King of Demons [EXCERPT]

Chapter Four

A clunk next to Rosalyn told her that she'd dropped her stick. Part of her wanted to scramble for it, but another part knew it would be futile. No amount of confidence or adrenaline could defend against these things.

They were everywhere. And she'd been wrong. They could get through the trees. There were so many of them, so close together, that she couldn't really tell what shape they were or whose tentacles belonged to whom but what was clear was that she was fucked.

She knew it was okay, that this had been the plan, right? That she'd go out in a blaze of glory, and wake up safe in her bed, or her desk, or wherever the hell she'd fallen asleep.

That didn't negate the fear from being right smack in front of these things. She could barely breathe from the stench, and the air tasted viscous, thick. Something brushed the back of her leg and she whirled, kicking out, in probably the worst roundhouse she could have possibly managed. She lashed out, punching something squishy, and then screamed when she couldn't wrench her arm back.

The things tittered, a wet, clicking sound that echoed from all directions. She couldn't see faces or mouths, just shiny black flesh, slick gyrating leather, slapping her body until she couldn't move anymore, they were so tight and squeezing and ohmygodicantseemybody...

She looked up at the night sky, struggling to breathe through the stench, pretending she was anywhere else, anywhere in the world. "Itsokayitsokayitsokay," she whispered, choking off a strangled sob as the monsters squeezed her tighter, the tittering and clicking rising in volume as if they were excited. "If I die, I wake up." The words were like a prayer, and tears streamed down her face, betraying her utter fear. This was all too real, so fucking real, the terror was justified with just how visceral, her bones creaked with the pressure around her, pain sparking through her body and seizing her lungs. "If I die, I wake up," she gasped, before a titter sounded far too close to her ear for comfort.

Instinctively she jerked away, but couldn't actually move, and her neck tweaked with the motion. Before she could process that, the gooey limbs curled around her slender throat and then white-hot pain exploded in the base of her skull, like a thousand daggers plunging into the bone at the same time. She barely had time to imagine a massive maw filled with razor sharp teeth consuming the ragged remnants of her brains before there was just...nothingness.

Rosalyn gasped, her mind reeling, arms flailing. She whipped around in the darkness, blind, swatting at herself. But the monsters were gone.

"Oh thank fucking god," she breathed, and her eyes fluttered closed.

KCxbone: This isn't funny anymore Rose.

She shrieked, opening her eyes again, and as she adjusted, she realized what she'd been denying in her shock. She was still in the woods. She could still hear the rustling of the leaves, feel the rough ground through her slippers—my slippers?

"Like I..." she choked on the words, on the implication. "Like I respawned."

She was standing, which should have been her first clue that she hadn't been sleeping at home in her bed. Even if she'd passed out at her desk, she would have been sitting down, drooling on her keyboard. But this was the same forest. The same sounds...that same scent.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she felt up the back of her neck to where she'd felt that massive pain. They'd crushed her body, squeezed the air out of her lungs, and bitten into her fucking head. The monsters had eaten her. And she hadn't woken up. This was either some groundhog day bullshit dream, or she had to face reality. The completely insane reality that she was stuck inside of the video game.

"Bravo," someone said.

The deep drawl made her leap clean in the air, and Rosalyn whipped around, clutching her chest as her heart thrummed triple time.