Kamcy

  I snapped awake with a sharp gasp, my heart thudding so violently it felt like it might crack my ribs from the inside.

  The scream died in my throat before it could escape.

  My hand flew to my mouth, cmping down hard as memory flooded back in a nauseating rush—the forest, the water, the teeth, the blue glow, the crushing grip. My whole body trembled as I y there, frozen, listening. Every sound felt amplified: the rustle of leaves, the distant trickle of water, the slow, uneven rhythm of my breathing.

  The monster could still be nearby.

  I stayed perfectly still for several seconds, barely daring to inhale, waiting for the heavy thuds that would mean it had heard me. When nothing came, I slowly lowered my hand and forced myself to breathe quietly through my nose.

  Then I turned my head.

  Just like before, my body y nearby.

  But this time… it wasn't what I expected.

  I had braced myself for gore—split flesh, exposed organs, the wet, obscene mess I'd seen st time. Instead, what I saw made my skin crawl in a completely different way.

  My corpse looked wrong.

  It was frozen mid-motion, twisted as if it had tried to crawl away in its final moments. The surface of its skin wasn't skin at all anymore—it had the dull, uneven texture of stone. Gray, lifeless, cracked in pces like poorly sculpted marble. Blood stains were still visible, but they were dried and locked in pce, as if painted onto a statue in the same colour as my deceased body.

  Slowly, carefully, I crawled closer.

  My fingers shook as I reached out and tapped its arm.

  Cck.

  The sound echoed unnaturally loud to my ears.

  Stone.

  I recoiled instantly, scrambling backward, my heart hammering all over again. My stomach churned as understanding settled in. Whatever that thing had done to me—whatever it had drained—hadn't just killed me.

  It had emptied me of something vital, though of what I didn't know.

  I backed away further, not wanting to linger near the water's edge. The memory of teeth closing around my arm was still too fresh, too vivid. But the forest behind me wasn't an option either. Not after st night. Not after it.

  So I stopped in the open space between both horrors.

  I sat down heavily, curling in on myself, arms wrapped around my knees as I forced my racing thoughts into some kind of order. Panic wouldn't help me. Screaming wouldn't help me. Dying again definitely wouldn't help me.

  I looked around and guessed it was mid-afternoon. Checking the HUD, I confirmed my guess.

  2:30.

  Earlier, when I'd woken up before… it had been morning.

  So time passed after each death.

  That was important.

  I filed it away mentally, my thoughts moving faster now that the initial terror had dulled. I needed patterns. Rules. Anything solid in a pce that clearly thrived on breaking them.

  The vomiting earlier… that still bothered me.

  I frowned, remembering how violently my body had reacted. I couldn't remember the st time I'd thrown up. Hunger, pain, exhaustion—none of that had ever happened to me since my digitisation. And yet here, my body reacted like it was human. Fragile. Weak.

  Was this "map"—this pce—designed just for my punishment?

  Or was it repurposed for such? I leaned more toward the tter.

  I exhaled slowly.

  The presence of a crocodile, birds, bears… it all pointed to something familiar. Earth-inspired. A twisted reflection, maybe, but not something built entirely from scratch just for me. That would've taken time.

  Unless…

  Time dition.

  The thought clicked into pce with uncomfortable ease.

  The first time I'd been here, I'd been punished with six months of isotion. When I returned, Mr. Adeyemi had been wearing the same clothes. Same posture. Same damn expression. Back then I'd dismissed it—maybe coincidence, maybe repetition—but now?

  No. None of that mattered at the moment.

  The monster must be far off. By how much, I didn't know.

  Which meant waiting things out blindly was dangerous.

  I rubbed my face and forced myself to focus on what mattered now.

  The monster.

  I couldn't fight it. That much was obvious. I hadn't even seen it properly before it killed me the first time, and the second time it had toyed with me like a child breaking apart an insect.

  Too fast to outrun.

  Too strong to overpower.

  And in daylight… blind.

  It seemed to hunt by sound.

  That expined everything—well, something at least.

  It expined the way it reacted to water movement. The way it froze when nothing made noise. The massive eye wasn't useful in daytime—then there was something else. Something I didn't want to think too hard about yet.

  The blue energy…

  I swallowed.

  Whatever it was, losing it turned living things into statues.

  I forced myself to breathe steadily and began listing priorities, grounding myself in action before fear swallowed me whole again.

  First: I needed shelter before nightfall. At night, it could see—or at least hunt more effectively.

  Second: noise was death. Every movement mattered.

  Third: I needed a weapon. Not for the monster—at least for the illusion of protection—and, most importantly, for food.

  Fourth: food and water. Water especially. I couldn't keep risking my life at the river. Besides, I could survive longer on water.

  Fifth: no fire. Light and smoke—any of it could attract attention in the dead of night, so it was better I bore with the cold nights.

  Sixth: find a pce to hide. Preferably something enclosed. A cave, if I was lucky. Stay hidden until time ran out. Only move when absolutely necessary.

  I nodded to myself.

  A pn—fragile, incomplete—but better than nothing.

  I stood, legs stiff, and began walking along the riverbank, careful to pce each step slowly. The forest loomed to my left, water to my right. I kept to the middle, eyes scanning constantly.

  Then I heard it.

  Water crashing—not chaotic, but steady.

  A waterfall.

  Hope surged so suddenly it almost hurt.

  I followed the sound, crouching low as I approached. The waterfall came into view, white water spilling down a rocky face into the river below. Mist filled the air, masking sound, masking scent.

  And behind it—

  A cave.

  I nearly ughed.

  If Lady Luck were real, I would've kissed her right there.

  I circled carefully, inspecting the entrance. Dark. Narrow enough to limit access. Damp, but dry further in. The smell hit me next—sharp, acrid.

  Guano.

  Bat cave.

  I grimaced, but I wasn't picky.

  This was shelter. Real shelter.

  I stepped inside cautiously, eyes adjusting slowly to the dim light filtering in from the waterfall. Shapes shifted overhead—bats, dozens of them, clinging to the ceiling. They stirred at my presence but didn't flee.

  Good.

  I could work with this.

  Water was solved. Shelter was solved. Food could wait until morning.

  Exhaustion hit me all at once.

  I sat down against the cave wall, my back pressed to cold stone. I drank from the stream that ran just outside the cave, careful this time, measured. Then I closed my eyes, intending only to rest.

  Sleep took me instantly.

  I woke up shivering.

  Pitch bck.

  My heart jumped into my throat before I forced myself to stay quiet. I checked the HUD again.

  With a quick mental calcution, I surmised it was 4:30 a.m.

  Early morning. Cold enough that my breath fogged faintly in the darkness. I hugged myself tighter, teeth chattering softly despite my efforts.

  That's when I noticed them.

  Movement above.

  The bats shifted, restless, clinging tighter to the ceiling. Their tiny bodies rustled, wings twitching nervously.

  Then—

  ROAAAR.

  The sound ripped through the night like thunder.

  Every bat exploded into motion at once, shrieking as they poured out of the cave in a bck wave. I flinched, my heart hammering, and crawled forward despite myself, peering out just far enough to see.

  The monster stood in the clearing.

  And it wasn't alone.

  Bears.

  Five of them.

  Massive shapes moving together, snarling, circling. For a moment, my brain rejected the sight entirely. Bears didn't do that. Bears didn't coordinate like that.

  And yet… here they were.

  They charged.

  The monster met them head-on.

  What followed was less a fight and more a sughter.

  It grabbed the first bear and smashed it into the ground with such force that the earth shook. Bones shattered audibly. Another lunged, only to be swatted aside like a nuisance, its body crumpling mid-air.

  Then the monster seized one.

  Its mouth opened.

  Blue light fred.

  I watched in horrified silence as the same energy streamed out of the bear, its roars turning weak, then stopping entirely. Its body stiffened, gray spreading rapidly until it dropped—solid, lifeless stone.

  The monster repeated the process.

  Again.

  And again.

  Five bears reduced to silence.

  Only the one that had been smashed apart remained unpetrified, torn open and bleeding into the dirt.

  The monster threw its head back and roared into the sky, part of its grotesque head glowing faintly before it turned and vanished into the forest.

  I didn't move for a long time.

  Then I nodded slowly.

  Whatever that thing was… it had forced predators to band together.

  And still won easily.

  Avoidance wasn't optional.

  It was survival.

  But it had also just hunted for me.

  I waited until morning.

  When the light returned, I would take what scraps I could, quietly, gratefully.

  For now, I leaned back against the cave wall.

  And fell asleep.