Blow after blow, I sent the baton zipping into its skin, first smashing it in the back, then in the shoulder, and then in the arm as it tried to block the last of the flurry of blows. This time the beast didn’t grab the weapon, instead trying to bat it aside and strike out with its other claw. Having anticipated the move, I was able to duck underneath its massive arm and send the baton smashing into its ribs, its stomach.
But it wasn’t working.
This thing was all muscle. The weapon in my hand was designed to break bone, but there was just too much muscle for the shock from each impact to even reach this thing’s bones. And that just assumed the laws of the real, waking world applied in here. I was dreaming. This was a dream world. So far, I felt like I was running in an endless hall of darkness and dead bodies.
For all I knew, my attempts at hurting this thing were totally pointless. Still, that wasn’t going to stop me. What was the alternative? Lie down and let this thing rip my throat open? I wasn’t going to end up like those other inmates. I would not be dragged out of my cell in a body bag by terrified, tired guards.
Realizing the baton wasn’t going to hurt it the way I was using it, I tossed it aside and pulled away from the beast, watching it as it slowly turned around to face me. Swallowing hard, considering my next move, I locked eyes with the beast, and in them all I saw was blackness. The endless dark. They were like black holes, sucking in the light around them and reflecting nothing back.
This thing was going to kill me if it got the chance, and I had nothing to protect myself with.
Your collar.
Azlu’s voice came just as the devil drew back its arm and swiped. Arching my back, I threw myself into a backflip to get out of its way. My muscles were burning, my lungs were tight, and my head was pounding, but hearing Azlu’s voice was like a breath of fresh air.
Instead of questioning her or trying to reach out, I touched my collar.
It was gone.
Maybe it had never been around my neck to begin with. I couldn’t remember having it, I’d just assumed it was there, like it always was. But with all the sureness of dreams, it made absolute sense that I no longer had it attached to my neck like an ornament. It was gone, and that meant I had more tools at my disposal than a dead man’s weapon.
Flexing my fingers, my own claws emerged, and they were just as sharp and as black as his.
“Alright, big boy,” I said, “Let’s dance.”
The beast roared and lunged. I noticed it was a little off balance on its left side, so I took advantage of that and weaved to the left, but I didn’t avoid his claws entirely. They grazed my arm, sending a searing jolt of pain through my shoulder and into my neck. Groaning and gritting my teeth, I swiped into the devil’s side, and my claws tore through its flesh.
It made a sound that was something between pain, shock, and complete surprise as I pushed my hand deep into the creature’s meaty flesh. I didn’t think it had ever been hurt before, had ever felt pain before, but it felt it now. When I pulled my hand out of the hole I had made, I was wearing a glove of hot, sticky crimson fluid, and it felt glorious.
I backed up again, stared at the blood on my hand, and then looked down at my arm. The beast slowly turned, but it didn’t immediately lunge for another attack. I could tell it was also considering its own injuries, which meant it was smart. It could think. It didn’t just mindlessly attack and eat whenever it felt the need to.
“That’s right,” I said, keeping a tight stance and watching its every move. “We’ve hurt each other. What are you gonna do now?”
The monster growled, its voice deep and menacing. It flashed its teeth, which were large, and jagged, and covered in blood and bits of dead people. It made a move as if it was about to attack, but then it pulled back.
I didn’t flinch. Instead, I kept matching its movements. We were circling each other now, like cats in an alley. “You don’t know what to do, do you? That hurts, doesn’t it? You might be regretting your choice to pull me in here, I think. Send me back out, and I won’t hurt you again.”
It roared at me with so much force I felt its hot breath crash against my face like the blast of a car exhaust.
I wiped the spittle off my face with the back of my hand. “I’ll take that as a no. So, now what? It’s your move—you kill me, or I kill you.”
The creature didn’t move for a long moment. It was still weighing its options. Take the risk and attack, or release me and risk nothing? My arm was starting to bleed pretty heavily, and even though this was only a dream, the fact that I could feel it was making a little light-headed. Whatever I was going to do, I needed to do it quick.
Run, came Azlu’s voice again.
It echoed in the back of my brain as if my skull was empty, and the way the beast’s eyes narrowed, I kind of thought it had heard. When the monster reared and lunged, I knew it had heard, and so I turned around and I ran, going back the way I came. At least, that was what I thought. The corridors all looked the same. Endlessly they spilled past me with no change, no break, no opening in sight.
Until I saw one—only it wasn’t a door, it was a section of broken wall.
I headed toward it, sprinting as fast as my limbs would take me, well aware that the devil was hot on my heels. I didn’t have time to figure out whether the hole was large enough for it to squeeze through, and that meant as soon as I hit the opening I had to keep moving, keep pushing, despite not knowing where I was headed.
Leaping over a corpse only a few feet from the that dark mouth of broken concrete and coming to a skidding, scrambling halt, I oriented myself the right way and dashed into the opening just as the devil came crashing down behind me. I felt its claws rake against the back of my leg, and the pain was enough to make me fall, but I didn’t let it stop me.
Hand over hand, scrambling, crawling, I struggled until I was back on my feet and running again, pushing into the darkness ahead of me—darkness filled with cobwebs. I had to bat them aside as I ran through them. If it wasn’t already hard enough to see what I was doing or where I was going, the thin, fluffy curtains of white spider silk I was rushing through only served to make things worse.
From behind me, the beast roared, its voice shaking the very walls of the cavern I was in. I could hear it pawing, and scratching, and forcing its way through, trying to get to me. I was faster than it, but the cavern was definitely large enough for it to come through. I needed to find somewhere to hide.
Here.
Azlu’s voice again, only this time it sounded a little raspy, like it had a rattle to it.
I found a nook and pulled into it. The strands of webbing were thicker, here, stronger, sticky to the touch. Touching them lightly, my hand came away with a bit of goop that reminded me of the little spiderling.
“Azlu?” I whispered.
Climb them.
It was either that, or keep running, and I was already running on empty. I placed one foot on the lowest strand of webbing I could find, then reached for the cavern wall with my hands. Once I’d found solid purchase, I started climbing. There was an opening up above me, a small one, just about large enough for me to fit through.
“What’s happening?” I said, keeping my voice low and trying not to lose my balance. The spider webs were thick, and strong, but I had to carefully yank each limb off them quickly to avoid getting stuck. The longer I lingered, the stronger their hold on me got.