Page 91 of Tapeworld Induction

She bent her knees and dodged out of the way. Then pushed the shape to the side with a shoulder. “Back off, bitch.”

Left foot planted in front of her right. The kickboxing stance she’d practised for years. It lent an ease to her movements. Her time in the Apocalypse Revolt training camps was finally paying off.

Another shape morphed into a bulkier human and went to grab her. Dylan weaved out of its reach, bending her knees further than before, and riposted with an overhand punch. The bulky shape recoiled, hand on its face.

For a moment, the three faceless bodies stared at her.

One was lean, like a speedy fighter. The middle one was tall. And the right one, the one who’d just tried to grab her, was the largest. Lean, Tall, and Bulk.

“Let’s go!” She was suffused with a new-found resolve like hot lava. She was ready for this.

Without warning, Lean and Bulk attacked from both sides. Pacing side to side with her arms raised in a defensive pose kept them at bay, allowing her to quickly retreat.

But Tall jumped headlong towards her, hitting her with the full force of a headbutt.

“Argh!”

Blood flew out of her mouth. These things were nothing like VR Bob back at the gym.

Still recovering from his attack, Tall’s head was in the right place to smack once and twice with a cross jab to the face, the two punches sending the figure to the floor.

Dylan landed on Tall, her knees striking on top of its chest. She struck at it repeatedly with a fist, then torqued her body against it, the pressure squeezing its torso.

Tall let out a gasp and moaned.

“You can feel pain?”

Bob never reacted like that either. The thought disturbed her at first, but the realisation quickly lead to a grin. She could take these things down.

Tall struggled underneath her. She batted away its arms, which scrabbled to get her.

Lean and Bulk approached rapidly.

Dylan smacked Tall’s head with her elbows, her legs holding it down. “Just fucking die!”

The shape stopped moving.

She took a deep breath.

Lean went to grab her by the neck. Fuck. The shape underneath Dylan evaporated as if it was never there, causing her to fall to the floor. It gave her the opening to roll away. Every move felt easier to pull off in here.

After failing to get a hold on her, the lean shape stopped. It looked at the bulky one and both ushered each other on with a nod.

Lean advanced first. Dylan let it get close, still keeping her stance. The grey-skinned shape launched a kick. She tried to block it, raising her leg, shin out, but it landed on her stomach.

Fuck.

Fight through the pain, Dylan. Fight through the pain. I can’t go down here, I can’t.

Thoughts of what might happen if she was knocked out in the Tapeworld, or worse, threatened to cloud her mind. She focused on her body and pushed them out as well as she could.

She leant her back away from the shape then roundhouse kicked it in the solar plexus.

The grunt it made sounded like a man. The man-shape fell to the floor.

Bolstered by the rush of adrenaline, endorphins, and whatever else the Tapeworld flooded her body with, Dylan took the fight to the other, bulkier shape, using its fallen comrade to boost her jump into the air, throwing a jumping punch at its head.

Bulk defended Dylan’s punch with both arms in a raised guard position. But it still grumbled in pain.