Chapter 129 - Couldn’t Bring Himself

Alex panted as he blasted another werewolf away with his Lightning. He was nearly out of mana. He had enough for a couple more bolts, but then he’d be totally drained. He knew from experience that if you let your mana drop to zero, your body told you in no uncertain terms why that was a bad idea. The last person he’d seen tap themselves completely out was Marion, back in the dungeon. She’d passed out and been down for hours while she slowly restored herself.

Two more werewolves closed on his position. Dara hit one with a Fire Bolt, while two of his other troops closed ranks in front of him, their shields a wall to block the other lycanthrope’s approach. It backed away, teeth bared.

They’d been forced to retreat from the school. There simply hadn’t been any way to hold the line, there. He’d blocked off the other doors just fine, but there were large windows in some of the classrooms and the cafeteria, so the werewolves had just used those to exit the building anyway. The creatures hadn’t fled, though. Instead, they’d raced around the building to hit his troops from the rear.

Ten of his people had been cut down in the first minute. After that, he’d called for a fighting withdrawal. The entire army pivoted, turning to face the rear. While Alex and a few of his most experienced veterans pulled a rear guard, slowing the creatures still inside the school, the rest of his troops slowly and painfully fought their way through the crowd of werewolves waiting for them just outside.

It had been a brutal, intense fight. They’d seen a lot more people injured, especially since the rear guard, now their front, was made up of the least armored troops. A lot of his people had been bitten.

Had Cameron been right? Maybe going back to the dungeon had been the right call, after all. Alex knew Cameron well enough to know he’d given it a shot, but he clearly hadn’t succeeded yet, or he’d have returned to help. If Alex had gone with him, had brought some more troops to support them, would they already have gotten in and out, been back with new Cleanse spells to help the wounded? Maybe.

Instead, those of his people who’d been bitten knew they could turn into monsters at any moment. It was shit for morale.

This running fight wasn’t working at all. Once all his people were outside, Alex sent a few senior troops to the new front, to guide them back in the direction of MIT. If they could just reach that enclave, they could slip behind the MIT fences and other defenses, get some help from fresh warriors, and maybe turn this around. But in the past half hour, they’d only made it two blocks. Werewolves harried them from the flanks and rear whenever the unit tried to move faster than a crawl.

They weren’t going to make it to MIT, not at the rate they were moving. The werewolves outnumbered them, were stronger, faster… Worst of all, the enemy knew all they had to do was keep his people pinned in place and wait. Alex didn’t have a good count of how many of his troops had been bitten so far, but it had to be at least a dozen walking wounded. The werewolves were slipping in, biting someone, and withdrawing before they could be pinned down, leaving behind more cursed victims with each assault.

All the enemy had to do was bide their time, and eventually those dozen men and women would become reinforcements.

Moving forward was going to get them all killed piecemeal. Holing up would result in all those wounded joining the enemy. What was the best way forward? Alex wracked his enhanced Intellect for answers, but solutions were thin on the ground.

“Head there!” Alex said at last, pointing toward a smallish stone building. The place had two stories, was made of massive stone blocks, and few windows, and those were too small for giant werewolves to easily slip through. It wasn’t perfect, but it would be easier to defend than most places. “We’ll hole up there for the moment!”

“Sir, you sure?” Johnson asked. “We’ve got a lot of wounded, which means time isn’t on our side.”

“We can’t make it back to MIT,” Alex explained. “Not the whole group, anyway. But one flier might. I need you to take charge of the troop while I go to MIT for reinforcements.”

“Can do, sir.” Johnson turned and issued orders, bringing people together into a tighter formation and turning them toward the proposed refuge.

Johnson’s confidence in his decision made Alex feel a bit better, but he still worried. Any plan was better than none, but this one had more holes than Swiss cheese. MIT hadn’t sent them any troops for this assault. Who was to say they’d change that policy and come rescue them now? He’d been confident MIT would let them through into their defenses if they arrived, even with werewolves in hot pursuit, but would they send help this far? He couldn’t be certain of that.

Still, it was better to have some sort of plan than none. He followed his troops in, helping keep the enemy at bay while they approached the squat stone structure. Alex switched from Lightning Bolts to Ice Blasts, since those used up less mana. He hadn’t ranked his Ice Blast up as much, so it didn’t hit as hard either, but it was still a deterrent.

All at once, a group of six werewolves rushed from a gap between two buildings, striking his rear guard. One of the creatures grabbed Trent, ripping the man’s shield away before biting down on his arm. Another lunged at Dara, biting her shoulder before tossing her aside. She fell to the ground, clutching her bleeding wound.

Alex rushed the creatures, sword slicing clean through one of their necks. More of his soldiers formed up on either side of him, driving the werewolves back. He twisted his body, slashing his sword in a downward arc that took an arm off the nearest werewolf. It howled in pain and staggered back.

Then all at once, she was there. Right in front of him. It was Marion. He’d always be able to tell her apart from the others. Even as a monster, he just knew her, without even trying.

Alex held up a hand, palm toward her, and opened his mouth to speak.

Before he could say a word,she grabbed him by the throat, claws digging into his skin, and there was nothing Alex could do to stop her. He wanted to take action, but his mind just froze at the thought of hurting her. He couldn’t do it. Even now, even staring the monster she’d become in the eyes and seeing nothing left of the woman she’d been, Alex couldn’t kill her. Not even to save himself.

Spears plunged into her from either side of him, stabbing deep into her abdomen. She reeled back, claws still carrying Alex forward with her as she howled in agony from the sudden wounds. Alex tried to shout off his people, to tell them to stop attacking her, but with her claws digging into his neck, he couldn’t get so much as a word out.

An Ice Blast rammed into Marion’s side. A sword hacked at her arm, opening a massive wound. Those wounds would all heal in time, thanks to the werewolves’ incredible Regeneration, but they had to hurt like hell. Marion leaned in anyway, her mouth opening wide as she drew Alex closer. She was going to bite him.

He could stop her. Wounded as she was, one Lightning Bolt might be enough to finish her. Two almost certainly would, and he had enough mana left to do that. But he couldn’t bring himself to kill her.

Maybe this was for the best, Alex thought.

If she bit him, they’d be werewolves together. If there was anything left of the person she’d been, maybe she’d remember him, and they could be partners again. If she truly didn’t remember him at all, then why would she have singled him out of the crowd like that? Why cling to him even after suffering multiple major wounds? The only reason he could think of was that she recognized him, somehow, even through the curse. He clung to that notion, hoping it was true.

“Hang on, boss! We’ve got you!” Arms grabbed him from behind, as more of his people rushed to help.

Spears and swords flashed. More blades pierced Marion’s body. Blood splashed. Some of it hit Alex’s face, and he wept for being unable to speak, unable to call his men off, unable to save her…

One final blow landed, severing the werewolf’s head from her body. Her limp arm dropped Alex, and he fell back into the arms of his people, who carried him swiftly back toward the stone building. Stunned, his throat too injured to speak orders, his heart broken by what he’d seen, Alex just let them carry him away.