Arjun's cheek pressed against rough stone, the surface damp with something he hoped was just water. A low drip echoed in the distance. His eyes blinked open — darkness. Real, deep, belly-of-the-earth darkness. He inhaled and immediately regretted it. Something smelled like fermented socks and dying lizard.
His voice came out dry, cracked.
"Ughhh... is this heaven? …Is this hell? No, wait. My leg still hurts. Definitely not heaven."
Silence.
Then he remembered: the cave. That weird pulsing noise. The rush of dizziness. And—
"My leg," he hissed, reaching down. His left leg ached like it had taken a personal oath never to heal. Blood had dried around the knee, the fabric torn and stiff.
He shifted, trying to sit up.
Crack.
He froze.
That wasn't him.
Somewhere behind. Or to the left?
He pressed his back to the wall, breathing in slow, shallow bursts. The cave wasn't silent anymore. Something was moving.
Something with... paws?
Scraaaape... thud. Thud.
He squinted. A shape began to take form, moving clumsily in the dark. It stepped into the thin shaft of moonlight leaking from a crack above.
Arjun blinked twice.
The creature was… ugly.
Shorter than he expected, maybe four and a half feet tall. Broad. Fat in a powerful, muscular kind of way. Like a troll wrestler. Its skin was a splotchy mess of bruised purple and dead grey. Covered in bumps. Two curled teeth stuck out of its bottom jaw like bent forks, and it had no nose. Just holes. Its eyes were black, wet, and full of enthusiasm.
It sniffed the air and grunted.
"Oh, please," Arjun whispered. "Please be a vegetarian."
The creature's ears perked.
Wrong move.
It turned with a gleeful little snarl.
Then it charged.
"NOPE!"
Arjun rolled sideways, wincing as his leg screamed in protest. The creature slammed into the wall where he'd been lying, cracking stone with a bone-jarring thud.
"I just woke up!" Arjun yelled. "Give me five minutes and a coffee, at least!"
He crawled, fast as he could, using his elbows to push himself across gravel and stone. Then — his hand hit something cold. Something metallic.
He looked down.
A gun.
Shiny. Big. Serious-looking.
Next to it: a dusty military-style pouch, the flap half open. Inside — dozens of brass-tipped bullets.
Arjun's face lit up.
"Sweet merciful action movie karma," he muttered, grabbing it. "Alright, beastie. Let's see how you like Hollywood justice."
He pointed the gun. Stared down the barrel like he'd seen in a dozen movies.
Click.
Nothing.
The beast turned. Smiled.
"Okay," Arjun said, "plot twist."
Click. Click. He pressed the trigger again. Nothing. Still nothing. He smacked the side of the gun, flipped it, blew on it like it was a Nintendo cartridge.
"I swear this thing worked in every movie ever."
The beast lumbered closer.
"Look, man—ugly beast—whatever you are. Give me a second to figure this out and I promise I'll make your death hilarious."
The beast crouched. Readied.
Arjun fumbled. He opened the pouch, pulled a bullet, tried to stuff it into the barrel.
It didn't fit.
"WHY DO YOU HAVE RULES?!"
He yanked the top of the gun. Nothing budged. The safety switch? Where was it? He poked every button, switch, and edge.
The beast paused.
Then—very slowly—it walked up to him.
Arjun flinched back, holding the gun like a club.
The beast raised one thick finger, grunted.
It reached forward… and clicked off the safety.
Then tapped the chamber. Twice. Thunk-thunk.
Arjun blinked.
"You're… you're helping me?"
The beast stepped back. Crossed its arms. Waited.
Arjun inserted a bullet into the chamber — incorrectly.
The beast slapped its own face. Grunted, pointed again.
He corrected it.
The bullet clicked in.
He took a breath. Raised the gun.
"Okay. This is insane. But here we go."
BOOM.
The shot exploded through the cave, the sound ricocheting off the walls like thunder in a tin can.
The bullet missed the beast by a mile.
It blew a hole in the rock behind.
Dust fell.
A tiny piece of cave ceiling dropped onto Arjun's head.
The beast… blinked.
Then grinned.
And let out a bellowing roar.
"No! Wait! I thought we were having a moment!"
It charged.
Arjun dove sideways, leg dragging like a broken puppet. He skidded through dust, fumbled the gun.
"WHY DID YOU TEACH ME IF YOU WERE JUST GONNA KILL ME?!"
The beast leaped.
Arjun screamed.
"The Thing That Teaches You to Kill It"
The beast roared—and the cave shook.
Arjun didn't even scream this time. He was too busy running for his life, limping at top speed while gripping the Desert Eagle like it was made of solid gold.
"WHY DID YOU TEACH ME IF YOU WERE JUST GONNA KILL ME AFTER?!" he shouted behind him.
WHAM!
The monster crashed into a pillar of stone just behind him, tearing it clean in half. Dust exploded around them. Rocks tumbled down like hail.
Arjun dove, rolled, landed on his bad leg and howled in pain. "AGHH MY STUPID EVERYTHING!"
The beast skidded around, jaws snapping, grey muscles flexing like slabs of meat. It looked almost gleeful now.
Arjun staggered behind a broken column. He peeked around and—
BOOM!
Fired.
The bullet grazed the creature's shoulder—finally a hit.
It roared, more out of insult than pain, and smashed through the rock.
Arjun bolted down a side tunnel, the beast right behind him.
Footsteps thundered. Claws scratched. Rocks flew.
Every turn, Arjun stumbled, dodged, fired, missed. The recoil nearly threw the gun out of his hands every time.
"Okay! Okay! That one should've hit! You are HACKING, bro!"
The tunnel opened up into a narrow cavern—stalagmites rising like jagged shark teeth. Arjun ducked low, weaving between them. Behind him, the beast tried to follow but slammed its side on a spike.
Arjun turned and fired again.
BOOM.
A direct hit to the chest.
The beast stumbled back, growled in rage, not pain.
"I shot your chest! That's illegal! You're supposed to die when I do that!"
Now the beast was pissed.
It charged again.
Arjun had one move left.
He waited.
Waited.
The beast leapt.
And at the last second—
Arjun dropped low.
The monster flew past him—straight into a spike that drove up through its shoulder.
It howled in real pain this time, twisting, blood spraying the wall.
Arjun stood, panting. "Yeah. That's right. Team Leg Injury still wins."
He took aim again, point blank.
"Say hello to my little fri—"
THUNK.
An arrow.
Out of nowhere.
Straight into his already-injured leg.
He screamed, fell hard on his side, the gun flying from his hands.
The world spun.
Pain shot through every nerve in his body.
He gasped.
Looked up.
The beast was crawling back off the spike.
Still alive.
Behind him… someone had fired that arrow.
Someone watching.
Someone else was here.
Arjun's hand reached out—just an inch from the gun—
Darkness crept in from the edge of his eyes.
And then—
Blackout.