Warhound was isolated in darkness, relying solely on his sense of smell to track down Tom.
There were countless scent's there, some of them organic, while others metallic. It was gaseous, fumes of unknown origins were whiffed up as he tried to stay on Tom's trail.
"You know" Warhound started talking as Tom's scent drew closer, "Little Timothy wasn't able to see how he died"
"And just like him, you won't too"
He was sure that somewhere nearby, a child was hiding himself. Desperately trying not to make a sound.
Then, a light flicked on. A small fire from a match lit itself up, revealing Tom.
"I can see however, unlike little Timothy"
The surprise caught Warhound off guard. He stood still as Tom slowly walked around him.
What the hell is he playing at?
"You think lighting a match that you saved up's gonna help you now?" Warhound asked him.
He was curious about his plan, why lead him all the way here?
It doesn't matter, he's dead meat
Tom kept his smile up, he went and revealed a rope that hung from the ceiling. "This rope is the only thing that could save someone now" He told him, "And only I can fit in it"
Warhound let out a laugh, "You think you can climb fast enough before I catch you?"
Tom nodded his head, agitating him.
"Ok you know what?" Warhound asked him, "Games over"
Tom backed off as Warhound lunged at him. He tugged the rope as hard as he could as his claws came closer and closer to his body.
Ssssst!
Tom's body flailed around wildly as the rope rapidly pulled him up.
He vanished into the small hole, leaving Warhound alone.
"Damn it!" He let out his frustrations as all that's left of Tom was the match he lit.
As it fell down, Warhound remembered something.
When he was running here, he smelt all types of things. One of them became stronger as he followed Tom however.
The scent of methane.
As soon as the match reached the ground, the invisible gas lit up.
Warhound could barely react as the darkness around him suddenly lit ablaze, erupting explosions across the abandoned section.
Meanwhile, Tom held for dear life as his body flung around the narrow hole.
He could feel his body ache all around, every sharp edge from the exposed edges could be felt as it cut his body.
Fwump!
Tom braced himself as he was shot out of the hole, crashing himself on the ground.
He quickly got up and out of the way, watching as flames bursted out of the hole.
Tom was at a small cliff located midway through the staircase.
"Looks like you got beaten up more than I was" Mark joked to Tom.
He sighed, "Did you really have to throw that many bags?"
Tom looked at what Mark threw. They dropped sacks full of rocks as a way to quickly pull him away from the explosion.
Mark laughed, "Had to get you back for beating me up"
He wanted to argue with him, but he kept himself silent. Mark was usually a quiet person. He rarely smiled, even rarer for him to laugh.
I'll let him have it
"I assume we're here just in time?" Jim said while sprinting towards them.
Behind him was Jen, who looked tired. "I wasn't quite sure where Parquatz was, so I made sure to trap every place he frequented"
Mark's face twitched, "You weren't sure?"
He was clearly a bit angered, and he wasn't the only one.
"You're telling me that I'm out here risking my life to stop Warhound while you set some mouse traps around the place?" Tom walked up towards her.
Jen, clearly sensing his anger, backed off.
Jim stopped him, "Parquatz was always a hard target to pin down"
"He's rarely seen, being able to go wherever he wants most of the time" He tried fighting for her case.
"So we just set some traps and hope he falls for them?" Tom spoke back at him,
Mark stepped in with him, "It wasn't easy for Tom to get Warhound like this, I expected that you would do the same amount of effort"
Mark tried to control his anger, but he was clearly feeling the same Tom did.
The area began shaking violently, the aftereffects of the explosion started to happen.
They could see the rocks start to fall down from the ceiling, some of them big enough to crack open someone's skull.
A loud howl could be heard from below, with screams of children following slowly after.
"Act now, argue later" Jim cut the conversation short, gesturing for everyone to run along with him.