Even though the unknown creature had run away, he wasn’t in a hurry to get out of his hiding spot just yet. He kept staring at the dark opening of the entrance to the cavern. He half-expected the mysterious creature to return at any moment. It didn’t get back, though. Jack listened carefully but couldn’t hear anything. It was so quiet in the cave that the sound of his heart thumping in his chest seemed almost deafening.
Jack decided to wait a few more minutes to give the mysterious creature enough time to get as far from the cavern as possible, before leaving his hiding spot and going to look for the exit. Knowing nothing about the creature and having no weapon, he wasn’t willing to engage the beast. He didn’t know how dangerous it was and what to expect from it. He didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances, so he remained standing still.
After a while, Jack decided it was safe to leave his hiding spot. He was about to do that when a sudden thought came to his mind. What if the monster hadn’t gone anywhere? What if it lingered somewhere near the exit from the cavern, waiting for him to show up? The thought made him nervous.
Was the monster that clever? Was the mysterious animal guided by simple animal instincts or was it highly intelligent? Jack wasn’t sure which one was the case. His first encounter with the creature was very brief. He hadn’t had enough time to properly study the animal. He didn’t even know yet what it looked like, much less its behavior patterns. Still, his gut feeling was that the monster wasn’t capable of pulling such a trick.
Anyway, it was time to act. He took a tentative step forward, separating himself from the cave wall and leaving his comforting hiding spot. As soon as he stepped into the area of the cave that was lit by the glowing mushrooms, he tensed. When he was standing in the darkness at the back wall, he felt safe. Now that he was well-lit, he felt on edge again.
He looked around nervously as if he was afraid that all the creatures in the cave would somehow learn that he’d just left his hiding spot and would attack him. No monster suddenly showed up out of nowhere, though. He was still alone in the cavern and no sound reached his ears. It encouraged him a little bit, and he started to walk to the exit.
He walked slowly, taking care to be as quiet as possible. His gaze was fixed on the dark opening he was approaching. The closer he got to it, the slower he walked. He expected a scary creature with long claws and sharp teeth to jump at him from the darkness at any moment. But it didn’t happen. He reached the dark opening and stopped. He took a deep breath as if he was going to dive into the water. Then he stepped out of the cavern.
He found himself in a wide tunnel that ran a long way forward. Far in the distance could be seen a dot of light. It must have been the exit from the cave. Jack felt the urge to burst into a run toward it. He wanted nothing more than to get out of the cave as soon as possible. However, he fought back the urge. It was too dangerous to rush headlong down the tunnel because he could hardly see anything. Unlike the cavern he’d just left, the tunnel was very dark. There weren’t any glowing mushrooms there. The only light was coming from the cavern behind him, but it reached just a couple of feet into the tunnel. Jack kept staring into the darkness in front of him, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light.
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An idea came to his mind. He could get back into the cavern and pluck one of the glowing mushrooms. However, he decided against it. He didn’t know what would happen if he plucked a glowing mushroom from the ground. Would it still emit light? Or would it go out, turning useless? Besides, he didn’t want to return to the cavern and ruin his night vision. He already could make out some details in the darkness that he hadn’t been able to see a few moments before.
Taking another breath, Jack started to walk. He trod the uneven cave floor slowly and carefully, trying to watch where he stepped and through the tunnel at the same time. His eyes had already adjusted to the dark, but he still couldn’t see all the details. There were plenty of dark spots up ahead that he could identify only when he got near them. They turned out to be rock outcroppings and huge boulders.
At first, Jack walked very slowly so as not to trip over something. After a couple of minutes, he grew more confident and picked up his pace. The dot of light at the end of the tunnel grew bigger as he got closer to it. Jack couldn’t wait to finally get out of the dark cave, so he increased his speed even more. His steps were now causing more noise than before, but it didn’t bother him much, because he was now sure that there was no danger in the tunnel. The creature he’d encountered earlier must’ve left the cave already.
As he learned a moment later, he was dead wrong. When he was halfway down the tunnel, his ears picked up some noise. He froze as soon as he heard it. He recognized the sound. It was the snorting of the mysterious beast. Jack tensed as he stared into the darkness of the tunnel. He couldn’t determine where the sound had come from. A few seconds passed, and the animal snorted again. Jack remained motionless. Despite the chill cave air, large beads of perspiration formed on his forehead and trickled down his face. Afraid to move a muscle, he blinked the sweat away.
Nothing happened in the next several seconds. It was quiet. Jack stared into the darkness in front of him but failed to learn where the snorting sounds were coming from. Farther down the tunnel, he could see a few black spots. He couldn’t tell for certain what they were, but he assumed they were rock outcroppings or large boulders. Nothing moved in the darkness, and Jack couldn’t figure out where exactly the animal lurked.
Another snort. It sounded pretty close. Wherever the beast was, it was somewhere nearby. Jack studied the dark forms closest to him. None of them moved. The general shape of these objects didn’t resemble the creature he’d seen some time before. Jack assumed that those objects were large rocks and that the mysterious creature was behind one of them.
He didn’t know exactly which one of the large rocks blocked the beast from his view, but it didn’t matter. What was more important was what he should do now. He needed to get out of the cave, but the only exit was farther down the tunnel. Would he be able to sneak past the creature unnoticed? It seemed highly unlikely. While the tunnel was quite wide, the creature could see better in the dark than him as he’d already learned. So Jack continued to stand still. He was sure that the mysterious creature would attack him when it noticed him. And he had no desire to fight some large aggressive animal he knew absolutely nothing about. He couldn’t move forward without the creature noticing him, and there was no point in returning to the cavern he’d left either.
He had no idea what to do. He was stuck.