Wild

Chapter 26

"Ow...." he groaned quietly, feeling the cold mask pressing harshly against his face. Something sharp was digging into his side, just under his ribs. It made it hard to pull air into his lungs.

Dream slowly shifted his arms, hoping to bring them underneath himself to move away from the sharp object. But he didn't get further than the thought, letting out a hiss when his muscles refused to move. The sore limbs screamed in protest when he commanded them to move.

He let out a desperate gasp of air, shifting to press his forehead against the ground. He heard the polished mask grind sharply against the ground, surely leaving a mark. But he didn't care, not when his body refused to obey him. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut when he tried to move again, clenching his teeth against the painfully screaming muscles.

He let his body fall limp, letting out a hopeless sob in the echoing silence around him. The ground was cold, seeping what little warmth he had out of his body. He couldn't move, not a muscle in his body was responding to him. The most he could do was shift his head, and even that wasn't helping with how displaced his mask was.

He tried to control his breathing, keeping the breaths as deep as he could with the stabbing pain. But it wasn't helping, nothing was helping! He was stuck, betrayed by the one thing he always relied on; his body. He felt his breath quickening, eyes still squeezed shut against the cold world.

But just as he felt the lightheaded flooding his head, a noise cut through the silence. "Dream! Sapnap! Anybody!?" it was distant, barely breaking through the fog of panic, but he heard it.

Dream let out a grunt of pain, forcing his head to move enough to dislodge his mask. The dirtied white mask slipped off his head, falling to the cold stone floor. It rolled in place, swaying back and forth as it settled.

He let out a rough cough, feeling the cloud of dust fly up into his face as he disturbed it. His dirt caked blond hair fell loosely from the band he wore pinning it back, casting a halo of darkness on his face. Dream grimaced as his neck grew tired of holding his head up, forcing him to lay face down on the cold stone floor.

"Dream! Where are you!?"

Dream growled in frustration, hearing the panic clear in his friend's voice. Of course he was panicking, it was a miracle in its own that he wasn't crushed by any stray rocks in the cave. He took a deep breath, feeling where his arms were. One more push, one more try to get his body moving.

The borrower let out a growl as he pushed his last bit of energy into moving, urging his arms to plant underneath him. That's when something in his body snapped, life rushing back into him. His arms followed his urging, laying palm down on the ground and pushing him up from his limp position.

He nearly cried in relief, finally able to sit up. He pushed himself back against a nearby rock, resting his back against it. His mask laid at his feet, disregard for the time being. He couldn't see much from his vantage point, surrounded by loose rocks and boulders. But what he could see was the flickering torch light on the wall. He must have landed in one of the tunnels with the wall torches lit.

But it didn't look like enough light for the whole tunnel to be lit up, not like the one they came down in. no, this must be one of the other tunnels they hadn't gone in yet. That might make getting back to the surface a little harder.

"Sapnap! Talk to me!" George's voice echoed back again, heavily muffled by the rubble.
Dream was just about to attempt a reply when someone beat him to it, cutting him off with the noise of shifting gravel just a few feet away. "I'm ok! Stop yelling..." the voice yelled back, a distinct tired slur in their voice.

Dream instinctively ducked his head down, realizing the other human must be in the same cave he landed in. his body was still moving slowly, recovering from the brutal fall he must've taken during the cave in. but he still managed to push himself to his feet, stumbling only slightly on shaky legs.