He hung onto the skull, with a torn bleeding hand and enough reasons to convince a rational man to give up, but Joji hung on regardless; death was on his shoulder again, making life feel too heavy a burden to bear.
Joji wondered if this was the standard of things to come, if it was, was there any reason to keep fighting? If this doesn't kill me, some other treat will, maybe that T rex again. Wait, I've died before; how many lives have I got left? He looked around but couldn't find any live bar.
He remembered how he had summoned his stats before by hitting his chest. Damn, he thought, realizing there was no way he could do that now, not with arms like this.
He felt the heat of the sand flaming his bare feet; he was losing consciousness again, but he kept himself awake, using nothing but sheer will; he never knew he could harness such willpower; he never thought he had it in him.
He felt he had enough strength now, just enough to finally pull; he was too close to quitting; if only I knew how much life I had left, he thought; if I had enough, I could just let go and respawn somewhere else.
He took in a deep breath and put more purpose into his arm. The sweat was heating up on his skin, and the air came with a refreshed sting to the lungs; nothing seemed to encourage life here; it felt like every bit of it wanted you dead.
He pulled, and as he did, the dislocated bone shifted from side to side, causing him to feel mind-warping pain, but he was getting so used to it now.
He found enough strength to power through, pulling himself up again. His arms couldn't take anymore, but this was his last bit of strength, his last chance; for all he knew, it could even be his last life.
He had to pull, it all hinged on this, Amy's life and his, the creator's words streamed through his mind, "Man has forgotten the animal, man has forgotten the primal, the real, we have become plastic, disgrace mockeries of our ancestors, too soft to live life to the fullest, too dead to die for anything."
"What does he know," joji yelled, the pain breaking his senses, who does he think he is, trapping us in here, some rich bastard, thinks they own the world, I'll crush him when I get the chance, his rage gave him a refreshed boost, it burned and burned in him his pain.
"Who does he think he is," Joji screamed; he was almost on top; I'm gonna live, I'm gonna live to see you all die for what you did to us; I won't die here, I won't die before you.
He landed on the skull. His whole body was on it now; he was safe, the bottom of his legs was out of it, over sand, but he was safe.
He pulled away from the sand, then stopped and started laughing, "I did it!" he screamed, "I did it!"
He was breathing heavily; he couldn't believe he actually had done it, and with his success came a feeling he'd never experienced before; it was a deep sense of fulfillment, borne out of a long fight in the face of great adversity.
He turned, and in his back, the skull was resting on the large black rocks that lined the pool of sand; its fangs were heavily embedded in the rocks.
He quickly grabbed his arm, not willing to wait a second, he knew he had to do it now when he was still hurting, he could handle it while he was still in pain,
He closed his eyes and braced himself for a world of pain; then he snapped it in; and he screamed as he felt it pop back into place. A tidal wave of pain crashed in him, twisting and tossing him around, he screamed violently, then it slowly subsided, his consciousness was fading as the waves pushed him to a tranquil sleep.
After what felt like a day of rest, he slowly came to. He felt jets of warm air landing over and over on his face. What is this he wondered? He slowly opened his eyes; his vision was still a blur, and all he could see was a moving mass of blackness. His senses weren't quite active yet.
The black mass moved, but then it came rushing at him; he saw a flash of sharp teeth; his instinct flared, and he grabbed onto the side of the skull and pulled himself out of the way.
He almost falls down to the pool of sand but he grabs hold of the brown rocks lining the pool of quicksand. He looked back at the skull and saw that the black mass was a raptor; shivers ran through his spine as it rushed at him; why now? He thought I'd only just escaped the quicksand.
The raptor growled at him and snapped its jaws as he tried to move out of harm's way. It was too close of comfort and could have snatched him but its jaws at any moment. The skull buckled underneath the weight of the raptor.
It couldn't take its eyes off its prey, not when it was this close to him. Joji felt its teeth graze him, he almost lost an arm there, he knew for sure.
He couldn't move fast enough on those rocks; they were hot to the touch, but he didn't mind; he was too occupied with surviving.
He knew if he got on top of the rocks, then the raptor would easily get him, he knew he had to stay out of its reach, and his best bet was moving sideways on the rocks; he had no other lifeline apart from them. Above him was the raptor, and below was the pool of quicksand.
The raptor snapped his jaws at him again, neck from atop the snake skull; Joji couldn't move fast enough; he had no experience climbing rocks, and this would most likely spell his doom.