Winston was huffing and panting in an unknown forest trying to escape a weird rat looking creature which he has never seen on any of his favourite nature channels.
Even in all the prehistoric documentaries of fossil excavations he could swear on his big ego to not have seen anything remotely familiar to the monster that was tracking him down.
It was a creature one could only encounter in nightmares or fantasy novel, not an animal, but a true beast.
It was a two meter tall creature, covered with black dense fur, overly mascular body and glowing red eyes with a feet long upper incisors and all that would have been already too much for him to go crazy but the worst part was the freaking rat could spit deadly green acid on his targets. How was that even possible, that was against evolution and scientifically not possible he wanted to complain.
But he did not have the leisure of contemplating of that, he would have to put his reasearcher personality to the side or he would burn to a corpse from the acid the rat was spewing but thankfully due to the dense cover of trees the poor souls were taking all the hits on his behalf.
Behind him, the trees cracked and collapsed, each one hissing from the acid's touch and the sound of the monster running on two like those velociraptors portrayed on those films he used to watch as a child. It was getting close,making strange sounds as if frustrated on not getting a hit on his target.
Bam!
Another tree that fell behind him missing his head by just half a second and he realised the demonic rat had changed his strategy by throwing acid on the trees ahead on him as projectiles, gambling on a tree to fall on his juicy prey.
'what an intelligent bast*rt ',Winston cursed.
He ran zig zaging through the trees.
'well atleast all those torturing exercise sessions with that old coach are paying off'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
It hadn't started like this.
Just yesterday, Winston Grace was a 17-year-old high schooler—football team's star forward, perfectly build with six feet and one inch height, average grades, above-average charm, and a head full of National Geographic reruns. A very upbeat and friendly person who always had this air of confidence and energy around him.
He had no idea that this excess energy will lead him perish from this world.
It was the day when he and his friends had gone on a weekend camping trip upstate, hoping to ditch civilization and embrace their inner cavemen for two days.
The sun was just starting to dip when they reached the clearing. Tents were half-pitched. Joyous chating and teasing. Marshmallows hadn't even met the fire yet when all of a sudden they hear a low deep growl from the forest behind them.
"Raaah!"
A black ball of fur jumped on the nearest guy.
Before anyone could scream, it charged. Chaos broke out.
A swipe with its thick paw and the Eli one of Winston's friends hit the ground with a loud thud. Blood covered the floor where his head hit.
It was a bear. Big and Furious bear.
Liam tried to run but tripped. The bear turned on him next.
Winston didn't run. Something in him—pride, adrenaline, madness—made him grab the nearest thing: a camping pole. With a yell that came from his soul, he charged the bear.
He could not see his friends die in front of him, it was his plan for coming here and now one of them was already dead. There was deep ache in his chest and lump in his throat but now that turned into anger and he directed his anger to make a futile effort to save his friend.
The pole made contact with the bear's side, a desperate swing. It roared, staggered, but only for a moment.
With a violent swipe, it hit the pole away and sent Winston tumbling to the ground. The others had already vanished into the forest.
Now he was alone. Just him. A massive bear. Two bloodied, unmoving friends.
The bear reared up, charging at it's fallen prey and pounced on him, he saw the bear more clearly then in any show and braced for the impact or whatever that will come but it never came.
He saw a white light that started from his chest and instantly covered entire body.
A pulse like thunder echoed in his ears, and the world fell away.
---
When Winston opened his eyes, he was no longer in the woods.
He stood in a world washed in alien colors. Trees spiraled into the clouds, their leaves glowing softly under a sky painted with two suns. Strange calls echoed in the distance.
"Where am I..." he muttered.
That's when he heard the screech.
The rat.
The acid.
And now, here he was—running for his life once again, trapped in a nightmare that had begun with a camping trip and a bear… and escalated into something beyond comprehension.
But deep in his chest, against his skin, the pendant still pulsed. And Winston could feel it wasn't done with him yet.