by Max Jager
Zanath grabbed onto Estellese's arms, but realized that the other werewolf was still clinging onto Kaden's leg. "I'm sorry!" He said quickly, before he swung himself at the other werewolf and slammed his heel down into the werewolf's elbow, causing the werewolf to howl out in pain as it's elbow was broken, and forcing the beast to let go with that arm. But the swinging also pulled Estellese's arms and made her scream in pain again. Zanath then cringed in pain as he pulled himself up her arm and grabbed onto the branch they were sitting on, then let her go and pulled himself onto the branch. He only just barely pulled his legs up in time to avoid being grabbed by another werewolf who replaced the one he knocked down
Meanwhile, once Zanath knocked one werewolf off Kaden and knocked one of the other werewolf's arms away, Mendelen took that moment to pull Kaden up. He yanked Kaden's arms as hard as he could. The werewolf was still clutching his leg with one of its claws, and those claws tore into Kaden's leg as Mendelen pulled, but with it only having one hand grasping Kaden, Kaden was pulled out of the werewolf's grip and up onto the branch with Mendelen.
Everyone was finally up in the tree, just out of the werewolves' reach. But it wasn't over, the werewolves couldn't jump as high as the humans could, but they instead moved to the base of the tree and dug their claws into the bark, then began climbing up.
"No... They can climb trees? You're kidding me..." Mendelen panted out, then turned to look back at his three wounded friends. None of them were in any condition to fight.
"How the hell do they expect anyone to survive in this game?" Estellese nearly shouted.
"We need to climb higher, it's the only place we can go." Mendelen stated.
"Are you crazy?" Kaden groaned. "I can't move my legs, they are torn up too much." He stated, his voice was weak and laced with pain. His legs were in very bad shape and he was losing a lot of blood. "Blood loss is setting in, I am lightheaded and my vision is slowly going black."
"We have no choice, up is the only way we can go. Use your arms if you can't move your legs." Mendelen stated before he grabbed Kaden and lifted him up near a higher branch.
Kaden whimpered in pain but caught onto the plan quickly and grabbed onto the branch, then pulled himself up. Thankfully the werewolves could not climb nearly as fast as they could run.
"Estell, grab onto my back, I'll carry you up." Mendelen instructed, being the only one who wasn't wounded he had to help everyone else get up. There was no way Estellese could continue climbing fast enough with her arms torn up like this.
"You sure?" Estellese questioned, but when he nodded and crouched down she got onto his back and he stood back up, giving her a piggyback ride. "Zanath, come up right after me." Mendelen stated before he started climbing up the tree as fast as he could with Estellese on his back. He was struggling to climb with her added weight, but thankfully he was strong enough to climb relatively fast. And Zanath was right behind him, struggling to move with his wounds but pushing through the pain and climbing as fast as he could.
Mendelen and Zanath climbed right past the branch Kaden was on, going up the tree without him. "I will be back for you Kaden. Estell, keep an eye on him." Mendelen ordered.
"Got it." Estellese replied. She looked down at Kaden and the werewolves that were closing in. She watched as they climbed higher and higher, but the werewolves were slowly closing in on Kaden. Kaden grabbed his club and was trying to swat them down, but the blood loss was making him weak, he couldn't put enough force into his swings to knock them down. Estellese bit her lip, then acted as fast as she could. She pulled her duffel bag of food off her back, using her legs to hold onto Mendelen, then threw the duffel bag down at the werewolves as hard as her wounded arms would allow. Her bag was full of food, mostly cans, and that made the bag heavy. As it struck the first wolf in the head it hit hard enough to knock the werewolf off the tree, which in turn made the werewolf fall and knock all the werewolves underneath itself off the tree too. But all the werewolves just got right back on the tree and started climbing back up.
Mendelen finally reached the highest branches that could support their weight. Mendelen quickly put Estellese down on a branch and immediately started climbing back down as fast as he could. He was about halfway back down when he realized that the werewolves were getting a little too close to Kaden again, they could almost reach him. He grit his teeth, he didn't want to throw away even more of their food, but he had no choice. He pulled his bag of food off his shoulders and hurled it down at the top werewolf. But as the bag fell down towards the werewolf the beast let go of the tree with one hand and swatted the bag away, it was not going to fall for the same trick twice.
The werewolf that was the highest up on the tree grabbed onto the branch that Kaden was sitting on, Kaden was repeatedly hitting it in the head and hands with his spiked club but his body was too weak from blood loss. The werewolf was just completely ignoring his feeble attempts to knock it down, it was hanging from the branch and was slowly starting to pull itself up.
Mendelen saw his bag miss, and saw how close the werewolf was. There was no way he could climb down fast enough to get there in time, he was too far up the tree. He cussed lightly under his breath, then in a reckless attempt to save Kaden, he let go of the tree and fell. He was not even close to being as agile as Zanath, he couldn't pull off the fancy tricks Zanath did. As he fell he grabbed onto the branch Kaden was sitting on to break his fall, with a loud pop and a shout of pain he felt one of his shoulders break as his shoulders ended up taking the impact of the fall, and his hands were cut up on the tree bark. It was far too big of a jump to simply catch yourself like that. But that didn't stop Mendelen, as soon as he grabbed the branch he swung forwards and kicked the werewolf that was hanging from the branch as hard as he could in the chest, with both of his feet, Knocking the werewolf off the tree and right back down to the ground. The fall knocked the werewolf out, and it seemed like the werewolf did not recover from unconsciousness as fast as it recovered from everything else.
Mendelen cringed in pain as he pulled himself up onto the branch and looked down at his hands, they were covered in blood but he couldn't tell if it was his own or if it was from one of his friends. It felt like his hands were cut up by the branch though, so he assumed it was his own. The second werewolf grabbed onto the branch now that the first one had been knocked off, and it too started pulling itself up onto the branch.
"Lets go." Mendelen said as he crouched down and let Kaden grab onto his back. As soon as Kaden was holding on he began climbing the tree again, as fast as he could. He was exhausted, and in severe pain from his broken shoulder and torn up hands, but running off adrenaline he was pushing through the pain and climbing fast. The werewolves were quickly falling behind, thankfully they were very slow climbers.
Mendelen made it almost all the way to the top, but then suddenly he felt Kaden leaning back and felt Kaden's grip slowly loosening. Kaden had lost too much blood, he passed out and was no longer holding on, he was slowly slipping off Mendelen' back. "Get a potion made up for Kaden! Now! Have Estellese drink one too, but get Kaden's down here first!" Mendelen shouted up to the others, who were about fifteen feet above him. He grabbed Kaden to stop him from falling off and quickly moved onto the nearest branch where he leaned Kaden up against the trunk of the tree, he couldn't both hold Kaden up and climb at the same time.
"On it." Zanath called out as him and Estellese quickly grabbed some of their herbs and began grinding them up as best as they could, then they would to mix them into two water bottles.
The werewolves were slowly catching up and getting close, Mendelen gripped his club tightly and was prepared to swing if they got in range.
"Done! Catch!" Zanath called out. He waited for Mendelen to put the club down and look up before Zanath tossed the water bottle potion down to him. Mendelen went to catch the bottle, but with his hands being so torn up and numb from the climb, and his hands also being covered in blood and slippery, when he tried to grab the bottle he couldn't grab
onto it tightly enough and it slipped right out of his hand, falling down to the ground at the bottom of the tree.
"Carry it down Zanath!" Estellese shouted at him in a panic. She handed him the bottle she had made for herself then quickly got to work on making another one. They had collected a lot of herbs, but it was only enough for about ten or so potions, that was the second one they made and it was wasted, and they were going to need four more to heal everyone. They were going to run out in no time at this rate.
Zanath took the bottle from Estellese and put it in one of his pockets, then quickly began climbing down the tree as fast as his wounds would let him.
The werewolves were starting to reach the branch now though, the one that was the highest up on the tree grabbed onto the branch and started pulling itself up. Mendelen grabbed his club, and then grabbed Kaden's too, holding one in each hand. Then he started smashing the spiked clubs into the werewolf's head and hands repeatedly, as fast and hard as he could. The werewolf howled in pain and was struggling to hold on and trying to pull itself up, but it was getting wounded faster then it could recover. After many swings, it's hands became too torn up to keep a grip on the branch and it fell all the way back down to the ground, it too was knocked out and did not get back up, for now. But the other two were not far behind.
Zanath reached the branch Kaden and Mendelen were on, and quickly rushed over to Kaden. Pouring the drink into his mouth and forcing the unconscious man to swallow it. Meanwhile the second wolf grabbed onto the branch and Mendelen began bashing it's head and hands just like he did to the last one. It again took many hits to bring it down, but it eventually lost its grip and fell to the ground, being knocked out by the impact like all of the others.
The last of the werewolves saw the failures of the other two and tried a different tactic. Instead of climbing onto the branch everyone was on, it started climbing onto a nearby one, out of Mendelen' reach. Once it was up on the limb it turned to the humans who were across from it then jumped across to their branch, landing in between Mendelen and Zanath.
The werewolf swiped its claws for Zanath's head, but Zanath ducked under the swing and carefully took a step back to get some distance. Mendelen stepped forwards and slammed both clubs into the werewolf's side, trying to knock it off the branch, he made it stumble but it didn't fall. Zanath saw his opportunity as the werewolf stumbled, he dove forwards and tackled the werewolf, throwing both himself and the werewolf right off the branch.
As they fell, Zanath grabbed onto one of the first branches he fell past and caught himself. He shouted in pain as the slash in his side was torn open even more and just hung there for a moment, watching the werewolf fall the rest of the way to the ground. It too was knocked out and joined the others in laying at the base of the tree. Zanath pulled himself up onto the branch and collapsed onto it, panting heavily. His wound was just a slash in the side, but he too was starting to feel the effects of blood loss setting in.
But, they were safe for now. With the werewolves out of the way Mendelen laid back on his own branch, panting for air. Once the five minutes were up and her wounds were healed, Estellese made two new potions and climbed down, passing one to both Mendelen and Zanath. But she noticed that Kaden's five minutes were up, and his wounds had not completely healed. They were mostly healed, but there was still a few deep cuts and scrapes. Thankfully, he took the potion before he bled to death, but it was a very close call.
"Hey, the potion didn't heal Kaden all the way." Estellese pointed out.
Mendelen shrugged and shook his head after taking a look. "I don't know..." He said breathlessly. "His legs were really badly torn up, maybe there's a limit to how much damage the potions can fix. We'll give him another one, maybe that will heal the rest." He stated.
And that was what they did, a second potion was able to heal Kaden the rest of the way, and after that they went back to sleep up in the tree for what was left of the night. Each of them would take shifts in keeping watch over the others, including Kaden when he woke up.
–
–
Next Chapter: Back to Square One.
Chapter 6: Back to Square One
(Sorry this is so late, between work and college I have had almost no time to work on my stories. But I am still working on both of them. Chapter 7 is written, I just need to proofread it and patch it up, which takes a bit of time. But it should be out soon.)
~~ Chapter 6: Back to Square One ~~
Morning came in what felt like no time at all, nobody slept well with the threat of the werewolves looming just below them. But at this point, there was nothing more they could do, they were stuck up in this tree until the werewolves left. When morning came Mendelen was on his shift, watching over the group. He watched as the werewolves turned back into humans, and those humans saw the bags of loot that had been thrown down at them during the previous night. They took all of the bags before running off, and Mendelen was too high up in the tree to get down in time to stop them. All of that food and survival supplies, they had just gotten it, and now it was gone.
Kaden still had his bag of food, and Zanath still had his bags of water and candy. But everything else they had picked up on their way here was gone. "We are right back to where we started..." Kaden spoke up, walking over to Mendelen and watching as the werewolves ran off with their things. "Completely helpless against the countless beasts all around us... With no supplies to survive... What do we do now?"
"We are stuck between a rock and a hard place." Mendelen replied. "It seems like no matter where we go, we will be nothing more then food for the locals."
"I would say, we were safer in the city though." Kaden replied. When he spoke Mendelen paused to think about it. But before he could answer Estellese spoke up.
"Are you insane?" Estellese countered. "The city had a fricken dragon!"
"I would have to agree with Kaden on this one." Mendelen answered. "The city had a dragon, yes. But only one that we know of. We can hide in the houses to keep out of the dragon's sight, but out here in the woods, if these werewolves come after us again. We can't escape them. We were lucky we got away the first time, they just move too fast for us, and we can't do anything to harm them." He said.
"What about the goblins?" Estellese countered. "Those things have nearly superhuman strength. And the giant spiders we saw before?"
"The goblins may be strong, but they are dumb as bricks." Zanath interrupted as he joined the others. "And the giant spiders have the disadvantage of being giant. Their size won't help them much in the tight alleyways." Plus, he himself felt safer in the city. With his skills in parkour, the buildings offered much more safety to him then they did to others.
"So. We are heading back to the city then?" Mendelen asked.
"My vote is go back to the city." Kaden answered. "We have no chance of survival out here."
"City." Zanath replied.
"Fine..." Estellese sighed. "I just think we would be safer finding a new place."
"It is just too much of a risk." Mendelen replied. "What if whatever else is out there is worse? Werewolves are low on the chain of dangerous monsters, all things considered. We have nothing to defend ourselves with, but we know we can handle the monsters in the city. It is our safest bet right now." He explained. "Lets go everyone."
"Which way is it?" Estellese asked.
"South west." Zanath replied, pointing to their right. "We ran north east to get here, and the sun is rising in that direction." He explained, pointing to the sun in a left-ish direction.
"How do you notice these things?" Estellese questioned.
"Isn't it obvious? Everyone knows where the sun is." Zanath answered.
"It's not obvious... When ou are running from hordes of giblins that are trying to kill you, who pays attention to the sun?" Estellese replied. To which Zanath just shrugged.
Everyone made their way down the tree, and quickly headed back in the direction of town. They were all exhausted from that sleepless night, and they want
ed to conserve their energy, so they did not run and instead jogged back towards town. Mendelen and Estellese lead the way; Kaden trailed behind them a little, not being in as good shape as they were; and Zanath, despite being able to easily outrun them all, trailed in the back not far behind Kaden.
They had a rather uneventful jog back towards the city. They avoided the place where they saw the minotaur before and quickly were out of the forest. They did notice that there was a mountain south of the forest and east of the field that was surrounding Oline city, but they opted to not check that out. The dangerous mountain paths were not what they needed right now. It was a few hours later that they finally reached Oline city again.
They stood on that weird city limit where the city met the surrounding grassy field, where the road out of the city just stopped and suddenly became grass. "Hey, Kaden. I broke my club in the last fight, can I have yours? Since you aren't using it?" Estellese asked, noting that Kaden had chosen to carry two knives and had his club just lying in his bag.
