Amnesia: Forget Your Past

Forget Your Past
Chapter 2

Daniel and Scootaloo had gotten lucky with the Cockatrice. If Scootaloo had been captured by its piercing gaze, they would both be in trouble. The duo was now being chased by a pack of angry Timberwolves that Daniel had disturbed. Their appearance confused Daniel, he had never heard of an animal made entirely out of wood. Maybe this was just another illusion.

Daniel was nowhere near fast enough to outrun them; he had to do something to outwit the wolves. That was his only hope. Through blurred trees, he could see the subtle shape of a pack of wolves closing in on his flank. His breathing was heavy and slow, he was very nearly exhausted. The wolves could see this and became even more enthusiastic as the promise of a meal was close to becoming reality. Daniel cursed the flatness of the forest. If there was some sort of obstacle that he could jump over and hopefully knock some loose logs down over it, he could just lose them.

Scootaloo’s heart was beating rapidly as her saviour ran through the narrow forest in an attempt to escape the vicious wolves. She might be able to outrun them if she jumped down, but then where would she go, and how would she be able to live with herself knowing that the creature that tried to help her died in vain. Oh no, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Suddenly, Scootaloo had an idea. She jumped onto the biped’s head, held on tight and flapped her wings as fast as she could. The mere adrenaline pumping through her allowed her to propel the creature enough jump out of a wolves’ biting reach.

Daniel was very grateful for the extra boost of speed. This might just get them out of this one alive. As he kept running, Daniel spotted a sudden spike in the terrain in the distance. Further ahead there were two mountains side by side. The sides of them ended in a crooked cliff side with large boulders wedged in between them. These boulders ran all the way down near the floor in between the two cliff sides. The gap was tiny. There was a narrow passage way ahead! Daniel looked back once to see the size of the wolves. They weren’t necessarily huge, but the random twigs flaying off of them would certainly get caught in between the two cliffs. Filled with hope, Daniel rushed forward.

Scootaloo had felt the creature run faster, so much that he actually was running faster than she could flap. She looked ahead and realised exactly why. The passage way ahead was too narrow for any of those wolves to get through.
Daniel was closing in on the passage and was now certain that they were going to survive this. The wolves were also getting very worried about losing their dinner. They could also see the small gap that they weren’t going to have any chance of getting through. They had to get this biped before he got to the cliffs.

Scootaloo didn’t correctly anticipate the height of the passage. So when they arrived, and the tall creature didn’t duck, Scootaloo collided with hard rock. The creature, who luckily felt the loss of weight on his head, turned to see an unconscious filly splayed on the damp ground.

Daniel had no need to duck and didn’t realise that the filly on his head was high enough to hit her head on the rocks. He instantly turned around and grabbed her leg before the wolves could get to her. After he quickly pulled the pony and practically jumped away, he fell on his back, gasping for air. The wolves finally arrived, growling and howling at him, but quickly silenced as a large boulder came crashing down in front of them. Daniel, somewhat shocked but luckily out of the way, looked up to see that the filly had indeed collided with a loose boulder that was wedged in between the two cliffs. That was enough to loosen it. Luckily the rocks above it stayed in place, otherwise they would have toppled off of the one below and on to them. He thanked his luck and picked up the small filly.

As he looked down at her, he saw that her body was cut open and bulging. Her fur was molten and her jaw was hanging low near her chest. It was a very grotesque sight indeed. Daniel dropped her instantly after seeing her. He looked at her, sweating with fear. His vision became blurred and the now horrifying equine looked up at him. Daniel could feel himself giving way in his legs. He collapsed and blacked out...

Scootaloo had awoken soon after she was dropped. The sensation of falling to the ground jolted her back into action. What she saw when she opened her eyes was surprising to say the least. There, standing in front of her, was the biped with a very fearful look in his eyes. Was he really that worried for her? No. This was a different kind of fear. The biped was scared of her, but why? She began to slowly get up, and as she did, the biped fell to the ground. She looked at it in utter shock and fear. It was her protector, and now it had fallen to the ground unconscious. As it fell, so did her heart. She had to protect it until it awoke. She sure as Tartarus couldn’t carry it.

She needed a fire to keep it warm, and her warm of course. Getting twigs was no problem, but how would she light them? Scootaloo wasn’t an expert in survival or physics, but she was sure that rubbing two things together created heat. So why couldn’t that create fire? She wasn’t entirely confident with this plan, but she had no other choice.

She went over to a nearby, dry tree to collect the twigs. She then fetched some stones to surround the fire. She didn’t know why she did this. She just saw someone else do it and thought it looked cool. She began by getting one twig and twisting it on the pile. She got a smoke going, but she couldn’t twist it fast enough to get enough heat going. She decided to use rocks against the twigs instead.

After trying at least 20 different coloured rocks to strike against the wood and set it alight, she came across a dark, shiny rock and struck it hard against the stick. After about 3 tries, the stick set alight. She beamed happily.

Suddenly, she heard a nearby growling. The Timberwolves had returned. Thinking fast, she grabbed the end of a blazing stick. If Timberwolves were made of wood, they would burn easily right? To her delight, the Timberwolves, who had just emerged from the darkness, backed off from the flame. Seeing that getting past this filly was not happening, they decided to hide in the forest outside of Scootaloo’s hastily made camp and waited for them to leave.

Scootaloo, satisfied that the wolves were not going to try and attack them, let herself sleep, albeit reluctantly. She silently hoped that the creature would return to normal when it awoke, if it awoke...

Daniel awoke from his blackout an hour after Scootaloo had gone to sleep. He was happy to see that the gruesome appearance of the little filly was just an illusion.

His joy was soon replaced with dread as he heard a nearby growling. Daniel looked around rapidly, knowing that out running the Timberwolves again was out of the question. Luckily, he saw the smouldering fire place. The filly had got a fire going.
As far as he could tell, although he didn’t see how, these wolves were made of wood, so naturally, they should burn easily. He saw the black, shiny stone next to the fire and grabbed a random twig off of the floor. He began to strike the stick hurriedly with the flint and instantly received a flame. With a grim smile, he picked up the filly, waking her, and approached the Timberwolves who had begun to slowing move towards them. He waved the flaming stick at them, backing them off.
As soon as he saw an opening, he ran for it. As he passed the snarling wolves, one bit him in the leg. He screamed out, much to the filly’s horror, and struck the Timberwolf with the burning end of the stick. This sent the Timberwolf running into the distance on fire. That was enough for the rest of the pack. This prey was too difficult to breakdown; they ran off to find a different, easier prey. Daniel and Scootaloo saw this and both simultaneous sighed and relaxed, only to be tense up again as Daniel cried out in pain.

The bite wasn’t deep enough to cause any real damage, but it definitely hurt Daniel enough to make him limp with every step. He rolled up his trouser leg and observed the wound. Where the wolf had bitten him were several red holes with dark blood pouring out of them. He grabbed a piece of cloth out of his pocket and began to press down on the bite marks. Daniel saw the filly look up at him worriedly, but he ruffled her hair in an attempt to say, ‘I fine’. The filly was not entirely convinced clearly but relaxed anyway. Daniel then prepared for another long trek into the forest. ‘I am getting too old for this,’ he thought.