Rowan had no choice but to move faster. The wolf had obviously come from the old tunnel, meaning his gamble had paid off. But it also meant it already knew which way to find him. Abandoning the cautious pace he had kept, Rowan began his best attempt at jogging in the darkness, sweeping his spear back and forth.
Every time it struck rock, he had to adjust his course or slow down to avoid something trying to trip him. The wolf before had been slow, but if they had any form of night vision, there was little chance that Rowan could escape. His best hope was to find another crystal room and wait for the pursuing wolf to fall into a similar trap as the first.
Assuming there was only one.
Cursing as he ran, Rowan prayed to whatever god might exist that there was only one chasing him. Wolves hunted in packs, so the chance was lower than anything he could hope for, especially after that howl. Anything would have heard it, the echoes bringing it to every inch of this Hell.
His heart thundered in his chest, feet pounded against the ground as he fled through the tunnel. When there were outcrops or the ceiling dipped lower, he scraped through, hardly bothering to check the severity of any injury, simply fleeing as fast as he could. After countless scrapes and a few falls, Rowan finally saw light in the distance. Exhausted, he stumbled and nearly collapsed prematurely, having to steady himself against the now visible walls. Gritting his teeth, he steeled himself to push through the final sprint and reach a modicum of safety.
Panting, he pushed through the black sand he now saw beneath his feet, cursing how it made every step twice as hard. As he approached the final bend before the room, he came to a sudden halt, his lethargic legs fighting to slow his momentum in the sand.
A shadow had appeared on the wall, and the faint sound of movement could be heard from the room ahead. He was trapped from both directions. He quickly readied his spear, one of the advantages of using it to sweep the path ahead.
Stepping closer slowly, he saw the shadow clinging to the wall, ready to pounce the moment he stepped in range. Groaning, he eyed the path he came from, knowing it would likely be a worse encounter. Better to deal with this one before he was surr-
"Rowan? Aoife? Is that you?"
A moment of silence passed as the reality sank in. Rowan wavered, the momentary relief washing away the adrenaline that had been keeping him going. Moving towards the corner, he turned to see Nadia standing, brandishing the spear, which promptly fell to the ground.
"I was beginning to worry you guys were all dead. Glad to see I was wrong."
He smiled warmly, genuinely glad to see that he wasn't the only one who had survived the tunnels. As he walked forward to enter the crystal room, he noticed Avery, pale and shivering, sitting in the corner. He had a poorly tied makeshift bandage covering half of a nasty wound on his shoulder, in the distinct shape of a bite mark from the wolves.
Avery smiled weakly and tried to say he was fine, but Rowan was already there, kneeling at his side. Rowan checked the bandaging and noticed that neither it nor the wound was clean, and grimaced. An infected wound was one that wouldn't heal. And eventually, would kill.
"Have either of you found running water? We need to, at the very least, clean the dressing. There's too much dust; who knows how long it could be before we make it back to the city?"
Nadia shook her head, while Avery groaned from Rowan's replacement of the bandage, using a strip from his pant leg to tie it around Avery's shoulder.
"We barely made it here. We came from the same direction you did, and when we found this room, a wolf was inside. It chased us back down the way before Avery finally managed to wound it, and it ran off. That was about thirty minutes ago."
Rowan sighed. That meant both directions had wolves, though at least one was the obvious choice. And with more people, he could worry less about having to watch his back.
'But someone will have to help Avery, and that wolf I heard howl earlier is probably getting closer. Damn. We can't let it pincer us in the tunnels; we have to catch it here.'
"We should definitely go looking for a water source, but before we do that, there's a wolf chasing me we have to deal with. There could even be multiple, I don't know."
Nadia paled at his statement, and Avery froze up, likely terrified of encountering a similar monster after his first experience.
"Is that because of the howl from earlier? Is that when it started chasing you? And what do you mean by multiple?"
Nadia's questions came in a rush, the words frantic as her eyes darted to the tunnel Rowan had emerged from. Rowan decided to take the time to regain his stamina and sat against the wall while he described the situation he had encountered before. Both Nadia's and Avery's eyes lit up when he described how he had killed the first wolf, hopeful he would be able to repeat the act.
"So, until they're dealt with, we'll have to wait it out."
They each settled down and waited for the signs of approaching wolves. Eventually, Rowan posed a question to the two of them, curious about some things.
"Have you guys seen Aoife? I didn't expect us all to get separated like that straight away. I thought we were supposed to appear at the same point?"
Nadia sighed, obviously frustrated with the same fact.
"We were wondering the same thing. We appeared near each other, only a couple dozen meters away. Until we saw you, I was starting to think the wolves had dragged you away in the dark right when we arrived."
"We could have still been right next to each other, just on the other sides of the walls. I'm sure you've seen how much these walls twist. There's a chance we all appeared in the same relative area, but still separated. It could also just be the way this Hell works; we don't truly know enough about them to assume they all work the same, after all."
Avery knocked on the wall with his good hand, the raps eliciting soft thuds against the hard rock. It made sense when he thought about it. Rowan had lost his sense of direction multiple times in the darkness, constantly doubting whether or not the path was even turning.
"We also need to consider the fact that she might be gone. There are wolves on either side of us, so she's likely surrounded as well. And getting cornered in the dark is a death sentence."
The mood grew dark as Rowan and Nadia pondered Avery's words. It was true that in the tunnels, there was no way to protect yourself from both sides. If two wolves pounced at once, there wasn't enough room to swing a weapon around in time.
Still, they had to hold out hope. Until he saw her body, Rowan would believe she was alive.
"She's the daughter of Colm Lane; she wouldn't die so easily. I'm going to have faith in her."
Nadia verbalised his thoughts. If she failed to survive, then what chance did they have? She was athletic and from his experience in the combat test, was good at strategy, too.
"Agreed, and besides, if a skinny guy like me can kill one, I'm sure she's slaughtered dozens by now."
They shared a smile over that, though Avery's was weak. He obviously still had his doubts, but Rowan couldn't blame him. It would truly be a daunting task to survive the tunnels, especially if she were deep in the wolves' territory.
"Anyway, aren't beasts supposed to be special? The one I saw just seemed like a black dog with more fur. Nothing like what I'd always heard they looked like."
Nadia and Avery looked at him incredulously before quickly exchanging glances. Avery's face twitched into a real smile for the first time before he spoke.
"A black dog? If it ate steroids all its life, sure."
Avery barked a rough laugh before wincing at the pain and tentatively rubbing at his shoulder. Rowan looked between the two, confused, not realising what they meant.
"What do you mean? It was half the size of me."
A sinking feeling grew in Rowan's stomach as understanding dawned on him.
"Oh fuck. I think I killed a pup."
Another howl sounded through the tunnels, closer than the first had been.
And a chorus of howls erupted with it.