Jedidiah ran as fast and hard as his little legs would allow. He ran through the moonlit forest, doing his best to shield his face from branches and limbs in his path.

‘Just keeping running, Jed,' that is what his father and mother had told him before he left home.

‘If you stay in one place for too long, you’ll be dead before you know it. You must make it to the marked tree. You’ll know what to do from there.’  It was still chasing him, crashing through the trees without any hint of stealth. Not that the creature was all that concerned with being stealthy. As far as it was concerned, there was no-other thing quite as dangerous in the woods that night. It cried out into the darkness.

“Meat! I want my meat!”  

Jed felt his heart thud in his chest at the sound of his pursuer.  ‘Got to keep moving, can’t let it get me,’ thought Jed doing his best not to panic. He kept running until he was at the edge of a clearing. He spotted asingle tree in the middle and ran towards it, checked the side and found twoinitials carved there: C.D.

   ‘I’m in the right the place, Jed thought. But I have to hurry.’ He was still being tracked, still being hunted. Jed dashed through the rest of the clearing, checking every other tree for the initials C.D. He followed them to his destination, a cave entrance. Remembering what his parents had told him, he followed the instructions for this part of his journey. He went to the opening. He gave three short whistles, three long, and clapped three times.

 As Jed waited in the darkness, he  wiped the sweat and his curly brown hair out of his eyes while his shirt stuck to him like a second skin. He waited and listened for the creature to catch up. ‘Don’t be afraid, you’re safe, she’ll protect you,’ Jeb kept reminding himself.

It wasn’t long before he felt two sets of claws snatch him up off the ground by the straps of his overall. The monster took a long and large inhale as he smelled the top of Jed’s head.