He had to buy time for the other, but he doubted he was faster than that thing. Once it recovered, it would be on his heels. Taking the opposite direction of New Hope where his party was headed, he aimed for a field of ruins in the south.
It used to be an industrial city, but most of the houses had long fallen apart. But he still remembered vividly playing in the production halls of the steel plant still standing in that place. It was a labyrinth of rusty iron and crumbling concrete, the perfect place to hide and buy time.
Reaching the edge of the forest, he could see the ruins on the horizon, its crumbled chimney and the rusted pipes and tanks still resisting time and weather. He stopped for a moment and looked back. He started to worry. He had not expected to get this far... Did he lose it, or did it not come after him?
If he had a radio or a com-stone, he could have contacted the party or the guild, but those were expensive. Especially com-stones only dropped in dungeons...he quickly shooed away the distracting thoughts and continued.
Not a moment too early. He was halfway down the slope, entering the field of ruins surrounding the behemoth of ancient industry, when he heard a deep, heavy beat and the breaking of wood in the forest. With earth-shattering steps, the horse-like beast broke from the woods, part of the trees flying everywhere.
He slapped his Whooly Horse on the butt to increase its speed, sprinting into the field of ruins, but he could already hear the thunderous thumping in the distance behind him getting closer. Without looking back, he drove his mount into the ruins.
Behind him, he could hear stone and steel giving way to the beast as it crashed through the remnants of the city. His breathing grew faster. It was right behind him. He was so close. Just a little! Just a-
Just before he reached the steel plant, his horse screeched in pain, and an incredible force ripped the mount from below him. Inertia sent him tumbling through the are and across the concrete road of the steel plant.
Facing backward, he saw the creature and his Whooly Horse impaled by one of the tentacles on the ground. Adrenaline kicked in, and fear brought him back to his feet. Fuzzy childhood memories directed his actions without any conscious thought. He simply ran inside.
Passing production halls, corridors, and empty floors of stained concrete and rusted rebar. Behind him, he heard the massive beast crash into the structure. The whole place shook; he heard a lot of breaking, but it seemed to hold.
At least he was right about the place. He would be able to buy time for the others. He leaned against a dirty concrete wall and slid to the floor. With the thrill of the escape slowly waning, his mind cleared a little. All he could hear now was his heavy breathing echoing in the empty building.
His wet shirt under the armor clung to his body. Heat was leaving him quickly as the cold, wet air filled his lungs. He could feel that strength had left his legs, but he had to stand back up now. It was not the time to break down yet. He could still hear the beast trying to get in.
Following memories from his childhood, he went to the other side of this place. Making sure things were clear, he crossed another concrete road and entered the former office building. He had a plan for where to hide. He needed to get higher up.
The office building was connected to a tower where a massive, bulbous water tank was sitting at the top. It had a crack at the bottom corner, where could enter. When they were children, they had often met inside the tank. Through here was the only connection to get into the tower
Although it was not the highest place in the facility, he could get up there without being seen from outside. He doubted that the beast would start climbing all over the place to find him. He could wait up there until help came. At least he hoped they would come before he was found.
Even if he was found, it would buy him and the others the most time. He was sneaking around the first floor, passing by dilapidated offices filled with rotten paper and mulched furniture. According to his memories, there should have been a flight of stairs around here that led up to the tower entrance.
When he heard the galloping of the Lake Horr'se drawing near on the street outside, his body instinctively ducked down behind a half-wall, where maybe a counter used to be. Hearing it on the street outside, where he had just been, he spied over the edge of the wall.
All the hair on his body rose. Through broken walls, rotten door frames, and empty windows in the dark concrete structure, he spotted the giant beast. It was now strutting down the road between the buildings he had crossed earlier.
Observing the creature, his racing heart stopped for a moment. He wanted to cry out, curse, scream, but the hand he clamped on his mouth suppressed any outcry, but the tears slowly seeping from his eyes.
Maggie, Nose, Bole, Hale... his whole party and their mounts were hanging from the black tentacles, decorating the beast's coat like trophies. The realization came over him like ice water. His party was wiped out, and now he was the last one. His efforts were for naught.
The thought he had at the exit of the forest came true. It had gone for his party first. There was no hope for rescue; he was the only one left. But why did it go for his party, why not for him? He should have had the aggro. His emotions welled up seeing it strutting around with the mutilated bodies of his friends, as if to mock him.
He was convinced it acted with purpose. It wanted him to charge out in a vain attempt to get revenge and forfeit his life. His heart and thoughts turned cold. Why? Why did it go for the party first? Now, he was the last one. The last witness. There would be no help coming. That was why.
That was the purpose. How come they knew nothing of this beast? Nobody could notice if there was nobody to notice. They were lucky with Nose and the girl's perfume. Anybody else? Who would suspect a puddle of water to hold such a creature?
It had gotten rid of his party that would have informed others, and took its time with him, who went a different direction. It wanted to make him come out himself and sacrifice his life. The party leader had no intention to play along.
Instead, he questioned it. It had managed to hunt down the whole party despite being blinded and poisoned for some time. Monsters could track those with the aggro for some time, but the rest of his party? Somehow, the beast was able to track them. Then why try to lure him out by displaying its trophies? Although the concrete had held earlier, it was old and weathered. If it knew where he was, there was no reason to lure him. Except, if it didn't know.
If it didn't know, maybe he could hide here until it lost interest? He found his ember of hope and held onto it tightly. Slowly, so as to make no noise, he started crawling until he reached a place that could not be seen from the street.
Careful not to be seen, he started searching the staircase again, ultimately finding it not long later. In here were no windows, so he didn't have to worry about being seen. The office building had five floors, and he quickly climbed the stairs to the highest one.
From here on, he knew exactly where to go. On the fifth floor, right beside the exit of the staircase, was the door that connected to a floor inside the tower. The small floors in the tower were connected by a rusty spiral staircase with a few missing steps. It led all the way up to a maintenance hatch beside the tank.
His adult body made it creak a lot more than his child body did in the past. For a moment, he worried it would break, but he decided to take the risk over staying on a floor that was barely above the head level of the beast. The office building was also a lot less sturdy; if it knew he was here, it could bring down the whole thing.
Climbing up the stairs, he reached the roof of the tower, only to stand before closed doors. Where he remembered the crack they used to slip through as children, was now a steel door. The whole thing was smoothly fit into the side of the tank and looked almost like it was supposed to be there, except that he knew that it wasn't.
He grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but it didn't budge. On the premises below, he could see the beast still stalking around between the buildings. Exposed as he was up here, he started to panic a little, trying to open the door even harder, throwing himself against it with as much force as he dared to use without making too much noise.
Suddenly, the handle moved and the door opened. Inside was a short, wide guy, looking at him like he was a crazy person.
"A dwarf?" he asked inadvertently. The dwarf looked past him, also seeing the Lake Horr'se.
"Shit, what kind of thing did you bring here. Come in before the pike men notice you," he said without any kind of explanation and simply shoved him inside, closing the door behind him.
"The pike men? Who are you?"
Had he found safety, or had he stumbled into the next danger?