By Hunter Cook
Birds…
I hear birds…
Where… Am I?
I opened my eyes slowly. It hurt as the light began to pour in. For a few seconds all I could see was white, but then my vision revealed a blade of grass. I was lying chest down in the dirt, surrounded by grass that obscured my vision. I tilted my head up to look at the sky. It was blue and cloudless. The sun’s heat beat down with harshness.
I tried to move my limbs and found they were all asleep except for my right arm. I used it to flip myself over onto my back. I stared up at a beautiful blue sky as I tensed my fingers and toes trying to wake my limbs. I looked down at the grass to see if anything useful lay within it. All I found were little red insects that crawled along the blades.
As my other arm regained consciousness, I used it to push myself into a sitting position. My legs were spread straight in front of me, as they’d yet to wake up. My clothes were starting to turn slightly green from the grass. I was wearing a long sleeved white shirt, blue jeans with a tear in the right leg, and tennis shoes with white socks.
The grass was a little above ankle height, so in this position I could easily see over it. I was in a field surrounded by a circle of trees. The field was the size of a baseball field, with a large rock just off center. The trees around the field were each about as tall as a house, but in the distance I could see massive skeletal trees forming a wall surrounding the forest. A large shadow loomed below the skeletal trees, being cast down by an interconnected blanket of a canopy at the very top of the trees. I could see large birds flying atop the canopy.
I attempted to stand up by pushing off the ground using my arms. Both legs had woken up at this point and my left leg held me easily. I attempted to put weight onto my right leg, and my face hit the ground as I collapsed from the searing pain. I flipped back over and sat up to examine my leg. Dried blood covered the jeans near the tear. I pulled back the sides to reveal a fresh wound underneath. The bleeding had stopped but the cut was deep, running from my ankle to my knee.
I let out a sigh.
Then I tried to stand up again.
Once again, my left leg went up easily. I held my right leg off the ground and tried to find my balance before very gently putting it down. I kept almost all of my weight on my left leg. I kept the bare minimum held down on my right. It worked perfectly. A cool summer breeze blew through the open field as I stood high amidst ankle high grass.
Next I tried taking a step forward. I shifted a bit more weight onto my right leg. Quickly I moved my left leg forward. Pain shot through my right leg as all of my weight was suddenly shifted onto it. I had to catch myself as I shifted the weight back onto my left leg. I looked down at my shaky, injured right leg. Then I shifted it forward in a single motion. Success, once again.
Not only was I standing, I had just taken a step. I was going to make it. I looked back behind me at the imprint in the grass that my unconscious body had made. I wasn’t completely out of it yet. Time to repeat the process. I steadied myself and held my breath as I shifted the weight once again.
I collapsed in on myself. This time my head bounced as it slammed down onto the hard earth. I looked up at the sky. A single cloud was floating above. It moved to cover the sun and the whole field was covered in faint shade for a second. One of the birds flew overhead faster than I could make out its features. It looked large.
After a few minutes of rest I pulled myself back together and then pulled myself back to my feet. I tried repeating the process I had established. This time I did it slowly instead of fast. I made it three steps before falling face first into the tall grass. I didn’t wait this time, pulling myself back to my feet I continued my trek. After three falls I was walking fairly easily. The pain in my leg remained but I was growing used to its burn. The sun started to dim. As the sky went from a vibrant blue to a mild grey, I made my way to the big rock in the center of the field and the rock pile around it. I could feel my anxiety growing as the sky became rapidly darker. I looked throughout the large rockpile. I climbed on top of the big rock.
I swiped at red insects clinging to my jeans, and attempted to spot the large birds as they flew above. Neither task seemed to accomplish much so I instead started focusing on the objective. After what felt like an hour of searching, I found what I was looking for. Two chunks of flint large enough to start a fire.
I climbed off the rockpile and limped towards my indent in the grass where I woke up. The sun had begun the initial phases of setting in the horizon. The light had started to turn from yellow to a blood red. When I got close to the indent, I started hopping on my left leg to close the distance.
I dropped the two pieces of flint and quickly shuffled off towards the woods. I made sure not to go too deep in the woods, just in case anything had made its home there. I collected a large bundle of sticks and then made a return journey to my dent. I repeated this process four times until I had a large enough stick pile to last the night.
My leg burned and ached as I sat down in the dent. I piled a bunch of sticks together and a cluster of large rocks I had placed in my pockets. I sorted the rocks around the sticks to keep the fire I created from spreading and burning down the entire field. The last bit of blood was leaking from the sun on the horizon as I slammed the flint together to create sparks.
It took almost twenty minutes of trying but I eventually had a cozy fire. The warmth had me asleep before I could even catch my breath.
…
I awoke again early in the morning. I couldn’t have slept more than four hours. I honestly believed that exhaustion would keep me asleep all night, and unfortunately I was wrong. I awoke with a startled jump after hearing the screams of a dying animal. The cool night air drifted through the field, and the fire had barely changed. Though, I did pile more sticks, just to be safe. The screams grew louder and louder with each passing second, you could even hear the strain in its voice as it struggled for survival.
I laid down flat on my back again, and tried to think peaceful thoughts. I was hoping the howling would eventually stop, so I could finally get some sleep. They even stopped for a minute, and I quietly drifted back into slumber.
The cries started again twice as loud. I almost felt sympathy for whatever poor creature was getting carved into.
I sat there with my eyes open for a few moments, when I noticed something strange. The sky was filled end to end with stars, with swirling galaxies, and so much light that you could see clearly under the night sky. I’d never seen so many stars in my entire life. It was absolutely breathtaking.
I looked at the palm of my hand underneath that bright beautiful blue sky, and had the horrible, horrible realization that I had no idea who I was or how I got here.
Then that God awful screaming started up once again.
With a tremendous amount of effort I pushed myself up onto my feet once again. I felt an almost hypnotic trance as I approached the pitch black of the woods. I thought about putting the poor creature out of its misery. I thought about maybe collecting the scraps of whatever was killing it. I even thought about killing the stupid things with my bare hands so they would just stop disturbing my sleep. I even got up. I even turned towards the woods. As I moved my foot, as I slowly limped into the darkness of the woods, I had a sickening realization.
I listened to the cry. I listened really, really close. It sounded just like a wounded animal… Except there was something very wrong with it. Something… Something fake. Something that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
There was no animal dying out there. No innocent prey creature was being attacked, there was no food. A predator lurked beyond the shadows, luring me to my death with the promise of easy food.
And I almost fell for it.
