Not powerless

chapter 6: Gift

Fire was all around him. The air thick with smoke, Izuku could barely see and it was only the vaguest of memories that had him dropping down to get beneath it. His lungs were burning as he tried to find a way out of here. This was either another test or After was seriously trying to kill him. Either way, he would not yield so easily.

He seemed to be in a building. If he could just find a window, then he could get out. A roar echoed throughout the room, piercing through the sound of the raging fire. It was animalistic and violent, and it was accompanied by great thudding footsteps coming from behind him. A giant beast was prowling in the same room. It mostly looked like a lion, except its tail was segmented and swished about behind it, slicing through things with the barbs on the end. Fire ran down the length of its back. It roared again, the sound promising blood for whoever it could find. Izuku needed to get out of there, now!

He tried crawling beneath the smoke, all the while trying desperately not to cough. That last one was a tough challenge. Izuku could barely breathe but he powered through it. The pounding of his heart in his chest was his war drum, his reminder to keep going until the very end.

There! Just ahead of him was a door. If he could just get through it, he could barricade the door and make a break for it. Luck wasn’t on his side though. In his haste to escape, he must have made a sound because the feeling of dread washed over him. The beast roared once more and Izuku threw all caution to the wind. He bolted and slammed the door shut. A second later was a loud collision, followed immediately by the scrabbling of sharp claws. The door wouldn’t hold for long so he continued running, trying to put as much distance between him and the beast as possible.

Outside of the room, the fire was sparse. Was that beast the source? Izuku didn’t have time to ponder because the door burst open in a hail of splinters. Izuku wound his way through the maze of corridors, throwing open doors and making sharp turns, all trying to throw off the beast.

Opening a door revealed a set of stairs. The beast was right behind him, so he had no choice but to go through and slam the door behind him. Going upstairs wasn’t ideal, but if he could find another staircase leading back down, he might be able to find his way out. He made it one floor up and had to find somewhere to hide. He managed to wedge himself behind a cabinet when the beast crashed into the room with him. Fire followed in its wake, filling the clear room with smoke.

Why on earth did he think hiding would be a good idea? That only protected him from being mauled to death by the beast and only for as long as it couldn’t find him, but it didn’t need to to kill him. The fire could burn him alive or the smoke could suffocate him. The beast had three different ways to kill him, so hiding wasn’t an option. He needed to get away from it, now!

The room he was in wasn’t really big enough for him to safely run. The beast was sniffing around on the other side of the cabinets, its low growls filling the air alongside the smoke and flames. It was too close. He’d never make it! Unless… The cabinets were quite heavy.

Izuku braced against the wall and pushed with all his might. The cabinets slowly began to rock. The beast paused, growling louder and louder. It roared and Izuku roared right back. The large metal cabinets tipped over onto the creature. It cried out in pain and Izuku took his chance to run for the door.

A sharp jolt of pain lashed across his back. Izuku winced but didn’t run, only vaguely aware of the beasts thrashing tail. He slammed the door shut behind him. The way down was blocked with fire so the only way for him to go was up. Izuku ran and ran as fast as he could. The beast crashed through the door when he was two floors up but Izuku kept running. He couldn’t hide and he couldn’t be sure this thing couldn’t somehow track him, either through sound or smell. The blood running down his back would give him away so all he could hope for now was distance. Distance, and the chance that Izuku could find some way to kill it.