I've read a few prologues (or first chapters) that start with events from long ago, described in a really dynamic, present-tense way. Immerse the reader into it immediately, using evocative imagery that will convey fear, terror etc without sounding like you are 'telling a story' (I think your paragraph reads a bit like that and you want to make it more 'visceral' for the reader). The next chapter will clarify (or not) that the events were a long time ago. One of the ways of dating it, which will make the reader suspect it's a long-ago event, is to describe fashion, or building, or use language and phrases that will set the event in a certain era. Sprinkling of such clues can bring that sort of chapter really together.
I think is probably one of the aspects of writing most neglected by me. However, I recommend you any book on the subject of tenses you'd get be a well researched one. It's a skill that can make a big difference.
