Breaching the Perimeter

Open expanse. Too much light. Click... low hiss. I crawled past the console foot, belly brushing the flat carpet pile. A heavy wooden chair leg loomed ahead like a scarred timber column. Beside it, a fallen thick plastic bottle cap lay rim-up, blocking the gap to the darker dining floor beyond. Hazard check. I locked my rigid knees, dug my heels into the woven fibers, and drove my shoulder flat into the rounded rim. Grunt. Blunt scrape. The ridged plastic skated across the hardwood boundary, jamming tight beneath the chair rung. A low trench cleared. I wedged myself between the base and timber. Safe passage established.