It was all over in a flash. I was just walking across the street when out of nowhere I was hit by a car. His headlights weren't on, and the car was electrically powered. There was no way I could have seen it coming on that dark night. But then something weird happened.

I got up. I looked over and saw my teenage body, lying bloody in front of the dented car. I looked down at the long length of grey severed chain protruding from my chest. I tried to call out, ask someone what was happening, but as soon as I opened my mouth, I began to fall. Down, down and further down into a black abyss. I felt the air rush out of my chest as I landed onto stark white sand with a muted thud.

Scrambling to my feet, I looked up but only saw a pale moon shining down on the blighted world around me. The area was completely empty, devoid of life except a few sparse withered trees laying around. Looking down at my chest, I saw that the chain had disappeared.

"Where am I?" I wondered aloud, looking for any form of civilisation. Seeing nothing, I shrugged and set off in a completely random direction.

I had no idea how long I had been walking for. The moon in the sky just sat there, stuck against the blackness as if glued there. I figured that I was in a coma or something. I walked until I saw something shift beneath the sands.

Curiosity aroused, I walked to the disturbance, seeing if it was something that could help me find my way around here. It was something far worse. What I could only describe as a monster leaping out of the sand!

The monster had a hellish white mask covering what I thought was its face, its open mouth revealing a sickly purple lolling tongue. It charged at me on hundreds of scuttling little legs, roaring horribly. I could only stare in shock before breaking out into a desperate run. The horrid monster came close, and I could feel its fetid breath on my back. I heard it roar and spit something as a huge needle like spike buried itself into the sand in front of me. Grabbing it without a second thought, I continued to run from the beast. It spat a second spear, this one slicing into my left arm, spilling blood. I screamed in pain but kept running. If I didn't, it would all be over.

More needles buried themselves into the sand, and I kept running. Several more of the giant needles hit me, biting deep into my flesh. But somehow I could still run. One of them bored straight through by thigh, causing me to falter in my step, but I wouldn't allow myself to be eaten by that… thing!

My arm was covered in thick trails of blood, more of it spreading onto the alabaster spike I held in my hand. My clothes were caked red with sand and blood and my vision was blurred. I could barely keep my balance as I ran for my life from the scuttling horror behind me. As I gave up hope, I tripped on my own feet, and fell into the dust. I rolled over and held the spear up in a feeble effort to ward the creature away, but it kept charging. I closed my eyes before the impact, but it never came.

I peeked one eye open, and saw the beast was gone! I looked up and saw another, smaller bear like thing, eating the corpse of the monster! Seeing the opportunity, I rolled down the sand dune before the other creature could notice me. At the bottom of the dune, I got to my shaky feet and stumbled towards a nearby cave, hoping for shelter.

Inside the cave, I saw a dim light source. Seeing no better option, I stumbled towards the light. I mis-stepped and fell down a flight of stairs, each impact more painful than the last. When I thudded down at the bottom of the stairs, I could only groan in agony. The pain I was feeling was mind numbing. I thought back to all the childhood scrapes that I thought were the most painful thing in the world.

"Heh. Something so close… Just seems like an eternity ago." I managed to cough, spluttering blood onto the floor. I was vaguely aware of four presences behind me. I felt myself rolled onto my back and stared up into the blurred faces of three more monsters. A lion, a snake and a deer. Their words were muffled as they… spoke to one another. I could hardly stay awake at that point.

The three monsters looked away as I heard another muffled voice. They backed away as I felt myself rise off the ground and placed onto something soft. A couch I think. I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't going to die yet. Not like this. I tried to move, but my body was unresponsive. My vision was darkening, but I tried to stay awake. Not like this.

"Not… Like… This…"