Gar made a plan, it wasn’t a good one, it was the only chance he had and he knew that he was going to give it everything he had. Except he had to wait he couldn’t make his move to soon he needed the one on the stairs to come down first. Gar stopped moving letting everything get closer. He could see it was working the death dog was wavering its group of zombies more than half way down the stairs. Gar waited longer, it was hard not to run, the groups of zombies where getting closer together as they converged on him. He just needed to wait a little longer. The first of the zombies from the stairs were down on the ground, the closest death dog turned one head and growled at them. A few moments later and all except a few stragglers where off the stairs Gar just needed the death dog to move, it was pacing back and forth halfway up the stairs.
The zombies where still getting closer the ones from the stairs advancing as well. Then the death dog closest to the group from the stairs turned fully and started snarling at the zombies. Gar had been right about him being no match for the death dogs speed because as soon as the dog had started snarling at its group of zombies the one from the stairs leapt from where it was on the stairs over the heads of its dwarf zombies and was right in front of the other death dog that had snarled and snarled right back at it.
Both dogs’ zombies stopped and started to mill around seemingly unsure what to do. It was a perfect opportunity Gar couldn’t afford to miss he wouldn’t get another. The biggest flaw in his plan had been that it relied on the badgers being as invisible to the death dogs as they were to the zombies and he had not been able to confirm that. While he had been acting as bait he had the badgers moving into position. While they struggled with seeing the zombies in amongst the thick death mana in the air, if Gar took over more control personally it alleviated some of the difficulty and he had been able to test a bit and it seemed the death dogs had enough life in them that the badgers could pick them out once they were moving and no longer curled up on a pile of zombies.
Gar had had B1 and B2 move quietly along the street so they were close to the base of the stairs. Just before he made his move he had them slip in amongst the zombies by the base of the stairs. With the death dog from the stairs and the next one closest to it distracted snarling at each other Gar targeted the next dog along, he had Bodger and B3 slip in amongst its zombies and move as close as possible.
Then Gar started the action and things got chaotic quickly. B1 and B2 started slashing about themselves with their claws aiming for the tendons in the zombies ankles, this caused a commotion in the stair death dog’s zombies as they fell and knocked more zombies over. The dog turned one head to look at its zombies, sensing weakness the death dog it had been snarling at leapt at it. The stair death dogs other head had still been staring it down so leapt back at it in return, their zombies all started turning to help there masters.
As this was going on Bodger and B3 had gotten right in front of the next death dog along, when it turned to look at the fighting pair next to it Bodger and B3 came out from among the zombies and dashed for either side of the death dog. Just as Gar had hoped it didn’t seem bothered by them it simply let out a confused bark as they ran by. That was until in unison they turned and snapped at its back legs both badgers biting down hard. The death dog let out a howl of pain, Bodger and B3 continued moving making their way to the stairs.
Gar hadn’t waited to see if his plan worked it was his only hope so the moment the badgers had moved Gar was running for the slight gap between the last two groups of zombies. His plan worked better than he could have hoped the gap opened up before him as the zombies turned to help their master. Gar ran the four badgers already ahead up the stairs. He leapt over the pile of crippled zombies at the base of the stairs landing hard he felt the jolt in his legs. Ignoring it he starts running up the stairs taking them two or three at a time. A few steps up he is face to face with one of the straggler zombies that hadn’t had time to come off the stairs, Gar kept running bowling over the smaller zombie and sending it tumbling to the floor. Stepping over it Gar gave it a hard kick sending it rolling down the stairs into the zombies that were already starting to follow him.
There was chaos at the bottom of the stairs between the injured dog and the fighting ones there where groups of zombies not moving in sync with the rest. Even still some death dogs had herded their zombies through the mess and where coming after him. Gar was just glad the death dogs where still herding their zombies instead of coming after him themselves because if they did he would be screwed. Gar caught up to the badgers on the walkway to the next set of stairs, he slowed down to match their pace he had a long way to go upstairs he wouldn’t last running at full pace.
Gar had to turn to go up the next set of stairs so he used the opportunity to glance behind him. His group had managed to open up a bit of space between them and the zombies, each group of zombies with its death dog behind hurrying them along. Except for one death dog that seemed to be pushing its way through and snapping at any zombies blocking it. Gar was fairly certain he recognised it. Yes it was the death dog from the stairs, the one he had left fighting the other dog, the one that had its zombies crippled. That had been his mistake. He had needed to it was what had given him the chance at an opportunity to slip through and had also stalled zombies at the bottom of the stairs. It also meant that without any zombies to control it was free to come after Gar by itself and it seemed to want revenge for its zombies.
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Gar sped up again chucking two badgers forwards as he went before picking up the other two and full out sprinting. He knew he couldn’t out run the dog but he wanted as much space as possible between himself and the zombies before the dog caught up so that he had as much time as possible to deal with the single death dog before the rest caught him.
Gar made it to the top of the next set of stairs before the death dog caught him. It bit at the back of his thigh tearing a chunk out and sending Gar to the floor dropping B1 and B3 who he had been carrying. Gar rolled on the ground missing the bite from the second head as the first ate the piece of him it had got. His leg burned but he ignored it as the two heads focused on him again. He was able to get the shaft of his spear in between him and the death dog just in time pressing against the beast’s necks as the heads snapped down at him. It was standing over him as he pressed back, its front paws scratching at Gars chest. Gar could see the intelligence in the creatures eyes as it realised it couldn’t reach his face and neck it then turned its attention to the hands that were stopping it.
Just before Gar could start losing fingers he was saved by Bodger. The death dog had run straight past the skeletal badger on the stairs in its desire to get to Gar. So Bodger was coming up directly behind the death dog as it stood over Gar. Bodger found a vulnerable target hanging between the creature’s legs and bit down on it gelding the creature in one motion. Gar didn’t know what happened he had just ordered the badgers any and all of them to attack any vulnerable point they could. Gar knew the moment Bodger attacked one head of the death dog shivered and whimpered while the other one let out an ear splitting high pitched howled the body sagging limp trying to curl in on itself. Gar raised his feet up to the dogs body then kicked out with both feet while pushing off with his arms. He launched the death dog it sored down the stairs then out over the railing before dropping out of view.
“You have killed a level 6 death dog 15 experience awarded”
Gar didn’t look at what happened to it despite being curious, he patted Bodgers head as he thanked it for saving him. Bodger just dropped what it had bitten off. Gar shuddered realising what had happened to the death dog.
Putting it out of his mind he rolled onto his knees, he had to keep moving more where coming. Using his spear as a walking stick he pushed himself up to his feet, Gar had to stop to take a breath after that felt like a monumental task. Then he was limping on, he ignored the pain in his leg and just pushed on as fast as he could. He went up several more flights of stairs until he finally had to stop. He had made a decent gap between him and the zombies but his leg stung and it was getting worse. Pushing down his trousers he looked at his wound. It wasn’t that deep just a small piece of flesh torn out of his thigh the wound was jagged and was turning black and necrotic. That worried Gar there must have been something in death dog bites that kills flesh and it was spreading. Gar grabbed a water bottle from his bag took a swig then started pouring the water over the wound trying to clean out any saliva or anything from the wound, it stung and Gar flinched several times as he added more water. The wound needed more it needed proper care and bandaging.
He did not have the luxury of that he was running out of time he could hear the zombies getting closer. He pulled up his trousers and started hobbling along again, his spear used more as a crutch than a weapon at that point. There was no concern about out pacing the badgers at that point he just needed to stay ahead of the zombies. There was no way if they caught up that Gar was getting away again and he knew that. So he kept going layer after layer, step after step. Gar practically wanted to vomit by the time he got to the right layer. The zombies weren’t far behind him at that point, he had been slowing down because of his leg and getting tired from all the stairs. He could hear the death dogs bellow driving the zombies on as fast as they could they were getting excited they knew he was slowing knew they were getting close and that he was injured.
Gar kept on he could see the door, then he was through it out of the death mana filled area. He hoped the death dogs and the zombies would stop there but he wasn’t going to take chances he slipped out the other door. Before he went further he stopped briefly. The door could be blocked from the inside with a bar except he didn’t have a bar and he wanted to be on the outside. He pulled a length of rope from his bag, made a loop, opened the door slightly then hooked the rope over the bracket for the bar on the door and on the wall. Pulling the loop tight closed the door on the rope. Cutting off the excess he put it away in his bag. The door could still open a little but not enough for anything to follow him, and none of those chasing him were smart enough to unhook it, he hoped. So it should give him a few minutes at least before they could break it or get lucky and knock it off.
