Inevitability, part 1
Inevitability, pt. 1
He awoke to a chilling darkness. For just a moment, he panicked, until he remembered the chemical-light sticks in his backpack. As he was about to activate it, a sound caught his attention. It was a long, low sound that to him seemed to convey a sense of mourning; despair for the present, and regret for the past. It was similar to the cries of a creature in pain, though it was only the wind.
"Don't be so stupid," he though to himself. "It's only the wind." He reached into his backpack, and brought out one of the chem.-light sticks. Cracking the stick, a sickly green glow flooded the cavern. At once a flood of memories from the night before washed over his mind. As his mind scrambled to make order from the chaotic jumble of his memories, he found himself reliving the events of the past day.
He was sitting on the couch in his living room, watching the news of the day, when he felt the whole house begin to rumble. He was, at first, not disturbed, as he lived near the railroad tracks, and the trains passing caused the same thing to happen. However, he noticed a strange odor on the air, an acrid smell, one of fire, or gun powder. Time seemed to speed up; with one even instantaneously happening after the previous had ended. The electricity went out, and the house was plunged into darkness. Looking through a window, he saw a faint reddish-orange glow coming from near the center of town. Through the open window, the piercing sounds of screams drifted in. Some were screams of pain, but overwhelmingly they were the screams of ancient, primordial fear. As his brain gave orders, his body responded. His heartbeat increased, his pupils widened, adrenaline began to course through his veins. Acting only on instinct and habit, he grabbed the backpack full of camping gear he kept by the front door, and fled. He ran out into the streets, and from there, into the woods not far from his home. He ran, mindlessly, instinctively, stopping only to pick himself up when he tripped over an exposed root. He ran for miles, adrenaline fueling his body. Just as he neared complete exhaustion, he was there. The place his subconscious mind guided his body to while his conscious mind was temporarily gone; a cave. It was not just a random cave; it had a sheer rock face fifteen feet high right below the entrance, it was also one in which he had rested before, on a hiking trip from two years past.
As his subconscious began to retreat into the unfathomable depths of his own mind, and his conscious returned from its sabbatical, he realized it was raining. Knowing the cave would be safe, he began to carefully pick his way up the face. When he had pulled himself over the edge into the shelter offered by the cave, the fear induced adrenaline had worn off; and in response, a sharp pain began to register itself on the palm of his right paw. He though out loud "Those rocks are sharp! One of them must've cut me while I was climbing, odd that my fur didn't stop it, though. Ah well, it's not deep enough to worry about." And with that, he crawled deeper into the cave, and fell asleep. That night he dreamt of electric sheep.