Vein

Things were not well.

We were quietly walking back to the ship. From the distance that we were, it would only take around half an hour to get back. 

The death of Bartek had my mind in a deep fog. The stupid idea that maybe, just maybe, if I had kept my eyes on him; he would still be alive. 

Pierrette noticed how out of it I was, and abruptly pushed me; I flew back and fell to the ground on my ass.

"What the hell!" I yelped. 

Pierrette said nothing as she crossed her arms and stared at me; I didn't need her to text me what she wanted to say. 

"Can you blame me? Can you really blame me?" I asked, my chest felt tight. 

"We're the last two alive." 

"Pierrette: I am not kind." Pierrette squatted down, her visor facing me at eye-level.

She looked up at the night sky, the moon's planet Big Grin was a burning orange hole in the vast pitch black of space. 

"Pierrette: I need you to focus on yourself, I cannot keep protecting the both of us." 

"This is just unfair; they didn't tell us it would be this dangerous." 

Pierrette texted nothing, she instead grabbed a fistful of the moon's sand. 

She let it flow out of her gloves, the debris quietly rejoining its native body. 

"Pierrette: This is what we're worth to the company, it is up to us however to choose whether we're dignified in our worthlessness."

She got up, looking at where we had to go next. 

"Pierrette: We're close. If you decide to kill yourself, please do it on the ship; I would not want to carry your body." 

She began to walk, leaving me behind. Her words seeping deep into my mind. 

I knew she was right, that at the end of it; it's me who I'm responsible for. 

But still, my legs felt heavy; this burden would only grow. 

I staggered up onto my feet. 

---

We found ourselves behind a large boulder, the ship was one hundred meters away. 

As I was about to step forward, I noticed Pierrette tense up; she suddenly crouching down to the ground. 

"What is it?" I whispered, but she texted nothing. Instead, she pointed to an outcrop right above the ship. 

My eyes struggled to make out what exactly she was pointing to, but when I saw it, I felt a cold chill run up my spine; a deep, hidden fear reared its ugly head into my soul. 

"A... a dog?" I asked, but I knew that that wasn't right. It wasn't merely a dog, but something more. It was an abomination, a monster that only children would imagine and draw; it crawling out from the depths of their nightmares.

It had a gaping mouth full of jagged, gnawing teeth. And it was the size of the boulder that we were hiding behind. Everything about it was making my nerves scream, my body wanted to run away. 

I fell to the ground and flattened myself like Pierrette, the fear in me choking my throat into sandpaper. 

"Pierrette: We have to move."

I hated how I knew that she was right, the fact that we had to move; that we had to escape. 

We had to trudge through the valley, right through this thing's range. 

We slowly began to move, making sure to use whatever sparse shrubbery was around snake through the valley. 

We were getting closer, the dog wasn't moving from it's outcrop. Even through my fear, I was pushing myself forward; I felt a surge of courage course through me.

We were at the halfway point, but then, I felt a slight tremor below me. 

It was small at first, but then it grew; I was beginning to lose my balance.

Pierrette began to run, she pushed past me as she made a mad dash for the ship. 

But as she did, the dog on the outcrop howled; it had spotted us. 

"Pierrette!" I yelled, the tremor below me was growing louder and stronger. 

But she didn't look back, instead she kept her sight straight at the ship. 

The dog leaped from its outcrop, and it let out a throaty, horrid bark. From my distance, I could now see it's body in greater detail; it had no eyes. 

The ground begun to upheave loose sand. This wasn't an earthquake; it was something coming from below!

 With no one to push me out of danger this time, I began to sprint as fast as I could. The adrenaline being forced into my muscles made me forget all about my pain, all I was thinking about now was getting to the ship.

Pierrette stumbled just as she got a grip onto the ship's ladder, falling to the ground and banging her head against the ship's hull. It was a loud thud, the reverb of iron echoed throughout the canyon; she wasn't moving from where she lied on the ground. 

The dog heard her fall and began to sprint to where she was.

I think we were both going to die. I was going to be killed by whatever was below me, and the dog would devour Pierrette's unconscious body. 

The question was now who would die first.

The rumbling still followed me, no matter how fast I ran. As if an invisible spotlight was centered onto me. 

Death, death was coming. 

Did I deserve to die? 

No, I suppose. But neither did Oscar or Bartek.

But I didn't think Pierrette deserved to die. 

"DAMN YOU!" I screamed into the night air, ripping my vocal chords raw.

The dog immediately swiveled, and it began to run straight at me. 

My theory was correct, that nightmare creature is alerted by sound. 

Damn it all, I was right.

"Pierrette: Pivot to the right, just before the dog leaps." 

Pierrette!? She was up, leaning against the ladder of the ship; albeit barely conscious. 

The dog growled as its grotesque body became a blur; I don't think I could dodge it even if I could. 

Then, it leaped.

Time felt like it had slowed down. I knew it was simply the adrenaline forcing myself to become hyperaware, but in the moment, it felt as if I could become light. 

*BANG*

The sound of the hull's ship being hit rung out. 

It was Pierrette, she had rammed her body against the ship as hard as she could. 

She slumped down to the ground, exhausted and hurt. 

The dog's speed faltered, the introduction of a new sound source distracting it's killing instinct. 

I pivoted to my right, the rumbling below me reaching its climax; every muscle in my body contracted all in hopes to fulfill this final, desperate act of survival.

The dog met its target, but I wasn't there anymore; its jaws had sunk into the moon's sand. It stood there, dumbfounded, outsmarted; I could sense its mindless rage, its primal fury. 

Then, a screech ruptured the night's air, shattering my ear drums. It felt as if I was underwater, the air was strumming with intense vibrations. 

It came from the massive worm that shot up from the sand, narrowly missing me as it swallowed the dog whole. 

The size of a canyon itself, the great worm flew up into the sky; It blotting the stars above from sight as it reached the apex of its crescent. 

The intensity of its mass grounded me still. It's gaping maw a pitch void that deemed me a worthless insect too small to swallow. So intense was my terror, I felt as though I was on the brink of insanity; I was on the verge of the abyss of witnessing a monstrosity so impossible.

But before it could claim my mind, it disappeared effortlessly back into the depths of the sands below; the tremors now gone with it as well. 

I had won; I had become light.