The Shifting Sands of Time

The shifting sands of time swept across the golden leaves of trees in the dense forest. A lonely car travelled on the empty road through a clearing, with a driver and no passengers. The car swerved to the right, crossed over into the oncoming lane and crashed into the dark tree trunk ahead, with a loud thud. The airbag exploded into the chest of the shocked driver. He shouted out in frustration and pawed at the uncomfortable airbag enveloping him.
Liam reached down beside him and pulled out a sharp-edged fishing knife, lying between his car seat and the hand brake. He cut through the airbag with as much force as he could muster, swearing as he did so. The airbag folded up like a deflated balloon and ended up on the floor, covering his boots. He quickly undid his seatbelt as he heard the distant sound of police sirens approaching. A shiver ran down his spine. He couldn’t get caught. He wasn’t going back inside again. He detested that place and what had happened to him there!
As soon as Liam opened the creaking door, he jumped out and ran into the trees for cover, zigzagging and trying to cover his trail with a branch trailing behind him. He walked off a path he found, and still the sirens grew louder and louder. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of screeching brakes. It would be dark soon and he needed to find somewhere to hide. He looked up at the trees around him and considered hiding amongst their bright yellow leaves. It wouldn’t work. His denim shirt would stand out, and they would find him in no time. Liam decided to dig a shallow hole and cover himself with foliage. He scratched around for anything he could use to dig and found a sharp stick and what resembled a flint stone. He dug furiously at the moist ground until he could comfortably climb into the hole and pull the sand and foliage back over him. It was just in time as the feet of the search party could be heard running his way.
Liam kept very still and watched and waited. The search party stopped 100m from his position and he heard the leader grumbling.
“We need to bring in the dogs. It’s too hard to find him in this dense forest.”
“Yes, Sarge. I’ll call them on the satellite phone now because we don’t have a mobile phone signal this far out.” The Sarge nodded and his keen eyes swept the forest, looking for any sign of movement or human life. He was momentarily distracted by the kookaburra calling out from a high tree to his left. Then he turned to the second in command and shouted, “Well, get on with it then. Don’t take all day!”
Liam could feel his nose tickling from some grains of sand and nearly sneezed. He suppressed it because that would give away his position. He couldn’t stay here forever though because the sniffer dogs would easily find him. He’d have to choose his moment to get up and creep deeper into the forest, perhaps finding different trees, a cave, or a watering hole, where he could hide away from the search party.
The Sarge and the rest of the team continued searching and went right past him, within 10m of his position. Liam held his breath and closed his eyes. He hoped that they wouldn’t see the movement of his eyelids. He lay there for another 20 minutes until he was sure that the search party had moved away and then he dug himself out and rushed off in a different direction. His breathing was laboured, and he felt the sweat of fear on his brow. This was his only chance to get away and he would put everything into the evasion techniques he had learnt.
After running for half an hour, he heard the distinct sound of barking dogs. They were excited and may have been on his trail already. Liam picked up his pace, crashing through the undergrowth until he came upon a river. The waters looked dangerously dark and swirling but Liam felt he had no choice but to walk and then swim across the river at a diagonal angle, trying to lose the dogs and their handlers. The water was really cold as he went deeper into the river. As he reached the middle of the river, he felt movement against his leg underwater. Liam realised he hadn’t had time to check for crocodiles or any other dangers under the water. Then a dog appeared on the riverbank and saw him. Liam dived under the water and grabbed a reed from the bottom of the river. He put the reed above the water level to breathe but remained underwater. As he moved slowly to the other bank, a sharp set of teeth closed around his ankle.
Liam punched the crocodile in its eye as he attempted to break free from the jaws of the reptilian beast. The hunger in its eyes betrayed how determined it was to finish him off. Liam suppressed a scream and continued to fight and roll underwater with the crocodile. Eventually, the crocodile let him go and swam off injured. Liam emerged from the river, limping in pain. The blood ran from his ankle, mixing with the river and attracting more crocodiles. He pushed himself to the riverbank and emerged on the other side into a different part of the forest.
Liam briefly sat down to tear off his shirt and wrap it around his ankle so that he could continue to escape. Then he found a branch that he could use as a walking stick and limped off as fast as he could. As he looked back, the sounds of the dogs could suddenly be heard ahead of him. Liam froze. Dogs or crocodiles? He turned back towards the river, where the eager crocodiles were hungrily waiting for his return…