CotFF-Move
From Create Your Own Story
You force yourself to keep walking forward, feeling your way along the wall. The bats continue to attack you relentlessly. Their claws dig into your back, your arms, your legs. Unable to see where you are going, you trip over a sharp stalagmite rising from the cave floor. Your knees smack the ground painfully and you scrape the palms of your hands as you attempt to break your fall. Adrenaline propels you back to your feet as another screeching bat drags its claws across your back. You feel a thick, warm wetness dripping down your back. Blood. Your head starts to swim.
You groan through gritted teeth and reach for the wall once more. You can feel a cold breeze on your skin now; you must be getting closer. You feebly swipe at the swarming bats only to have one latch onto your forearm with needle-sharp teeth. Another bat swoops in pushing you back into the wall with surprising force. You try to push through the swarm, feeling every scrape of bat claws on your exposed flesh. Their wings beat the sides of your head, the sound filling your ears until you can hardly think. A bat flies up in your face and you jerk backward instinctively, smacking your head against the cave wall. Head spinning, you fall forward onto your hands and knees.
As you drag yourself toward the source of the breeze, you notice that everything around you is getting lighter. You are not, in fact, blind. The darkness around you lightens until you can see the shadows cast by the cave's natural features and see the black forms of the attacking bats. Some of the bats have gotten their claws stuck in the fibers of your clothing and they flap all the more violently in an attempt to free themselves. A bat bites your ear and a wing gets close enough to your face to scrape across your cheek with a clawed tip. You feel light-headed as blood drips from your wounds. Your shaking arms give out, and you're lying on your stomach, trying desperately to pull yourself forward toward the light.
The pain is overwhelming and your vision starts to go dark again. Then, as suddenly as they attacked, the bats leave you. You can hear their screeches fading away back into the cave. You crane your neck, trying to look behind you. You catch a glimpse of a tall, horned figure in the shadows. You slump onto the ground and your vision goes black...
