"You bastard!" Subject 20201 hissed, his voice a desperate rasp as he shoved Subject 24238 hard against the cave wall. "You absolute bastard!"
The echo of the cough still clung to the air like smoke after a firework. But there was no time to apologise, no room for guilt. The creature screamed.
It was a sound unlike anything human. High and sharp, splitting the silence like a curse. The walls of the cave seemed to hum with it, the very stones vibrating in sympathy with that terrible, otherworldly screech.
Then it charged.
The tremors came first, deep, rhythmic thuds shaking the floor beneath them like a giant's heartbeat. Subject 20201 barely had time to curse again before the two of them were moving, scrambling out from behind the boulder and spinning round to face whatever was coming.
That's when Subject 24238 saw it properly for the first time.
It burst through the shadows with impossible speed, a towering beast on leathery wings that nearly brushed the cave's ceiling. Its form was monstrous, a bat, if bats were the size of carriages and nightmares. Its body stretched long and sleek, muscles moving under taut skin like cables beneath oilcloth. The wings were vast and membranous, webbed with jagged scars and veins that pulsed faintly with an eerie blue hue. The tips of its talons scraped against the cave floor as it stalked forward, twitching and flexing with a disturbing, feline grace.
Its face, if one could call it that, was grotesque. No eyes, only glowing blue orbs that burned where a creature's gaze should be. They pulsed with light like dying stars, their brightness flickering with each movement. Its snout was elongated, ending in a nose that twitched uselessly. And its mouth, by far the worst part, hung open slightly, revealing long rows of narrow, bone-white teeth, wet with froth and some dark, sticky fluid.
Its skin was textured like old leather left out in the rain. Cracked and tough, with patches of something like mold clinging in the creases, giving it a mottled, diseased appearance. It didn't smell like a beast. It smelled like a cave that had never known light, like damp rot and ancient blood.
Subject 24238's heart gave a sharp thud, and a horrible truth settled in his gut: There was no point in fighting it.
It was too large. Too fast. Too strong. And he… he was half-starved, barely clothed, with shaking hands and a body that hadn't felt full in weeks. The creature could probably swat him like a gnat if it wanted to.
Still.
If he couldn't run without betraying himself, and if hiding had failed, then at the very least he could die on his feet. Not curled in the dark like a mouse. Not like prey.
He bent down quickly and snatched the only weapon in sight, the femur. The same femur he'd spotted earlier, lying among the bones. He gripped it tightly, feeling the weight of it, the jagged end rough like a crude blade. It wasn't much. But it would do.
A soft, choking noise came from his side. He turned and saw Subject 20201 staring at him, the whites of his eyes stark in the gloom.
In that moment, something shifted.
The thought came unbidden. Quick and wicked.
It only needs one of us, he realized. Maybe it just needs one meal to be satisfied. One sacrifice.
The idea slithered into his mind like smoke, curling around his reason, choking out doubt. The creature was nearly blind. Couldn't smell. But it could feel movement, and it would know where its prey was. If 20201 was injured, slowed, it might choose him.
And if not, if the creature wasn't satisfied by one target, then maybe the distraction would be just enough for Subject 24238 to make a run for it.
He looked back at the monster.
It was stalking closer, wings tucked, mouth widening as a wet growl reverberated from deep within its chest.
Then he looked at 20201.
The man was still watching him. Breathing hard. Waiting for a plan.
Subject 24238 smiled. A slow, curling smile that didn't reach his eyes. It was a smirk of cruelty. Of survival.
Before 20201 could speak, Subject 24238 lunged forward and slashed the jagged end of the femur across the man's knee.
There was a sickening crack, a burst of blood, and a scream that filled the cave and echoed like bells. 20201 collapsed with a howl, clutching his ruined leg, eyes wide with agony and betrayal.
"You!" he choked out, but the words never finished.
The scent of fresh blood filled the air, hot, coppery, thick. It was sharp enough, pungent enough, that even a creature with no true nose could sense it.
The bat-thing roared.
Its entire body tensed as it flung itself forward with impossible speed, moving like a shadow unbound by physics or pity. The air split around it as it screeched, wings flaring. Its claws clacked against stone.
20201 barely had time to lift his head.
The beast descended upon him.
There was a terrible, wet sound, a crunch, a tear, and the man's screams were abruptly cut off. The creature's teeth clamped around his skull like a vice, and then bit down. The echo of bone shattering rang in the cavern like a drum.
Subject 24238 didn't watch.
He turned.
He ran.
The sounds behind him, squelching, chewing, a low, guttural grunt of satisfaction, pushed him forward faster than his own fear. He didn't look back, didn't let himself feel, didn't let himself think. His legs carried him over stone and dust and bones, toward the flicker of light far ahead.
Toward the cave mouth.
And freedom.