He limped down the hall attempting to pretend it didn't feel like the bastards had broken his ankle. The ruse wasn't working and every step was like white fire in his leg. The pain seemed to burn inside the bone itself as the hall led on into infinity. Plissken felt as if he had been transversing the same hall for hours.
"This way."
The guard shoved him to the side with the butt of his rifle. In front of Plissken now stood his worst nightmare, stairs. There were hundreds of them winding down as far as his eye could see when he glanced over the rail. Plissken rushed to keep pace but exhaustion slowed him as did the spikes of pain scalding his bones.
At the landing after the fifth flight Snake had to stop. His hand found the rail and he lifted his wounded leg to relieve the pressure and pain. The ache had just abated when the steel rifle butt collided with the back of his head with enough force to send him stumbling toward the stairs. He nearly fell and would have had it not been for the seething fury that locked his fingers to the railing.
Snake spun around to see the same rifle, glistening with blood, heading straight for his face. Resentment fueled his movements and the pain slipped away into numbness as Plissken lunged forward. He rammed the metal cuffs into the guard's fingers sending the gun clattering down the stairs. The rest of the escort was still too stunned to react when Plissken shoved the cuffs' chain into the attacker's throat. The force of Snake's attack slammed him into the wall and the guard tugged helplessly at the cuffs.
"He's killi….."
The words were garbled as Snake ground the chain against his neck. Blood started to prickle up around the links and trickle down the skin.
The blackbelly pulled at the chain while his two companions tried to haul Plissken off of their fellow guard. Snake mule kicked one of the two men behind him and it was trailed by a snap and the satisfying thud of a body tumbling down metal stairs.
The Snake's animalistic eye returned its gaze to the man who had battered his head. The guard had nearly worked the chain away from his neck with his fingers. Plissken snarled and slammed his forehead square into the bridge of the guard's nose. The crack resounded in the empty stairwell as the hands fell away. Blood added a tapping sound to the chaos as it ran from the guard's broken nose over Plissken's arm and trickled like a dripping faucet to that steel below their feet.
A guard still wrestled to remove Plissken from his partner. He was unhindered and began ratcheting the chain back and forth against the gory skin. Blood flowed freely and was accompanied by panicked gasps. Snake dug in putting his weight and shoulder strength into the choking. The guard's lips were turning bluish as Plissken once more crushed the chain to the blackbellies throat.
The other guard finally got a firm grip on Plissken's shirt. The Snake would not be deterred. Succumbing to animal instinct brought on by the impending death of the man in his grasp Snake sunk his teeth into the offending fingers. He stumbled back from the bite freeing Plissken to resume his task. The Snake's one track mind applied more pressure until his own wrists felt the sting from the taunt cuffs. The man was no longer breathing. Plissken released him and ignored the thud as the lifeless body hit the stairs.
Snake turned on the remaining guard who was attempting to staunch the bleeding bite. He didn't even think or miss a beat before he tossed the guard over the rail to where ever bottom lay for these infernal stairs.
Once more returning to his victim he grabbed the keys and his gun. Motivated by adrenaline and the promise of freedom Snake forced himself to run up the stairs. Fumbling with the cuffs he made for the long hall. The cuffs were tossed aside with their keys as he hit the hall at a full run. With luck the swat van would have left and he would have a free shot at the streets. Pain burned in his leg so furiously that he stumbled. Before freedom Snake would have to make it to the end of the hall.