Wednesday? It’s already Wednesday? Are you kidding me right now? Just joking. I’ve given up trying to keep track of time, especially this week. Don’t ask. Let’s just say Monday and Tuesday were not stellar days and move long because there’s nothing to see here. Let’s get to new words. Using #1lineWed’s theme of **THE LAST** and #ThursdayThread’s prompt of  “This is the way the world ends” I put together these 300+ words, hopefully for your entertainment. Our intrepid characters are still working their way through the Carpathian Mountains and Meg… Well, you can ead for yourself what occurs.
****
The last sound Meg’d heard before darkness claimed her was a shouted warning. Unconscious. She’d been knocked out. Surrounded by absolute dark, she actually touched her eyes to make sure her lids were open. They were. The sounds of her slightly panicked breathing echoed in the void surrounding her. Cautiously, she stretched out one hand and found…nothing. She reached in the opposite direction and touched a rough-hewn rock wall. Crabbing backwards, she pressed her back against it.

Her eyes slowly adjusted and the blackness wasn’t quite so oppressive. Faint light seeped in from somewhere. She found her pack a few feet away. Hooking it with a toe, she pulled it to her and scrabbled inside for a flashlight. Switching it on, she almost screamed at the blinding pain in her eyes.

“Dumb ass.” She closed her eyes and slowly let them readjust to the light. She was in a cave—she remembered entering it with Kin. And then… She swung the beam around. Yes, indeed. There’d been a rock fall, the cave entrance now completely blocked.

“This is the way the world ends?” Her raised voice echoed off the enclosing walls. “Are you kidding me right now?” She wanted to scream in frustration. Instead, she dug for a seed of determination, found it, and nurtured it. She faced the blocked tunnel and tried to decide which rock to move first. The others would outside working to free her. She could meet them halfway. With a voice filled with defiance, she informed the Universe of her decision. “This is not the way I’m going to die.”

Something growled and she froze. Slowly swiveling her head, the flashlight beam tracking with her eyes, she looked deeper into the cave. The eyeshine of a large predator glowed just beyond the reach of her light.

“Okay,” she whispered, voice quavering. ‘Maybe this is the way the world ends. For me anyway.”
****
I am NOT looking shifty-eyed, rubbing my hands together and muttering “bwahahaha” in my best Snidley Whiplash voice. I know what/who y’all think is in the cave with her but I have news for you. I don’t even know. Yes, really. I have no clue. Is it Kin? Is it a wild wolf? Is it a Carpathian cryptid? Vampire? Werewolf? Troll?  Once I figure it out, y’all will just have to buy the book when it comes out to find the answer. Yeah, I am a big ol’ tease. Why do you even ask?