Leaving me no time to consider the situation further, my many brethren launch into the clearing, immediately throwing themselves against the big ones like a flurry of darts. Our sudden appearance takes them by surprise, and one of the tall ones wearing another’s skin is caught with his back to us. Completely enshrouded by my group, he falls much faster than the metal man from the picture. His red pulls out quickly. His motion stops, and then a metal bit flies out of the carnage, sliding across the grass towards my feet. I stop following to marvel at it.

  Everyone from my group picked up some kind of makeshift weapon as they ran here. Mostly sticks and stones, exactly as I saw in the picture at home. It never occurred to me to do the same. I only followed. Maybe this little piece will help me fit in better?

  Hurriedly reaching down, I try to take it with my uninjured arm. Grimacing as the other’s pain flares from losing support, my hand closes around the metal. However, even more pain explodes from the contact. This piece! It’s injured me! My hand bleeds. How? Many others in the picture had metal bits too, and they didn’t bleed.

  My eyes focus on the moment, made extraordinarily intense by the pain and chaos all around me. Something in my mind shifts, freeing itself from an unseen obstruction. The image of the pointy metal object becomes clearer. Its shiny tip and sharp edge are covered in my blood, but the other end is wrapped in tightly wound string. I immediately grab at the other end, cursing my now obvious mistake. How could I have been so foolish?

  Now as armed as the others, I raise my head to search for a target. However, in the time since the second tall man fell, the remaining have absolutely devastated my brothers. My friends! My protectors! My safe haven! What should I do?

  A voracious urge almost overwhelms me, demanding that I too charge the horrid monsters. However, then my mind shifts again. Another obstacle removed. I run. I run away as quickly and quietly as I can, scampering back into the trees and cover that we came from. I can’t fight with these injuries, even if I do have a weapon now. Because I’m alone. What could one little man do against so many of the big ones? Especially since there’s at least one more metal one left. My new metal wouldn’t pierce his as easily as it did my hand, would it?

  “There’s one left, it’s injured!” I hear shouted from far behind me. “Peter, pursue it!”

  Must go fast. As fast as I can. As fast as these tiny legs can take me. Tripping on the uneven dirt and stones beneath my feet, I stumble and fall several times, scraping my knees. In contrast, I hear the smooth, controlled rhythmic tapping of practiced feet getting closer and closer behind me. Can I really get away?

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Happening to look down, I see the blood from my hand dripping beneath me. Looking back, there’s a messy trail that’ll lead right to me! I can’t run. I’m not faster than the big one, and they can easily follow my blood.

  Searching around frantically, I notice an old, knotted tree with a large, dark hole worn into its base. It’s perfect! I sprint over and let my hand bleed all the way into the hole. Then I grab a fistful of leaves tightly in my cut hand before retaking my metal with my mouth. Must stop the bleeding, at least temporarily, or they’ll know. They can’t know.

  Carefully climbing the tree with the only one able arm, I’ll be fast and careful. No blood on the tree. Can’t fall. But fast! Must be fast. I don’t know how long I have. Somehow I miraculously make it up to a strong bough high above. It’s thick enough to hide my tiny body from the ground below. Must be quiet now and wait patiently. Loud screaming in the back of my head keeps demanding that I leap down and join my brethren in a glorious, chaotic death. However, after another shift, I suppress it easily, especially given the everpresent pain to help distract.

  The rhythmic tapping grows very close and builds its tense song below me, slowing in tempo as if drawing tension before exploding back into climax. There’s a pause. Can’t risk looking yet. Must stay hidden. However, I very slowly take the metal from my mouth into my good hand, barely managing to hold on with the friction of my useless, injured arm and legs against the tree. I’m ready.

  “Stupid, ugly creature,” the song suddenly punctuates quietly from below. “Think you can hide from me?”

  The song’s right below me. It’s perfect! Rolling off the bough, I purposely fall head first. I pounce and attack, exactly as I witnessed my brethren do. I allow the chaotic hunger to flood back into my mind, and the metal in my hand flies as if a storm of angry, snarling gnats at the fore of my descent. With the energy of my brothers having fully taken me, my lips pull back tightly and my gritted teeth bare themselves at the world below.

  A laughing snarl somehow escapes my mouth almost halfway to my target. He stops suddenly and lifts his head to look up, unintentionally exposing his throat out from the cover of his protective skins. It’s perfect! My entire body curls on instinct like a trap and wraps his face and neck in the storm of my strikes. His red explodes out as he screams for only a brief instant before it transforms into more of a choking gargle.

  The struggle is surprisingly brief, and the song’s movement comes to an end. I roll back on my rump and gasp in fresh air to fill my lungs. It’s disgustingly clean here, but it’s all there is to work with.

  Somehow, I did it. I won, but there’s more back there in the clearing. I’m not sure how far away we got from them before this ambush. Did they hear the scream? Did they recognize it? Will they follow? Have to get away, if only to be certain that I won’t get caught again.

  Staring down at the unmoving form of my victim, my mind shifts again. Heavily this time. My head hurts badly, adding to the growing pile of existing pain. However, something is clear now. This big one is covered in valuables. I must take them. They will help me survive. I don’t know what they do, but as with my metal, I will learn. I must.