Creeper

I pant with my back against the wall, sweat from my brow dripping onto the earth below. The walls of the cave reverberate with my staggered breathing, and I can't tell my heartbeats from the steps of my pursuer ringing in my ears. I tighten my grip on the blade in my hand and hold my flickering torch in my left.

I'm hundreds of feet underground and hopelessly lost. Nobody will hear my cries, my body's final resting place will remain unknown to the people I love.

I hope they won't search for me. I wouldn't wish this Hell upon anybody.

I pull away from the wall, and running my hand along the edge, I feel something rough, and shift my body to illuminate it. There's a soft glisten as a small smiles creeps across my face. Gold. How very novel. Mere hours ago, I would be rejoicing at this tiny deposit, but now it's just another dead weight to be carried by a man just clinging to the very idea of survival.

Suddenly, I hear it again. Footsteps
A deathly silence. He hears me. He smells me.
A moan to wake the dead.
I start running, but I'm too slow. I don't dare look behind me though. I can feel the lifeless gaze, and the soulless body stalking me, faster and faster
Until-

"sssssssssssssSSSSSS"

Then, silence.