Ninety Three | Restricted*

*Animal Violence

It had only been around ten minutes and under the roof, a large amount of dogs had gathered. Despite the crowd of snarling, infectious teeth below us, I was confidant we'd be just fine. Clearly Barron didn't think much of us if he thought a bunch of dogs would be able to catch us. My eyes drifted to the sky, the sun would set in only a few hours now. This was pretty much over, now it was just a matter of him keeping his word.

"Something isn't right with this," Lisa muttered, fluffing her braids.

I glanced over at her, "What do you mean?"

"He must had known we'd make some sort of plan," she then explained, "Even if we barricaded ourselves into a house, there'd be a low chance of him getting to us. Yet he was fine with those chances? It doesn't make sense, why suggest a game where he didn't have the upper hand? Unless, he knew something we didn't."

I grew silent at her words because I knew she was right. Even from our conversation, he kept suggesting the game held it's advantages for me. He had tricked me and I had foolishly fell for it. I had accepted the game without considering his plan.

"We're stuck here now then," I sighed annoyed at my own fail, "Even if his plan surfaces there's no where we can go but onto another roof. It's not like the dogs can get us anyways."

"What did he say to you when you began?" Lisa asked, "A man like that wouldn't be able to hold back from dropping some sort of hint. He'd want you to realize he was the real one with the advantage."

I racked my brain for our conversation, "I don't know. He said if his dogs dragged me to the entrance by night then he won but if I-we survived until night fell then he'd let us go."

Her lips dipped into a frown, "Anything else?"

If my pets catch them, they'll kill them on sight.

I shook my head, lying, "No."

"We should move onto another roof," Oliver hummed, "It's too noisy."

She smiled at him, "Lead the way."

We continued over the roof, jumping between the gaps until the original roof we had been on was a glimmer in the distance. The sun was terrible, sweat easily forming and clinging to my body. I felt like time was moving so slowly. There was nothing more I wanted than to finish this and save Sebastian. Just thinking about him made my heart hurt. I'm sure he had already given up, thinking we were either dead or not coming.

"Don't think that Mira," I found myself whispering.

I had to stay positive. So instead, I thought about how funny it would be when he met Owl. I was certainly shocked when I had met the large cat. I'm sure Sebastian would be so confused. A giggle slipped from my lips just thinking about the interaction when suddenly it hit me. My laugh instantly died down as I looked down onto the ground. There was no dogs. In fact, looking back at the original house I could tell the dogs were moving slower. No doubt the virus would silence them forever soon.

Soon, he'd have to send a new batch of turned dogs after us.

I gasped again, looking over at Owl.

But maybe it wasn't just dogs.

Barron wanted Owl as one of his pets.

Which meant he could control more than just dogs.

"Oliver," I said slowly, "You've known Barron's ability for a while. Has he ever used any animals other than dogs?"

Oliver's mask tilted as his eyes peered at me, "Many of his pets had attacked. Pets of many orgins. Dogs stay alive the longest."

That's right, because animals didn't survive the virus. They changed quickly, before the virus destroyed their bodies within hours sometimes. It had never been tested but what if different animals could live with the virus longer than others. That seemed to be the case at the zoo. Something allowed those ones survive longer.

"It won't be just dogs," I whispered softly.

Lisa hummed, "I think you're right about that."

Before I could even ask what she meant, Owl started letting out a low, rumbling noise. A noise of warning. My eyes lifted from the ground and down the road, were there was a park, the same one Barron had talked about. There, a large animalistic figure was hunched over.

"What the fuck is that?" I screeched in horror.

Oliver readjusted his mask to peer at the figure, "It looks like an infected bear."

"We need to go," I gasped, panic filling me, "It's getting closer!"

Lisa blinked in confusion, "Why? What the fuck is a bear going to do?"

My head whipped around to stare at her, "Lisa. A bear can climb."

As if on cue, the bear let out a roar, before charging down the road towards us. We moved again, desperately jumping from roof to roof until there was no more houses to jump onto. By now the bear began circling around the house we were on and I knew this would not be the only creature Barron would be sending.

"He was already in the neighbourhood," I whispered, "Planting infected animals around like fucking traps. We need to expect worse animals at every turn."

"If we don't die here," Lisa cried, pointing at the bear.

Sure enough, this large black bear began climbing like it wasn't infected with a life-draining virus. It stumbled onto the porch's railing before reaching it's massive paws towards the roof. Panic spiked through me like fire, and instantly, I positioned myself between the climbing beast and the rest of us.

"Over there!" Lisa suddenly said pointing across the road, "There's a ladder up that house. W-We can climb it then kick away the ladder. It can't climb four stories right?"

I glanced over to what she was talking about. Sure enough across the road was a tall, pointed house that looked like it had at least three floors. So I nodded, backing up our group onto the edge of the roof.

"You two go first, I'll hold it off," I said quickly.

Lisa gasped, "You can't be serious."

"We're going to need time to get Owl up the ladder, Once the bear makes it onto the roof, I'll jump down and follow you two. I won't fight it," I said quickly.

Oliver hummed, "If it attacks me, it'll die. Isn't that best? You two should go, I'll do it."

"I'll distract them," Sebastian had said, "You two run and don't look back."

"No," I replied sharply, "I'm doing this. You two need to go now."

Oliver paused for a moment before nodding. I turned away from them and at the bear who didn't give them any attention. It's haunting eyes stared at me as it crept closer and closer to climbing onto the roof. I breathed out slowly, my hand on the hilt of my sword. I had to stall the beast long enough to allow Lisa and Oliver to get onto that roof. These monsters weren't after them anyways.

Behind me, I could hear them making their way off the roof, honestly I had no idea how Owl would get off the roof, but I'm sure Oliver had a safe plan. Owl was his best friend after all. I didn't have much time to worry about them, because as soon as I heard silence behind me, the bear finally pulled itself onto the roof.

I looked behind me, they were only at the ladder. I needed to buy more time.

"Come on you bastard," I snarled, pulling my sword free of my hilt.

The bear let out another roar, flecks of blood and saliva flying from it's snot. Looking closer at the bear I noticed it's eyes still had a spark to them. Which meant the bear was only recently turned. It had no other wounds except a small bite on it's snout.

No doubt Barron was making his own pets.

"Come on then!" I yelled, not even directing my words at the bear now. No, these words were for Barron, my knuckles turning white as I clutched my sword, "I'll take every attack, I'll take every bite, every slash. I don't care how painful it is, I don't care how much blood I lose, I will save my friends! I will protect them all! I refuse to lose anyone else! I will save Sebastian!"

The bear paused for a moment, before it snarled, charging towards me.

Shhk!

I gasped, as both of us went flying off the roof.

Pain.

My back slammed into the ground, all the air leaving my lungs.

Wet.

My arm was wet.

I turned my head, the bear was hunched over a few feet away.

It was wet too.

Red.

Then, it began to move.

"Oh," I realized, "We're both hurt."

Except, the bear couldn't feel it's own pain, and I could feel mine.

Fuck.