The Girl Of The Wilds, J. Short [classic books for 10 year olds .TXT] 📗

Glaring red eyes, snow white hair that was tangled up in a mass of knots, a short muscular figure, and a body that was so thickly covered in dirt, that you couldn’t see much else. Everything about her screamed danger. Her nails had been sharpened to a point, and had blood stains all over them. Silently, she sat in wait for her next prey to appear. It was almost as if she wasn’t there. Not even the group of ants noticed her as they passed by. She was one with the forest.

After several hours of nothing, a big grizzly head poked itself out of a nearby cave and sniffed the air. Not sensing anything, he trudged out into the open and made towards a large berry bush that stood not that far away from where the little girl sat. Her head shifted ever so slightly to the right as her eyes followed the beast. This was going to be one hard opponent, but the prize would be able to complete her collection of food for when the winter came. As long as the strange creatures did not appear again, then nothing will go wrong.

The weird skin that they wore tasted worse than the dung from a grey howler, and there was so little muscle on them, that it wasn’t even worth the kill. To make matters worse, they had strange claws that came out of their sockets when attacking. The last time she got hit by one of those, she couldn’t get it out until the great eye had turned away.

The girl’s eyes closed into a squint as she targeted her prey. Slowly, she edged closer. Making sure she kept in the shadow of the tree, she edged along the side of the cave. Still noticing nothing, the great beast ate as much as he could. This might be his last meal, but you can never tell who will win until the end of a hunt. Cautiously she crept closer to the behind of the cave dweller, but she wasn’t careful enough. A small twig, the length of her foot, cracked in two. All surprise was lost.

Knowing that there was no other way to start the hunt, she leapt. Her sharp nails dug into the skin of her opponent, and he bleated in pain. Then it was his time to act. He flung himself onto his back, and if the girl hadn’t jumped off in time, then she would have been squashed flat. Now that he had left his weak point open, she lunged once more. Sharpened fangs dug themselves into the thick flesh, and the rich blood entered her mouth. She had struck a score. She felt something popping, and more gushed in. Quickly jumping off again, she managed to evade the giant paws that were strong enough to crush her skull. Hot crimson liquid spilled from the beasts open neck, as he tried to right himself. All was to no avail. His strength was weakening, and he couldn’t keep himself upright anymore.

His remaining life was wasted on trying to damage his attacker, and finally his blood soaked body fell to the ground. His once beautiful brown fur was now stained deep with the colour red, and you could no longer tell what he looked like before. To make sure that he was dead, the girl gently nudged the forearm of the beast. Noting that there was no reaction, she quickly flipped him onto his back. Her predator like expression morphed itself into a more approachable state. Smiling, she carefully stroked the head of the beast, as if to say sorry. She then closed his eyes and kissed his forehead in goodbye, and then looked up at the great eye in the above land.

All that happened afterwards was so quick that she could only recall a small part of it, in her final moments. A sharp pain shot through her left leg, and the next thing she knew, she was being pinned to the ground. Dried up leaves entered her mouth as she screamed out in pain. The strange noises from above her confused her. She recognised them, but at the same time she didn’t. They were the same, but also not. That was when it struck her. In the end they had appeared. Them and their abnormal claws, and they were all hurting her. This was nothing like what had happened before, and for the first time in her life, she knew fear. Being helpless was scary. Being able to do nothing, when she desperately needed to frightened her to pieces. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t break free. Her arms were being painfully twisted behind her back, and her head was being trodden on. Never before has she thought that these creatures could be so deadly. They were below her, and she was sure of that.

Adrenaline pumped through her body, and she managed to break free. Facing her foes for the final time, she jumped. The second one was down quicker than the first, and the third came down even sooner. Their necks were gauged open in one swing. One by one, she lashed out at them, but even they could do some damage. By the time she had got down to the last one, she was out of breath and cut all over. The urge to survive kept her going, but it wasn’t strong enough. Finally they had used normal claws. However, she knew she wasn’t going to get away with this one. They had won. The last thing she saw was the smiling face of the creature. Why did she find it so familiar? Why did it hurt her heart so much to see it?

Just before she let out her final breath, she knew why. That was the very first face that she had ever seen. Her mother.

Publication Date: 12-17-2015

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
I dedicate this story to the open university who enabled me to be able to write like this.