Many sides of reality–happy, sad, light and dark. Some action and horror fans will appreciate this snippet of a darker Harry’s Reality…
“Carlos maneuvered behind the monster and leapt on its back. As the sewer behemoth twisted and turned to dislodge its rider, Carlos inched his way behind its head, holding on to the animal’s rough scales for dear life as he waited for the right moment. The gigantic jaws slammed shut on air once more and Carlos slid down the snout as far as he could, wrapped his arms around that jaw and attempted to hold it shut. He knew from experience that the creature used less force to open its jaws than it did to slam them shut on prey, but he had to be at the very end of the snout before he could hold it closed. Then his soldiers could kill it.
“Kieran swung all thirty-five plus pounds of the armored beast over her head several times and then began beating the gigantic reptile with the hard bony casing of her recent acquisition. It only seemed to agitate the monster more. She felt a tugging at her tunic. It was Harry. He had spotted the wire draped around her neck and pulled it off. What the…? He quickly made a slip knot and was using the loop to lasso the creature’s snout.
“Carlos was barely holding on. He had used his weapon sling to tie his arms together. If he ever got loose, he knew his arms wouldn’t be much good to him for a while. Harry’s primitive loop wasn’t working as he’d hoped either. Miss! Miss! It kept falling short or long, or the creature jerked its ugly snout about.
“Finally, Carlos could hold on no longer. The beast opened its monstrous jaws and raised its loathsome head, catapulting Carlos off of the top of its snout and back to its tail. It could have made a meal of the Shadow leader except that it couldn’t turn around in the narrow quarters. Carlos narrowly missed being impaled on the spikes on the tail, and instead caught hold of one of them to keep from being dumped into the poisonous swill. The creature sensed Carlos has attached himself to his tail, twisted its hindquarters, and swept its spiked tail, effortlessly tossing the Shadow leader’s struggling form against the tunnel wall some ten or fifteen yards away with a thud. Carlos moaned as he was slammed violently into the wall, but was silent as his limp body slid it and splashed face up in the goo.
“Harry had missed with his crude lasso when the creature opened its mouth; the loop wasn’t large enough. This time, however, the wire caught between razor-sharp six-inch teeth and his chin. As the creature attempted to bite down on the foreign substance, Harry sprang to take Carlos’ place on top of the snout, and attempted to wrap the rest of the wire around the jaws. If he could only keep his balance long enough… He wrapped the wire completely around only once.
“Harry felt the powerful spring-like jaws straining against the single wire strength, the monster gnashing, fighting to free itself. Got to hang on! Can’t give up! Harry imagined the horrible result if he failed to keep it at bay. The creature whipped its head back and forth trying to dislodge the man and his wire. The man was scarcely able to maintain a grip as the creature went under and rolled over and over in the toxic sludge, but he held on as he was tossed and jerked until his bones felt like mush; his flesh scratched, torn, bruised, bleeding. He was numb, and went down with the creature as it made a desperate dive in the shallow.
“Don’t give up! Harry told himself. Can’t give up!
“Aware of the highly poisonous muck, he clenched his jaws tight and kept his eyes as tightly closed as much as the muscles in his face would allow him. His lungs were about to burst, or worse, as he took some of the toxic sludge into his mouth or nose. He tried to spit out the poison that made it to his mouth, but ended up vomiting as his body sought to rid itself of the deadly toxin.
“To get a better grasp, he forced his fingers around and under the wire where it cut into the crusty, scaly skin, and so when the creature squirmed, it also sliced into his own fingers.
“Fatigued by his struggle to dislodge the man, the creature came to the surface just in time. Harry exhaled and gulped air gratefully. But it was not over yet.”
Shaw's Reality 