Chapter 19

  It was the rematch that I absolutely never wanted to happen. I'm sure if my brain wasn't completely overwhelmed with the situation I'd make some joke about how this was even worse than if Mike Tyson got a rematch against Jake Paul... Yadda yadda... Add some sort of pop cultural thing nobody's heard of... You know, the usual. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was too busy living my own worst nightmare to be my usual annoying self.

  The first time I'd faced these things, the only thing I had been able to do was run in terror. My cowardice resulted in a century's worth of innocent curse victims getting completely wiped out while I practically pissed myself... Or maybe I actually pissed myself... It's really hard to remember details. Luckily, my brain found the event so traumatic that it blocked the worst parts from my memory. But even with big chunks of my first encounter with the Tindalos Hounds missing from my memory, the remaining pieces were still worse than anything else I had ever experienced. If the memories I still had access to were the tamest parts of my encounter, I couldn't even begin to imagine how horrifying the blocked out parts must be.

  In the first match (if you can call it that), it became very clear that Tindalos Hounds were natural hunters. They only existed to kill anything in their way, and they would use any strategy possible to accomplish their goal. They didn't care about killing innocent bystanders. They didn't care about cheap shots or low blows. They didn't care about exploiting weaknesses in the environment. It wasn't about looking pretty or being honorable, they just wanted to kill.

  The mangled pile of Dimensional Shambler we left behind in the tunnel could have very easily been caused by the foe in front of us. They don't eat their kill, so they leave a pile of gore in their wake. I didn't believe these specific Tindalos Hounds were responsible for the carnage back in the tunnel. If they were already in the tunnel, it wouldn't make sense that they wouldn't have used the narrow space to trap us and overwhelm us with numbers. Here in the settlement, the open space was the only possible chance of success against our seemingly insurmountable enemy. In this scenario, I could come up with a strategy using my very limited skills and my knowledge of Joan's abilities. So instead of focusing on solving the mystery of the mutilated corpse in the tunnel, my brainpower was centered on keeping Joan and I alive.

  "If you didn't use that Death March ability yet, do it now!" I shouted to Joan. It only dawned on me after I yelled that we were win a nearly silent situation, so my booming voice was beyond overkill. Kind of like how a person wearing noise canceling headphones yells due to the noise only they can hear, I yelled because of the screaming terror in my head that only I could hear.

  "Got it." She extended her hand, "Death March!"

  It's amazing what a life or death situation will do to our normally playful banter. Both Joan and I knew that we couldn't waste words until we had things in a much better situation. I was certain that Joan was coping with my tangents being temporarily muted much better than I was.

  I reviewed my abilities and weighed the situation:

  My abilities:

  1) Read the room

  2) Pathfinder

  3) Parkour

  4) Eldritch Whisperer

  Potential strategy:

  1) Utilize Read the Room to keep track of the enemy

  2) Eldritch Whisperer was effective in my last encounter in temporarily subduing them

  3) Use Eldritch Whisperer to taunt and draw focus of the Hounds

  4) Pair Pathfinder and Parkour to keep myself from being a chew toy

  5) STAY AWAY FROM INDOORS AND CORNERS

  Committing my strategy to memory, I activated Pathfinder to an area outside of the circle of Hounds. The yellow line drew the path in front of me, and my legs did the rest.

  "I'm going to draw them away. See if you can isolate them. Call out if you get overwhelmed."

  Leaping and rolling, I managed to dive in between two of the Hounds as they snapped in my direction. I spun to face the remaining hounds and could feel a tingling sensation as I addressed the eldritch canines.

  "What's wrong? You already let me get away once. Isn't your pride hurting from getting outmatched by a weakling like me?" I knew my Eldritch Whisperer ability could only convey emotions to less intelligent creatures, but I wasn't nearly a good enough actor to trick my emotions into provoking them without some cheesy taunts. Apparently my attempt had been effective, because I could see the red outlines of the Hounds turn in my direction.

  Instantly, I was reminded of the consequences of my actions. Now that I had their attention, I still had to run from them... And very very quickly.

  With Pathfinder I mapped out a path to the furthest rooftop within my field of vision. I let my Parkour skills do the heavy lifting after that. Leaping, vaulting, sliding, wall runs, rolls, I did everything in my arsenal to follow the line laid out before me while attempting to outpace the Hounds. Of course, what made my strategy even more complicated was the fact that I couldn't simply try to lose the Hounds. I needed to keep them distracted so Joan could do her end of things. Especially against a powerful enemy like the Tindalos Hounds, my offensive capabilities were essentially zero. With her Death March ability doubling all of her physical stats, and her Pen is Mightier ability causing her pen to be 50% more effective than other types of weapons, she was an absolute killing machine. But even with her increased stats, it was likely that she would barely be able to hold her own against a single Hound, let alone four.

  Wait... That's not right?

  As I maneuvered around obstacles along my yellow path, I glanced over my shoulder. I counted four Hounds pursuing me, all of them were roughly the same size.

  My heart sunk.

  Where was the Alpha Hound?

  Correcting course, I decided to set a new path, doubling back in order to try and find the most powerful of our current foes. I guessed that Joan was currently strong enough to face a single Hound one on one, but she would have no chance against the Alpha. Joan and I would need to come up with a strategy for the Alpha by itself after we eliminated all of the others. But that plan wouldn't work if I couldn't lure the Alpha along with the others.

  As I doubled back, I caught a quick glimpse of a red outline on a nearby rooftop. What was it doing up there? I shifted my path in order to keep the Alpha within the range of Read the Room, so I could get a better sense of its actions.

  It was just watching. The Alpha seemed to have no interest in joining the fray at the moment. Honestly, I couldn't tell if that was a relief or absolutely terrifying.

  "Joan, the Alpha's just watching from a rooftop. I can't get it to follow me. You'll have to just keep an eye out, and if it approaches, let me know immediately."

  Satisfied with my update, I returned to the original strategy. For the time being, I'd just have to leave the outlier to its own devices. Since it wasn't a current threat, we had much more immediate concerns to focus on.

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  After scaling a stack of wooden crates, I had a moment to survey the situation. This was the same place I'd used to hide during my initial infiltration into the settlement. Three of the Hounds were clawing at the boxes in an attempt to reach me, while in the distance I could see Joan facing off with the fourth. As long as the Alpha remained a spectator, it appeared that the strategy might work.

  I let Pathfinder create a new line, this time aiming for the rooftop I had initially intended to scale. Leaping from the boxes, I could feel on of the Hounds barely miss catching my ankle in its deadly jaws. The miasmic aura surrounding each Hound created an increased feeling of unease for anyone unfortunate enough to get within striking distance. The main body of the Hounds appeared to be concentrated miasma, and tendrils extended from the Hounds' bodies as if the miasma itself were trying to feed off of the positive emotions of anyone nearby.

  "First one down!" Joan's voice reached my ears as I attempted to wall jump between two buildings. My sudden excitement over her words nearly caused me to lose my footing and topple into the waiting jaws of my pursuers.

  "Are you ready for round two?" I tried to keep my voice steady as I gripped the edge of the roof and pulled myself up.

  "Do I really have an option? It's not like I can take a coffee break."

  "Joan, was that sarcasm on your voice? In this very dangerous fight for our lives?" I teased as I prepared to leap from my current roof to the roof of a nearby building. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was rubbing off on you."

  "Could you just send all of the Hounds directly to me? I've decided that I'd prefer death over the possibility of ending up like you." She teased as she positioned herself to pick off the next Hound as they passed by. At least, I think she was teasing me.

  "Aww come on Joan. Doesn't it just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that we're bonding?" Leaping from the second building, I hit the ground in a roll. I returned to my feet as I passed by Joan's location.

  "Could you do my a favor and not come to my funeral? I need my space." Behind me, I could hear her tackle one of the three hounds nipping at my heels. She's such an absolute badass, it almost made up for the emotional trauma her hurtful words inflicted on me every time she opened her mouth.

  "I know you're joking, but the needing space part is a little too deep of a cut." Distracted by out conversation, I nearly ran into a large cart that I assumed was used to haul supplies. At the last possible moment, I slid feet first under the body of the cart, feeling my nose brush against the bottom. As I reached the other side and returned to my feet, I could hear the sound of my pursuers smashing straight through the side of the cart. Even with the massive impact, the Hounds didn't lose a step on me.

  I once again adjusted my route in order to keep Joan within sight. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as she impaled the unfathomably powerful beast in its eye with her trusty pen. That single blow must have penetrated straight through to its brain, because her opponent collapsed motionless at her feet.

  "That's two. How are you holding up, Clay?" Joan bragged as I was forced to perform a wall run on a nearby building in order to execute a sharp enough turn to bring the pack back to her.

  "Just peachy. When this is over I think I'll enter that American Ninja Warrior show. That's still a thing, right?"

  "Oh, I'm sorry. I meant that as a rhetorical question. I was really hoping you didn't respond or think I actually cared." As I passed her with the last two Hound's she refused to let me have a moment of peace.

  "Seriously Joan, did I do something to offend you? That one was just plain mean." I couldn't think of another response since her brutality was bleeding from her battle with the Hounds to her verbal jabs.

  Joan didn't respond. Instead, I could tell she was focused on eliminating the second to last Hound.

  With only one Hound on my tail, I decided to run across the rooftops of a row of nearby houses in order to give myself a slight breather. With a few impressive moves, I managed to scale the two story home. The Hound followed from the ground as I leapt from one roof to the next. As my feet hit the roof of the second building, I heard a loud crack and felt my feet plummeting straight through the roof and into the building.

  My landing was far from graceful as I face-planted on the floor of the home's second story. Debris from the hole I created in the roof rained down on my prone body. Disabled inside a structure with countless possible corners for the Hound to use as access points was the last place I wanted to be. With the absolutely broken ability to travel between 90 degree corners, the power dynamic immediately shifted in favor of the Tindalos Hound that had been chasing me.

  Feeling my insides pull toward a corner to my left, I had no time to move out of the way of the beast that would soon lunge from that direction. It's jaws formed into existence, moving at an impossible speed toward my neck. With no time to think, I summoned my one possible hope into my hand and thrust it in the direction of my impending death.

  The feel of the Hound's jaws crushing my throat didn't come. Instead, as I cautiously opened my eyes, I was pleased to see my desperate Hail Mary had succeeded. Jammed in the beasts jaws, preventing it from shutting its mouth, was my trusty tonfa. I mean, it hadn't really helped me out much so far, but I was glad to know that I hadn't completely wasted my money on it.

  Now that I had a slight amount of time on my hands, I was able to climb to my feet and leap through the nearby window onto the street below. Of course, the Hound carrying my tonfa followed closely behind.

  The impact of the Hound hitting the ground caused the tonfa to become dislodged from its mouth, giving it full access to eviscerate me any way it desired. I was still rattled from the series of events that caused me to go from confidently running along rooftops to desperately leaping out of a window while a Hound used my only weapon as a chew toy. While I normally could have immediately plotted a new course to flee, my knees were shaking far too much to allow me to make any impressive movements.

  Its jaws opened as it once again lunged for my neck. I shut my eyes tight in response, and I could immediately feel the pain of its sharp teeth and the torrent of blood.

  Except... Only a little bit of the blood was mine. And the pain from the teeth was nowhere near what it should have been.

  "The correct response is, Thank you Joan." As I opened my eyes, I saw the blonde haired beauty standing atop the corpse of the beast that nearly ended my life. Her sunflower sundress was spattered with blood, but it did nothing to take away from the splendor of the goddess who stood before me.

  "You're my hero." After the words left my mouth, I realized how much I sounded like a little kid instead of a full grown man.

  "Well, that's embarrassing." Joan smirked as she wiped her bloody pen on my shirt. "Somehow we made it. I hate to admit it, but we make a pretty good t..."

  She was cut short as a massive beast swatted her away like an insect. Her body collided with the wall of the nearby house so hard that she crashed straight through. The entire structure buckled from the destruction. Whether she was alive or dead, her body was thoroughly buried under an entire house's worth of debris. And the beast that sent her flying...

  "Oh shit! The Alpha..." Joan and I had gotten so distracted by dealing with the rest of the Hounds, we had forgotten about the most dangerous one. The one that had chosen to sit back and watch instead of joining in. It had been waiting for the moment we left our guard down. Not only was this beast bigger and stronger than the others but it was exponentially more intelligent.

  The Hound of Tindalos bared its impressive fangs as it stared down its prey... Me. It stared down me. I was its prey.

  I had no way of knowing what condition Joan was currently in, but the best option would be to lure the Alpha away from her. If she somehow survived, the last thing I wanted was for it to be able to attack her while she was defenseless.

  I quickly charted a path to my left. Hopefully I could keep enough of a distance to allow myself to strategize. I was helpless against the regular Hounds, but now I somehow had to face down the final boss by myself? This game was WAY too unfair.

  My feet had only managed to travel a few feet before the massive paw swatted me. Immediately I was thrown down the street. My body skipped across the ground until it finally slid to a stop against one of the outer walls of the settlement.

  The epic showdown between the Alpha Tindalos Hound and I lasted less than two seconds. I was literally the worst.

  If I had to guess, I would say that I hade more broken bones than unbroken ones. Even though the Alpha had connected with the base of its paw instead of its claws, I was bleeding profusely. I could only imagine how much of my skin was ripped from my body as I skidded across the settlement's rough ground.

  Unlike the other Hounds, this one slowly made its way toward me. It knew I was defeated, and it didn't feel like rushing to finish the job off.

  What it really did, was give me time to think. It gave me time to think specifically about the massive pile of regrets I'd built up over the last couple of weeks.

  I had allowed myself to be betrayed by Stacy and Kyle. I should have been able to see the writing on the walls, but I had been too trusting. When the truth finally came out, it had been devastating. I regretted allowing myself to trust unconditionally.

  I had closed myself off from the world. Even though I was already a major introvert, things got so much worse after the break-up. I completely closed myself off from the world. If it hadn't been for the impulsive decision to use the non-refundable tickets to go on the cruise that I'd already paid for, I'd still be locked inside. I regretted succumbing to my social anxiety and letting it define who I was as a person.

  I had spent my entire time on the cruise hiding in my room. I only left to play table top games. Had I left the room earlier, I might have met Joan and Tara sooner. Maybe I would have known them before the world turned to absolute shit. Who knows if there were others I could have connected with, but I didn't even try. I regretted the friendships I never made because I refused to try.

  I had acted so cocky when I got into solving the investigation. My hubris resulted in hundreds of innocent lives being lost. I acted so tough, but when I was faced with reality, I let everyone down. I regretted my lack of strength and my immature actions.

  I had relied so heavily on Joan. Because I knew I was so weak, I kept putting more and more burden on her. I never really considered that she was going through the same traumatic events as me. I kept asking her to be strong, so I could be weak. I regretted taking advantage of Joan's strength and being a burden to my only ally.

  I had seen Tara was in immense pain. I had reached out to her. I had allowed her to have hope. I knew that I was in no position to give anyone hope. I was no hero. I was no savior. In the end, I was able to do nothing. No. I made things worse for her. I regretted not being able to save Tara... But that's okay. Because I wasn't supposed to save her.

  "One Hit Wonder!"

  A voice that I barely recognized echoed through the settlement and gripped my chest tightly. I didn't recognize it because I had never heard it carry so much strength and confidence.

  The massive Alpha Tindalos Hound had been hovering over me, ready to deliver the final blow. But in an instant, a small green flash connected with the side of its head. The beast flew into the nearby cave wall, causing a part of the cave wall to collapse on top of it.

  I wasn't supposed to save her.

  She was supposed to save me.

  "Sorry I'm late, Clay." Tara reached out her arm before collapsing onto the ground next to me. "I leave the rest up to you."