Bigger Things

Chapter 5, Pt. 2 - Willow

Willow froze.

boom. boom. boom. boom.

Her first instinct (which she promptly shoved back down) was to find somewhere to run, to hide. Because of course she knew what that sound was; she had heard it just last night soon after awakening.

Footsteps. Very, very heavy ones.

But, right as she was about to leap (or at least hobble) behind cover, the pragmatist inside her spoke.

You can't.

Why not?

Because you're in THAT thing's territory now. It has the homeland advantage. You can't hide from it. You'll only piss it off and make it search for you, and when it finds you...

So what am I SUPPOSED to do!?

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM—

I can't run, I can't fight, and now I can't hide? Should I just lay down and wait to fucking die?

No.

What you have to do is pretend you never left. Never got up from...from the NEST you set up.

Really? That's the–

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM—

OKAY! OKAY! I GET IT!

Willow gripped her walking staff so tightly that her knuckles went white, stumbling forward as fast as she could. Which wasn't very.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM—

Her breaths came shallow, either from exhaustion or fear. It was close. So close. And she was so far, moving at a snail's pace. She could literally feel the earth shaking beneath her feet, not as some slight vibration, but enough that she was beginning to feel unsteady—

The stick slipped out of her hands, and Willow collapsed to the ground, her chin smacking against the stone surface with a loud clack. Her walking implement clattered to the floor in front of her, rolling just out of arm's reach towards her blanket.

Oh, you've gotta be kidding—

The steps stopped. So did Willow's heart, for just a beat.

For a moment, she wished they were still happening. Because them coming to an end meant something worse.

The giant was right outside the door.

Almost a second after the realization, she was jolted by the sensation of more hammering booms. Not of the giant's footsteps as she had initially been startled by, but by her own pounding heartbeat.

And there was clicking. And scraping. And the door swung open.

For one, short, paralyzing millisecond, Willow forgot how to breathe.

IT'S INSIDE!

What the hell are you waiting for? GET UP! GO!

Dragging herself closer, closer, closer, Willow found herself pushing her struggling body harder than she almost ever had before. Straining, pressing, every bit so closer, right as the steps continued to

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

until she was JUST close enough to snatch up her stick, drag her blanket over herself, and, as she saw the shadow of the giant looming around the corner, hide her walking stick under it.