he let out he began he felt as profusely. and torn levis, the only one throbbed a muffled cry of pain. The pains slowly subsided again, but to cough uncontrollably. He coughed and coughed, unti! if blood was crawling up his throat. He continued to sweat It dripped on his shabby blue shirt, which was wrinkled like a crushed newspaper. As the sweat dripped off onto his pants became damp, making his legs cold and itching. With sock on, his feet flinched with cold numbness. Yet his head with fiery heat, and he continued to cough. Slowly climbing to his feet, Saul braced himself against the wall. Soon the coughing began to dissipate; he started to wheeze and breathe hard. Dizziness gripped him once more. Looking across the room, he saw the vague outline of a door moving back and forth. He put his hands to his dirty face, wiping the hot sweat out of his eyes. “I’ve got to get out of here,” Saul groaned, pushing himself from the wall and stumbling toward the door. Suddenly a tremendous pounding noise echoed outside the door. The room shook like an earthquake. Saul scrambled backwards, falling against the wall. The deafening pounding continued like some giant beating against the walls. In between the pulsating and vibrant pounding, Saul could hear the rushing of wind. The room became still colder; chills crawled over him. His heart throbbed with fury; his sweat turned from fever hot to arctic cold. Saul trembled, his wide eyes glued to the dim outline of the door. The pounding became unbearable; he shoved his hands against his ears. Suddenly the door began to bend in the middle. Saul’s face lengthened. His hands jerked back against the walls, clawing viciously. The door bulged now, as if some hideous power was attempting to get in. The pounding swelled as a tidal wave of echoes and rushing wind. Cold sweat gripped Saul’s hollowed face; his shaggy black hair stood frozen like the teeth on a comb. Then, as quickly as it came, the pounding ceased. The door waved back into place. Deathly silence fell on everything. Then, like the creaking of a rocking chair, Saul heard the door handle. turn slowly. “Oh, my dear God,” Saul quivered, swallowing hard. “Go away! Go away!” He continued to claw at the wall, denting the strong outer covering with his strangled grip. _ The door slowly began to open, inches at a time. The creaking noise vibrated in his ears like a railroad train thundering through a ee His body trembled with fear; his eyes riveted to that ominous oor. Saul was about to scream when the door closed with a bang. Deathly silence strangled the entire room. Only Saul’s hard breathing and the furious pounding of his heart fractured the stillness. His hands slowly released their grip on the wall; they were numb from the force of the grip. Saul’s dirty face dripped with cold sweat. Dizziness and stomach pains returned to his trembling body. His head fell down toward his knees. He cried tears of anguish and frustration. 7 is For over ten minutes Saul sat humped in his awkward position. mind felt as if it were tearing 4 apart; his thoughts were jumbled with screaming pains inside and mute silence outside. Saul straightened up, then fell backwards on his back. Groaning, he stretched completely out, trying to ease his exploding mind. Rocking his head back and forth, he suddenly screamed, then lay deathly still. His eyes were focused into the ceilingless black void straight up. It was like a magnet; his eyes couldn't budge. But the more he looked, the more the blackness seemed to become a whirlpool. The darkness began to eddy around and around, deeper and deeper. Saul felt his mind being drawn from his body. The whirlpool wheeled faster and faster, slowly dismantling his consciousness. Deeper— and deeper—and deeper, Saul was spinning into a wilderness of black mesmerism. His hypnotized mind was losing all awareness when a thunderous tearing sound ripped through the room. Everything shot back into Saul’s mind at once: consciousness, the noise, the misty darkness of the room. Then from above came the echo of flapping wings. The room became filled with red bat-like creatures. They crashed into the walls, falling onto the floor, then flew again. It was like a blinding snowstorm, so thick was the flying swarm. They crashed into Saul, one after another, an occasional claw wrenching out a picce of skin. Saul began to crawl toward the door, but harder and harder they crashed into him. When almost to the door he jumped to his feet and leaped forward. A number of the creatures hit him, almost knocking him to his knees. He grappled with the doorknob, yanked the door open, and fell outside, pulling the door shut after him. He lay there, wheezing hard and listening to the flying demons crash into the door. Then a horrible thought crossed his mind. This hallway was where the hideous being that almost crushed the door existed. He jerked up, looking all around. He was in a long grey-walled corridor that stretched up and The corridor was about six teet down as far as he could see. wide, with white doors spaced diagonally ten feet apart. The soft glow shone vaguely in the hall as in the room, but again there were no windows or apparent lights. The air was extremely cold, like the air in a deep cave. Saul stood up, wondering what to do. Cold sweat dripped off his face onto his blue shirt and levis. Suddenly Saul heard the rushing of wind behind him. He turned, one arm against each wall. Then the terrible pounding started once more. Saul jerked his hands to his ears, trying to blot out the thundering noise. He screamed, but the pounding made the scream a mere whisper. He began to back up. Suddenly, just where the soft glow of the corridor ended about a hundred feet away, a giant green demon appeared. It was easily fifteen feet tall; its towering body stood like a Goliath against the black background. Saul stumbled backwards in disbelief. Screaming “No, no, no!” he clutched at the walls. His mind was mass hysteria. Cold sweat dripped off him as off a leaky faucet. He turned and began to run. The grey walls stretched endlessly on and on in front of him. White doors flew past his: side. He heard the monster thundering after him. Harder and harder he ran. Then he stumbled and fell to the cold floor. Wind was 5