The walls heaved. A fluctuating, pulsating throb. The stone perhaps flesh of some kind, expanding and contracting as if connected to a central heartbeat.

I’d been running for what feels like hours, but time didn't make sense anymore. My lungs burned with a tense, raw friction, cropping every breath into borderline useless gasps each shorter than the last. My legs passed the point of numbness. They grew heavy, like massive pillars being shoved into place through sheer will.

I could hear it behind me. Steadily crawling with consistent dragging sounds that never speed up or slow down. I could sense it recognized me as human. It knews of my limits, waiting for my biology to fail. I defied my curiosity to witness its form. Just forcing myself to put all my effort towards evasion and survival.

Every turn was a fresh nightmare. The corridor gradually narrowed until the pulsating walls grazed my shoulders, giving off a sickly, rhythmic heat. I wanted to collapse. I wanted to slide down against the velvet dampness of the floor and just let the dark take me. The exhaustion now a physical weight, a siren song whispering that sleep, even the permanent kind, was better than another step.

But then, the presence behind me re-engaged. A series of sub-bass groans and harsh, dry clicks. I'd never heard anything like that before. It made my skin crawl and stomach turn.

Fear spiked again, sharp and cold, cutting through the fog of fatigue like a blade. My heart hammered against my ribs, desperate to sync up with the walls. I refused to stop. If I stop, this thing, whatever it is, reaches me. I did not want to know what came next. The idea itself inspired primal rushes of panic and confusion.

I kept moving, a ghost in my throat, terrified that the next breath is where my body finally says no more.