Cave dweller

Injured reader, not caused by the Yandere though.

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If the swelling of your foot and the tenderness that followed didn't tell you that your ankle /leg is broken, you don't know what will. You had dropped a good twenty feet thanks to the floor you had been crawling on caved in, sending you down. Your cable that you had been attaching along the wall caught you at first, which tangled around your leg and the initial drop snapped it, but the cord must have caught a rough edge cut it.

You landed on your back, knocking the wind from you. You lay there on the cold hard floor, trying to gather your bearings. You almost missed the sound of Dylan's voice call down from above you, checking to see if you're alive.

"Yeah! But I can't really move at the moment!" you call back. Initially, you were worried that you may have broken more than just your leg, maybe a rib as well. You take a moment to glance around the hole you find yourself in, your lantern almost lighting up the whole room save a few feet of total darkness. It isn't that big and its mostly empty of boulders, just a barren room.

"Don't worry, I'm going to go back to the truck and call for help! Don't go anywhere!" your friends voice echoes down to you. You couldn't help but roll your eyes. Not like you could with your hurt leg.

"You know what I mean!" he calls back down, sensing your eyeroll. You watch as he pulls himself back out of the hole and scurry away, the light above disappearing with him.

"Just hurry up!" you shout in mild agitation. The throbbing in your limb is really starting to make itself known to the rest of your brain now that the adrenalin has gone away.

Your trip to the caves turned from a day of fun to a day of misery.

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You had been lying there for about an hour waiting for Dylan to come back with help. You're glad your backpack was on you when you fell as it has a good bit of supplies in it. You had already broken into it, snacking on a bag of chips, and sipping on a bottle of water. You're not panicked about your situation as this particular cave is an easy spelunking site. Many people come here to explore since it's a great place for beginners, so a rescue for those will be simple.

You had, unfortunately, fell through one of the marked crawlways and now you're just waiting for said rescuers.

So, as you sit in absolute silence, you finally hear the sound of someone crawling above from where you fell. 'Finally,' you think as you look up to the hole where you fell. Even with it being far above your head, you can still make out the gap. You cup your hands around your mouth, ready to call out to your saviors, but the shout dies before you can make a sound.

Instead of your lantern showing a human face, it's an ashen gray eyeless face.

You don't move, hell, you hardly breathe as you use your hand to hold your mouth, staying as quiet as possible. The sound of sniffing can be heard throughout the cavern as it slowly comes further in, showing the extra appendages attached to the body.

Terrified doesn't even begin to describe the fear you feel in this moment. 'The hell is that thing?!' you mentally scream as you watch helplessly as it cascades down the side wall, its extra arms help keep its grip until it gets to the floor. It completely lacks clothes, though, fortunately enough, the hair on its head travels down the back and merges with hair, er, fur around the rest of the body, shaggy enough to cover everything.

Its about twenty feet away from you, but the gap is slowly closing as it feels along the ground. You beg and plead in your mind that it won't reach you, that someone will come and scare it away and be safe. You can't move away from it, dragging your body will make noise so all you can do is sit in petrified silence. It, he, continues to search around, turning his head in all directions, sometimes giving you a full glimpse of his face and showing off a mouthful of sharp teeth.

You try to keep quiet, God you tried, but the moment he reached your bad leg, you all but threw caution to the wind. Putting your best foot forward, you give a solid swift kick to his face, knocking him back a few feet from you.

It made a startled shriek/growl when he was dislodged from you, the sound making the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. You scoot back trying to put as much distance between the two of you now that you've made it 100% aware of your existence. Your body hurts, but the fear of this thing outweighs the pain and that's only one of your problems.

Another problem you're having is that there is nowhere to go to put yourself where there would be a barricade between the two of you. Just a vast open room. You watch as he rubs his face where you had kicked him, blood trickles down his face where the skin split. He looks up and bares his incredibly sharp looking teeth with a menacing growl.

"Get out of here! Go away!" you shout, your voice echoing throughout the cavern as you try to scare it away.

Your screams and shouts don't do anything to deter it though, it just starts right back to crawling towards you, albeit slower, more cautiously. You watch as he reaches your discarded bag. He flinches as first and let's go, but soon reaches out for it again now that he knows that it isn't going to attack him.

He starts rummaging through your bag, pulling out each item and individually sniffing each item he pulled out. When he found your food, he ripped open the packages and scarfed it down like a starving dog. If the items didn't interest him, he threw them to the side. Things like rope, a flashlight, a blanket, your journal and pen, useless scraps to him but necessities you pack for your excursions.

Once he was done with the bag, he went back to feeling along the ground. He was easing up towards you again and this time you have nowhere to scoot too. He has you backed against the cave wall and with your banged up leg and possible broken rib, you won't be able to put up much of a fight. You could kick it again, but it wouldn't take much to subdue you if it picks up on that being your only defense.

"Shoo! Get out of here, you already ate! I have nothing else for you!" You shout at him, hoping that maybe, by some chance, it would leave you be.

No such luck though.

You tuck your body into the smallest ball that your injuries would allow, hoping to buy yourself some time from him reaching you. You close your eyes and mentally begged for Dylan to come back with help any second now to save you from whatever it is going to do to you.

"Hurt." A gruff yet soft voice rings out, sounding as if the vocal cords haven't been used in years. You peak one of your eyes open to see one of his hands stretched out barley grazing your pant leg.

"Hurt." He repeated. It wasn't a question; he's stating that you're injured. In other words, he knows that you're weak and vulnerable.

"I'm f-fine." You slightly stutter, trying to sound fine, but utterly failing in his presence. The soft touch suddenly hardens, and he grips your injured leg, forcing you to let out a scream of pain. He lets go instantly and "stares" at you as if trying to give you a look of satisfaction.

"Hurt."

"Okay, yes fine, I'm hurt! But there is help coming, a bunch of help so I will be hunky dory." You admit hoping that mentioning more people may scare him away. The look he gives though, is not one of fear, but excitement.

"Help? More help?" He questions with intrigue.

"Yes, help. You might want to leave; they could harm you." You gently threaten him, but he doesn't seem to care. The grin that splits his mouth, reminding you of the sharp incisors that suddenly strikes you to be suited for tearing into meat. It's unsettling to say the least.

"I'll help." He reaches for your body, all four limbs being put to use as he grabs you. You don't want to find out what was considered his help, so you start struggling and trying to fight him, screaming for him to let you go. Your fight is useless against him, everything hurts and you are unsuccessful in freeing yourself.

What you are successful in is throwing your head back into the wall, hard, and knocking yourself unconscious.

///

You awaken to something rough and wet running along your face in gentle strokes. You go to push it away but find yourself unable to move your arms. Your eyes pop open and you instantly try to get your bearings, but you can't. It's pitch black, that's all you can see, and it makes you squirm in a bit of panic.

The wet item moved from your face and a voice growls in your ear. "Don't move, help." The monster says.

You try to calm down, you really do, but when you can't see, can't move and you're in pain, it's suffocating and scary. "Please....please I..." You don't even know what you're begging for, your breathing becomes fast and shallow, and you feel as though you're choking. The monster makes some kind of shushing sounds, possibly in an effort to comfort you, but it doesn't help. All you can concentrate on is how hard it is to breathe.

A soft light fills the room, casting you in a white glow, instantly giving you something to focus on. "Eyes see, light help. Safe" the monster says in as calm a manner as possible. Your glad he knows enough English, no matter how broken, to convey those comforting words, his actions, on the other hand, are a little less desired.

Sure, the light gesture was a good deed, however your hands? Yeah, they are tied up. Rope, your own rope from your bag, is wrapped around your waist, pinning your arms to your side. You look around at your now lighted room. You're still in the same cavern you fell into, but you've been moved back to the center of the room.

You look over at your monster and ask, "Why am I tied up? I can't really go anywhere."

He tilts his head at you and grins, your breath catching as he reaches for your face and pets your hair. He carefully rubs the back of your head, and you feel a twinge of pain, caused by you throwing your head back.

"Hurt self. Safe now. Food come; help come. Help not leave, you not leave."

Wait up, hold on there! Not leave? What the hell does that mean? Your almost too afraid to ask, already guessing what he means, but you have to be 100% so you will know how to handle the situation.

"What do you mean 'not leave'?" His grin broadens, showing off those sharp teeth even more. It sends a harsh chill down your spine.

"Hungry. Help food. Eat help. Feed. You get help, food." A sick feeling settles in your stomach at the realization of his confession. He plans to eat the people coming to rescue you. He's going to ambush and eat them.

Sh*t! Dylan! He'll be returning with help and that is what it wants! And it gets you thinking more though. Did he know you were here by the noise that was made when the floor collapsed?

Or was this a trap he made, similar to that of a trapdoor spider? How many people could have died down here because of him?

The pats and rubs to the head move to him stroking your face, running his fingers across your eyes, forcing you to close them. He moves to feel your cheeks, then your nose, then your lips. He seemed concentrated, familiarizing your face with one set of hands, while the others work their way down. Starting with your neck, shoulders, fingertips, hips, lower and lower, until-

"Y/n? Hey, you still down there? You didn't leave yet, did you?" you hear Dylan's voice echo. It's only mere moments after did you finally see a glow from above. He's back and by the sounds of the extra voices, he was able to get a couple of people!

You have a brief minute of relief, thankful help is here. At least, until you are reminded of your new carnivorous friend. He raises a finger to his mouth and makes the quiet motion before reaching for your lantern.

Instantly, you are swallowed by pitch black inside the hole. The only light being the faint glow above. You go to shout back, to warn them, anything to keep them from coming inside, but your attempt is thwarted thanks to a hand over your mouth. A harsh, bone rattling 'shhh' sounded in your ears.

"No scream, only help." You could faintly see his silhouette, watching as he cuts your bindings with his sharp talons, and disappears to a dark corner of the room, hiding from his prey.

You have to come up with a plan or something, so you start with your options. If you don't do something, those people and your friend will become dinner to this monster. He will kill them, and then more than likely kill you. He won't have a need for you anymore after he gets his meal.

However, if you yell, scream, or even just talk loud enough to warn them, then they could be spared if they get out quick enough. It would still be leaving you in the hole with a very angry, very hungry monster, making you his only source of food then.

You want to be selfish, god did you want to be, but you couldn't let people die, especially those that are coming to attempt to rescue you. So quietly, yet loud enough for Dylan and company to hear you.

"Hey Dylan, glad you finally made it back. Yeah, nowhere to go for me, so I'm still here. Speaking of, did you ever buy those roses?"

"Roses? Y/n, what does that have to do with...."

You can tell he knows what you're talking about now. It was a code phrase the two of you agreed to use should either one of you were in danger or couldn't say otherwise. The monster with you knows how to speak and understand English well enough, well enough to understand if you just told everyone that you are stuck down there with some kind of man-eating monster.

"What color was I supposed to get again? Red or yellow?" Dylan asks. Red roses symbolize significant danger or trouble, while yellow represents a looming, not yet present threat.

"Red, the darkest shad of red you can find." Translation, 'You're in the biggest danger you could ever be in right now.'

You can hear voices talking for a moment before a light suddenly shines over you, a face peaks over the hole next to the light looking down at you. You can't tell who it is, you guess Dylan, but you lay there and watch as they shine the light around the room, probably looking for the threat you subtly mentioned.

You follow the light, hoping to see the monster and point him out to them, but you can't see him anywhere. Hope fills you, thinking that maybe he's actually gone, that he decided against eating anyone.

The bright flashlight glow dims a bit as it's pulled out of the hole but is placed back as soon as a long cable is dropped down. The light starts dangling down when you realize that two people are climbing down the rope, careful of any sharp rocks poking out. It doesn't take long before they both are at the bottom of the cavern and approach you.

"Don't worry, we are going to get you out of here." It's the rescue team that came down, leaving Dylan at the top. Which is fine for you, it means that he is the safest at the moment. The two carefully get you to stand, supporting nearly all of the weight trying to keep from agitating your injuries. It's then you can see a gun attached to each of their hips, a sense of relief fills you at the sight of them.

Your respite is short lived as you glance back behind you to see a familiar gray arm creep out of the dark and reach for the men's lantern. The thought of how it knows where to grab without its sight is forgotten as you struggle to make a sound of terrified acknowledgement.

To little, to late, you fall to the ground as your support disappears on one side. You are found, once more, in the clutches of darkness, only this time it is filled with a horrified scream and crunching sounds. The light from Dylan above moves around frantically, trying to find the other man, but the beam doesn't reach the far side of the room. Your mind goes blank and you can barely breathe, much less cry out now.

You hear shouting from all around before the room lights back up with a red tent. The gun attached to the men's hips are nothing but flare guns and while it did do its job of brightening up the cavern, you wished the man didn't point it towards his screaming partner.

Your monster had done quite a bit of damage in such a short amount of time. The red glow from the flare helped camouflage how much blood was covering the beast, but it didn't hide the carnage. The man's legs are bent at such an awkward angle they look like they are barely even attached to the body.

His abdomen must be ripped open with how much of his intestines are pulled out with the monster greedily munching on the strand. Once finished with what was in his mouth, he lowers his face down to the stomach and just starts tearing into him more. He's sipping and slurping, crunching and chewing, the guy's scream die down to nothing as he either passes out in shock or dies, you can't tell which,

"Oh god, what the hell is that thing?!" The man next to you shouts, terror etched on his face as he watches in horror at what he is witnessing.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that we need to leave, now." You say with a quiet trembling voice. You tug on his pants leg, reminding him that you're on the floor and need a lift. He only slides past you though and begins to climb the rope without you....he's leaving you...

"Hey, don't leave me! Please!" you quietly beg urgently. You can hear Dylan yell back down to stop and get you, but the man just kept on climbing. The thought of being left here alone again makes you panic as you scoot to the hanging rope. You aren't sure that you can pull yourself up it with banged up ribs, but you sure as hell are going to try!

The monster, still chewing and enjoying his human meal, doesn't seem interested in your escape attempt, whether it's because it's eating or because you couldn't even get three off the ground before falling you can't tell and don't bother to care.

Your chest hurts and your leg is throbbing, there is just no way this is going to work. Your determination is quickly zapped, and you just want your friend to live. You call out to Dylan and tell him to just leave you and get the heck out of dodge.

"Not without you!" is the response you get.

"Please, just leave, get out of here!" you call back.

The man makes it to the top and begins to drag Dylan back, all the while your friend screams, "I'll come back for you! I promise!"

You are sure that you'll be long dead by then, sharing the same grizzly demise of your rescuer. Speaking of dead, your monster has devoured over half the man before coming out of his, um, feral state? His head is twitching in all directions in a sporadic kind of motion, you can only guess that he is listening.

His prey is gone.

He releases another inhuman screech before heading straight to you. You can't even let out a noise of protest before he's on your prone form. Even with his body covering you, he seems careful of your leg and chest.

"Help? More help?" He questions franticly.

"Gone! They are gone! All you have to eat now is him and me!" you scream. If you're going to die, you won't care about being nice or calm anymore. You grab a handful of dirt and throw it in his face, and though he may not have eyes, you know that a mouthful of dirt is just as unpleasant.

The reaction he gives brings you satisfaction as he jumps off of you in surprise, hands grabbing at his face and mouth, trying to rid himself of the soil. With a burst of adrenaline, you feel a bit of willpower flow back into you. You're quick to scoot back some and grab the still hanging rope again and begin to pull; you work through the pain in your body as you start to climb.

You glance down to see your monster has cleared his mouth of dirt and has gone back to feeling for you again, his search being hysterical. His demeanor since everyone else has changed drastically. He seemed so cautious at first, curious even, but that changed to him being erratic.

You keep as quiet as you can as you climb up the rope, though the wheezing from the strain could not be helped. You knew he could hear you, but he couldn't quite find you.

Your little Houdini trick would only last so long though. About halfway up the rope you feel the length below you go taunt as the beast finally finds it and gives a solid tug. Your worried he may try to pull hard on it and dislodge any of the securing at the top and cause you to fall back down.

Instead of doing that though, he begins to climb up and he's closing distance fast. The sight alone is enough to put some motivation in your step, er climb.

You're over halfway up when you feel a hand graze your leg. You don't even think before bringing your leg down, fear controlling your movements to get away from him. Unfortunately, you miss and that is all it takes for the thing to snatch your leg.

He gives a solid tug, your strength no match for his, made you lose grip with the rope and fall back. He keeps a firm grasp on your good leg though, which results in you hanging upside down, dangling a good distance from the ground, an even greater distance than your first drop. A loud menacing growl sounded out, the cave helping it echo making it even more gut-wrenching.

Your lifted up a bit, closer to his sharp teethed filled mouth as he hisses, " Not Leave! You stay, safe here!" A long tongue slips from his mouth and runs along your cheek and across your face, almost like he's trying to clean you. The smell is horrid, but you can do nothing to get away.

It finally slides back in his mouth with a rumbling purr, seemingly more content than when he caught you. "Yes, stay....forever"

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Sorry it's not as lengthy, it was supposed to have about 4 or 5 more pages, but I grew tired with it and lost the motivation. I'll make a part 2 to officially finish it, if y'all would be alright with that. But only when I have the motivation, you all deserve to have something worth your time to read.