--=-Chapter 17: Hooray! Oberon!--=-
I hurried back down to the first floor just in time to see the shadowed form slip around the corner of the building. I hopped the cement half-wall on the first floor to save time and hurried after it.
Running on my tip-toes was basically my default as a werewolf, so I moved pretty silently to my own senses. Still, I slowed down as I approached the corner of the building and hesitated. I really didn't want to poke my head out just to find a spider or grasshopper leaping at my head again.
Taking a deep breath, I whipped my head around the corner to get a brief look, pulling back before I could be seen—not that I saw much myself. Still, nothing jumped my way or cried out in alarm, and I was pretty sure I'd spotted the creature, just not well enough to identify it.
Slower this time, I poked my head around the corner, ready to pull back at a moment's notice.
Thankfully there were no jump scares. The creature was still in sight too. It was a decently-sized creature, whatever it was, easily a couple of feet at its shoulders. It was dragging something behind it, something heavy and wrapped in a tarp. From where I was, it was impossible to tell what.
My best bet was to sprint at it with my bat and try to hit it before it could get away. I still couldn't tell what it was, but it pretty definitely wasn't human or a normal animal, or at least I hadn't seen animals drag stuff on tarps before. Anything was possible, though.
It seemed distracted by its task and didn't pause to check its surroundings, so I decided I'd risk getting closer. I set down the nurse's bag, being as quiet as possible.
I crept closer, trying to move silently more than trying to move stealthily. My blue glow meant that I couldn't hide in shadows very well. I had to creep while being ready to spring into action the moment I was seen. As I got closer, I could make out more of the creature's form. It didn't look very much like any animal I knew. It walked just on two legs, and its hairless upper body was almost human-shaped, especially from the shoulders to the human-looking fingers.
My own hands were more paw than what this creature had.
Whatever it was, it had the tale-tell green glow that the other monsters had. Not that people didn't have a slight green aura. Actually, OG Nia had been bright green too. Part of the creature's skin was the maggoty white of the bugs, but other parts had black splotches. Its head wasn't human or really recognizable. It was rodent-like, with a pointed face and forward-facing eyes. Its head was small for its body, though, and its face was shorter, almost Chiwawa or Possum-like, except entirely hairless. It also didn't have a tail, from what I could see.
It was pulling a blue tarp behind it, but I wasn't sure why; it looked like it was loaded up with odds and ends from a construction site. There was scrap wood and brick, a few random tools, and random bits of trash like empty bags of cement.
More interestingly, I was pretty sure it was chittering to itself. It sounded like a child's angry mutter in the octave of a puppy's whine. The little Gremlin was gesturing with its free hand and seemed to be arguing with itself.
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I followed it along the side of the building, past a loading dock that I assume was used for medical supply trucks, and up past the Emergency entrance to the hospital. I was almost back to where I started. A pair of crows were still sitting on the ER entrance, and I gave them some room as I passed. They eyed me but stayed quiet.
The little Gremlin crossed the parking lot entrance and waddled to the bike path Jon had wanted to take out of town. That's when I saw the second Gremlin.
The second Gremlin looked much like the first. It was a patchy black and white, with a pair-shaped humanoid body and a not-quite rodent face. As I followed it closer, I saw that this new one had more prominent and pointed ears than the smaller, rounder ears of the Gremlin I'd been following. I knew they weren't really Gremlins, but I also knew the giant bugs weren't really demons. Sometimes things just need a name.
As the Gremlin I'd been following got close, I found a car to hide behind. After a quick loot check through the car windows, I waited to see how the creatures would interact. The first began to chatter at the new Gremlin. This Gremlin chittered back angrily and hurried over to grab some of the trash and carry it to what looked like a tiny one-room cottage in the works. It wouldn't be much more than a hut, and it wasn't pretty since it was made of rocks, sandbags, and other odds and ends, but it looked stable anyway. The area was littered with full bags of trash that had been torn into, their contents scattered here and there.
The shelter was only three or four feet wide and about as tall. Still, like the chattering, it was a sign of intelligence. And I got another one when the new Gremlin shook the remaining garbage free of the tarp and dragged it over to cover the ramshackle structure. It started gesturing and chittering at the first Gremlin, and together they managed to use the tarp as a roof. They were even smart enough to use other bricks to weigh it down against the wind.
I couldn't say what this said about their intelligence. They were smart enough to create a shelter using teamwork, communication, and tools. That couldn't be super common, except maybe among some birds.
I knew I was looking for reasons to not attack and kill them. I wasn't sure that was very smart of me in this new world. Then again, I didn't know what these things even were. I was lumping them in with the giant bugs because Alice's group had referred to the various strange creatures, including myself, as demons.
Gremlin or demon; these were labels without meaning for the time being. The only way I'd find out if these guys had the memory crystals I needed would be to kill them. I wasn't ready to be that cold, especially for an uncertainty. They were clearly intelligent, social, and kinda cute. Charging them with a baseball bat was more than I could bring myself to do.
Getting my hands on more memory crystals in this loop would be helpful, but I needed to start thinking longer term.
When we're young, going to bed is scary; it's dark and feels like it might be dark forever. As night after night ends anticlimactically, and as morning after morning returns the light, the dark becomes less and less scary. It becomes something that just is.
I wasn't there yet with the time loops. They were strange, and I had only the uncertain word of strangers and enemies that the day had looped consistently for months. Still, I needed to come to terms with this new reality if I wanted any chance of navigating it successfully. I knew where to find two memory crystals and just needed to wait until the next loop to get them. The risk was small with Tickles and Slender Hopper, and with Maebe and Nia out of the way, it could only get easier since I'd be able to take my time.
I turned to go. The Gremlins had slipped inside their new shelter. As I turned, my foot stepped on a random eggshell, causing me to look down. Now that I was paying attention, I could see a trail of garbage leading to one of the torn-open trash bags. I'd been unlucky enough to step in debris.
Immediately a head poked out of the little doorway, and black eyes peered around. When it saw me, its eyes widened in surprise. At first, I thought it was terrified as it ducked back inside its hut. But then both Gremlins came charging out of the little building shouting or grunting at the top of their voices, voices suddenly much too low for their stature, and I resigned myself to killing the little boogers. At least I'd find out if they had memory crystals.
"Oberon, hooray! Oberon!" My mouth dropped open. If I could speak, I would have been rendered speechless.
Their voices had been almost bird-like while chittering at each other, but now they were deep rumbles. I was too stunned to dodge or retreat before they hit me and latched on, making me stumble a few paces. They were too short to reach past my knee, so the tiny baritones tackled my shins, hugging and giggling and saying my name between cheers.
What the shit is going on?
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