The Devil's Guard Dog

Chapter one: Awakening

My eyes fluttered open as my body strained from an almost unbearable wave of encumberment. Although I was waking up, my body fought against me to slip back down into a state of unconsciousness, however I did my best to resist it, everything feeling heavy as I struggled to move and sit up. A sharp ping rang out in my head and down into my neck as I held my temples, cringing as I quickly realized that my forehead was damp. I removed my hand and looked down at my fingers, seeing them coated in both fresh and dried blood that felt warm to the touch. Running a hand through my hair, I slowly came to the conclusion that I’d been hit in the head at some point, as my hair was strewn with scabs of blood that flaked down onto the hard ground below me.
 
“What… happened…” I asked myself faintly, slowly coming back to reality as I looked around my surroundings, my one eye hazy and nearly blind from the now impending migraine.

I know that the movies you see, normally they show captives panicking when they wake up in a strange place, however for me it wasn’t fear, but a deep confusion I felt as my mind worked hard on figuring out where I was.

The walls were a mix of brick and stone, a single sink sat adjacent to me along with a small table, however the room was only comprised of three solid walls. The fourth wall was completely open but was also completely barred off by posts of thick steel that stretched high to the ceiling. Everything looked old and worn, yet surprisingly clean. Even from laying on the hard stone floor, there wasn’t a speck of dirt on me. The place was large as well, maybe the size of two middle class living rooms attached end to end, and faint fire light from torch outside the bars provided just enough illumination for me to be able to see as shadows danced along the far wall.
    
I held my head in my hands again, thinking over everything and trying to put the pieces together, however nothing about this made any sense. I had to have been taken by someone, removed from my day-to-day life and kidnapped, I was fairly certain of that, however I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how. One moment I was on my way to work early in the morning, and the next, I’m waking up here feeling like I’d been hit by a truck at least twice.
    
After a while of waiting, I could hear the soft patter of footsteps approaching from somewhere, and I raised my head to call out to whomever was coming, but quickly recoiled as the sound of shrieking metal pierced my ears and made my head ring. Dragging sounds and more clinking of metal followed, but much softer this time as I withdrew my hands from my ears. “Looks like he’s starting to wake up. Good, he’ll make a good meal for this one.” I heard a deep voice speak; however, his words didn’t exactly give me any comfort and only fed the confusion that much more as to what in the hell was happening.

I looked over at the source of the noise and the voice, but both from my migraine and not being fully awake yet, I couldn’t make out much more than their outlines in the dim light. There were four of them, two standing side by side, and two dragging someone along the ground by his shoulders. Even with my vision impaired, I could tell they were all dressed in black robes that nearly brushed the floor as they walked.
    
“Please… Who are you people?” I asked but to no avail, my words falling on deaf ears as they dropped the man on the ground and immediately began walking out, not wasting any time, and not giving me a second glance. The shrieking came again, and this time I recognized it as the sound of a large metal door being closed, or so I assumed, and before long their footsteps disappeared somewhere deeper in this place, faint echoes giving way to silence once again. 
    
I braced myself on the wall and attempted to stand, managing to somehow get my feet under me and look over at the poor man who’d just been dropped in here like a sack of potatoes. He was dressed in grey rags, his matted red hair laying out over the floor at his sides as he lay on his stomach. He looked thin and frail, and almost dead as he didn’t move. I slowly began to walk to the other side of the room where he was, see if there was anything I could do for him. I may not have been able to do much, but given we were the only ones in here, it was worth a try.
    
I got down on my knees once I was close enough and used what little strength I had to roll him over and onto his back. Dark circles ran under his closed eyes, his skin clammy to the touch. He had a surprisingly gentile face, even if it was lupine and sunken in, looking like he may have been in his late twenties if even that. I breathed a sigh of relief when I could see his chest gently rising and falling as he breathed, however he was pale and cold, his body more taking on the appearance of an old man than that of someone his age, and that’s not counting for how bruised and beaten he looked.
    
“Fuck, just… Just stay with me, ok? Hang in there.” I said as I took off my jacket and lifted him into my lap. He didn’t even so much as flinch from the motion as I wrapped my jacket around him, laying like a rag doll in my arms. I didn’t know what to do, I tried to remain calm, but this was all happening so quickly that I was at a loss. I looked around again and my eyes fell on the sink. “Come on, let’s try to get you cleaned up a little, ok man?” I said, knowing he probably couldn’t hear me, but I think I was more talking to keep myself calm and focused than to comfort the man in my arms.

I put one of his arms around my shoulder, and this time he did flinch a bit. I muttered a quick “sorry” as I lifted him, knowing he was more than likely painful as I stood up and began walking him over to the other side of the room. He tried his best to walk with me as I supported his weight, groaning softly now and again as I struggled to hold us both up. I set him down against the wall and quickly, or as quickly as I could manage, went to take off my shirt and wet it down, hoping to use it to clean him up a little.
    
Nothing about any of this was good. Whoever these people were, whatever they wanted, I knew it wasn’t going to end well. I’d seen enough movies to know that people like this don’t exactly take someone with the intent of letting them go, so I’d have to at least try to get out of here once I was a little stronger. But with that being said, with all the questions regarding my situation currently swirling in my head, I was at a loss. And as for the man now currently laying against the sink with his back slumped against the wall, I was at a loss for him as well.

He was weak, probably had broken bones from how dark the bruises on his skin were, and going up against four other people would be impossible with him being as thin as he was. Hell, it’d be impossible for me too. I wasn’t exactly known to be a very tough guy, and even then, I was one and they were many. Our situation was completely hopeless as it stood, however for now, I wanted to help him. He was the only comfort I had in here, something to keep me focused and on task, and at this point he was probably in the same situation I was in, not knowing where he was or what happened to him. On the other hand, maybe he did know something, maybe he could help me understand what was going on and we could get out of here. However, I never got the chance to ask about any of that.
    
To my surprise, there was running water, cool water splashing my hands and over my balled-up shirt before I was suddenly ripped away from it. The sudden motion sent me flying to the ground, like something had grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me with a force I’d never felt before, sliding for a brief moment against the ground before I came to an abrupt stop, the skin of my bear back stinging and the air in my lungs being forced out from the sudden impact. It took me a second to register what just happened, and as I looked up that fear finally set in like a hurricane crashing against a ship's hull, my blood running cold as though ice water had been pumped into my veins.
    
Standing above me was the man, having jumped up like a shot and now looming over me like a predator. His rags hung from his thin body as sharp claws tipped his spindly fingers. Snarled teeth turned to black, dagger like points like the maw of a shark, and ghost white eyes bordered by black ends peered straight into my soul, split like the eyes of a cat, and burning with animalistic nature.
   
He let out a growl that practically vibrated in my chest and went to lunge, however, fight or flight kicked in through the shock and I scrambled to my side, narrowly avoiding this things claws as they scraped against the floor, kicking up chunks of stone and spraying sparks as they did so. I quickly got to my feet and rushed to the bars, beginning to scream for help, but it was clear that wasn’t going to do any good. Within seconds the man was on me again, this time grabbing the back of my hair and forcing my head into the bars as he sunk his teeth into my shoulder.
    
I screamed and thrashed, feeling those dark blade-like teeth rip through my flesh as I made one final kick thrusting backwards, feeling my heel connect with something hard and a sickening crack echoing throughout the room. This time it was the man’s turn to scream as he instantly let go, his knee caving in as he collapsed to the ground. I pushed myself off of the bars and ran to the other side of the room, knowing I needed to think quickly and only had seconds.
    
I could hear him getting up behind me, letting out a primal cry of anger and pain as he went to rush in again, the broken knee doing very little to stop his bloodlust. In a split-second decision I grabbed the only thing in the room I could possibly use for a weapon, bending down and clasping my hands tightly around the leg of the table. In one motion I swung it over my shoulder just as the creature got about a foot from me. The table came down diagonally and practically exploded in a loud crash of splinters against the side of his head, sending him to the ground hard.
    
I breathed heavily, the table leg still clasped in my hands as the rest of it lay in parts and pieces around the man. He staggered and couldn’t manage to get himself back up, a stream of blood flowing from a large gash in his head, dripping on the cold ground as he wheezed and growled. He went to look up at me, but I wasn’t taking a chance. Wielding the table leg like a bat, I swung down with everything I had and bashed him in the back of the head, watching his scull bounce off the ground before he fell completely still, blood pooling beneath him.
    
The table leg dropped from my hands as I looked down at him, clattering against the ground at his side as I slowly backed up. My heart was beating like a jackhammer, and I slid down the wall at the opposite end of the room, wanting to put as much distance between me and him as possible. All was quiet again as I brought my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs and trying to stop myself from shaking. All that could be heard were my panicked sobs as I rested my head on my knees, my shoulder throbbing as blood dripped down over my chest.
    
My head was spinning and I felt sick, all the blood and panic playing into my migraine as my vision began to fade in and out, my body completely overwhelmed along with my mind. I sat there in silence, my back against the cold wall as I began to give in to the exhaustion. Not knowing what to do or how much more I could take, I fell into a deep sleep, praying I’d be back home in my bed by the time I woke up.