Chapter 35: "Look At What You’ve Done!"

The monster’s fist came down toward Zarek’s head, forcing him to throw himself sideways despite the pain tearing through his ribs.

Its knuckles smashed into the concrete, sending fragments scattering across the corridor, and Zarek scrambled away before the creature could bring its other hand down on him.

He barely had time to catch his breath before something strange happened to its head.

The flesh on the opposite side of its skull began swelling, stretching the skin until it split apart.

A wet tearing sound echoed through the corridor as another face pushed out, its features gradually taking shape until Zarek recognized the man whose throat he had cut only moments earlier.

The bandaged man.

Zarek stared at the enormous creature, which now carried two human faces on its head.

Cal’s face remained on one side, twisted with anguish, while the bandaged man’s expression burned with an almost unbearable fury.

Both looked horribly real, their mouths moving independently as though two separate people were trapped inside the same body.

"You were supposed to save me!" Cal screamed.

"WHY DID YOU KILL ME?!" the other face roared.

Their voices overlapped, each accusation louder than the last, until the entire corridor seemed filled with their rage.

"What the fuck is this thing?" Zarek muttered, staring at the grotesque sight.

He didn’t get an opportunity to investigate further. The monster suddenly lunged at him, covering the distance with startling speed, and Zarek barely managed to raise his arms before an enormous hand caught him around the torso.

Its fingers closed around his torso, crushing the air from his lungs.

Zarek hammered at its wrist, but the creature barely reacted before slamming him into the wall.

His head struck the concrete, leaving his vision blurred. Before he could recover, the monster released him, and he collapsed onto the floor with a strangled cough.

"WHY?! WHY DID YOU KILL ME?!" the bandaged man screamed, while Cal’s face continued shouting about the rescue that had never come.

"Would you two shut the fuck up?" Zarek rasped, spitting blood onto the floor.

The creature answered by charging at him again.

Zarek rolled away as the creature’s arm smashed into the wall, then scrambled upright and drove two punches into its jaw. The blows barely made it stagger.

Before he could retreat, the monster caught him and slammed him onto the concrete hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.

He lay there coughing, one arm wrapped around his ribs, while the creature loomed over him. His punches weren’t enough to stop it, and he was beginning to run out of strength to try anything else.

By the time Zarek realized the creature had caught him again, its enormous fingers were already closing around his body.

It lifted him off the ground, squeezing hard enough to make his injured ribs scream.

Zarek grabbed its wrist with both hands and desperately tried to force its fingers apart, but his strength was fading, and every attempt to free himself seemed to make the pressure worse.

Cal’s face stared directly at him.

"You were supposed to save me!"

On the other side of the creature’s head, the bandaged man began laughing, the sound strangely at odds with the fury twisting his features.

"Look at what you’ve done! LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!"

"Fuck you..." Zarek managed to choke out.

He kept hammering at the creature’s face, but his blows were growing weaker, and each breath came harder than the last.

The fingers crushing his torso seemed to tighten with every passing second, pressing against his ribs until even the smallest movement sent pain shooting through his chest.

He tried to pull in another breath.

Nothing.

Panic flashed through him as he desperately dragged air into his lungs, managing only a thin, ragged gasp.

His heart hammered against his chest, beating so violently that he could feel every painful thud, yet his limbs were becoming strangely heavy.

The monster’s faces continued screaming at him, but their voices were growing distant, as though he were sinking underwater.

Fuck... breathe.

He clawed at the creature’s fingers, trying to force them apart, but his hands were slipping. His strength was disappearing, and no matter how desperately he struggled, he couldn’t seem to get enough air.

His heartbeat faltered, leaving him suspended in a terrifying moment of uncertainty before a weak, uneven thud sounded in his chest.

Am I actually going to die here?

The thought came with a clarity that cut through the pain.

He had barely escaped prison, and the world outside was finally becoming interesting.

There were people he still wanted to kill, things he wanted to do, and opportunities he hadn’t even begun exploring. He had barely scratched the surface of what this new world had to offer.

And now he was going to die here?

In a filthy corridor, crushed by a two-faced freak?

Fuck that.

Zarek tried to fight back again, but his arm barely moved.

His fingers slipped from the creature’s wrist, and his head drooped as darkness crept into the edges of his vision.

He could barely remain conscious, and even the effort of drawing another breath was becoming too much.

Then something changed.

At first, it was little more than a strange sensation deep inside his body, a faint warmth that appeared beneath the crushing pressure.

Before he could understand it, that warmth surged outward, rushing through his chest and spreading into his arms and legs.

Power flooded his body.

His muscles tightened, his senses sharpened, and the suffocating weakness that had been dragging him toward unconsciousness suddenly began to recede.

It felt as though something had seized his failing body and forcibly dragged it back from the brink.

The monster’s grip remained tight. His ribs still hurt, and every breath scraped painfully through his chest, but the strength returning to his limbs was unmistakable.

Zarek’s fingers curled around the creature’s hand.

A moment earlier, he hadn’t even been able to move them.

Now he could feel the monster’s fingers shifting beneath his grip.

His eyes widened.

What the fuck?

He didn’t have time to think about it. Grabbing the creature’s fingers with both hands, he forced them apart with a sudden burst of strength.

The monster’s grip broke.

Zarek dropped to the floor, landing awkwardly before scrambling away from the enormous hand that crashed down where he had been.

He collapsed onto one knee, coughing violently as he dragged air into his lungs, each breath painful but infinitely better than the suffocating emptiness he’d felt moments earlier.

His ribs still ached, but when he clenched his fist, the strength behind it felt different. He glanced at the approaching monster.

Whatever had happened, he could worry about it later.

A laugh escaped Zarek before he could stop it, and the movement sent another stab of pain through his ribs.

"You’re fucking kidding me..."

Seconds ago, he’d been certain he was going to die. Now he couldn’t wait to test his newfound strength, even with his battered body warning him to be careful.

The creature charged, both faces screaming as it bore down on him.

Zarek straightened despite the pain and raised his fists, meeting its approach with a grin.

"Yeah..." He laughed. "Now this fight will be more fun."