Dog Eat Dog
Luhan’s gasped for breath, his lungs burning painfully as he struggled to inhale. Tears clouded his vision as he ran and stumbled on thin legs that were carrying too much and had been moving for too long. He cried out in fear as the sound of the mongrels grew closer and closer. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could run. He’d made it into a tree-covered area, hoping the vegetation would slow the dogs down, but it had only slowed him down in turn.
The sound of paws on dried leaves was approaching all too quickly and Luhan screamed when he felt something jump at him and miss. The animal’s body flew past him, rolling across the ground. He’d narrowly escaped being bitten, but the next time he was not so lucky. He cried out again when he felt something latch onto the back of his pack. Immediately his momentum was halted. He staggered backwards, struggling to retain his balance and keep his enormous pack on his back.
The mongrels were just too strong. Luhan would’ve almost rather died, but he knew he couldn’t give up like this. Everything he owned was in that bag, everything he needed, but if he didn’t give it up - at least for now, he was going to be killed. He untied the strap from around his waist with shaking hands and fell forward onto his hands and knees when the dogs roughly dragged it backwards.
Disoriented and completely exhausted, Luhan crawled forward, unable to get to his feet yet. He was at the base of a tree, a tree he was sure he had no hope of climbing. He looked up anyway, a bewildered expression on his face as he looked up and realized someone was looking down at him. The moonlight illuminated his angelic features, big, dark doe-eyes and pale tear streaked cheeks. He couldn’t see the stranger looking down at him, but when he realized he was reaching out to him, Luhan nearly burst into tears.
He reached out, struggling to stand. Strong hands gripped his wrists and pulled him upwards. He used his legs to walk up the trunk a few steps, his eyes widening in terror when he felt teeth sink into his leg. He cried out in pain, small hands gripping his savior, terrified he would let go and let him fall to the ground to be ripped apart.
“Please-!!!” Luhan choked out, although he wasn’t necessarily speaking to the person helping him. The dog released his leg from his jaws when its hind legs threatened to be pulled off the ground and Luhan managed to take one last big step, practically throwing himself into his rescuers arms now that he was high enough to be safe. He continued to gasp for breath, tears clinging to his dark lashes as his body shook.
“Thank you...thank you...” he whispered. He knew he should get off of the person who’d been kind enough to help him, but he just couldn’t get his body to cooperate yet.