"Jerry, you should have leveled up by now, put your points on Agility and get ready to escape, I will open up a path for you."
I take a quick peek behind me, Jerry has the tablet on his hand.
"Sorry Charles, I already put them on vitality."
My eyebrow raises.
"I thought I should take as many of them with me as possible."
'Well, there goes my plan.'
"Then I will trust my back to you, try not to die."
The pack of dogs are carefully surrounding us while taking their time to make the first move. My guess is these creatures can instinctively feel the difference within our levels.
'I have to hold on for as long as possible, I'm not dying being eaten by crazy puppies.'
As I look around, it feels like their numbers keep increasing.
'Are they waiting to be sure of overwhelming us with numbers? Not good, looks like I will have to go on the offensive.'
"Cover my back."
Then, I dash towards the closest dog and stab my knife right on its head. It probably wasn't expecting for me to attack first, the knife went right through its skull. After that, it only took a few seconds for the corpse to disappear.
Suddenly, two of them throw themselves at me. It doesn't look like they are going to give me the chance to keep attacking them.
The first one, I manage to dodge, but the second bites my left leg and holds onto it trying to make me lose my balance, the second dog goes after my right leg and tries the same, between the two of them I'm forced to the ground.
Jerry appears from behind me and kicks one of them like a football, sending it flying towards the multitude and crashing directly into the pack.
I seize that moment to take care of the one biting my leg, I grab its neck with my left hand and hold its head towards me, with my right hand I stab the knife straight through its eye. The monster lets go of my leg, but stabbing its eye wasn't enough to kill it.
Free of the monster's bite, I stand up and look around, multiple pairs of red eyes glare at me ready to rip me apart as soon as I let my guard down.
Jerry's tall figure seems like a good wall to cover my back, but the poor guy isn't looking very good, I can see a hint of despair in his gaze.
'He should have left when I told him to. Not like I'm going to last long enough without his help.'
The dogs keep coming towards us, they go mostly towards our legs with some jumping trying to take a bite off our necks. We avoid their attacks when possible, kicking and punching works too, but our health points slowly go down.
After a few minutes, I'm starting to get tired, just holding them back is taking all I have.
"AAAHHH"
He's screaming in pain while falling to the ground with a dog on his back, I turn around as quick as I can and kick the dog, leaving my back to these creatures, I realize my mistake too late.
Next thing I know I'm down on the ground, one of the dogs on my back taking a bite from my flesh.
I try to stand up, I have no way to get rid of the damn beast.
With the knife tightly gripped on my hand and the monster on my back, I rush towards the closest of the creatures and slash forward making them retreat backwards, I keep going to the next as I notice one of them in the middle of the air coming towards me, I raise my arm and push it aside.
'I have to keep moving forward, move and slash.'
The dog on my back fell at some point while I was running through them, I barely notice it missing when my back is pressed against a tree.
As I look around, there are no signs of Jerry, just some of the beasts standing where I used to be, some of the monsters are now surrounding his corpse, which leaves me to fight alone against half of them while the others are feasting on his flesh.
'I'm sorry Jerry. I wish I could say that your sacrifice won't be wasted, but it sure doesn't feel like this is going to end well for me.'
Let's take some of them with me at least.
"DIEEEEEE"
I rush towards one of them and grab it with my left hand, then I stab and proceed to throw it over to the pack, not even confirming if it died. After that, I charge towards the next one and do the same. Some of the creatures throw themselves at me, biting my arms and legs, every monster that I find close to me I grab and stab, my grip strong while holding their necks, using everything I have left to stab them.
"HAHAHAHAHA"
I'm surrounded by their corpses, panting, barely able to breathe, yet I laugh. There are many creatures waiting to bring me down.
'I did my best, right?'
My legs don't move, my arms I barely feel. Every inch of my body is screaming in pain.
'I don't want to die.'
'I don't want to die.'
The adrenaline keeping me alive is wearing off, I shout with the last bit of energy left in my tank.
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE"
'It's pretty sad when you think about it. Dying as food for evil dogs, naked and no memories.'
'Will someone feel sad about my death?'
'Nina…'
Her face comes into my mind, her beautiful grey eyes filled with tears.
'She will probably cry for me.'
I smile, relieved someone will remember me.
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming towards my direction, most of the monsters are no longer paying attention to me.
"HANG ON CHARLIE!"
"Nina?"
'Am I hallucinating?'
I look towards the direction her voice came from, there she is, that silly little angel.
'Why did you come back?'
"Huh?"
I can see the silhouettes of various people running slightly behind Nina. A blonde guy is right next to her, holding a sword and shield, looking like a hero of Greek mythology with his muscular frame, chiseled abs.
'And wearing pants?'
Too distracted by the idea of pants, some dogs jump at me, throwing me to the ground. Then, I look towards the sky, ignoring the pain from their bites tearing into my flesh.
I can feel my consciousness fading.
Somehow, Nina reaches my side, pushing away the creatures while swinging her knife. The blonde guy uses his shield to bash them away.
The group of people attack the monsters, and I can hear the dogs cries filled with pain and death.
"Charlie?"
I look at Nina, her face is covered in tears.
"Why?"
She looks at me confused, my voice barely audible. She holds me closer to her small body, hugging me while sobbing.
Yet, I can't help but ask myself: 'why does he have pants?'