Pressed against the ragged, stone cliff in the unfamiliar dark; deafening echoes– like thunder, clap his hands to his ears in desperation. Shaking to the core, the low, eviscerating tone alters his heartbeat forever, as his once broad chest, now heavy and bulbous, pins him down to the ground.
The only light from a distance, dim and unnatural, draws his attention for a moment before inexplicably fading away. He has no memory of this place or how he got here, as a cold wind stirs his now unrecognizable, blue eyes to the scourged, mottled skin of his bare, bloodied body. The smell thick of putrid steak is almost a taste.
Gagging, vomit explodes from his mouth and nose, the riotous force of the purge dislodging him from the creviced rock that had been a safe, temporary perch. Flesh tearing from his backside, he hits the ground with a groan, like a slap in the face reality returns. “Where is she?** What have I done?” Tears slide down his cheeks, an issuance of overwhelming remorse that catch his breath between his teeth. Drafting the musty air through his nostrils, his stomach aches with emptiness, as a subtle movement in the distance catches his eye.
Blinking, eerily aware of what looks like undecipherable shadows . . . chills course his spine as the vision transfigures into a massive wave of men and women, writhing against each other. Their bodies only recognizable through their movements and the whites of their eyes immobilizes him as the very earth quakes.
He watches as they smash their neighbors between enormous, burdensome boulders, rolling with the force of an unextinguishable breath, the consequence of the horde’s naked toil pitches him forward with fear. The sound of the boulders crushing bones, is deafening.
Hands clasped to his head again, unable to comprehend this madness, the congregation continues a never-ending fight for hierarchy. His once handsome face distorts while the unforgiving ground around him, smattered with rock and blood, smells of iron and rot as he steals himself backward instinctively. But the rock behind him etches into his flesh, a moan escapes uncontrollably before he instantly retracts, conscribed by fear.
As if a bell were rung, the mob stops in unison, distinctly aware of him. The dark cavern fills with their mortifying silence. Gasping, he scatters with propulsion. But his movements draw their eyes; hungry and full of greed they move as an infernal murmuration. The mob, now ignited, rolls towards him.
Zig-zagging like a madman, the putrid air clinging to his skin, he forges headlong into the abyss before him.
The horde behind is unrelenting, advancing at hyper speed, they grow closer with each blink; the reverberation of the boulders maddening.
Refocusing, every ounce of strength on a flickering light in the distance, the warbling reflection grows thankfully closer by the second before enormous rocks of all sizes explode on either side of him like grenades. Dodging left and right, driven by the spark of mortality he is now inches away from a slow-moving river, as a car-sized boulder crashes at his feet; the taste of bone and rock shattering his teeth, bears him to the ground.