A Chance to Live

Chapter 1: Undead

     We call it... the Indoraptor!

Silence. Or is it that ringing?

I can't place it.

Why can't I think?!

Wait, why can I?

"What in the..." My mind couldn't quite process the scene before me. Light filled the cracks in my eyes, almost blinding me. The darkness split apart and faded, my eyes refocusing on the floor below me. The blood had pooled around the base of the plaque in a grotesque mess.

The cold drops of water from the sky dribbled along my hide and mixed with the blood. It also entered the cracks between my flesh and the ivory stakes, and strangely felt comforting.

How I even felt this was what really baffled me.

The situation I found myself in was less than desirable, but at least I was alive. That's what it felt like, my skin soaking in the water and air as if starved of its contents. Ironically, they were the only two things that I was far from empty of.

I remained stock still, muscles tense, still trying to come to terms with what I realized.

I was still alive. Somehow, by a miracle, my body was able to absorb the damage of the fall without losing total vitality. Although, it didn't come without a price. A bony pole had pierced its way through the base of my neck, and a second at my hips. My body shivered, my mind numb from the extreme blood loss. This was worse than death, for I felt I had no way to escape my position, my arms and legs aching beyond functionality.

A part of me just wanted to lay there and die. My mind had already done a quick clear of any thoughts in my head just before I blacked out, waiting for the icy grip of death himself. It would almost be relaxing to just forget it all and close my eyes, to drift into an eternal slumber.

"It's settled," I thought. The best course of action was no action at all. I tilted my head back, contempt to have my final rest be in peace. This world had nothing for me and wanted nothing to do with me, and if that was my fate, then so be it. The flashing lights of blue, the judging stares, the cries of pain from my own throat; it all seemed so distant now.

But as I looked up above, something stopped me. The gaping hole in the roof gave a view of the sky, and I noticed that the falling water had ceased. The sounds of crackling droplets of rain was replaced with thick silence.

In a beautiful fashion, the sky was lit up with hundreds of little dots, so many that I couldn't even count them. They seemed blurred together in my eyes as I gazed in awe at them, which only made it look like more of a work of art I had scarcely ever seen.

As I observed the sky, the air became filled with sounds that I didn't know the source of. Rapid high pitched clicks and thin sounds of friction danced in my ears, creating a chorus of musical sounds unique to the things that made them. My mind wandered off, projecting images of vast and gorgeous expanses into my eyes, leading me to wonder how big the outside world really was. It seemed like it wanted me to explore it, to discover it, like it was calling to me.

I couldn't die just yet. I didn't want to leave without at least trying. A new resolve took hold of my arms, and they reached up to grasp the edge of the horns holding my body hostage.

My claws traced over deep markings at the tips, and I managed to remember when I had scratched them in. I was taunting my prey, acting oblivious to their feeble attempts to hide. The smell of fear increased dramatically when that small box blared like an alarm, and I jumped down to chase them a little, not too hard, until they thought they were safe again. I don't know why I enjoyed it so dearly, maybe because it felt nice to give them a sample of what I'd experienced at their own hands.