Scene A
Raith quivered like a leaf. He was huddled behind a boulder; virtually the only one in the expansive grassland.
*CRUNCH* *cRuNcH* *crunch*
The massive direwolf just beyond the boulder was eating. He could hear metal shattering as the creature chewed through the bodies -- equipment and all -- of two members of his troop. Fellow Scouts-in-training.
This wasn't supposed to happen. This was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance exercise. The field instructors had definitely said that the worst they would encounter was a harpy, but those creatures kept to themselves unless their nests were disturbed. And from what Raith knew of direwolves, they should have been in hibernation right now. They were known to be active only during the winter. What had gone wrong?
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Kill it! How do I kill it?
Raith had nowhere to run, and that was metaphorically speaking. If he bolted right now, the direwolf would be upon him before he could begin to utter a scream. Once the direwolf finished eating Raith's companions, its sense of smell would lead it right to his little nook in the boulder. That would be the end.
Kill! KILL! Kill!
The same word pounded in his skull, a tick that was his natural reaction to extreme stress. The crisis filled his thoughts with nonsense, making it very difficult to think about anything else. He needed a realistic solution, but the compulsive chanting in his mind was reaching a nauseating crescendo.
Desperate to clear his head, Raith clawed at his face and willed himself to think of a solution.
WHAT DO I DO?!
Tears twisted his vision as anger, fear, and frustration mixed together into a blob of agony that threatened to implode in his chest.
Run! You have no other choice.
He hesitated, but Raith knew that the thought was true. There was no way he could kill a monster of its level; it was just too powerful. Maybe the direwolf would be too busy eating to notice another little human. Maybe, just maybe, his two companions were enough of a meal to not bother with him.
And so Raith kicked off the boulder and ran as fast as he could. He ran faster than he ever had in his life. His legs screamed as muscles pumped the bones in his legs. The tall grass whipped at his face and sliced at his forearms. The cold wind felt like a solid wall against him, but he leaned into it nonetheless. Nothing else mattered other than getting away. Far away.
But his worst fear thumped behind him. Raith heard the direwolf's footsteps in the grass, each closer than the last. The creature was running, and it was running towards him.
NO! FASTER!
Raith put all of his being into each stride. Every muscle in his body tensed to help him cover more distance. He focused on the movement of his legs -- willing them to stretch farther forward, and then push farther back. He zoned in on the balls of his feet, determined to dig them into the soil to avoid slipping.
But the direwolf's scalding breath still touched the back of his neck. It was the end.
Raith watched -- rather than felt -- himself let go. There was nothing else to be done but to accept his fate. A part of him realized that the direwolf was simply a force of nature that he could not escape, even as survival instincts drove his body to the brink. After all, nature always gets its way in the end.
He felt the piercing ice in his legs, the effects of lactic acid buildup taking its toll. But Raith didn't slow down.
He was going faster.
*BOOM*
The ground exploded at Raith's feet.
His mind flatlined as he was flung 30 paces into the air.