It took me two long hours to escape the facility.

The last bit of the challenge came in the form of a struggle -- one involving me pushing my two-thousand pound body through the tight corridors of an underground vent. Exiting through the normal doors of INGEN proved dangerous for my sake (given all the people and security measures over it's entrance), so I was forced to make things a bit more complicated. I could strangely remember the last time I had to slither through a small vent, though I was much younger at the time and bound to fall victim to feeble distractions. Back then, a simple sound would garner my interests, even if it belonged to a fan or my own thumping tail.

At least now I had a mission to focus upon, a mission for survival.

A mission for Click.

After a few minutes of dragging, pushing, and growling in agitation, my bulged head finally shoved against the inner frame of the vent's exit, bumping the blocked piece onto the grassy grounds outside. Another two pushes later and I, too, had fallen from those dark and gritty chambers and flumped upon the soft soil of the outside world.

I never thought a fall like this could be so fulfilling. To a human this was as equal to that of a pillow, and I cooed in praise over this acute feeling.

Most creatures would celebrate once they've touched the face of freedom. I decided to take this precious moment to enjoy the satisfaction of such freedom.

Surrendering myself to gravity, I took the time to gaze upward, watching the soft white twinkles of a million stars stretch across the horizon. The cold, somber breaths of the ancient world nuzzled against my pale scales, and the soft buzzing clicks of nearby vehicles and bugs rented the familiar atmosphere. Once the aroma of pure air rushed back into my charred lungs, I closed my eyes and exhaled in utter relief.

"Thank the stars... I did it."

Inhaling hard, I gradually rose back up to all fours, gazing toward the emptied vent behind me, then spun to the left toward the massive forest ahead of me. With the lack of artificial light spanning this place, the swarm of pines and oaks blackened the world for me, as if nothing laid beyond the sights and smells that I was offered. Surely it was not a means to be afraid, given I could handle myself being at the top of the food chain, but it still put a sense of fear into my bosom, as if trekking through those shadows would spell doom.

I turned my attention to the southern regions of the facility where a road was built, though not many cars seemed to cross upon it at this time of night. Still, it was bright enough, and with the moon just bright enough to cast a glow, it served me well to follow it, for it may lead to Click.

I took a step in that direction-

SNAP!

And froze.

What was that? I thought.

The single crack of a dry twig forced every quill on my spine to shoot up tall. Now, I was used to telling the sounds of nearby prey, and most cracks, if any, were soft and difficult to fathom. But this noise, this rupture of the air, I found quite loud... too loud to mark it as a small, insignificant animal.

I refocused my attention back to the dark forest, narrowing both eyes as worry festered inside me. For a brief moment I felt the need to pass this threat on as just a reaction, only before a second crack sounded.

SNAP!

It sounded forced. As if it was on... purpose...

I know this was a calling for me. Any creature would follow the sound to distinguish a threat from a trick, just for the safety of a journey. I twitched my ivory tail at the thought, taking one cautious step toward the forest, then paused. Once the silence grew upon me, I took yet another step, clicking my jaws together and crouched low.

SNAP!

The noise was close.

Ignoring my own safety, I quietly agreed to trail after the sound, using both sights, smells, and feelings to sense for any danger. For the first few minutes nothing seemed to help, for all I managed to find was the normalcy of the forests -- pine, soil, mud, grass, and methane. I rounded an oak stump, then breezed beneath a low hanging branch, shuddering as the pine needles tickled the back of my flesh. My back arched as I hobbled over a few more trees and rocks, and my jaws lowered, tasting for the scents below my frame.

SNAP!

Behind me?

I paused mid-step, turning my attention to the shadows near my tail. I didn't see anything, even as I looked hard. And, even worse, no scent to distinguish anything other than myself.

"Hello?" I grunted, flaring my nostrils out wide. "Who's there?"

But nobody replied. Just the idle wind of an autumn breeze offered a voiceless whisper for me to bear, and uptake.

Snorting, I curled around another rock, keeping an eye out to the spaces behind me, and quickly slithered underneath a little bridge created by another fallen tree.

SNAP!

Above me-

Wait.

This heart of mine froze long before I could halt myself. Every black talon soon sank into the soil, locking my body to the floor in an instant. It didn't take long before a feeling began to grow upon me, a feeling many creatures sense when they know something's wrong. Like a marked spot upon your hide, it's a knowing sense that something is hunting you. That something is following you.

The very same feeling I felt... knowing something was watching me.

"Above me," I whispered to myself.

A warm, foul breath suddenly exhaled against my neck, sending a chill through my bones. I shuddered once, bending my head down low in fear, and hissed. Once the charred scent of smoke sank into my nostrils, I curled my lips into a snarl, and arched my tail.

"I smell you."

With a snarl, I whipped around to face my stalker.

Only to get rammed head-on by a wall of black scales.

It was too fast to counter, even as it lunged from the sky. My back instantly struck the earth, stunning me with a tremor that shook straight through my body. Snarling in defiance, I raised a claw skyward and bashed my knives against what I assumed to be the creature's jaws. Groaning in pain, the monster, now infuriated by my reaction unsheathed it's long obsidian talons and raked a painfully long line straight down my exposed underbelly.

"AGH! GAAH!"

I shrieked aloud, feeling my flesh unwillingly split into three, and kicked into it's exposed cranium, blinding it. The creature bellowed weakly, stumbling far enough away to allow me access to flee, and I didn't take any spare seconds to wait. I gasped, rolling to all fours and ran as fast as I could into the forest's blackness, leaving a trail of red in my wake.

Truth be told, I didn't know where I was going.

My initial plan was to head back to the vent to hide. But the woods decided to play a game with me, and twist my world into a land too similar to distinguish. I'd run into the same trees, the same bushes, stumble across equal rocks and puddles. Even taking one direction proved futile -- the same scene seemed to follow me. And camouflaging was pointless, too -- my injury pushed me far out into the open. I was like a stick in a sea of sand, a snowflake in the middle of a raging volcano. My heart sank once I realized the truth:

There was nowhere left to hide.

All of a sudden, the very same beast caught up with me, lunging directly on my spine and slammed me down. My head struck the ground for a second time, and I felt its jagged jaws suddenly sink into my spine and squeeze. I screamed, struggling to push free, but I couldn't budge at all. Worst of all was his intentions, for as it's grasp tightened I felt the ground beneath me beginning to slip from hold, informing me that it was dragging me away.

I cried out and screeched, slashing for the earth in desperation. If I did nothing I would surely perish. Even from the earth, I could spot the shimmer of red fire flickering in my killer's predatory eyes, a look that promised the end of me. A look I knew fell, for I, too, bore the same monstrous glare.

I've been in this position before. Where there was no way to fight back. There were so little options open to me, but only one seemed feasible to try.

Perhaps it was the only way out of this mess.

Rearranging it's fangs, the monster chewed into me again, drawing fresh blood from the channels in my scales. The moment he yanked away, I succumbed to it's power and suddenly went limp. The creature grunted, paused, then began shaking my body around to try and wake me.

But I didn't move. I didn't dare stir.

Confused, the creature released me to the floor, the lowered it's blunt head to sniff at my injuries. It's snout drew around to the front of my skull, tasting my scent and searching for a pulse.

That's when my eyes snapped open.

Without hesitating, my four limbs scrambled to the earth and pushed up as fast as possible. My jagged spine struck his chin first, before both jaws, split wide open, slammed downward into it's neck, returning the favor. The moment a gush of red spilled upon my tongue, a pained scream rippled from my enemy, a terrified cry like no other. I tightened my hold as it fought against me, shoving my body back and forth as we wrestled in the dark. At some point it jolted it's neck hard, ramming my flank into a nearby tree. My eyes slammed shut as pure pain rushed into my system, and I shoved off the tree trying to squeeze harder upon the monster. It repeated the action, cracking at my flesh once more and forcing me to loosen my grip.

Ngh... N-No! I weakly growled to myself, panting in weariness. Can't... l-lose. I must win!

I knew it was going to do it again, I saw it in it's eyes. As soon as the beast reared it's ugly head away, preparing for a third strike, I shoved my body skyward. The two of us lifted into the air, right to my height limit, where we dangled upon the shifts of my two feet. Remembering Indy's move earlier, I narrowed my eyes at the monster, pushed all my energy to the base of my neck, and threw downward, hard. Once gravity took hold, I let go, and watched my enemy's poor skull slam into the earth, bounce once, then go still.

And it was over.

It had to be.

I took a slow step back, panting for a moment as I reveled over my injuries, and sighed.

I was okay... thankfully. And, once that little bit of safety felt enough to ensure my survival, I found the urge to investigate the demon that attacked me. It only made sense that I knew what tried to kill me in case I'd have to fight it again.

I started slow, first examining the subtle flesh of the monster, which looked strangely like mine. These scales were distorted and pointed, but blackened entirely -- like tar. There was no strong scent to him, other than the aged smoke that it carried near it's older injuries, so there was no question as to why I couldn't find it. Still, every creature carries a musk of some kind, and judging on the form of it's after belly, I could tell it was male. Rounding his tail, I studied it's head, noticing a prominent overbite and jagged, uneven teeth curled across it's lips. There were also strange pointed edges to it's tail, something that looked similar to my quills.

"What are you?" I wondered softly, heading back to the face to examine his eyes. But, once I arrived, a strange sight in my peripheral caught me off guard... a waver of his tail.

I parted my jaws, looking behind me quickly, though I saw nothing. Frowning, I turned back down to the creature, sniffing it once more, before that same action startled me. Turning back to look, I was unfortunate enough to seeing it's tail shifting back and forth, like that of a snake enchanting it's maker. My stomach suddenly lurched hard.

Oh n-

The beast's molten eyes quickly flashed open, and two massive claws suddenly stabbed into my flanks, rocking my body long before I could react. I let out a pained cry, feeling warm ooze swiftly spill from the incision, then watched him draw under my unsteady claw and sink his ragged fangs into my throat. Gagging, my claws began to frantically scramble against the forest floor, struggling to pull away. Stars began to cloud my vision, and I squeezed my eyes shut, clicking aloud to sound my fear. I begged to yield to the monster. But nothing I did mattered.

The only thing I did gain out of all of this fight became something far worse than a simple stab of a claw.

His spiked tail whipped like a string in a fan, flashing so fast that I could barely react in time, and a sudden eruption of agony stabbed into my exposed underbelly. A terrible squeal slipped from my throat, and an array of orange colors flooded both eyes simultaneously. I painfully tore away from him, fumbling away as fast as I could. To my surprise, the monster didn't chase -- he simply stared at my underbelly as a sly grin slowly curled across its face. I followed after those eyes of his, and shuddered once I noticed a thorn sticking out of my gut.

What... What is this?

The world suddenly swayed, and I stumbled forth to gather my balance. A different kind of warmth began to grow from my chest, shifting from a soft buzzing sensation into some similar to that of liquid metal. I yelped as it worsened, tearing at my chest and begging for it to stop as my killer stalked me.

My blood... is on fire!

The creature leisurely strolled over as I fought against the strange burning oil inside, moaning and whimpering as a sour taste entered my maw.

N-No, stay... up...!

Stay... up...

Mrr...

The anguish became too great, and I succumbed to the liquid. Once my body slumped to the ground, I rested my skull against the grass and fell unconscious.

Right before the shadow of the hybrid above me.