Night 46: Burning Nightmares

--- Jon ---

As he tried to think of the best way to deal with the chimeras, he caught scent of something in the air. (Is that gasoline?)

He frowned. (We’re in the city’s storm drains not the sewers, why would I smell gasoline in here?)

Eventually he remembered something he’d read in the Creep Dossiers and decided to try something… unconventional as he crept closer to the nearest chimera and sniffed the air around it, and found the scent of gasoline stronger.

(I guess that’s the compound in their fur that lets them blend in with the darkness.) He realized before remembering something else just as important. (The compound that makes them highly flammable to light.)

He looked at all of the sleeping chimeras and the chamber they resided in as a plan began to form in his head.

Shifting his backpack off of his shoulder, he began to shift through it as he pulled out some of his trip wire, a few trip arrows, and a couple of molotovs. (Going to burn through a fair chunk of my supplies doing this, but I should be able to make this work.)

(Real trick is going to be not waking anyone up until I’m done.) He figured, his eyes drifting between the numerous sleeping shadows.

Taking the molotovs he began pouring their contents on his arrows, specifically making sure that the wire connecting each set of trick arrows was sufficiently damp, or rather as damp as he could get the waterproof wire.

Once that was done he moved onto the next step of his plan as he took one of the arrows and his knife and began chipping into the stone walls of the storm drain in the hopes of inserting the arrow with just enough leverage to hold its intended weight. All without waking the nearby chimeras as he ever so slowly cut away at the stone.

(Which just means I have to get its twin arrow into the opposite wall.) He told himself looking at the other chamber entrance, the one past at least a dozen sleeping monsters that could tear him apart in seconds if they got a hold of him. (Fun…) (It really is.)

He shook his head before steeling himself and quietly shifting around the first chimera, and then the second, the third, and so on as a part of him wished he was quiet enough to just put them all down in their sleep without waking the rest up. (But with their heightened senses there’s no way I can pull that off without some kind of… magical… sound dampener…)

Eventually he managed to make it across the room and let out a sigh of relief, before returning to his task at hand and again chipping one of his arrows into the wall as quickly and quietly as he could.

With the two arrows set he grabbed the wire between them and it gave it a weight test before nodding to himself and pulling out a few more molotovs as well as several lines of wire.

Tying the lines around the molotov bottles and the trip wire, he rigged it so that each of the molotovs were hanging from the wire before looking back at the chamber. (Now I’ve just got to spread these out down the wire.)

Just as quietly as before he started through the chamber, this time making extra care to make sure none of the molotov bottles would clink together as he slowly slid each one into place, until the sound of claws on stone echoed through the chamber.

His eyes snapped to one of the other chamber entrances before darting to another and another as he tried to determine where the sound was coming from to no avail with the sound echoing from all around.

When his gaze passed over Pix near one of the still sleeping Chimeras a terrible idea began to form in his head.

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“Pix.” He hissed as quietly as possible as he backed away from the wire. “Kill the lights and make me look like one of the sleeping beasts.”

The little fairy gave him a concerned look before steeling herself with a determined nod as he sat between a pair of slumbering chimeras and made himself as small as possible.

As he’d instructed, the faint glow Pix had been giving the world around him died out, leaving him in an inky blackness as he trusted Pix to keep him hidden.

The sound of scraping stone grew ever closer, until eventually he was able to pinpoint which entrance it was coming from. And while it was too dark to make anything out, he was able to hear as the sound shifted from one of the tunnels to the floor of the chamber.

(I should’ve run when I had the chance.) He panicked as he realized just how close the chimera had to be from him.

(No. Could’ve run into it. Been trapped on both sides.) The beast in his head growled shutting down that line of thought, as he was reminded of a dozen different times he’d been trapped in the dark with something trying to kill him but no way to see it. (Been here before.)

Closing his eyes he nodded to himself and inhaled as slowly as he could before holding his breath, knowing that focusing on keeping it in would force him to focus on something other than his fear. Forced himself to ignore the world around him and the fact that he was surrounded on all sides by monsters that would like nothing more than to- (No thoughts.)

Slowly he exhaled before repeating the process in a semi-meditative trance as he simply waited for the newest Chimera to fall into a deep enough sleep for him to continue his work. Making sure not to drift off to sleep by forcing his various limbs and fingers to stretch at just enough of an angle to fill his entire body with a slight aching burn.

Eventually he reached some internal counter, where the beast in his head was no longer tense, and he took it as a sign that things were as safe as they were going to get.

He reached out through his bond with Pix and sent a slight ping through it, not willing to risk making any sound until he could actually see what he was working with.

Pix sent him back a ping of relief before returning her glow to the world around him, giving him something resembling visibility after so long in the dark.

He waited a few more moments just to be sure that it was safe before standing up and looking around the chamber in the hopes of spotting the newest chimera, but unfortunately found himself unable to tell it apart from the rest.

(Not important.) He told himself before turning his attention back to the molotovs. (I need to get this done now.)

---

Stepping back from his work with one last molotov in one hand and a lighter in the other, he briefly considered the consequences of setting off the network of arrows, wires, and bottles he’d set up in such a small space filled with whatever compound was filling the air with the scent of gasoline.

He then considered the consequences of if all of these monsters were to roam the streets on Halloween night when children were walking those same streets.

The molotov hit the network of wires in a burst of flames and broken glass, igniting them in flames that quickly spread to the dozens of Molotovs linked to it.

As soon as the first molotov hit the wall the Wolf Chimeras began to wake up, and by the time the second exploded on its own the earliest waker of the chimeras was already standing up.

This did not save it from the third molotov detonating over it showering it in burning liquids that quickly spread across its fur as the flammable chemicals that gave it its unparalleled stealth became the greatest threat to its health. A fate that was slowly shared by every other chimera in the chamber as one by one they all caught flame between the exploding bottles of gas and flame, their agonized screaming echoing throughout the chamber and tunnels of the underground as they were trapped one and all in a hell they could not escape.

A hell they were too preoccupied with to spot the one who had unleashed this hell upon them darting down a tunnel to escape the flames and the toxic fumes their burning corpses were unleashing.

---

Returning to his apartment, reeking of smoke and gasoline, he found that it was probably in his better interest to enter his house via the fire escape rather than risking any of his neighbors seeing him in such a state.

Tossing his backpack to the side he briefly considered just passing out on his bed, before dismissing the idea in case his Ma came home to check on him. Something that was more than likely if he ended up skipping school to make up for his lack of sleep.

“Yeah, bath then bed.” He told Pix, as he stopped the little fairy from just passing out on his pillow. “We both probably reek of smoke and whatever else killing those Creeps kicked up.”

Pix gave him a look before taking her shirt off as she fluttered off to the bathroom.

He was about to follow her after grabbing his clothes but ended up pausing to pull out the dossier Sanctuary had given him.

Opening it to the wolf chimera, he reached onto his desk and grabbed a pen before crossing the photo out and flipping to the pages on the flying chimera and the mantis chimera.

(One nest down, and at least two more to go.)