JUDE
the light of dawn is coming
Edmund need not worry about the bag, or anything about the men. Jude doesn't want to look at their broken bodies, nor take his eyes off the animal that - in his eyes - has clearly already proven it can and will attack humans. Except, against all odds, the mighty creature sits and begins to groom blood off its paws without sparing even a glance for Jude. Heart beating so hard in his chest it gives him vertigo, Jude scrambles back onto his feet and grabs onto the tree next to him to try and keep them beneath him.
He backs away slowly, though his knees threaten to buckle with every step. Keeping his arms close to diminish his size and hopefully be seen as no threat - and also to clutch at his own shirt in some half-hug meant to comfort himself just enough to not feel bowled over by the fatalistic terror he's experiencing.
Slowly, the space between them grows wider, plants and trees crowding back in to further obscure the massacre from Jude's eyes. Without the horror visibly before him he feels more sure-footed, and he backpedals faster, until the tiger's form begins to lose detail from distance.
When is far enough? When is the risk acceptable to turn his back and run?
He backs away slowly, though his knees threaten to buckle with every step. Keeping his arms close to diminish his size and hopefully be seen as no threat - and also to clutch at his own shirt in some half-hug meant to comfort himself just enough to not feel bowled over by the fatalistic terror he's experiencing.
Slowly, the space between them grows wider, plants and trees crowding back in to further obscure the massacre from Jude's eyes. Without the horror visibly before him he feels more sure-footed, and he backpedals faster, until the tiger's form begins to lose detail from distance.
When is far enough? When is the risk acceptable to turn his back and run?
ready to return everything the darkness stole
