Unfamiliar Territory

It had taken me almost two minutes, give or take, to get from the track field to the school—and I was running pretty fast.

I thought I would be clever and find my hiding place somewhere in the second story, banking on the idea that Mutt would waste the little time he’d have searching through the first level of the building. Still, it was pretty late and almost every classroom door—or door of any kind—was closed and locked tight.

I figured it had taken another five minutes of running through the school before I caught sight of an open door at the end of a hall. Perfect timing. The hall led to a dead end, but it was well away from the entrance of the school that Mutt would be taking and, even if he did catch me in here, it would take him much longer than two minutes.

I was about halfway to the door when I heard someone call my name.

“Yo, Foxy!”

I froze. It couldn’t be him. If it was him that would mean it took him less than a minute to run the quarter mile between the track field and the school and then to find the exact spot where I was.

I turned around.

That couldn’t be possible. No way was that possible.

“I found you,” he said.

There was no more time to think about how impossible it was. Because he was there, and he was running straight for me.

The door. I had to get to the door.

“Why are you running, Foxy?! I already found you!”

I burst through the classroom door and almost immediately ran into a janitor’s mop bucket. It was one of those yellow, bulky ones with wheels and I nearly fell straight to the ground when I hit it, spilling at least a few gallons of soapy water all over the tiled floors. I grabbed at a nearby desk as my feet slipped out from underneath me.

Mutt came bursting in not a second later. I felt his fingers brush the back of my shirt as he came in, but his big shoes lost traction in the puddle of water and he slipped and slid across the floor until he hit the opposite wall with quite a bit of force. He laughed the whole way.

“Nice one, Foxy!” he said, struggling to get up from the floor. “But I’m still gonna catch you!”

I made for the door as quickly as I could manage. My feet lost traction before reaching it, but my hands found dry floor as I landed and I dragged myself the rest of the way out. Pulling myself back up, my clothes now soaked pretty bad, I ran from the classroom.

“I’m right behind you!” he called after me. I didn’t dare turn around to see if it was true. My lungs and heart were starting to give me a lot of trouble as I raced down the hall and I nearly fell during a couple of panicked instances as my wet shoes sloshed beneath me.

He really would have killed those guys who hurt Stallion. This was not a game for Mutt. If he caught me...When he caught me...

I was halfway down a flight of stairs when Mutt caught up. He cried out in triumph from above me and I looked up to see him climbing over the railing, preparing to leap the almost full story fall to reach me.

I hesitated. He wasn’t really going to do it, was he? That would kill him. That should kill him.

Then he did it.

So I leapt as well, down almost a full flight of stairs, and towards the doors that led outside. I hit one of the doors and banged my head before forcing my way outside, ignoring the pain and the black splotches that began to fill my vision. Some gripping, desperate instinct told me that, somehow, Mutt landed that fatal fall just fine. It knew this wasn’t over.

So, I ran, not looking back, ignoring all the pains in my body which threatened to keep me from going on.

I vaguely noticed that The Sorrow had returned, keeping me from knowing exactly where I was going. But, if I kept running, I could find something—someone. Someone other than these monsters. Someone normal. There had to still be normal people out there, right?

In the end it didn’t matter; Mutt had caught me.

He let out another triumphant yell, or something akin to it, right before he collided into my back. I was thrown forward violently and sent tumbling a few times until I was lying with my back against the ground.

The world was a dizzy mess of grey and white. My entire body hurt, but I was unsure if anything was broken—I couldn’t move any part of my body to find out. Paralyzed by pain.

I thought I could see the orange sun above me, barely able to make its presence known through The Sorrow.

The dimming light was blocked by a dark figure. A shadow. Death. He was dripping wet and smiling wide. He had a very toothy grin. I could see just how white and sharp some of his teeth were.

“What big teeth you have.”

Did I say that? Was it even me who said it?

“That was close,” Mutt said, panting a bit, but not much worse for wear otherwise. “You almost beat me!”

How would I have beaten him...? Oh, that’s right. There had been a time limit. He only had a few minutes to catch me after giving me a ten minute head start to find some place to hide. I had thought it was unfair to him. How stupid of me.

He knelt over me, almost straddling me. I looked on, my body still a mess of pulsing nerves, as he lowered his head down towards my face.

Was he going to kiss me?

His mouth opened. He bared his large teeth and angled them towards my throat. I stopped breathing.

He was going to kill me. He’s going to rip out my throat and drink my blood. He’s going to kill me!

I tried to move, but his hands were gripped around my wrists. It was like trying to fight iron. I couldn’t see his face anymore, but I could feel his cold teeth on my neck. In my panic, the only possible thing I could think to do to save myself hit me like a freight train.

“Heel!” I shouted, as loud as I could muster.

His breath made my skin tickle. He raised his head again and chills ran down my spine at the sight of his amused grin.

“You’re funny, Foxy,” he said. He lowered his head again. “That only works if Mr. Mallard—”

“Mutt!” a commanding voice shouted, cutting through Mutt’s words. “Heel!”

Mutt’s grip on my wrists weakened. I shoved him with a burst of my own strength not a moment later. He fell off without resistance and remained on the ground, his face expressionless and pale.

I was on my feet in an instant. “He was going to kill me!” I shouted. I refused to acknowledge the pain still racking my body as I glared at Mr. Mallard.

He stood not far off, Stallion and Kat on either side of him. They both seemed unsure about what to do. In contrast, Mr. Mallard remained as calm and patient as ever. Like he still had all the right answers.

“What in the hell was that? Do you have any idea what—”

“Mutt was never going to kill you,” Mr. Mallard said. His voice was even, but he held onto that commanding undertone. He nodded to Stallion, allowing him to run to Mutt’s aide, before returning his focus to me. “I will admit he might have become a tad...overexcited, but I assure you, your life was never in danger.”

“Like hell it wasn’t.”

It hurt to move, but I took a step back. The other students were right—they were right all along. These people were not normal. They were something else. Something worse.

The Sorrow was now all around us. Thick. Impenetrable. I couldn’t see the track field or the school; we were in a world all our own.

But I didn’t want to be in their world. I didn’t belong there. I made to look Mr. Mallard straight in the eye and tell him as such when I saw it.

A dark shape standing still at the edge of the mist. I would have mistaken it for something inanimate if I hadn’t already been in this position many times before.

It was Hero. He sat there, still as a statue, like the very first time I saw him. As I continued to stare, I saw his dark shape move, then walk closer. Close enough to see that there was a difference from all the other times we ‘met’.

He was not smiling.

We stared into each other’s eyes and, all at once, I was still. No pain, no discomfort. Empty.

There was something else I saw in his eyes. Something unlike anything I had ever seen.

Something more.

Stallion called out a warning. Numerous dark shapes had appeared from within The Sorrow. They formed all around us—surrounded us. The silence in the cold air was replaced by deep, thunderous growls, threatening barks, and ominous howls. They crept close enough for us all to see.

Dogs. Dozens of them. There were different types and colors but all were large, all baring their teeth, with their haunches raised and bright eyes glowering. They stepped in, low to the ground, from the obscuring mists like hounds from hell.

“Mr. Mallard,” Kat breathed. I watched her pull out a knife from her pocket. Stallion pulled Mutt up in one of his arms, shouldering him, before moving back to us. His face was hard, determined.

“They won’t have him,” Mr. Mallard said, his voice remained calm until he called out in that commanding tone: “He is not ready! I understand your Madame’s concerns, but she must understand that he is safest with me. Now, please, return to her and tell her such. There is no need for this to turn violent!”

The dogs only continued to growl and snap at us as they neared. Was he seriously trying to talk to them? What was he even saying?

Stallion placed the still immobile Mutt on the ground behind him as he and Kat got on either side of the three of us. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked to see Mr. Mallard’s large blue eyes. It reminded me of how Stallion looked at me when Mutt lost it. My stomach started to hurt, matching the pain in the rest of my body.

“Stay close to us, Foxy,” he said. “Stay close and it will all be alright.”

No. I was done. I said I was done. I didn’t want to be part of this crazy world with these people any longer. I wanted a way out. I looked for Hero again, and found it.

He had moved. I didn’t know where to, but I didn’t care. He left an opening in his vacant spot.

The dogs prepared to close in the gap as Mr. Mallard moved to get in front of me. I still felt the warmth of the tea inside me—fueling me. If they were going to fill me with drugs, then I was going to use it.

I made my move as the society and the dogs clashed. I ran for the opening, ignoring the sounds of the whining of the dogs and the cries of effort and pain of Stallion and Mr. Mallard. I closed my eyes briefly when I heard Kat cry out, but I kept running. I didn’t look back once.

If they were anything like Mutt, they would be fine. More than fine. They would finish with those dogs and come for me next.

I ran until I could no longer hear the barking and whining of the dogs, then I ran some more. I ran even when my lungs and heart felt like they would give up, even though my muscles protested violently at every step. I ran until I tripped and landed on something hard. Concrete?

No, it was rocks. I looked around and saw only trees and Sorrow.

I had run into the forest. The haunted wood that still never got a name. I crawled, but I didn’t know where to crawl to. I reached a tree, gripped its bark, and pulled myself until I was sitting against it. I felt for my phone, but it was gone, probably lost somewhere between getting chased by Mutt and getting...

I tried to breathe slower as I closed my eyes.

Maybe here I could pretend I was back sleeping against Kat’s tree, and not lost in the woods. Not left alone, weak, and injured.

I could almost see the news story now. “New Transfer Student Gone Missing”. They would run a short feature, maybe mom would organize a small search for me. But they would find nothing and, in a few weeks, I would be forgotten. No longer Alex, no longer the new student, the weirdo that looks like a girl, or the freak. All they would remember of me was that I was...That I was...

The Sorrow’s fourth victim.

I felt an unfamiliar sensation. It burned like the tea, but ran cold down my face and, when it started, I could not stop. It shook my aching body, tightened my throat, and sapped everything from me.

But even then I could not slip away and escape, if only for a moment. The tea still burned inside me, urged me to move, to continue, but it was impossible. My body might as well have been made from stone.

There was a snapping of twigs. I turned my head around as much as it allowed me. The Sorrow was still thick. All I could see were nearby trees and rocks.

A crumbling sound of turned over stones, closer than the twigs. I tried to move, but it was impossible. I called out, begging for help, but my throat was sore. I could barely make any noise at all.

But it seemed to be enough. More noises—disturbances in the woods, growing closer. I smiled

All was not lost; I was not alone. I would be saved.

A creature—that’s what it looked like, not man or beast—moved out of The Sorrow in large, uneven gaits. It hobbled slightly as well, making it appear like it would fall over at any moment.

Fur, or more like various animal skins, were draped over its body. Its face appeared monstrous from afar but, as it hobbled closer, I saw the mud smeared all over it, with leaves and sticks stuck in random parts which helped to obscure it even more.

I tried to scream for help, maybe even to scare it off, but all that came out was a whispered whimper.

It cocked its head at me. One of its mud crusted hands held a large, twisted tree branch that it used to support itself as it moved closer. It stopped less than a few feet away.

It smelled terrible—like rot. I could see two, eerily human, eyes peering out from the mud at me. My pulse quickened as a row of dirty teeth appeared from within the mud as it smiled.

“Poor child, lost and all alone. Come with Fawn—yes, come. Fawn will care for you, raise you, make you strong,” it said. Its voice was raspy and rose up from somewhere deep in its throat, like a frog, but it was also strangely feminine. The creature reached out another bony and mud encrusted hand towards me and I lurched away, collapsing against the ground.

“So feral,” it said. I felt sharp fingers grip my chin and forcibly turn my face towards the creature’s face. The eyes were a light brown—warm. Almost comforting. “So very feral, but Fawn will fix it. Yes, come with Fawn and—”

It suddenly screeched and shoved my head to the ground. The creature hobbled away from me as she held the walking stick in her hands like she was going to beat me with it. My head swam as more pain reverberated through the back of my skull.

“Foul, tainted, creature!” it howled. I watched her hit the stick against the ground and saw something immediately start to grow from the spot she struck. It looked like a bright, yellow flower. She hit the ground in several more places and more yellow flowers sprouted as well.

“You tried to trick Fawn—he tried to trick. Tricky little ducky. But you failed!” Fawn then gripped her stick in both hands and began to raise and lower it, over and over. The black splotches returned to my vision as I watched the yellow flower buds grow in size, their yellow colors changing to a deep purple. “You failed and now Fawn gets to remove his pawn! Fawn gets to remove his pawn! Fawn gets to remove his pawn!”

The buds all grew to about the size of my head. I watched, mesmerized, as they began to bloom. The yellow had returned, peeking out from within the spreading petals. I couldn’t wait to see what these marvelous flowers would look like fully bloomed.

Fawn was interrupted from her ranting as something ran out from The Sorrow. She howled as this person with big shoes kicked and crushed the beautiful flowers in a few swift motions.

“Another pawn! Horrible pawn! Fawn will see to you, too!” the creature cried, whacking a nearby tree with her walking stick.

The boy with the big shoes had to jump away as the tree Fawn hit suddenly speared its branches into the ground, missing him by a hair. He made to go after Fawn, but she was already running deep into The Sorrow, hitting trees with her stick as she flew past them. More branches launched into the ground in her wake, threatening pursuers with their pointed limbs.

I didn’t see much more. The black spots in my eyes had almost consumed everything. The warmth in my body was quickly replaced by the chill of the woods.

I was so tired—so very tired. I was sure it would be okay if I closed my eyes for just a little while...

The trees around me were making terrible noises, as if they were being blown around by a great storm, though there was no wind. The boy with the big shoes was running over to me, calling my name, but he would have to wait.

I closed my eyes. I let my body drift away.

It had been a long day. I deserved this. I needed this. And, when I wake up, everything would be okay. It would all be normal again. It had to be.