A/N: Well, I didn't think I'd really make it to this point, but now we're at the 10th chapter. I consider myself a bit of a procrastinator, and don't usually make any headway with my stories past the first few chapters. I'm still going strong though, and don't plan to give up on this anytime soon.

I'd like to thank everybody who has taken the time to read this. I know I haven't gotten too many reviews, but I am glad to see that the story still does get quite a bit of traffic. It helps give me the motivation to continue to know people come back to this when it's updated. Really, thank you so much for reading this!

Now, back to the story!

'Damn it, I'm doing it again,' he thought angrily to himself, 'I've gotta stop over thinking this, even that's distracting me!' No sooner had the thought crossed his mind that the monster made the first move. It lunged out for him, or at least attempted to, it was more of a hop really. Its arms were outstretched, however, and nearly got a hold of him and nearly causing him to drop the lighter. He jumped backwards, almost extinguishing the flame from the quick movement. 'Gotta be smart about this,' he thought to himself worriedly, 'If the light goes out, I'm dead.' With this in mind, he attempted to swing at the monster with the wrench, but the attacks were only half-hearted and didn't even hit it.

"Come on, I can do this," he exclaimed out loud, "I can't hold back! Come on!" He took another swing, this time a bit more forcefully, but still wasn't brave enough to actually hit it. 'What's wrong with me? Fight the damn thing already!' Deep down though, he knew he couldn't bring himself to hurt it. It wasn't that he was sympathetic towards the monster, definitely not. No, it was something deeper than that, it was the reason he became a Pacifist in the first place. Well, he considered looking into the religion once, at least. He thought that it was a religion, he wasn't really too sure.

With that in mind though, the best his conscience would allow him would be self-defense if it actually hurt him. Then, all hell would be let loose. He couldn't even bring himself past the technicalities that it had the intent to kill, and possibly even eat him, and had already tried when it grabbed him back in the bathroom. In fact, so far he had hurt himself more than the actual monsters...

'Damn it pay attention!' His thoughts were broken as he saw a fleshy pulsating limb flying at him. He tried to get out of the way, but the smack still got him in the arm. He couldn't believe how strong it was, as it caused him to be thrown onto the ground. A healthy dose of pain flooded his left arm, which caused him to drop the lighter while at the same time making him realize that right now personal beliefs were not helping him. Once again, his own thoughts were distracting him, and now with the lighter on the floor he couldn't even see any more since it went back off.

The room was now shrouded with pitch-black darkness. He swore under his breath as he got on his hands and knees and tried to find it in the area where he had dropped it. He hoped that it was as dark for the monster as it was for him, but luck didn't seem to be on his side that day so he doubted it. He suddenly thought that he brushed the lighter with his hands, and reached out for it to try to grab it. All he got was a fistful of squick as he felt the soft flesh of the monster. Naturally, he screamed, and took no time in swinging away this time. He felt something connect with his weapon a couple times, and a howl of pain confirmed it. He fell as he swung around, and landed on something hard which he immediately recognized as the lighter. He got off of it and picked it up as quickly as he could, not knowing when the monster would attack again.

He stood up, and after a few clicks the small flame once again reappeared. It took a moment or so for him to locate the monster again, which had somehow wandered away from him during the brief scuttle. 'Guess they really can't see in the dark,' he thought a bit happily, 'Good to know.' With the light back though, it went after him again, its large arms outstretched as it came towards him. He let it get as close as he dared, then swung away once again, smashing its arms with the wrench. Every time it was hit, it would make a chilling groaning sound, but wouldn't stop its admittedly slow pursuit. He soon realized that even though it was slow, his weapon was too small to reach the monster past the arms without it being able grab him. So if he went to thwack its head, it would easily be able to hold him there with its powerful arms. He could try throwing it, but he didn't really want to risk losing his only weapon.

It was then he had an idea. Taking advantage of the monster's slow speed, he began to try to circle around it. He didn't dare to go too fast and lose the light again, but he kept a steady pace. At first it tried to keep up with him, albeit a bit difficultly, turning to face him before he could get behind it. But eventually, he was able to get himself far enough out of its reach that he chanced a blow to the back of its head. Hesitant at first, he forcefully brought the wrench down onto it, and saw the monster stumble a bit once it was struck. He backed up, and after few seconds, it recovered and turned towards him, almost as if it were staring him down, before letting loose a torrent of the tar-like substance that he had seen before in the bathroom. He threw himself out of the way this time, holding onto the lighter tightly to make sure he didn't lose it again. The light went out, but at least he still had it.

He clicked the lighter back on, and saw that the tar was bubbling on the carpet. Steam rose as it ate away at the floor, making him cringe as he realized that could have happened to him. However, now that he had a plan to fight this thing, he followed through with it once again. He attacked again and again, not letting up and giving it a chance to retaliate again, but still was able notice how, disturbingly, there wasn't the sound of bones breaking and smashing. While he accepted it as something that made it so he wouldn't feel sick, his thoughts wandered a bit once more and wondered if the monster was made up completely out of flesh. From the looks of it, it certainly seemed so, but then how could it even move? Wouldn't it just be a blob without bones?

"Stop thinking about it!" He almost didn't realize that he was yelling, or that his clothes had splatters of blood on them. He was standing over the body, it "head" smashed in and no longer recognizable. It was now completely flat, deflated, almost as if it were just a balloon. Blood mixed with tar as a puddle of it formed under and around the body. He backed away, the desensitization beginning to wear off.

'What...what did I just do...'

His insides felt sick, he didn't know whether to throw up or to cry. As he stood there in front of the body, staring, he felt something strange in him. The emotions he felt were so mixed that he truly didn't know how to react. So he didn't feel shocked, he didn't feel regret, he didn't feel really anything. And that it was scared him the most: that once the desensitization did begin to go away, that there wasn't any emotion there to feel. All he could do was stand there, wide-eyed as he tried to process what had just happened.

He didn't know how long he stood there, but it seemed to be an eternity. At point though, he began to hear...something. He couldn't tell what it was, as it was too faint at first. Was it a moan? A scream? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that he was starting to feel even more light-headed. He felt as if the very air was vibrating and separating, causing him to clutch at his head in pain. 'Why does this hurt!?' He was screaming in his mind, but if he had yelled out loud he might not have been able hear himself. The sound had inexplicably grown louder, and seemed to be echoing throughout the entire room. Now, it was almost too loud to understand what it was, and he had to cover his ears to keep from going deaf.

It was a siren. Now that he knew what it was, he suddenly felt afraid of it, almost as of he knew what it meant what would happen. He'd only heard the sound in movies and the news, when it would be used as an alarm and be used as a warning for tornadoes and radiation leaks. But this was something different, he knew that something worse was about to happen. No sooner had he thought that though, that something truly horrific began to happen.

"Oh my God...w-what's happening? What's going on!?" He couldn't see too far with the small light that he had, but he could still tell that something was happening too the entire room. The walls were beginning to fall apart, with at first the paint peeling off, and then the actual wood and plaster coming off a bit at a time and floating away. The ceiling followed as well, starting in the middle and causing a small hole, and then deteriorating away. He turned around the room, not knowing what to do, and quite frankly was being scared the hell out of his mind. He tried to speak, to say something, to cry out in confusion, but he just couldn't find his voice.

As it neared the end (at least, he hoped it was almost over, whatever it was that was happening), the siren began to die off, becoming quieter and quieter until it could no longer be heard. He looked around him, taking in his new surroundings, but having a hard time comprehending it. With the restraints of the room now gone, the darkness seemed to go on for miles in every direction. His breathing was shaky, and his hands followed suit as well. In fact, his entire body seemed to be shaking, and he could do nothing to stop it. Feeling wobbly, he fell to his knees, feeling them hit something metal. Looking down, he saw that the floor was now gone, and somehow been replaced with a metal grating. He never even noticed it happen, but now that he saw it, he could see that the endless darkness continued beneath it.

He didn't know what was going on, but his best guess was that he had been warped to hell.