Will turned to run and instantly, the black bird opened its wings and flew from his shoulder. He dashed back into the cover of the woods in a desperate attempt to find a place to hide. Being in the open grass seemed the very worst of his options. After thirty seconds or so, he stopped at an especially large oak tree. He hunched behind it, and tried to slide his head slowly out from the side to see if the mantis followed.

A bit of a glow came from above. Will looked up and saw the bird sitting some ten feet or so on a branch. It’s shoulders let out a soft glow. Murden was right. This bird couldn’t hide. And what was worse, it apparently was going to follow Will. That meant Will couldn’t hide either.

The bird seemed to stiffen from something. Will shot his eyes back downward to look, but BAM, he was hit across the face by the praying mantis. it had found the very tree he had used to hide. Will shuffled backward as the Mantis crouched low and crept forward snapping its sharp front arms. He was helpless, there was nothing he could do.

From out of nowhere the bird swept in from the side and began to whip its beak and claws at the Mantis’ sharp triangular head. The navy blue creature let out a irritated hiss and turned to swing at its new nuisance. Will didn’t have time to see what would happen next. Instead, he got back to his feet and continued to run. Several seconds later he heard the thrashing of leaves from the creature behind him. The Mantis was catching up.

Will suddenly burst through the thorns and brush and found himself stranded against the top of a rocky crevice. He slid forward to an abrupt halt, and stared down to see just how far a drop it was to the ground. Only… there was no ground, instead just a shining green thick mist, almost like a pool of water. It shimmered and vibrated. Will spun around to see if he’d gotten away.

At first he thought he had, everything seemed quiet. He no longer heard the crunching of leaves and the slashing of thorns and shrubs that he took to be the Mantis.

But then he saw its eyes. Two enormous black bowls stuck to the side of its twisting head as it peered around the side of a tree. It noticed that Will saw it, and stepped out to make its final approach.

Will backed up as far as he could. The heels of his old tennis shoes practically stuck off the edge of the rock. He waited without any idea of what to do, and as the Mantis got closer, he leaned down and picked up a rock.

Then the glowing streak of purple flashed in and the bird was right in his face. It fluttered and screeched, and blocked everything from Will’s sight. He heard the Mantis hiss in anger, then he pushed his hand upward to brush off the bird and took a step backward.

There was no step to take. Instead he fell.

Off the top of the high rock, and down through the green swirling mist where he hit hard against ground and began to roll. A sharp pain jabbed through Will’s body and his dark blue hat flipped off his head where it landed amidst a clump of dirt and grass.

He lay on his back a moment and finally opened his eyes. Way above him, hovering in the air, was the haze of green mist. Will propped himself up and looked for the Mantis. It was nowhere in sight. Then seconds later, up from the shimmering cloud above him, his bird burst through the haze.

It came down and landed on his head.

Will started to get up, but when he did he noticed a hot burning pain through his body. He was hurt, and it was bad, he needed help.

What injury does Will have?

He cut his hand bad enough to worry about infection

He fractured his leg

He fractured his arm

This Poll is Closed