2 Battle with a beast

'SCREE!'

Finn got goosebumps as he heard what sounded like a pig being slaughtered coming from the hallway. Deciding he didn't want that thing's company, he quickly moved the operating table in front of the door to barricade it. A dull thud and some more squeals from behind the door confirmed his decision. The scratching sounds near the bottom of the door, however, were a bad sign. Soon he could see the wood splintering and a small hole appeared as a sharp claw poked through.

Realizing that a confrontation was inevitable, Finn scrambled to find a weapon other than the old scalpel. As he rummaged through the drawers and cabinets, he found a few more scalpels, some needles, a couple flasks of unidentifiable liquids, and a few rolls of bandages. He quickly realized that hoping to find something like a sword in an operating room was foolish. The scratching was getting worse and there was already a fist sized hole near the bottom. Looking over his shoulder nervously he saw a ugly snout poke through and sniff a little.

'Squeal!' 'Crunch, crunch, crunch'

This time was a lot louder, and seeing that the thing would chew through the door soon Finn gave up looking for something else, grabbed two scalpels tightly as he approached the door. Suddenly a whole head poked through the hole, turning its head sideways to look at him, it squealed and tried to stretch its pointy snout towards him snapping furiously at the air. It looked a bit like a rat, but he had never seen one this size before, its head was about as big as that of a dog.

In a moment of panic, Finn threw his first scalpel right at it. It hit the creature right between its eyes but glanced right off and clattered to the floor. It was only the handle that hit. Realizing the scalpels didn't work as throwing knives, he tried another approach. Without getting too close to the snapping jaws, he swung down with another scalpel and tried to slice it. The blade cut into the snout easier than he expected, but using such a short blade caused him to misjudge how close he needed to be. The blade barely cut the tip and only infuriated the beast more. Thankfully it didn't seem intelligent enough to keep widening the hole. Instead, it just kept trying to bite after it could see him.

Learning from his previous attempt, Finn got a little closer, moving the table a little in order to reach better, and stabbed down with the scalpel from above. The blade didn't do much, only going in a little before being stopped the creature's skull, but the force of the blow when his fist landed on its head smacked it into the ground dazing it long enough for him to repeat the action. A few stabs later he got lucky and hit its eye, the blade going deep enough to kill it. Leaving the blade protruding from the beast's head, he slumped down, heart still racing, on the cold tiled floor.

After calming down, Finn tried to consider his options. Staying in the room and waiting for people to return would mean staying in slavery. The hard labor of working in a meat factory all day was all he had known for the past six years. He had gotten used to the work and learned how to avoid trouble from the guards who kept watch, but recently people started going missing and a week ago he had been transferred to a different location in order to help with experiments. Although human experimentation was illegal according to the city's official laws, that didn't seem to stop the company that owned him. Staying, therefore, probably meant being a lab rat until he died in an experiment, or being disposed of when he was no longer useful.

Deciding to try his luck escaping, Finn realized he would need to go out the door. That meant facing whatever was out there in the dark. There might be more of those monsters, but staying in the room was not an option. Being abandoned brought mixed feelings of relief and worry. He was relieved to finally be free from his shackles and those that imprisoned him, but now he would need to protect and provide for himself once he managed to get out.

His decision made, Finn went through the cabinets and drawers again to prepare himself for what was ahead. Tying a length of bandages around his waist as a makeshift belt and wrapping the unused scalpels, and needles in more bandages he tucked them into his new belt. He also kept the 2 vials unidentified liquids, and rolled up the sheets of parchment that were unspoiled, securing them to his waist. Deciding he needed a better weapon, he eventually managed to break a wooden leg off the table to use as a club. Slamming it down on the beast once to make sure it was dead, and that the club would be effective, he heard a crack. Seemed like it would work. After using the club to shove the head back through the hole, he slowly opened the door again. It was time to leave.