Alex's heart fills with elation as he nears Tetanus Town. He was getting pretty concerned that the creature might catch up to him. But now, the doorway in the large, half-collapsed brick wall looms over the street. A silhouetted figure leans within it, as though heralding Alex's salvation.
The creature's pants mix with a chill-inducing growl as Alex forces himself to run faster, ignoring the pain. The closer he gets to the doorway, the more frustrated and vicious the growl becomes.
Putting the last of their energy into reaching the crumbling doorway, both he and Jack make one last charge. The creature's rage and frustration practically guarantee that safety lies ahead. In fact, the growling, panting, and scraping are so loud that it's nearly deafening.
Alex can almost feel a burning sensation on the back of his neck; whether it's real or not, he does not know. But that doesn't matter. Breathing heavily and sweating profusely, he makes it an arm's length from the doorway. As he does, a bloodcurdling, terrifying roar fills the streets.
The silhouetted figure casually steps aside to let Alex and Jack sprint through the doorway unimpeded. As they do, Alex can hear the figure shrouded in shadows comment in a nonchalant, familiar voice, "I would leave by boat." Alex doesn't take the time to think about it and keeps running.
***
Watching the two boys run past without even acknowledging him, the silhouetted figure chuckles. "I just lost a bet." He sighs and walks out of the shadows through the doorway.
The streetlights harshly illuminate his disheveled three-piece suit and the long, greasy, black hair. His amber eyes, which are deep-set into his skull, radiate with confidence, and a wide grin with thin lips is set below his long, sloped nose.
Another terrifying growl emanates from an unknown place. It gives off the sense of a predator lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill. Although this growl is also tinged with a note of wariness, as if the predator is hesitant to hunt this particular prey.
The man chuckles as he turns his gaze upon a shadow-filled alleyway. Despite the growl's source being expertly hidden, there is no doubt in his mind that this is where the creature is.
"You probably can't understand what I'm saying, but I'm sure you can figure it out from the tone of my voice." His tone turns dark. "Your chase has set some things I really didn't want to happen in motion. So either stop now, or you'll have to deal with me."
The creature snarls viciously, embers falling from its snout. Two orange-red eyes blaze and smolder in the darkness of the alley, filled with killing intent.
The man sighs, "Looks like I lost another bet." With that, the air begins to tremble.
***
After a bit more running, Alex and Jack enter a carpeted room filled with trash, raggedy blankets, and a barrel of flames in the center. It's the communal sleeping quarters.
Strangely enough, there aren't actually any people sleeping. Instead, there are groups of people whispering in hushed tones. Other people anxiously wander around the room, lost in their own thoughts and mutterings, and many of the usual residents are simply missing.
Alex doesn't pay any attention and drops his hands to his knees, panting heavily. Jack does the same. Sprinting for your life is exhausting!
While breathing heavily, Alex lets his mind wander. Now that the chase is over, he's realized more than a few things.
Firstly, his guess was right. There is definitely something in Tetanus Town warding the creature off. If there wasn't, the creature wouldn't have stopped after they entered Tetanus Town. It would have followed and ripped both him and Jack to shreds.
Not only that, but its desperate chase is also proof that the unknown, helpful thing exists. Alex doesn't know whether the creature was truly planning to kill them, or if it was just another test, but it clearly intended to keep them from reaching Tetanus Town. The only reason it would want that is if it doesn't have complete control in Tetanus Town.
Of course, Alex was already fairly confident about his guess, but it's nice to be sure.
What's more concerning is that his entire plan has been thrown off track!
Silas! Goddamnit! Alex has realized why the voice of the silhouetted figure felt familiar. It was Silas! The same man who he traded a whistle from!
Alex grimaces. His entire plan had been dependent on finding and using the unknown thing to create chaos. He had suspected that Silas might have some connection to it, after all he was incredibly suspicious, but he didn't expect this!
With his actions, it's clear that Silas is the unknown thing. He also seems to know about the creature hunting Alex and his plan. Not only that, but he even offered advice, and presumably stayed behind to occupy the creature.
That last part is easy to guess, seeing as how the air is trembling.
It's not a visual trembling or something you can easily sense, but if you focus on feeling the air, the trembling is clearly there. It's as though the structure of existence is being warped and shaken, causing the air to follow. Despite being away from the epicenter of the battle, the nearly imperceptible tremors reach even into the sleeping quarters.
Taking his attention off the trembling air, Alex sees Jack, with freshly recovered stamina, looking around the sleeping quarters with a mixture of curiosity and panic. "Who was that?" He anxiously asks Alex.
Alex sneers, "A washed-up loser." He refuses to let Silas look cool!
If the situation were urgent, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to slander him, but for now, Alex has some leeway. Judging by Silas's relaxed tone, he should be able to fend off the creature or drive it away for a while. Although Alex doubts he can kill it. If he could, he probably would have done so already.
So, while not as long as he expected, Alex and Jack can take some time to recover in Tetanus Town.
Jack blinks a few times. "Um, okay." Choosing not to pursue the question, he changes the topic, a hint of panic returning to his voice. "What's going on out there? It's like explosions are shaking the world!"
That's a little exaggerated. Alex lampoons before responding casually, as though relaying the weather. "If I had to guess, that man is fighting the creature."
Alex lets Jack sputter in shock, fear, and awe as he turns his attention back to the residents of the room.
Upon closer inspection, it's clear that there are far fewer people present than usual; over two-thirds of the homeless population that was present before are now nowhere to be seen.
Before he can contemplate this, however, he notices an elderly woman in a heavily patched black dress. She was previously anxiously pacing with her head down, muttering to herself, but upon hearing his and Jack's conversation, she stopped. Her wrinkled head, which is donning a shabby, black veil hat, jerks up with an expression of relief and worry, and looks directly at Alex.
"Thank God!" Not allowing Alex to dodge, the graying woman scrambles to him, places her hands on his shoulders with her face close to his, and speaks in a rushed, anxious voice, "Are you okay? Where were you? Are you hurt? I thought you were dead!" She doesn't seem to have noticed his numerous severe injuries, focusing instead on the fact that Alex is alive.
Lovia!? Alex recognizes the elderly woman immediately as the same person who had teased him his entire life on the streets, Lovia Brink. However, he can't recognize the cause of her sudden worry.
Alex tries to push Lovia away, but her grip on his shoulders remains strong as steel, despite her age. "L-Lovia! What are you doing!? What's going on!?"
Lovia doesn't respond for a few moments, looking Alex over to make sure he's alright, in a relative sense, of course, seeing as how he has extreme burn wounds. Then she lets go of his shoulders and takes a step back, rubbing moist eyes while doing so.
"There was a fire at Fry's, and no one knew where you went. I feared the worst." She finishes rubbing the last of the moisture from her eyes and puts on a mischievous grin, though this one seems a bit forced. "But from what I can see, only our Fry was extra crispy. You could've used more time in the oil!"
Alex resists the urge to facepalm.