WHAT THE FUCK!!!?? That was the thought running through Adam’s mind as he raced through dense foliage, running for his life and doing his best to not trip on any roots or vines hidden along the forest floor. He was agile and fit enough to run through the undergrowth, something he owed to his previous tenure in the marines and the regimen of daily exercise he had kept to after he got out.

It was dark even with the bright moonlight filtering through the canopy above and the underbrush was thick while visibility was low, running through a forest in the dark wasn’t the best decision but the dinosaur chasing him was getting closer and closer each second. A goddamns dinosaur! It was extremely similar in looks to raptors he had seen in the Jurassic park movies as a kid. But the creature was more terrifying. It was huge, almost 5m tall and it had a large blocky head with elongated jaws like a crocodile but with rows of razor-sharp teeth and from the glimpses he had caught while looking back, each tooth was as big as his palm. Its body was relatively smaller compared to its head and more compact but with dense muscles lining its chest and abdomen. Its arms were comically small (I’d be laughing if I wasn’t running for my life) and weak looking compared to the rest of its features but the arms ended in wicked talons almost as long as his forearms. The legs were almost thrice as long as its body and they looked extremely powerful and was using those same legs to eat up the distance between the creature and him. Oh! and the legs ended in a wicked set of talons just like its arms. Fuckin great! And even though thing was clearly not running at full speed, the monstrosity was gaining on him. It was enjoying this hunt. He could infer that from the way the creature kept running out of sight before coming out of the trees closer than it had been before. It was having fun, it knew it could catch him in seconds and yet was content to slowly close the gap, like a sadistic killer enjoying the thrill of the hunt.

Nope! Nope! Nope! nope!!, Adam thought as he sped up. Can’t be worrying about twisting ankles if I end up as dinosaur food. Fear was a useful tool, his heightened emotional state resulted in the rush of adrenaline which provided a boost in energy and speed. The fear of that creature catching him was all the motivation he needed to speed up and so he ran for his life but in the back of his mind he knew that it was only a matter of time before he ran out of gas and ended up in the creature maw.

Throwing caution to the wind, using the adrenaline left in his system, he pushed his body to the limit. It was a gamble but the creature was gaining on him and he was sure that he’d end up exhausted long before the creature did. So, he pushed himself and gave everything he had just to put a little bit more distance between him and certain death. He could feel his lungs burning up, his heartbeat going beyond erratic and frantic, his lungs trying and failing to get in the air his body desperately needed. He could feel his vision blurring and going dark, he was light headed and close to blacking out. It wasn’t looking good for Adam and he knew it , his pace wasn’t sustainable , he was sprinting for all he was worth but he was faltering and that lizard was just a couple of meters behind him, either his foot gets caught in the brush and he breaks his neck or his body gives out him and he ends up getting ripped to pieces by that monstrosity. The latter was starting to look more and more likely as his pace he was noticeably slowing down.

Shit! shit! shit! goddammit! The gravity of his situation was setting in and despair was threatening to swallow him whole and then he saw it! A few meters ahead there was a hole going into the ground and it was just wide enough for him to fit through , he didn’t know if it was shallow or deep , all he knew was that it was big enough for him to go through but small enough to prevent the lizard from going in after him. He looked back, nope!! Should not have looked! The thing was close enough for him to see just how terrifying it truly was. It was huge, and terrifying and its reptilian eyes had an uncanny intelligence to it. Looking into its eyes he was sure that the creature was having fun toying with him and that terrified him. It had mud colored scales with streaks of dark green and black running through and its mouth was open and he could see the rows of razor sharp teeth inside its maw. FUCKKKK!! That glimpse was enough to help motivate him to push himself harder. He was terrified.

Enough! run now! think later! Almost there! Just a bit more! He dug deep into his empty reserves and pulled out the last fumes of energy he had to get an extra burst of speed and he push off the ground and dived into the hole like a cannonball. He cleared the entrance but just barely and he tucked in his head and arms and tried to adjust his body midair to turn his momentum into a roll as soon as he hit the ground. Shit! That was only thought he had time for, he was moving too fast and just as he completed a roll, he ended up hitting something hard and blacked out.

God that hurts! my head! His hands reached up to touch his head. Shit! his forehead stung, most likely it was cut, yup! Blood alright! Not too badly hurt though. He opened his eyes but it was pitch black, he could feel the wetness on his palms and made the assessment based on the pain and the fact that he wasn’t leaking like an open faucet. He tried to get his head straight and he started to remember what had happened.

That’s right...I was running from that giant lizard…a dinosaur! What the hell!! I wasn’t dreaming. This is real…shit…how the hell did this happen? And why was that thing chasing me and how the hell did I end up here? Adam was confused, injured and almost panicking, he could not understand how ended up in his current situation. The questions and thoughts in his head kept getting jumbled together, he was slightly concussed although he didn’t realize it. Ok calm down Adam. Focus and Let’s think this through. What’s the last thing I remember?

I took 2 weeks leave and got on a plane to Maldives, why? Because me and Alayna had been planning this trip for months, right up until she broke up with me and left... The hotel and tickets were already paid for and I didn’t want to waste it…Alayna... yeah, that still hurts…ok so I arrived in Maldives, took a cab from the airport to the city and checked in at the fancy hotel that was ridiculously expensive…and then what?...I went sightseeing in the city for an hour before I left for the resort, the boys from the island came to pick me up at the hotel and got me on a seaplane and an hour and half later, I arrived at my very own slice of heaven. A small island less than 6km with beautiful palm trees, sandy white beaches, a huge villa on the reef that I had booked for a week with crystal clear waters shallow enough to walk in and manta rays and sand sharks coming up to you begging for food. It was glorious. Ok than what? I spent 4 days just indulging myself in island pleasures, going snorkeling, parasailing and living it up basically and then...nothing...I don’t remember anything... I remember going to bed late...yeah... I remember now!

The owner of the resort invited all the guests for his birthday party...dude was 60 but had the energy of a 20-year-old and dressed like it too. Hah. I only hope I have the same energy when I reach that age. I left early because I couldn’t really enjoy myself, the crowd was too much and I never really felt comfortable in social gatherings….and I was still fucked up over Alayna.

I went to bed. Cried a bit and slept. And then I woke up in the middle of some goddamn Indiana johns type shit , confused, disoriented and with a splitting headache and just as I was getting my bearing that monster showed up ..and then I ran because it was a goddamn giant monster lizard running on two legs...the jaws, the claws and the murderous gleam in its eyes told me what that beastie was going to do to me and the dried blood around its maw gave a hint as to what it was going to do to me...I ran for my life and by a damn miracle I found this hole and dived right in and face planted against the dirt and blacked out..yup…that about summarizes everything…Still doesn’t explain how I ended up going to bed in paradise and then waking up in hell…That monster almost killed me…where the hell am I !…well at least my forehead has stopped bleeding...small mercies that.…The discomfort he was feeling in his head was making it difficult to focus but he ignored it and sat up against a wall. He couldn’t fully stand up because the ceiling was too low and he couldn’t see anything because there wasn’t enough light leaking through from the hole above. The dinosaur was still out there, he could hear its footsteps and the noises it was making. Probably annoyed that it missed an easy meal! The thought made him smile. He was glad he was alive and even more glad that the creature hadn’t been able to force its way into the hole. He had passed out for an indeterminable amount of time and managed to regain consciousness. He took that as a positive that the hole or cave was safe. At least for now. Ok get your head straight Adam and take stock of the situation. You’re in a hole in the ground and a dinosaur is outside waiting for you to come out. Gotta come up with a plan.

Adam continued to stay seated and think. The cave was dark and the only source of light was coming from the entrance and judging by the lack of light coming in it was still nighttime. There were no other sounds coming through from the entrance except for the creature. Presence of large predators tend to scare away other smaller animals and so he couldn’t hear the usual night sounds of nocturnal animals. Adam couldn’t leave the burrow till he was certain it was safe outside. Would it be safe even if the creature left?...Chances are that if there is one of those creatures than there could very well be more of those things...or worse things…shit...where the hell am I?…oh god my head’s hurting worse than before...Did I actually get hurt worse than I thought?…the pain kept intensifying and all Adam could do was grit his teeth and try not to cry out. It felt like his head was splitting apart, like someone had his hands inside head and was physically tearing his brain in half. The pain was too much and just as quickly as the pain arrived and reached a crescendo, it stopped.

If you are reading this that means you have survived your first encounter with a monster either by luck, skill or due to ???????? intervention.

DO NOT TREAT THIS AS A GAME

Make use of everything the system offers.

Do everything you can to survive.

If you want answers then you must survive.

If you want to go back home then you must survive.

THIS IS THE END OF THE AUTOMATED MESSAGE >