Crunch paused in the doorway to the shop, his nostrils flaring. [What is that smell?]

[Pure deliciousness, that’s what!] Leeli glanced up, half of a flapjack hanging from her tiny mouth. She nipped off a bit, letting the rest fall onto her plate. [Bubba gave them to us!]

[He did, did he?] Crunch turned to look at me, his eyes narrowed. In response, I nosed a plate in his direction.

[Go on, try them.]

Padding closer, he gave them a sniff. I waited. My own stomach was gurgling in protest, seeing all these other dogs eating my hard-won supplies, but I resisted the urge to dig in myself. Besides, I’d summoned all seven plates I had left. There were plenty.

Maybe.

Crunch nibbled a bit, then seemed to debate over something internally. While he did, his stomach let out a loud rumble. That seemed to decide the matter for him. He dug in, and my tail began to wag.

I selected a plate for myself and started eating. Next to me, Zapper’s eyes were bulging out of his head as he tried to swallow an entire stack in one bite. Finally he spat them back out, only to immediately dive on top of them and start the process all over again.

[One at a time, Zapper. Unless you want to choke to death,] Crunch admonished. Zapper gave him a hurt look, then slowed down his eating to a manageable speed.

Even so, it was only minutes before all the plates were empty. As I licked mine clean before it could disappear, Crunch sat back and studied me.

[Alright, out with it. Where did the food come from?]

Part of me suspected he already knew the answer, but I played along for his benefit as well as the others. [From my inventory. They were provided by the system.]

All of the dogs were watching me now. Even Zapper stopped nosing at his empty plate, seeming to sense that something important was happening. Crunch’s eyes bored into me, but I didn’t whine and tuck my tail under his withering assault. This was for the benefit of the pack.

[You just told me outside that we needed to make the best of the opportunity that sapience has provided us. Well, this is how you do it, Captain.] I glanced from one dog to the next. [Food is already growing scarcer. What happens when everything the humans left has rotted away or been eaten by monsters? Will we return to the forests to hunt like our ancestors?]

Leeli snorted at that. [Do I look like someone who could catch and eat a squirrel? Gross.]

[Exactly.] I turned to Crunch. [If we fight monsters, there’s more to be gained than just experience. I got all of this food from fighting one boss. One. With all of us working together, we could win enough to never go hungry again. Doesn’t that sound nice?]

[Seven plates ain’t exactly a bounty,] Crunch pointed out. [Even if it was, is it really worth risking injury or death over?]

[But now you know that injuries aren’t a problem, either. Even death isn’t. My collar—] I paused, then changed tactics. They weren’t quite ready to hear about that yet. [These flapjacks aren’t the only thing I got from the boss.]

Opening my inventory, I activated one of the safe zone generators.

Based on the description, I suspected I knew what was going to happen, yet I was still just as surprised as everyone else.

A golden glow pulsed about me, then slowly began to expand outward. Crunch’s eyes widened, and he visibly recoiled as the light streamed over him. Then it was past, and we all found ourselves staring at the change to our surroundings.

The interior of the taco shop remained as crumbling and dilapidated as before, though the walls had a shimmer to them that they hadn’t previously possessed. Set against one side were four dog beds, lined with a light, puffy material that looked soft to the touch. Next to the opposite wall stood an automatic feeder, with several trays beneath it already full of dried food. A large water dish completed the ensemble.

The space also felt drier, warmer, and less open to the elements than before, despite no visual changes. Outside, I could just see the edge of the generator’s golden dome where it intersected the street.

[What did you do?] Crunch asked. He sounded more curious than mad. A good sign. Clearly, healing and food had contributed immensely toward improving his mood.

[Another item I received from a boss fight,] I explained. [No monsters can reach us inside here. It lasts for a week, including food and water. We can take the time to recover, and you can plan our next move, Captain...]

I trailed off. A message had just appeared in my vision.

Warning: Maximum occupancy of this safe zone (5/4) has been exceeded. Protection is suspended until such time as occupancy is reduced.

I dismissed the message in time to see a glazed-over expression on every other dog’s face. It seemed we’d all received the same alert.

[Well, what’s your plan now, Wildling?] Crunch’s tongue lolled as leered at me. [Do we take turns out on patrol? Or perhaps you’d rather I exile one of my pack to protect the rest of us?]

[It only says the protection is suspended,] Leeli pointed out. [There are still beds, and water, and food. Unless a monster finds us, it doesn’t really matter—]

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[It’s alright,] I said. [I’m leaving.]

Everyone stared at me. At last, Leeli asked, [Leaving? As in...]

[Just for the night,] I amended. [There’s something else I want to do. I’ll return in the morning. Assuming I still have a place in this pack, Captain, I’ll look forward to hearing your decision on our next course of action.]

Crunch watched me, eyes calculating. At last, he nodded. [You’ve given me a lot to think about, even more than I had thought. We’ll talk more tomorrow.]

And that was that. I gave everyone a brief nod and slipped out the door. Once I was alone, I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. That had gone better than I’d hoped, if I was being honest. I truly hadn’t known whether or not Crunch would see all this as a challenge to his authority.

Fortunately, it seemed he could be reasonable after all.

As I padded down the road through the dark, my tail began to wag. I was glad that I’d given everyone a better chance at survival, both in the short and long-term, but even more so, I was glad to be by myself again.

Because now that my need for food was met, it was time to move onto the next item on my list. A good fight, and the experience that came with it.

And I knew exactly where to find both.

----------------------------------------

What I just said there, about wanting experience? That was a lie. I am a liar. A bad, bad dog.

Although it is true that the lack of experience over the previous three days was getting to me, that wasn’t the entire story. What really called me back to the Foodmaxx was... you guessed it. The food.

I couldn’t help it. After I activated the shelter, and saw that all it granted us was dry food? Dry food??? I’m a dog, not an astronaut.

So I made my way back to the place of our defeat earlier that morning, in the hopes that I might succeed where an entire pack had failed. After all, it was four monsters, plus a few potential more in the back. They were slow moving and susceptible to my stun wands. How hard could it be?

Don’t answer that.

The store appeared pitch-black from outside, but that was no impediment. No sooner had I crossed the threshold than the inside lit up as if bathed in daylight. My eyes scanned for the golems. First left, then right.

Then up.

Yep, there was one clinging to the roof. Soon as I glanced down again, a yellow dot appeared in my vision. Seemed that once I knew they were there, whatever protection the system granted them disappeared. Had it been like that with the mermanta pups? I couldn’t remember.

A quick scan of the roof further in didn’t reveal any more monsters, but I’m sure they’d make themselves known in time. That was fine though. One was more than enough for me at the moment.

At least until I figured out if I knew how to kill them or not.

See, something from that morning had been bothering me. Like when you have a burr stuck under your collar that your hind leg just can’t reach. I’d noticed a flash of glittering light, somewhere near the top of the golem. Maybe it had just been a bulb on the ceiling reflecting a bit of the sun, but I doubted it. Not at that angle.

Which is why I was back to investigate.

Dropping onto my haunches, I waited for the monster. It continued to hang from the ceiling, swinging slightly from side to side. Was it... asleep? Did a monster like that even need to sleep?

It was too high for me to jump at it, and I wouldn’t be able to do much to the monster even if I did. So, I took the only course of action left open to me. I shot it.

My stun beam hit the monster square and center. It’s slight rocking ceased, but it didn’t fall. I waited.

Finally, twenty-three seconds later, the golem gave a slight shake. It dropped to the floor with enough force to knock my paws out from under me if I hadn’t been prepared for it already. Slowly, it turned in my direction, squared its shoulders, and roared.

Well, just attract the whole dang neighborhood’s attention, why don’t you?

Before it finished roaring, I hit it with another stun. The golem froze, its rebar-and-cement-comprised head thrown back, arms raised in challenge. My timer started counting down.

I quickly circled the monster, keeping an eye out for any more approaching golems. None appeared. Getting behind, I studied its back, wasting precious time to plan my next move.

Unlike a living creature, the rubble golem’s back was... well, a mess of rubble. Steel scraps and cement chunks and other debris stuck out at odd angles, providing a natural spike-like defense—but also places for my paws to find purchase. It was just a matter of where best to ascend.

I leapt, feeling my fifteen Agility lifting me high enough that I found purchase on the monster’s lower segment. Several sharp pieces of metal cut into my paws, but I gritted my teeth and climbed higher. My seconds ticked by.

It had to be here somewhere... yes! There, near the top of the rubble golem. A small, glittering gray gem, no wider across than my paw. How I managed to see it from the ground, I had no idea.

My paws slipped on some loose rubble that tumbled from the golem’s back, and I wasted a few precious seconds adjusting my footing. Then I climbed the rest of the way, half-leaping, half-scrabbling my paws, until I loomed over the gem.

From here I could see it was bigger, but buried in the rubble golem’s... skin? Yeah, let’s call it skin, for lack of a better term. The area around it seemed looser than the rest of the monster, less protected.

A single Claw Slash tore through one side of the golem’s skin. No blood or other liquids oozed out. It was solid rubble all the way down.

I set my teeth into the gem. Tugged. It was still solidly attached. Maybe if I—

The golem gave a single shiver. That was all the warning I had before I found myself hurled from its back, slamming into the wall with enough force that I could feel my bones crack. I slid to the floor with a whimper of pain.

Slowly raising my head, I saw the golem turn and begin trudging in my direction. I lifted a paw, shot another stun at it, then opened my inventory. Five cores later, my ribs popped back into place and I shakily climbed to my paws.

Round two. This time I moved to the creature’s back and waited until the stun wore off. I hit it with shot number four, then leapt my way up to the top in a few brief seconds.

The gem still lay buried in the rubble. I had contemplated waiting for my Claw Slash to recharge before attempting this, but if every one of these golems took multiple Claw Slashes, I’d run out of stun charges long before I managed to finish. So I took it in my teeth again and pulled.

At first, nothing. I bit down hard and tugged again, and again, and again. Beneath me the golem began to stir, vibrations shaking through me. I heaved with all of my strength, and with a sound like a cork leaving a bottle, the gem tore from the monster’s back.

You have defeated: Rubble Golem (Advanced) — Level 8

300 XP and 1 Common Core awarded.

I barely had time to enjoy my victory before the monster crumbled to dust beneath. With a startled yip, I plummeted to the ground, bits of rusted metal clanging about me.

Once again, my ‘slightly higher than the average human’ Agility saved me from the worst of my fall, and I only felt a minor shock of pain when I hit the ground. Nothing the core I’d just won couldn’t fix, I was certain. Lifting my head, I let out a little howl of victory. Now all I had to do was find the next golem and repeat this process, and the next level would be mine!

Unfortunately, I didn’t find the next golem. It found me.

Before I could even turn around, something slammed into my side. This time when I hit the wall I felt the plaster and stone crack along with my ribs. I howled in pain, only to cut off with a yelp as I landed badly on the floor, legs splaying in all directions.

Even as I frantically tried to pull up my inventory, I saw a second golem lumbering forward. It towered over me as it raised fists over its head, and I knew that I’d never be able to heal, let alone avoid its next strike, in time.