Horror, Wheel, Screaming at Ducks
Marty scrambled through the dense forest at a run. Her lungs burning as she tore fabric and flesh on the overreaching branches, thickets, and thorns of wild rose bushes. She couldn’t stop, she couldn’t ever stop, ever again, life was now consumed with this sweet smelling nightmare.
Escape was the only thought she could fully form and there was nothing beyond that. Her mistake last time was the thought of life after escape, it made her unfocused and gave her the hope she would someday be able to stop running. Not his time. She would spend the rest of her life running through this forest and that was a better existence however short than the one she’d left behind.
She flew out of the trees to a clearing she’d never seen, she’d never made it this far. A murky pool of green water was now her obstacle; she gave two seconds to decide if she should go through or around. Too many seconds, she barreled into the pool screaming her frustration out at the ducks who moved far too slowly when clearing her path. Her foot slipped and she submerged up to her neck. When she clawed out of the opposite bank she left an obvious muddy trail of where she’d departed the pond. No way he wouldn’t be able to track her. Escape. Keep running. Keep moving.
She plowed forward and hit something so hard she fell backwards to the ground. Keep moving. She crawled,
“Wheel of Fortune women! What ya doin’?” she barely registered the voice; Escape. She knew better than to ask for help. Keep running. “Wait, you’ll catch yer death out here!” The voice was following her, staying close. She was thinking. Don’t. Run, keep running. “Look out!” She allowed a second for her mind to hear his words. But before they made sense she tripped on asphalt. The car swerved and missed her stopping.
“Call the police, Trudy!” a new voice; the driver. Run, start running. Marty’s lungs coughed and blood came from somewhere in her raw throat. Black circle enclosed her eyes. No! Escape. She must escape. The darkness closed around her.
Chainsaw started in the distance. She had failed. He was here, her master was here and she couldn’t move. Gunshots were the last thing she heard before the darkness took her.
Was it the driver or man in the woods shooting him or was he shooting them for finding her, would she awake to sweet freedom or the sweet candied smell of his cologne?
Black.
When she came back to consciousness her eyes were too heavy to open, but she heard the unmistakable sound of a beeping hospital heart monitor.