Neter had seen enough, the Culloom
Disaster mystery was solved, these Savage Beasts were definitely capable of the
slaughter in Culloom. Sick to his stomach, he headed back out into the hall,
but from the reverse perspective, the light through the window illuminated the
pattern of footprints tracking through the soot and puddles down the hall...
He
stooped down closer to look. Dog prints. A pack of dog prints. It was a big
pack, a heavy trail, it was almost as wide as the hall… That's why he hadn't
noticed it… The layer of soot was on top of the trail… They escaped before the fire... If they escaped, how did they
escape? If they escaped, who put them back in? Had they not been put back in? Were there other dogons running loose in Gora?
He
couldn't leave any of these questions unanswered. Sword firmly in hand, he
followed the footprints farther down the hall. The tracks led to a set of
double doors, aged and worn from years of use, locked with a heavy slab across
it. He placed his ear against the door, listening for sounds inside but could
hear nothing. He could smell
animals.…
He
stepped back to examine the locks. The bar across the doors appeared to be the
only lock. Gently he knocked but there was only silence on the other side. The
creatures didn't get out on their own, so who let them out? Cautiously he slid
the bar aside and pushed the door open, slowly inching, expecting the worst...
The
stench of excrement and animal dander in the room was incredible, he could
hardly call it a room, it was like a barn. The barn was dimly lit, the floor
was littered with garbage and chew sticks, troughs and water bowls amidst
rubber balls and bones, it looked like a giant doggy daycare. Boxes of rotting
oranges scattered around the rough stone floor added a sickening vapor to the
stench of animal dung. The signs of daily life assured him they hadn't gone
far. Sword poised, he stepped through the doorway, leaving the door ajar.
"Hello"
he called out, but there was no reply, not even a growl. He looked beyond into
an adjoining barn, he could make out what looked like cells. Determined
to see for himself, he dared to investigate deeper into the barn, however he
had barely crossed the room when an ominous growl pierced the silence, followed
by a chorus of support.
Neter
spun the sword around, igniting the blade just as a herd of angry looking
dogons crawled out from the shadows. A moment of shock froze both parties as
the sword sparked to life. They were terrifying, so much more terrifying than
the dead dogons in the lab. Their chartreuse eyes were all Archonic, they fixed
on him like laser beams, paralyzing his mind. Conscious of his paralysis
problem, he blinked hard to sever the beams and spun the sword around in
retaliation, releasing a magnificent array of sparks.
The
beasts yelped as the embers burned their skin, they retreated momentarily,
scared off by the fountain of sparks, only to lunge forward again, moments
later with renewed violence, barking and growling with fierce jaws, leaping
towards him like lions lunging for their prey.
Neter
bolted for the exit but slipped on the mucky floor, crashing into a box of
oranges.
The
beasts lunged for his limbs as he rolled over, stumbling, slipping their grasp,
never losing grip of the sword he scrambled to his feet and lunged at them one
by one as best he could with backwards stabs, fending off the barking swarm
while struggling towards the door.
The
sword bought him little defense against the herd, in spite of the sparks
lancing their skin, he could feel them tearing his clothes, tearing his heels,
his hair, they were beating him to the door, there were so many, the onslaught
was relentless, he was so vastly outnumbered…
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