"The Following Dark"
By robblu (https://pastebin.com/u/robblu)

URL: https://pastebin.com/jXZySADx
Created on: Saturday 20th of August 2016 12:36:34 AM CDT
Retrieved on: Saturday 31 of October 2020 03:28:23 AM UTC


Prompted by >>6678 (Though I didn't notice the bit about aggressors point of view till after the fact. Woops, hehe)



The Following Dark

Scared hazel eyes were the last sight I saw, as with a flicker our final torch went out.

Sarah and I had been exploring a hitherto undiscovered cave she recently discovered while off on one of her “adventures”. Generally I thought of her little hikes as just an excuse to avoid working in the shop for a day, but still this was Quendor, home to the old Great Underground Empire, and visions of vast wealth kept me from protesting too much. Its discovery also got our inexperienced spelunking asses lost, hungry, and eventually cold as we were reduced to feeding anything that would burn to our last remaining torch, clothes included. 

But those was our old problems. The sudden plunge into darkness meant we no longer had to worry about them anymore. Now we had only had one problem. And it had teeth.

I gripped Sarah's hand tightly, trying helplessly to keep calm as I placed one hesitant foot in front of the other, hoping against the odds that a exit was just around the next bend. Her quiet whimpers seemed horrifying loud in the deep underground silence, but I was no better; I was keeping silent by virtue of channeling my terror into the only thing that seemed real in the utter darkness, her soft hand in mine. The fear was such that I could actually feel her bones grinding against each other, but I was helpless to loosen my hold and she made no attempt to pull away.

They were always present, underground, in the dark, though no one had ever seen them.

I don't know how long we traveled after the light had died, one hand trailing the rough tunnel stone walls, bare feet moving carefully over lose stone to avoid a stumble that would be painful or, worse, noisy. Cold sweat had broken out over every part of my body, running in rivets despite the cave's chill. It seemed like hours had passed since the light had faded, but I knew terror could make time stretch on forever. Besides, alone in the dark, we wouldn't last hours. 

We were unlikely to last minutes.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” I could hear Sarah mumbling as I pulled her along behind me, need for a human voice finally overwhelming caution. I was about to pull her to me in the hope more physical contact would allow her to collect herself, when a inhuman force suddenly ripped her hand from my deathgrip. For a moment, the endless moment of a missed heartbeat, I was alone, utterly. And then she screamed.

I turned, staring helplessly at the blackness where my lover was dying, knowing I should run to her aid and yet unable to do so. Sharp rocks were suddenly pressing painfully into my rear and I realized somehow I had fallen. It didn't seem important. Something wet splashed across my face, dripped down into my mouth. Copper. Blood. Sarah's blood. Her scream had choked off, replaced with a horrible gurgling noise. It wasn't her. 

But it was getting closer.

It is pitch black. I am likely to be eaten by a grue.