PATSY Chapt one

Gently she lowered herself to the ground. Her breath came in ragged and rasping gasps.Realizing she had only a few minutes reprieve, she tried not to relax too completely. Any moment now the dogs would discover her attempt to cover her trail. Then she would have to run like never before.

She could hear the braying in the distance. It was closer but she still had a few more moments left.

How she got into this predicament she would never know. It seemed an innocent game to begin with. A dare actually. Brady's voice came loud and clear in her mind.

"Just sneak under the fence and grab a carrot and then run for your life back under the fence."

Sure, the dogs couldn't get through the hole and sure, they were tied up anyways.

Who would have thought that they were actually running loose in the yard and that they had dug a bigger hole further down the fence line?

A sudden louder yelp in the distance jolted Patsy out of her thoughts. It was too close. She had waited too long.

Jumping to her feet she took off in a streak through the underbrush. Thorny branches grabbed at her as she pushed her way through a clump of blackberry bushes. It was the only way now to escape even though thorns scratched any exposed skin.

Run, Patsy, run, she gasped.

Suddenly she came to the end of the briars and to the end of the world too it seemed.

She was plunging down, down and the world was spinning around and around as she tumbled. First sky, then trees, and the rocky cliff came into view. then it was back to the trees.

It seemed she had been tumbling a long time before she hit solid earth with a thud, knocking out the breath from her lungs.

And before she could take another breath she was back up in the air and falling again.

The sky was there for a moment and then lost in blackness.

Patsy laid in the grass at the bottom of the cliff, a limp blob of fur. As the world began to come back to view, she tried to raise her head but she could not. Every bone in her body hurt and exhaustion settled in on her like thick fog.

"Oh look." she heard a voice nearby. Sounded like human speech but she was too tired to open her eyes. "It's a rabbit that we saw jumping off that cliff."

"Be careful," came another voice. "She looks hurt."

Patsy felt herself being lifted gently and place on a soft jacket in the basket of a bike. She didn't know if this would be better than the ordeal with the dogs but she was too exhausted to protest.

TO BE CONT.