Chapter 4: A dogfight

They walked slowly, so as to not waste energy, the rest of the walk went in silence, except a few questions Roy asked William, about his days as a world champion. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours until finally something changed with Roy speaking, his throat as dry as the sand he walked on.

"I might be hallucinating, but there is movement in the sand in front of us"

They all stopped. With Mia speaking first.

"I see it. In the sand. Hundred meters out"

The group stood, silently observing. Soon all of them noticed the movement in the sand. After a few minutes without any changes Roy spoke.

"In games, if you find enemies, it means you are moving in the right direction"

The group glanced at him. Tony spoke first.

"I'll stand in front, a bit away from you lot. If someone has to die, it better be me, I'm the oldest. Mikael and William, you stand upfront. Roy you stand in the back"

Roy frowned.

"I should go with you, I can fight, I'm strong"

Lots of smiles to go around with a kid such as this. Mikael turned to Roy.

"Who told you that you'd be the safest, the rear is often the most dangerous. You are the most skilled after William"

Roy looked at Mikael for a few seconds, nodding in understanding as he proudly moved to the back of the group, half-turned he observed the area behind them with glances.

'Good kid, but still a kid, naive' thought Tony to himself.

He slowly moved forward, carefully observing the movements, when they walked around halfway, the danger revealed itself. Three hairless dogs emerged from the sand, looking like mummified Dobermans. Growling they watched Tony, who was smiling.

'God damn it, what are these dogs even, they look terrifying, we don't have weapons…don't tell me I'll have use the thing we got taught by that moron…well, no better option I guess' thought Tony to himself, while hiding his unease from his companions.

"We are in luck boys and girls, there is a very good way to handle dogs without weapons, not for the faint-hearted though"

After a pause Tony had already formulated a plan.

"Mikael, move back to the rear. William and Roy, come help me out. Dogs can't bite down if they have a large enough item in their throats"

Roy and William ran up quickly, while Mikael fell back.

"Uncle Tony, we don't have any items though"

Tony smiled.

"We have our fists, just make sure to not let them bite down on your fist"

Roy smiled as well.

"They have no chance"

Tony turned and nodded with conviction.

'God, this is a terrible idea'

The trio moved slowly towards the dogs, but to their surprise the beasts scattered in different directions, seemingly maintaining distance. The six companions looked at eachother with a worried look with William speaking first.

"Wolves will often follow their prey instead of attacking them, waiting for them die from exhaustion instead of fighting a battle they might be injured from"

Mikael took a good look at the three dogs thinking of what they could do.

"Slowest in the herd is the first to be attacked"

Tony looked at Mikael and then motioned to everyone to keep walking. The dogs followed in their steps. The six companions had done a good job of enduring the heat and the exhaustion that stemmed from it, but the dogs made it a far more torturous endeavor. The constant tension of waiting for their attack made every step unbearable.

They walked and the dogs followed.

Seconds.

Minutes.

Hours.

Tony's steps became slower, which did not go unnoticed, both for the five humans and the three dogs.

His every step became slower and he had to run at times to catch up with the group, his breathing became labored. Dehydration, hunger and exhaustion gnawed at his every being. The rest were not doing so well either. By second they seemed weaker and weaker. Their steps became more and more erratic, until they stopped paying attention to the dogs altogether.

Then to eachother.

Tony's steps slowed, his eyes barely managing to look ahead. Ten steps, twenty steps, thirty steps he fell behind the group and then one of the dogs charged.

It was fast, very fast, faster than any dog could ever be. Its hungry eyes locked at Tony, it galloped across the sand with grace. Its teeth ready to repay the chase it endured for the meal.

A patient beast.

Alas, not patient enough.

As it jumped, to lay its teeth into Tony. The tired giant of a man turned his head towards the beast, his tired eyes turning sharp. His fist flew into its open mouth, the dog was startled but still quick, so it bit down on his fist.

Crack.

Tony yelped in pain as his fist was crushed in the dog's maw, but he did not stop, grabbing the dog by its nape.

The dog opened its mouth to get a bigger bite. As it did, Tony lodged his fist deeper, blocking its airways, forcing the dog to open its maw. Wrapping his legs around its neck, falling on his back. Tony endured the pain in his mangled hand and the scorching sand at the nape of his neck.

The other two dogs were already running towards Tony, to their leader's aid. They were not the only ones.

William responded first, with Roy being a second late out of shock. As he moved in front of Tony and the beast, both dogs charged him, with one jumping first, William moved in the blink of an eye, years of experience showing in his rapid jab, even before the dog had the chance to close its mouth, his fist was already in its throat. The second dog, jumped after him as well, but William kicked its head with a well-timed roundhouse back-kick.

Flustered Roy arrived as well, jumping on the disoriented do. Wrapping his arms around its neck, and his legs around its waist, trying to strangle it.

Mia, Makoto and Mikael arrived as well. Makoto wrapped her arms around the dog that attacked Tony, squeezing its waist and pushing down on it with her body-weight. Mia joined William helping him hold the dog down. Roy didn't seem to need any help. The dogs struggled, stronger than normal canines, but weaker than wolves, they could not challenge several humans at the same time. They still left a few deep scratches on Tony and William with their claws, but resistance was futile.

Minutes passed, the dogs did not seem to die. Their physiology forced them to open their maws as normal dogs, but they did not seem to require air.

Mikael paused thinking and then he moved towards Tony.

He grabbed the wolf's right rear leg, it was too strong to handle with just hands, so he lied down, using his legs as leverage, he broke the leg. Then its left. Then he got to the dog that William was holding and did the same. Slowly he went through 12 legs.

The dogs struggled and growled in pain, but their resistance was futile.

"Now what?"

"Break their jaws!" Tony grumbled through the pain.

Mikael got to work again, grabbing their upper teeth, he pushed down on their jaws with his foot.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Incapacitated, the dogs lied on the ground struggling to move. Tony was in the worst condition. His fist crushed with deep scratches all over him. William got away with just the scratches, with some of them being from the teeth of the dogs on his arms.

Mikael stood up breathing heavily. He went up to one of the dogs, grabbing one of the broken legs, twisting it in an unnatural manner, he used the claws of the dog to cut through its chest slowly. Then he grabbed its tough ribs, breaking them open. Seeing him in action, Makoto and Roy did the same, while Mia tried to use a piece of her shirt she ripped up, to bandage Tony's' fist. She grabbed two sticks she was using to hold her hair up, broke them in parts and used the sticks to keep Tony's hand bandaged in a reasonably proper manner.

Mikael meanwhile reached into the dog's chest with his hand and ripped out its heart, finally killing the dog. As he did, something unexpected happened. A saber emerged from the sand next to him. As Makoto managed to kill the dog as well, a small colorless crystal emerged next to her. While Roy received a little vial with black liquid in it.

Tony watched this happen with pain written on his face.

"A spear would've been better in this circumstance. A blade is a welcome addition though"

As he said that, he noticed the sun rapidly setting, as if trying to catch up with time.

There was no moon, if not for the vial that was gifted to Roy, they would've sat there for a while. The curious kid drank it without second thoughts, as he did, his eyes changed, it seemed to improve his Bestial powers, as he could make out slight shapes in the dark.

They formed a line, grabbing at each other as Roy lead the way to what he described as the smell of grass. As they crossed a few dunes, Roy seemed to freeze.

"It's an Oasis, I'm sure"

They were too tired and dehydrated to express themselves as they slowly followed Roy to the Oasis. Tony instructed Roy to break off some small branches, then he used Mikael's saber to peel a stick and with some trouble, with Tony's advice, managed to start a fire illuminating the surroundings.

It didn't make much sense, the trees that grew here did not belong to a desert. The water seemed clean, Tony was reluctant to drink it without boiling, but they didn't have a container, so they gave up without better options and drank, with Tony again being the first, making sure it was okay to drink.

They sat around the fire in silence for a while, while Mia peeled some straight sticks and re-bandaged Tony's hand, washing the wounds carefully on both him and William. The action seemed to trigger something as a cane appeared next to her, rising from the grass.

The group watched as she grabbed the cane, touched it to Tony's hand and closed her eyes. Slowly, very slowly his hand seemed to be healing. Several times she stopped, adjusting his hand a bit, to make sure his bones were healing properly. After an hour or so, she took a break and got some sleep, when she woke up, she continued. After another hour passed, she was done. Tony squeezed his fist several times.

"Almost as good as new. Slow, very slow"

Mikael glanced at him.

"Better than nothing, it seems to speed up the natural healing process"

After Mia got some sleep again, she started fixing their scratches, which went a bit faster, but still took at least half an hour to fix them all. At this point they had all gotten enough sleep, with only Mia seeming a bit tired.

The fire burned as they sat in silence waiting for a change that never came. They all seemed to focus on Roy, who seemed distressed but unwilling to admit it. With enough praise, Roy seemed to calm down and they strategized on what to do.

"Roy can you see, hear or smell anything interesting?"

Roy looked up at his companions, then looked at one of the trees, with a smile he ran up to the tree and started climbing. He was up there quite quickly, looking around for several minutes. Then he closed his eyes, listened and smelled for anything of note. From the tree top he said loudly:

"I can't see anything, just dunes all around. I can't smell the mummy dogs we killed. I can't hear anything either…well except your heartbeats and the leaves rustling"

As he got down he approached the fire dejectedly. Makoto watched him approach, looked at the fire and suddenly sat up exclaiming.

"The fire, look at it!"

The group watched the fire, with Mikael noticing it first.

"The wind does not move it, but the leaves rustle in the wind, something is wrong"

Looks of realization appeared on everybody's faces. Tony breaking the momentary silence.

"Can't even feel it, from which direction"

"Almost opposite of the dogs, slightly towards the right, should we follow the wind?" said Makoto.

William was next to speak.

"I remember my father farming, whenever he'd feel the wind, he'd look for clouds...Sometimes he'd say that the wind brings a storm with it, sometimes just rain"

They had felt the scorching Sun on their faces long enough, it was time to face the wind.