Sunset gasped for air, panting as she ran. That first… thing had caught fire, but the ten behind her had yet to spontaneously combust, and she was cursing that fact with all her being. The creatures were fast and agile, so Sunset had been rushing between trees and doing everything in her power to trip them up. Unfortunately, that meant she ran the risk of tripping up too.
On some level, this wasn’t even surprising, it was on rare occasion that fate spared her any kindness. Soon enough, with her panting and vision swimming from how much she’d been exerting herself, her foot caught a branch, sending her flying ahead onto the hard ground.
She gasped as she had the breath knocked out of her, and turned over as soon as she could, only to pause seeing the creatures had… stopped. They were snarling, glaring at her with hunger and rage, but they wouldn’t get any closer.
She held her breath as she watched them, making sure they weren’t going to jump her, and soon enough she caught her breath. The wolves finally started to leave, probably figuring they’d find other food sooner than waiting for whatever was holding them back to pass.
The ground was still hard as she let her body relax, falling to the dirt. So much running and panic. She hated today. Everything was going wrong.
She took a deep, greedy, breath, and looked around. The ground was dark. Not burned or bare dirt but… dead. It all looked just… dead. There was grass and trees but it was brown and shriveled and in the middle of the clearing she found herself in was, well not quite a building, but there was an opening, and what looked like it was at one time a wall.
With a grunt she pushed herself off of the ground and made her way to what was left of the entryway. There was nothing off about it visually, but there was something, like a primal warning, sent to the back of her mind. Her curiosity was piqued.
As she got closer she felt a sort of hum in the back of her mind that got stronger and stronger until she passed through the opening. Then it was gone. Even the feeling of danger was gone. This place felt… good. Safe.
With a sigh, she leaned against the broken wall and examined this strange space. There was a patch of soft dirt, it wasn’t dead like outside. Heck, It looked… really good for a nap. Though anything probably would have looked good after what she’d just been through.
The patch was just as soft as it looked, thankfully. It wasn’t the first time she’d slept on dirt, but it was the first time she’d done it while feeling so safe.