How I Came To Survive

When you’re running, it’s an amazing feeling. When you’re alone, anyway. The wind rushes past you, so quickly it’s like a living, moving creature turning through the air, it breathes, ruffling your fur, and you feel cool all over. You’re so invigorated, you run faster, your hooves are pounding the ground, your eyes are tearing up with the excitement.

But.

It’s not so amazing when you’re being chased.

I’d been going at this he** at my heels speed for what seemed like hours. I could hear the howls and the excited growls that told the other members of the pack that they were getting closer to me. When I heard those sounds, I went faster, running parallel with the train tracks, the gravel getting stuck in my hooves, hurting me, like fire running through my veins. But I knew that getting bitten, pulled to the ground by one of those mangy, blood thirsty wolves that the pain would be much much worse. I couldn’t let that happen.

I let out a cloudy breath, kept running, but I realized that I was slowing down. I wouldn’t be able to go much faster. I tried another burst of speed, but this drained out all the little energy I had to spare. I looked to the left, one leg poised in the air, tail and ears twitching, my nose scenting out all the danger in the air.

Woods. I lifted my head higher, as I stared into their dark depths, their mysterious secrets that they held deep within their branchy hearts. Did I dare to go in there?

I remembered, as a fawn, the horrible stories my mother used to tell me about the forests. We were city deer, we just didn’t mess around with the trees, the brambles, and the like. The forests were indeed very ominous looking, what with the dark scaly trunks that reached towards the sky, branches trickling out from their bodies like ugly witch’s hands. And then of course, it was more dangerous in the forest. In the city, we got free food, and no deer was dumb enough to walk out in front of a car. There were many predators in the woods too, not just wolves, but other things that I don’t even know of.

So that was what kept as away from them. But right now, I didn’t feel like I had a choice. Reluctantly I started to turn, trotting quickly and as inconspicuously as I could across the small gravel path that I had been following, but as soon as I stepped under the first tree, I saw a black shape, darker than even the darkest shadows that came from the wild oaks and chestnuts. Wolf.

Huffing irritably, I turned around once more, and ran straight for the train tracks. The wolf wasn’t more than a foot behind me. I could hear his pants of excitement as he anticipated sinking his white teeth into me, could hear his breaths tumbling from him, turning the air into disaster.

But, twitching my ears, once, twice, another time, I could hear something else. A train.

There was still one last thing I could do.
Quick as a flash, I darted off the train tracks and then started running parallel to them again. If I missed this chance, I would die. The wolf would get what he wanted; he would bite my neck, kill me quickly, and then crush my skull, mashing it into soup with his powerful blood fueled jaws.

The train was less than a yard away from me now. I realized I had slowed down, and the wolf was catching up. I could feel his warm breath on my flank, so warm it felt like it could set me on fire. I couldn’t run any faster, and I’m sure already, his jaws would be opening behind me, readying to snap down, and tear me apart. In my mind’s eye, I could see his vicious eyes turning red with the victory he would soon proclaim, I could see his bristling black fur, dusted with old gray, his lips parted to reveal sparkling white teeth that he thought would soon be stained with blood.

My eyes rolled back into my head, and then I saw an open door on one of the train cars. I put on an extra burst of speed, felt the wind whoosh past, a crazy, hyper animal, as the train chugged on, dominating the tracks, sending smoky fumes and heat rushing to swirl with the air. The wolf barked, and I felt his teeth scrape my leg. No, I wouldn’t let him get me. Not when I was so close.

Tensing my muscles, I took a deep breath, kept my eyes on the empty train car, and then kicked forward and back, feeling a satisfying punch as my hoof hit something living. I heard a yelp in my ear, an angry, fearful yelp that begged for mercy as I soared up and over the tracks. My hooves hit the open space with a great slap, and back legs struggling, tail flagging desperately, I was finally able to pull myself up. Turning around, I saw the wolf, nothing but a scrawny heap, a ball of black fur, on the frozen ground, whining and bleeding, his diminutive shape receding as the train continued along the tracks.

I couldn’t feel sorry for him now. Would he feel sorry for me had he ripped me to shreds? Of course he wouldn’t.

My eyes closed thankfully, and I stretched my legs into a comfortable position, falling into a sleep as deep and as dark as the forest itself before I could do anything about it.