Continue north through the forest.

I listen to my instincts when they tell me to continue north through more dense forest. If I would have ignored them, I would have been dead by now. I run across the road, not bothering to look both ways like grown-ups would tell you. I run toward the guardrail, still shiny in the moonlight, and leap over it with the energy I have left. I land on moist soil, moist enough to cushion my fall but not so wet and dense as to create a mudslide as I land with both my feet upon it. I land on unleveled ground that slopes down a bit. I try to descend the slope carefully as to not tumble out of control and smash my face upon an embedded rock or a tree trunk.

Fortunately, tiny hill becomes level again and I'm given the chance to continue through a more spacey, and less dense forest. Unfortunately though, what space is given to me is later filled with thick hanging moss which doesn't make seeing any potential escape path any easier to find.

Twenty or more leaping steps later, I find that the sounds I hear begin to subside, making me stop to hear any thing else. As the steps stop, the crunching of the soil underneath me is absorbed into all the insulating surfaces around me. In the silence I hear the natural ambience of the winds blowing through the leaveless treetops and the musical notes of the crickets.

Unfortunately, the sounds entering my ears are disrupted by a rustling sound. It seems that my would-be attacker hasn't given up on me, like a deranged maniac that won't stop until he or his prey is dead. Through the moonlight shining down upon the bare treetops, I can barely see a silhouette of a person bigger than me. The darkened shadow of this person is indeed male but doesn't seem to be carrying a rifle. He must have ditched it when he knew he ran out of bullets or possibly tranquilizer darts. As I stand half-frightened and half-alert, I see the shadow slow its pace down to a alerted walk. My gut tells me to run away but my body is too frightened to move.

I stand in place waiting for a sign that this person is or is not my attacker. A simple poll would say that he is one-hundred percent my attacker. I stand looking at how the shadow tells me all the person is doing. One minute he's walking towards my position and the other he stops to observe his surroundings. In my case, I am totally exposing myself with the moonlight bathing me in reflected light. I continue to watch the attacker stops and go, continuing to observe his surroundings. It is when he stops for the longest time. He looks to his left and to his right and when he turns his head the last time, he stares and waits. I don't really think I exposed myself too much but when he stares directly at where I'm standing, I have second thoughts about my actions.

Two minutes pass as the would-be attacker stares me down, as if he knows exactly where I am and knows exactly what I'm going to do next. After the two minute mark passes I peer through the moonlight towards the shadowy figure through squinted eyes and see the person bend down as if to tie his shoe. When he gets back up, he reveals the most shocking thing. I guess my thinking was right when he was downright had a desire to take me down. When he gets up from his bending-down position, he has in his hand a large knife, at least four to five inches long.

At this time, all my alertness shoots adrenaline into my bloodstream, involuntarily making me turn around and run the other way. The person I know is alerted by the sudden changes of sound and his dashing through the brush adds on to the sounds of the chase. The chase continues as I barrel through thick foliage and around dead trees.

After a half-mile of running through the forest, the surroundings change. The light becomes brighter and the trees around me start appearing as trees that still have life in them. A half-mile more and the trees start to fill up with leaves and the light around me starts to becomes more brighter. In the brighter light I see something that is a definite change to my surroundings. Deep inside me, it both brings joy and a sudden fear in me.