He was trying to maneuver the arm I was holding to grab onto me, his fingers and wrist bending at unnatural angles as he sought a grip on my hands and wrists. 

He changed tactics, making the blades in the arm spear out at random, to make it as impossible to hold as he could.

That sounds quite effective, honestly.

When that failed, he whipped the chain.

But apparently not enough.

I let go of the hand just in time to avoid being caught by the tail end of the whiplash.  He reeled it in, and it got about three-quarters of the way in before he ran into a slight snag.

Hopefully it won’t go in or out now.