Shae was running for her life through a swampy wooded area. The trees too far apart to slow down her assailant. It was just as she had remembered it from her uncle’s visions. It had a squat body, with very long arms. Its legs were not so long, but that did not slow it down much. The thing pumped them like a steam engine on overload. It was not quite the same as his vision though. This variety of troll that happened to be standing twenty feet away from where she appeared. While it looked so very much the same, the vision never showed that it would be over twelve feet tall! The vision had made it look more like a short powerhouse type being. Not some huge super scary slavering beast that was wilder than a rabid wolf. On top of that, it put those long arms to very good use. I would grab trees and swing itself forward like a monkey for bursts of speed. Or it would pick up larger objects off the ground to throw at her to try and knock her down from her frantic flight.

How did things end up like this! she had made her choice. She wanted something very fantasy like. Where magic and damsels in distress were a thing. She wanted to see dragons and town floating in the sky. But not ten minutes into her first encounter with her new world, she had become the damsel! They had dropped her in the middle of a swampy mess, with no towns or even houses in sight!

‘I bet it was that Weasley looking guy that caused this!’ she thought as she ducked her head and put everything she had into her run.

She had just made her choice when she was whisked away to stand before what looked like a panel of eccentric celebrities, some of whom were dressed worse than a stoned-out kiss fan. There was a Weasley looking guy in the back who was whining that he didn’t like this whole affair. Could she even call a creator aspect a guy, whatever.

Her mind a jumble as she ducked and ran. Feeling, well at least she was feeling great! Running like she has been, wasn’t even that much of a strain. Sure, she was breathing hard, but who wouldn’t be after have a ton of green-grey slobber monster as her surprise present for joining a new world.

He was glowering at her when no one else was looking. They all had a hand in where she would go. She was sure grumpy pants had made sure it was a swamp beside a friggin troll! Or at least that the troll was present for her big debut.

She could hear it slam down from another arm toss leap or whatever you’d wanna call the move. It didn’t seem to be gaining much at least. She did a weight advantage for running through a bog setting she guessed.

Just then a large piece of rotting branch stump flew into a tree that was right beside her head, the rotting piece of wood bursting apart thrown splinters into her hair. A few pieces of stray wet wood slapping her in the face, and the back of her neck. She yelped and tried to push to her limit. Tears starting to flow blurring her vision a bit.

This was the real thing after all. Just like her uncle had warned her. Not a game. Real life and death stuff.

More death than life at the moment it seemed.

Behind her she heard a grunt and a giant splash. Sneaking a peek, she saw the troll had caught its foot under a tree root that must have been elevated half of it out of the water.

This was her chance to make a break. She again turned forward with her head low, running for all she was worth.

Even her pack did not seem to add too much weight to her frantic escape. Obviously, she had been given a kind of boost. She had taken a world that had skills, spells, and strength. But she didn’t want the whole character sheet thing to ruin the experience.

When she has first saw the troll, its back was to her. She immediately tried to sneak away. Like she had been taught by her uncle. But being upwind of a troll was like throwing a dinner bell at the back of its head. It gave one sniff then slowly turning another. At this point she was smart enough to know what it had suddenly found so interesting, so without another thought she bolted as fast and hard as she could.

She heard a grunt and the chase resume behind her, snarling and grunting to catch its fleet footed meal.

Head down, she didn’t see the low hanging that snagged her pack, causing her to lurch to the side in her own uncontrolled spill into the mushy fungus that made up the floor of this area of the swamp.

‘Stupid!’ she screamed in her head as thunderous footfalls raged closer. She could even hear trees being badly abused at it’s passing. Creaking and crackling. As it pushed through to her.

She threw herself to her feet and trying to do her best to stay ahead of the thing. She could almost feel a putrid hot breath on her neck. Putrid?

She was suddenly scooped up from behind by a powerful hand that made her ribs scream in protest. With a roar the troll threw her forward into a tree twenty feet away.

Her lower pack hit the tree first, somewhat dulling the impact as the body bent around the tree like a gymnast doing back arches. Though she was no gymnast!

Her back, side and stomach muscles screamed as they fought to keep her in one piece. Even as her legs and head whipped around the tree almost meeting on the other side. The tree cracked and fell. She went down with a soft barley conscious groan.

What was she doing again?

She thought she her footsteps nearing her. Heavy breathing, trees being moved out of the way. Where was she?

==================================

The troll having caught up to its prey grabbed it in its grip of iron then used its momentum to hurl her with all it’s might into the tree. It knew it was not as smart as its prey. It seldom was. But it was proud that it could outlast and overpower all its prey. After it had done it what it had done many times before to soften up tough prey, it took a bit of time to smugly stalk in. The prey as usual had to have been hurt, its back probably broken, unable to continue the race. It had won again.

So, with a slow menacing walk it pushed its way through the tree slowly savoring its victory. Maybe it would save this one alive for a while. It had just eaten a short while ago after all, and not overly hungry. It might not have even given chase if good food was not so hard to find. In fact, it was thinking it would have to move on soon, since food was becoming rarer. The prey was struggling to move as it always would. Prey always struggled until the end. This kind of prey more so than the prey that lived in this swamp. These tall not goblins were pretty good to eat after all. They were clean food. Bones that crunched just right between the teeth, without having to grind down hard. It had not had one in a while now.

It smiled as it reached down to grab its hard-won meal. Lofting it onto its shoulder for later. It began to walk back toward the small cave under the rocks it had found a while ago. When it had decided that would be a good spot to set up a new hunting ground. It had not smelled any others of its kind around. Which would have led to a fight it did not really want.

It rumbled a hum it had heard one of these not short goblins make before he had chased and eaten it. That one was a fat morsel. So very good.

It started to salivate at the thought.

Just as it was making its mind up that it could not wait any long, and what’s wrong with an overfull belly after a chase like that anyway. Its prey shifted, then its vision suddenly went black, with little stars floating around.

‘It night?’ it thought before it staggered to the ground unable to think anymore. It was suddenly very groggy and sleepy. It decided it might as well nap before it ate its new prey.

==================================

Shae came back to herself bobbing up and down, being held on a shoulder. The thing was making a rumbling noise in its chest, almost like it was trying to hum. She was caught. She started to panic. With everything she had she swung the elbow closest to the troll’s head into it just behind the ear. There was a crack and her elbow felt like it was going to break. Instead, it slid slightly into the troll’s head, its skull giving away in a soft, spot?

Grimacing about the pains in her body and now elbow, she had another complaint as the troll dropped her twelve feet onto her side. It stumbled and went down.

As she thought it must just get right back up… it started to… snore.

Could she have been that lucky to knock it out with a well-placed strike?

Whatever the reason, she picked her very sore, abused body up and hunchback shuffle ran away from the troll. She needed to put as much distance away from it as she could. Downwind. Then she needed a place to rest and get her bearings.

This new world was turning out to be a big mistake. There was no truck sized monster back home, except in the movies. What exactly had she just signed up for? Surely her uncle would not have put her on this path for bad reasons. He might not have been a humanitarian, but he was good to her.

She sighed as she started to move a little easier. Either she was still high on adrenaline, or she was in shock. Whatever the reason, she could use it, until she found a safe spot far enough away to recover a bit to get moving again. Other than the troll, there did not seem to be much else around worth worrying about. Then again, why would there be if a troll was running around.

She continued for fifteen minutes or so. It was hard to guess how much time went by through the pain that had slowly seeped back in. While she wasn’t hurt over bad. It was somewhat manageable.

‘There’ She thought. She found a small opening beneath a short rock arch like formation. She squeezed herself into the small cave like hole, wincing a bit at her ribs.

After a few breaths, having to kneel in the damp short cave, she pulled her pack off. She retrieved her water can and took a two large drinks.

As she knelt there just holding her water can, she started to relax. The pain a bit more prevalent but it wasn’t getting worse. Nor did she think anything was broke. Except maybe the things in her pack.

‘It must have not thrown me very hard into that tree. Probably slipped when it did. Lucky for me.’ She started to go over the chase and her brief scuffles, going over her new experience.

She looked up to the roof as if looking beyond and spoke, “guess I can’t have a do over, could I?”

She waited for the answer she knew wouldn’t come. After all, she was now the lab rat. And nobody ever gave the rat a redo. It always had to keep doing what they wanted it to.

With another much deeper breath in and out slowly to check her rib and diaphragm status, she wiggled her bits and bobs. Everything seemed to work ok.

‘Just the pain then’ She thought. Reaching for her bag. She opened a small zipper and pulled out some over the counter pain pills. She took two, then leaded against the wall in a sitting position, pulling her pack beside her, and putting the pills back. Then she rested her head against the wall breathing more calmly waiting for the pills to kick in. Her eyes dropped closed, head drooping down, five or so minutes later and did not re-open.

If anything had walked by the small cave under the rocks, it would have heard a very faint snore.