Ignoring the pain worked for a while but something interrupted my peace once again. This time even if I was prepared to be disturbed, my body seemed to know that this wasn’t the thing I was expecting. My body shot upright, grabbing one of the roots above my head, allowing me to use the extra grip for the explosive speed I would soon need to reach. Adrenaline flushed the pain out of my system and I was completely awake. The soft sound of a sticks cracking seemed to have just registered in my head. Normally I wouldn’t be able to pick the alarming sound out of the overwhelming pattering of the rain. Noticing or not noticing meant a difference between life and death. Naturally, my ears became very sensitive under the pressure of death, and so was my body.

On instinct, my body knew that something was outside before my mind even thought of the possibility. My brain finally caught up and figured that it wasn’t just something. Animals wouldn’t be out at night or make that much sound.

“Not now.” I thought. Please just not now.

The evidence was right in front of me. I just hoped that I was wrong. I hoped that maybe this time my body lied. That it was creating illusions to keep me on edge. Something I hoped before every run. So I waited, I couldn't just run out. The chances are that the monster would move the second it heard the sound. I had to wait till it attacked in the hopes of not running straight into it. Every second seemed to be stretched, the rain muted. My focus reached its peak.

The monster didn’t disappoint. A very light scratch sounded on my right and I was out. Before I knew, I already masterfully weaved through the roots. A nightmarish screech sounded behind me, rattling my ears but unable to make me lose my footing.

The monster followed and I could feel it shifting its weight on one leg and then the other, repeating in rapid succession. The thumps echoed in my chest, making my legs all the more eager to move faster than they already were. I didn’t even have to look behind me, the monster is big. I’m not even sure if the route I picked would have big enough trees to even slow it down.

The loud sounds of wood being torn apart reached my ears. Only confirming my fear. Recreating the symphony of my nightmares. Familiar scenes flooding my mind. I could do nothing else but run.

It wasn’t far until the next hideout. I just had to reach it quicker than the monster. But the monster was catching up. Somehow being quicker than me while weighing hundreds of times my weight. My surroundings seemed to blur and my breathing became so quick that it stopped having a clear line between air going in and out. There seemed to not be enough oxygen in the air for me to breathe. I could not keep this up for long, especially with my wounds. Adrenaline could carry me only so far. Luckily the route didn’t have many twists and turns, and I had filled the road with small rocks that I carried from the river banks, preventing me from slipping. I had even just recently practiced this exact route and was confident that I could keep running at this speed without making mistakes.

Everything started to blend together. My mind is probably starting to feel the consequences of having less fresh air pumped into it. Sound, smell, and touch became one foggy mess that was only pierced by my sharp focus on the route. Every single part of my brain was keeping track of every little detail on the narrow road. Not by sight but by memories. Keeping track of exactly how far I ran and when I would need to make slight turns.

I almost reached it, I knew I was close. Just a couple…. *crack* I slammed in the entrance. Breaking at least one bone in my right shoulder. I hadn’t expected to miss it. I never misjudged distances, I made sure I wouldn’t. Confused and dazed, I quickly retried to enter the cave. But I was too late. I felt something coil around my left arm and something shocked me, it wasn’t the monster. It wasn’t the cold hard fear it brought when it neared me nor was it the cold shudders rippling through my body when it touched me, maybe it was just the cold fear but I wouldn’t know when I was running outside in the rain at night almost naked.

It felt just like a light tingle, maybe even a small static shock. But it contained so much energy that it pretty much primed me to explode forward. To get as far away as I can no matter the cost. It wasn’t like any other time I was almost caught in the maws of some of the monsters when claws narrowly missed my neck. This time I felt caught, I felt confined, tied to one fate. Everything in me and more started urging me to move.

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If I were at any time right there even remotely close to thinking rationally I would’ve found the overbearing feeling very unusual. But right now, when my body was screaming so many different loud things at me, that It didn't occur to me that more was going on. The sudden roar that seemed to come from my body and the monster at the same time overpowered every other feeling I had at this moment. It replaced every other thought in my head. The urge was so loud that it felt like it would’ve deafened me permanently in mind and body. But its message was clear; I wasn’t done running.

Every not yet fully destroyed muscle in my body starting pulling till they tore. The stone started sinking in my feet. But I did not care. I just continued completely tearing my feet apart in the process of just trying to find the grip I needed to fuel more speed. I ignored the shattered bone of my shoulder when I used my arm as some sort of elastic rope that I anchored to the opposite exit of the small crevice.

My hands which normally would be too wet to find any gip were getting pierced by the many pointed rocks on the edge of the crevice. The rocks pierced so deep in my hands that must’ve found extra grip on my now bare bones. Wounds, pain, and any form of stopping left my dictionary at that point. Actually, most words had left my dictionary at that point. There was just move, die, and live. Which at that time, those three were the only things that mattered to me.

I must’ve started screaming around that point. Like an engine that roared when it pumped out a bit more power than it was used to. Fueling just that bit more speed. The monster's tentacle that felt like a noose on my neck started that started choking me. My mind was beyond the point of being terrified, unable to feel anything other than the massive need to move.

I poured everything I had into my muscles and when everything was empty I started burning the rest. Even if I broke my entire body just to last just one second longer I would’ve gladly sacrificed everything right then. But even if I sold my soul, the law of friction can’t be broken and my blood started getting the ground nice and wet. I suddenly lost my grip and slipped. Which put my body through another shock and prompted my body to do the only thing it could think of. Regain the lost grip.

My body acted on instinct, doing anything in its power to slow down the incoming death. It happened too fast for me to react. When I slipped I threw my back in the wall. Extinguishing my chances of ever being able to lay down on my back. Stones started eating at my flesh like they were serrated spoons held by gluttonous demons devouring a delicious meal. Eating the bones bare. My half bled out, and adrenaline-filled me was suddenly pierced by a burning blade of pain. Clearly cutting through all the pain-numbing chemicals in my brain. Leaving absolute agony in its wake. I didn’t immediately slow down. The monster slowly dragged me another agonizing 50 centimeters of pure hell across the wall before I finally stopped.

If I wasn’t screaming before I definitely was now. The monster noticed that the prey had just avoided imminent death. As if angry It tightened its grip and started crushing my arm. I did not notice, my back was literally killing me, I was not able to process anything other than the pain on my back. Streams of blood gushed from the wounds the jagged wall had left on my back. Rain and flesh coalescing down into a puddle of mud.

The monster must have felt enraged with me ignoring it. It started pulling even harder and my screams became even louder. Stones were scratching my bones and my mind was being scorched with pain. The sounds created a disgustingly terrifying symphony of screaming, growling, cracking, and… tearing.

My skin was unable to take the strain on my shoulder and started to literally tear apart, creating bloody tear patterns on my arm. The echoes of my torment and the cave would make this something I would dream about for the rest of my life.

Then the monster squished… really hard. I stopped screaming. My brain was unable to handle all the input. A very loud crunch sounded and every bone in my arm shattered. I continued pulling almost subconsciously. The shattered bones in my arm were like knives cutting my arm from the inside out. It did not take long... seconds maybe. But my shoulder joint eventually gave out and my entire right arm got ripped off. This time I really screamed not the usual one with sound and air. No, this one was of pure agony. A scream that though completely silent managed to convey all the pain I felt at this moment.

I sailed through the air carrying the energy I kept when I lost resistance. Finally free from the iron grip only to land on the stump that was left of my arm. My throat had torn from all the screaming and was now starting to fill with blood. It went so quickly that my mind was unable to process what just happened in the last 30 seconds. I just gurgled and laid spasming on the ground.

Somewhere deep in my mind, I noticed that I was dying. Slowly bleeding to death. My body started shutting down. If I did not do anything right now, this would be it. I knew that there were just a few leaves on the corner of the cave, about just 3 meters away. It was the only thing that had even the smallest chance of being able to save me. If my mind wasn’t dying, I would have known that I would die for sure no matter what I did. I would’ve given up.

Yet I thought that there was no other option than to move to the leaves. I did not even bother to stand up. But o boy, if there is one choice I regret it is the very next decision I made. I rolled over all the wounds on my back, agonizingly slow. Pushing myself onto my left with my legs. My muscles eventually just stopped responding. Plopping on my back, I screamed. But I couldn’t leave so I just laid there, gasping for air. I could not even try and be sad, that I would die. It was too late for that.

Suddenly things started moving, vibrating… exploding? I moved… everything moved? There was loud noise... A roar and I started falling. Rocks fell, I fell… down. Then I hit something, a splash, and before I knew, I was submerged in liquid. I started burning. The second I noticed was the second my body finally gave in and my mind promptly blacked out.