The Tiger

I don't know what it is, but it's always been there... and something else wants it.

The air whistles an unfamiliar tune, it's cold and quiet at this hour. Something in my mind tells me that I shouldn't be out here when the sun sets.

What foggy memories clamber up to the forefront of my brain paint pictures of me celebrating, laughing, although it has been too long to remember any cause of celebration.

My steps begin to slow and shift in this frozen wasteland, stumbling over small mounds of packed snow where other creatures may have laid before hypothermia finally took them--or perhaps before something much worse got to them first. I take a few quick breaths, crouching down and rubbing my hand over one of the hard mounds, hoping it will come off... it does not.

My pace has quickened. The last remnants of eventide peek between the towering trees, leaving me forever stranded as complete and total darkness envelops the path ahead. I don't care about where I'm going, or what I might stumble onto, I have to find a way out of here.

I nearly lose my footing, a sharp decline in the ground gives way to a long stretch of flat, packed snow; it's a road!

Despite the brief glipse of hope, I have to keep running. Piles of snow--sat undisturbed for potentially hundreds of years--have finally began to stir behind me once more. Whatever it is, it is faster than me... but it knows to stay at a distance.

My skin is freezing, but my lungs are hot, the frigid air providing no sense of comfort out in these woods. Perhaps it is my own halucinations, but I think I see lights out there... a small structure illuminated by the fluorescence is standing a ways off the side of the road. Abandoning the path would be a risk, but what other choice do I have?

I sprint towards the light, using whatever last strength I have to jump onto the incline separating the road from the rest of the wilderness. Peering behind me, on the other side of the road, two piercing eyes are lit up by the light in the distance, until quickly hiding away in the darkness behind me.

The light pierces my retinas, blinding... I'm not used to it. In my hurried state, I struggle to stop running, slamming into the wall of the shelter as it stands defiantly against me--it's sturdy enough for now.

There's a thick wooden door on the other side of the stone structure, the inner chain lock has loosened enough to where I'm able to squeeze through the doorway, but I hoped other large creatures would not be able to do so. It's no warmer than the desolation outside, but it's more comforting. Someone lived here, survived here, called this place home, and now it's where I can spend my last moments. I wanted to cry.

There was a small window across from the door where light from the outside lamppost trickled it's way in, casting silhouettes of furniture onto the ground below. A sofa, a table, shelves where canned goods looked to have sat untouched for decades.

Fatigue enveloped me, I could feel my knees wanting to give out at any moment. Turning the corner--where the living space transitioned into a makeshift kitchen--a gnarled door at the very end of a hallway is revealed by the dim light, blanketed by deep scratches...

This deep into the shelter, not even light dares to travel. I open the door, stepping into the room before me. The silence is more oppressive than it has ever treated me before.

Something's... crunching... below my feet. It's hard, but strangely brittle, falling apart as I lift my leg back up