Culvert Breach

The muddy trench narrowed into a blunt concrete pipe jutting from the ditch bank. Dark, hollow opening. Cold air poured from its mouth. A sodden oak branch lay wedged crosswise across the circular rim, daring to block my advance. I drove my skull straight into the rotting bark. Snap. Wet wood splintered and gave way under my chest. I stomped my heavy foot down, crushing the remaining twigs deep into the black slime at the entrance. I hauled my bulk inside the echoing cylinder, pressed both foreclaws hard against the slick curved wall, and let out a blunt, clicking roar into the darkness. The stone cavern is breached.