Claustrophobia

Chapter 3

Though I did not know Vladislav very long,only a day in fact,his sudden and brutal death shocked me beyond words.Though,of course I am trying to explain it with words.He was the last light in the cave,and he was extinguished.And now I am left in the dark.

But only figuratively speaking,because,of course,I have a flashlight,which might die at any moment.

I found myself thinking back to my best friend Nikolai.I was wishing he was with me too,but then I thought about it,and decided it would be better if only one of us were here.I wouldn't want to wish this upon him.

A bright flash of light illuminated the cave,miners were chipping away at veins of some kind of silvery metal,there were lamps everywhere.I was so relieved,finally,out of the dark.

I didn't even stop to question how the miners were here,how it had suddenly got so bright.Strange screams echoed through the small,claustrophobic tunnels.Suddenly radio static broke the silence,that's strange,but someone was screaming,and now there is nothing but radio static.I must be losing my mind.

It was dark again,there were no miners,there were no lamps,only the deep,deep dark.And the small circle of my flashlight,which only revealed more cave.More empty,cave.I need to stop thinking like this.If I keep this up,I'll go insane.I need to stop emphasising the horrible aspects of everything.

The radio static started up again,I didn't even realise it had stopped before."We nee-" Static."OH GOD!" Static.

I can't think of anyone who would send a transmission at this time except for the military.I think the battle's still raging on the surface,while I battle with the rising tide of insanity.

That brings me to the question of "How long have I been here?" I say aloud.

I hear something shatter in the distance.I spin around,there is nothing behind me,it must have come from in front.I go back to walking forward,this time extremely cautious.I am aiming down the iron sights of my rifle.

I keep going forward,hundreds of small pieces of ceramic litter the floor,did a vase drop?If so,from where did it come from?I hear a scratching sound.I keep edging forward,eventually my flashlight shines on what seems to be a skeleton splayed out on the cave floor.

My flashlight cuts out.

No.No.No.No.Nono.Nonononono,this can't be.I pray for it to come back on again.No such luck.Damn it.Why did this have to happen now?

There is an almost silent whisper coming from somewhere in front of me.A small light appears.It's shining down on a table with some kind of paper on it.I examine the ceiling,trying to deduce where the light is coming from,but it seems to be coming from nowhere.

I walk up to the table,there is a huge arrow painted with some kind of black paint,and writing scrawled next to it,however it's really small,so it's hard to discern what it says,but after a few seconds of squinting,I realised it said "this way".

I decide the follow the direction it is pointing,since it is the only way to go. I go around the table,and keep going forward.The light cuts out behind me,once again in complete darkness.

Once again the sound of radio static gradually rises,until I can hear nothing else.Then some garbled speech comes from the radio.Perhaps I should get rid of it.. The static cuts out.I hear a roar.Another demon like creature leaps for my face.Specks of foam fall from its mouth.Teeth bared.

I bring up my rifle,so that the barrel is pointing right at its snout.My finger curls around the trigger.It lands on me,knocking me to the ground.I squeeze the trigger,and it goes over its head.It snarls and tries to rip the flesh off my bones,I shove the monster to the side,but it is too dark to see anything.I jump up and run forward,run like I have never ran before.Furious barks echo behind me.

I can hear claws scampering along on the ground.

If fear is a natural survival instinct,then what is courage?Is it a birth defect?To be able to not fear something that could hurt you?Or is it a form of stupidity?Could a man who puts a black widow on his hand be called courageous,but also stupid?To put yourself in a harmful situation like that,is it really courage or just stupidity?If someone were courageous,could you also be called stupid?No matter what the situation?Is everyone who is celebrated for courage basically celebrated for stupidity?Is that not what it basically is?

What about selflessness?Is it just stupidity too?Or is it seeing the bigger picture?Sacrificing what you have for others' survival.One of you is surviving,just not the selfless one.Or is it stupidity,just manifested in a different form,what if what you sacrifice is wasted,and both of you die,wouldn't that be even more stupid than just one dying?Indeed it would.

I am not sure what possessed me to do it,but I turned around,firing six rounds behind me,the gun kicked in my arms.Every.Single.One.Missed.

I started running again.

That was courage,and for what?It was all wasted,it was all just stupidity,to survive,humans NEED to fear,because without fear,they are stupid,without fear,they die.

Further ahead,there is a red light blinking on the ceiling.I try running even faster,my life depended on it,I ran as fast I could at the moment.There was a small hole I stepped into,I stumbled.I fell.I get up,and  try to run again as swiftly as I can,but I am just after hurting myself.And I am not exactly the fittest person.The red light is in a doorway,there is a switch on the wall.

There is what seems to be an open door painted at the top of the switch,and a complete mess below it.The paint must have been rubbed around too much while it was wet.I flick the switch up.Nothing happens.I flick it down and back up.Nothing happens.I start flicking it up and down frantically as the creature is getting closer.

It leaps for me.I freeze in place.The door slides closed and crushes the dog like monster's stomach.It pops,blood splatters me.The demon got cut in half by the door.But it is still moving.Its paws are desperately scrabbling along the ground.Trying to get to me,it smears blood on the floor in its path,but it falls down.It looks too weak to continue.

I touch it with the toe of my boot.It suddenly snaps back to life,and tries to bite my boot.This startled me so much I fell on the ground.I then realised it was at a disadvantage.It couldn't get closer,so it had to pretend to be dead.But I,however had a long rifle.

I brought it up into the air.And brought it down on its head and split it open.The dog surely couldn't survive that,but I had to be sure.I brought up my foot and brought it down on the head of the dog.My boot now stank of brains.That must have killed the dog.

Now that I was satisfied that it was dead,I examined my surroundings,it seemed like some kind of bunker entrance.The walls,floor and ceiling were all made of concrete.The door looked like steel.I knocked on it.Sounded like steel too.And on the other side was another door,however,this time with a handle.There was no glass or grille to look through,so to know what was on the other side,I had to open it.And I didn't feel like exploring outside the bunker because I had no batteries for my flashlight.

I clenched the door handle in my hand,and opened it.At that moment,my radio once again burst into static,then an incoherent stream of garbled words.Then "Leave......" and the garbled words continued."Now...." And the radio cut out altogether.

But I was convinced that the cave was worse,I was wrong.Very wrong.