I grabbed at anything I could reach on the floor next to me, and came up with a clipboard. Finally having enough space to stand, I brandished the board in both hands.
"Who's next?" I yelled angrily, which startled the creatures for a moment. As if working on one brain they abruptly swarmed forward again. I swung the clipboard until it broke. Chunks of dark ooze mixed with my blood were splattered everywhere. I was wearing out, and there were still five of the monsters left. The creatures advanced eagerly on me when I stumbled on my bad leg and nearly went down. I grimaced, preparing for the worst, and suddenly heard a thwacking sound in the hall. It distracted the creatures enough for me to knock one over, grabbing a broken beaker from the floor as I did. I jammed the jagged edge into the monster's throat. The other creatures turned back to me, hearing their injured compatriot's gurgling protests. I kicked the downed creature in the teeth, trying to make sure it stayed down. A creature in the back of the pack went down. Again, the monsters turned to look back into the hall. They were like a flock of easily distracted seagulls.
I used the opportunity to grab a broom handle. I swung as hard as I could at the next creature in front of me. The broom handle shattered, and the creature fell forward, dazed. At the same time, another creature disappeared from the doorway. There were two left, the one I had just knocked down, and one more, madly looking back and forth between me and the hall. The one on the floor ripped at my bitten leg while I was distracted. I yelped and felt my leg give beneath me. Toppling over the monster, I looked up to see Kaden and Brie in the doorway, each covered in black ooze. Kaden lunged for the standing monster when it moved towards me. The one on the floor was scrambling at my limbs, trying to bite. I kicked at it with my good leg, trying to keep it off me. There was a dull thunk and the standing monster fell face forward onto the other one, which shrieked until a fire extinguisher caved its face in. I looked at Brie and Kaden with tears in my eyes.
"I thought you were dead. He got the shoes, it's all over now... I thought I was going to die... He got the shoes, I didn't stop him...." I burst into panicky tears and Kaden quickly knelt beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, ignoring my usual space requirements. This time, I didn't care. I grabbed his shoulders tightly and allowed my self to cry for a moment.
"It's ok, it's ok, we'll figure it out." Kaden soothed. Brie joined the hug and my tears started all over again.
"I'm so glad you guys are ok." I sobbed, breathing in short gasps. Brie murmured soothingly with tears in her eyes while rubbing my back. Kaden stood up, offering me a hand, then basically had to pull me to my feet. He grimaced as did and I noticed his other arm was around his rib cage.
"You did get hurt!" I accused.
"Nothing a little dream magic won't cure." He laughed weakly.
"Hush now, you martyr-he's got some broken ribs and who knows what internal damage as far as I can tell." Brie scolded "And what about you?" She looked me up and down.
"I'm more worried about the bump to my head than the bites." I told her as she eyed the weeping wounds suspiciously.
"Another head injury? Do you know what it took to heal your last concussion?" Kaden pinched the skin between his eyebrows. And I'm injured to boot-this is going to take forever to fix, let me just..." Kaden reached out and grabbed the side of my neck. I flinched. "Ah good, it's not too bad, but still we better get you to the car before you fall down." He mumbled.
Brie gripped me under the arm and helped me limp out of the building. Kaden was right, I nearly fainted on the stairs, and it took both of them holding me up to prevent me from tumbling down them. Kaden winced with every step, and I could tell he was in serious pain.
"I'm going to want to know what happened to you." I tell Kaden on the way to the SUV, which was now parked in the grass near the storage building. It was covered in fresh goo, that I eyeballed with wariness. The SUV was only a few feet from the door, but it seemed so far away. I couldn't tell if it was the crash from the adrenaline high, the hit to my head or the blood loss, but the next time I closed my eyes, it took way too long to open them. Kaden looked at me with worry, and quickly grabbed me again before I could fall. Brie opened the SUV doors and I fell into the back seat and just let the world disappear. I briefly remembered stumbling into the house before everything faded out again in a swirl of black.
I woke up to the same set up as before, Kaden was seated against the head board, with Brie and I curled up on each side of him. This time, his hand was on my neck, my head on a pillow, and his other hand was clutched tightly by Brie on his other side. I examined everybody without moving. Brie looked fine, and Kaden was looking better. Both were still asleep-if that's what Kaden even did. My mind was calm and clear, despite the anxiety that was trying to break through. I smiled, Kaden must be holding it at bay. Taking that as a blessing in disguise, I snuggled back into the pillow, moving a little closer to Kaden, and went back to sleep. I could almost feel Kaden smiling as the anxiety faded into the background, allowing me to forget whatever it was I was supposed to be worried about.
"Shut up." I grumbled at him about the smug smile and then I was gone again into a dreamless slumber.
When I woke up again, Brie was banging around in the kitchen, singing to the radio. I was still beside Kaden on the bed, his hand still rested on my neck. I looked up at him to see his eyes open, but unfocused. He blinked as if sensing my regard.
"You look a lot better." He smiled.
"How are you? And what happened? Oh the shoes..." I moaned
"Hold on, this will be a lot quicker." He replied and my perspective shifted. I realized Kaden was sharing his memories with me. I watched in horror as the Nightmare King slammed my, I mean Kaden's body the ground, and felt two ribs break. One punctured something inside, I could feel the blood pooling in his torso. Kaden used his travelling/shifting? abilities to move into the shadow realm. It was like he drew the shadows to him and then reappeared again, only he overshot and we ended up outside. Brie was being swarmed in the car. Kaden moved again through the shadows, appearing in the car beside Brie.
"Drive!" He yelled, and she floored it, stopping outside the building where he directed her to stop. We could hear noise coming from the basement, the door was ripped off the hinges.
I watched as Brie and Kaden went down the stairs, to be confronted by the hoard and Nightmare King on their way out. Brie and Kaden hid in the dark of the hallway, Kaden was using his abilities to sort of draw the shadows around them to hide them. The Nightmare King was too obsessed with his treasure to even notice the particularly dark spot in the hall. Once the nightmare parade had passed, Brie and Kaden came towards the cage, where I was visible, trying desperately to fight back against the creatures left behind. I winced, I looked even worse through someone else's eyes. My face was twisted with rage, eyes still blood red, I was covered in black goo and blood, face bruised and bloodied. I looked like a vengeful demon, taking her wrath out on disobedient servants. Kaden and Brie snuck down the hall, pausing to pull fire extinguishers from the walls. They waited until the creatures were distracted to knock whichever unlucky one was closest to them. They'd then drag them down the hall to finish them off. Kaden was using his shadows to keep them hidden. I watched my final fall and then the memory withdrew.
"I didn't know you could do that." I said curiously.
"I didn't either, but the more contact I have with you and Brie, the easier it becomes." Kaden replied. "I hope you don't mind, but I pulled your memories from the time I disappeared to check for other injuries. I saw how my brother got the shoes."