When Luck Runs Out

Running With The Wolves

"Oh come on Sherlock, if you want to save him, you'll have to try harder than that." a taunting voice sang. My eyes opened slowly, but I couldn't see fully, my left eye felt swollen, as if I had just came out of a fight on the losing side. It was dark, of course, I saw that I was in the department store, the one we had found Greg and Jeanette in.
"There we go." The voice said again, and multiple laughs followed. I groaned, trying to rub my eyes, when I realized I couldn't move my arms or legs. In fact, I was suspended in the air, like I was caught in a spider web or something. But I knew it was no spider web, and there was no spider. There were four dimly lit shapes in front of me, humanoid in appearance but I knew they were monsters inside. I could make out the small, thin form of Jim and the broad, muscular silhouette of Moran, but who were the other two?
"What do you want from me?" I growled, trying to pick my head up to absorb my surroundings, but to no extent. My neck just didn't seem capable of keeping my head up.
"We want nothing more than a show, and to see how much you care." I recognized that voice, coming from one of the strangers. It was the voice I had heard far too much, it was Greg.
"How much about I care about what?" I spat.
"About him." Greg laughed. A light sparked from nowhere, illuminating the room and displaying John, unconscious, hanging across from me. He seemed hurt, there were bruises, cuts, and welts on his face and a small trickle of blood was dripping from his forehead, as if he had been knocked in the head with a weapon.
"John." I mumbled, but voice seeming to be able to go higher, but I struggled more and more in the ropes, pulling on them, trying to get myself free.
"Oh Sherlock, you'll never make it." Jeanette laughed.
"You'll never make it." Moran agreed.
"Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock." Greg laughed. John's head swung up, but he didn't look awake, more like a puppet, his head suspended by wires and his mouth forced to move.
"Sherlock!" he screamed. "Sherlock!"
"Sherlock!" the four of them repeated.
"SHERLOCK!" John's anxious voice shook me out of my horrible sleep. I shook my head, looking around and feeling cold sweat beading on my forehead.
"What, what?" I asked, looking around to see the damage I must have caused. Everyone was up, and I had managed to crawl out of the sleeping bag, the cold air hitting my bare skin harshly.
"What did I do? Sleep walk, scream?" I asked.
"It's not you..." John muttered. Everyone was quiet, listening intently, there was something wrong. I was silent as well, straining my ears to head whatever it was that had managed to scare them the way it had.
"What is it?" I asked.
"The wolves." Greg muttered. As if on que a howl erupted from somewhere close, somewhere below us, they were in the building.
"They're here?" I hissed.
"It seems so." Jeanette agreed. We all got up as quietly as we could, collecting weapons and barricading the door with the kitchen table. I could hear things, animals, moving underneath us, clawed footsteps, impatient growls, it seemed to me that they were moving through the building, checking every room.
"They know we're here." I decided.
"Yes, and we know they're here as well. We'll defend ourselves." Greg agreed, handing Jeanette the bow and quiver. I looked at the two of them suspiciously, remembering my dream and what they had done to me. But that was just a dream, right? They wouldn't team with Moran and Jim, would they?
"How many do you think there are?" John whispered, taking a couple of knives and stashing them in his pockets. I took a knife as well, although I barely knew how to use it, and a wicked looking bent sword. I decided that even I could probably take out a wolf or two with such a lethal weapon.
"Impossible to tell, but I'd say the Capital is spawning them in here." Greg guessed.
"To flush us out?" Jeanette guessed.
"To correct us." I decided. The three of them were silent, looking at me as if I were insane. "We thought the games were too easy, they sent wolves to make sure it wasn't. Collect the food, the supplies, everything, they won't stop until we're out of here." I decided. They all nodded, but it was hard to collect the food when you had weapons in your hands. In the end, John used the sheets and blankets to make little man satchels for us all, tying them across our backs and stashing the necessities in them, in case we had to run. But I knew I was right, I knew that the moment Jeanette said it was too easy that there would be an obstacle coming.
"We should leave now, before there are any casualties." John decided.
"And run right into that wolf pack? No thank you." Jeanette insisted.
"They're searching, they're spread out, when one of them finds us the whole pack will be here, breaking down our door, it's better we leave and take one at a time." John pointed out.
"I agree with John." I decided.
"I agree with Jeanette." Greg objected.
"So we split up?" John asked.
"No." I said instantly, looking between the three of them. "We'll all be dead if we don't work together."
"Well, considering you're a master strategist, I have no concerns following you into battle." Greg muttered, twirling his sword to warm up his wrist a little bit better. I just glared at him, and hoped John was doing the same.
"They'll be on us any moment." I insisted.
"Then let's go while we still can, there's no other way out of here!" John insisted.
"Fine, let's go." Greg agreed. I couldn't be relieved, but I knew this was a much better option than simply waiting around to be wolf food. John led the way, but I pulled him back, insisting that I go first. The hallway was dark, and there was nothing moving, so obviously the wolves hadn't made it to our floor yet. But what type of wolf searches for their victims by floor? These weren't animals, they were intelligent, they knew what they were doing, they knew what they had to do.
"Come on, we'll go to the fire stairwell." I decided.
"Won't they be there as well?" Greg asked.
"No, they take the elevator." I snapped. Greg raised his arms defensively, but we all continued on. I couldn't hear any signs of beasts below us, but I knew they were there, possibly waiting for us in the shadows.
"We're going to have to make a run for it." Jeanette guessed.
"Fight our way through." Greg agreed, sounding quite excited to get more blood on his hands. The stairwell was right there, and we approached the door when a bloodcurdling howl escaped from inside it, and numerous black shapes flooded upstairs.
"Get back!" John screamed, and I was pulled away from the entrance as they shut the doors tight, in an attempt to block them off.
"To the elevator shaft, there must be a maintenance ladder; it's the only other way out of here!" Greg screamed. I heard clawing and barking on the other end of the door, which we had locked to the best of our abilities, but they would break through. There were other staircases down the hall, but there were bound to be more creatures in those as well, and there were no doors to keep them out. I ran like I had never run before, leading the pack to a pair of unused elevators. The doors were rusty and dust filled, but with a couple of great pulls we were able to jam them open. The car was gone, at the top floor apparently, and all that was left was the empty elevator shaft, looming down beneath us like the throat of a beast.
"Well then, who first?" Greg asked, listening to yet another howl, the battle cry of the wolves.
"I'll go." John decided.
"No, John, you could..." I started.
"I'll die if I don't, we'll all die, Sherlock, it's worth it!" John insisted, his forehead beading with sweat as we heard the doors of the stairwell give a jolt.
"Be careful." I insisted.
"I'll see you on the ground." John insisted, pulling my face in for a final kiss, but it felt more like a goodbye than anything. In fact, I was so nervous I couldn't even process being flustered at the moment. John then stashed his weapons in his sheet backpack, and grabbed hold of an iron bar, lowering himself down through the maintenance ladder and descending down the shaft. I heard the metallic clamor of every step he took, but I couldn't see him, he had descended into the shadows.
"How is it?" Greg called.
"It's better than getting eaten by wolves! I hope you're not scared of heights though, or the dark." John muttered.
"Neither." Greg insisted. "I'll go next."
"You're our best fighter, you should be holding them off!" I insisted.
"Nothing to hold off yet." Greg insisted, but even as he said it, the doors to the stairwell creaked and groaned, as if the hinges were going to crack any moment. "Alright, Jeanette, you go ahead." He decided. Jeanette obviously had no objections to that, and she nodded, stashing her weapons into her makeshift backpack and started her way down the ladder.
"John I'm coming down!" she called.
"Alright, it's all black down here, can't see the bottom yet." John yelled back up.
"Least of our worries." Greg assured.
"Be careful!" I called down. I could hear growls and howls from down the hallway; obviously the animals were flooding through the other doors.
"We don't have much time." Greg muttered. "Jeanette, how we doing?"
"You can send another down, just don't go too fast!" she called. I looked at Greg with worry, but his jaw was set with determination.
"You go." He decided.
"What about you? The wolves will be here..." I pointed out.
"You said it yourself, I'm our best fighter, I'll be fine." He assured.
"Be careful." I insisted.
"What, you want a kiss from me too? Get down that ladder!" Greg snapped, and I nodded, blushing a little bit as I stashed my knife in my belt and held onto the cold metal. I had to admit, I was a little bit shaky, knowing there was nothing to catch me if my hand slipped, I'd fall into the dark pit of nothingness, crack into a puddle of Sherlock on the ground, fifteen floor below me. Every step down the ladder I took, I was almost positive it would be my last.
"Alright, move it Sherlock, they're coming, so I'm coming down!" Greg yelled.
"Go for it!" I agreed. I heard him clamor onto the ladder, but I couldn't see him, I couldn't see anything, I was just groping blindly in the darkness and hoping that my foot caught something solid.
"You're sure this ladder can hold all of us?" I called uncertainly.
"We'll find out soon enough." Jeanette called from somewhere under me.
"Brilliant." I muttered. "John, you okay?"
"Fine!" his voice sounded a lot farther away, I could only hope there was nothing waiting for him on the ground.
"Can someone light one of those lanterns?" Greg asked.
"I'm a bit preoccupied." Jeanette snapped.
"I don't have one." I shrugged.
"We'll be fine, just keep going! I have to be at floor ten, at most." John decided. I could smell the nasty metallic smell of dirty iron, and knew my hand was going to reek of it, but I had no way of cleaning it off, our water was up there in the room, probably being lapped up by hundreds of wolves. The idea gave me more motivation to keep going.
"I can hear them; they're up there, growling." Greg called. Now that he mentioned it I could hear a low growl from above us, but thankfully the wolves had no way of getting down the ladder, unless the Capital had bred them with apposable thumbs. The idea of that made me sick.
"They'll be waiting at the bottom though." Jeanette decided.
"John, wait until we all get there until you get on the floor!" Greg called.
"It'll be a traffic jam!" John insisted.
"Better than getting eaten by wolves one by one." I pointed out.
"True." John muttered. It was about twenty to thirty minutes before John finally announced that he could see the bottom, claiming that the sun was just rising based on the hazy beams of sunlight swimming through the broken windows. 

"Alright, I should be down in a minute or so." Jeanette called. "I see a faint glow."
"I can't see anything!" I called, looking down and feeling a little bit sick at the nothingness surrounding me.
"Well that's unfortunate." Greg muttered.
"You think we lost them then?" I asked.
"Unless they're pawing their way after us." He grumbled.
"I'll take that as a no." I muttered.
"Good choice." Greg agreed.
"Alright, I see the ground; I don't see any wolves though!" John called.
"Stay there!" I yelled, just in case he didn't hear me clearly.
"I am, I am. Jeanette you should be about a minute away from me, but you should be able to see me." John called.
"Alright, yes I see you." Jeanette agreed. I could see the dim light below me, but I couldn't see any figures in it, it was literally a light at the end of the tunnel.
"Oh, hi John." Jeanette laughed, as if she had accidentally kicked him in the head.
"Hi." John muttered.
"I see you!" I said excitedly, seeing two dark shapes directly below me. I could see the ground as well, the light now brighter, and I could see the cracked tile floor. Looking up I could dimply make out a shape, but I couldn't tell if it were Greg or just an eyelash that had gotten caught in my line of vision.
"Alright, here I am." I decided.
"See Sherlock, I'm fine!" John called.
"There's still the lobby to worry about." I insisted.
"You two are just the most adorable things." Jeanette laughed.
"Why do you say that?" John asked, sounding semi sort of insulted.
"You just care way too much for each other." She shrugged.
"I wish you cared that much about me." Greg had just arrived; I could see the bottom of his shoes approaching at a rapid pace.
"I would push you off of that ladder if Sherlock wasn't in the way." Jeanette shrugged.
"I'd be ever so happy to do it for you." I assured.
"Try anything Sherly and I'll skin you." Greg warned.
"I was joking." I muttered, now thoroughly scared I'd wake up without any skin.
"Alright, John, arm yourself and go down." Greg decided.
"Can you see the wolves?" I asked.
"No, but they're bound to be here." John decided.
"A trap probably." Jeanette guessed.
"John be careful!" I insisted.
"I'll be right behind him, getting my knife out now." Jeanette assured.
"Alright, descending now..." John called. I could hear his steps as he went down, and then a triumphant little hop, he had hit the ground. "We're good, all...." There was a loud growl, and John shrieked.
"John!" I screamed, starting to climb down and feeling my shoe hit the top of Jeanette's head.
"Not clear, not clear!" John yelled, sounding out of breath as if he were hacking at the animals.
"Jeanette, help him!" I screamed.
"What do you think I'm doing?" she insisted, pulling out her knife and leaping from the ladder. I saw the shapes of the wolves advancing on something, which must have been John, out of my range of vision for the moment. I went down the ladder as fast as I could, my feet slipping and sliding on the rungs, I had to get down there, I had to protect the only thing I loved.