Way of the Slugcat

Out of Mind

An eerie silence hovered 'round the chamber. Well, maybe silence was not the correct word. An atmosphere of dread, combined with darkness and near nonexistent noises in the distance. This is what Thorns faced as he moved onwards atop the train, now on all fours with the spear held in his mouth. His paws were carefully placed with each step to make as little noise as possible. The things down here seemed to hunt by sound instead of sight, as evidenced by the shadowed lizards he had passed earlier. Even through the darkness, the slugcat could tell that they lacked eyes. The whiskers on the ends of their noses did the seeing for them, helping the creature feel its way around. The group of three beasts had turned their noses skyward as he passed, pointing in his direction. It was then Thorns decided that cautious, silent steps had officially overridden the benefits of moving quickly. While the lizards couldn't climb to the train's roof, other things could. Things that lurked in the shadows, just beyond his line of sight.
His shoulder pained him. Whatever venom that spider had bit him with was beginning to take its toll. The slugcat shuddered at the mere thought of it, then forcefully pushed the memory out of his mind.
Focus, Thorns. He thought. No time for that. Just keep moving to... wherever this thing is taking me, I guess.
And so, the slugcat moved onwards into the dark. A few minutes of blind travel later, and his highway seemed to come to an end. Even through the darkness, Thorns could see very clearly that the train just... stopped. No engine car, no caboose, nothing. It just ended. He crept up to the edge of the final train car, which was slightly tilted towards the ground, and peered over its edge.
His stomach dropped.
A massive pit lay before him, with the remainder of the train cars having plummeted off its side and into its belly. A chain of them was strung down its jagged wall, and the engine car had fallen all the way to the bottom. It sat there belly up on the ground, its wheels rusted in place and various species of unworldly plantlife consuming it. The pit itself had to be at least fifty feet deep, maybe more! Thorn's entire body shuddered at the sight of it. He dared not stick anything more than his nose over its edge.
"Oh, this is just perfect." He complained. "There is no way in hell I am going down there."
As he stated this, a flash of dull color caught his eye. Something orange skittered out from inside the ruined engine, then turned around and retreated back to its safety. After this, Thorns wasted no time seeking a different route to his unknown destination.
Thorns continued through the darkness in a random direction, his mind spinning in three directions at once. On one paw, going back and descending into the pit that the train had fallen into would be the best option. Night had told him to go down, down as far as he possibly could. Well, that pit was certainly going in the correct direction! On the other paw, was jumping down into a dark, possibly centipede infested pit a smart idea? No. No it was not. And on the third paw, where was Thorns even trying to go in the first place?
No. He knew that answer. He should not be asking himself that. The only reason he questioned his destination was because...
The slugcat paused, drifting out of his train of thought, and glanced around for something else to think about. Darkness, darkness, rocks, darkness, firelight, darkness...
"Hold on..." Thorns blinked, then took the risk of dropping his spear to rub his tired eyes. The firelight remained, glowing against the cave wall with a calming orange hue. It seemed to be moving. Occasionally it would bob up and down, as if following the footsteps of its carrier. Upon realizing that his eyes told the truth, a rush of relief and longing crashed upon him like a wave upon a rocky shore.
"H-hello!?" Thorns croaked. His voice echoed through the cavern, startling a couple dimwitted creatures in the shadows. The light paused.
Please, oh please oh please oh please be friendly! His mind pleaded.
Up until this point, Thorns had no idea how desperate he was for light, or any comfort of any kind. The atmosphere down here suffocated him, much like the garbage wastes he had woken up in. An endless sea of darkness, cold and uncaring, void of any safety, permanent or temporary. Anything could come crawling out at the slugcat at any moment, catching him entirely by surprise. Even the warm glow in the distance could be set there to fool him. Regardless, he still had to try. His fluttering heart commanded him to.
Slowly, he approached the light. As he neared its glow, his eyes made out small details on the cave wall. Tiny spiders moved swiftly from the light's grasp, leaving strands of webbing behind. Heaps of moss grew on tiny outcroppings of rock. Thorns had never realized how detailed simple things like this were...
Around the corner he crept with boundless caution and spear in paw. The carrier of the light stood alone. A pair of antlers grew atop its head and cast an oblong shadow on the wall. They matched well with its bright yellow eyes, which stared unmovingly at Thorns. The fire that it held was not a fire at all, but rather a spherical object hooked to a makeshift belt, giving off a constant, comforting glow.
"H-hello?" Thorns squeaked, feeling rather unsure about this situation. Scavengers haven't exactly treated him well in the past. Still, at least it wasn't a spider. It had no weapons, either, so he figured he had the upper hand if things went south. Speaking of which, it had no friends around it either. Where did this one come from, and why was it all alone?
"Hello there, buddy. Are you... lost? Like me?"
The creature gave no verbal response. Instead, it raised a hand and pointed to Thorns. Its cautious gaze drifted down to the spear he had in one paw.
"Oh! No need to worry, I will not hurt you!" Thorns explained to the scavenger as he began to slide the spear behind him and out of sight. Instead of relaxing, however, the light bearer's eyes widened further. Its shaking hand went from pointing to grasping at the air. The slugcat looked at his aqua intense with slight confusion. Then, it dawned on him.
"You... you want this?" He asked, gesturing to the spear. The scavenger nodded vigorously. A smile spread over Thorns' muzzle. "Alright. Then I want that in return."
Obviously, he pointed at the light. The scavenger paused and followed his gesture, then stopped to gaze at the little treasure on its belt. After a few seconds, it took the light in one hand and held out the other, palm up towards the spear.
"So it is a deal then?"
The scavenger did not move. It seemed as if Thorns' words had no effect on it, only the gestures that accompanied them. Slowly, the slugcat retrieved the spear and slid it towards the creature before him, being sure to keep one paw on its base at all times. The scavenger did the same with the light. Both creatures proceeded with an air of extreme caution, each unsure whether or not the other might try something. When the items reached the midpoint between them, their other appendage started reaching out to their respective items. The slugcat went for the light whereas the scavenger preferred the spear. If they could have both, each creature would have done so in an instant. In this situation, however, one had to choose. Light, or weapon?
Finally, the scavenger began to loosen its grip on the glowing orb. Feeling this, Thorns felt comfortable enough to release the spear. The slugcat and the scavenger each retracted their items close to their bodies, the scavenger not even making an effort to hold its new prize in attack position. It simply clung to it, as if that broken metal bar were its last line of hope. Thorns did the same with the light. After a few moments, the creatures soundlessly stepped away from one another, and without so much as a squeak, turned their backs and walked into the darkness. Two travelers, each going their separate ways.

The slugcat moved on into nowhere. His destination called to him, and yet every chance he got, he moved past it. All of the pipes and drains he passed, all of the fissures and holes going down into the earth, he ignored. Through it all, he just kept walking. The darkness parted before him as he continued, revealing ancient, battered stone beneath his feet. All of the dark's creatures scuttled away from his new light source.
Why on earth would that scavenger have given this up for a rusted bit of metal? Thorns pondered. Although, he did admit that there were plenty of frightening sounds beyond the light's reach. At one point, he could have sworn to have heard the sound of clanging metal, followed by the soft noise of a snipping tool, echoing from a little hole in the cave wall. The slugcat justly decided not to follow that path. His other choices, however, did not seem any more ideal. One path continued straight, onwards into the dark Thorns had been wandering for far too long. The other was the unmistakable outline of a drainage pipe, just wide enough for him to crawl into, and headed further down into the depths. A crackling red light shone from its mouth, just dim enough for the tiny spiders and other dark dwelling bugs to tolerate. Thorns sighed. It seemed as if the universe had given him every opportunity to complete his journey, or at least get one step closer. This was no exception.
"Should I...?" He muttered out loud to himself.
Probably not the wisest thing to do in a place such as this.
He pricked his ears up and glanced around, looking for anything that might have heard him. In the midst of the silence that followed, Thorns unexpectedly perceived a noise, not to either side of him, but above him.
A muffled thump collided with the cave's ceiling, shaking a couple of rocks and a cloud of dust loose from its clutches. The noise echoed through the cavern like the deep and hearty roar of thunder. Immediately, Thorns ran for cover. He squeezed himself into the entrance of the drainage pipe, then turned around to watch the situation unfold.
The noise came again, this time more violently. A crack spiderwebbed across the ceiling, dropping stones and dust and plant roots down to the ground. The slugcat watched in horror as the crack split open, spilling a blinding light into the darkness. Sunlight. Hundreds- no, thousands of tiny insects fled for cover, followed by a couple of large, hairy spiders that Thorns hadn't even known were there. A small, dark form fell from above and onto the ragged, stone filled ground. Without thinking, Thorns popped his head out of his hiding place to get a closer look. The figure rolled over onto its paws and shook itself, then stared back at him with white, pupilless eyes.
"T-Thorns?"
"Night!?"

Light
A spark of hope in the darkness.