golden eyes stared back from an angry face. There was something powerful in those eyes. Something that made you want to look away in fear but also something that made you fear looking away.

    The creases that lined the tiger’s face, the ones that defined the fury, slowly smoothed, revealing a face void of all emotion. The girl cringed as another shot of pain raced up her arm and side. Even if the beast let her go now, she would bleed to death on the forest floor.

    The beast started panting and warm breath washed over the girl’s face, cooling the sweat and tears that rested on her skin. As the girl watched, the tiger started to change. Slowly the stripes faded from the face and body and the bronze colored hair started to recede everywhere but on the top of the animal’s head, where it grew longer, coming to rest on it’s shoulders. And as the girl watched, the bones in the frightening face shifted, changed. The snout shortened and the eyes shifted downward until a man sat next to her, still on his haunches, still looking somewhat beastly. A look of concern crossed his face, then a look of horror, staring at the damage he had done. The girl saw him mouth the words ‘Oh my God’ but the rushing in her ears drowned out all noise except for the pounding of her heart which only grew until it sounded as if the organ would burst.

    Another beat of the girl’s heart, another wave of pain. Darkness pulled at the young girl and she gave up trying to fight it. The pull was too great. Darkness meant escaping the pain. The last thing the girl saw was the man leaning over her, orange hair catching the moonlight and hazel eyes looking apologetic.