Recurring Nightmare Part 4

Author: bigsmile21
Title: Recurring Nightmare: Part 4
Date: 20 January 2020

He looked over to the clock and it was an hour past when he had set it. He dreaded going into work. Fridays are incredibly busy, and this Friday in particular was ahead of a 3-day weekend, so a ton of customers would be coming in to check their cars before vacation. Glen didn't have time to shave, didn't have time for breakfast, and barely had enough lucidity to grab the right clothes for work. At work, it was a madhouse. Clients and cars as far as the eye could see down the service line. He grabbed some coffee from the complimentary customer care station, and set to work. He really wanted to check his emails and get in touch with Zeke, but he also knew that if his boss caught him slacking anymore it could be bad. Throughout the day, Glen had two more cups of coffee. Once, he'd sworn that he'd seen the monster's eyes staring back at him after he'd checked the hazard lights and blinkers for an older car. He shook it off and tried his best to focus on one car's needs at a time. At the end of the day his boss approached him.

"I really appreciate you stepping up your game today, Glen." his boss said. "Don't know what you've been going through, and it's not my business, but I was a little concerned about your commitment to the job earlier this week. Glad to see you've still got that fire in you." Glen nodded his head a few more times than he should have, his eyes a little droopy.

"Boss, would you mind if I took tomorrow off?" Glen asked. "I know I'm already off for this Sunday, but having tomorrow off as well would help me wrap up a few things."

"You know we'll have Monday off as well, right?" his boss asked. "Trying to get in a long weekend, huh? Well, after today you've earned it. Take care, and I'll see you early next week."

At home, Glen finally had a chance to check his emails. He'd seen one more from Zeke, and pulled it up while heating up dinner.

From: ZekeOliver24:
We did it! We finally escaped. I woke up last night and felt refreshed for the first time. Thank you for trusting in my plan, and helping me to find a way out last night. I wish you a happy Friday and hope that the weekend will find you well.

Glen was sure at this point that Zeke would already be asleep. But he sent a response anyway. He said that he wasn't sure they'd beat the nightmare creature, that it still had two arms left and a lot of hate in it. He asked Zeke about how many arms it originally had, if he'd noticed any few arms after he'd escaped the first week.

He hoped Zeke wouldn't be bound even further after two escapes. He hoped there was still a Zeke to help escape. Maybe the monster would have him bound so tight that he might not be able to. Glen pondered how to approach this night's sleep. He considered taking some sleeping pills and turning off his alarm in order to give him as much time as possible over the weekend to escape. But if the monster did end up catching him in his escape, and binding him so tight that he couldn't escape, he may regret having a delayed alarm.

He also thought about how long they had: only two nights to get this right, before the monster started capturing more people. If any of those others managed to escape, would that kill the monster for good, or leave Glen and Zeke trapped in that nightmare? He thought more and more about it, going a little past his usual bedtime, and decided Zeke's original plan was right: they both had to escape in order for this to work. The monster had to be cut off from all its victims. And if he was in Zeke's place, he wouldn't want to be left alone. Glen set his alarm for a little later Saturday morning, giving him more time to sleep in and get out. He didn't want to be cut short right in front of the exit again.

Before he went to bed, Glen prepared one more thing. He placed a closed Swiss army knife under his pillow, hoping it would appear with him in the nightmare dungeon and help his escape. Glen closed his eyes and opened them in the face of the monster. He shot his eyes downward and thrust his hands forward. The more compliant he was with the monster, the less aggressive it seemed to bind him. Even with his repeat attempts to escape, the monster didn't seem to remember any of those or hold a grudge. The monster began applying the manacles and chains to Glen's wrists, slower this time. Glen slowly raised his head to see that the monster still only had two arms. He ducked his head again and knelt down to the ground before the monster could shove him. It paused, then moved down the corridors, tugging Glen along.

While moving, Glen tried to look in the empty cells. Some doors were open, some closed, but he got the sense that all of them were empty. Tonight, he thought, we're going to beat you. Inside his cell, the monster began to hoist Glen up. This was before he'd been able to untie his shoes to loosen his boots. Glen made a quick attempt to loosen his shoestrings, got one loose, but the monster caught him in the act of untying the second. It paused, hoisted Glen to the ceiling hook, and then reached down to apply an additional set of manacles and chains to his feet. Not good, Glen thought. The monster then pulled the chain around his boots towards the back of the room, securing it to the hook in the wall that last night held his bound wrists.

The monster backed away and left the cell. Glen was bound in a similar position as last night, only this time he was right side up at least. He tugged upwards with his wrists and then with his feet, but he was pulled taught. Really not good, he thought. He'd lost focus for a few seconds and screwed up tonight's escape attempt. If he didn't think of something, he'd spend the entire night stuck here, leaving them only one night to escape. He ran through the details of what he'd seen tonight. The monster looked the same, minus two arms, and had followed the same script it had the previous nights: capture him, bind him, and secure him in this cell. Glen guessed if he made too much noise that the monster would quickly be back in his cell, and would likely gag, blindfold, and deafen him with his clothes. He couldn't avoid behind bound but at least he could avoid making too much noise and drawing the monster back to him.

He tried his wrists again, but still not enough give in the chain for him to get free. Even if he got his wrists unhooked, that meant a quick drop face-first to the cell floor. He tried working his boots free again and found more success in his already-loosened boot. With a lot of effort he managed to slip one boot off. He tried to brush his foot against the shoelaces of his other boot, but no good. He tried slipping his sock off to give him more movement with his toes and did manage to get that off, but still no luck with the shoelaces. Glen yelled in frustration.

Almost instantly, he heard the monster roar from somewhere in the dungeon. Glen had had it. He kept yelling until the beast burst through the door. Glen shouted that he was going to get out tomorrow, and that this would be the monster's last night with him as its captive. He said he was going to get Zeke, escape through the light, and enjoy looking back to see the monster crumble into pieces. He was going to say more but was cut off by the monster gripping his face with one of its paws. It looked him over, picked up the sock from the ground, and shoved it into Glen's mouth. It then ripped off his shirt, jeans, and underwear, leaving him completely exposed except for his other boot. Glen stopped yelling and paused to see what the monster would do. It tore his clothes into long strips, wrapping several around his mouth to keep the sock gag in place, wrapping several around his eyes to blindfold him, and wrapping several straps around his elbows and knees to restrict him further. Glen was glad his dream clothes didn't have any musk, because he was pretty sure that half of his underwear was covering his face right now.

The monster clawed at the walls until Glen heard sparks fly and felt heat of some of the torches catching fire. He heard the monster standing there, the sound of its deep breaths going in and out, and then he felt something else. The long claws were reaching around his exposed privates and Glen bucked upwards. The beast's other paw held his back in place as it continued, tying the shoestrings of his removed boot to Glen's balls. The monster gave a gentle tug on the last knot before letting the boot drop, giving sensitive tug to Glen's privates. The beast seemed to chuckle, then it moved back and out the cell, closing the door behind it. The extra weight on Glen's balls went from uncomfortable to painful. He found that after a while any movement along his torso amplified the pain. The added heat from the torches caused him to sweat profusely. He could only imagine what his bed would look like when he woke. If he woke. With his head bound as it was, he may not be able to head the alarm clock at all.

He focused on moving his head as best he could against his arms. He knew that by now escaping tonight was out of the question. He'd have to coordinate with Zeke tomorrow (was it 'today' yet?) and make sure to work out a fool-proof escape plan for Saturday night. Again, Glen moved slowly and deliberately to brush off his head wrappings. Upwards or downwards, it didn't matter so long as he could get at least one ear exposed. Occasionally he'd jerk his head too quickly and that would cause the boot beneath him to jostle. Finally, he had brushed off the head wrappings and blindfold. The gag around his mouth was persistent. He heard the growing ringing of the alarm clock and welcomed its sweet embrace.