It’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge.  It’s later than usual today.  I’m out of song suggestions (hint, hint) so was working on a rewrite of an old one.  You can see my first attempt at this title over on A Crucible of Scribes.

Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song.  Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.

If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page.  You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.

This week’s song is Staying Alive by The Bee Gees.

Feel free to comment/criticise/mock relentlessly – whatever floats your boat.

Staying Alive

Cat ran.  Branches and ferns slapped at her face and bare arms.  She felt something tear at her shirt.  Brambles, a detached part of her mind registered.

Her foot caught on a root.  She stumbled and slammed into the next tree.  She fell backwards, winded.  Her lungs burned as she gasped for air.

She stood and her leg gave way under her.  Pain shot through her ankle.  She must have twisted it in the fall.

She heard branches crack behind her.  She could hear them as well, laughing hysterically with the thrill of the chase.  She had to get away.  She had to stay alive, for Kevin’s sake.

Cat pushed herself to her feet again.  She winced as she put her weight on the ankle.

“Shit!”  She couldn’t help it.  It hurt so much.

She searched the forest floor for a weapon.  She spotted a sturdy branch, picked it up and moved behind the tree.  Her back against the trunk, she forced her breathing to slow.  Keep it together now, Cat.  You’re only going to have one shot at this.

She heard it approach and grasped the branch firmly in both hands.  It was moving fast.  She swung the branch with all her strength.  She timed it perfectly.  The impact sent a shock up her arms, and she dropped her club.

But she was already running again, her muscles screaming in protest, her throbbing ankle forgotten in the rush of adrenaline.

An angry shriek pierced the air.  They must have found the one she’d hit.

Turn left.

Cat obeyed without thinking.  She broke through the trees.  A lake.  She plunged into the water without stopping and started swimming.

Moments later they appeared as well.  They stopped at the water’s edge, shrieking and throwing rocks, but they fell short.

They don’t want to come into the water, thought that calm part of her brain.

She noticed an island and swam towards it.  She would rest there a while.  Not too long.  It was getting dark and the water was freezing.  She had to get somewhere safe.  She had to stay alive.

Copyright © 2013 Herman Kok

• Fiction
• Song Title Challenge