Della bounded across the compact earth, her booted feet scudding the chipped tarmac as she soared over the width of the strip and to the other side. As soon as her feet hit the dirt she vaulted into the bushes, and roughly sailed over the half dead bundles of leaves, leaving half a broken fence and a pile of dead straw behind her. Though the obstacle had interrupted her quick journey she kept her pace regardless, only occasionally flicking her head back to see what was behind, her stomach churning with nerves and half-eaten food.. Fleeing, she thought, distantly. lt was all a matter of one foot in front of the other, then the other, then the other.. Her adrenaline was up, her body locked into the 'flight' mode, but for all of her agility, all of her speed and the distance she covered, it soon became apparent that she didn't know where she was going, or even why, momentarily, and only when her brain had caught up to the actions of her body did she allow herself to stop for a moment, and breathe. And think.
Where the hell am I going?
It had been a single creature, but that usually meant that it was a scout, and more would be around the corner. She had barely made a sound as she crept closer to observe it, but as soon as she reached within a few metres it was as if she had breached a sensitive area, like a forcefield, alerting it to her presence. She had almost retched alongside the smell, but she had to see it, up close.. It was too easy. The thing's head had snapped to the side to face the direction she was in, and then it lurched forward, an inhumane chortle, some kind of call, reverberating through its throat. She barlely had to think twice before she ran. She didn't even check if it had really seen her. But then, she didn't really have to. It was simply safer to hoof it.
So here she was, in the middle of a paddock.. fleeing?
Glancing about, Della turned on her heel to observe the surrounding area, her chipped boots shuffling back and around as she turned. Her heart was in her throat, her pulse in her ears, her fists clenching and unclenching distractedly at her sides, as though she could work out the fear. She almost laughed out loud due to the nerves, and if it weren't for the fact that she was about to throw up at any moment, she probably would have let herself drop between the grass. Her eyes closed lightly as her heart beat started to slow, and she concluded that she hadn't, in the end, been followed. It was a false alarm, something that she had guessed wrongly..
A breeze picked up before her, the stale air momentarily buffing her cheeks, bringing with it the familiar, but weak, stench of death and dirt. She paid no heed to it, momentarily trapped in a fleeting, though questionable state of bliss. She supposed it was because the sun was nice, and she hadn't been followed. Because the grass brought her back down to earth, back to nature, back to what was real. But that sound.. It was like a warning cry.
But.. she hadn't..
Her eyes shot open to the sight of a mangled form, the gaping hole in it's half-rotted face working out a gargled screech in response. Without thinking, without acting, she screamed, it dove forward, and the grass swallowed her whole.