“That’s it,” I said, pulling back a little and putting a little more distance between us and the slowly rising silhouette. “Just keep calm, okay?”
“I’m calm! What makes you think I ain’t fucking calm?”
“That. Exactly that.”
More shuffling, now. The shadow on the wall had become grown to full size, and when the monster reared on its hind legs and roared, the entire complex seemed to shake. Dust fell from the ceiling, the little clouds catching against the red emergency lighting all around us.
“I think we got the devil’s attention,” Alexa said.
“Now what?”
The devil fell back to the floor, got on all fours, and with another angry roar, it came screaming around the corner and into view. “Run!” I yelled, and hand in hand we went sprinting down the hallway, trying desperately to keep ahead of the creature as it chased us through the dark.
It was easily faster than us, and I had no illusions that we’d be able to keep ahead of it for long. All we had to do was follow the cobwebs on the walls; that was how we’d get back to Azlu, Ezree, and their trap. The only problem was, the cobwebs had vanished.
When I realized they were gone, I started wondering if we were going back the way we had come. There was only one corridor, but this was a dream world, and things were fuzzy at best, and chaos at worst. I found a small door inset into the wall along my left, so I grabbed Alexa’s hand and barged my way through it, hoping the opening wouldn’t be big enough for the devil to follow.
“What are we doing in here?” Alexa asked. “Damn, it stinks!
We’d run into a bathroom, with a whole bunch of stalls running along one wall and a long sink and mirror running along the other. I spun around once we were inside and pushed the door closed. “The cobwebs,” I said, “I couldn’t see them. Could you?”
“Shit… no. What does that mean?”
“It means we’re lost.”
I could hear the devil barreling down the corridor like a freight train. It wasn’t far behind. Another few seconds and it would be on us.
“Lost?” Alexa asked, “We can’t be lost! There was only one way in or out of here!”
“This door wasn’t here the last time we came down the hallway. The prison is changing—it’s probably the devil’s doing. Shit.”
“Shit is right. We need to get out of here before that thing—” the monster slammed into the door, putting a dent in it and making it tremble. I stood back, watching it relentlessly bash its fists against the door. “It can’t get in,” I said, “It can’t.”
“Yo’, seriously, if we die in this shit-hole nightmare toilet, I’m gonna leave one pissed off ghost.”
“We’re not dying in here. We’re getting out.”
“I don’t see another exit.”
I stared at the door that looked like it was ready to come off its hinges at any second. “No, we’re going out that way.”
Alexa didn’t question me. She simply nodded, turned to face the door, and put her hands up. As the magic sigils around her arms and wrists came to life, I prepared to have to fight my way out of this room.
“Can you blow the door out?” I asked.
“Hell yeah,” she said.
“Alright, on my mark, do it.”
I waited, listening, watching. The monster had to pause between attacks, likely to readjust its footing before it threw its weight behind each blow. The door itself wasn’t going to hold much longer, but the concrete around the door was already starting to crack. It was only going to be a matter of time before it made it in here, so we were only going to get one shot at making it out of here.
And for that to happen, I needed to get it off balance.
The devil slammed the door again, almost knocking the upper hinge loose. One more hit, and the door was gone. “Now!” I yelled.
Alexa made a mad dash toward the creature, leaving a trail of magic where she ran. Throwing herself feet first at the door, she slammed into it with so much force it exploded out, striking the devil in the chest, and forcing it to fly back a few feet and slam into the wall on the other side of the corridor.
“How did you do that?!” I shrieked.
She craned her head. “Magic, bitch,” she said, and then she raced through the hole in the wall toward the monster. I followed, emerging from the bathroom in time to watch her roundhouse kick the devil on the snout as it tried to get up. The sound the impact made was glorious. Alexa was a powerhouse, able not only to deliver bone-breaking blows, but also dodge attacks as if she could predict where they would come from.
I joined the fight once I’d found an angle of attack that I liked. With my fingers splayed I ran up to the creature, threw myself into a power-slide along my knees and raked my claws against its underbelly, tearing into its flesh and spilling its hot, sweet blood.
The devil roared from the pain, reared on its hind legs, and swiped at the space where I’d been, but I was too fast for it. When it realized I was gone, it slammed its fists into the floor, making the corridor tremble and shake. Alexa ran over to where I was standing, but she was pointing across my shoulder as she came.
“Look!” she yelled.
I turned my head to look, and there they were. Cobwebs. Somehow, we had found our way back to the cavern. Maybe because we had injured it? Maybe because we had for a moment taken control of the dream world? Maybe it was totally random. Either way, we had our path.
“How did that happen?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” Alexa said, “But I ain’t standing around to ask questions.”
“Right!”
The devil had regained itself by now and was already moving toward us. Alexa started running, and I turned around to follow her, but I hadn’t spotted the dead body on the floor, and my leg caught on its shoulder. I staggered at first, toppling over like a tree even as my limbs flailed. I tried to yell, but my voice caught in my throat as I went down.
It wasn’t until my cheek hit the floor with a resounding crack that Alexa stopped running and turned around. I saw her eyes fly wide open, I saw the look of horror in them, but it wasn’t until the devil grabbed hold of my leg and yanked me toward it that I knew I had royally screwed up. It didn’t matter that, a moment ago, the body hadn’t been there. It didn’t matter that there was almost no way I could’ve missed it.
No matter how much control I had, or I thought I had, over the dream space, I was still in its realm.
The beast slid one hand under my shoulder and spun me around to face it. I grabbed hold of its arms and dragged my claws across them, raking blindly, flailing, kicking and trying to wriggle out of its grasp. The beast was powerful, far stronger than me, but one of my feet managed to find purchase against its leg, and I sprang away from it, sliding along the floor.
“Alexa!” I screamed.
Or I thought I did.
I couldn’t tell anymore.
She had started running toward me, but just as I went to get up, the devil grabbed my leg again, only this time it didn’t pin me down underneath it—it swung me like a club into a wall. I didn’t feel my head make contact with the concrete, but I knew it had.
Then it was over.