Roy clutched the baton is his hand so tightly his knuckles began to scream out in pain. The baton was so soaked in blood that it was difficult to get a grip on it. His blood.
With gritted teeth, Roy stared down the monster and prepared himself.
Across the alley, the creature slowly rose to its feet. Its twitching neck rolled sideways with a wet crack.
It gave a wide grin.
And it started again.
THUMP!
THUMP!
THUMP!
Roy moved instantly as his heartbeat thundered within his chest, sending pulses of vitality coursing through his veins. The alleyway exploded into motion.
He swung the baton with both hands and screamed through clenched teeth as the weapon crashed against the side of the creature's arm.
CRACK!
The impact staggered it slightly.
Not enough.
One of the remaining batons whipped toward Roy's skull.
He ducked underneath it by inches and slammed shoulder-first into the creature's torso. Agony detonated through his half-healed body the moment they collided but momentum carried both of them sideways into the alley wall.
BOOM!
Brick shattered.
The creature snarled directly into his face.
Its breath smelled rotten.
Roy jammed the baton upward desperately.
CRUNCH!
The metal cracked against the creature's jaw hard enough to spray teeth across the pavement.
The thing barely reacted.
One massive hand seized Roy by the throat.
Suddenly he was airborne.
Roy slammed against the wall hard enough to crater brick behind him and his vision suddenly went white before returning with newfound clarity.
One of the arms reached for the baton and Roy siezed it between his armpit and elbowed the monster's throat!
Suddenly, he found his feet in the air once again. The police man lifted his arm into the air, swinging him up life a ragdoll. Roy's body suddenly spun around using the arm as leverage and landed right onto his feet like a cat, right behind the monster!
The moment Roy landed, he moved.
The baton screamed through the air toward the back of the creature's knee.
CRACK!
The leg bent sideways with a wet pop, making the monster stagger violently.
Roy didn't stop.
Adrenaline flooded every inch of his body now, drowning thought beneath pure instinct. He brought the baton down again.
WHAM!
This time against the back of its skull.
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Splat!
Over and over again, he kept on swinging. His heartbeat seemed to have accelerated, beating so fast and rushing him with unending vitality that he felt that he could swing forever.
The creature suddenly twisted around far faster than expected.
One hand clamped around Roy's wrist.
Too late.
Roy saw the second arm moving toward him and immediately released the baton.
WHOOOSH!
The strike passed inches from his face instead of pulping his skull.
Roy slammed both hands into the creature's elbow and shoved sideways with everything he had.
A sharp crack echoed through the alley as the creature's arm bent in the wrong direction.
Roy didn't let go.
The moment the arm bent wrong, he stepped inward instead of away.
A mistake against anything human, but against this thing?
Roy wasn't sure anymore.
The creature shrieked directly into his face, hot saliva splattering across his skin as the broken arm spasmed wildly between them. One of the remaining batons immediately came crashing downward toward Roy's skull.
Roy jerked sideways.
BOOM!
The baton smashed into the wall beside him hard enough to burst brick apart in a spray of stone dust.
Roy moved before the creature could recover. He grabbed the broken arm with both hands and pulled.
Hard.
The limb twisted grotesquely while wet popping sounds echoed from inside the shoulder socket.
The creature screamed.
And that scream was all the dopamine Roy needed.
"YEAH?!" He roared back. "HOW'S THAT FEEL?!"
His own voice barely sounded human anymore.
The Eyes of Sylvian pulsed again.
THUMP!
Heat flooded through his chest as he drove his knee right into the monster's gut.
The creature answered by slamming its forehead directly into Roy's face.
CRACK!
Roy's vision exploded white.
His nose burst again.
He stumbled backward blindly while blood sprayed across the alley floor.
The police man didn't let up, charging straight at him in Roy's confusion.
A baton smashed into his side and sent him skidding violently across wet pavement before crashing into the barricade again.
Pain detonated through his ribs.
Several of them gave out completely this time.
Roy screamed through clenched teeth as his body hit the barbed wire.
Hooks dug into his shoulders and arms again. At that moment, a rain drop fell onto his face.
His eyes regained clarity with another pulse of heat and he saw at the top of the alley, between the crevice created by the two buildings on the side that dark clouds were gathering overhead.
It began to rain.
The roar of the monster broke him out of his reverie as it charged with its two remaining arms raided high.
Roy grabbed the nearest thing he could.
Too bad he was entangled in barbed wire.
The monster lunged through the fog just as Roy ripped the wire free from the barricade with both hands.
RIIIIIP!
Hooks shredded his palms instantly and fresh blood poured down his wrists in a burst of crimson.
The creature swung as the hooks shredded his back against his pulling.
Roy ducked underneath it and stepped inward amid the falling rain drops. In that impossible instant, the world seemed to slow down in his eyes.
A green hue seemed to saturated the world, and within it, he could see it.
He could see the movement of the monster, far clearer than he had ever done before.
The wire looped around the creature's throat, and Roy pulled.
The effect was immediate.
The monster shrieked violently as dozens of rusted hooks buried themselves into its neck. Flesh tore open in long wet strips while dark blood sprayed across Roy's ruined coat.
He planted one foot against the creature's spine and hauled backward with everything left in his body.
RRRRRIP!
The wire dug deeper.
Its batons hammered blindly behind itself as it tried so desperately to free itself from what was binding it.
One baton clipped Roy's shoulder.
Thud!
His arm instantly went numb.
Roy screamed through clenched teeth but refused to let go.
The wire continued to cut deeper into the monster's neck inch by inch. The blood, dark brown and rusty in texture splashed all over Roy's torso as he tried to hold the creature down.
The creature slammed backward into walls trying to crush him.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Brick cratered around Roy's body.
Pain flashed through his spine with every impact. His vision blurred violently. He could feel broken ribs grinding against one another beneath his flesh.
Still—
He pulled harder.
The creature's movements were slowing now.
He kicked the monster's knees and had him on the ground. He wrapped the wire tighter around his forearm and jerked backward with every ounce of strength left inside him.
The barbs sawed through flesh.
Wet tearing sounds echoed through the alley amid falling raindrops and the choking screeches of the monster.
Its remaining baton clattered from numb fingers.
Then—
It stopped moving.
Roy remained frozen there for several seconds, still pulling the wire tight.
After what seemed like hours had passed, Roy slowly began to release the wire, his arms trembling as he did.
The body collapsed sideways onto the pavement with a heavy wet thud.
Roy, who was already laying down onto the pavement planted his head back and watched the sky. The droplets fell fast now. The rain was getting worse.
The alley spun violently around his vision while rainwater mixed with blood beneath his body. His hands looked ruined now. Entire strips of skin had peeled away from the barbed wire. He could already feel flesh writhing beneath exposed muscle as the Eyes of Sylvian continued forcing his body back together piece by piece.
It was unbearable.
The creature's neck was ruined now, the wire still 5 inches deep into its neck as it lay right beside him.
Long strips of flesh hung open almost to the spine itself. Blood pooled outward beneath the corpse in dark streams that mixed with rainwater and flowed through the cracks in the alley.
Roy stared at it silently.
Then looked down at himself.
He was almost unrecognizable now. His clothes were ruined, all soaked in blood if not torn and hundreds of injuries were all over his body. All the tissue on his hands and forearms had been gnawed away by the wire and he was pretty sure his face should have been messed up pretty badly.
Unless of course, the eyes of sylvian had fixed it up too.
He breathed softly in bone deep exhaustion. It felt as if his body had burned through every reserve of energy it had in order to keep fighting. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he felt how truly tired he was.
His ribs were moving beneath his chest, shifting to their original positions. Both his hands felt as if countless ants were crawling all over them as the tissue reattached itself with every pulse of heat.
All his other injuries had already healed by now.
And he was alive.
By Alll-Mer above he was alive...
A weak laugh escaped him.
Then another.
Soon the laughter became shaky and uneven, soon becoming hysterical.
Roy covered his eyes with one bloodied hand, and then the laughter ceased.
"What the fuck is happening to me..." he gagged.
His voice sounded tiny beneath the rain.
That thing should have killed him. It had shattered bones like twigs, impaled him and even broke his spine. Any normal person would've died ten times over already.
Yet he kept standing back up.
Roy looked down at his trembling hands again. The skin had nearly finished repairing itself already.
That wasn't normal.
None of this was normal.
Not the tunnel, not the visions and dreams and certainly not this place. Wherever this place was...
The Eyes of Sylvian pulsed faintly behind his own eyes again.
THUMP!
Roy grimaced immediately.
He hated that sensation already.
Then, a weak twitch came from the corpse beside him.
Roy froze. His head slowly turned in a painful foreboding.
The body's fingers curled slightly.
His exhausted expression vanished instantly.
"No..." he said. "For Alll-Mer's sake..."
A horrible wet cracking sound echoed through the alley. Then the thing moved and pushed itself off the ground.
Its neck hung partially from its body, strips of torn flesh dangled loosely from exposed muscle while thick black blood streamed endlessly down its chest. One side of its throat looked nearly flayed apart completely.
Yet it still stood.
Somehow...
Roy slowly pushed himself off, feeling a genuine terror crawling down his spine.
Something warm began to flow down his cheeks and it was only a second later that he realized that it was tears.
"Fuck... fuck...." He choked.
The thing smiled again. Its ruined jaw stretched wider and wider.
The rain poured down incessantly upon them, and through the rain, Roy saw it began to charge at him again.