Withdrawal

Pulling the battered and dusty trunk open, Cass pushed the lid away from her to let it clatter over backwards onto the floor, and held the old oil lantern higher above her head, to better illuminate its contents
Just more shit, by the look of it, she scowled – More odds and ends; strange, crumbling wooden objects and useless technological junk, all nestled amidst tangled lengths of string and other assorted miscellany
All useless
She picked delicately through the chaotic jumble of objects for a moment or two, until, satisfied there was nothing of any real use to be had, she turned her attention to the next crate, levering it open to continue her scavenging

Ostensibly searching for both her own clothes and any other useful equipment that she could find, her search of the Hitchers subterranean enclave had yielded little in the way of either thus far, other than a few hunting knives, some battered, but useful looking camping equipment, and thankfully a pair of skinny shorts, which she had gratefully pulled on under the stupidly short, pleated skirt she had found herself in

It was the day after the incidents with the Hitcher and the “demons”, or whatever the hell those creatures actually were, and Cass was not only feeling antsy and strung out after yesterday’s horrific events, but she was also suffering badly from the spacey, gnawing irritability of full blown nicotine withdrawal; and as such, she had slunk on down here sometime after breakfast, to try and keep well out of everyone else’s way
Jay was also another reason she was hiding down here, since it seemed that he had decided to start maintaining something of a cordial distance towards her again; and while she didn’t know what she had done wrong this time, she really didn’t want to snap at him or antagonise him - especially when things between them were still pretty fragile, and she had few enough friends as it was

Maybe, she reflected as she poked through the next crate, she was being a little over-sensitive, and Jay was just being, well... Jay and nothing had changed; or maybe he was trying to balance out the amount of concern he had shown for her yesterday, hoping that she didn’t get any of the wrong ideas?
Maybe he did still care about her?
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Cass focussed back on the task of rifling through the junk in the crate in front of her, figuring that the best thing she could do was to try and remain occupied, since her current mental state really didn’t make today a good day to be dwelling too deeply on anything - let alone the state of her relationship with Jay!

Finishing yet another fruitless search, Cass was about to move onto the next crate when a sudden and unidentifiable noise startled her, making her wheel around and, hold the lamp high above her head, to frown out into the darkness
“Who’s that?” she called suspiciously
There was no reply
Suddenly worried, Cass cast her eyes about, looking for one of the knives she had discovered earlier, and spying one of them lying nearby on the floor along with some of the other useful items she had located, she began creeping stealthily towards it
Maybe coming down here on her own hadn’t been so great an idea, she realised – It had seemed safe enough, given that the main camp was only a fifty metre scramble back up the tunnels to the surface, and she had felt safe in the knowledge that the others were well within earshot if she needed them
A sudden movement in the periphery of her vision made her freeze and wheel around again, holding her lantern up to peer out into the gloom as a cold bead of sweat trickled slowly down her back in the breathless stillness that followed

Cass didn't particularly care who or what was down here - all she knew was the she was in danger and that she needed to get the hell out; and so, without warning, she lowered her head to begin a mad sprint out of the chamber, making her way back towards the tunnel to the surface
An angry, guttural snarl broke the silence as she moved, followed by the heavy thump of footsteps behind her
Not daring to look back over her shoulder even for a second, Cass slid frantically around a corner into the pale light, slanting down from the exit back up to the surface and tossed the oil lantern aside to begin scrambling up the steep incline back into the light
She managed perhaps five or ten metres, before a massive hand enclosed her right ankle and she was hauled, with a small, breathless scream, back into the darkness by one of the huge, blue skinned “demons”, which clapped a vice-like hand around her neck to haul her, choking and kicking to her feet, her fingers scrabbling against its iron grip
Looking, for an instant, up into the creature’s yellow, cat-like eyes, Cass felt a sudden wave of nausea hit her as the things lips parted in an inhuman grin and its putrid breath washed over her
The demon let out a low snarl and rattled Cass like a rag-doll, smacking her hard up against the tunnel wall, and dazing and winding her, before it turned to growl something in its brutally guttural language to another one of its cohorts, who silently handed it a metal collar which was snapped with well-practiced ease around her neck
Turning, the demon jerked hard on the chain attached to the collar, dragging Cass off her feet, and pulling her, scrabbling across the floor and shrieking for help, away into the darkness of the Hitchers warren, past another half dozen or more of the blue creatures who began silently moving up the tunnel towards the surface

<tag>
Who’s in the camp, and if you’re not, what are you up to?
Demon slavers are on the way
</tag>