My motley crew chased after me into the dark alley, and I could only hope there weren't more monsters coming from this direction. The alley was dark, and a series of dumpsters along one wall made it a narrow corridor with plenty of places for monsters to hide and pop out unexpectedly. Then again, it was the best of the bad options. Potentially, we could go up a fire escape, but at least some of the monsters would be able to follow us. We could easily end up trapped on a roof, surrounded and trapped, so I kept my eyes open and ran down the alley, keeping an eye on the remaining bar patrons as I did.
We'd started out as a group of eleven, including myself, and now we were down to Seven. Checking back over my shoulder, my group was slow. Most of them had been drinking, and Craig had been outright drunk, even if we'd done our best to sober him up with coffee and water. Craig was also the oldest left alive and the most out of shape, so I wasn't surprised to see him running at the back of the pack. I was a bit surprised that Dalia, the woman with the unexpected knife and darts skills, had stayed back, along with Satoshi, to offer encouragement and half drag Craig along. The man's face was red, and his breath huffed like an old train engine building up steam.
Even with a supporting arm from Satoshi, the pace was too much for the older man, and he stumbled, tripping over some alleyway trash and crashing to the pavement with a huff of breath.
"Shit," I swore as I turned back. Luke, Alejandra, and Trevor were far enough ahead that they hadn't noticed Craig's fall, but as I reversed course, they each looked over their shoulders, risking falling themselves. "Keep going!" I yelled in my child-like voice.
Dalia's eyes had widened with surprise when Craig fell, but neither she nor Satoshi hesitated to slow down to help.
The monsters were close, and Dalia threw a blade with impressive accuracy and hit a possum-like monster the size of the family dog right in one of its eyes. The creature shrieked and writhed into the fetal position, its paws scrabbling at its face, trying to dislodge the blade and making itself into a speed bump for some of the other monsters. But not all of them.
Satoshi had gotten Craig back to his feet but didn't see the incoming danger.
"Above!" I shouted, pointing at the utterly silent swooping owl that looked like it should have been too large to fly, its wings stretching from one side of the valley to the other.
Dalia and Satoshi looked too high, but Craig saw the bird flying for Dalia. "No!" He yelled, trying to knock the woman out of the way.
He was too slow.
The owl's talons took Dalia's head. Satoshi stumbled back in surprise as the owl tore free its prize and flew up out of the alley.
With an enraged scream, Craig threw his shovel at the owl, clipping its wing. The bird monster overcompensated, caught off guard by the attack, and ended up careening into the alley wall and crashing to the ground next to Trevor and Alejandra, who started stabbing at the creature.
Alejandra had attached her taser to the end of a broom handle as a makeshift weapon and was screaming as she pressed the self-defense tool against the downed bird's neck.
Trevor stabbed the creature with his own sharpened broom handle in a panic, his screams joining Alejandra's. I couldn't blame either, especially having just shouted a warning moments ago, but I had to hope that the noise wouldn't bring even more monsters down on us.
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"Go!" I shouted to them, pointing up the alley.
"Come on!" Luke echoed, waving his patrons to follow him as I ran back to help support Craig. Satoshi had recovered from his surprise and was helping Craig limp down the alley. He must have hurt himself when he stumbled.
"I've got him, go," I said, taking Craig up in my arms. He wasn't exactly light, but I was stronger than I looked, and I looked like a hulking, seven-foot-tall werewolf.
I could hear the sound of monsters close behind me as I carried the injured man in a hurried jog up the alley.
"We're too slow!" Luke called, risking a look back at us. Satoshi and I had gained some ground on the group by virtue of having the greatest motivation driving us on. "Oberon, any chance your friends are around? We could use the help."
I shook my head slightly, "Sorry, no. They don't like crowds; they went home."
"Leave me here," Craig said miserably. "Luke, give me your gun. I'll hold 'em off."
We kept running, ignoring Craig's request as we exited the alley and, by silent agreement, continued straight across the road.
"I don't think you'll slow them down much. and then we won't have the gun to help." Luke said as we entered the next alley.
"He's right, though. We need to change things up. Give me your gun. I'll put down Craig when we reach the end of the alley; you five go right, I'll keep going straight, and I'll draw as many with me as I can." I said.
"That's dumb. The group will move faster with you carrying Craig. I'll be the distraction. It's my gun." Luke replied, shouting breathlessly back over his shoulder.
If Luke was out of breath, Trevor was outright panting. "What about that shadow door of yours, Oberon? You said it leads out; why don't we just escape?"
The shadow door itself wasn't the escape door. Though if it was, I'd be even more hesitant to use it than I already was.
I'd suspected this was how their evacuation attempt would end from the beginning. I'd resigned myself to this kind of end. It was good for them to see it too, because, hopefully, it would mean they'd be more willing to listen to me in future loops.
In actuality, the shadow door just led to a dark storage alcove, like an extradimensional space. I could connect it to the Ether and my domain on the other side if I needed to. That would give them access to the escape door, but I wasn't going to. "The monsters could follow us in, and it takes a second to open. They'd be right behind us."
I wasn't willing to give them access to the escape door; I needed them, but that didn't mean I wanted them all to be ripped apart by monsters. I knew what that felt like, and I also knew that it was exactly the kind of trauma that could create more monsters. Both decency and practicality said it made the most sense for me to hold off the monsters long enough that everyone could crowd into the shadow alcove. At which point I'd close the shadow door and try to escape.
I'd probably fail. It was still the best option. I'd keep my memories, and anyone in my Shadow would too, at least for one loop. It could give me a huge leg up on tomorrow's loop.
I didn't want to die. "I can't risk showing you the exit," I half lied. I didn't know what would happen if a monster made it to the escape door, but it wasn't my main concern.
"I can open a pocket space, though. You'll be safe, but it'll be dark. I'll have to close it behind you, but you'll be safe even if I die. You'll have to be quick, though; we won't have much time."
"Sounds like we still need that distraction," Luke said, having pulled out his pistol.
"I can do it—" I started but was cut off by Luke.
"Just get them safe; I'll draw as many away as I can. We'll meet back up at the bar if we both survive." Luke said. "I'm going straight, cut right when you reach the road, and I'll start shooting when I've got clear sights." Then he picked up speed, pulling away from the group before I could offer more protests. He might be okay if he could keep up that pace— and if the owl didn't sneak up on him.
Luke went straight and crossed the road without so much as looking both ways, only turning to look back as he reached the next alleyway. Alejandra and Trevor were in the lead and cut right as they exited the alley. Satoshi was right behind them, and —Craig in my arms— I followed them around the corner.
As soon as I exited the alley, I heard the sound of gunshots ringing out from across the street, followed by several angry roars of pain coming from behind us. We ran to the end of the block and ducked behind a delivery van to hide while I raised my Shadow up into a doorway. Trevor and Satoshi stood with makeshift spears, ready to lash out at anything chasing us around the corner. Alejandra helped Craig, who I'd set down and leaned against the van.
"Go! Go!" I said the moment I felt my Shadow connect the dark space and practically shoved Craig and Alejandra in.
"Satoshi, give me your spear. Both of you go!" I said, hurriedly stepping between him and Trevor and taking his weapon.
In the distance, I could hear more gunfire and enraged shrieks. It was selfish, but I could only hope that Luke was drawing enough attention that I'd be able to make my escape. I really didn't want to be torn apart by monsters. Luke, at least, wouldn't remember it.