Two Truths and a Liar

XXI • Chased

Harley
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Silence.

A short period of stunned, bristling silence before the ground rumbled underneath us, and the cuffs binding Leon's monster's ankles flew off like strings, flimsy and weak.
As if they were nothing at all.

The howl still echoed in the air, traces of it ringing in my ears and bringing dust down from the ceiling as if the basement itself was breaking, tearing itself open like he had done just seconds before. This thing wasn't Leon. It couldn't be him. As every corner of my mind cried out to run, hide, escape before it tore each limb from my body and washed the walls with my blood, another voice fought to tell me this wasn't real. This wasn't happening.

But it was.

Jenna's grip tightened around my arm, yanking me back from where I had, without realizing it, advanced towards the now shaking metal bars slowly. I looked to her, as if to find some kind of reassurance. But her eyes of black oblivion carried nothing but a cold decision, filled with panic, but not a hint of fear. Maybe fear so well hidden, it showed nothing on her features. 

Her power was frostbitten, mine frail. 

"Get out of here," 

I stepped back, one foot behind the other as her grip released. The beast fell back down to a hunched position with four claw-like hands digging into the ground, sending a tremor through the flooring and a snarl that made even my insides tremble. Every breath it let out boiling the air around us in burning waves of heat, the stench of sweat and saliva gagging us.

I watched it, almost unable to move. My heart was racing, thumping up and down in frantic disbelief. Watched it draw back, crouching low on its back legs before leaping against the bars that confined it, a crashing sound that burst the room and sent me flinching back.

The chains rattled and pulled taught as the cell door pushed against them, falling back as it lay low before being thrown again into tension, the creature slamming itself into the door again and again.

Jenna whipped around, hand wrapped around the silver blade in her hands. Teeth clenched.

"Those chains won't hold," 

I felt my chest tighten, my mouth dry. The dagger she'd given me feeling heavy, heavy as the weight now forming in the pit of my stomach.

"If you want to stay alive," she said, "I suggest you run,"

But just then, with a bone shattering crack, the beast leapt against the door and each chain tore free, metal snapping in half as if it were wood. I didn't watch it leave the cage, didn't stand to witness its full presence. Because my hands were shaking, shaking, and the fear I felt taking over was fear like I had never felt. The monster was my father, and I was recoiling from the pain I expected to feel in seconds. I was seizing up, crying out, feet hitting the ground and carrying me away. 

Jenna's voice, fighting over the roar and snarling of the beast carried over to me from inside the room I'd just left.

"Stay in the church, it'll protect you,"

And then, quietly, like the whisper of a thought I heard echoed the farther I escaped: "Demons and monsters come from the same, and fear the same…"

The light.

I was dashing through passages of stone, seeing nothing around me but inky darkness. Closing eyes and holding them open, straining to see, it all looked the same until I came against a hard wall, knocking the wind out of me and leaving me falling backwards, dazed, my head pounding and feeling as if the walls of my skull were closing in. There was nothing, nothing at all but the cold stone at my fingertips and the ruckus, nameless, the sound of chaos from the other room. I heard Jenna's voice, speaking words I couldn't understand, foreign tongues rising in volume as if to drown out the barking, the howling, the snarl and growl of the thing.

I traced the walls, hands outstretched to guide me. It wasn't a dead end, but a turn in the passage. One thing at a time. If I focused on my surroundings, maybe I could tune out the slowly approaching sound. Focus on my breathing. In and out. In and out. The ground meeting every pounding foot fall that fractured my whole body with impact. Up and down. Up and down. Until the noise grew to a fevered pitch, and my body struck another wall. I let out a gasp, and stumbling backwards felt the ground slam against my palms sending shocks of pain up into my wrists, splintering bone. The twist and recoil of the tumble. I winced, huffing, breathing through my teeth. 

I pulled myself off the ground, legs wobbling underneath me. My whole body burned, but I had to keep running. I could hear them nearby, coming closer. Closer. Closer.

In a panic I felt along the walls, first left, meeting nothing but another side of stone, then right. 

The same.

Two sides blocked, and no way out. A dead end.

And the sound of a low, continuous growl approaching.

Louder.

Louder.

I don't know if I cried. I could feel my fists slamming against the wall, feeling for a handle or a lock or some sign of a way out, some sign of an escape. I gagged. Begged. The beast was sucking in every breath, filling the air with its choking breath. I felt it, smelling me out. Hunting me down. Heard it pounding against the ground on all fours, and saw nothing. Nothing but darkness.

That's not Leon.

That's not Leon.

By god, it's not. Tell me it's not.

I spun and felt my back against the wall, my heart in my hands, eyes searching the darkness for any sign of movement. The growl emanating before me, unseen, but heard. Sensed. 

And then the eyes.

I stared into those spots of gold, the narrowing, piercing glow. It illuminated me, like headlights of a car before it came crashing over you and they found your bones half buried on the street. No one would find my bones down here. I could make out its mouth, gums drawn back upon rows of dagger teeth. Drooling. Snapping open and shut in hunger for its next meal.

"Leon,"

I was screaming, my voice ricocheting against every stone surface and flooding the beast but never changing it.

"I know you're in there," I sobbed. "Please,"

Please.

The beast lunged, tearing a scream from my lungs as my knees hit the floor, hands outstretched to stop it. I turned my head and pressed my eyes together but felt…

nothing.

Nothing at all.

The world was dark. The snarling quenched in sick silence. I opened my eyes and saw by a strange light now setting the dead end ablaze, and Jenna leaning over the creature panting, a blade buried deep into its chest.

The beast lay crumpled at my feet.

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