1 Hunted

"Brother! Help me, don't let go"

"I won't Mae hold on..I'm coming to get you"

He heard her voice but couldn't see her. She seemed close_but also far. Trying to reach out for his little sister, he clawed in the darkness calling for her.

"Daryn help me I'm falling"

At that last sentence he sensed her fading.

"Daryn, please!"

He clawed frantically. Looking for any means to get to his baby sister, but the more he tried, the more her presence faded. Frustrated and afraid he pushed harder. Searching, calling her name and looking for anything at all that could get him closer to her.

In one last attempt, he asked her to move towards his voice but she only cried.

Discovering her fear filled state, he tried soothing her...

"I'm coming Mae don't cry. All i have to do is navigate through this darkness but believe me I'm coming to get you little sister"

And then the world around him seemed to pull him backwards away from her voice and her cry for help.

"Mae"

"Daryn don't leave me!"

"I'm not leaving you Mae. I'll be right there. Where's mom and dad?"

"I don't know i haven't seen or heard them"

"Ok. I'm on my w...."

The pull took over. He felt like he was being dragged backwards towards nothingness. His sister's voice fading, going further away from him or was he the one moving away. He called one last time for her but she was too far and then, there was no sound..nothing just silence.

He pushed again to move his body he tried blinking but discovered..his eyes had been close all along....what!?.

¤¤¤¤

Opening his eyes and his senses he focused his vision to the low lit moon with clouds drifting slowly swallowing the moon at different intervals. Then he noticed the gigantic trees sprouting from the earth to the sky. Their imposing structures daring any shape lesser than theirs. At first, he got mesmerized by their sheer sizes. Their width capable of concealing three men and still leave room. It left him beliving that with that size, their weight was enough to turn two carefully built skyscrapers to sand_if not more. The sureal data his human senses gave him left him awed. Then he remembered his sister, his family and he jolted to his feet to search for her but she was no where near.

Still figuring out his experience not up to a minute ago on how he tried to reach to his sister, he felt a wicked pain at the back of his head(where he must have hit his head,). The pain only added to the lose he was feeling.

He slumped to the ground and cried.

Tears falling freely from his eyes, he remembered his sister calling out to him to help her and he was not able to. Although he couldn't see her, he still felt incapable. Unable to do the one thing he was supposed to do.

Daryn felt like the weakest brother alive.

His parents gone. Unsure if he actually encountered his sister..or she was already dead. He wept bitterly. Ignoring the already throbbing pain at the back of his head which only made him cry more (at least that told him he was still alive,) he looked around his surroundings in search of shelter.

Cold night and hard ground was never a comfortable situation plus he did not know where he was. His first choice was to look for a higher ground.

Still absorbing every detail of his suroundings. He started to look for the next thing to do to help his situation.

He found an already fallen tree. Then a bent tree that stood near what seemed the be the head of the already fallen tree. The bent tree acted as a canopy over the fallen tree.

He took advantage of the structures, he layed on the fallen tree and used the bent one as a canopy. It wasn't enough for the night but he accepted it anyway....accepting his fate.

Grieving, he remembered his parents faces. The look of fear and utter hopelessness as they tried to reach out to him and his sister as she clutched tightly to his arm before it all went dark. He felt his sister's tightly holding on his arm screaming his name before he could no longer hear anything. Now he wondered if he had dreamt it.

His eyes grew tired and he eventually gave way to sleep oblivious to the danger that lurked around him since he arrived in the forest.

As the Sun came up, it brought warmth along with it. Daryn greedily sought to absorb every warmth of the day. Clear headed and now warm he wondered how he arrived at the jungle in the first place. He looked through the trees and could only see mountains, few valleys but no plane land. Definitely the pilot had not thought it wise to land on a mountainous region.

Daryn expected that since he woke up without a rescue team or in the hospital, that he would have awoke either floating on a raft at sea or offshore near Greenland but no, he woke up in a jungle surrounded by impossibly giant trees.

Now cursing under his breath...after moving around the jungle for an hour, frustration kicked in. Not only had he not been able to find any fruit for food, he seemed to be wondering in circles. The sun had now reached it's peak. Birds of different species flew and chirpped happily around the jungle. Squirrels, hares and rabbits occasionally popped their hairy heads at the corners. Now that was normal, he even recognised some bird and insects. Though he tried hunting, he had not made any kill. He eventually stopped trying after five unsuccessful hunts.

He lay next to a tree tired and hungry. He still has not seen a berry or a single fruit since the sun peaked.

His head against the tree he thought of his next move suddenly he felt predatory eyes on him. Startled he searched his surroundings again but found nothing. Until his eyes caught a glimpse of the source. A pair of blood red eyes looking directly in his direction. His neck hairs stood at attention. Daryn slowly got to his feet. He dared not drop the gaze between him and the unknown beast. Suddenly the creature growled... a deep blood curdling growl that seemed to come from beneath his feet. That was all Daryn needed to make a decision.

His eyes darted around for the nearest defence or exit, with the burning red coals still staring him down he had to choose now and fast.

Should he take flight, but then the animal will see an opportunity to chase him or should he strike back? his mind raced.

The creature pushed forward revealing its massive head from the bushes. It was a massive wolf with hungry predatory eyes. Immediately Daryn knew what he was up against he chose flight because there was definitely no way he could stand his own against this massive wolf.

So intimidating, the wolf looked as though it doubled the size of a normal wolf even outsizing a horse. The wolf growled and braced preparing to leap on his target. Daryn was so confused as to were the wolf came from and it occured to him the wolf must have been tracking him for long now and waiting for the perfect time to strike. Everything in his body told him to flee. Run as fast as his legs could carry him but, the fear of being chased and eventually brought down by this predator prevented him from making a move. The wolf growled and took another step bringing Daryn back to the urgency at hand and he ran.

There was chaos as predator and prey stumped through the bushes. Daryn ran for his life. No matter how fast he ran he didn't seem to put enough distance between himself and the wolf he bit his lips and pushed harder. One quick look behind him he saw that the wolf wasn't gaining on him like before. Feeling motivated, he pushed himself to go faster but his body was not giving him the speed he needed.

Now the wolf chased him up to a stream. Without thought he jumped into the stream believing the wolf won't follow. When he had gotten to the middle of the stream however, he looked back and was surprised to see the wolf struggling through the currents to reach him...its prey.

Daryn was now scared at the determination the wolf showed in making sure it had him for lunch.

'Curses. If u want me that much, you have to get me first' he cursed in his heart.

As if it understood and accepted the challenge, the wolf struggled faster. It almost looked as if it had mastered the currents and was given a new drive to catch Daryn.

Daryn could have swore he saw the wolf smile at him.

'Fuck off'

Daryn resumed moving through the current of the stream. The slippery bed of the stream was not making it easier for him either but he wasn't gonna stop to be eaten so he push on.

Both predator and prey were exhausted when they got out of the stream but still none stopped.

Daryn however kept on running along the stream following the currents so incase the wolf gained speed, he would jump back into the stream giving himself an opportunity to catch his breath. As long as the currents did not carry him that is.

When the wolf started gaining speed again he jumped back into the stream and the wolf followed. This time going to the opposite side and just as Daryn had thought, the wolf found it difficult.

Glad that his quick thinking was proving successful, he thrived foward to the other side of the stream. The whole ordeal was tiresome but as long as it kept him alive...or just long enough he did not mind.