Anon On a Bike: 2

 

>You are Anonymous.

>You are on your mountain bike.

>A soft guitar solo from a certain RTS is playing in your ear as you ride through the unknown forest.

>Your destination is the mountain range you noticed earlier.

>The vantage point would help you find anything of interest.

>That and you have nothing better to do other than sit and wait for the usual eldritch abomination to melt your mind and rip your face off.

>Dying due to apathy is surely not the way to go.

>So here you are, heading towards the mountain because your rattled, one-tracked mind could only think of that mountain.

>Instead of satisfying your need for speed,  you casually pedal along, letting the music mix with the passing scenery.

>You don't want another repeat of last Friday.

>You still feel sorry for that bird.

>Yet so far, you haven't seen any wildlife.

>You're used to seeing a jackrabbit every fifty feet whenever you went on the trail.

>Not even a chipmunk has crossed paths with you here.

>You mentally shrug and press on.

>After ten minutes, you reach the mountain base.

>You are on a mountain bike, and there is a mountain ten yards in front of you.

>There is a clear path that spirals up the lonely mountain.

>You take a swig from your water bottle, giving yourself a moment to steel yourself.

>You pull your iPod out of your back pocket and change songs.

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHBe6wC2NYs

>As you tuck the music player away you look up at your first challenge.

"...Ah, fuck it."

>You push off the ground and pedal hard to gain speed.

>You hit the incline and keep going.

>You wisely use the lower gears, allowing you to pedal much easier up the rather steep angle.

>For most of the time you follow the trail circling up and around the mountain.

>At one point you're forced to make your own.

>After fifteen minutes of sweat and heavy breathing you're three quarters of the way up, but you're already getting tired and losing speed.

>You look over the side and find yourself pretty high up.

>You wonder how you're gonna get down without losing control, but not spending a fuckin' hour walking.

>Maybe this wasn't such-

>No, fuck that!

>You're climbing until you're at the top, dammit!

>You look up and see the mountain end and the sky begin.

>Is that the top?

>"GET TO THE FUCKING TOP!"

> Another one of your voices.

>The more energetic one with tunnel vision.

>The only reason it's still around is because you tend to agree with it whenever you do something physically exhausting.

>You're getting to the top even if it kills you.

>More pedaling.

>More panting.

 

>Your thighs burn out as soon as you spiral up to the highest flat part of the mountain.

>You hop off your bike quickly, take out your headphones, and sit down to ease your burning and twitching leg muscles.

>After a quick stretch to relax them you slowly get back up and half walk, half stumble over to your bike.

>You pull out your bottle and take another swig.

>Your eyes burn from all of the sweat that's accumulated on your forehead.

>You take off your sunglasses and try to wipe the sweat from your face with your shirt.

>The shirt's already damp, so it's futile.

>The only thing that's keeping you from drowning in your own sweat is the chilled air and a pleasant breeze.

>As you catch your breath you take in the view from the top of the mountain.

>Beautiful sky, with plenty of whispy white clouds dotting the great blue.

>A few dots are zipping around in your vision, but you write them off as a result from fatigue.

>You walk over to the edge and look down the steep face.

>At first there's just forest that wraps around the mountain.

>You look farther from the mountain, and you see what could be a river snaking through the trees.

>To your surprise, there is civilization past the forest, not too far from the mountain.

>Brightly colored houses make up the medium sized town in the middle of a wide valley.

>The river runs to the side of it, and you squint to make out a water wheel turning in the current.

>You can't see any more detail, so from first impressions: it's a decent sized town.

>No sky scrapers.

>No smokestacks.

>Either they're zealously green, or they are an isolated people who haven't gotten to the industrial age yet.

>Peaceful was a good adjective.

>Yeah, that town seems like a good place to start.

>You turn around to get your bike, only to stop in shock.

 

>Holy shit that's a big cave.

>The mouth is enormous, and the cave's somehow deep enough that you can't see the end of it.

>It somehow reminds you of the cave from Kotor.

>You forget what that fuckhuge dragon was called exactly, but it was tough enough to nom your party if you were stupid enough like the last guy, who went in with just a blaster pistol.

>No hunter here to help you kill whatever-the-fuck's in there.

>...wait.

>Why are you thinking about killing whatever-the-fuck's in there?

>Nope, you're not getting yourself killed by the first creature you come across, which might happen to be a fucking dragon.

>"I mean, it looks like the perfect cave for a dragon."

>...

>Screw it, you're not gonna let your curiosity get yourself killed.

>You'll ask the locals about this place when the chance presents itself.

 

>As you cautiously make your way back down the mountain, you start thinking.

>Would the locals even understand you?

>More importantly, how will they react to you?

>A young lookin' guy with weird clothes and white strands coming outa his ears, tearing down the road on a strange contraption with only two wheels?

>Judging from the tech they have, you shouldn't be surprised if they thought you were some sort of deranged wizard or daemon of sorts and have you burned at the stake.

>It would probably be best if you didn't rush this and somehow get the people to accept you.

>While thinking this you reach the part where a landslide occurred and you were about to climb over the rocks.

>The climb up was tricky; the rocks and boulders were uneven and no discernible path could've been seen.

>A simple slip would cause you to fall into the mess of stone, a painful and embarrassing result.

>You trust yourself, though, and your bike as well.

>Just take it nice and slow.

>With the chain on the lowest gear, you hop up on the first rock.

>You transition to the second one with a bump.

>Then the third.

>Then the forth.

>Before you know it, you're on the largest rock in the middle.

"Hm. That was easy."

>As you look for a way down the last half of the landslide you notice the mountainside doesn't look so steep.

>You mind immediately tries to get physics to work with you here.

>If you were going fast enough, you could use the side as a ramp.

>You could pass the rocks and get going down the mountain in no time.

>The current song's intro might be influencing you, but you don't care.

>You know this will feel awesome.

>You wait for "The Other Side" to pick up, and you can remember the images and emotions you've coupled with the music.

 

>Space.

>Preparation; anxiety.

>Climbing inside a capsule.

>The loading of said capsule into a tube.

>The aiming of a magnetic cannon.

>Aiming it right at a cosmic anomaly, one that physics dictate shouldn't exist.

>A living computer gives the okay.

>One last person has the final say.

>She takes a deep breath before nodding once.

 

>"Come on down to the other side.

>Come with us through the gates of hell.

>"We will drag you from where you are to where you belong."

>You realize you're already past the rocks and rocketing down the spiral trail.

>The wind, the acceleration, the gees from the neverending turn...

>The danger and the resulting adrenaline...

>The music, by god the music.

>It's... It's...

>Your mind briefly breaks the mental movie to scream: "HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIT!"

>You're high.

>You're fucking high and you're lovin' every moment of it.

>You can see the bottom, but fuck that!

>The momentum alone will get you to the town by the end of the song, tops.

>Your bike's front tire hits the grass at the base.

>You go from leaning right to leaning far to the left.

>You're pedaling and switching gears as you make the wide u-turn.

>The grass and low-hanging plants yield easily to the powers of human ingenuity and driven emotion.

>You feel a manic smile clinging to your face as you tear through the forest.

>You follow the sun's rays since the sun seemed to be dipping down towards the town in the afternoon.

>That shall be your beacon, and you have no doubt in the shallow part of your mind that you'll make it before dark.

>The deeper portion is saying that this is a rather bad idea and you should've checked out the cave and made sure-

>"SHUT UP!"

>You're getting to that town no matter what!

>A Titan could appear and you wouldn't give a shit.

>Your three options are: get to the town, wake up, or let the universe end.

>"GET TO THAT FUCKING TOWN!"

>!!!!!!!

 

>...

>It's been about ten minutes.

>Or maybe thirty.

>You can't remember.

>All you know is that you've been pedaling and sweating for a while now.

>You've managed to traverse several obstacles, ranging from fallen trees to the one river.

>The only reason you were able to cross was because there was a very shallow part of the river where it narrowed a bit.

>Now the forest is beginning to thin; the trees are spacing out ever so slightly.

>You're almost there.

>Almost-

>A low rumbling that pierces your earbuds and interrupts your thoughts.

>With one hand on the bars, you dive the other in your pocket to pause your music.

>As soon as you do so, you burst into a clearing.

>There is a cave.

>There is something that has just emerged from the cave.

>It's big.

>It's furry.

>It is the biggest lion you have ever seen.

>It sees you, and it bellows forth a head-wrenching roar.

>Searching...

>Instinct.exe

>clickclickclickclickclick

 

>You lean as far to the right as you would allow it.

>Seeing another gap in the treeline, and you pedal.

>You pedal like mad.

>A direction doesn't matter now, except far away from the giant man-eating beast.

>Even as you pedal, you feel the giant cat's stomps as it chases you.

>You dare to look back, and you almost lose your balance.

>The fuckin' thing's right on your ass.

>Something's swinging behind it.

>"Is that a scorpion tail?"

>"Excellent observation, scientific part of brain.

>"Perhaps it will use that scorpion tail to stab us to death after it chomps off a limb of two.

>"That would be such a grea-"

>"SHUT UP AND FUCKING PEDAL!"

 

>You're already pedaling like it's the last leg of the Tour de France.

>Uphill.

>Apparently, the giant lion/scorpion thing is just as fast.

>Now you really want to find that town.

>Surely the people there know how to deal with this shit.

>Shit that's melded with other shit.

>Christ, now you know you're not in Ohio anymore.

>Or Earth for that matter.

>And your logical part is STILL trying to say this is all some hallucination.

>You have dreamed, some of which were nearly lucid.

>But never have you been exhausted, sweaty, or as conscious, or scared as fuck in any of your previous dreams.

>"If this is a dream, you're probably sleepwalking now and decided to go outside."

>It may be nighttime, but goddamn was it humid outside today.

>The giant scorpiolion reminds you what you're doing with another angry roar.

>You're trying not to get eaten.

>And trying to rationalize all of this isn't helping.

>As you zip around a tree, you steal a quick look behind you, and you could only think: "Oh fuck."

>The thing's gaining fast.

>It must really want to know what you taste like.

>You're not focusing on where you're going.

>It'll have to cost you.

>In the form of a sudden drop that throws you off balance, followed by a steep hill.

> There are trees on the hill.

>"Shitshitshitshitshitshit"

>You manage to dodge the first and second trunk.

>Your leg and arm clip the third.

>There is a really hot sensation on your entire left side, but that's the least of your problems.

>The collision threw your leg and arm backwards.

>You fall off your bike and start tumbling.

>For a few seconds/forever your entire body is hurting and confused.

>Your vision is changing from the grass to the sky as fast as you can blink.

>Every revolution, and your head pounds the grounds, each impact knocking your brain around.

 >Your arm might as well be broken, with all of the abuse given to your elbows.

>Then your upper back slams into a tree on your way down.

>Possible paralysis is added to the list.

>You hit level ground, and after two more revolutions you stop.

>There is an instant of numbness before pain.

>White hot and sharp pain searing your side, blunted pain throbbing everywhere else.

>You're stealing quick, shallow, and labored breaths.

>With headbuds still in, you can clearly hear your ears ringing.

>Even so, you still hear the roar.

 

>Fuck.

>Fuck fuck FUCK.

>Get up, dammit.

>Get, UP!

>You start with your right hand, dragging it up so the palm is pressed into the soft earth.

>You push, and you drag your right knee up as well.

>You do the same to your left side, but the white hit pain slows you down.

>You're on your hands and knees now, but you better get moving.

>You don't have time to wince from the pain.

>You pop your right leg up, then you l-

>"SHIT"

>The searing intensifies.

>You bite off a small chunk in your mouth in response, but now you're looking forward.

>"Move."

>The right leg goes in front.

>Then the left.

>"FUCK"

>You go faster, limping along so your left leg doesn't receive much pressure.

 

>Time becomes irrelevant now.

>You remember it getting lighter.

>You then see a clearing.

>You limp out of the treeline, then see salvation.

>Pens, fences, a chicken coup.

>A farm with livestock.

>The pain begins to subside.

>You might live.

 

>Thump, thump, thump.

 

>Or not.

 

>Something knocks you forward.

>You just land on the grass with a thud, limp as a rag doll.

>Something large presses of your lower back, pinning you to the ground.

>A second passes, and you sense something wet and warm near your neck.

>You hear something sniff loudly, and you feel air press and pull at your skin.

>"It's close."

>Whoever lives here won't have time to save you.

>You will be mauled by this...thing.

>The first living thing you have come across in this place.

>In an instant, your anger rises from a smoldering pit to an inferno.

>A final surge of energy takes your good arm.

>You know just what to do.

>You want this thing to remember you.

>You twist your shoulder violently to swing your arm around, your fingers forming a claw.

>You feel your middle finger go through something wet and squishy, which is followed by a roar.

>Instead of anger, it's a roar filled with intense pain.

>It makes you smile inwardly.

 

>The lion/scorpion thrusts its head back violently, and you feel your arm pull out with a sickening "pop".

>Then the paw pinning you down moves.

>Steely claws rake across your back, leaving a searing pain infinitely worse than your side.

>It's too much.

>You let out a agonizing scream of your own.

>Your body goes tense as you scream, then goes limp once again when your lungs give out.

 

>...

 

>There is no more new pain now.

>A white hot burn surges through your body in pulses, and you feel more and more tired with each wave.

>Your head, however, is only spinning.

>You let your eyelids relax so they're half-closed.

>It's over.

>You'll either wake up or get eaten now, maybe both.

>But then you hear something yell out.

>Someone, maybe?

>You feel air brush against your scalp.

>You definitely hear someone, but between them speaking so quietly and your head throbbing you can't make out what they're saying.

>There's a pause, before there's another gust of air.

>Some time passes, and you spend it lying there, on your stomach, with arms splayed out to the sides.

>The wind returns, and something soft presses gently on your back.

>Soon your entire lower half is covered in...something.

>It feels alright.

>The pain is slowly dulled.

>You then hear the someone speak again.

>Wait...singing...

>You can't make out anything other than there's someone singing.

>You can't hear any lyrics, but you hear the undertone.

>Gentle, relaxing, almost motherly.

>You feel...safe.

>Your eyelids get heavier, and finally close.

 

>"Time...escape...dream"

 

>...