Chapter 4
"Alex, move!"
Dave's shout barely hit my ears before the stone in my hand slammed into the Howler's skull. I felt everything—bone crunching under the impact, the creature's weight crashing into me and its rancid breath melting my face.
"Get... off... me!" I choked, shoving my knee upward.
The thing didn't care. Its jaws snapped so close to my face I felt the wind brush against my throat.
"Alex, roll! Roll left!" Dave yelled.
"I'm trying!" I pushed harder, swinging the stone against its ribs. "Why is this thing so heavy?"
"It's sewn together, remember! Aim for the neck!"
"I am aiming for the neck!" I shot back
The creature made that awful, childlike cry as it tore away from me. I scrambled backward unable to stop my chest from heaving.
Dave appeared above it, gripping a huge stone.
"Stay down!" he snarled and smashed its skull until the thing stopped twitching.
"Don't stop! Alex, back up—back to me! They're never alone!"
"Yeah, I'm getting that!" I gasped, moving toward him.
Then three more Howlers launched over the wall like coordinated predators.
"Oh come on," I rasped. "Three? Seriously?"
"They're pack hunters!" Dave pressed his back to mine. "Keep your eyes up. Don't forget to aim for the neck."
"But they're circling us."
"I know." he replied
"They're talking."
"I know that too, Alex!"
The creatures clicked at each other, low and eerie.
"What are they saying?" I whispered.
"Probably 'let's eat the new guy.' Hold your ground." he shot back and the sarcasm was thicker than the air.
I flinched when one Howler tried to lunge at me.
"Don't flinch!" Dave barked.
"What do you mean by don't flinch? How am I not supposed to flinch?!"
"Oh come on, act like a man not some over grown baby!"
"Are you being serious right now?!"
But he wasn't wrong. They kept darting in and out, testing us.
"They're learning our range," I muttered.
"Yep. Congratulations, you're learning too."
Then the middle one came at me with full speed.
"Marcus, get down!"
"I am–!"
The creature bit down but not on me, on the stone and in retaliation, a violent tug ripped up my arm.
"Let go!" Dave shouted.
"No! I can..."
"You can't win a chewing contest with that thing! Let GO!"
My fingers slipped anyway. The Howler stumbled backward with the stone in its jaws.
"Screw it!" I threw myself forward, tackling it.
Dave groaned behind me.
"Why would you...Alex! What are you...?!"
"Can't you see I am improvising?" I yelled, pinning the creature. "Hold still!"
"I don't think it understands english!" he said as Its claws tore into my hoodie.
"Aagh, stop...moving!" I squeezed its throat harder.
"Alex hurry up!" Dave shouted. "I've got two on me!"
The Howler beneath me convulsed and went limp.
I rolled off, stomach burning.
"Dave? Where..."
He was kneeling on one creature, smashing its head, but the third had latched onto his calf.
"Dave! Your leg!"
He didn't scream, he just kept swinging. I grabbed a stone off the ground and ran.
"HEY!" I yelled at the Howler chewing him. "Pick on someone else!"
It slowly turned.
The crack of its spine under my blow was sickening. The creature tried to drag itself toward me, whimpering.
"Oh no you don't."
I hit it again and again and again like some psycho.
A hand grabbed my shoulder.
"That's enough," Dave breathed. "It's dead."
My arms trembled violently as I dropped the stone.
"Dave… your leg…"
He looked at the mess of torn denim and blood.
"Yeah. No big deal, it's just a scratch."
"Oh no. No, no, no, no."
"What is happening? Shouldn't you be rejoicing?"
"You are not supposed to get that. Now you have the virus and if we don't find the antidote soon, you would... We need to wrap it with something to stop the spread"
"We don't have much time?" he muttered. "Alex, count them."
"Count what?"
"The bodies."
I forced myself to look around.
"One, two… three… four."
"Yeah," Dave said. "And Howlers never send just four."
My stomach dropped.
"Dave… I saw dozens when they crested the hill."
"Exactly." Dave tried to stand but his leg buckled and he slammed back into the wall. "Fuck...Alex —they're regrouping. The first wave always tests the prey. Then they tell the main pack what they learned."
"What they learned?" I echoed. "What the hell did they learn?"
The horn sound echoed again, this time it got closer and louder.
Dave's face went pale.
"Oh no. They're coming."
I heard the clicking voices first followed by then the footsteps.
Then the grass whispered like something massive was crawling through it.
"No, no, no…" I whispered. "Dave—how many?"
"I don't know, I can't see a thing."
My breath hitched because the sky just got darker.
"We can't fight dozens. You can't even stand properly." I said looking around.
"Exactly, which is why you need to go," he said quietly.
"What?"
"Run."
"I'm not leaving you."
"You have to."
"No."
"Alex, I have died forty-seven times. You don't understand what that means for me. I don't stay dead. But you would."
"And your best chance right now is to run."
"Dave, if I leave, you get torn apart."
He exhaled hard.
"That's the point."
"No. Absolutely not." I grabbed another stone. "I'm not a crab."
"A What?"
"My dad used this stupid analogy—crabs in a bucket. How they pull each other down. I hated it. I hated the idea that people would rather watch someone drown than help."
"What the hell does that have to do with this?!"
"I'm not walking away." I stepped in front of him. "If we die, we die swinging together."
Dave stared at me like I was insane.
"You're… Alex, this is stupid."
"Probably, we don't know that yet."
"So you're choosing death?"
"No. I'm choosing not to leave you."
He swallowed hard. "You're a terrible strategist."
"I write code, Dave. Not escape plans."
More clicking and rustling followed as shapes appeared through the broken pillars.
Dave lifted his stone with a shaking grip.
"Alex… you don't have to do this."
"I do," I whispered.
He let out a breath that sounded strangely like relief.
"Okay. Then we make them work for it."
The Howlers entered the ruins, moving with eerie coordination. Dozens of recessed eyes locked onto us.
"Dave?"
"Yeah?"
"If we survive this—"
"I doubt that."
"I know but if we do—"
He huffed a breath. "Fine. What?"
"You owe me noodles."
Dave barked a short, humorless laugh.
"You're bargaining for noodles in your last moments?"
"Hey," I shrugged, "you owe me."
Just then a Howler stepped forward. Then another.
Dave leaned close.
"Alex… thank you for not running."
"You're welcome."
"And also, you're a fucking idiot."
"Alright, I deserve that."
The first Howler growled low, then the second echoed it. Before we knew what was going on, the clicking sounds amplified, merging into a chorus.
"Dave…" I whispered.
"I know."
"Dave—there's a lit of them."
"Don't you think I see that too?!"
A massive shape moved behind the smaller Howlers.
"Oh look, he's here again," Dave muttered.
"You mean the Alpha?"
"No, it's his son."
"Are you being serious right now?"
"No, what other creature would be this big if not the Alpha?!" "God, for someone who writes code, you are pretty dumb."
"Oh my god—"
"Focus man!"
The circle broke and hundreds of Howlers surged.
Dave lifted his stone.
"Alex, on three!"
"One!" I shouted.
"Two!"
The pack roared.
"Three!!"