As a child, Orion had imagined himself facing dangerous monsters with sword in hand and courage in his heart. He thought himself fearless, immune to the terrifying effects of beasts and demons.
But now, face to face with such an atrocity, he learned that this wasn't so. He was merely a man, up against something he could barely even comprehend. His vision had referred to it as the Moss Shambler. A fitting title.
The Shambler seemed unaware of its surroundings. It stood nearly as still as Orion himself. Orion hoped that the beast was also frozen in fear, though he knew it wasn't so.
The Shambler hadn't acknowledged Orions entrance, which led Orion to the conclusion that the beast was most likely deaf and blind. It made sense, the skull underneath that thick blanket of moss had no ears or eyes.
But if it couldn't hear or see, what sense did it use to orient itself? Orion found himself looking at the moss tendrils covering his floor.
"It must be the tendrils!" He thought.
The moss cloak was spreading across Orions apartment, steadily looking for any sign of movement. The moss was spreading down the hallway towards Orion. It would find him soon enough. Orion found himself staring at the vicious claws on the beast. It would cut right through him if he wasn't careful.
Another scream came from an apartment above him, this one followed by the screech of some vicious creature.
"People are still getting hurt, they need help."
Orion shook himself out of his fearful daze the best he could. If he didn't act now, he could face the same fate as those poor souls around him.
Orion needed to take action, if he stood still any longer he would lose the one advantage he currently had. The beast didn't know he was there, Orion had the upper hand.
To his left was the apartments bathroom. It was small, but it had a door that could be locked, and it might give him just a bit of time to figure out what to do.
He considered charging forward, seeing if he could tackle the Shambler and maybe escape the apartment unharmed. But something about the Shamblers demeanour stopped him. It looked nearly harmless, but the more he analyzed, the more uneasy he became. It wasn't some blind senseless beast.
It was a predator, waiting to pounce at the first sign of life. Orion knew that if he tried to run past the Shambler, it would catch him first. His only chance was the bathroom.
He reached for the doorknob, and slowly turned it. The Shambler didn't seem too register this movement, but the moss continued to spread down the hallway. Orion realized with some fear that the moss had begun to move up his walls and onto the ceiling. Pretty soon, nowhere would be safe.
Orion pushed the door open slowly. He knew the Shambler wouldn't hear anything, but he was aware of the fact that the beast may be able to sense the vibrations if he opened it too quickly.
Once the door was fully open, he took a step towards the bathroom. It was small, barely eight feet deep and maybe five feet wide. And it had a toilet, sink, and shower taking up most of that space. If the Shambler were to find its way into the room, Orion wouldn't really have anywhere to hide. He would be even more trapped than he already was. A cage within a cage.
He needed a new plan. Something that would give him the advantage. He analyzed the layout of his apartment.
When you entered the apartment, you would find yourself in a large space with a kitchen and living room. That would be the ideal spot for Orion to find himself in. He would have plenty of maneuverability options, and access to different tools he might be able to use against the Shambler.
Unfortunately, the Shambler had taken the space for itself.
Coming off the right side of that room was the hallway Orion currently found himself in. There were four doors in that hallway. At the very end was the main bedroom, and too the left of the bedroom was the bathroom. Further down on the right side was the second bedroom. Orion lived alone, so that room was empty. And near the end of the hall was a closet, which only had some cleaning supplies.
If Orion wanted the upper hand, he needed to get to the main part of his apartment. He needed the Shambler in the hallway. Or, even better, the bathroom.
The room was small, so he doubted the Shambler would spend much time in there. But if he could close the door behind it, he was sure it could give him enough time to run towards the kitchen. Running down the hallway would require him to step on the moss that the Shambler had laid out, and he was sure that would alert the Shambler of his position.
But if he was fast enough, and if the beast took long enough to open the bathroom door, he might just have enough time. It was a risky plan, it might get him killed. But so would standing still.
Orion slowly stepped backwards into his bedroom. He needed to draw the Shambler into the bathroom, and he doubted there was a safe way to do that. So instead, he decided to do the first thing that came too mind.
Grabbing a pen he had left on the floor a number of months ago, he tossed it down the hallway. It landed about six paces from him, directly in the middle of the hallway. The pen bounced off the floor and landed on one of the many moss tendrils that now covered the ground.
The Shambler instantly leaped from its position, and in two powerful strides it barreled down the hallway, stopping where the pen landed to swing viciously with its claws. It all happened in the blink of an eye.
Orion fell backwards, tripping over his own feet as he had been trying to put distance between himself and the Shambler. The panic that had rooted itself in his stomach now grew, taking hold in his entire body like branches growing around his bones.
The only proper way to describe what he was feeling was terror. The Shambler was horrifying, a thing that defied rules of physics and biology, but it wasn't until it had moved that Orion could truly understand what he was up against.
It wasn't human. It was faster than it should be, it could most likely scale his entire apartment in the time it took for him to blink. It was a thing of evil. A predator. And it knew he was here.
The moss tendrils were growing faster now. They had nearly covered the entire hallway, and they were now venturing into his bedroom.
And the bathroom.
The Shambler was still nearly three feet away from the bathroom, but he was close enough that the plan was beginning to take hold. The bait was nearly set.
Orion stood up slowly, still skeptical that the beast could detect him in some other fashion. He realized with some horror that, although the Shambler had no eyes, it seemed to be staring at him. Empty sockets, and yet Orion could feel the bloodlust radiating from that shadowed skull.
Orion slowly stepped back. He needed something heavier,something that might distract the Shambler for a little longer. Orion grabbed the lamp and the alarm clock. He would throw the lamp into the bathroom, and keep the clock as an extra projectile incase he needed to reroute the blind beast again.
The moss was beginning to spread into his bedroom, it wasn't nearly as dense as the moss in the hallway, but it still made navigating the bedroom a little difficult.
As he walked towards the door of his bedroom, he stepped carefully between the tendrils. Orion began to feel sweat building on his forehead. One misstep would alert the Shambler of his exact position. Orion found himself staring at the beasts claws again. His stomach turned in knots.
He slowly made his way over to the doorway. From there, he could see far into the bathroom. The moss had made its way across every surface. It was exactly what Orion needed.
Aiming from the shower at the very end of the room, he raised the lamp, and threw. The lamp soared through the air, and for a moment everything was still. Orion, the Shambler, and the moss on the ground. It was a moment of calmness before the chaos began.
The lamp slammed into the shower, the glass bulb shattering and spilling onto the ground below. It was loud enough to make Orions heart skip a beat. And it definitely caught the beasts attention.
Orion barely even had time to register the Shamblers movements. It charged into the bathroom and buried its claws deep into the wall, shearing though the tile and drywall.
Orion had to stop himself from stepping back, for he knew he might step on the moss covered ground and make his position known.
He looked down at the moss ridden floor, and noticed something. The moss in his bedroom had become less dense. Same as the moss in the hallway. And looking into the bathroom, he saw that nearly every surface was hidden beneath a veil of lichen.
"Theres a limit to how much it can spread out!"
While it didn't necessarily help in the moment -with the hallway still being far too dense with moss to properly avoid touching any of it, the revelation could become useful later. But for now, he still needed to close the door.
Stepping carefully into the hallway, he found a place to stand where he wouldn't alert the Shambler. He had to reach quite a bit, putting his balance at risk.
It was only when he was about to touch the doorknob that he noticed the moss covering the underside of the stainless steel handle. The moment he grabbed the handle, the Shambler would become aware of his position, and it would strike.
He would need to grab the door and slam it shut in one fast, fluid motion. Possible, but hardly easy, and even less safe. But he had already come this far.
Orion inhaled, readied himself, and grabbed the doorknob.
He slammed the door shut and launched himself backwards. He narrowly avoided getting skewered by the claws that slammed through the door.
Orion turned and bolted down the hallway. He lost all caution for where he stepped. The Shambler knew he was there, there was no point in hiding it any longer. He just needed to find safety.
He heard the door crash behind him, and became all too aware of the heavy footsteps that followed him like an encroaching hurricane.
The moment Orion made it out of the hallway, he was faced with a decision. Kitchen or living room? The kitchen was closer, but had a smaller area overall, and he didn't exactly like the idea of getting caught in close quarters with the Shambler. The living room, while further, was a wide open space with plenty of furniture to hide behind. Orion thought for only half a second. And then decided to take his chances on the living room.
That's when he felt the blades slash at his calf.
The cut wasn't deep, but it hurt like hell, and it meant the Shambler was close.
"Kitchen kitchen kitchen!"
Orion changed his mind, seeking immediate shelter over long term advantage. The advantage wouldn't matter if he had been cut to ribbons after all.
Orion leaped, hoping he could make it onto the kitchens island and out of range of the Shambler. The moment he jumped, he also threw the alarm clock away from him.
While in the air, Orion glanced behind him. The Shambler was close, its blades merely inches away from him.
That's when the clock landed.
The Shambler turned immeadiately, spinning in the direction of the clock and slashing wildly. Orion slide onto the island, his shoulder slamming into the marble surface with enough force that the air was knocked out of his lungs.
Once again, all was still. Orion took a few moments to breathe and let the pain in his calf and shoulder subside. He touched his calf, and his hand came back red. He was bleeding heavily.
But he was alive.
He sat up and turned towards the Shambler. It was once again standing still, waiting for the tendrils to find his now wounded prey.
"Alright," Orion thought. "Now I just gotta figure out how to kill this thing."