Holly's tall frame continued to thrash on the ground, blood leaking from between her beastly fingers onto the exercise room floorboards. Her cries of pain swung back and forth from a human scream to a fierce cougar's growl. Her body, most notably her back, continued to expand outwards, her spine growing and the numerous muscles expanding, stretching and ripping apart sections of her overalls which could no longer contain the new mass of muscle and fur.
The screams of the teenagers desperate to get out of the exercise area continued. Their fists pounded the locked doors which shuddered but didn't open. The horde of teenagers trying to get out reminded me of zombies I had seen in movies which were hellbent on reaching humans they knew were on the other side of the door.
Pied Piper officers will be on the other side, I thought, which absurd as it sounded in my mind, was more than likely the greater threat to their lives than Adam.
The word which sprang to mind as I soaked in what Adam had become was were-lion. He staggered forward, each clawed footfall heavy. I could only see the back of Adam as he continued his approach towards the screaming teenagers. The big cat going after mice.
There wasn't any time to think. Or, at least I didn't give myself any time to think because I entered into a power stance as fast as I could and let out a hard yell.
Become stronger! Become stronger! I thought, over and over, wishing my body to enter into the coiled up state.
After a delay which lasted a handful of seconds I felt my body tighten up, every muscle and fiber of my being feeling as if it were being coiled. Like with George I had no time to mess around and the initial coiling state wasn't going to cut it – not against the beast Adam had become – so I willed my body to enter into the next coiled state. There was a delay of maybe two seconds before my body relented to the order I had given it.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
A year's worth of tireless exercise and weightlifting expanded into being all over my body, stretching out my overalls. Just as I finished entering into the second coiled state I became aware of Blain beside me, also in a power stance, yelling, having done the exact same thing as me. His body was already muscled and powerful, as far as I could tell he was only entering the first coiled state which, for him, would likely still be stronger than my current state. I noticed his own muscles expanding just a little all over too.
There was still more I needed to do with my power but there wasn't the time to get ready, not if I was going to get to Adam before he reached the screaming teenagers.
I broke into a run and for a microsecond I found myself in awe of how powerfully my body fired forwards like a bullet quickly gaining momentum.
Thack! Thack! Thack! Thack!
I ran full tilt towards the were-lion creature. Although I was rapidly approaching the were-lion-creature that was a stooped combination of muscle and ferocious beast, I hadn't expected to draw its attention so quickly.
Adam reared round to face me. He was about a half head taller than me now and much broader. For a moment it was as if his frame had blotted out the exercise room lights high above. There was just the face of a beast with hate-filled eyes that showed no uncertainty that it intended to murder me. I was facing a creature that seemed demonic in nature; it wasn't just the face of a roaring lion because there was still enough malice-fueled human features among the fur and teeth and menacing eyes to strike genuine fear into my heart.
The roar which came out of the creature's mouth engulfed my ears and made me want to collapse onto the floor as if I were no more than a lump of jelly. It was the kind of roar which made me want to fall to my knees and beg profusely to be allowed to live, because surely no creature which could roar with such intensity could be mistaken in its anger.
Its jaws opened wide, far too wide for a human, and tried to bite my face clean off. I yanked my head back as the momentum of my running carried me onwards; for a fraction of a moment I felt the heat of its breath and the fuzziness of its fur and, worse, just how strong and unyielding and real the creature attacking me was.
I spun round as fast as I could manage. I tried to come to a stop but the grip of my plimsolls forced me to spin and slide backwards as if skiing in reverse for a half second. When I came to a stop the creature which had been Adam veered round to face me and was already moving forward with claws reaching to swipe at me.
Stolen novel; please report.
Oh no, I thought, I misjudged the distance.
I had no time to do anything, not even to throw my arms up to protect myself. In less than a few seconds I had thrown myself into the fray carelessly and there was no time at all to prevent at least one claw-swipe (or worse) from the monstrous lion-man.
Blain came in yelling and struck the creature clean in the jaw with what looked like a large white glove. The creature's skull gave a crunch and a pained roar escaped its maw. The creature staggered away but didn't fall to the ground. It was dazed for a moment which was just enough time for Blain to join my side.
His stoic gaze met my look of awe at what he had just accomplished. I had about two seconds to register that his hands were all white almost up to the elbow but seemed strangely rigid, his fingers fixed as if turned to stone.
Bone, I thought, He's turned his fists into hard bone.
It was genius, in a way. What better means to fight for Blain than fists as hard and tough as bone? He threw his guard up like the professional boxer he was keeping his eyes on Adam.
"Figure something out!" Blain yelled as he approached Adam.
It took me a moment to realise he was speaking to me. I was frozen with indecision and awe as Blain and the monstrous lion-man set upon each other. The lion-man swiped and Blain swatted away the intended blow with his right fist. The lion-man, becoming increasingly furious with each failed swiped parried away, roared and clawed harder and faster.
Blain parried blow after blow, seemingly in his element and strangely fluid and calm compared to the clumsy heavy blows of the lion-man.
Blain stepped back with deft precision and the lion-man followed. The suddenness with which Blain threw his bone-handed punch at the creature's face seemed downright cruel given how hard it hit. The lion creature was again dazed by the punch, the fury leaving its face only to come back again a moment later.
Blain was winning the fight, at least in terms of skill and landing blows. But this wasn't a fight that was going to be won on points. It looked to me that the blows, though hard, were only keeping the creature at bay rather than stopping it from being a threat.
"Come on!" Blain yelled at me, sparing a moment to look in my direction.
Crap, I thought, I'm freezing up. I need to do something!
I thought of George and how hard I had tried to keep him safe and how the Pied Piper officers had made the effort come to nothing. Reminding myself of this came as a precursor to what I was about to do. All of the frustration and anger I felt at myself for failing to protect George overrode the fear that had taken hold of me.
Do something now! I thought, and I willed my hands to bulb up like I had managed to do down on the fourth floor.
It took a second for the heat to build up in my open hands which began to give off a constant yellowish light and an intense heat. I tried to ignore the fascination I felt at the way each of my fingers glowed with the heat and instead closed my fists and set my attention on Blain and Adam that were continuing their brawl.
Before I could step in I noticed a sight that made me want to soil myself in fear.
Holly, or the creature that had been Holly, a towering, broad, were-cougar was sprinting towards us with clawed hands raised. The speed of the sprinting despite the size and visible musculature of the cougar-woman was nothing short of nightmarish. Bits of her shredded overalls fell away like leaves in the wind as her clawed feet thundered on the exercise room floor.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
She was a creature out of a nightmare; something which looked like it came crawling out of the bowels of hell. No creature with a face riddled with malice, ferocity, and a mask of wet blood could come from anywhere else.
The hell creature wasn't coming for me. It was coming for Blain who was so occupied with keeping the lion-nightmare at bay he either didn't notice or couldn't spare an instant to look the cougar-beast's way.
I rushed forward, screaming at the top of my lungs with fear. I moved beyond Blain, feeling his shoulder push against my back, nudging me forward just a little along with the rest of my momentum.
The were-cougar engulfed my entire view along with her hellish beast-scream. The one truly lucid moment I had was one which may have meant the difference between me living and dying in that instant.
Better move my hands wider, I had thought.
My searing hot hands, like hot irons, met Holly's huge and powerful clawed ones. If it was merely a contest of strength there was no doubt in my mind she would have crushed me like a tin can. But it wasn't just a feat of strength. Our hands touched, fingers on the right hand even intertwining for a half second.
Like throwing a hot pan under water I heard a sizzling sound fill the air. I felt the sizzle of my touch against Holly's thick, leathery palm. She screamed that nightmarish human-cougar scream and thrashed from the searing touch of my bulbing hands. She staggered backwards, falling over with a heavy crash. I had a moment to be impressed with what I had done only to feel her huge clawed foot drive into my gut.
Had I not been in my second coiled state I might have died from the impact. Instead my eyes bulged and my face reddened and I fought desperately to breathe. My stomach muscles cramped up and my lungs refused to work. The momentum of the cougar-creature's kick sent me falling backwards, my back slamming down hard onto the exercise room floor. There was another kind of pain in my gut too.
I reached to my gut and felt where there was a gash. There was blood on my fingertips.