Survival: Fight or Flight

5th Hour: The Yellow Door 2

04:00 - 05:00 GMT

04:16 GMT ...

The fire-lizard roared, sending wave after wave of vibrations throughout the room. My hands shot to my ears and covered them. Still, the scream was piercing. And it was long, lasting almost ten seconds. In those ten seconds, as I clamped my palms over my ears in an attempt to shut out the blood-curling scream, I couldn't even think of any possible escape route. I felt the slight heat emanating from the beast that stood before me.

Then the roar ended. Slowly, almost methodically, the fire-lizard began to turn around, as if it knew that it had me this time, so it could take its sweet time with me. My mind snapped into place. I needed to get out of there! But how? The beast stood right next to the only exit available. What could I do? How would I get myself out of this? The lizard was clumsy, but there wasn't much I could do in this cramped room to take advantage of that.

But before that, I had to activate the switch. The fire-lizard faced me now. It took me a few moments to find the switch again, since I had been forced to take my hand off it to protect my ears. The creature stepped toward me, vibrating the ground ever so slightly with each step. My palm found the switch. My body tensed suddenly. The beast came closer, its steps slow and heavy.

Thump…

My mind screamed, run!

Thump…

But I had to activate that switch. I pushed on it, shakily, at the same time breaking into a sudden sweat. If the fire-lizard suddenly decided to pounce, I'd be dead. There would be no time to dodge, not in my current kneeling position, not in that vulnerable pose. I met with resistance as I pushed on the switch - I needed to pour more strength into it. My other palm went on top of the hand that was already trying to activate the switch, sweaty and trembling with fear. The fire-lizard was right on top of me now. Well, almost. Just a couple more steps and I'd be inhaling its fiery aura.

I pressed harder; the resistance in the switch was strong. The beast meanwhile, had lifted one clawed limb.  I knew I had to run. I had to! But it would be pointless if I let go of the switch. My heart hit my chest violently. The claws came down in a flash.

And then, as I'd previously experienced with a similar beastly encounter, time sped up.

The blur of events happened too fast for my mind to process, and it was when I found myself lying sideways on the ground, close to the broken down door, that I realised that my body had moved on its own. The fire-lizard stood where I had been only a few moments ago. Its limb seemed to be frozen mid-strike. In those few moments as I stared at it, the events came back to me.

Right before the beast had attacked, I had heard a distinctive click! The switch had finally been activated, and it was locked in place. At the exact same time, the clawed fiery paw of the beast had come crashing down. I'd almost felt the painful impact before it would have connected. But a split second later, I clearly remembered the speed of the striking blow considerably slowing down. At the time, my mind had shut down for my body to take over, which allowed me to twist around just enough to avoid being sliced open by those claws. The paw itself had impacted though, and that was what had sent me flying right into the wall on the other side, and then sliding to a halt right next to the door.

The memory revived the pain. Searing pain which shot through both shoulders and my lower back, and also in my head, where I must have hit it multiple times before ending up here.

But the trapdoor was unlocked now. I was sure of it. I tried to pick myself of the ground, and my head spun in response. My vision blurred slightly for a moment. The fire-lizard suddenly snorted, and started to move again, swinging its tail in that beautiful way. It looked like the switch's activation had frozen it for a few moments - to allow for an escaping chance? So this game had some amount of fairness after all.