Huntress Turned Prey

    The ravenous wolves were not far behind.  She could hear the fallen leaves and twigs beneath their pursuing feet.  Sweat poured down her sun-bronzed face, stinging her eyes, blurring her sight.  She had to keep running.  Trees flew past her as she jumped branch after branch, splashing through the scattered puddles, darting frantically this way and that.  They could smell her fear, and she knew it.  She was too outnumbered to stand a fighting chance.  The beasts were gaining.  She glanced back fearfully over her shoulder for only a moment, and her eyes met with hungry glares.  Suddenly, as her foot caught an unearthed root, her body reeled forward through the air, landing hard amongst the rocks and branches.  She stumbled, desperate to once again find her footing, and continued now limping, fleeing for her life, blood trailing behind from the fresh gashes of her face, legs, and arms.  They were closer now.  She could hear their panting.  Again the beads of sweat stung her eyes, and she began to feel the fatigue of chase.  Her time was nearing; she knew her fate was sealed. 
    The world seemed to spin around her, as more and more blood poured from her wounds.  Desperately, she tried to continue on, one foot in front of the other, but the ground seemed to rise between each step.  Before she could react, her foot fell upon a loose stone, twisting her body once again through the air and to the ground.  This time she lacked the strength to move.  She lay on the cold, damp ground, the menacing trees mocking her helplessness.  The hunter had become the hunted.  The wolves' paces slowed as they neared the motionless woman.  Then surrounding her, she saw the beasts' blurred heads come into view, their maw’s dripping with hunger.  Simultaneously, as one hungry animal, they let out a deafening, fierce snarl.  The world went black.