REI Co-op Studios

One sound.

That's all it'll take.

One sound. And it'll find you. One breath. One move. The snap of one twig.

And it'll turn, dash at you faster than you can ever hope to run.

It's out there.

You can see it through the little gaps in the branches.

With wide eyes and clenched breath, you watch it,

swinging its head from side to side, looking for you, listening,

tasting the air even, sensing you, sensing you somehow. Something is giving you away. No time to wonder what.

You hold your breath. You wish you could still your heart and pound so loudly in your ears.

If only, if only that horrible thing, that nightmare would veer off in some other direction, just a little bit.

No, no.

Each slow step it takes is right towards you.

It's closer now, closer, coming closer.

Any second, any second it's going to see you.

And then, without moving enough to be seen, you try to crouch

even deeper in the bushes. You try to crouch deeper down in these bushes so thick that you can

feel all the little sticks around you, bending, bending and straining under your weight. So close, so close to snapping.

And then the creature pounces! A mock pounce, actually, an old predator's trick. It doesn't quite

know where you are, but it jumps just like it does.

And the sudden movement startles you. Just enough. Just enough to lose your balance.

...