Chapter 1
Heavy footfalls and labored breathing were muffled by the high-pitched whining in his ears. The moonlight was his only guide in the night and the shadows seemed darker than they should have been. The warm trickle of blood running into his eyes didn’t help traversing the brush-filled void. He turned his head back while his legs continued on, with a vague feeling that someone, or something, was following him. Suddenly, the ground gave way before him as he breached the edge of a steep decline and tumbled downward, face and neck clawed by the passing brambles. Dizzyingly he came slowly to his feet, and through the blood and gathering dirt in his eyes he saw a halogen bulb glowing hazily in the distance. Continuing towards the light, he came to a high fence situated at the bottom of the hill, and, hopping to the other side, tried to steady his feet along with his buzzing mind. The whining in his ears had died away, and apart from his wheezing and the drip-drip-drip of blood on the dirt there was no sound in the night.
Looking around, the man tried through one eye to gain some bearings. The fence which he crossed circled around on all sides of a large open dirt patch, ungroomed but barren of foliage. He could scarcely make out the other side - eyes not yet adjusted to the dimness of the night. Walking to the middle of the area he looked around to figure what kind of trap he had walked into and spotted a small gate in the direction of the light. Stepping in a straight line took all the strength his muscles could muster, and when he got within twenty feet of the gate he froze. The gate led to a small rectangular enclosing from which emerged a wisp of smoke rising through the moonlight. The man coughed uncontrollably which was answered by a low grunt from the enclosing, causing the rising smoke to increase in volume as he instinctively held his own breath, stifling another cough. The gate swung outward with a nudge from within and standing there, shaking off the sleep from its horns, was a behemoth silhoutted by the light.
The man, still frozen and unbreathing, watched as the beast stepped forward grunting and stamping its hooves aggressively. The moon hanging behind the animal prevented the man from seeing its eyes, but he imagined them aflame in the depths of the shrouded face. Without warning of a roar it lunged forward, dropping its head adorned with two barrel-like horns aimed directly at the frozen man. He regained his shocked senses and ran perpendicular trying to head the beast off, but he did the movement too early. The animal adjusted its path quickly and with a swift upward motion crashed into his legs and flung him overhead like a limp pancake. As the man collided with the ground, a fresh warm sensation erupted from his thigh and he limped as fast as he could go towards the fence. The beast turned sharply, eyes and wet muzzle now shining in the moonlight. It hooved at the dry dirt with anticipation and again lunged forward, this time with a deep howl from the depths of its throat. The man reached the fence, swung his uninjured leg over and cried out as he dragged over the other, clinging in pain to the top of the fence outside the enclosure. All in one moment a spotlight came on over his right shoulder as the beast crashed into the metal fence, flinging the man off like a wet sack into the side of a wall. The newfound light above him faded in his eyes until there was nothing but blackness.
