Prompt: Weekend adventurers explore a cave in the Glasshouse Mountains and can't find their way out again. Then they encounter something terrible...
(Word Count: 2068)

[Warning: This story is set in Australia and is very cringey. I apologise in advance for the terrible language and exaggeration. Please know that I don't mean to offend any Australians reading this]

We hiked up one of the Glasshouse mountains, looking for a cave to explore. I glanced behind me to see my fellow weekend adventurers crawling up the mountainside behind me, sweaty and out-of-breath.

Checking our position again, I cheerfully called down,

"Come on guys, we're almost there. Promise".

Marco glowered at me,

"Would ya just bloody give it up Fiona, you've been saying that for the last hour. Now are there caves or isn't there?"

I frowned down at him. I personally hadn't wanted the blighter along, but Jenny 'ad insisted. How dare he be so lazy and rude yet have the audacity to complain about this adventure that no one forced him to come on.

Glancing at my friend, I saw that she too was struggling, and my righteous indignant softened,

"I promise, we really are close. If my geographical calculations are correct, the caves ought to be beyond this crest."

I hope, I silently added to myself.

My Golden Retriever, Watson, scrambled up a bit before me, going over the crest, hidden from view. I wasn't worried though, he's such a well-trained dog that I trust him to not get into any mischief without a leash. Then I saw his head reappear and he glanced down me with a lopsided grin. Then he barked.

The was only one reason why he would do that. My hopes lifted, I turned to my comrades,

"Come on! We're almost there!"

I scrambled up the last part of the bank. Peering around, I saw a dark, almost foreboding, opening in the side of the mountain.

Sitting on one of the boulders that were scattered around, I waited for the rest of my group to come over the rise. One by one, heavily panting, Jenny, Amy, Marco, John and Max appeared. That was all of them.

Whilst they rested, I assessed the situation. This cave seemed a suitable place to start, but the sight of all the scattered boulders – possibly indicating landslides – concerned me.

I raised this concern to the group, but Marco abrasively brushed it aside, sneering,

"I ain't climbing around to find another cave just 'cause you a bit scared".

I inwardly seethed at this, but had to concede that it could be hours before we found another cave – hours that we didn't have, already the sun had passed its midpoint and was beginning to near the western side of the skies. I shook my head. Dammit.

Once everyone had gotten back their breath and rested for a bit, we headed into the cave.

"Headlights on" I said, clicking on my own headlight which I had attached onto my head outside.

We walked in a bit and wandered around. I peered around the caves interior. We had barely gone 10 metres in and it was already pitch black, with only the beam of our headtorches lighting the way. Something didn't feel right. I voiced my concern,

"I don't like this guys. I think maybe we ought to turn back".

"Pah!" Marco spat, his loud voice echoing through the cavern, "I ain't turning back because your scared of the dark".

I opened my mouth, about to retort, when we heard a low, rumbling sound, and felt the ground begin to tremble. I felt the blood drain from my face. Shit.

"Everyone out!" I yelled, and we turned and began to run for the entrance, but it was too late. We were just in time to see light of the entrance blotted out by boulders. The cave was thrown into darkness. I felt something furry brush against my leg and saw Watson standing next to me, I gave a sigh of relief, thank goodness he was okay. I looked around and counted the number of headtorches. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Thank goodness, that was everyone. Forcing myself to swallow despite my dry mouth, I softly called out,

"Is everyone okay?"

I was met with a series of "yea", "I'm okay" and "fine, thanks".

One voice was missing though. I reluctantly asked,

"Marco? Are you okay?"

"Shit! I thought we were gonna to die".

Although I knew he couldn't see it, I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to say 'I told you so',

"Are you okay though?"

"No, I've gone and sprained my bloody ankle".

I inwardly gave a sigh of exasperation. Of course he had. Of course it had to be the heaviest member of the group that had injured himself. I felt the air and stumbled towards his voice. At last my torch shone upon his ugly face, which I now saw was sweaty and flushed.

"Which ankle?" I demanded.

"Left" he brusquely responded.

I looked down and yanked off his boot, and I know I oughtn't, but I felt an almost grim satisfaction in the yell of pain that my action produced. Served him right.

I felt it and with every prod he gave another whimper of pain, hopping around on his other foot. Feeling irritated, I snapped,

"Oh stay still and be quiet you big baby, it's your fault we're stuck in 'ere anyway"

He indignantly squealed,

"My fault!? Well, well-" he blustered "if you 'adn't insisted on exploring caves this weekend we wouldn't be 'ere at all!"

Overwhelmed by anger I shouted,

"Well I wish you weren't! I never even wanted you to come along! So there!"

I turned away and stormed off best I could whilst blundering in the dark. Damn fool!

I was meant to stay calm in a crisis, not lose my temper at such a blighter.

Maybe I ought to bandage up his foot, but that little shit said himself that he didn't want my help, so why should I bother to do anything for that ungrateful prig?!

"Well unlike some people I'm going to try and find a way out of here". I looked around, trying to figure out the best path to take. Though my sense of direction is normally exceptional outdoors, the darkness muddled me all up. Seemed like only luck would save us now. From what I could tell in the torchlight, there were two tunnels that led from this main entrance cavern. Coming to a decision, I asserted,

"We go left".

Amy's quiet voice floated towards me through the dark,

"What then?"

"We hope that it leads out of here" I answered grimly.

Several Hours Later

I clambered through the mountain. I had lost all sense of time and direction, only knowing that we must keep going. Surely there must be some way out of here. Sweat trickled down my brow, and I felt my breath coming out in harsh huffs. Despite my own body heat, I shivered. Something about these caves seemed to suck all of the warmth out of you, leaving behind a cold, sinister darkness. I glanced around, peering back at my friends and that man. Of course, no matter how angry I was, I could never have left any fellow, even as unpleasant as Marco, alone to die trapped in a cave. In the end, Jenny had strapped up his ankle, and right now she was helping John to support him, helping him to hobble along at the end of our group. I raised my voice,

"Alright, we need to rest for a bit".

Behind me I heard sighs of relief and the sound of backpacks sliding off and thudding into the ground and people sitting down. I gave a low whistle and I heard the patter of paws before Watson emerged into my torchlight. He had been staying at the end of the line, herding everyone and making sure no one fell behind. I gave him a gentle pat as he lay his soft golden head on my legs,

"Good dog Watson".

As I sat there, all the thoughts that I had tried to keep out began flooding in.

My goodness. How were we going to survive? What if we never found a way out? What if...

I swallowed hard. I couldn't bear to finish that question. If I did then I would be pulled into a pit of despair, never able to climb out. Pun not intended.

Then my doubts were made even worse as my headlight crackled out. I squinted, trying to see anything, but my human eyes could not see through the thick darkness that surrounded us.

I heard Max's voice flow down the tunnel towards me,

"Are you alright Fiona?"

"Yea" I called back, "my bloody headlight's gone out that's all. Here, someone come and help me find my torch and some food in my pack".

I watched as one of the five pinpricks of light moved closer to me, and Amy's voice could be heard right next to me,

"Here yer go".

She turned to faced me and I had to squeeze my eyes shut against the blinding light so unlike the darkness that surrounded us. I smiled,

"Thanks Amy".

I turned to my pack, now illuminated by Amy's torch, and unzipped it. Shifting through the contents, I found my torch right near the top. Thank goodness for my providential packing which, at the time, had seemed so overthought. I pushed my headlight into the back and flicked on my torch.

"Thanks mate" I said once more to Amy before rummaging through the pack and getting out some packets of food. I once again said a silent prayer of thanks for my pre-thought choice of packing emergency supplies. I pressed them into her hand,

"Give these out to the others" then, raising my voice, I added "We need to eat and keep our energy and body temperature up, otherwise we don't stand a chance".

I watched as Amy's headtorch shuffled along and heard the crackle of food rations being opened and eaten. Thankfully we had refilled our canteens at a river just before we had entered the cave, so our water supplies should hold out for a while. I myself grabbed out a packet of food and opened it up, solemnly crunching on the muesli and dried cranberries. Watson whined next to me, and I remembered that I hadn't fed him since this morning, just before we had left to go on this, what had seemed at the time, fun adventure. Thankfully I had remembered to pack emergency dog food as well. I opened up the tin, filled with a meagre amount of meat, and left it for him. As my body began to absorb the energy from the food, hope began to fill me. Maybe we could make it. Surely, if we all worked together and kept moving, one of these tunnels will lead to a way out?

A scream.

I immediately jumped up,

"What's wrong?"

I swung my torch in the direction of the scream to reveal a pale and shaken Jenny.

"I- I..." she stammered out, sounded as though she were about to burst into tears at any moment. Fear crawled back into my bones,

"What is it Jenny? What happened?"

"I f-felt something against my hand, and I t-thought it might be some wood or something that we c-could make a fire with. B-but when I looked it was..." She burst into tears, but held up the clutched object in her hand. It was a bone. A human bone.

After that it felt as though everything moved in slow motion. Watson jumped up and began barking at something over my shoulder, his neck hairs raised more threateningly than I had ever seen, his barks more vicious that I had ever heard. I felt a coldness creep over my heart.

Behind me I heard a low growl. I saw everyone staring at the creature behind me with pale, shocked expression. They were terrified.

Paralysed with fear, I could not run or duck or turn around, only sit there and awaiting my impending doom. Terror strangling my throat, I could only manage a hoarse whisper,

"I am so sorry".

Then a raking pain exploded from my back and through my heart. Watson leapt forward and yelped, and I saw him fall to the ground, instantly dead, his face still forming the fear face of a protector. Of my best friend.

The last thing I heard were my friends screaming, and all I could do was watch as one by one their lights were snuffed out. Then the pitch black overtook me.

I wish I have never seen these cursed caves.