"Chase" by James Nam 남기웅

James Nam 

Masters Writing 2

Aaron Teacher

Chase

I hit the ground. The crash made a small sound that echoed around. My hands were touching a soft, cool substance. After emitting sets of coughs, I drank air with my mouth. The pace of my breathing became slower each moment while I tried to calm myself down. After a few seconds, I was able to pull myself up to a sitting position. I opened my eyes. My sight was just a series of blurry images which I couldn’t figure out. I rubbed my eyes and tried again. The soft, sticky substance that was sticking to my fingers moved onto my eyelids. I cleaned the substance with my arms and wrists and got a clear vision. 

I looked at what I was sitting on. Dirt, just plain dirt with specks of grasses it was. I shifted my gaze upward and saw light. The light was quite dim; making it almost unable to see what was around. The lights blinked and made small cracking sounds. It was coming from a streetlamp. I stood up. Pain reached my legs and made me tumble. After gaining my balance, I walked to the streetlamp. The streetlamp was standing on an asphalt ground. A web dangled from the lamp. A cold breeze blew past. I turned around and saw rows of dim streetlamps and walked between them. A series of wind shook my clothes. I grabbed my jacket tightly together and walked on. I began to realize the silence. I had to run, had to go somewhere before I am torn down by the cold or the fear. I could feel my heart beating. It became so strong that I could feel the irregular beating at my neck. I could see wreckages on the side of the street as I ran. They were just objects that people used. Cars, aluminum cans, and fragments of glass were placed in front of worn down houses. 

I ran until I felt an unknown sensor of mine told me not to go. My feet listened to it and stopped. I turned left and started to pace slowly. I was now going along the trees and the houses. A creak came from a wood plank from the two o’clock direction. My arms and legs stiffened. I could not stop my body trembling. My breathing pace accelerated until I chocked myself for a few seconds. A cough came out from my throat, trying to relieve the pain that was caused on it. The creak sounded again, coming from a closer place. I counted to five and turned around and reached my legs, pushing the ground as hard as I could. I sprinted and ran to the asphalt road again. I ran to the right side of the street. Bushes were planted, blocking my vision towards the soil. 

My right foot touched a metal substance. “Click” a sound was clearly made. I could not make another step. I was thrown down to the ground. The throw was so forceful and my body was smacked down. I grabbed my left wrist with my other hand. I lied down, moaning. My left leg lingered in the air but my right leg was unable to lift to the air. I pulled myself towards my leg. Red liquid streamed down my jeans, soaking it wet. I could see the sharp blades of the trap. I set my left foot on one side and pulled the other side with my body. After few tugs, it snapped open. The trap had ripped off parts of my flesh. The bone nearly stuck out. I ripped apart the soaked wet leather and wrapped it around, like I have watched in television shows. I had to limp. The blood that leaked from my legs colored the green ground. After a while, blood stopped and I could walk. I walked on, checking the grass in front of me with a piece of stick I found next to me. I walked, still slightly limping to the direction I was heading. The forest seemed to whisper, to drag me. I could not see what was in the forest. The trees and the branches hid the view. I was about to turn around but I heard footsteps landing on the grass. The sound was coming closer that now the sound was clear. I had no choice but to run to the woods. Panting, I pushed the branches blocking me. It ripped through my skin and left prickles. Blood trickled from my palm but I did not have time to do anything about it. 

I was deep into the woods. Somehow, inside the forest, I could see well than when I was outside. Lights shined out from unknown places inside the forest. Scars covered my body. My skin was cut open and shed again and again until I could go no more. I heard a growl from the behind. A shape appeared. It was about nine feet tall and had glowing red eyes. The rest of his face was covered by a mechanical device that looked like a respirator. Its body was covered in a thick, black cape and a metal piece was protecting the body. Despite the metal, its body looked like it was melting down. There was a left hand sticking out from the metal armor. At the place where its right hand or claw should be placed, there was a rusted metal blade that shined in a copper color. I turned and leaped out but I was dragged back. I could feel a cold hard object penetrating through my side. After the blade was pushed back, I kneeled down in the ground and waited the pain to be finished. The hand pressed down my neck. A blade entered my back and pushed through it. I could see the blade poking out from my stomach. My body lost its power like an abandoned shell and I was lifted into the air. My vision was filled with scarlet and soon was filled with only blackness.