Chapter 24 – Bound (Part 7)
"RAAAA!!!"
From afar, one could see a large horde of monsters running through the street in a crazed state, their bodies stumbling into one another, not caring for their own well-being or the environment around them. Their only target was two small people running ahead, trying to keep the distance.
"Jack! What should we do?!" Luna yelled.
"Keep running! They should be out at any moment now," Jack said as he looked at the building. 'Why is there no sign of them leaving? What are they still doing inside?' he cursed inwardly.
The situation was very urgent, and he knew they wouldn't be able to continue running for long. They had to stop this chase immediately.
However, at that very moment, Jack received news that almost made him stumble.
"Hey, Jack." Liliana flew next to him. "Your little friends are stuck inside."
"What?!" He looked at the seductive demon. "What happened?"
"There are a bunch of large rodents infesting the building. They had to escape and lock themselves in one of the rooms," she said. "It doesn't seem like they can make it out either."
'Are you kidding me?' He clenched his teeth. 'Rodents? Of all things? Agh, dammit.'
Jack's mind immediately changed from thinking about escaping to rescuing them. The supplies they had with them were far too valuable to be ignored.
'Shit, we need to change the course of things immediately. I can't leave Luna and head inside myself, or she will die.' Jack clenched his teeth as he tried to think of a new plan.
"RAAAH!"
However, his thoughts were snapped by the sound of a monster lunging behind him. Without thinking, he quickly spun around and sliced with his sword, cutting the monster's head off before it could catch him.
'They're getting closer. I can't think for long.'
"Luna!" Jack yelled. "We'll be heading inside the building!"
"What?! Why?!"
"The others didn't leave yet. There's something wrong," he said. "We can't let them stay there. Let's go!"
The girl tried to speak, only to swallow her words and curse. Then, she chased after Jack. There was really no other option — they could keep running and almost certainly get killed, or they could go inside. At that point, going inside was far more manageable.
Rushing into the cafeteria zone, they barged through the doors. Jack then quickly closed them before any Undead could reach them. The sound of banging didn't take long to follow as the doors were relentlessly attacked.
"Pull some furniture with me. We need to close it shut," Jack hurried to the closest table and started pushing it toward the door.
Luna joined him, and quickly they stacked several tables on top of one another, along with some chairs, to keep the door from breaking. They knew it wouldn't hold for long, but it would at least keep the monsters outside for a bit so Jack could figure something out.
"So dark," Jack cursed as he turned on the flashlight. "You said rats, Liliana?"
"Yes. They're on the second floor. There's a huge number of them, so I don't really suggest that you go there. They'll most definitely eat you alive."
"..." Jack frowned. 'That many? Great.'
"Stay quiet and don't make noise," he whispered to Luna as they started advancing. 'Rodents, huh? I wonder if they still have the same characteristics as normal rats.'
Even before seeing the situation, Jack was already forming an idea of what he should do about it.
Ascending the stairs slowly, he stopped and looked at Luna, putting his finger on his lips.
"Stay there."
Then, he turned around and slowly crawled up. That was when he started hearing the screeches of the rats everywhere. It was sharp and distinct, sending chills down his spine. Peeking up the stairs, he saw it.
A dark, moving lump that filled the entire floor. The way the monsters moved and wiggled was revolting, to say the least. Even the smell was beyond disgusting. However, Jack swallowed his breath and kept staring.
'There's basically no chance for me to kill all these things. They'll eat me up in a second. I need to somehow kill them all in one go, or in large chunks.'
However, that was easier said than done, as he had no actual tools or skills to pull off such a thing.
"Except…" His eyes then squinted as an idea formed in his head. 'Can I even do that? I mean, it's possible, but…'
Closing his eyes for a moment, Jack imagined the idea in his head and how it could go. For a second, he frowned, then relaxed his face.
'This is very risky and could go very wrong… But… I don't think there are any other options,' he thought to himself.
Then, he turned around and climbed down to Luna.
"It's filled with monsters, and the group is stuck in a room, I think."
"What should we do?"
"I have an idea, but it's very dangerous," he said as he climbed down to the first floor and started looking around. Meanwhile, Luna chased after him.
"What is it? I can help."
"Look for broken chairs and bring them here."
"Understood." Without asking any questions, Luna went to work, getting all the broken furniture she could find. Quickly, a small pile formed in front of Jack.
"Ok, good," he said. "This should be enough. Hm…"
He then thought for a moment before grabbing one of the broken wooden sticks and walking toward a corner of the room. There, he saw a fuse box.
'There's no current… but this should still work,' he thought to himself as he opened the fuse and, using his bare hands, yanked two wires.
Luna watched him and almost immediately realized. "Jack… You…"
"This is the only way. If we want to save them, we need to burn this entire building to the ground," he said. "Luckily, it's perfect for that, as it's mostly built out of wood. It'll catch on fire quickly."
"..." Luna was almost astonished. "Are you sure we can save them before it burns down?"
"Yeah, we'll push the rats away as they get scared of the fire and get them out, then run quickly."
"..."
*Spark* *Spark*
After fidgeting with the wires for a few seconds, Jack finally caught a spark that made his eyes squint.
"Hold that wooden stick next to the wires," he said to Luna.
The latter quickly got closer, sticking her shoulder next to his as she grabbed the stick. Jack focused on the wires, connecting them again, and a spark occurred once more.
However, it didn't catch fire.
"Come on."
*Spark*
Again. But to no avail.
"Come on, come on. Just work," he whispered.
*Spark*
For the third time, the spark occurred — and then… a small ember of fire formed on the tip of the stick.
Jack quickly grabbed the stick, covering it with his hands as he started blowing on it gently.
The fire grew in size gradually, and before long, it caught the entire stick.
"Hurry, let's get it to the pile of wood," he said.
Reaching the pile, he threw the stick into it. Almost immediately, the small fire grew exponentially, eating all the wood away.
Then, Jack grabbed one of the burning sticks before he started walking toward the stairs.
"From this moment on, we only have a few minutes before this entire place is gone," he said. "We'll hurry."