Chapter 133 - What Makes A Leader?

Maggie stood her ground as the werewolves rushed her position. She’d organized the defenders, gotten them working together again instead of fighting as individuals. So far, it had been enough, but she really hoped Cam would hurry up and take the big bad out. If he was right, that would wipe out all the remaining werewolves, too. The curse would snap, and they’d all revert to human form.

Even if he was wrong, at least once he beat Cerberus, Cameron would be able to rejoin them for the rest of the fighting. Either way, it would mean some help, which they needed rather badly.

Maggie slashed out with her sword, lopping the hand clean off one of the attacking werewolves. It howled in pain and staggered back, clutching its bleeding arm. She whipped her blade around and thrust at another that was trying to get close. It backpedaled, avoiding the blow.

“Defenders! One step back, now!” Maggie hollered with everything she had.

It startled her when they all did as she asked. Her entire defensive line backed up a step, pulling out of the doorway where they’d been holding the line the last couple of minutes.

Someone behind Maggie grabbed her shoulder. “This way! Through here!”

She let them guide her through a narrow gap in the defensive wall they’d built up. It was mostly just overturned tables and debris from the broken building, but it would still slow the werewolves’ advance a little. She slipped through the gap, eying the other front-line troops to ensure everyone made it back across the barriers safely.

Once they’d all gotten through, Maggie raised her voice again. “Close the gaps!”

The same people who’d created the barriers slid tables and chunks of concrete forward, shutting off the gaps the defenders had just slipped back through. Now they stood on the other side of a waist-high barricade. The ceiling in this space was too low for the werewolves to vault it easily, so they’d be forced to clamber over, instead. It would slow them down and give the defenders a critical few seconds to take them out before the creatures could close with them.

Monsters rushed into the space they’d just left behind, realizing far too late that they’d walked right into a trap. The press of more werewolf bodies behind them kept them from retreating, and the wall of debris with steel spearpoints and sword blades behind it kept them from easily progressing deeper into the space.

“Now! Strike!” Maggie shouted herself hoarse. She stabbed out, her sword point biting into the shoulder of one of their foes.

All around her, cries rang out as Alex’s people attacked at her command. Steel shone with reflected light. Ice Blasts and Fire Bolts fired from the rear ranks, smashing into the attacking enemies. The werewolves didn’t just roll over and die, though. They fought back, claws and teeth slashing and tearing with desperate fury. They might be trapped, but they were far from helpless.

Maggie hated every moment of this. She didn’t shy from the fight. Not anymore. This was a burden she’d taken on when she’d accpeted all those crystals during the dungeon run. She might not have known it at the time, but that didn’t matter. The job needed doing, and her rank made her the best choice for the role.

Well, technically Alex would have been better, but the man was still huddled in a corner, unable or unwilling to get himself together enough to lead his people. Whatever had happened out there when he’d been hurt, it had shattered him in a bad way. She’d always thought Alex was a little rough around the edges, but this was something else entirely. The post-apocalyptic world didn’t come with a bevy of mental health counselors on standby, unfortunately. Much as they might all need one.

She thrust her blade out again. The werewolf dodged, but she twisted the blade, turning it into a slash that opened a gash along its chest. It howled in pain and staggered back, replaced instantly by another enemy. As she cut and thrust, Maggie couldn’t help but remember that these were all cursed humans. The humans underneath the werewolf weren’t to blame for what these monsters were doing, but each werewolf they killed was one more person who simply wasn’t coming back, ever.

Maggie hated that. Cameron had made her good at killing, as well as healing, but that didn’t mean she liked both of those things equally. She knew in her heart that she’d always love casting Heal more than cutting someone down. It was just who she was. The worst, though, had to be killing people who couldn’t help themselves, couldn’t stop being monsters. Each werewolf she slew was a victim she’d murdered.

Knowing there was no other choice didn’t make it better.

“Come on, Cam,” Maggie hissed as she defended herself from another lightning-swift attack. She parried the blow and sliced deep into the monster’s bicep. “Hurry up!”

All at once, the werewolf in front of her staggered back, clutching his head in his hands. He howled, long and loud. For a moment, Maggie couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, but then she realized what she had to be seeing.

The werewolf’s hair shrank back along his arms, revealing bare skin that flowed and reshaped itself, turning pink as she watched. The creature’s long snout crumpled and shrank into his face. He cried out again, and this time the scream was more human than wolf.

All around her, the werewolves were collapsing as they reverted. He’d done it! Cameron must have broken the curse!

But Alex’s people didn’t know what they were seeing. One lunged in, stabbing a werewolf deep in the gut with a spear. The creature collapsed, grasping the spear haft with two claws which rapidly shrank back into hands.

There was no time to waste. Maggie leaped to the top of the barricade. “Stop the attack! All fighters, one step back! Cameron has done it! They’re turning back into humans! The curse is gone.”

Her first cry didn’t break through the warriors’ concentration and focus, but the second got the attention of most. By the time Maggie had finished, everyone had taken a step back from their makeshift wall. They watched in shock as the creatures they’d been fighting collapsed, unable to keep their feet, crying out in pain.

“Healers to the front!” Maggie called out. They were going to need every healer they had to tend the injured. A lot of those werewolves had savage wounds, and without the massive boost in Regeneration and Stamina the curse granted them, they’d quickly die without help.

Maggie jumped down from the wall, landing among the mostly-transformed victims. She reached out to the one who’d received the gut wound with the spear and yanked the weapon clear, immediately following that with the strongest Heal she could cast. The victim sobbed as the mortal wound closed up in seconds. Maggie moved on to the next victim, then another. There were a lot of wounded werewolves.

More healers joined her, quickly mending whatever injuries they could on both sides of the wall. The steady series of spellcasting was draining her mana at a rapid pace, wearing her out. In spite of that, every Heal she cast made Maggie’s heart feel lighter.

“Let me through!” Alex’s voice rang like a bell, each word sounding as taut as a pulled bowstring. He barged past two of the healers, making his way to the exit.

Maggie realized in an instant what he had to be doing. Alex had seen the werewolves reverting to human form. He was trying to get to Marion.

But she was dead.

He’d told her that when she Healed him. It was Marion who’d attacked him. In their efforts to save Alex, his own people had slain her. Alex was rushing back outside to go to her. He was clinging to a desperate bit of hope, but Maggie already knew that hope was in vain. Lying on the floor next to her was a man, fully reverted to human form, but dead. He’d been slain as a werewolf. Breaking the curse couldn’t undo that.

She had to stop him. If he went out there and saw her like that..? He was already in tremendous mental anguish. Seeing her now could break him for good.

Maggie stood as Alex raced toward the door. “Alex, stop. Please.”

“Get out of my way! I have to go to her!”

“She’s gone,” Maggie said, tears streaming down her face. Marion had been a friend, and the tragedy of her loss would haunt everyone who knew her. “You can’t help her now, but your people need you.”

“I said, get out of my way!” Alex cried out, pain flowing in every word.

He lashed out with an open palm, trying to strike Maggie in the chest, to knock her out of the way. Maggie sidestepped the blow and grabbed Alex’s wrist, turning it around so quickly that he was forced to his knees. She released him immediately, stunned that she’d been able to do that at all. Alex looked as shocked as she was.

“Sorry, Alex. I don’t know my own Strength, yet. But you should stay in here. Your people need you,” Maggie told him again, hoping against hope that if she could just repeat it enough times, he might believe her.

“Marion needs me!” Alex spat. Before she could react, he’d activated his Flight and shot sideways from the ground, launching himself out through the still-open doors outside.

Maggie went racing after him, but she already knew she was too late to stop him from seeing Marion’s body. She only hoped that he was strong enough to handle it without shattering. As fragile as he seemed right now, she wasn’t sure.