Reacting to a Monster

[IsabellaRose]

A shudder runs through you as the creatures freeze, their gaping maws snapping shut in eerie unison. The vibrating hum of their voices ceases all at once, leaving behind an unnatural, suffocating silence. The air thickens, pressing against you like a damp, living shroud.

Then, from behind you, a voice speaks.

"Mmm... dinner time."

The words are slow, drawn out, each syllable reverberating through your very bones. The voice is deep, wet, and hungry, a voice that does not simply belong to something monstrous but to something beyond. The kind of thing that doesn't just consume flesh, it devours souls.

You don't turn. You can't. Your breath is caught in your throat, terror pinning you to the spot. Every instinct screams that looking would be the worst mistake of your life. Instead, you focus on the pack of creatures before you. Their bodies remain unnaturally still, their twisted forms locked in some unnatural tension, as though they are resisting an invisible force. Their eyeless faces do not turn toward the voice. They remain fixed on you.

You hear something wet drip behind you.

The ground trembles beneath your feet, a slow, rhythmic thud shaking the flesh-like surface in time with your own racing heartbeat. Whatever is behind you is massive, something that should not be able to move so silently in a world made of such unnatural sound. You feel its breath, a thick, humid exhale that smells of rot, of things swallowed and forgotten in the dark.

The creatures in front of you do not move. They do not attack. They seem to be waiting.

For you to run?

For you to fight?

For you to be taken?

The air itself seems to press in, urging you toward a choice.

 

• IF you turn and face the thing that has spoken, click here. <link forthcoming>
• If you bolt forward toward the pack, click here. <link forthcoming>
• If you try to escape to the side, avoiding both the thing behind you and the pack in front of you, click here.

Edited 10 hours ago by IsabellaRose