My ankle bled.
Still, I went at it with the rock, trying to pry free this green amoeba as it slowly slithered its way up my leg.
I screamed.
The segmented things, transparently thin and like a palm-sized pillbug continued to shimmy up me. I made another ineffectual stab with the rock and to my surprise, the onrush of panic dulled.
As though I had been drugged.
I knew I should have still been terrified, but something switched, as though this weird bug was no more than a tick I could have burned out at my convenience.
The rationales seemed to come out in another voice, like an actress paid to give her best interpretation of my internal monologue. And while it was me, some sickening turn in my stomach told me that there was no way I would really consider finishing my run.
Even as my legs started moving on the trail...
The thing didn't stop at my thigh, easily sliding underneath my thin running shorts.
My blonde ponytail brushed against the back of my shoulders as I ran, blocking out my thoughts. There were two different tracks running in my mind, my usual, dominant type-A personality demanding that I get my ass to a hospital right now.
And another, more soothing whisper, telling me it would all be alright.
Just keep running.
Just keep going.
Everything will be fine.
I kept running, trying to block out the competing channels of thoughts, not even sure where I was going, just running as though trying to escape the thing on my legs through the pumping of my burning thighs.
Again hysteria grabbed the reins, and I ran from the path, carelessly rambling through the brush, ignoring the knicks and cuts until I found myself running along the bank of the river, almost falling into the mouth of the cave.
I could see the rock at the center, dark and obsidian, beckoning.
The slithering on my buttocks jolted me out of my daze. Frantically, I stripped off my clothes, slapping at my skin, realizing that somehow three of the pale larvae had attached themselves to my body.
One crawled down my ribs.
The others on my thigh and ass, scooting closer, secreting a white, sticky fluid that made me approach the ancient altar as if in a trance.
Their tongues enveloped me first, slippery and wet as they smacked against my legs, keeping me from running.
In a last act of will, I turned and saw...
Rising to surround me from the shadows were a half-dozen monstrosities, snake-like and segmented, each protruding face seeming to smile through sharp pointed teeth. Their tongues shot out, two or three from each mouth, wrapping around my throat, my hands, my legs, spreading me out and open for what came next.
The snakes were up on their haunches, licking their lipless grins as I looked one last time, barely able to understand what was happening. They were large cylinders, yet capable of moving around nimbly on a series of small Tyrannosaurus arms that could grasp and push their slithering frame along.