Thunder bellowed into the cavern. Bats shrilled in surprise at the roaring thunder and flew around in a frenzy at the harsh illumination of lightning. The pouring rain bucketed down onto the entrance of the cavern. The frail, shivering man clutched his overcoat tighter, and snuggled himself deeper into the cavern. His makeshift campfire had long been extinguished by the first touch of rain, and he had no dry firewood left. The rain poured down harder, its cold, lifeless touch rhythmically pounding onto the man’s skinny figure. He tried to head deeper into the cavern to avoid the rain, yet his fear of the dark and the unknown stopped him from going too deep.

As the thunderstorm grew stronger by the minute, more and more bats flew intermittently around him. He dug his head deeper into his chest, hoping the bats wouldn’t get hungry while he was cooped up in the cavern. Bloodsucking vampires was the last thing he needed in his predicament. He squinted his eyes and turned his head towards the mouth of the cavern; the rain seemed like it was going to continue forever. His breathing warm and body cold, he held onto his body as tight as he could, but the icy claws of rain and death were wrapped around him. Death seemed to have the man within its worldly grasp.

A familiar creaking sound could be heard from the outside. Despite his inquisitive nature, the dying man could not help but stay in his current position, with only his eyes to look at what was going on. But before he could comprehend anything, the cavern turned darker than before.

Bang! A large tree rolled down the cliffside and landed right on the cavern. The reverberating sound made the already-rampant bats even more rambunctious than before. The tree’s dying branches rolled into the cavern, scraping the man’s ramshackled body. His eyes, however, were fixated on the tree and the debris it had brought in. Within the piles and piles of dirt and mud, the remaining moonlight shone onto his only hope of survival.

His body reinvigorated, the frail yet energetic man held himself against the cavern’s walls and got to his feet. He was shaking, yet his eyes were full of determination. With every step he took closer to the tree, the rain’s cold grip tightened around him. His breathing unsteady and body temperature dropping, most would think that he was about to enter death’s gate. Yet, his soul had yet to give up.

Determinedly, he managed to drag himself to the remnants of the fallen tree. He got on his knees and dug through the dirt and mud. Voila! He held his prized treasure up against the moonlight. A single dirt-smeared apple. Its vibrant red hue was stained brown, yet it shone brighter than anything else he’d ever seen. He rummaged through his rucksack and whipped out a handkerchief and his pocketknife. Gently, he wiped the dirt off his prized possession, and brandished his knife, ready to peel the bacteria-ridden skin off the apple.

Without warning, the cavern shook violently. The cheerful man fell onto the floor, his apple rolling away from him into the deep dark unknowns of the cavern. The man frantically got on his feet and attempted to chase after his runaway apple, but further rumblings swept him off his feet.

His face planted firmly into the ground, the dejected man now fell limp. He heaved the loudest sigh of anger he could muster. The world was silent before his chaotic mind. A flurry of thoughts ran through his mind, and all he could feel was the woes of a distressed, desperate man. A flurry of thoughts ran through his mind, and immense anger made him bloody his hand against the cavern floor. A flurry of thoughts ran through his mind; yet no more thoughts raged prominently in his mind. He had gone unusually quiet and calm.

All hope was lost. The man didn’t have the will to struggle anymore. If life were a race, his was filled with mortal danger and insurmountable obstacles. No ordinary human would ever stand a chance at survival in such a thunderstorm, after all. Especially so without rations. His strained hands which had held on so tightly to his fragile mortality against the tides of fate, had now let go willingly. Relief flooded the peaceful man’s body, and he drifted off to sleep amidst the pouring rain.

“Wake up, honey. We’re going to miss the sunset!”

The young man drowsily opened his eyes. He turned to his left, and saw a beautiful young lady, dolled up in a sundress. His once-sleepy eyes were now wide awake with the beauty in his eyes.

He got out of the car and went over to the other side. He grabbed his fiancé’s hand and escorted her out the car. There were a lot of other tourists around them as well, but all he could really see was the woman he loved. He leaned in for a kiss, which she happily obliged to.  They gently intertwined fingers and went to explore the most anticipated stop of the honeymoon – Horseshoe Bay.

He had saved up much of his salaries over the past few years for their much-anticipated honeymoon. He had economised and budgeted, toiled hard without a moment’s rest, all for this day. All for the day he could watch the brilliant sunset of Horseshoe Bay, with his beloved in hand. He watched as his fiancé gasped and gleefully snapped photos of the sunset. With every minute passing, the sun dyed the sky in many colours – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Almost – wait no – exactly just like a rainbow indeed. Yet, he was not interested in that breath-taking phenomenon.

His eyes were laid upon his fiancé. Her facial expressions, hand gestures, and the little smirk she does whenever she snaps a beautiful photo, worthy of her Instagram. He smirked to himself and gazed wondrously at her. To him, all the jewels in the world paled in comparison to this one woman. No one special outside of the 7 billion other humans on the world, but to him, she shined brighter than any other jewel on the planet. A somewhat cringy, romantic sentiment. But a sentiment he had, all the same.  

 The rest of the honeymoon was a blur. Faint memories of their plane ride, decked out in first class, feeling classy and rich. Faint memories of their road trip to Horseshoe Bay, their playlists echoing through the car on repeat. Faint memories of them returning to their hotel room, staring at each other lovingly.

The man woke up in a cold yet hot sweat. The morning sun blazed brightly above him, in a not-so-friendly greeting. He squinted his eyes and brought his hands up to his face, shielding himself from the harsh light. His mouth opened wide in a big yawn, and he rolled over to his side to wake his sleeping beauty.

Yet, the only thing that greeted him was darkness, darkness, and more darkness.

Realisation dawned upon the man. He looked around his surroundings frantically, and even slapped and pinched himself to reality. Yet, reality was disappointing.

Instead of his luxury hotel room and fiancé in bed with him, he was stuck in a dark cavern, only slightly lit up by the sunlight. Only the screeching of bats echoed good morning to him, with the occasional bat poop cascading down from the ceiling.

His pupils shrank. He buried his face into his hands, desperately shaking his head. How could nightmares become reality? What did I do to deserve this? His brain was overloaded with thoughts, and he had had enough.

In today’s standard of living, he had lived a good life. Since young, he would listen to his parents’ words of advice and never did anything they forbade him from doing. He was a typical good student in school too; he always studied hard and did not spend much time playing games and sports with his friends. He had been a devout follower of Christianity – always attending the weekly church sessions his parents had brought him to and prayed faithfully to God. He had enrolled into his dream college and managed to land a high-salary job the moment he entered the workforce. He was also faithful to his wife and family, and never a thought of adultery crossed his mind.

Yet, what did his good karma bring him? For all his praying, God never helped him out in his time of despair. One might even say that him surviving the night was an act of cruelty by God, for his suffering was prolonged even further.

Dreary-eyed, the man hauled himself up the fallen tree trunk and looked around the forest glade. The surrounding trees were dripping wet with rainwater from the night before. On the forest floor, fruits and berries were littered across the ground, broken and smashed. The fruits probably got smushed last night, the man thought to himself. Earthworms were crawling their way up from the ground to feast on the fallen fruits, only to be picked up swiftly by a flight of ravenous falcons. A distance away from the worm hunt were a swarm of bees frantically trying to rebuild their destroyed nest; they had probably been a victim of the vicious thunderstorm as well. The man drooled uncontrollably. He left the cavern and ventured out into the forest glade to feast on the salvageable honey, but a hissing honey badger pounced out from the foliage. It batted the bees away and gorged itself on the fallen beehive. The hungry man sat back down despondently. Guess I won’t be having any honey.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The honey badger abruptly stopped ravaging the beehive. Its ears pricked up attentively, and its eyes widened. It scurried off in a hurry, leaving the half-eaten honeycomb behind. The flock of falcons also stopped feasting on the worms and flew away. The man was befuddled. Why did they stop? He thought to himself. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, he soon found out why.

A mass of bloodlust entered the glade. It prowled around menacingly, observing its surroundings. The man’s eyes shrunk in fear. He got to his feet slowly and tried to escape from imminent death.

With his back facing away from the tiger, the man tried his absolute best to get away scot-free. His eyes darted around his surroundings; he was wary of other tigers in the vicinity. The tiger had yet to notice him, and he was almost out of the forest glade. Until…

Crack! The man broke a tree branch on his retreat.

The tiger looked at the direction of the sound. Its eyes marked on the man, it slowly headed towards the man’s direction. The petrified man racked his brain into overtime trying to come up with an escape, but only the most outlandish of ideas remained.

As though he was an Olympic track runner, the man turned tails and sprinted like his life depended on it, because it did. The tiger roared and chased in pursuit.

The desperate man stumbled into the overgrowth, ducking away from low hanging branches and vines. He leaped majestically over exposed tree roots and ran in zigzag. Wow, I might be able to outrun the tiger at this rate. Arrogance was welling up his chest. He turned around, and the tiger was nowhere in sight. Hope started to swell up in his chest. He couldn’t see the tiger, and the cavern was in sight.

With a vicious roar, the tiger pounced out of the foliage with its claws unsheathed. The man screamed in terror. He slammed on the gas and ran faster than he’d ever ran before. Unfortunately, his momentary bout of terror left his eyes averted from his surroundings. The world turned upside down before him. He had tripped.

The terrified man hurriedly got to his feet, but the tiger was within reach. The tiger growled menacingly and circled the injured man. Somehow, the tiger knew that the man was aiming for the cavern, and strategically placed itself in between. The man was shocked, but it soon transformed into despair.

The tiger stared down the man intensely. Its flame-orange pelt basked wondrously in the sunlight; the tiger seemed like a majestic beast of legends. It occasionally growled menacingly and made a step towards the man. Its bloodthirsty hunger was emanating in an almost physical manner. The man flinched in fear and averted his gaze away from the tiger. He tried to back away slowly, but the tiger matched him step for step. Eventually, his nerves got the best of him, and he pelted away in the opposite direction.

Once again, his desperate run through the undergrowth ensued. He swatted away the foliage and pushed through recklessly. He was not going to entertain the idea of being some tiger’s breakfast. He stumbled and fumbled through a mass of exposed roots, but found his footing and continued his great escape.

Yet, the tiger was close by. Instead of opting for an ambush, the tiger decided to compete against the man in a full-on sprint. Every stride the man took, the tiger took two. Eventually, the tiger reached the man’s heels.

The exhausted man yelled desperately at the tiger, but only soft, feeble sounds came out from his mouth. The tiger roared louder and leaped forth, tackling the man to the ground. The man grunted as he hit the floor and tried to struggle away from the tiger’s hold. The tiger’s claws dug deep into the man’s skin, and he could only afford to writhe in pain. He was about to become breakfast.

The man’s eyes were filled with fear. The tiger’s saliva hit him straight in the face. Its mouth was half-open, and the man could see the razor-sharp teeth that were bound to rip into his flesh. The man had now lost all hope – the jaws of death were about to devour him. He closed his eyes and readied himself for his demise.

Zip! …Thud!

“Hey! Are you alright, man?”

The man slowly opened his eyes and looked around. From a distance, a jeep was parked idly in the bushes. A pair of men in green approached him slowly. He turned to his right, and jumped. He was face-to-face with the tiger. He got to his feet and ran over to the two men. Bruised and bloodied, he wept and wept unconsolably, knowing he had somehow survived a brutal night and morning. One of the green men tried his best to console him, while the other went to check on the tiger.

The green man examined the tiger’s body. Gently, he removed the tranquiliser dart, and the tiger grunted.

“Hey Paul, the tiger’s fine. It’s going to wake up soon, though. The tranq doesn’t last that long.”

Paul nodded in agreement and carried the rescued man to the jeep.

“Argh!”

The wounded man leapt from his bed. His heart palpitating, he looked around wildly, wary of incoming danger. Instead, he found himself in a white room, with the odour of medicines and a subtle flowery smell. He caught the attention of a passing nurse. The nurse spoke to another nurse briefly, before attending to him.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the medic centre, sir. Your doctor and rescuers will be arriving shortly. How are you feeling?”

“My wounds hurt, but that’s nothing unexpected. Thank you. Do you kn-”

Knock knock knock.

The wounded man turned his head towards the door. A man in a white lab coat and the two men in green were standing by.

“Sorry for interrupting. I’m Dr. Parks. These two rangers found you in a life-and-death struggle. Thankfully, you didn’t suffer any severe injuries, but you were severely malnourished.”

The man turned his head towards the two men in green.

“Thank you so much for rescuing me. Without you two, I would’ve been that tiger’s breakfast. May I know your names?”

“All in a day’s work. Hikers like you often get stranded during thunderstorms after all. The name’s Paul. My buddy here is James.” Paul extended his hand towards the wounded man, and James followed suit.

The wounded man accepted their handshakes.

“Ahem.” The doctor interrupted them. He stared sternly at Paul and James. The duo nodded their heads and left briefly.

“Now, we didn’t get your name because you didn’t have any identification. Let’s start from there, shall we?” Dr. Parks suggested.

“I’m sorry for my rudeness. I am Bennett. Just Bennett. How long do I have to stay in this hospital?”

“Not long at all, actually. We’ve already stitched up your wounds. You are ready to go now, but…” Dr. Parks examined Bennett’s body, “Because of malnourishment, you will have to stay here for a day. The two wildlife rangers have offered to give you a ride to the airport once you’ve recovered.”

Bennett heaved a sigh of relief. He could go back to the metropolitan again. Back home. Back to his family. He was so relieved, in fact, that he immediately fell back asleep.

A day passed. Bennett had gorged himself full on the hospital food. Although it tasted average, it had been a long time since he had a proper meal. Luckily, he didn’t have to face the medical bills until after he returned home. The wildlife rangers even offered to pay for his flight back, and that they would bill him along with the hospital bill as well. He didn’t have any money, after all.

He got on the jeep with the wildlife rangers, and they entered the forest. He could now properly appreciate the scenery of the forest without fear for his life. The sweet hums of mating birds, the herd of deer basking in the sunlight on a large rock. Even the repetitive tapping of woodpeckers making a nest. He stared out the jeep in appreciation. The firewood in the trunk occasionally clattered, but he didn’t mind at all. From the distance, a tiger roared greatly, as though it was in battle. He shivered at the thought of reliving that moment; he was not lucky enough to survive twice. They passed by a large tree. The soil was cracked beneath it, dry from the warmth of the sun, which was unusual seeing as how heavy the rain was a few days prior. He examined the tree, and with his unprofessional judgement, deemed that the tree would soon collapse. The jeep suddenly stopped, and his train of thought was abruptly cut off.

They were still in the middle of the forest. Why would the wildlife rangers suddenly stop? Paul and James started to unload the trunk. They took out a small, green bag and some firewood.

“Hey, what’s that for?” Bennett gestured towards the bag and firewood.

Paul and James just smiled and carried the items away. Unsatisfied, Bennett looked at the surroundings. A strange sense of nostalgia was rising from his chest, but he didn’t understand why. He followed the ranger duo into a forest glade. A forest glade that was very similar to the one Bennett found himself in before. Eerily similar, in fact. The ranger duo didn’t stop there, however. They marched on past the forest glade and into a different part of the forest.

The further they went into the forest, the more Bennett felt uneasy. It didn’t come to mind why though. The trees around him looked awfully similar. They walked past a fallen beehive. A honeycomb was left mangled a few steps away from the original nest. Bennett was curious and wanted to observe it more, but he was about to be left behind by the rangers, and he quickly caught up.

Their march stopped in front of a cavern. The cavern had slightly caved in. Its roof was cracked, and there was a pile of dishevelled rocks at the entrance. Paul and James entered the cavern without hesitation. Bennett was curious about their destination but didn’t question it. He climbed after them.

The cavern was pitch-dark. Squeaking bats filled the cavern, and a faint dripping noise from underground water could be heard somewhere deeper in the cavern. Paul and James examined the whole cavern, as though they were looking for something. Their eyes both landed at a certain direction, and they promptly walked off in that direction. Bennett could only follow behind.

The ranger duo stopped at a clearing near the cave wall. There were remnants of a campfire nearby, but the duo kicked the wet firewood away. The firewood rolled deeper into the cavern, causing echoing sounds to fill the cavern. Paul motioned to Bennett and handed him the bag. James placed the firewood where the old firewood was before and left it unlit. Bennett was extremely confused.

Paul reached into his vest pocket and took out a syringe filled with unknown liquid. James crept up behind Bennett and held him firmly. Bennett was extremely bewildered.

Paul pricked Bennett’s skin with the syringe and injected him with the unknown liquid. Bennett tried to struggle, but to no avail. He suddenly felt drowsy and ceased struggling against his “rescuers”.

“Goodbye, Bennett. Good luck surviving this round.”

Bennett fell limp in James’ arms. His eyes were half-open, and he stared at the ranger duo in astonishment. He raised his arm in defiance but could not utter a single word. The only thing he remembered was the backs of Paul and James moving further and further away, and a feeling of betrayal and disbelief firm within his chest.