Survivors

The next morning Panther woke me up licking my face.

—I'm coming.

I yawned. How long have I slept?

When I joined, I saw that Igor was swallowing one of the pills.

I opened my backpack and gave Panther a couple of pills. I took another one for myself.

I silently looked back at Igor.

—Do we really have to fight?

Igor looked at me.

—Why do you say that?

Because I don't feel like it, but I can't say that, can I?.

And without knowing what to say, I decided to trust him.

—I don't usually trust people, but something tells me to do it on you, so listen. I think this test of courage is passed when we face and kill an orc of the labyrinth. I think if we both kill an orc, we'll both pass the test.

Igor then stopped looking at me and looked at the embers of the fire.

Looks like he's seriously thinking about it.

I took the opportunity to drink water from my last bottle and give Panther some.

I realized Igor was staring at me again.

I decided to continue with my routine as if it was another day in the labyrinth.

When I was ready, I turned to Igor.

—Well?

Igor got up while taking his backpack.

—I will follow you, but if at any time I see that you can betray me, I will kill Panther.

He sentenced as he pointed the dog between my legs.

He was serious.

I nodded and stood up.

—Come on, we don't want to stay in this bad-ass labyrinth forever.

It's the sixth day and we have to kill an orc.

My water's running out today, so let's get it right.

But a problem appeared earlier than expected.

A group of people were gathered around a boy holding a girl's hand.

—This girl tried to steal food from us tonight! We must decide what to do with her!

—Kill her.

—Cut it off one hand.

—We take away everything she's got and dump her.

Are they stupid? They behave like animals.

Igor and I looked at the scene from a certain distance.

With the corner of my eye, I saw how Igor was going to pull out a knife.

I put my hand in front of him and denied with my head.

There's too much death already, we don't have to add any more.

So, I decided to walk to the center of the circle.

—And who are you?

—Are you with the girl?

—Is he the one who sent the girl to steal?

I pretended I wasn't listening to these animals, and I spoke directly to the girl.

—I told you that if you were hungry you shouldn't go stealing, you had to take it straight from my backpack. Come on, here.

And I offered her a pill.

The girl looked at me a little strangely.

She must have been 14. She had blond hair and you could tell she wasn't sleeping well.

If she's smart, she'll act like we know each other.

—I'm sorry about what my sister has done. I don't think we need to go any further.

—Sorry, but your sister stole five pills from us last night.

Are you taking advantage of me?

I looked at the girl and saw that she didn't know how to act. Are you afraid of me too?

I took a deep breath and kept dealing with the herd of dickheads.

—So, if I return the 5 pills, we're at peace, aren't we?

Activate a skill I earned, 'Intimidation'.

—Of course, simply returning the amount you have stolen will suffice.

The herd leader seemed to be having a hard time.

I turned off the skill while giving him all 5 pills.

—Well, see you next time.

I grabbed the girl by the hand and took her with the bald Russian.

—Why did you get in?

—Better this way than with a blood bath.

Igor didn't say anything or change his facial expression, but he seemed to accept what I was saying.

We moved away from the group.

A little while later we stop, and I looked directly at the girl.

—What's your name?

The girl, who had been silent all the time, suddenly threw herself to the ground.

—Don't abuse me, please don't.

Ah? Is she scared of me?

—Really?

The girl looked at us from the ground as if she were really scared.

Now what do I do?

Panther approached her and the girl changed her face completely. From scared to joy.

Is this the real power of Panther?

I took off those absurd thoughts.

—We're not going to ask you for anything in return, and we don't want anything. But you want to be with us instead of alone?

The girl got scared for a moment.

She seemed to be thinking.

—So, you can be with Panther all the time, okay?

The girl looked at us and nodded as she continued to caress Panther.

—I'm sorry Igor, we have to take care of her too.

—But do you think she'll count too if we kill the orc?

Good question.

—Hey hostess, how does it work? Can we take the test as a group?

Silence.

Seriously? Is she silent now?

I waited a little longer, but no answer.

—So?

—I have no idea, but I think everyone must hurt the orc, even if it's a bit.

Igor pointed to Panther.

—He too?

—I guess.

—Can I come with you?

The girl grabbed me by the sleeve of the hoodie.

I crouched down and looked her to the eyes.

—What's your name?

—Basma.

The girl seems a little shy, but I guess it's normal at first.

—Basma, now we must do something dangerous, but between the bald guy behind me and me we will make sure to protect you, okay?

Basma nodded.

—What's your name?

She's got a nice voice.

—I Caelum, but call me, Cam.

—I am Igor, and I am not bald, I am shaved.

Igor didn't seem to like me calling him bald before. I laughed.

After that we were talking as we went to the area where I saw the orcs last time.

We found them sooner than I expected.

Seeing them, I was afraid again. I noticed Igor wasn't having a good time either and that Basma was almost shaking after seeing the orc.

I took a deep breath.

—Now we must attack that. I need to know what you can do.

Igor looked at me as if I had asked for something unreasonable.

—I have the 'Stab' ability.

To my surprise it was Basma who opened her mouth.

But stab? I guess she didn't make it until the 6th day without doing anything.

—I have skills to move in silence and handle knives.

Igor seemed to trust me after listening to Basma.

—I have melee skills. So how it seems to you that I go first, after Igor hurts him with his knives, then we hold the orc between the two of us and Panther, and Basma uses the stabbing ability to finish off the orc.

Igor and Basma nodded.

Bus Basma looked a bit worried.

—Will you be all right?

Basma looked at me with green eyes that reminded me of the only friend I ever had.

I caressed her hair and smiled.

—Of course, we're super strong.

And Basma smiled. That smile that heals souls, that smile worth protecting. I smiled at her back.

My friend's smile came to mind, running in front of me in the park that we used to go when we were little.

'I'll protect her this time.' I tell myself.

—Come on, Igor.

And I walked out to the orc.

Luckily, there was only one, his sword was full of blood and he has traces of cuts that did not pierce his leather protection.

Seeing him standing there is scary.

I gave my knife to Igor.

—Maybe you will need it more than I.

—Thank you.

And I ran out into the orc.

When he realized I was approaching, I activated 'Intimidation', but it only served to make him angrier.

The orc raised his arm and tried to strike me with his sword.

That was more dangerous than any attack by any animal.

I decided to shorten the distances. And although the orc had a smarter way of fighting than I expected, I was able to get closer and fight with him melee.

It had hard skin and the leather protection looked sturdy.

After exchanging a couple of punches, it was time to add Igor to this fight.

—Now Igor.

Igor showed up from his back to hurt him with the knives and seemed to annoy him quite a bit.

Between the two of us we would defend ourselves and attack at the same time.

Although there were some mistakes the sync was better than I expected.

We were fighting that animal until in the end I was able to block his arm and throw him to the ground.

I was almost out of strength. It's been a long time since a fight started me like this.

With Igor and Panther's help, we were able to stop the orc.

—Now Basma!

And I heard Basma's footsteps approaching.

"Stab!

I saw Basma throw herself at the orc and stick the knife in its heart.

The orc stopped breathing and a white light enveloped us all before we could say anything.

I smiled.

Looks like we survived.