Chapter 7 *Crunch*

*Doom*

'What is this feeling?'

'It feels familiar...'

'It feels like... Home?'

'But then, why does home feel so uncomfortable?'

'Why would home make me feel like I was looking into an empty void, where I was but a speck in the infinite cosmos, floating around without any weight... Any meaning... Any help.'

'I loved my home...'

'I had everything, didn't I?'

*DOOM*

'Then why do I associate this feeling of dread with it?

"Have you already forgotten?" A voice, that seemed to have been manufactured out of the vocal cords of a million people.

It was as if someone had tried to create a sound that sounded like a person's voice without having heard one.

As if the voice had been created from the unintellectual ramblings of a mad man trying to explain what a voice was to a deaf vocalist.

I widened my eyes slightly, yet it was only then that the barrage of feelings... The dreaded emotions... The terror of dying... The pains and sufferings I had to bear for my survival...

Yet at the same time, I knew that or at least felt like my current emotions were meaningless.

What is the point of crying when everything you would have cried for is now dead? What is the point of wailing if there is nothing left to wail for? I am alone in this... I am the lone survivor yet I dare complain about the pain that I had been struck with?

There are so many others who had died, those who were much better than me... Those who would have sacrificed their entire lives to save a single innocent child without regret...

So why would I complain when I know that they are much worse off than me?

The only thing I can do is survive.

Survive even if it means I have to injure, kill or destroy everything in my way.

That is my fate after all.

"Survive," I muttered before finally opening my eyes, finding myself in a puddle of my own sweat...

My eyes slowly drifted to the entrance of the tunnel where the gleaming light of the dawning sun pierced through the small cracks in the cave, entering it and leaving behind a beautiful array of lights.

The entrance also had a bit of light shining through it, yet due to the position of the cave that did not correlate with the current position of the sun, the change in visibility had barely changed.

"To think I slept for almost an entire day." I chuckled to myself, yet that chuckle was more forced than I would like to admit.

When I had finally gotten up to a sitting position, I began to look around the cave to see any resemblance of life having been inhabiting this place before me.

Analyzing the area, I could not help but notice the scratch marks on the sides of the tunnels, the remnants of fur... But, it was not any kind of fur. This first was white, yet at the same time, it was bloodied and almost tattered?

*DOOM*

It was when the feeling of dread finally returned to me that I realized where I was.

'This feeling... It is the same as the one I felt before...' I could not finish the sentence even though I was saying it in my mind, yet I knew exactly what I meant by it.

'I need to leave'

Without skipping a beat, I immediately began to sprint to the entrance, but I had instantly halted my movements as a realization hit me.

'If something is coming, why the hell would I try to leave through the entrance?'

*Thump* *Thump*

The loud yet at the same time, strangely muted sounds of footsteps reverberated throughout the area, a sound that caused the large burds in the distance to flee without hesitation, while other animals found shelter under large objects such as trees, holes in the ground, and even lakes nearby.

'Sh*t!' Without thinking twice, I ran towards the other end of the cave where I had seen cracks in the walls which I could only hope would have been large enough for me to fit through.

*Thump* *Thump*

Its footsteps were getting closer...

The dreaded feeling was now overcoming me like no other.

I could feel it...

It was imminent death standing barely a few dozen meters away from me.

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Looking up, I saw that the crack would have probably been big enough for me to fit through if I were to squeeze myself in, but there was one problem that I had to face before reaching it.

It was too far away.

My heart was now racing, pumping adrenaline throughout my entire body.

If I were to fail this task, it would mean the end for me.

Not daring to look back at the monstrosity that was about to enter its cave, the same cave I had accidentally infiltrated, I quickly jumped towards the edge of one rock before swiftly catapulting myself to the other.

*Thump Thump* *Thump Thump*

That was no longer the sound of the footsteps getting closer. That was the sound of my heart beating loudly like a drum.

In the split second where I had jumped, my hand had moved with lighting reflex and had gripped onto the thin ledge.

*ROAR!*

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

I could hear the thing get closer...

My heart was now beating loudly, to the point where it had almost deafened my ears from the skin-crawling roar that the thing had released.

I still did not know what it was, but that only made the experience more terrifying.

My fingers were growing numb by the second, but that did not stop me from exerting all my strength to pull myself up.

*Thump*

It was getting closer.

I could feel the power behind every single step.

*Thump*

Exerting the last bit of power within me, I made a final pull that threw me up and towards the crack in the upper walls of the cave.

*Thump*

The reverberating sounds of its footsteps had only sent more and more shivers down my spine.

I could feel death getting closer and closer with every one of its steps.

My arms from the elbow down were now practically numb, after all, I was not a mountain climber or anything.

I was, and still am just a normal man, with a normal goal that had been thrown into something beyond the scope of my imagination.

I had told myself that the pull was the last thing I had to do, but once again I had found myself telling myself the same lie.

'One more push'

Lunging myself toward the crack, I found myself barely fitting inside it, but it seemed like I had done enough to survive.

The keyword in this sentence being 'seemed'.

*Crunch*

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