'Damn! That was close.'
Sleeper had just swung one of its arms at Bird; he could feel the wind caress his back. A near miss, Sleeper stumbled and lost some distance on the two before getting back to its full speed. Leonis was just ahead of Bird, climbing through a smaller opening. Bird followed shortly after, squeezing through much faster than the grown man had.
'That should create a little distance.'
Bird glanced back to see how much distance they had gained, but Sleeper did not fall behind. Actually, he had gotten closer.
'What!? How is he closer? I am sure he was slower than us before.'
Sleeper had jumped directly toward the small opening, but instead of colliding with the walls, his body deflated in mid-air, threading the needle and flying through the opening. Right before landing, Sleeper's body inflated back to its original shape and continued the chase, slowly closing their gap.
Bird and Leonis had been very well rested because of Sleeper's foggy spell. Thanks to this rest, both of them were easily outrunning the slow creature. That was until they had to squeeze through another opening. This time, Bird peeked behind him and was stunned. He witnessed the strange circus act Sleeper was performing to get through the opening. Sleeper had managed to gain more distance on them than he had last time. He was catching up.
Seeing as the strange duo was running through the sandstone cave, being chased by the six-armed horror, it was safe to say the plan had failed. But not entirely, Bird had still managed to partially blind Sleeper. Even if it was clear from how Sleeper was moving that it had not been enough to fully dull his precision, maybe the blindness was enough to fool his senses.
After leaping through the previous opening, Sleeper had been an arm's length away from Bird and a little further from Leonis. The two quickly started to outpace Sleeper before reaching the next opening. Sleeper leaped through the opening, inflated, and swiped at Bird's back. Bird desperately dived forward. Three of Sleeper's spikey fingers had barely reached Bird's back. They ripped through his flesh like butter.
Bird let out a feral scream that echoed off the bleak cave walls. His back was burning, throbbing. Pain he had never felt before, much worse than when he stabbed his thigh. His mind screamed the same words over and over.
'MOVE.'
Through all of the agony, Bird knew he had to move. He couldn't sit still. If he didn't move, he would feel far greater pain than being sliced. With this thought process, Bird continued to push forward. Back aching, legs heavy, he kept moving. In front of him was the next opening. This opening was small, like the rest, vertically high, and proved to be a tight squeeze. Leonis was about to slip through the opening when Bird growled at him.
"The knife! Throw me the knife!"
Leonis had already been turned towards Bird due to his scream of agony. Without hesitation, Leonis tossed the knife to Bird and then slipped through the vertical opening. The knife spun through the air, hurdling towards Bird, who was also hurdling towards it. Without time to think about how he would catch the knife, he reached his hand out and firmly closed it upon feeling the knife's contact. Two of his fingers felt a numbing tug before adjusting his grip on the knife. He then slipped through the vertical opening.
Sleeper flexed two of its hind arms, leaped through the air, and deflated most of its body. The deflated Sleeper flew through the opening just like before. However, after slipping through the opening, Bird quickly positioned himself to the left of the crevice. He clasped the knife with both hands and waited anxiously for Sleeper to come flying through.
The moment Sleeper could be seen, Bird thrust the knife forward, inserting it into the flying Sleeper. Sleeper's momentum carried him through the air and allowed the knife to cut through his deflated body with ease. The knife moved through Sleeper like butter.
Sleeper's body did not inflate. Instead, it fell to the ground with a fleshy thud. Its body twitched on the ground. One of its arms reached out for Bird, its fingers spread open like it was trying to grab him.
'What is it doing?'
As if the Cone was answering his question, a thick white fog slowly rolled into the room. But the fog wasn't white; it was black and very visible now.
"Hell no."
Bird didn't need his instincts to tell him that this fog would kill him. But right as he said that, Sleeper's arm started to slowly recede to the ground, its fingers slowly grasping the air. The ominous black fog gradually dissipated.
Sleeper was dead.
Bird looked at Sleeper's dead body and let out a sigh, relaxing his own body. The adrenaline had made him momentarily forget about the three gaping slashes running down his back. This sigh of relief brought all of the pain back to the surface of his mind. The pain exceeded all of his mental fortitude and pain tolerance.
Bird screamed. Eventually, he crouched on the floor and began breathing heavily. Sometimes his breath would be interrupted by foul grunts and moans. Leonis tried to approach him, but Bird shooed him away.
"Back up!"
Bird yelled again. Bird's screams didn't deter Leonis.
"Lie on your stomach."
Bird continued to struggle on the floor. It was clear Bird's mind was out of sorts. Leonis grabbed him and spun him around. He then took his tattered clothes off and started applying pressure to the wound. The wound wasn't deadly. Sleeper had only taken a good chunk of flesh with him. Luckily, Leonis was tending to the wound, trying to stop the Bleeding. Bird slowly calmed his breathing as much as he could and let Leonis wrap his body.
Even though the situation was grim, both of them felt rather relieved. They were safe. They had killed Sleeper and were now free from the fog. Leonis continued to tend to Bird's wounds. Leonis decided they would stay in the cave to let Bird's back heal. Travel would be near impossible with such a wound.
A couple of days had passed, and Bird was not getting better. He was actually getting worse. His malnutrition only grew, eating him on the inside. His back didn't seem to get much better either; the blood had stopped for the most part, but the pain only grew. Leonis looked at Bird with pity and sorrow. Bird would die at this rate. Leonis knew this.
Bird watched as Leonis finally took Sleeper's body and thought.
'Food. Finally, food.'
Leonis did not start to cut the abomination up. Instead, he started to wring the deflated abomination like a towel. Leonis did not have a cup to pour the blood in. But that did not matter; Leonis was drinking the blood. He gulped down a few mouthfuls and then looked towards Bird. Bird stared back and noticed Leonis looked faintly brighter. Leonis started to walk towards him with the abomination in hand. Leonis, with a determined look, ordered Bird.
"Open wide."
Bird looked at Leonis and then groaned.
"What?"
Leonis continued to push.
"Open your mouth its the only way."
Bird thought for a moment and then coughed.
"No. I'm not drinking blood. I am already dehydrated as is."
Leonis looked at Bird and then started to force his mouth open with one hand and started to squeeze Sleeper's body with the other.
"WAIT! I CAN JUST DRINK THE ICE."
Leonis didn't stop. The blood rained into Bird's mouth, and Leonis forced him to swallow it. The blood tasted foreign, but felt comforting. In a sudden jolt, Bird felt his existence start to shake.
"What the hell did you do to me!"