Awkwardness settled over me after hugging her. Maron, happy, floated around me, throwing fervent glances my way. 

“Do you have any idea on how to get out of here?”, I asked trying to distract her.

“Why don't you call the wolves? They have a better sense of direction.”

“What wolves?”, I asked not sure what she was talking about.

“Don't you remember your own pets?” 

I actually forgot that I had them. Thanks to the StaViCon, you could summon your pets in any game you were playing in.  

“How do I call them?”

“By their name, baby.” She said in a patronizing way.

I searched deep in my memory for the names of the wolves I saved from my classmates.

“Hakubi, Madarao, Amidamaru, Hashimaru, Abudabi come!”

Little ball of lights appeared and flew together to create a bigger light that blinded me. When it disappeared,  five wolves stood in its stead. They were disorientated as they looked around and whined in fear.

“Sshh! I'm here!”

“Baby, they can't hear you.” Maron explained to me as they ignored me.

“Human form!”

The wolves were startled as I materialized in front of them. When they confirmed who I was, they jumped on me licking my face.

“Okay stop! You're happy to see me, I get it.” I laughed as I stroke their fur. I explained to them where we were and what I needed from them.

“Leave it to us!”, they yipped confident in their ability. 

I smiled happy and trusting in them. They were so cute, it was hard not to.  

“Guys! You lead the way and I'll follow. The thing is you won't see me. But don't worry, I will be right behind you.” I explained in a simple way. They weren't the sharpest tool in the box, to put it nicely.

“Why?” Abudabi asked me staring at me with big bright blue eyes.

“I'm weak in this form. In my other form, I'll be able to follow you easily.”

“But we can't protect you if we don't see you.”, Abudabi countered.

“You don't need to protect me. In my other form, I'm stronger.”

“Yeah, but we can't protect you.”, she blinked at me innocently like I was the one who needed to have my head examined.

We went back and forth for a few minutes until I gave up. They couldn't get in their heads that I didn't need to be protected and if they didn't see me, they refused to move. Dejected, I tried to get up. My own weight was killing me. After many tries, drenched in sweat, I stood upright supporting my weight on the wall.

As it turned out, I wasn't far from the exit. Even if to me, it lasted an eternity, we took only half an hour to come out on a platform. Seeing the name written on a signboard, we weren't in the same station as the one I came in. I dropped down on the ground panting heavily. I took a long time to catch my breath.

“Can you smell any people around here?”

Hakubi and Madarao moved away from us scenting the ground. Suddenly, they barked twice and rushed farther away. Not comprehending the reason, I turned into my true form and went in pursuit of my wayward pets.

“Be careful, pup!”, Abudabi cried as I disappeared from sight.   

In a dimly lit bathroom, I found my two wolves growling at something hiding in a stall. I approached carefully listening for anything that could clue me in on what was hiding. The others came in a few seconds behind me.

I didn't spare them a glance as I opened the stall's door. The toilet was broken. On the back wall, there was a 10 inches hole where a pair of red eyes were observing us. 

Hakubi growled menacingly at the rat that was hiding in the hole. I sighed as all the tension left my body.

I went back to human form.

“Hakubi, Madarao,  it's just a rat. Leave it alone.” I said as soon as I materialized. 

The rat seemed to take it for a signal as it launched at me. Before contact, Hakubi swatted it away with one of his paws. It surprised me so much that I reverted to my true form without conscious thoughts. 

Other rats came out of the hole. All of them were infected with the virus. I hacked at them with my sword but their numbers were too great. For any each one I killed, ten more would appear. It was endless. The wolves were battling them with their paws and their jaws.

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I wanted to tell them not to do this but the choice was out of my hands. It was either bite and claw at them taking the risk of being infected themselves or let the rats make a feast out of their bodies.

I helped them as best as I could. But I had to face the facts, we couldn't win. 

“Fire ball!Wind ball!” I cast different spells but it did nothing more than anger the remaining ones. 

I went through the door and changed back to my human form.

“Guys! We can't win. There's too many of them. We have to live. Come now!” I reverted to my true form again and supported my pets' retreat. 

I cast many spells until my mana ran out. Then, I went to hack the rats with my sword. When they were far enough that the rats couldn't pursue them, I took out one of my hand grenades, I pulled the pin out and threw it in the bathroom.

Being incorporeal, I stayed right where I was and appreciated the show as it exploded in my face. All the rats were blown away. I picked up the remaining ones and killed them one by one. With a spring in my step, I went to check on the wolves.

At their sight, I stopped in shock at what they were doing.

“Don't freaking eat that, you idiots!”, I roared as I saw them eat the infected rats.

I couldn't believe that they were that stupid. Fighting the rabid rats, they had a small chance not to be infected but eating them, there was a 99.99%  of chance that they caught the disease. 

I dropped down heavily on the ground. The five of them were looking at me guiltily trying to hide the evidence of their stupidity behind their body. 

“Come here!” I ordered impatiently.

I cast a healing spell on them. Their wounds healed up but the disease wasn't removed from their system. Healing spells had no effect on it. In the first stages of the game, people tried them to save this world's population but it didn't work.

Players couldn't catch the disease as it was a deadly poison to them. But pets were different. Before the rats, I didn't even know that animals could catch the virus. Because of the StaViCon pet system, the pets had no immunity against disease in the world they found themselves in. 

For example, if a cold could be caught by animals in the world, the visiting pet who was an animal could also catch it. It was one of the reason players thought carefully before bringing their pets to another game. They didn't want them to catch something and die uselessly.

Maron hugged me from behind. I didn't object to her cuddling. I was at a loss at what to do with the wolves. I saved them before but now I was the one who threatened their life. I had to kill them before they became zombies.

“You don't have to do that.”

“But it's my fault.”, I said dejected. The wolves whined pitifully as they licked my face. “I brought them here. If I didn't, they would have been fine.”

“It's not your fault. Rather than beating yourself up, why don't you try to find a way to save them.”

“There's no cure for this virus.”

“There is no cure here but what on other worlds?”

“Others already tried but it didn't work.”

“Do you think that they were the strongest at healing spells? Or in medicine? Or in alchemy?”

I thought about what she said. And it was true. None of the people who tried were the best in their field. NPCs still had those titles. If I found someone like that, he might be able to save the wolves. A new determination took root in my mind. I saw a ray of hope and I was going to take it with both hands.

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