That uncomfortable, nagging feeling quickly turned to fear, churning in his stomach, and he started taking hesitant steps back in the direction of the trees. As soon as Barry could make out the approaching silhouette, he turned around, eyes wide, sprinting as fast as he could across the sand-covered rock. He could already hear it thundering behind him, quickly gaining ground and all he could think of was to run. Get away. There was only the feeling of panic and his damn legs, already burning, not wanting to move faster. He stumbled as the rocky underground gave way to a patch of deeper sand and twisted around, knees bent, ready to leap to the side, when the creature suddenly stopped.

An impossibly massive creature stood facing him, about 15 yards away. On instinct, Barry's entire body had gone stiff, staring at it in wide eyed horror. His mouth had gone dry and he was sweating heavily, his breathing coming fast and shallow. He tried to keep still and quiet. It was all he could do not to scream or puke.

It looked closer to a tank than an animal, covered in thick, pocked slats of gray hide, overlapping at its joints like medieval armor. There was some similarity to a rhino, if you added steroids and mutations and a few millennia of evolution. It was about twice as tall and wide as a rhino, and did not have a horn. Its muzzle was instead long and flat, reminiscent of a crocodile's. Through his panic, the unwanted thought popped into his head that this was clearly not a herbivore.

It felt like time stood still as he stood there, gaping at the beast in front of him. He was going to die. Any moment now, this monstrous bull would shoot forward and kill him. He felt sick with fear, but it was somewhat muted by this surreal, dissonant feeling he'd been experiencing since coming here. No matter how real things felt, there was still a part of him that believed he was about to wake up. The beast would bullrush him at that ridiculous speed, all would go black and he'd just wake up in his small studio. Possibly having wet the bed, and definitely never wanting to go to sleep again. Would he have to go through the agony of being torn to shreds first? The pain at least was very real here. His fear spiked again and he tried to control his breathing, desperately thinking of a way out of this. Should he go back to running away? Why had it stopped moving? Was it just savoring his fear before pouncing on him?

Barry couldn't help but feel some awe as he continued looking the creature over. This bull was absolutely massive. The more he observed it, he had to discard any comparisons to a rhino, or in fact any other animal he knew. Where its eyes and nose should be, there were tiny slits, looking undeveloped and barely functional. There was also something about the shape of its joints and the way it stood on bent knees, as if ready to leap at him, that didn't add up given the sheer mass of the creature. He assumed that it would probably have high speed and acceleration, but poor agility. Most bizarre of all were its huge feet.

Most people didn't realize how important foot posture and weight distribution were in evolutionary history. Rhinos and elephants may look similar, but their feet are entirely different. Rhinos have hooves and walk on the balls of their feet, elephants being flat-footed, putting their weight on their heels instead. This bull seemed to be in a category of its own, its feet a lot thicker than the leg, splitting down into 4 triangular, hoove-like parts with a broad underside. There were fleshy protrusions in the gaps between each of the large toes, that he couldn't make sense of. Its large ears were clearly better developed than its other senses, pointed in his general direction, twitching attentively. It might not be able to see him, which might explain why it had stopped, but it would definitely pick up on any noise. He had to keep quiet. That would soon become a problem as his quadriceps were starting to cramp from the awkward position he'd stopped in.

He'd managed to get his breathing somewhat under control, but sweat was starting to run down the side of his face. Still no ideas. His legs were really burning by now, and he realized he'd have to change his stance. Slowly, carefully, he straightened his legs and torso to an upright position. No reaction. Thank God. He just might turn to religion after this. Then, as he went back to studying the behemoth in front of him, a drop of sweat rolled down his chin and landed on his foot with a barely audible plop.

He nearly jolted in fear as the bull suddenly made a step towards him, ears perking up, but he managed to keep still. His heart was pounding in his ears, so loudly he thought it would surely be able to hear it. It was just a matter of time until it would rush him. He had to think of something.

He noticed some slight movement by the foot the bull had just lifted to step closer. It was barely visible, so small that he wouldn't have caught it if he hadn't already been staring at it. It looked like a tiny gray needle was now protruding from the unidentified bulge between the toes, stabbing through the sand until it touched the rock beneath. It reminded him of an old fashioned seismometer he'd seen in a museum one time.

Barry's eyes widened with realization. It must be able to sense vibrations from movement through the ground. That might explain how it had been able to locate him from so far away in the first place. Looking down, he now noticed that he was standing on a deeper pile of sand, where previously there had only been a thin layer of it covering the rocky ground underneath. Intuitively, it made sense to him that this would dampen the vibrations.

Barry's mind finally snapped into action at that last piece of information. The information was limited, but he could form a few hypotheses now. First, there was a high probability that the bull had terrible vision, which was probably the only reason he was still alive. Second, he thought that this creature was built not just for sustained high speeds, but also fast acceleration. The shape of its joints suggested that it would however only be capable of limited movement from side to side. It would move very quickly in a straight line towards its target, but it would not be good at making turns or changing direction. Third, the size and shape of its ears indicated that it should have decent hearing, but so far it hadn't committed to movements based on its hearing alone. Its most reliable way to track prey should be whatever it captured from those needles, which could only be vibrations moving through the ground. It had managed to track him from miles away, so this sense should be highly sensitive.

That gave him some ideas, which he would have to test. Moving slowly and carefully, he slid his hand into his pocket to take his phone out. It took a few minutes to get it out, his heartbeat increasing every time his hand rubbed against the fabric, fearing that the bull would pick up the sound, but it gave no reaction. As quietly as possible, he tapped the screen to set the alarm to go off in one minute, then, still holding it in his right hand, he slowly moved his arm back, getting it in position for a throw. He pinched the phone between his thumb and index finger to be able to throw it spinning on its side, which should reduce wind resistance.

Worried about making too much noise, he jerked his arm with only a short snap of motion, using mostly his wrist, which was relatively silent but did not land the phone as far as he would have liked. His breath caught as its ears twitched in his direction, but as soon as the device hit the sand, the creature snapped its head around and repositioned its body in that direction. It paused for a moment, not yet rushing over to investigate. Was it somehow suspicious? Looking at it from the side, he noticed there was something odd about its neck, an excess of thick, grey skin bunching into a ring, but he didn't have any ideas as to why that might be.

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Now came the risky part. Ever so slowly, using all the careful control he had over his body, he moved his leg back and rolled his foot onto the sand, toes first. In a slow, controlled sliding motion, he then moved back his other leg and repeated the movement, keeping a close eye on the creature. His hope was that by slowly sliding over the sand, he'd avoid creating any tremors for the bull to pick up on.

His mouth was dry, hands trembling slightly as he crept back. It still had its attention on where the phone had landed, making a step in its direction. Muscles tensed, sweat dripping from his face under the burning sun, Barry carefully continued in the direction of the incline, performing something like the world's slowest and most dangerous moonwalk.

He'd been waiting for it but still stiffened as his phone started vibrating, the creature immediately rushing for it. His breath caught in his throat to its impossible acceleration. How much force would it take for something that large to move so quickly? How did its joints even survive that kind of stress? Ignorant of the laws of physics, it blasted forward, over the phone and past it, snapping its teeth in the air. One of its giant hooves had pushed the phone into the sand, but the resilient device kept buzzing. Enraged, the bull turned back and started wildly digging and biting into the sand until it finally caught and crushed the phone between its teeth. It looked confused, pawing at the ground, moving its head around, ears twitching.

Barry hadn't wasted the distraction, moving steadily back, creating ever more distance between himself and the bull. He still didn't have a plan for dealing with it, but at least when he reached the trees he would have some meager protection from the sun and a way to get a better view of the area. If he was lucky, there might be a lake or something out there. The massive creature didn't look like it would be able to swim.

He got into a steady flow and lost sense of time, focused only on repeating the now familiar sliding motions. Move foot back, gently set the toes down, roll onto the ball of the foot, transfer weight, move the other foot back, repeat.

When his foot suddenly hit something harder, he was ripped out of his trance. There had been a layer of rock where he'd expected sand. His stomach dropped and fear gripped him again, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Praying that the bull wouldn't have noticed, he still bent his knees to get ready for a jump. But no, he was out of luck, the bull already turning his way. Despite the increased distance, there was no time for thoughts or calculations. As soon as it made to move, he leapt as fast and far as he could, directly to his left, keeping his eyes on the bull. Right after he started his jump, it was already on him, but looking like it would pass him by.

But then suddenly, impossibly, its head seemed to eject from its body, that terrible maw snapping at him. Time seemed to slow down as he noticed the wrinkled folds of skin around its neck stretching out as its head shot towards him. He had a moment to wonder about its skeletal structure, when its muzzle hit him.

The only reason he lived was that the blind creature had aimed too high and far, so instead of catching him between its teeth, its bottom jaw just crashed into Barry's torso, sending him flying as it passed him by. Breath completely knocked out of him, Barry traveled through the air, landing hard and tumbling across the sand. He immediately got up, but fell back down, dizzy and disoriented, spitting out sand. Filled with nervous energy, acting on instinct, he quickly unhooked his backpack. Wiping some sand from his eyes as he got up again, he noticed a blob of gray and instantly threw his backpack in the other direction. Feeling numb, he blinked and got his bearings for a moment, turning back towards the trees. Not waiting to see whether it took the bait, Barry sprinted to the trees in front of him as his bag tumbled across the ground.

The great, dumb beast went for the bag. Undoubtedly, this would just be a delay of execution, except he'd spotted something while he was spinning through the air. One last chance. Dazed, not feeling any pain yet, he still knew with certainty that he would be dead if this didn't work.

Right behind the row of dead trees, the ground sloped downwards and then abruptly broke off into a massive canyon. Thanks to the beast's push, the trees and the abyss beyond were now only a short sprint away. That giant brute certainly wouldn't be able to climb, but also, hopefully, it wouldn't be able to come to a quick stop. He glanced at the closest tree and felt he should just be able to make it to the lowest branch and pull himself up.

Knowing he was out of time to think, he gritted his teeth and pushed his body to move faster. His feet slapping on the cracked rock, he couldn't help but let out a short cry as there was a sudden stab of pain in his ribs, but he never stopped moving.

Behind him were sounds of the bull crunching on his backpack. It would be turning around any second now. He had to move faster. Push through the pain.

With only a few more strides left to the tree ahead of him, he heard and felt the rumble of the creature launching itself, knowing it would be coming straight at him. Taking one long step with his left leg, then a final lunge with his right, he used everything he had to leap up and forward. The ravine he'd seen before showed up in front of him again as he flew through the air, willing himself to make it, eyes focused on the dark branch that was his target.

Thanks to his extensive training, Barry could leap across long distances and he'd judged his ability well, his target coming within reach. In a snap judgment, remembering the bull's stretching neck, he abandoned his plan of climbing up the tree. Instead, he decided to use his arms to push off the branch instead, changing his momentum to move himself back down to the ground. It felt like time slowed down again as his hands slapped against the inky black wood, shoving himself away from it.

As he fell back down, he pulled his arms back, drawing his legs and head into his chest to make himself as small as possible. It wasn't a second too soon as he felt the blast of air from the bull passing over him, its neck snapping out towards the branch. Barry felt a flash of relief at his split decision as he heard the crunch of wood splintering. The bull hurtled forward like a runaway truck, straight towards the canyon. With unstoppable momentum it passed by, pulling part of the tree along with it.

Right as Barry was about to hit the ground, its back left hoof clipped his shoulder and then he was tumbling over the rock and sand again, vision a blurry mess. He pushed out his arms and legs to stop himself, scrabbling at the ground desperately. His right hand caught on something and there was a stab of pain in his shoulder as he came to a halt right at the edge of the cliff. From the corner of his eye he still caught the massive gray shape going over the edge and falling down into the abyss. A wave of relief and euphoria washed over him, allowing him to forget his pain for a precious few seconds. He breathed out and smiled for the first time since appearing here.

"Yes! Take that, you stupid-"

His delight was cut short by a wave of nausea and once again, he had to roll over to empty his stomach onto the sand. Barry desperately gasped for breath after each heave, leading to stabbing pain in his sides, until he was finally done being sick. He tried to get up on hands and knees but his right shoulder gave out with a stab of pain, dropping him down into his own vomit. Only now did he realize his right arm had been dislocated. Using his left instead, he pushed himself up to his knees, short wheezing breaths coming out through clenched teeth, right arm hanging limply by his side. His eyes were pressed shut, face contorted in pain, and he slowly lowered himself to the ground to lie on his back.

"I'm still alive."

The words came out as a breathless whisper, Barry still sucking in air and grunting at the agony in his ribs. He forced his head up to look over his body, then let it drop back down, staring at the blue sky, vision still swimming slightly. His elation at having survived that absurd monster was mixed with confusion. He was trying to formulate more theories but his brain was resisting him, until he was interrupted by a woman's voice.

"Congratulations! You've unlocked the use of your PE container. We're very proud of you!"

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