Abel still lay lifeless at the bottom of the mountain, surrounded by a puddle of blood and his face leaking from the deep jagged wounds that spread from his forehead to his cheek. He attempted to move several times crawling his weak body toward the dark forest ahead of him and getting nowhere in the process. His legs were too numb to stand and his hands had been sliced from the sharp edges of the cliffside.
The further he crawled, the longer the blood trail he left behind became until he passed out once again from exhaustion. He knew deep down if he didn't stay awake he would die before the sun peaked, with no one around to save him. Was this his end? Was this the sad conclusion of his story? Dying at fifteen, everyone he knows and loves is presumed dead, and him bleeding out at the base of a cliff after being attacked by what he could only call an undead bear?
"No, not...today," He grunted, making another attempt at crawling for safety. He made it another five feet mere inches from the forest before his eye failed him once again. Closing before being forced open once more. It was no use, this was his end. This was where his story concluded, and this is where he prepared himself to die. He rolled himself onto his back and stared up at the sky with agony and pain written across his face. The fading stars glistened above, and with a smile, Abel allowed himself to relax and felt the cool night wrap around his skin. A soft hummed melody echoed through the trees around him filling the night air with a familiar tune.
He opened his eyes slowly as the humming continued. His ears perked at the mere sound of a melody he knew too well.
"He...hello?" He called out as the hum grew louder, "Who's there?" He called out again.
"Abe, my darling Abel, don't be afraid to rest." A voice sang. The song whispered itself directly into his ear. He knew this voice and he knew the song she was singing.
"Mom?" He called out his eye filling with tears and his face slathered in blood.
"Hello, my sweet boy," She called back, softly and sweetly.
"Am I dead?" He asked as a tear rolled down his dirt-covered cheek landing in the topsoil next to him.
"No, my sweet son, you are not dead," The voice chuckled.
"Then what are you?" He asked, staring up at the stars as they disappeared in the sunlight above him.
"I am your brain keeping you alive the best way I know how, through memories," The voice stated.
"I don't think I can do it, what do I do?" He pleaded, his body searing in pain and his eye swelling with more tears.
"I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell that you aren't done yet son, not here. Not tonight. You have so much left to give - so get up, and give it," His mother urged. He searched for any sign of his mother's figure or if it really was all in his head. He only found disappointment, nothing but darkness and tree limbs.
"You cannot see me, dear, I am merely just the memory of a soothing voice your brain has created to keep you conscious." She said, whispering again in both of his ears.
"Then how do you know it isn't my time yet?" he asked, closing his eye once more.
"Because you don't believe it is." The voice said calmly. Abel forced his eye open again looking to the sky for answers, when suddenly in the dark forest behind his head he heard rustling. He began to fear for his life once again. Did the dead bear find its way down to him? Was it another dangerous animal coming to finish the job? Sealing his eye shut, he knew that he couldn't survive another attack.
He waited in silence, anticipating the reveal of another threat to his life and preparing for the outcome. The rustling stopped behind the trees inches away from his lifeless body. He froze out of fear, his heart sinking into the dirt below him and his pants filling with the urine of someone awaiting death. Suddenly, above his head appeared the blurry silhouette of a large menacing face, accompanied by a pair of pointed ears. Wet, thick, saliva seethed through growling teeth as Abel stayed as still as possible.
Suddenly, the body moved forward and let the moonlight light up its large black, shaggy fur-covered body with four tall skinny legs. Asymmetrical sharp spines stuck out of its back, they grew thicker at the base narrowing to a point at the tip. Almost as menacing as the creature's fangs. Its eyes were bright yellow and paired well with the luminous blue stripe wrapping its body just like the dead bear. The only difference was that this creature didn't seem to be missing any flesh from its bones. As Abel looked the beast up and down through his slivered eye, it began to sniff the air getting lower and lower before smelling the boy's body vigorously.
Closing his eye tight again, the creature trailed its slobbery nose across his chest and down to his hips. Moving back up to his face, it then nudged Abel with its snout rolling him over halfway before letting him down again with a thump to the cold ground. He needed to know what it was that was smelling him. He glanced up and stared into the creature's bright eyes for a moment. The beast stared back into his, and the pair shared a long silence as if sharing memories.
This must have been enough to fill the air with trust as the creature plopped down beside Abel with a loud thud, creating a cloud of dust that poofed from under its bottom.
In one swift motion, the creature slipped onto its back, mimicking Abel's position before rolling around causing more dust and grime to fill the air as it stuck its tongue out playfully as if waiting for affection from the boy.
As the beast rolled around more and more, Abel couldn't hold it back, his lungs and nose filled with dirt, causing his sneeze to erupt, Aachoo! The large creature stopped moving and darted its eyes to where Abel had been lying, before rising to its feet and looming over him once again. It bent its head over his motionless body and sniffed the blood surrounding his eye. Abel clenched his jaw and waited for the trust to break. In the same moment, memories played in his mind like a movie - scenes flashing every good, bad, and emotional reminder of the life he had lost within just a few hours.
The creature placed its tongue on his chin and slid it up the length of his face, the jagged appendage pulling the skin up with it. It only took a few licks for the blood and dirt to clear from the wound, once it was satisfied with the job it did, it sat down once again and let out a rather heavy pant, moving to clean its own paws. The loud slap of tongue convinced Abel just enough that it wasn't going to eat him, at least not yet. He allowed his shoulders to unwind and fall before peeling his eye open, slightly confused. Now face-to-face with the creature, he rolled onto his stomach slowly and attempted to push himself up to stand. As he fumbled, the creature lifted its head from its soggy paws and nuzzled his snout into the boy's chest, helping him to his feet.
"Well, you aren't so scary are you?" Abel quizzed, slowly being lifted to a standing position. The creature let out a quiet whimper before tilting its head to the side, its eyes seemingly getting bigger realizing that neither party wanted trouble.
"Wait, are- or, were you a dog?" He asked, looking closely at the details on the large creature's face. It straightened its head before opening its mouth unrolling its tongue and panting loudly once more.
"Yup...that's dog breath all right," He said, holding his nose as the animal's hot breath spilled the scent of wet dog food and feces, "but where'd you come from?" He wondered, admiring the dog's physique. He felt the fur split between his fingers just under the creature's jaw, the skin below rough and bumpy. He trailed his eye past the large spines to the point of its tail steering towards the moon.
"What happened to you?" He asked, using the dog's body to hold himself up. The dog looked down at him watching him struggle to stand and seeing the blood starting to pool down his face again. He licked the crimson liquid off of his cheek before leaning into a downward-facing dog position offering up his back to the boy.
"Are...are you sure?" Abel asked, grabbing one of the large black spines. The dog then nudged its body against him almost as if he were saying "yes." He gripped the spine tighter and placed his foot on his side before slowly pulling himself up. He positioned himself between two of the spines and held onto the one in front of him. The canine then pushed up and began scanning the area vigilantly.
"Okay, whoa! We're okay. This is okay," Abel said nervously as the ground got further away, "Yup just riding a huge fucking dog, first I lost an eye, and now I'm up here, totally normal day for me!" He could feel the anxiety sprout up through his legs and into his chest, causing his heart to flutter with a feeling he would come to know scrupulously - desperation. He wondered if there were more survivors, or if anyone else had an encounter like he did.
"I guess I oughta call you something," He said, trying to busy his mind. He thought for a moment, trying to pick a name that best described the kind, gentile monster. He thought back to the last book he had read in English class before summer started. He curled his lip to a smile and placed his hand along the dog's ribs, "How about Hyde?" he asked, admiring the pattern in his fur. The dog barked coincidentally, and Abel's smile grew bigger.
"Hyde it is then," He said, chuckling to himself. "Alright, where are we heading buddy?" He lowered his chest and turned his head, glancing in every direction. Deciding on the deep dark forest he had emerged from, his bright yellow eyes fixed in between the trees as he lowered his body into a running stance, and his spines erected, growing past where Abel's hands had gripped.
"Holy shit!" Abel shouted, Hyde quickly bolted, sprinting swiftly between the trees taking sharp and fast corners and dodging low-hanging branches and tall rocks. Abel lay against rough skin the fur tickling his nose as he gripped tight while Hyde sprinted faster and faster through the dark and dangerous woods.