The party decided to help Burt clean up the dishes as Frobern left to attend to other business. They eventually left the underground bar, back into the neon-lit alleyways they had left behind.
“Now that I look at it, it really is bloody tall” Nathaniel remarked as he craned his neck up.
“Yeah, I can’t see the tops of the buildings around us.” Charles observed.
“Like mice in a maze” Stephanie added before she pushed the other three from behind.
“Come on, time waits for noone” she said.
Five hours later, as even the artificial lighting around them started to die down, the party sat together in an alleyway, heads hanging in shame. They had made good progress, the streets thinning out in the afternoon, allowing them to see far off into the distance down the streets they passed. Even so, they had to admit. They were lost.
“I can’t believe we didn’t ask him for directions.” Michael said as he looked at everyone.
“Why didn’t we ask him for directions” Michael sobbed.
“It’s not like we were doing it on purpose, Michael” Stephanie replied, irritated.
“Yeah, but this is the mo-” Michael was interrupted as the party heard a large thud from further down the alleyway.
Charles immediately stood up and looked around. He stared down the alley for a couple seconds before pointing at something crumpled next to a door, around 100 meters away. As everyone started noticing it, the crumpled heap slowly stood up and slammed their body against the door before using the wall as a support to stagger over to the next.
“Was that there before?” Nathaniel asked.
“‘That’ appears to be a person, Nathaniel. Come on, man” Michael berated him as they all cautiously moved closer.
“Hey, you never know. We’ve got magic here, might very well be a ‘That’” Nathaniel replied.
“Maybe we should keep walking and get out of here?” Michael suggested.
“Nah, we should go up and ask ‘em if they’re OK” Charles said, leading the group forward.
“I’ll stay right here while you do that” Michael said as he stood his ground.
“Come on, Michael. Don’t be like that” Steph said as she passed him.
“Yeah, geez. All you gotta do is stand close to me” Charles added.
Soon, the person collapse on the ground, no longer able to walk further.
“Look, they’re obviously in trouble. We gotta help” Charles said as he and the other two started a jogging pace, leaving Michael behind.
‘Hey! You OK there? What’s wrong?” Charles shouted as he approached the figure, now convulsing in the ground and slowly curling into the fetal position. As they got closer, the smell of blood became quite clear and a small pool of the liquid was visibly forming underneath the figure.
“Even here you get random stabbings” Charles muttered under his breath as he approached a few steps away from the person. Underneath the torn clothing, seemed to lay a convulsing woman, dirt and grime making any finer features hard to identify.
“Look, you’ll be ok. Just hang in there” Charles said.
“Michael, go look for someone on the streets to help out!” Charles shouted out.
“Charles? She stopped moving”
“Dammit, help me roll her over. We need to find out what happened” he said as he crouched down next to the woman. They quickly began looking her over for the source of the bleeding but couldn’t find any external wounds.
“Umm, guys. Not to sound weird, but she’s starting to get real hairy.” Nathaniel added as he looked at her hands.
“What do you- Oh. You’re right, I can actually see her hair gro-” Stephanie couldn’t finish her sentence before the woman started spasming on the ground again and the three stepped back in shock. The convulsions got more and more intense, her body twisting in impossible directions and before their eyes, her body grew larger. The three looked at each other and ran.
“What’s it like, guys? I couldn’t fin- NEVERMINDITHINKSHE’SOK” Michael screamed out and joined the party as they ran away from the, now beastlike, woman. She ran at them on all fours, the sound of claws against pavement resounding in their ears.
“LEFT” Charles shouted out as they ran into another alleyway.
“AGAIN”
“RIGHT”
“DAMMIT. UHH. THAT ONE”
Michael and Charles led the front of the party, knocking through obstacles to make way for the other two as Charles continued guiding them through the streets. Behind them, Nathaniel and Stephanie were throwing obstacles into the way of the creature behind them as it nimbly leapt over or powered through the debris.
“Hold still” Nathaniel said as he took position behind Stephanie.
“What are you doing?”
“Just keep running”
“I can’t keep running if you tell me to hold still”
“Then get as close to it as you can”
“How about you try it”
“We’re being chased by a werewolf and you’re arguing with me?”
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“We’re being chased by a werewolf and you’re arguing back?”
“Just keep running like that”
“You’re going to make me trip”
“No I won’t” Nathaniel said as he finally managed to grab out a pack of nails from within Stephanie’s backpack. He quickly sprinkled them behind him and, as he turned around, the beast tumbled and roared in pain.
“Keep on running!” Charles shouted from ahead.
The party kept running. Through alleys, closed bazaars and even through a park clearing, they ran for what felt like hours. They emptied their lungs out and kept on pushing before finally one of them fell to their knees in exhaustion. Not long after, the rest followed.
“Told you, we’re fine” Stephanie wheezed out with a grin.
“Not sure what your definition of fine is” Michael added, staring at the buildings above as he laid on his back.
“Still, it was a bloody river of people this morning but now we can’t find a single soul? Give me a break” Nathaniel said.
“Break’s over, we need to keep on going” Charles said as he motioned behind them.
“I can still hear it coming” he added as he re-adjusted the straps of his backpack.
“It’s slowed down because of the injury on its foot and we’re halfway down this alleyway. We can see it coming and still be able to get away. Let us rest or we’re going to collapse mid-run” Nathaniel said, refusing to get off the ground.
“Nat’s right. You watch that way and I’ll watch this way.” Stephanie said, talking to Charles as they took up watch.
Michael rubbed his eyes, the sweat and exhaustion blurring his vision. He looked over to his bag and got up off the ground. He started rummaging through its contents, training manuals, tools and clothing strewn aside as he pulls out a flintlock pistol, one that he caressed before drawing out of his bag and grabbing out the pack of gunpowder he had.
“Spent all this money on a working flintlock to play with before. Didn’t think I’d actually need it.” Michael thought as he slowly loaded the weapon.
First the gunpowder. Then the ball. Now the primer. Where’s the primer?
As he reached for the primer, Michael noticed a shadow move across the ground below him. As he looked up, the beast fell and slammed into Michael, pinning him in place.
The first to react was Charles, charging into the beast with a shoulder tackle with enough force to roll the beast off of his friend. Yet, the beast rolled with the blow, grabbing onto Charles with its other hand and using the momentum to throw Charles 10m away and rolling onto all fours in one smooth motion.
Nathaniel drew his sword and lightly struck it across the ground, grabbing the beast’s attention. It stared at him as he slowly advanced with clumsy movements, Nathaniel’s eyes glued to the unmoving figure of Charles behind the creature. The beast seemed to be waiting and even Nathaniel could tell that one more step would trigger the beast as he stopped his advance.
They stared at each other, waiting for the first move to be struck. While the beast watched, Nathaniel made the mistake of continuing to split his attention between his friend and the enemy in front of him and that was when it struck out. The claw raced up, slamming against the flat of the blade and throwing Nathaniel’s right arm to the side with a resounding upward strike.
Nathaniel saw the claw descend from the air in slow motion. He could trace the line it would take to rip into his chest as he slowly tried to raise his left hand to block it. Moments before the claw met flesh, he closed his eyes and he felt a giant impact from behind him.
Wait. Behind me?
“Nice tackle!” Michael shouted as he fired the flintlock at the beast. A loud squelch could be heard and the beast took a step back as Stephanie pulled Nathaniel off the ground.
“Help Michael, quick” Stephanie said as she ran over to pick up Charles.
Michael could barely see beyond the beast. To him, it looked as if the beast had doubled in size and taken up the entirety of the alleyway after he had shot the thing. He began backstepping and quickly changed grip on his flintlock, holding it from the barrel.
It crouched down low, allowing Michael to see his friends safe and sound on the other side of the beast. He gave a small smile and lowered his stance.
Just gotta hit it in the head as it charges me. No problem. Michael thought, preparing to strike.
Even though he was preparing for it, the beast shot out faster than he could react. It ran up to him, kept its distance and struck a glancing blow across his shoulder, leaving a rather sizeable wound, before running past him and taking the same stance. With his friends at his back, Michael ran.
Stephanie and Charles were already most of the way out of the alleyway. Nathaniel had stayed behind, sword drawn but looking ready to run as Michael passed him. Noticing the lack of footsteps following behind, Michael saw Nathaniel still there, keeping the beast at bay.
Round two. Just remembering your training and you’ll be good. Nathaniel repeated in his head.
Footwork’s fine. Stance is good. Blade angled right. Breathing controlled. Now watch that thing and stay focused.
Even as he ran through the mental checklist, Nathaniel’s panic was getting to him. Constantly having to re-adjust his footing, unconfident in each step and with a wavering blade, the beast a few meters away from him seemed to snicker. It began pacing closer, only to retreat and to get down low, ready to pounce only to uncurl and resume its pacing. It was toying with him, enjoying the reactions Nathaniel was giving it. Yet, it could hear the footsteps of the man behind its prey. Play time ended as abruptly as it started as it instead charged at Nathaniel directly.
The sword swung wide and the beast merely slowed down to avoid the strike, preparing the strength in its hind legs to jump towards its target. Nathaniel managed to raise the blade fast enough to help take the impact of the beast as it pushed him back, throwing him head over heels backwards.
The beast took a position above Nathaniel and looked prepared to strike before a voice rung out. “Gotcha” Michael said, aiming the flintlock at the creature which instinctively ducked away and behind a nearby pile of furniture. Not wasting a second, Nathaniel was already scrambling to his feet and had his sword readied once again.
Using Nathaniel to block the gun’s path, the beast set upon the two yet again. They were slowly backing away, closer to the exit of the alleyway. As they got closer, the temptation to look behind them grew too large and Michael took a quick peek, seeing Stephanie and Charles motioning for the two to get closer. The beast moved almost instantaneously, rushing along the walls and landing right in front of Michael, avoiding a fatal strike with a last minute pull from Nathaniel behind him.
“SHOOT IT” Nathaniel screamed.
“I WAS BLUFFING” Michael screamed back.
The beast sprung out yet again, but Michael was pulled even further back and tripped onto his backside as Nathaniel sidestepped the charge and managed to slice into the beast’s leg as it charged past. The momentum of the beast and the weak power behind the strike left the sword half-buried in the creature’s leg, twisting Nathaniel’s wrist as he gritted his teeth in pain. Not missing out on this chance, the two shared a grin before bolting out the alley as the beast howled behind them.
Nathaniel and Michael turned the corner and quickly backed up against the wall. Not far from them, Charles and Stephanie were standing slightly above, bear trap ready to drop in hand. The beast began to slowly limp out, peaking out the corner and howling in anger as it spotted Michael and Nathaniel a mere 5 meters away.
As it turned the corner, a loud metallic snap could be heard as the beast recoiled in pain as its other leg was caught in the bear trap. The creature fell to its knees and Charles jumped down, grabbing a dagger from his bag and burying it deep into the beast’s chest. It howled in anger, turning its torso to bite at Charles, attempting to use its hands to launch itself towards him. From behind, Stephanie dropped down and took the flintlock from Michael’s hands and whistled. The beast turned around sluggishly, ready to bite out but was met with a strike from the wooden handle of the flintlock. It’s attention grabbed, Charles then drew the sword from the beast’s leg and stabbed yet another weapon through the beast’s torso as it slowly stopped moving.
“Everyone good?” Charles asked, returning the sword to Nathaniel.
“I’m bleeding fountains from my shoulder. Yes, I’m just peachy” Michael said.
"I'll patch myself up, got a tincture in my bag" Michael muttered as he disappeared back into the alleyway.
“Screwed up my hand, but otherwise no problems” Nathaniel said as he showed the other two.
“Come on, let me see that” Stephanie said, pulling Nathaniel’s arm towards her to inspect it.
Even with the corpse remaining unmoving, the group dared not look at it. The slight twitches were ignored, the pained groans filtered out behind the focus of helping each other recover. Half an hour later, with their wounds bandaged up, they subconsciously walked down the alleyway, away from the now humanoid corpse.