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The Dark City: Canyon of Death

You've been under the water for some time now; the walls of the city are very thick. You're almost to your limit when you finally see the light from the moon appear. You gasp for air as you come up for a breath, no longer trapped under the water. The air trapped in your backpack creates for you a floatation device, so you undo the straps and grab hold of it in front of you. The water is moving wildly fast, slamming you into the wall as it turns left and right and causing you to plunge in and out of the water as you freefall down the steep slopes of pipe. You're starting to get the hang of keeping afloat when the water starts to slow down and dissipate, eventually setting you to a halt. With only two inches of water trickling down the pipe, you stand up and turn to look back at the city.

You stand there not in awe, but rather in fearful veneration. This monolithic city before you evokes inside you a fear like no other. Time has played a cruel prank on this city; turning it into a demon infested wasteland. The tall black walls look like they were spawned straight out of the ground from hell itself. The mountain behind it only adding to the effect as the auburn moon peeks out from behind it. You shudder and gulp for some air, "I am never going back there...never again."

You turn towards the lake, which doesn't provide you any more comfort. It's just as dark and menacing as the city behind you. But you must continue. You walk briskly down the piping, not looking back. Knowing the true horrors that are just beyond the city walls, you decide to put as much distance between it and you. It's about another quarter mile to the lake when the piping underneath your feet starts to vibrate. You stand there a moment, thinking it's just your nerve, but it's not. You kneel down and feel the metal with your paw, but then it stops. You turn around and your eyes widen. A large amount of water is rocketing towards you. You only have time enough to stand before the water engulfs you completely. The blast from the water almost tears your respirator off, but you manage to secure it and grab hold of your backpack again as you float back up to the top of the water. The end of the pipe is coming up fast and you can't tell how far down the drop is to the lake, but you know it's not something you want to endure. You barely make out a building with railings next to the end of the pipe. That building is for sure to have an exit down to the ground, but you're still moving very fast. It's your only option other than falling an unknown distance to the lake.

'Oh, this is gonna hurt...' you think to yourself. The railing is coming up. You lock your right arm to the railing, which pulls your shoulder out of socket, dislocating it. Pop! Excruciating pain emanates from your shoulder as you hang on for dear life. The only thing keeping your arm from ripping off is the muscle in it. You can't pull yourself up with the water moving so fast; so you wait. The water finally starts slowing down; and finally recedes down the pipe and into the lake. You let go of the railing and roll back down on to the middle of pipe, holding your shoulder; it's still in a lot of pain. When you regain your breath after a short while, you sit up and in one quick motion you set your shoulder back in place. Pop! You fall back down on your side in agony and lay there still breathing heavy. From the last flow of water you guess it's about thirty minutes before it releases the pressure valves again, but you don't chance it. You get up and climb over the railing and on to the deck next to the building. It's a simple little building with one wooden door facing the pipe. You turn the knob and push it open, but the hinges come off the frame and the door falls all the way down the middle of the building, shattering into bits as it hits the ground. "Well, so much for not making any noise." The building has a spiral wooden staircase that leads to the ground. The wood is in much better condition from it being out of the weather. You slowly take each step all the way to the bottom and open the door at the bottom which manages to stay intact as you exit the building.

Free at last. Free from that evil city and the darkness within. But where will you go? This is the only place you've known. You've heard talk of it being warmer to the south and since that was the direction you've been heading away from the city anyways; you decide to go south. You trail alongside the lake and make your way to a distant pathway in between two cliffs. It's still dark, but you can still see quite well. When you arrive at the pathway, it seems more like a crevice in between a mountain; perhaps split apart by an earthquake. It is only about 10 feet wide at any one point and the walls of rock span up a couple hundred feet. You don't like it, but it's the only way out except for heading north and then west around the mountain. You haven't gotten this far just to turn back now, so you venture forth into the path.

As you walk deeper down the path, it gets darker and that sets you on edge. Every noise you make seems to be amplified by the walls of the canyon. You tread further and further, you look back and the entrance from the lake can't be seen. 'This was a bad idea, I should have waited in that building until sunrise,' you say to yourself, but you keep moving. The further you get into the canyon the darker it seems to get. You breathing has become erratic, so you take the respirator off to catch your breath and you lean against a boulder to take a break. Not watching where you placing your hand, you accidentally knock off a rock setting atop the boulder and it slams on to the ground sending the sound echoing through the canyon.

Your eyes widen and your heart starts to race. You can feel pulse of your heart in your head. All is quiet...too quiet. The wind even seems to have stopped and the same sound is heard again. You look around, but it wasn't you this time. The sound came from the north. You take cover behind the boulder you were leaning on and peek out from behind it. You can hear the dirt being tossed around from each step as it comes closer. Whatever it was, it was walking on all fours. You take the knife from the bag and strap the bag tight around your back. The gun would certainly make too much noise in this canyon. And running would alert whatever was coming this way. So you stand your ground...but the sound stops. You peek out further from the rock, but see nothing. You stand up, and just as you turn to look to the south...you see the red eyes. Screech!!! The same loud pitch screaming you heard before was now emanating through the canyon. But this scream was different. It was much deeper than before. You can't make out what it is but you can see the glowing red eyes darting towards you. It makes a flying leap, but you dart to the side just as the creature smashes into the rock you were leaning on. This creature was short but not lacking in teeth. It had black fur and its head was disproportionate to its size. It looked like a feral panther, but its head was twice as big, and twice as powerful. You get up and take off to the south, running as fast as your sight will allow. You can see the moonlight. But the panther is right on you, matching your speed. You're almost to the very edge when your foot catches a rock. You fall down and roll out of the canyon coming to a stop on your back just past the exit. You look up and the panther is in mid-air. You grab your knife and hold it on front of you, but it drops to the ground on its side right at your feet. It's not moving. You stand up and look at the beast. There's blood coming from its head. It looks like a bullet wound. You look around, but there's no one there. 'The blood must have gone to his head from the boulder he hit earlier' you think. You decide not stay and see if it wakes up.

So you continue to walk south past the "Canyon of Death" you decide to call it, but something is bothering you. It was too much of a coincidence for that panther to just croak over and die like that. Something isn't right. You open your bag and toss the knife in and retrieve the gun. You throw the bag back over your shoulder and continue to walk, but you can't help this feeling...this feeling that you're being watched.