Breaching the Perimeter

I marched straight for the front threshold to scout what lies past the inner base. Beneath the heavy wooden entrance door, a stiff draft hissed through the narrow floor gap. Right in front of it lay a thick, bristly coir doormat—a field of rigid, spiky fibers. A normal turtle would bypass the obstacle, but I charged straight onto the spikes. Each step pushed sharp bristles against my boot soles and scraped my shins, but I kept my posture solid. I drove the tip of my blue cocktail umbrella downward into the woven fiber mesh like a piton, levering myself forward against the rushing draft. My knee took a stiff scratch from an upturned bristle, but ground was taken right at the edge of the crack.