Dabble 1

Joana's breath came out in heavy bursts, feet slapping heavily on the floor as she ran as fast as she could through the ancient, decrypt building.

Taking random turns through the halls and long emptied rooms, the stone walls of many collapsed many hundreds of years prior.

She ran up another set of stairs with desperation, pausing only a moment to light and drop a small pouch of foul smelling herbs, her last one, before continuing her panicked retreat.

Her legs burned in protests of her continuous running, but she ignored it. Her legs could complain later, if she survived. Not that she was fooling herself all that much. She refused to acknowledge the thought that whispered in her head.

Another set of stairs this one only slightly broken, about 4 steps missing. At least, slightly in comparison to some of the stairs she had to bypass. She took a deep breath and made a running start jumping over missing stairs between her landing and the next non-missing stair.

It was close. Her landing wasn't smooth. As her feet teetered on the edge of the stair, she felt herself beginning to fall backwards.

It took a lot of her physical power just to throw herself forward, catching herself on her arms. Arms, however, that smashed against the stairs, the crumbled, jagged rocks digging into her skin, leaving an open wounds on each of her forearms.

She cursed herself, blood was just another thing that could draw its attention further. She didn't hesitate, hesitation meant death. She hauled herself up and started running up the stairs to the next level.

Left, right, left, left. She didn't think about where she was going simply that she needed to get somewhere that wasn't where she was.

As fast as she could as she ran, she tore and wrapped the fabric of her shirt around the two wounds desperate to keep the blood from dripping after her. Luckily she had had worse wounds before, and the adrenaline running through her removed the pain of the stones buried in her arms. She would remove them later. If she survived at all, the voice whispered again. She chose to ignore it.

The pounding of feet behind her slowly grew louder, the echos is snarls coming from somewhere behind her, getting less and less distant.

Behind her, was the quadrepedal creature that had been stalking her, easily as tall as her and about two meters in length. Black bedraggled fur stood up from its body, making the already massive creature seem even larger. Feral, hungry black eyes focused on her with a murderous intent clear. Sharp teeth in its massive snarling maw, promising what would undoubtedly be a certain, painful death. Large claws, easily the length of her forearm leaving massive gouged marks in the ground as it heaved itself after her.

It was playing with her, the thought whispered in her mind, how else did she think she could escape it so long? She brushed it off, firmly reminding herself of the many other life and death situations she'd already dealt with in life. The world wasn't a safe place to be, as a human.

She took sharp turn, down a hall that was open with large, and long empty windows looking out over a man-made valley. Both sides of the valley reaching high into the sky, stone walls filled with rows and rows of old empty windows. The land far below, was filled with large flat top stones, some stretches in straight, flat lines but many turned up at sharp angles, looking as though they had fallen through the earth. Plants of many kinds grew from the breaks in the thick stone.

The massive animal behind her wasn't able to make such a tight turn as easily as her, it's large body and speed getting the best of it as it careened out of the window. She knew well of the climbing power of these beasts, she was under no false belief that she was rid of it.

It did however give her enough time to get out of the windowed hall, and up another set of stairs, this one reaching multiple floors. The top as she sped up the stairs to the next landing, was very obscured, broken stone blocking the vast majority of the exit.

She climbed the rubble, pushing herself through a tight hole, barely big enough to move. For a moment, a piece of her pants caught on a sharp rock, halting her movement. A flash of panic raced through her, and she hauled her leg forward as best as she could, tearing the pantleg free. However inflicting another bleeding wound to her already damaged body.

She after what felt like an eternity made it to the other side of the block, taking only enough time to wrap her leg with the remainder of her shirt. Better to be in just undergarments and alive than clothed and dead.

She ran and ran, her body tired, and threatening to give in. She thought again, it had to have been playing with her, after all it was quite the predator. She was began to despair, the thoughts in her head getting louder as her body got weaker. The loud sound of stone being slammed against, repeatedly, until the sound of stone breaking echoed sharply through the halls.

The despair peaked as she made another turn only to find herself at a dead end, a room filled broken stone and long rusted metals, most unidentifiable in its current state.

What looked as something someone had once possibly called a desk, was in one corner. She tucked behind it, and brandished her knife. It wasn't large, nor did she entertain any thoughts that it may save her, hope as drained as her beaten body. She didn't think it could even reach the heart of the beast. But she had to wound it, at least. As much as she could, to give the others the chance to live.

She knew, she KNEW, she wouldn't make it from the get go, as much as she lied to herself. But when facing ones own death, you can't help but wish you weren't. She tried not to think of what her life could have been, but couldn't.

She tried to keep her breath steady, quiet. The sound of heavy footsteps entered the room. Loud breaths filled the room, as the creature sniffed around. It made its way towards her, it's claws clacking against the floor.

This is it, she thought, this is the end. She readied her knife, hands shaking despite her best effort. She began to count down as the steps came around the desk. A deep growl escaping the animal as it's head came into view, drool dripping from its open mouth, teeth bared.

She moved to swing her knife into it's face, adrenaline rushing through her veins like molten steel.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three gunshots rung out, startling Joana, causing her to reel back. The beast in front of her let out a horrific, pained scream, turning away from her to face it's assailant.

BANG! BANG!

Another two shots rang out, and the body fell infront of her. What felt like an eternity of dread, of fleeing, the ending of her chase was abrupt and unexpected.

It was, however, entirely welcome.

"Now aren't you a lucky one?" A male voice drawled, the sound of heavy footsteps approaching her.

Joana slowly pulled herself up from under the desk, legs shaking as the adrenaline left her body.

In front of her was a middleaged, gruff looking man, quite tall with broad shoulders. His hair fell just below his chin, wavy and a deep, earthy brown, however clearly greying heavily. He was wearing armour that looked to be a mix of beige cloth, dark brown leather and furs. Slung over his shoulder was the weapon that saved her. A long, old and worn weapon, a long barreled gun from ancient times.

Her eyes widened at the sight, she had only heard of such relics, to actually see one in person left her with a feeling of awe. It had killed a rastagin in only two shots.

"Thank you, oh you must have been sent by the gods themselves!" She said, choking on the words as a wave of pain shot through her, reminding her of the wounds still littering her body, "I truly thought I was dead."

"Well no surprise there," he replied, rolling his eyes, "This isn't the best place for an unarmed woman to be. To be frank, from what little I seen of your retreat, the thing was playing with you. They enjoy the hunt, y'see. Now what's your name kiddo?"