Resilience Run

Chapter 18

"I'm starting to get bored here." I said as I huddled against the wall of the cave, the only warmth I was getting was from the fire that was still going, "Like, I know I should be terrified that I'm gonna get eaten or something, but it feels like it's been hours and nothing is happening."

"I can relate," said Felice, "This creature is genuinely confusing me. It has kidnapped us, is holding us in an underwater cave against our will, and has fed us and allows us to keep this fire, despite the fact that as a water-based monster, it should not like it."

"Maybe it knows we wouldn't survive in the cold." I said.

"I highly doubt that," said Felice, "This creature probably hasn't interacted with that many humans, and we're even assuming it can understand anything humans say."

"Point taken," I said.

The creature had been huddled in its own corner, staring at me, unblinking. We had been locked in this standoff for what felt like several hours, though I had lost most sense of time since I couldn't see the sky. I had been wracking my brain for some kind of escape plan, but the fact was I was completely helpless, and I hated it.

As I stewed in the corner, waiting for my inevitable rescue, the creature started moving. I immediately snapped to attention when I realized the creature was coming towards me.

"This cannot be good." said Felice.

I moved my hand to my sword, but the creature suddenly sprinted to me and knocked me down. The back of my head hit the cave floor and my vision went black for a couple of seconds. Felice was telling me something, but I couldn't understand her in my dazed state.

When my vision finally came back and I was able to see again, I screamed. The creature was lying over me, our faces almost touching, the only thing keeping our bodies from connecting was the creature sitting up, just a little.

"What the hell?!" I garbled out, "No!"

The creature watched me, though I couldn't tell what it was planning since its face still didn't move. I was so panicked, I couldn't bring my body to move. Fortunately, Felice was on top of things, grabbing my sword and driving it into the creature's side.

The creature roared, deafening me for several seconds, but also fueling my adrenaline. I stabbed again, and the creature fell over, just enough that I was able to scramble back and get back up to my feet. I bolted for the hole in the floor.

"Moor-acu..." Felice said.

"We don't have a choice!" I said, "Whatever that thing plans on doing, we can't stick around for! We're just gonna have to hope!"

"Look out!" Felice yelled.

Just as I was about to swan dive into the hole, the creature's webbed hand grabbed my ankle and knocked me over, just in front of it. I clawed at the whole and kicked, trying to get the thing off me, but its grip was like iron, and it started pulling me back with ease.

Just as I was being dragged away from the hole, a hand burst out of the water and grabbed mine. I screamed on impulse, and even the creature stopped dragging me when it saw something coming into the cave. Felice took advantage of the moment and used my foot to deliver a swift kick to the creature's face again, finally making it let go.

I scrambled towards the hole and grabbed the familiar-looking hand, and clutched it tight as the person pulled themselves out of the hole, a person I had been looking forward to seeing.

"Rhys!" I yelled as the orc pulled herself out of the hole with a little help from me. Rhys got to her feet and immediately threw her arms around me.

Unfortunately, the happy reunion only lasted for a second. Rhys suddenly pushed me to the side, just as the creature pounced her, bringing the two of them to the cave floor.