Page 76 - 2023 eMag Final Draft

I Will Live

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My mind went blank at the sight of the bizarre monster. While every fibre of my being
Written by screamed at me to get away from there, my shaking body stood rooted to the ground,
Wah Teck Hao Sr1ComB as though there were unseen hands grabbing onto them and not letting go. My breaths
spiralled out of control, and my heart threatened to burst out of my ribcage.

Don’t stop. Keep moving.

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an
What do I do? What can I do?
The freezing mountain winds pierced my lungs as I gasped for air. My head spun in all
directions as the snow beneath me licked the flesh and blood off my feet. No matter how I could see myself drawing my blade in the bear’s black eyes, but for some reason, it

hard I pushed myself to move faster, my body could only limp forward sluggishly, and I’d wasn’t attacking. It just stared at me, standing as still as a rock at the same spot as though
already lost count of how many times I’d tripped over and landed face-first on the snow. it were just a hallucination. Slowly, my fear had morphed into confusion. Why wasn’t it

attacking? Was it letting me go? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had
to get –
“HELP.”
HELP
.

My heart sank. That distorted, inhuman voice had whispered out from the darkness “Huh?”
surrounding me again. That revolting voice and the relentless crunching of snow echoed
loudly through the still silence of the woods, assaulting my ears as my heart pounded As I turned on my heels, something blotted out the moonlight that fell on the path ahead
maniacally in my chest. of me. Out of instinct, I whipped my body around to defend myself. Muddy claws swept

through the air in an arc, and then came a blow that shook the world before my eyes.

“HELP ME.”
HELP ME.
The force behind the blow sent me flying back, but my descent came to a sudden, painful
halt as I crashed into a tree far behind, and the avalanche of snow that rested on the tree
Don’t turn around. Those three words filled up every inch of my mind like pop-up ads
from an illegal website, but my body refused to listen. My neck twisted on its own like came down at once and buried me.

a rusted door with no grease as it guided my eyes over my shoulder to what was behind
me. Crimson patches bloomed sporadically in my vision as something warm dribbled down
the edges of my mouth. Wheezing, I slumped back like a puppet whose strings had been

From afar, an ursine silhouette slowly approached me. Faintly illuminated by my cut.
weakening torch, it staggered in such an unnatural manner that it seemed almost comical.

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