Predator

Thrill Rider:

I scream as something hits me in the side. Feeling a burning hot pain shoot throughout my whole body, I fall to my knees.

"Ahhhh," I cry. I bite my tongue to stop myself from screaming. Slamming my hand over my mouth, I look down and see something sticking out of the side of my chest.

"Is that an arrow?"

Blacker than the night sky and with a shining metal tip, it takes everything I have not to pull it out.

"I can't take it out," I tell myself. "I have to leave it in. Otherwise, I'll bleed out faster. Ahh..."

I try to break the arrow, but as I grip it with both hands, I immediately feel cold metal.

"So much for breaking it. I have to get back to the hotel."

As I stumble toward the exit, I hear the sound of footsteps and turn around. Seeming like he was falling out of the sky, someone lands in the empty basketball court with me. Dressed in a full black suit, like me, the man is wearing a hood and has six or seven green eyes.

"Night vision goggles," I say.

Besides the night vision goggles, I can see him holding a compound bow with a quiver filled with arrows on his back.

"Uhh," I start. "Hello? Who are you?"

"I am the Black Archer," the Black Archer answers. "And I am here to kill you."

"I'm sorry. What?"

The Black Archer answers by pulling an arrow from his quiver and loading it into his bow. It was like watching a real-life version of the famous Oliver Queen, except this 'Black Archer' guy isn't the Green Arrow, and I'm about to get shot.

As the Black Archer fires, I jump and roll out of the way, but in mid-roll, my wound catches on fire, and instead of rolling, I fall to the ground. Luckily, however, the Black Archer still misses.

His arrow flies through the air and hits the chain-link fence. I see sparks flying off the fence as the arrow hits it. Pushing myself up, I try to stand but can't.

"Ahh," I moan. I look down and see the arrow still in my chest. "Ahh."

Breathing in and out, in and out, I summon whatever strength I have to pull out my batons. Looking up, I see the Black Archer charging toward me.

I watch, half-standing, as the Black Archer pulls back his fist. Throwing it toward me, I cross my batons and manage to catch his fist. Pulling him in close, I raise my foot and stomp it against his chest.

The Black Archer stumbles after I kick him. I try to chase after him as he stumbles but the Archer recovers faster than I expected. He catches himself and swings his bow, hitting me right in the head.

Screaming as I'm hit, I hold my head while falling to the ground. My vision goes blurry as I lay there on the ground. While lying on the ground with a headache, I see a large, black blur standing over me. The black blur moves. It looks like it pulls something shiny out.

Raising the shiny thing up, the black blur then slams it down toward me. I catch the shiny thing in my hands. Pushing it back, trying to keep the shiny thing away from my chest.

As my vision quickly returns to normal, I can now see the Black Archer hovering right over me, a sharp blade in his hands. He trying to stab me with the blade but I'm stopping. Barely though.

The Archer throws his whole body onto the blade, pushing it closer and closer to me. Already, it's scratching against my armor.

An idea sparking in my head, I push the blade to the side before letting it go. Surprised by this, the Archer falls right onto me.

His blade hits my armor but because I pushed it to the side, it slides off. With the Archer on top of me now, I punch him, stunning him before pushing him off of me. Rolling around, I push myself back onto my feet.

Grabbing my batons from the ground, I look to see the Archer also pushing himself up. Pushing himself onto his knees, I take the opportunity to charge toward him, my baton high in the air.

Less than a foot from him, about to knock the Archer out, he turns around in less than a second with an arrow already loaded into his bow. Firing the arrow, it hits and cuts my hand.

I scream and accidentally drop my baton. Pulling my hand in, I look at the cut. The cut is on my hand, near my thumb. It's small but already bleeding. As I look at the cut, I hear footsteps and look back at the Archer. Somehow, he's already standing in front of me.

Even before I can do anything, before I can throw a punch or even raise my arm to shield myself, the Archer grabs and throws me back onto the ground.

Falling near one of the thieves I knocked out earlier, I try to get up but the Archer stomps on me, slamming me back onto the ground. Screaming as he stomps on me, I try to hit his leg with my baton but this time, the Archer kicks my baton out of my hand.

Disarmed and pinned on the ground, the Archer brings up his arm. Moving his sleeve back, he reveals a wristband with a small knife. Pulling the knife out, the Archer holds it out for me to see.

"Let's try this again," the Archer says, raising the knife high into the air.

Seeing the knife, the sharp, steel tip shining in the moonlight, I look around for anything I can use. The Archer kicked my baton too far away so I couldn't use it.

Still looking around, knowing I only have a few seconds left, I spot a wooden plank near the car thief.

"It's barely within my reach," I think, "But it's still within my reach."

Just as the Archer slams his knife down, I lunge for the wooden plank. Grabbing the plank, I use it as a shield. Archer stabs the plank instead of me. When he realizes he misses, Archer tries to pull his knife out but before he can, I throw the plank to the side.

Archer watches as his knife is thrown to the side. In that one moment, when Archer is looking away, I scream as I put whatever strength I have left into my fist. Swinging it, I punch Archer right across the face.

Knocking him away and getting Archer off of me, I push myself up as fast as I can. Quickly grabbing my batons as I limp my way through the basketball court, I somehow manage to make it through the small door in the fence.

"Where did I park it," I yell at myself. "Where did I park my motorcycle! I have to find it now!"

I stop limping for a bit and look around. I replay what happened in my head, from when I was chasing those thieves to just now. As I replay the moment when I got off my motorcycle, I turn my head and see my bike hidden beside a wall.

"There!"

About to run to my bike, I fall to my knee when something pierces my leg. Screaming as I look down, I see another arrow sticking through my leg.

Biting both my tongue and lip to keep myself from screaming, my cheeks bubbling up, I open my mouth slightly and let the scream silently leak out. I snap my head behind me and see the Black Archer standing in the basketball's doorframe.

"The prey can run all he wants," the Black Archer yells, walking toward me. As he walks toward me, he pulls out another arrow and loads it into his bow. "But I, the predator, will always catch you."

"Predator," I repeat, now limping with two arrows in me. "Prey? Oh wow. Seriously, you are watching way too many nature shows! May I recommend watching something a little more kid-friendly?"

The Archer doesn't answer me. Instead, he pulls back the bowstring. However, by the time he's pulling the bow string, I've already reached my bike. Climbing on, I turn the ignition on. The engine roars to life and not wasting a second, I step on the gas.

As I try to drive away, the Black Archer runs out. He stands in front of me and fires his arrow. Getting as low as I can, hiding behind the tiny window in front, his arrow hits my bike. It shatters the tiny window but misses me.

"Let's see how the predator catches his prey now," I say, painfully driving away.