Bristly Beast at the Border

Ssshh! I crept out from the living room into the narrow hallway! Right at the heavy wooden front door lay a rough, hairy slab—a giant brown beast guarding the exit! Grrr! I didn't back down. I charged straight forward and belly-flopped onto the stiff prickly bristles of the coir mat! Scratch, scritch, snap! It prickled my chest like a thousand tiny wooden claws poking back! I clamped my jaws around a thick dried fiber and wrenched it free with a mighty yank. Ptooey! The hall is conquered, and the boundary is mine!