As we continue down the right path, it narrows almost immediately. It feels like the walls are closing in on us. Shadows stretch across the walls, warping with the flicker of the torch in Christy's hand. Every footstep sounds louder now, echoing back at us like we're being followed by our own ghosts.
- Kai: "Wow… It is REALLY creepy down here. Also, is it just me, or did it get colder all of a sudden?"
He's right. The tunnel was already cold—damp and uncomfortable—but now the temperature has dropped even further. So cold, it's like ice cubes are forming in our lungs, each breath scraping against the inside of my throat.
"I wish I wore something warmer. This t-shirt really isn't doing much."
- Isabella: "Um, if you're really cold, I can give you my sweater. I have a shirt underneath, so it shouldn't be a problem."
"Oh no, it's okay, I don't want you catching a cold either. Trust me, I'll be fine like this."
I wave a hand in front of my face, gently declining her offer.
Isabella gives me a small, worried smile, then pulls her sweater tighter around herself. She doesn't press the issue, but the way she keeps glancing over makes me feel guilty for refusing.
- Christy: "We should probably hurry and find a safe spot to warm up though. You two boys are wearing short sleeve shirts. If you both catch a cold, you'll just be burdens to the rest of us."
"Was the last comment really necessary?"
A few minutes go by.
The tunnel stretches and turns, as if trying to further confuse us. The walls are wet and cracked, veins of black moss pulsing faintly under the torchlight. Water drips steadily from somewhere above, echoing like a clock ticking down.
Thank God the torch light isn't dimming. If it did, we'd be screwed.
Suddenly, it hits me.
A sudden, horrible stench fills the air—thick, metallic, unmistakable.
I glance down and freeze. Puddles of red soak the ground, and my sneakers are splashed with a dark, sticky warmth.
Blood.
My breath catches. My heart lurches. I stumble backward, bumping straight into Isabella.
Why is there blood here? Does that mean something is down here with us?? Is it still alive?
My mind spirals through every possibility. But even in the middle of my panic, I realize Isabella's hands are on my back, trying to steady me.
She's trembling.
I snap out of it.
"Shit, sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you. Are you okay?"
- Isabella: "Yeah… I-I'm fine…"
Her voice is quiet. A little too quiet. She looks around, eyes darting toward the tunnel ahead, her breath catching slightly.
- Isabella: "Where… where is all this blood coming from?"
Her fingers clutch the edge of her sweater tightly.
- Kai: "Ugh, it fucking stinks in here!"
- Lena: "Ew, my shoes are all sticky! Gross"
- Blair: "If there's blood here, it suggests there's something down here with us. Most probably still ahead."
- Christy: "Everyone, be careful."
Isabella quietly steps closer to me, not saying anything else—but her presence feels heavy. Nervous.
And the worst part is, I can't shake the feeling that we've already crossed a line we shouldn't have.
Should we turn back? No, even if we did, there wouldn't be any options other than the left path.
We move forward, but the pace is much slower now. Nobody says anything. The only sound is coming from the steps we take, splashing the puddles of crimson.
The air is thick with tension—and blood.
Something happened here.
Our group naturally tightens. Shoulders brush, footsteps sync. Even Kai isn't cracking jokes anymore. Isabella walks close to me, one hand gripping the back of my shirt, while the other tightly clenches her chest.
A wet, squelching sound can be heard ahead.
It's subtle at first—like something soft being torn apart. Or chewed. The kind of noise that makes your skin crawl without knowing why. No one says a word, but we all hear it.
What is that? I need to get a closer look.
I break away from Isabella's grip and push towards the front of the group.
- Kai: "Hey! What are you doing?"
"Shhh! I'm trying to see what's going on."
We're whispering, but the tunnel makes it feel louder. Like even secrets don't stay hidden down here.
We continue down the corridor until we reach a corner. The sound is louder now—guttural, invasive, almost alive. It's definitely coming from just around the bend.
Christy is close behind me, her hand tightening around the torch. I glance at her, and she nods.
Together, we carefully peer around the corner.
There it stood.
It's hunched over at first, feasting on something you can't immediately see. Its back is grotesquely arched, with bones pressing against thin, mucous-slick flesh like it's wearing its skin wrong. Patches of skin are missing entirely, exposing twitching muscle and blackened veins.
Its limbs are far too long—arms like ropes of meat, ending in fingers that taper into bone-like claws, each digit twitching independently, like feelers.
Its head is the worst part.
At first, it doesn't seem to have a face. Just a gaping vertical slit where a face should be. Then it shifts—and I realize the "mouth" splits open all the way to its chest, like a fleshy zipper.
Rows of human-like teeth line the inside—not in neat rows, but scattered and crooked, like they were taken from different skulls and shoved in randomly. Its tongue is long, thick, and constantly tasting the air—more worm than muscle. Small, lidless eyes dot its shoulders, its chest, even along the edges of the mouth. Some blink. Most just stare, dead and glassy.
It's gnawing on a human torso—or at least what's left of one.
What… the fuck? What is that? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?! THAT ISN'T SOMETHING THAT SHOULD EXIST!
I back up. I hold my mouth, resisting the urge to vomit and add to the disgusting red underneath my feet.
Christy can't hold it in—she hurls beside me, splashing my shoes with a brown mess of bile and half-digested fear.
I ignore it and focus on the monster in front of me. Its head has turned towards us. As it shifts, something cracks inside it—like wet wood splintering, or bones snapping underwater. It's looking at me, or at least I can only assume so, since it's eyes are nonexistent.
Whether it was the light, the sound of Christy emptying her stomach or the smell of everything at my feet, it doesn't matter.
We need to leave. NOW!
"RUN!"
I don't remember shouting, but I feel my throat burn as the word tears out of me.
The thing lets out a sound—if you can even call it that. It's like a dozen voices trying to scream through shredded lungs all at once. The walls seem to tremble with the noise.
Christy drops the torch.
I snatch it before it hits the floor, but in that half-second of darkness, the monster moves. Not walks. Not crawls. Moves—like a blur of limbs and hate and hunger, slamming into the tunnel wall where we were just standing.
"GO!" I scream again, shoving Christy behind me as we sprint back the way we came.
The others are already running, but it's chaos—panic distorts everything. I hear Isabella sobbing in front of me. Kai is swearing non-stop. Someone falls—I think Lena—but I don't have time to look back.
The tunnel isn't wide enough. We're bumping into each other, into the walls, into blood. The torch flickers violently with each jolt of my arm. The flame is struggling. Just like us.
Blair is yanked into the shadows.
One second she's there right next to me. The next, she's gone—no scream, no struggle, just a wet snap and the sound of something chewing.
FUCK! What do we do? Where do we go? There isn't anywhere to hide. Can it see in the dark? Shit, can it see at all?
A bone-white arm lashes out of the dark behind us, scraping the wall with a deafening screech. Sparks fly. The stone cracks.
We're not going to make it.
We keep running. The tunnel splits—forks in two. That wasn't there before. The layout's changed. Twisted. It's almost as if the cave is morphing to kill us.
No time to think. Christy veers left. We all follow.
Bad choice.
A dead end.
"Shit!"
- Isabella: "I—I can't do this anymore! I don't want to die!"
She falls to the ground, visibly unable to move from sheer shock. I grab Isabella's hand, trying to get her to move.
We need to run!
I turn around, and I'm face to face with it. The torch light perfectly illuminating its grotesque features. It grabs me by the face before I can even scream. My back slams into the wall.
"A-AGH!"
I feel all the air in my lungs escape me. I gasp, dizzy, the edges of my vision going gray. I feel light headed. Is it because I hit my head on the wall upon impact?
I hear muffled screams and crying.
"Isabella… Let's go. Come on, get up."
As I look down at my hand, the world stops. I'm staring at her hand—just her hand. Nothing else remains. The blood on my fingers isn't mine. It's hers.
I can't breathe.
Then I see her—what's left—slumped against the wall a few feet away.
Her body is twisted, broken in ways that don't make sense. Her head hangs at an unnatural angle, eyes wide open, staring at nothing. Pieces of her are missing. Flesh peeled back, like paper torn too fast.
That… that's Isabella.
I choke back a scream. No—I fail.
A scream tears from my throat. "AHHH!"
Fuck! I need to go.
My mind blanks as I realize something. The corridor is silent now. So quiet it almost feels… wrong. Like the air itself is holding its breath.
Then I see it.
It crawls into the corridor—upside down, clinging to the ceiling like some twisted spider. Its neck rotates too far, bones sticking out with sickening pops as it smiles—if that's what you can call the gaping split of teeth stretching across its torso.
It lunges.
Every fiber of my body is being shredded. I can't scream. Can't think. There's too much. Too much.
My body is a puppet being ripped apart from the inside. My mind is rushing, trying to process the sheer amount of information it's experiencing. My vision warps. My chest feels like it's imploding, like every breath I never took is being squeezed out at once. My muscles tear. My limbs rip away and every nerve burns with agony.
I feel so much pain.
I'm aware of everything. Too aware. Like my senses have been cranked up past what the human mind can handle.
I'm dying. I'm dying.
Not in some cinematic, fade-to-black way. Not in a heroic way. Not even in a dreamlike way.
I'm actually dying.
I don't want to die—please, not yet, I didn't even—
My thoughts become nothing, as I'm shrouded in darkness.
Oh, I guess I'm dead.
Everything fades. The pain. The sound. Even the monster.
Darkness, silence, nothing.
And then—
Snap.
——————————————————————
Status Screen
Would you like to start over?
[Yes] or [No]
——————————————————————
I click yes.
Or maybe I never even had a choice.
My senses start coming back to me. I'm standing still in the room again. Someone's waving their hand in front of me. The blood's gone. The monster's gone. But my heart's still racing like I just died.
- Kai: "Yo? You good? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"…Huh?"
My hands are shaking. My body's fine, but it remembers. Every nerve is screaming.
I died.
Not in a dream. Not in a memory. I felt it. And now I'm standing here, alive. No wounds. No pain. But the feeling is etched into my soul.
And now I'm back?