The countryside can be a scary place after dark, as Jane was about to find out. It started out as a typical Sunday with her putting on her walking boots and driving out into the roaming hills. She’d parked in her usual spot at the secluded far end of the animal sanctuary’s car park, then set out on a new route, a 15-mile round hike around a couple of peaks. She’d been walking for five hours and was an hour away from her car when she noticed it was getting very dark, very quickly.
She checked her watch (16:12) which was strange because she was sure the sunset was at 17:31 as she’d checked it the night before. She took out her phone to google the sunset and noticed the time said 17:12. It was at this moment that she realised she’d messed up. The clocks had gone forward and whilst her phone had automatically updated the time, she had forgotten to wind her watch forward.
She was just about to move on when a low continuous growl stopped her dead in her tracks. It was definitely the sound of an animal, a big one at that, but what and where remained unanswered. Try as she might, Jane couldn’t locate the source of her nightmare, it was everywhere and nowhere all once. She set off hurriedly and had got all of five paces when thunderous roars filled the dark atmosphere and she let out a little squeak from equal parts fear and surprise.
And then all was quiet.
Dead quiet.
Wanting to curl up into a ball and disappear, Jane continued on towards her car at a brisk pace, nerves on edge, phone in hand. She was ready to call for help the moment she had either internet connection or a phone signal.
Each passing minute felt like a lifetime.
She was five minutes from the car and hadn’t heard the beasts for 30 heart wrenching minutes when her phone notification sounded, causing her to jump out of her skin and drop the phone. She quickly stumbled to the ground, retrieving her phone on her knees, staring at the screen as it lit up her pallid face in the pitch black.
The notification was a news update:
BREAKING NEWS!!!
Family of Tigers Escape from Sanctuary
Jane broke into a run.