History Main / NeverendingTerror

* ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'': With Frank as the VillainProtagonist, this is how he sees Hanratty's and the FBI's pursuit of him. At various points Frank tries to bargain with Hanratty to let him retire, but as Hanratty explains, Frank broke the law, stole millions of dollars, and embarassed a lot of people--his crimes are simply too egregious to let him off the hook. Moreover, it's literally Hanratty's ''job'' to catch Frank, it's ''all'' he does, and no matter where Frank goes, he will always be looking over his shoulder until the government catches him.

** It turns out that this is a reversal of the Kelpiens' natural life cycal, bred into them by their former food source, another sentient species called the Ba'ul. In fact, the Ba'ul used to live in NeverendingTerror of the Kelpiens until they rose up and conquered them, turning them into a slave/food race. Kelpiens actually go from a docile fearful state and transform into confident, predatory warriors through a cycle that they were brainwashed into believing was a death cycle by the Ba'ul who culled them at the point of transformation.

* ''Film/DemonKnight:'' TheLegionsOfHell are chasing after an [[TheAgeless ageless]] ChosenOne who carries a holy flask containing the blood of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and previous Chosen Ones. The Chosen One must stay on the run from them, constantly moving and never slowing down too much for an instant, or else the demons will get the flask and unleash HellOnEarth. [[spoiler:Also, the Chosen One bears a mark on his/her arm counting down how much time is left until they must make their LastStand, at which point they must face an onslaught of DemonicInvaders and then pass on the flask to the SoleSurvivor, who is the next Chosen One.]]

* ''Film/TheMatrix'': Morpheus unplugs Neo from the Matrix, where he was living in a VirtualReality simulation of RealLife. He teaches Neo the truth about the Matrix, including the nature of their foe, the evil ArtificialIntelligence machines. Neo has a mental collapse and falls unconscious. When he wakes up, he asks Morpheus "I can't go back, can I." In fact, fatigue with the unending, terrifying RobotWar is what prompts [[spoiler:Cypher to betray the group on the slim hope of being able to go back]].

* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': this is Jessica's nightmare as she is stalked by Kilgrave, an evil bastard who can MindControl people and enslaved her for his sick purposes. Not only is Jessica herself always in danger because all it would take is one word from Kilgrave to enslave her again (until she finds out she's immune), but she lives in New York City, meaning she lives among 20 million people he could control at any time. Hope, after being victimized by Kilgrave and being forced to kill her parents, chooses to cut her own throat rather than fall back under his control.

* Like the ''Terminator'' films, ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' indulges heavily in this. Following the second movie, both Sarah and John are heavily shaped by their years living (figuratively) underground "just in case", and when Cromartie comes after them it is intensified. This is also the focus of the episode "Alpine Fields", in which two guest characters are depicted in two time frames, one when Sarah and Cameron come to rescue them from a Terminator when they have no idea what's going on, and one some time later after they've spent a while on the run.

* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': this is Jessica's nightmare as she is stalked by Kilgrave, an evil bastard who can MindControl people and enslaved her for his sick purposes. Not only is Jessica herself always in danger because all it would take is one word from Kilgrave to enslave her again (until she finds out she's immune), but she lives in New York City, meaning she lives among 20 million people he can control at any time. Hope, after being victimized by Kilgrave and being forced to kill her parents, chooses to cut her own throat rather than fall back under his control.

* Like the ''Terminator'' films, ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' indulges heavily in this. Both Sarah and John are heavily shaped by their years living underground "just in case", and when Cromartie comes after them it is intensified. This is also the focus of the episode "Alpine Fields", in which two guest characters are depicted in two time frames, one when Sarah and Cameron come to rescue them from a Terminator when they have no idea what's going on, and one some time later after they've spent a while on the run.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Witness protection often feels like this for the individuals forced into the option. Whatever life you had is over, and depending on how powerful/widespread the people you pissed off are, you don't have a lot of margin for error.
* This is presumably the case for anyone with pantophobia (the fear of ''everything'').
* This is also presumably the case for anyone with [[MortalityPhobia thanatophobia]], since it's impossible to cheat death.
[[/folder]]

* The fourteenth has undergone this 35 years ago in ''Manga/DGrayman'' while trying to run away from the Noah who always knew where he is. Wisely prophecies this will happen to Allen too now that [[spoiler: Nea has started to awaken in him]]

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', Dream punishes the one responsible for his imprisonment with 'Eternal Waking': a series of nightmare that will send the victim to a CatapultNightmare... only to realize he's in another, even worse nightmare, for all eternity.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Web Video]]

** ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'': Three years after the second movie, John and Sarah believe themselves to be safe with Cyberdyne and all the traces of the Terminator destroyed, only for John to die at the hands of a ''second'' T-800, as Reese was right and Skynet had sent out multiple Terminators throughout the timeline. It's then seemingly subverted, since killing John at this point doesn't change Cyberdyne's destruction in the past, and Skynet is wiped from existance... only to play it straight when it's revealed that just because Skynet never existed doesn't mean that humanity stopped working on military A.I's, and a completely separate A.I called Legion gains sentience and unleashes it's own Judgement Day, as well as even more powerful Terminators known as Rev-9, starting the cycle all over again with a new target.

* This is presumably the case for anyone with pantophobia (the fear of ''everything'')
* This is also presumably the case for anyone with [[MortalityPhobia thanatophobia]], since its impossible to cheat death.

* ''Film/BodySnatchers'': After the heroes mange to pull off a DeathFromAbove RoaringRampageOfRevenge on the pod convoys and go to what they think is a safe place, the heroine[=/=]CharacterNarrator thinks that maybe they ''[[YouAreTooLate are]]'' too late to stop the invasion. And eventually they will be too tired to fight off sleep...

* ''Film/DemonKnight:'' TheLegionsOfHell are chasing after an [[TheAgeless ageless]] ChosenOne who carries a holy flask containing the blood of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and previous Chosen Ones. The Chosen One must stay on the run from them, constantly moving and never slowing down too much for an instant, or else the demons will get the flask and unleash HellOnEarth. [[spoiler:Also, the Chosen One bears a mark on his/her arm counting down how much time is left until they must make their LastStand, at which point they must face an onslaught of DemonicInvaders and then pass on the flask to the LoneSurvivor, who is the next Chosen One.]]

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': A particularly twisted example with a SerialRapist who takes sick pleasure in stalking and tracking his victims after their first assault and then attacking them again at random points in their lives. One poor woman is so broken by the experience that her career, marriage, family and entire life go to pieces as she becomes afraid of ANY human interaction, or even leaving her house... forcing her to live in painful solitude. The criminal gets pleasure from knowing he's the only thing these women think about, every moment of their existence. [[spoiler:The team finally catches him, but not until he's ruined quite a few lives -- and even though the active threat is now gone, the victims are likely to suffer serious, potentially lifelong effects from living in terror for so long.]]

[[/folder]]

* ''Videogame/DeadByDaylight'': The Entity is an [[TheUnseen Unseen]] InvincibleVillain who finds several unlucky "Survivors" and "Killers" and lock them in an endless GroundhogDayLoop in which the former are hunted by the latter. If the Killers capture the Survivors, they are sacrificed to The Entity and sent to The Void--a realm of immeasurable darkness ans suffering; if the Survivors elude the Killers long enough, they can escape through portals...only to find themselves right back at the start of the "loop", where it begins again. Thus, at best, escaping will only slow down the number of trips to the Void the Survivor takes. Also, every trip to the Void depletes some of the Survivor's soul and willpower, eventually destroying their hope and will to live. Since The Entity feeds not only from the sacrifice, but also the false hope and fear of the Survivors (in addition to the rage and bloodlust of the Killers), a Survivor with no will to live is no longer useful and thus sent ''permanently'' to the Void. That basically means that once the Entity has chosen a Survivor, they are ''[[ShaggyDogStory utterly screwed]]''. Also, those who know about The Entity but aren't part of its sadistic games are aware that with every Sacrifice, the Entity grows stronger and spreads its influence further in the world, able to take more and more Survivors until eventually it reaches ''everyone on Earth''. And, as said before, [[InvincibleVillain there's NO WAY to stop this.]]

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': A particularly twisted example with a SerialRapist who takes sick pleasure in stalking and tracking his victims after their first assault and then attacking them again at random points in their lives. One poor woman is so broken by the experience that her career, marriage, family and entire life go to pieces as she becomes afraid of ANY human interaction, or even leaving her house... forcing her to live in painful solitude. The criminal gets pleasure from knowing he's the only thing these women think about, every moment of their existence. [[spoiler:The team finally catches him, but not until he's ruined quite a few lives -- and even though the active threat is now gone, the victims are likely to suffer serious, potentially lifelong effects from living in terror for so long. As for the mentioned woman in question, she gets an even bigger DownerEnding -- the evidence that finally leads to the rapist's conviction is the one he left behind after he broke into her home and murdered her.]]

* ''Film/BodySnatchers'': After the heroes mange to pull off a DeathFromAbove RoaringRampageOfRevenge on the pod convoys and go to what they think is a safe place, the heroine[=/=]{{Narrator}} thinks that maybe they ''[[YouAreTooLate are]]'' too late to stop the invasion. And eventually they will be too tired to fight off sleep...