Chapter 94: Bait
Its claws barely left marks on the ground as it prowled around Miles, baring sharp, dagger-like teeth at him.
He stared numbly at it, his face betraying no emotion. He kept his spear between them, tracing the coyote’s path as it moved back and forth.
They stared each other down, looking and scanning for the slightest sign of weakness. Initiative was all that mattered here.
Miles tensed his legs, then lowered his spear a little. The beast pounced immediately at the opportunity, its jaws unhinging as it aimed for his throat.
He jumped backwards, barely pushing himself out of its range, then sharply angled his blade midair at its open mouth. He landed just before it hit.
His spear slipped into its throat, tearing through rubbery flesh before abruptly halting at bone. The momentum behind it knocked him off his already shaky footing.
He scrambled to his feet the moment his back touched the snow. Ignoring the pain throbbing through his arms and chest, he pulled on his spear, but found it unusually heavy.
"Krr..."
The monster lay in the snow, choking on the spear. He pulled on the spear again, but it only served to pull the struggling beast towards him.
The blade was stuck.
Its white eyes bore holes into him. He watched as the creature’s limbs vibrated over and over again, yet it didn’t stand up. No, it couldn’t.
’It’s paralyzed.’
He pulled the spear closer, dragging the creature along with it. Yet besides glaring at him ferally, it did nothing.
’It really is.’
He closed the distance between them, then pressed his shoe against its neck, using it as leverage to yank his spear out.
It popped free after two attempts, the blade at its end now dented and drenched in even more black ichor. Miles angled the freed blade over the defiant eye, then stabbed down.
The creature went still.
Miles ignored the kill notification.
He pulled the blade out, the wet squelch it made as it left the socket rendered nearly inaudible by the storm.
With the hound dealt with, he wasted no time in turning towards the others.
The second lay atop Chloe, snapping at her face as she struggled to keep her now broken bat between them.
He turned just in time to find Sarah running towards it, hands clutching her stick, as she desperately swung at the back of the creature’s exposed head.
It paused, growling and turning its head, almost in annoyance at the girl that had interrupted it.
Chloe took advantage of its distraction, stabbing the broken end of her bat into its chest. The beast was little affected by it, beyond a trickle of black blood that flowed out from the cut she created. She’d only succeeded in getting its attention again.
It went for her throat again, only to be stopped by another strike from Sarah. Before it could decide on how best to deal with the annoyance, Miles had already reached it.
He crashed into it, spear first, stabbing through the rubbery muscles of its neck and using his momentum to finally push it off Chloe and into the snow.
"RUN!"
He screamed as loud as he could. He forced all his weight behind the spear, using it to pin the struggling monster to the ground.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been lucky enough to hit the spine this time around, and he had never been particularly known as a strong kid either. It wasn’t long before the creature slowly started overpowering him and pushing itself to its feet.
Sarah took his words to heart, quickly getting behind Chloe and pulling her to her feet. She stared at him hesitantly for a moment, then left, taking Chloe with her.
Another distant mournful howl rang out, this time even deeper than the last. Lighter howls soon rose up to join in, in a shifting frequency that sent his ears ringing.
’Shit.’
He pulled his spear back, taking it as a signal to disengage. The coyote didn’t seem too keen on letting him go, though.
It pushed itself upright with a sneer, black blood dripping from the gaping hole in its throat. Then it took a tentative step towards him.
He took a step backwards in response, and it took another step forward to match. There was no other choice if he wanted to retreat without the creature mauling his exposed back.
So he played its game. Even as it stared him down for the slightest misstep, he kept his cool, focusing solely on keeping the spear between them and making sure his steps were steady.
Its posture grew increasingly tense with each step it took, winding its wiry muscles into a tense coil.
Then, his back foot stepped on a pebble.
The creature pounced to the side, leaving a small cloud of snow behind. It landed before he could react, in a position well out of his spear’s range, then lunged for him before he could reorient himself.
A stone met it midair, exploding and sending it crashing down.
Miles turned tail and ran full throttle towards the kitchen. There was no notification, so he was sure it wasn’t dead. But he couldn’t be bothered to finish the job, especially after those new howls.
Through the haze, he found Sarah and Chloe already there, with Grimm standing near. Stones in hand.
"Retreat!"
Ryan shouted, clutching his arm tightly as he made his escape too. Behind him, Mia tossed the body of a dead coyote to the side, while Brandon stood even further back, waving his flaming broomsticks threateningly at two coyotes hounding him as he joined in their slow retreat.
By the fence, even more coyotes poured over into the compound.
Grimm threw a stone at the coyotes surrounding Brandon, sending them running and giving him space to retreat properly.
Miles reached the kitchen entrance just about the same time as Ryan. Mia joined them soon, and Brandon wasn’t far behind.
Unfortunately, the coyotes weren’t far behind either. More were still gathering, and behind them all, a silhouette lingered.
Tall enough that its head poked above the fence, its edges were blurred by the falling snow. Yet he could tell it was watching them.