Hunted

The clearing of the thick forest was shrouded in shadows. Light beamed through the gaps in the leaves, enough to illuminated the forest floor.

Standing in the clearing were two figures. A tall female human with short brown hair and tan skin covered by a muddy and bloody sleeveless t-shirt, and combat pants, a length of rope coiled over her right shoulder and around her left hip, an empty holster adorned her right. The skin not covered revealed violent bruises of various shapes and colours, blood seeped from numerous cuts across her arms and face. Her chest heaved for breath as she held a smoking 9.mm pistol towards the second figure.

An anthropomorphic pony, its coats colour was hidden beneath dirt, blood, and other things she couldn't, or didn't care to recognise. Large tears where flesh was ripped from its body littered its form yet no blood flowed from the wounds.

Only the sound of her heavy breath and the beat of her heart came to her, the forest long since abandoned. Then it moved. The creatures once still chest lifted as it pulled air into its lungs. The raspy breath unnerved her. Then it roared. A horribly, forced, hoarse shout left it as it began to quickly cover the distance to her.

She gave a shout in defiance, rage, and challenge as it neared her. With a squeeze of the trigger she wondered where it all went wrong.

Four days prior, she awoken to see the dense canopy of the forest above her.

Fear gripped her as she rose into a crouch, she knew she did not lay down in a forest last night. Swiftly she patted her body, no injuries, her gun remained on her hip, clothes were properly on. She slipped her hand down the front of her pants, a moment later she nodded, a sigh of relief left her.

She slowly stood up as she took in her surroundings. Little light shined through the leaves but it was enough to see around her. With a deep breath she steeled herself before she started to walk.

A long time passed in her trek through the seemingly unchanging forest. Only the crunch of leaves and twigs beneath her boots reached her, it was unsettling. No animals, no insect, just herself and the wind rustling the leaves above.

Her hand lifted from her side, it hovered over the holster on her hip as she subconsciously leaned forward as the forest began to darken. Soon she noticed something unusual in the distance, unable to see far in the dying light, she moved quietly through the trees and stopped at the edge of a wide clearing. There stood a small, two story cabin.

She looked up and noticed the darkening sky. Not willing to take any chances in the forest at night she upholstered her pistol and ran in a crouch towards the building. She peered through the window to see no signs of life, all lights were off. She moved to the door and tried the handle, it opened without any resistance. She gave the door a knock with her free hand.

“Hello?” She called. “I'm lost and in need of shelter, is anyone here?”

Silence greeted her, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her quietly. Slowly she travelled through the house in search of its owner, the slight tap of her boots and the creak of the floor boards, magnified by the unnaturally silence raised her heart rate.

With each empty room she sighed internally until she stood in front of a door barely held up by the damaged hinges.

Inhaling deeply she calmed herself with a long exhale. Readying her pistol she tapped the door open, the groan of the hinges made her flinch. Stepping into the room quickly she staggered at the sudden smell. The unmistakable scent of aged blood and rotted flesh filled her lungs. Steadying herself she took in the scene; broken furniture and dark stains smeared on the walls, roof, centred around the blood caked wreck of what once was a bed.

Stepping into the hall she pulled the door closed. She quickly did another sweep of the house to make sure it was empty but found no sign of anything having lived there in weeks.

Relaxing slightly she holstered her gun and began to push couch across the floor to block the frond door. She then entered the kitchen and shoved a tall standing cabinet to half block the back door.

When ready she searched for a light switch but found nothing. Annoyed she began to search the rest of the kitchen and discovered an old oil lantern. Taking a lighter from her pocket she lit the lantern. Taking care not to spill the oil nor drop the lantern, she began to search the house for any useful items.

Time passed and she found herself in front of the damaged door once more. With a shake of her head she turned away from it and ventured downstairs and to the kitchen.

There she added her new finds to what little she could gather on the table. Two forks and a butter knife, three cans of beans, two canned peaches, a canned ham, and a can opener. Three bottles of water, a length of rope, a canteen and a hip flask. A backpack with two blank journals and several small travel jars of ink, quills, and a bag of fine powder joined them.

With a small smile she packed her haul into the backpack. When done she slipped it over her shoulder, grabbed the lantern and went to the knife block on the counter. Taking a sharp kitchen knife she made her way upstairs.

Entering one of the spare bedrooms she put the lantern down on a night stand then stripped a bed of its sheets. She then pushed the wardrobe to block the door. Opening the wardrobe she found a thin, one person quilt. Rolling it up she put it beside the open bag.

With a sigh she took out one of the journals, a jar and a quill.

'As good a time to learn as any.' She thought as she stared at the feather.

Opening the journal she began to record her day.

Many hours pass as she wrote painstakingly slow so not to fill the pages with splotches and smears. When she finally finished she sat up straight and stretched her sore back. Standing upright she left the pages open to dry. Packing away the rest of her stuff she used a quilt cover to clean the quill as best as she could before resting it between the pages of the journal.

Turning towards the bed her eyes widened as she her head snapped to the window. Uncertainty filled her as she reached for the lantern and turned it off. She stood in darkness waiting for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. Soon she found her range increase until she made out the shape of a person at the edge of the trees.

Time passed and the figure went unmoved, soon she began to doubt it was even a person, just a trick of her tired mind. With a yawn she took the knife with her to bed. Slipping the arm holding the blade beneath the pillow as she lay down, she pondered once more about her situation.

She went to bed in her home, crashed after a rough day. Then wakes up, untouched, in a forest. The nearest she knew of was hundreds of miles away. Now she's stealing what she can and sleeping in a room across from a murder scene. The day felt surreal, she hoped that it was just a vivid dream and soon she'll wake up and forget it ever happened.

With those thoughts she slipped into a light sleep.

A loud bang brought her from her sleep with a start, the once hidden knife held out before her. Holding her breath she listened as several heavy clops came from the staircase.  They sounded much too heavy and far between to be a horse. Then a throaty gurgle she only ever heard once before echoed up the hallways.

Her eyes wide with adrenaline pumping through her veins she quickly got up, slipped the knife and the journal into the bag, zipped it up then she lay the rolled quilt on top and brought the cover flap of the bag over to hold it in place as she clipped the clasp close.

Throwing the bag over her shoulders she jumped as something large struck the door. Not taking any chances she grabbed her lighter from her pocket and lit the lantern. Opening the window she turned and threw it at the door. The glass shattered, spilling burning oil across the wardrobe.

Climbing out the window she let herself fall to the ground, rolling to reduce impact. She stood up and bolted for tree line.

She continued to run without rest until she felt she was far enough away. Leaning against a tree she gave herself time to steady her breath before climbing a tree to get her bearings. Breaking the canopies cover she noted that the sun had started to rise, casting a shadow over the nearby mountains. Looking behind her she noticed the thick dark smoke of the burning cabin roughly three miles back. Convinced she was okay she climbed back down to the forest floor and continued to walk away from the fire.

Not long after she began she heard the sounds of rapid footfall. Looking behind her she saw the silhouette of a large person charge through the trees at her, it released a gurgle like roar forcing her instincts to take over.

Pulling her pistol free she fired round after round into the oncoming threat. As the gun hopped with each bang, a bullet entered the persons body yet went ignored. She kept firing until the tell tale click of an empty mag echoed to her ears, the last bullet knocked the creature to the ground yet it still flailed in rage after it rolled into a tree with a sickening crunch.

Fear and self preservation forced her to turn and run for her life. As she ran she heard the creatures scream and what sounded like the pounding of hooves as the thing charged after her. Not wanting to look back she concentrated on out manoeuvring the thing. Taking every chance to slip through dense groups of trees or change directions, every so often she'd hear it collide with something but each time it would soon be right behind her once more.

Taking a sudden turn she was shocked to feel the force of wind as the creature barrelled past her, missing her by inches as it rammed into a tree with enough forced to put it on the ground. With renewed vigour that pushed her to ignore the burning pains in her muscles, she bolted. She continued to run I blind desperation, narrowly avoiding trees until her shoulder clipped one. She briefly lost control and struck another tree that turned her around.

She hit the ground and entered a roll that brought her over a muddy cliff edge. Her attempts to grab the cliff failed as her hands slid through the wet mud, but the hard stones and few jagged rocks that lay beneath the dirt bruised and tore at her skin.

Soon her decent ended with a thump as she landed face down, unconscious.

A wet thump mixed with a few cracks brought her back to reality. Looking up she nearly broke down in a fit of tears as she saw the mangled creature nearby, human in shape but bore so many horse like features, it's lifeless eyes stared back at her yet its mouth opened and that same gurgled moan echoed towards her.

Lifting herself to unsteady feet she reached for her gun only to find the holster empty. Panicking she searched the areas until she found it near the trees away from the cliff. Lifting the weapon she slid the magazine from it, placing it in one of her many pockets she then slipped another filled mag from a different pocket.

The sounds of snapping bones forced her to turn towards the creature. She watched is growing horror and desperation as it stood up on a twisted leg, the crunching of bones reached her as it began to give chase once more but far slower then before.

Turning she slid the mag into the gun and began to slowly escape. As her desire to flee grew her second wind kicked in and she began to run with abandon once more, adrenalin sparing her from the pain that coursed through her.

She ran until night fall, there she climbed a tree and settled on to a sturdy branch. Taking the back pack off she then put it on backwards. She opened the bag and splayed the blanket over her legs then took the rope and tied herself to the tree. She then began to check her body for any injuries.

Satisfied that the cuts and bruises were the worst of it she searched her bag for water, noting that the ink bottles hadn't burst. Drinking her fill she then opened a can of peaches, eating the contents she poured the water from the can and put it back into her bag. Taking out the canteen and hip flask, she began to fill them with the remaining two bottles. When finished she returned the empty bottles and the filled canteen to the bag then slipped the hip flask into one of her empty pockets.

She then took the ends of her pants and tucked them into her boots before she pulled the quilt over her shoulders. Content she was safe for now and happy to have food in her system, she relaxed as best she could and try to sleep.

It had been days since she fell asleep in the tree. Her body was a wreck the following morning but she recovered her strength well though cuts and bruises grew worse as she had many close calls with whatever was hunting her. Her spirits fell however, when she saw two more of the creatures that didn't look anything like the first two, hunting her.

It was night fall she could hear them chase her through the forest, her fear and desperation no longer having any hold on her, she had grown use to her circumstance as the days that past. Only her anger and desire to live pushed her forward.

She limped into a clearing and saw moonlight shine through the canopy like sunlight. It seemed insulting, such tranquillity in a dead forest that wanted her life, it gave her pause. She was trapped, she knew it, the things behind her were closing in, the cramp in her leg made running impossible. She felt as though death had its hand on her shoulder. And it infuriated her.

Turning on the spot she took the pistol from her side and pulled the barrel. As the creatures ran into the clearing straight for her, her features twisted into a disgusted sneer. Aiming, she fired round after round into the two creatures, as a bullet found purchase in the head of one she was quick to see it hit the ground with a heavy smack, turning the gun on the other she put it down with a shot to the head.

She stared in silence at their still forms, fearing they would simply stand up and maul her to death. Then she heard it, the crunch of leaves.

She turned to see the very creature that began the hunt, the same one that chased her off the cliff, it stared at her as she raised her smoking gun at the beast. A question as to whether or not there were any bullets left in it entered her mind but there was no time to check, death wanted to play a sick game and she had no choice.

The creature roared as it lunged towards her, clearing the distance swiftly. With a shout of defiance her memories of the last few days played in her mind as she squeezed the trigger.

The bang shook her form like it did the day she first fired a gun, the creature fell past her, rolling into a heap. A hole in its forehead, a larger one at the back.

She stood in silence, the three creatures dead at her feet. She turned and left then to rot.

She walked, undisturbed in near complete silence. Stepping out into sunlight she covered her eyes and took time to adjust. Opening them she found herself out of the forest, staring at the open countryside. She could see a village in the distance, a large orchard and farm stood proud next to it.

Looking up she saw something that crushed what little spirit she had left, she knew where she was. A world not her own, a world where mystical creatures called home, a fairy tail told by her grandparents in better times. But the fairy tails never spoke of the creatures she fought as monster.

She stared at the castle mounted on the side of a mountain.

“I'm in Equestria...”