CLACK! The feeling of my throat getting crushed never approached, instead an itch of hardened skin surrounded the sides of my neck–giving me a chance to escape the beast's clamping jaws. Trying to lift the monster off–I used every possible idea I could think of and yet I was unable to move the tanky creature; with time ticking away–I could feel the strength of the ‘protective barrier’ fade as I felt the tips of the beasts’ fangs inch closer and closer. Now feeling the sensation of adrenaline and frustration–the urge to pummel the beast to dust flashed across my mind; tightening my fists I started punching at its sides. Pow!-Pow!-Pow!–POW!-POW!–POW! With each strike I hit harder and harder until the knuckles of my fists went white–but I didn’t care; punching the sides of the beast–my desperation to kill the monster only grew more and more. “URGH!” I loudly grunted; coughing a little–the beast loosened its grip for a moment. Taking this opportunity I clenched the limit of my fist–feeling the shocking pain and nerves of my ligaments within my arm crying–and yet I clenched on. CRAcK! A permanent sound of bone crackled around the empty room; not a moment after–the whimpering and whining of the animal was heard. Finally backing down with its tail between its legs–the beast clung onto the corner of the room and slumped down with heavy breathing. Trying its best to put up its guard, the animal can only hold its head as high as its tongue–which has laid on the side of its lips. Breathing heavily as well–I only sat in the area where not just moments ago I wanted to kill the thing. I stared at the beast, it too–looked back with the same subtle anger and decision. The silence only furthered the tension before the shuffling of feet and sounds of scuddled shoes broke me away from the cycle. “Hey Linden! You alright!?” the familiar voice of my comrade, Dax–yelled for my position, “Yeah..I’m–alright..” I soundly spoke but without looking at the opened hole where the wall collapsed–my attention only stared at the beast before me. “Ah–Linden there you are, come on lets-” snarling and showing its teeth, the beast hummed a low growl, “Oh–what..!? W-What’s it doing..?” I stilled for a moment before I spoke, “I..think I injured its side and one of its ribs punctured a lung.” Dax looked skeptically. “You..broke one of its ribs without a weapon?” I turned my head and looked at dax with an unreadable expression, I puffed a sigh; “Yeah..I just punched its side over and over again” Dax took in a deep breath before huffing it all out, clicking his tongue he said, “Well..I guess it's fine–as long as you’re alright then–we could talk about it later..” he looked behind him for a second before exclaiming, “Now come on–we found the room where all of our stuff was taken, let's get it and go” I looked behind him and then decided to say, “I’ll stay and watch the animal–just..get my gear when you’re all ready to leave”. He nodded his head but I didn’t pay any attention; almost feeling disconnected, my attention was all on the beast who was still breathing heavily from its pelting mouth and drizzling nose. With each breath the beast took–spurts of wheezes clutched its throat as if to pronounce its incoming death. Its boiling brown eyes stared into my own. I only sat–looking, unthinking, observing. Minutes passed like this; minutes as in almost forty-five minutes. My counting of time was skewed–but for something to hold onto–I didn’t care how accurate it was; I just needed an estimate. “Linden I heard what Dax said, are you alright?” another familiar voice of my other comrade shouted outside of the room, “Yeah, I’m alright–just some scratches and probably some bruising”. With her footsteps arriving at the entrance of the opening–her figure stands clear, “Well, it’s always better to check on those injuries–better safe than sorry”. I nodded with empty acknowledgement; looking at the beast–she soon looked at me staring straight ahead, “Say–is it just me or are you feeling..anything different?” I pose my head in her direction. With an eyebrow raised I narrowed the other, “What I mean is…” she briefly paused; “You…seem different after the..fall…” With her words ringing into the back of my ears I looked with faint curiosity, I knew what she said wasn’t right but what she said wasn’t wrong either. Something was different about me–though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it; putting a hand to my chin–I stared at the beast, “Well..I seem to have all the memories I can remember–and I don’t particularly feel any different senses of pleasure or pain..nor do I feel like I have a different motive..” Looking at Alaine with a decent answer she looked back with a speck of doubt. “Yeah..I guess so..hey–look, about the fall and the..people..” she was about to say something but stopped; I only skimmed away–not with emotion but with duty; “Now..that I think about it..where are all of those people?” Alaine only stood, “Ah…about that..when we escaped our cell–we heard voices shouting something about a monster–or a ‘tagion’ that went wild or–something..” I only sat and listened. “To be honest I don’t know what really happened–I doubt that one of us even understood what they were saying; but I can’t exactly complain since they left some of their stuff and extra gear behind..” With that–Alaine’s info about our current predicament has relieved me of a small burden yet her expression tells me she’s holding something back, “Hm..I guess it must have frightened them that badly..” Smirking a slight smile Alaine said, “Ah..yeah…” she chuckled to herself a little. “Since you seem to be alright for now..I’ll head back towards the equipment room to help find your stuff so–if you need anything just try calling” I nodded with agreement and soon–I sat alone, staring at the creature before me.
As the day grew closer to darkness–I put on what was left of my gear, mainly the sanded vest, scouting gloves, the blue hair tie–a new navy shirt along with the orange scarf–that always finds a reason to judge me. With everything ready–I was about to leave the room before I saw the beast still huddled in the corner of the room. I stood with indecision; “Linden you coming or what? It's going to turn to night soon!” shouted Dax; I briefly paused, “Yeah..about that–what’re we going to do with the..” poking his head through the wall Dax said, “Hm? Oh..I guess we..could..” but before he got to say something; Alaine cried, “Wait! Wait! Wait! Why don’t we take it with us?” We both looked at her in confusion. “Uhm, Alaine? Do you know how much we’re sitting ducks if we tried carrying that thing? Plus its got teeth and claws–I doubt it would want to come with us easily” she still stood argumentatively, “Dax–think about it; we haven’t eaten an actual meal consisting of calories for days–this will be the only source of food we might even get for the next couple of weeks!” Her enthusiasm was as bold as the sparkle within her eyes; it was most likely the prospect of finally eating meat after six days of pure maple bars. Dax stood still unwilling to budge; it was then a particular woman came into the fray; “U-Uhm..e-excuse me..” we all turned and looked at her. “Ah, you’re the woman who cried wolf right?” Dax calmly exclaimed, she nodded her head presumptively. “Y-Yes, um..” she stuttered and looked at the floor, “I want to thank you all again for saving us from the-” sitting in the corner–the beast growled at the woman. “A-Ah!” with a slight yelp her body flinched into panic. “Woah-woah, hey–don’t worry; my friend already injured it–so there’s no need to panic” his words tried bringing the woman small comfort. “Ah..a-alright..” with a brief sigh she clung her hand to her chest; “Anyway..what did you want to tell us?” in a more gentle voice Dax tried to reassure the woman by giving information, “Ah..well, there’s a town not far from here we can head to; should be about north or so..” crossing his arms–Dax said, “A town? On the dunes?”. The woman shook her head; “Not..exactly–the town; Black Ridge–is in the middle of a crater” each of us turned with a curious face–we all eyed one another before looking back at the woman. With each of us in our own thoughts, Dax soon exposed his own; “Okay, how about this–since we have our gear back along with an extra set of firearms; you’ll guide us to the location of the town and we’ll protect the six of you along the way”. The girls’ face relaxed–nodding her head she said, “O-Okay, I’ll go and let the others know” walking out of the room–the sound of her footsteps faded as the silence filled the room. We sat around for sometime before Alaine looked at Dax, still with the same determination as before. Sighing with a heavy disagreement–Dax looked to me; Alaine as well, “So..what do you think?” I stood in the middle and weighed our options. Eventually I came to the conclusion that, “We should take the animal” Alaine grew elated; “And how?” answered Dax. I simply replied, “We’ll just tie its feet and snout; And if that doesn't work?” I thought to myself for a moment. “We’ll just have to knock it unconscious”, Dax still looked undeterred; “Yeah..fine alright–two against one is two against one..but if either one of you gets injured in the process–it won’t fall on me.” With that Alaine went to grab some extra cloth meanwhile Dax and I got busy distracting the beast to get a hold of it. “Alright genius, how the hell do we knock it out?” I looked at my hand–still faintly throbbing in pain; “Just distract it while I approach”. Making a face–Dax looked at the proposition but looked forward with the plan; putting his arms up he started shouting from his chest, “Hey! Hey! Don’t be looking over there, got it you mutt?”. With me approaching closer and closer–the beast finally took notice of my presence; although before it got to even have a proper reaction–I curled my arms up above my head before bringing it down–striking the beast heavily with a loud, Thunk!
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