Chapter 16

Sarah's eyes snapped open as she felt a hot breath brush against her neck before a low growl made her muscles freeze. She was way too afraid to look up to find out what it was. Her instincts only told her to run. To get as far away as possible. With eyes tightly shut she slowly grasped the wall for support before suddenly jumping forward. A chill passed through her body as she felt the back of her head brush against something hard and hairy on her way away from the wall. She sprinted forward, but she didn't even manage to take three steps when the shadow landed on the ground in front of her.
Sarah tried to scream, but not a sound leaved her lips. It was the same kind of creature that she had been chased by before. But there was something wrong with this one... Very wrong. Its eyes were blood red and pointed out. Its body was much closer to the ground, making its legs stick out in weird angles. Like a lizards legs. Its fur was so black that it was hard to see its composure.

The creature growled loudly at her, showing rows of broken yellow and brown teeth.
Sarah stared at it, completely terrified. Its crazy eyes watched her carefully, almost as if it was waiting for her to run. Just for the fun of the chase.

Sarah backed up against the wall. Her eyes focused on the animal that did not move. Then she got an idea. Praying that it would work she sprinted to the left. The creature reacted immediately. It jumped forward towards her, but before it reached her, Sarah quickly ducked. The creature hit the wall behind her with a loud crack. Sarah shrieked from fright and excitement from accomplishment, taking her chance and ran for it. The creature let out a howl of fury before sprinting after the girl.
It was hopeless! Every turn she took, every stair looked exactly the same no matter where she went or how long she ran. The creature was constantly on her tail like a cat and mouse game. Whenever she thought she had been able to shake it off, it was always just around the corner. It was a miracle that she'd been able to escape with nothing but cuts and bruises... or bruises to be, more likely.

She suddenly came to a stop when she came to a place where the road split into three different paths. Surrounding her was cold stone walls, so tall that the sun didn't reach her. The stones were covered in dark moss and dead tree branches that circled upwards. The floor was white of mist that was so thick that seeing her feet was impossible.

Sarah's heart beat hard in her chest from running and the constant panic. Without thought she ran into one of the paths and hid behind an opening in the wall. She could hear the creature come to a stop and sniff for her scent. It growled and walked around the three paths, looking into each one. For some reason it seemed like it couldn't find her scent.
Sarah heard its claws scratching against the ground as it walked. She became completely unable to even breath when she heard it:
The sound from the creature was coming closer! Its sniffing was just on the other side of the opening.
Its boney monkey hand suddenly clutched the edge of the opening, its nose coming into sight, sniffing the air.
Sarah put her hands over her mouth, forcing herself not to scream as her eyes searched for a way out. Her legs suddenly started to shake. Against her will she suddenly let out a shriek as she noticed a big, hairy spider slowly climbing on her shoulder, its leg touching her chin as it walked. She had always hated spiders. A tear ran down her face as she felt her limit come closer.
She looked towards the creature that had stopped its sniffing at the sound of her shriek. It seemed like it was listening for yet another sound.
She wouldn't be able to control herself much longer... But then to her relief, the spider jumped off her shoulder and disappeared in the mist on the floor. With a soundless sigh of relief she looked around again. Her heart skipped a beat as she spotted another opening on the wall, maybe ten meters from where she was hiding. As quietly as she could, she began to fumble her way forward, keeping her body pressed against the cold eyes was constantly fastened on the creature that had once again began its sniffing before its nose suddenly drew back and disappeared behind the wall. Its claws revealed that it was moving away from her.
Quickly she ran the rest of the way without making a sound.
She paused at the opening that revealed nothing else but one single, small corridor, the other side from her was pitch black, so she couldn't tell how long the corridor was. But without wasting one more second she restarted her running through the darkness. She ran nonstop when suddenly the sun shone over her, blinding her. But she welcomed the light, feeling relieved.
The graveyard looking walls were gone, and instead she was surrounded by trees. As she looked back she stared into nothing but blackness. Startled she backed away and noticed that the darkness looked like a big, flat portal reaching up over the treetops. She reached out to touch the black vault portal, but as dark smoke started to reach out and circle itself around her wrist as if to pull her into the nothingness, she quickly pulled back and ran in between the trees.
She didn't have to run far as she reached a sign that was attached to a week looking stick in the ground. There were no arrows on it to show the way. Surprised she stopped in front of the sign and read the only words written with big, black letters:

'THIS WAY, THAT WAY OR ANY OTHER WAY?'

"What?" Sarah asked aloud, a little irritated. "What kind of a direction sign is this?"

"A very good one I dare say!" an annoyed voice answered out of nowhere before it snorted.
There was only one place the voice could come from and as Sarah took a closer look at the direction sign she noticed how one of the 'o's was moving slightly.

"Umm... Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." Sarah said a little guilty.

"Oh, well I'm quite used to it I admit," the sign said casually. "How can I be of service?"

"I need to find a way out of the labyrinth. Can you help me?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure I can!" the sign said happily to Sarah's excitement. "Are you and your friend going the same way?"

Sarah's eyebrows drew together.

"My... friend?"

Sarah turned around to see the creature crawling towards her, its lip pulled back over its teeth. It didn't look happy as it started running with a rusty roar.
Sarah screamed, quickly turning back to the sign.

"No, it's not coming with me!!!" she screamed in panic. "Please, hurry and tell me which way to go!!!"

The sign laughed calmly, obviously in no rush to help the terrified girl to Sarah's frustration.

"I can't show you the way unless you tell me which way you'd like to go." The sigh said.

"I don't know! Anywhere!" Sarah said feeling the creature quickly coming closer. In panic she screamed the first thing that came into her mind:

"DOWN!!!"

"Down you say, down you'll go. Have a nice and pleasant trip."

The ground underneath Sarah's feet suddenly separated, making Sarah fall through it. She looked up to see the creatures gleaming red eyes look down after her with a furious howl as the ground quickly grew together, leaving her in darkness once again.

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I am SO sorry for the HUGE delay in uploading this. I've been drowning in stuff to do over here… *mumble mumble*
Oh well. Now you have one more chapter. I hope you like it! ^^
Later!