Greed | Norton Campell

Vendetta

An anxious feeling crept up your throat, depriving you of any will to form a sentence. It's too dark... I can't see anything.. You turned your back to the boulder, hesitant on making your way back. The temperature had dropped significantly. You crossed your arms, rubbing them to at least get some sort of warmth. Your pace was slow, as if trying not to make any sound to alert whatever was in the mine with you.

A sharp pain arose from your chest. "Claude!" You wanted to yell, but nothing came out. Instead it was a light whisper that anyone would barely hear. You stood in the very middle of the cave, coming to a realization. Ah, there's a ladder here somewhere, right?  You slowly made your way down the sloped minecart entrance. You glanced around, being able to see very little but still catching the entrance which had the ladder. A glimpse of a dim light shone down from it. You rushed over, hope settling in.

To your surprise, it led to the outside. You raised your arm, gripping the highest part of the ladder you could reach. You slowly made your way up. Wait, why is it nighttime? Most importantly... This place looks... abandoned? Still uncertain if you were alone, you pondered. What about Claude? You looked down just as you were about to make it over the ladder. Your eyes dilated in confusion. Your lip twitched. Should I go back for him..? If he were in my shoes, Claude wouldn't leave me behind.

You looked back up, unsure on what to do. "He told me to just run. But, what exactly happened to him? I'm not exactly in the position to be doing anything, either." Your sprained ankle was still bothering you, running made the pain significantly worse.

Lost in thought, you stayed on the ladder in utter confusion. "Were we underground for that long? But I swear it's only bee-" You turned your head around, tilting it down towards the cave again. Your eyes widened in fear. A scream escaped your lips. A pickaxe went flying towards you. Your grip on the ladder vanished, as you went crashing back down. The pickaxe landed directly in a crack on the wall, causing rubble to start falling. Dirt lingered in the air, making it difficult to breathe. "Ah...." You winced, feeling a surge of pain all throughout your leg. Reaching up to cover your nose, your hand had slid against a piece of wood that scratched you. Feeling the warmth that radiated from a fresh wound, you grabbed the piece. Where'd this come from? Coughing, you looked up at the ladder. The piece of wood had been from one of the steps of the ladder, as only half of it remained.

Did that... Pickaxe break the ladder? "Claude..?" Slowly but surely, you got back up trying your best to ignore the pain surging from your leg. The cave was silent. This time, there was really no escape. Then you heard it. Staggered steps shuffled their way towards you. "Answer me!" Whatever was there, wasn't calling your bluff at all. It's like... It knew you were weak. To put it simply, like there was nothing you could do. You backed up slowly, fighting the worry that was getting ahold of you.

You heard a slight ringing noise coming from behind. Right as you went to look, the pickaxe went flying back to wherever it came from. Terrified by the sight, you covered your face as your back hit the wall of the cave. The staggered pair of shoes stopped. With ragged breaths, you uncovered your face and looked. You knew it was there. Whatever it was, it was seemingly look down at you. You felt it's presence. You couldn't see it due to the darkness, but it was as clear as day that you were being watched. 

Silence.

"Are you going to kill me, or not?", you spoke sternly. Nothing. You grew annoyed at the silence. "So what? You're just going to stand there? Is that really all you came to do? Huh?" The silence from it was mocking in a way. To be frank, it also made you mad. "What did you do with Claude?" You asked, knowing well this isn't something Claude would do.