What Remains

1/20/xxxx- Sign of Life

I heard it in the walls this morning.

I fell asleep in the eleventh hall East from the entrance, tucked into an alcove with my head pressed against the stone. I have no way to tell how long I was asleep, I only know that I awoke with my heart pounding and the sound of something rubbing against stone only inches from me.

From what I remember in my panicked state, it sounded as if the creature had not fur, but skin.

It pains me to know how close I was to seeing it, yet so far at the same time.

2/25/xxxx- Remains

I found a body. Or, what remains of it. Unfortunately, I found it after eating what little food I could allow myself, and I couldn’t manage to keep it down. It wasn’t the first body I’ve seen down here, though it was the freshest newest. I haven’t heard the creature since my encounter in the eleventh hall East from the entrance. I found the body in the fifth to the North.

I know not yet what this has to do with the creature, but I hope to find out.

2/26/xxxx- The Bodies

After my encounter with the body yesterday morning, I decided to copy down every place I had spotted human remains. If I can find some correlation between these and the creatures locations, I may be one step closer to figuring out the creature’s purpose or goal. This may take me all day, as recalling these memories makes me feel uneasy and weak.

1. The newest, a half rotted torso and legs wearing a traveling coat, in the fifth corridor North from the entrance

2. A skeleton in the seventh corridor South from the entrance, a pair of leather boots beside it

3. A half decomposed woman found face down in the second corridor to the West, wearing a green dress

4. Though not a body, half an arm was found in the fifth corridor to the West

I have not extended my adventures further West, as I fear what else might be waiting for me in the shadows of the hallways.

2/27/xxxx- North

I took the rest of the day to rest, trying to block the images of the remains from my mind. I woke feeling as refreshed as possible this morning and decided to continue my trek North. So far, I had found remains in every hall but the East, though turning back now would only delay any further progress I could make. I considered heading into the corridors branching off from the main four, but I feared that I would lose my way. No, I would continue North for a few more halls before heading back.

3/31/xxxx- The Mark

I made it back to the entrance with nothing new to report, and in my frustration I headed into the Western corridor. I stomped my way past the half decomposed woman and the lone arm, my sights set on the darkness ahead. Thankfully, I found nothing else in my path for the rest of the day, though I found evidence that the creature had been nearby. A black mark on the wall, a foot higher than my head and three feet long. From what I could see, it seemed like some sort of scratch or burn permanently etched onto the stone.

4/13/xxxx- Finally.

I saw it.

Even writing this now, I can barely control the shakiness of my hands. Only moments ago, I was crossing into the fifth corridor to the South (I left the West corridor after finding nothing further after a few days), and I heard the same sound of skin against stone that I heard all those weeks ago- though I was not asleep, this time. I froze in my path, right in the intersection between the South corridor and two alternative hallways. My hair rose on end, my left ear ringing with the remnants of sound. I turned toward the ringing, and there it was.

It was magnificent. Like everything I’d ever imagined and more.

It was already half hidden in the darkness of the dimly lit corridors, thought I could barely make out its back half before it darted into another corridor. It’s legs were long and spindly, twisted in ways I had never seen in a living being. Its skin, just as I had suspected, was not the color of a humans- no, it had taken on a grayish green that only came from living in the labyrinth for so many years. As it scurried away, I could hear the quiet tacking of sharp claws against stone. It was not a large creature as I suspected in terms of weight, rather it was very bony and thin, though this did not affect its ability toward movement.

I stood in that spot for minutes, maybe hours, listening and watching that spot in the darkness. I imagined I could hear it rubbing its claw against the stone, or leaning its skin against the wall just as it had that night.

Once I recovered and started walking again, I could have sworn I heard a loud cry in the distance, though I myself admit that the quiet of the corridors would sometimes make me hear things that weren’t there.

4/20/xxxx- Lost

After my first spotting of the creature, I grew eager. I wanted more, wanted my months of research to amount to something meaningful for the people on the surface. I scouted those Southern corridors for days, breaking my rule about going into the branching hallways, looking for any signs of life or evidence that the creature had been there. After four days, I knew that the creature had likely moved on, and so too should I. But my worst fear had come true- I had become horrifically lost in my search for the creature. For the last three days, I’ve been walking in circles, frantically trying to spot any familiar sights or indicators that I had been there before, but every corridor looked the same. Neither I nor the creature had left any trace, and I was officially lost in its labyrinth.

4/30/xxxx- Turn Back

If you’ve found this journal, it means you’ve found me- or, what remains of me. In a few days, you’ll have realized that I missed the monthly rations drop off. You’ll give it a few more days before searching, hoping that I’ll miraculously pop up and tell you that I only got turned around- but that is not the case.

I’ve gone through the last of my water, and my food has been gone for days now. I’ve given up on trying to find my way back. For days, I’ve been unable to walk, stuck in the corridor with my thoughts and my journal. As I’ve looked back at my old entries, I realized something.

We searched these halls to stifle our own curiosity, to satisfy the need we have to understand things beyond our comprehension. Like so many before, I will become a victim to this creature- though, does a victim wander willingly into the monster’s hunting grounds?

In a way, I am no victim. I am a consequence. A consequence of my human nature, the very thing that has led to the riddled remains of these halls. Looking back, I recognize what I refused to see.

The one before me, whose traveling coat I always spotted. One of the first to disappear from the city, always spotted with those shiny leather boots. The reporter with green eyes, the one who claimed to understand what was going on beneath our very feet. There were many others just like them, ones that I’m sure I could find if only I had longer to look.

My time is running out, and in my last moments, I only feel regret that I allowed myself to succumb to my desires, to abandon my life in favor of tracking something that had no purpose in being tracked.

If you’re reading this, then you’re too far gone, too. I just hope you left a trail to find your way back.