The beasts were howling, rending the night with their terrible cries of hunger and rage. I tried to keep my family moving, but the snow was deep, and the ice was sly. One of my children left a blood trail where he ran; too big, now, for me to carry.
They were not far behind us, and our eyes showed their whites; rolling in fear. My breath came ragged, its sound as awful as the creatures hunting us. Even as my son fell, with his entrails spilling out as a steaming mess onto the unforgiving snow, it was all I could hear. I knew he cried in pain as they fell upon him, but the sound reached only my heart, bypassing my ears. Crackling in and out, my lungs would fail me soon in this chase.
One by one, my family fell prey to the beasts. The cracking of their bones and anguished howls reverberated in my skull, so often and so loudly I felt my teeth would shatter. After minutes or years, I found myself alone.
I could hear the merciless beasts in the distance, rejoicing in their kill. They must not have noticed one carcass; my own, was missing from their gristly prize. I dragged my weary body, and broken spirit, beneath a fallen tree. The frozen body of this dead sentinel would hide me for the night.
I lifted my wavering gaze to the moon, and silently begged the Mother of the Night to forgive my lack of song. My heart was near bursting with sorrow that must be sung to the Mother.
I wanted to lament my family... but I wanted to live, too.
They were not far behind us, and our eyes showed their whites; rolling in fear. My breath came ragged, its sound as awful as the creatures hunting us. Even as my son fell, with his entrails spilling out as a steaming mess onto the unforgiving snow, it was all I could hear. I knew he cried in pain as they fell upon him, but the sound reached only my heart, bypassing my ears. Crackling in and out, my lungs would fail me soon in this chase.
One by one, my family fell prey to the beasts. The cracking of their bones and anguished howls reverberated in my skull, so often and so loudly I felt my teeth would shatter. After minutes or years, I found myself alone.
I could hear the merciless beasts in the distance, rejoicing in their kill. They must not have noticed one carcass; my own, was missing from their gristly prize. I dragged my weary body, and broken spirit, beneath a fallen tree. The frozen body of this dead sentinel would hide me for the night.
I lifted my wavering gaze to the moon, and silently begged the Mother of the Night to forgive my lack of song. My heart was near bursting with sorrow that must be sung to the Mother.
I wanted to lament my family... but I wanted to live, too.
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