The Next Life (?? ?? ???)

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On one hand, I wasn't alone for the first time since waking up. But it hardly brought any comfort. I would've preferred company that didn't chill my blood when I looked at them, to the point of my fists clenching.

Keeping the creature within line of sight, I walked backwards towards the other end of the basement, where my light had briefly revealed a pile of crates. Surely that would be where the supplies were. Feeling for the wall behind me, I eventually made it to the end, and crouched down to inspect the crates, still watching the thing in the corner of my eye.

I'd been lucky enough to have not made a sound yet, so how bad the echo was in the basement was still a mystery, but I wasn't about to take any chances. Not daring to grab everything the crates had to offer, I'd gathered what I could while being as quiet as possible.

A couple of what I thought were snack bars with no label. A flask full of water (I checked). A can of pepper spray with a lizard printed on along with the words "Anti-Gecko Spray". A few batteries, although I had no immediate use for them. A duffle bag which conveniently allowed me to pack it all in it.

As I loaded my supplies into the bag, a voice boomed from the other end of the basement, and I stiffened as the bassy, distorted sound vibrated my icy core.

"Who does she think she is, sucking me into this hellhole? There are far more important matters I have to attend to. The army... my army... they have been vanquished."

No sooner had it completed its rant when a new sensation hit me. Like air rushing into my lungs as water would while drowning. My head spun slightly, and as I blinked, the world around me changed entirely.

Two women were facing each other in a room with walls of cold hard stone. Looking at one of them gave me a choking, suffocating feeling mixed with the bittersweet sadness of an amicable separation. And from the other, I felt nothing but pure, icy malice.

The former held her hands out, clawing the air. As if under her manipulation, a chunk of stone carved itself out of the wall and launched itself straight for the other woman. With a wave of her hand, the stone burst into a million specks of dust in front of the latter, whose eyes glowed the same dark red as the dust cloud she had created.

Just as I'd been focusing on the colour of her eyes, they flashed briefly into a lighter pink. At the same time, I saw in my field of vision a hand raised. Like I was viewing the scene from someone's perspective. Her eyes still altered, the woman with the malicious aura turned a good 180 and lunged forward, slamming into the wall. From her scream of frustration and the manner in which she'd pounced, it looked as though she'd been going for the one she'd been fighting.

As a flash of realisation hit the bittersweet woman's face, she turned to look at me. Or whoever's perspective I was in.

"Jennie?"

As the world around me began to blur, a sensation like air rushing out of my lungs overcame me, and my head spun again. With another blink, I was in darkness. Still disorientated, my hand flailed, releasing the small hard object in it.

My eyes adjusted just enough to see the basement, and the crates in front of me. It was too late, however; the battery I'd dropped into the duffle bag landed on the can of pepper spray, sending a shrill clink echoing throughout the room.

In a panic, I turned to the creature on the opposite end of the basement. It froze, having heard the sound of my foolishness. Without a second though, I snatched up the bag in one hand, lighting my path with the phone in my other as I sprinted towards the staircase, heart pounding in my ears.

As I made it to the second step, however, a cold, dry hand gripped my wrist, its jagged surface digging into my flesh, sending fire down my nerves. I turned to face my captor although my mind screamed at me not to. The thing... its face... save for the black scales creeping up from its neck...