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A Perilous End

We run, or at least we try to run. Have you ever been in those three legged races where they tie you to someone else and you have to run as a pair, well we're kind of doing that. Sam and I try to sync up as we hop run down the tunnel.

There's a thud behind us from the creature dropping to the ground. We've got a good head start on it, we can make it out before it catches up. The screech comes again from behind us, but we keep going.

Neither of us is speaking, but we share a heavy breath as we run. We pass the first intersection where I initially found the creature, we're almost at the main tunnel, we're going to make it, and then a third screech comes from the creature.

This time however it's joined by another screech. I turn my head and see another one of these monsters barreling down the tunnel to our left, it's closer than the other creature and is gaining on us quickly.

"Get on my back", I don't wait to ask for permission, I bend over slightly while trying to keep moving and boost Sam up onto my back. "Hold on,"

I'm faster with Sam on my back, I actually hardly feel anything at this point. I'm able to outrun the creatures for now. We get to the main tunnel that leads out and I sprint. I don't know if I've ever run this quickly. I can't see, not because it's too dark, but because flashes of people and events consume my mind as I run. My parents, my sister, my friends from school, my dog, people I haven't thought about in years, childhood friends, people I want to talk to again, those I feel guilty that I haven't reached out to in years. I miss them all, I know tears should be coming down my face, but I can't tell if they are.

Then there are moments, insignificant moments. Me on the bus coming home from school, I remember I packed myself a sandwich for the bus, a peanut butter and jam sandwich, I put my phone down and watched the trees whiz by as I ate. Another one, of me sitting in my room during my first exam period. I was crying at that point too, stressed from the pressure, I was biting my nails to nubs. I didn't know if I could finish what I started, but I did.

There are other moments too, remembering my first piano recital, the smile on my parents faces when I was done even through all the mistakes. I felt like I really accomplished something, but that was years ago. Then there's the last time I saw my grandmother. We were gathered around her in the hospital, we knew what was going to happen, but it's sad to say goodbye to someone you love regardless. I still remember what was playing on the TV the last time I saw her, and then there was nothing.

Thoughts flash in my mind, too many to remember, I start to feel a burn in my legs as I run, the lactic acid must be starting to build up. I don't know how much further I need to go, the screeches are still coming from behind me, but they seem so muted, like I'm listening to them through water.

I only snap back to reality when my head starts to scratch the ceiling, shit they've caught up. I look behind me, but the creatures aren't close enough to see yet, I guess they're not that fast, but what was that.

Then I remember, "SAM, we're almost there!!", shit I'm not going to be able to carry Sam all the way he's going to need to crawl with me. "Sam I'm going to have to drop you soon, we need to crawl, this tunnel gets shorter and wider, but it leads out to the world."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine, drop me now, I've been checking, I haven't seen those things in a bit, we're way faster than them!"

I run until I can't carry Sam anymore and then drop him so I can crouch and start to move forward as well.

"Sam just keep going, we'll start crawling, we're almost out"

"Don't worry, I'm right behind you, we're going to make it!", I keep moving forward, thinking Sam is right behind me, but I don't feel him anymore.

"I think I can see the light out there Sam, we're so close." I don't get an answer from Sam. There's a gurgle behind me. I look back.

Sam's standing behind me in the part of the tunnel that is mostly tall enough for us to stand.

"Sam, what's going on?", what I don't see until I hear it is the second creature drop from the ceiling of the cavern about 50 meters away from Sam.

"SAM RUN!"

He doesn't speak, but his eyes are wide, he waves his hands, gesturing for me to keep going. It's not until his feet are lifted off the ground slightly that the creature's claw protrudes from the front of his chest. I didn't see the other creature behind him, it must have dropped from the ceiling as well. Sam tries to talk again, he manages to make a noise, but then comes blood. A spray of blood coughed out of his mouth, dripping down his face.

No. I can't process this. We were out. I start to move back towards Sam, maybe I can save him still. I've been frozen in place for too long, as I reach my arm out to go back to him the other creature catches up. Before I know it I watch the creature tear into Sam's neck.

The creature yanks its head back with a chunk of Sam in its mouth, I see muscles and tendons from his neck and shoulder rip out of his body. Sam's eyes are closed now. I can't save him. I run.

Well if you can call it a run. I'm crawling on my hands and knees as the tunnel continues to shorten. I can hear the creatures behind me. They're not giving chase the same anymore. I hear noise I wish I could forget, but that doesn't mean they're gone.

Soon after I scamper away I hear them in pursuit again. This time I can see the exit more clearly, there is sun streaming through the opening in the wall. I push myself, I'm bleeding I think. I don't know. My hands and legs are warm, I don't feel the rocks digging into my skin anymore, but I do hear the creatures.

This is their environment, their freaky long limbs make this crevice easy to travel through. I know they're catching me this time. I can hear them, smell them, feel their heavy breath on my legs, and then I feel warmth.

I burst from the tunnel, sun hitting my bare back. A feeling of ecstasy as heat pours into my body. Scrambling backwards I look at the tunnel entrance. The creatures have stopped. Faces covered in blood, their milky eyes, piercing my soul, waiting for me to come back.

This time I don't go back, there's nothing left there, so I get up and run. I run along the sloped pathway, winding all the way to the top of this open air mine. I run until the air smells normal, until the shrubbery turns back into forest, until my legs give out.

I sit and wait. I don't know what I'm waiting for. Maybe they'll catch up to me, maybe this is all a cruel joke, maybe I won't live after all, but there's nothing. No noise, but the chirp of birds, no movement other than the breeze in the leaves.

Why didn't they come, why didn't they follow? Could it really only be the sun. How is it that easy.

Finally, I pull out my phone. I call the police. Don't move, they say, someone is coming. My phone dies before the call ends.

All I can do is stare and wait. The numbness doesn't go away, not when I'm sitting waiting, not when they find me, not when I'm even in the ambulance.

Maybe if it had I would have felt the pain in the back of my leg. The three parallel gashes like the claw marks of an animal.