Chapter 9

'Was I embarrassed? Sure.'

For some reason though, whenever my eyes would meet someone else's, they would quickly avoid my gaze and disappear from my sight. Kat looked more embarrassed to be next to me, while Nina held my hand checking for any damage left.

'No time for this.'

I left towards the center of the village, trying to leave behind the curious people staring at me, with Nina and Kat following behind me, ready to join the hunting effort.

I was brought unconscious to the village, so it was impossible for me to appreciate its buildings, it's incredible to see multiple houses standing in a row looking the same, I'm not sure how people are supposed to distinguish amongst them besides the number on the door.

The people on the village are mostly hiding inside the buildings, a few going from house to house looking for people willing to join the patrol effort. But it didn't seem like there was much success in their endeavor, most are too afraid of fighting against monsters, I even heard some of them waiting for a rescue effort.

'Who would come rescue us?'

I have some vague idea about armies and nations, the way our world worked, even if I don't have memories about myself. But I'm not so naive as to think our current circumstances are within normal logic and I'm not willing to waste my time waiting for a rescue that might never come.

Something surprising about the village is the survival ratio between men and women, the are more or less three women for every man, you would expect men to have a higher chance of surviving the forest. Then I thought about Jerry, his sacrifice to protect the girls, I myself would have lost my life if the village hunting team didn't arrive on time. By the looks of it, we men have been rushing to our deaths while protecting women, at least that would explain the current gender situation and why there are so few people willing to join the teams.

We reached the center of the village a couple of minutes later, there is a huge clock tower standing tall in the middle of the plaza, signaling the current time of the day.

[16:43]

Below, there is a countdown going on.

[14:16:36]

[14:16:35]

[14:16:34]

For a second, I felt absorbed by the numbers slowly going down. I wonder what will happen when the countdown reaches 0, I'm a bit afraid of the answer.

Marcus is located below the tower, he's surrounded by around fifty people.

"We all have to go and take down the pack or there won't be a chance for other survivors to arrive."

He is trying to convince them to go and fight, most of them don't seem too convinced.

"'But the dogs run away once they notice a big group coming."

Says one guy at the front.

"And why should we sacrifice ourselves for people we don't know?"

Shouts another from within the crowd. Marcus himself isn't looking good, not even he has a good answer.

"Excuse me."

The ignore me.

"EXCUSE ME!"

I shout loudly from behind the crowd, they all turn towards me.

'Well shit, there are a lot of people looking at me.'

Remembering how we all appeared naked within the forest, I thank god about them all being clothed. I can imagine a crowd of naked people staring at me, that would not be good.

"First of all, I want to thank you for saving my life from those creatures."

Some of them seem to recognize me, others are whispering amongst themselves, and for some reason half of them flinch when our eyes meet.

"I have a suggestion to deal with the dogs."

Marcus steps forward.

"What do you suggest?"

I take a second to think about my words.

'What is a nice way to suggest we need a small group to use themselves as bait?'

"We need a bait."

I see some people instantly understanding where I'm going with this.

"A small group of three to four people should leave the village and wait to be surrounded by the pack."

"Are you crazy? That is suicide."

Shouts someone, I don't see who. The rest of the crowd seem to agree with the guy.

"It should be a group of volunteers, ideally, those that have the highest health, they should be able to last a couple of minutes fighting, enough time for the hunting teams to surround the monsters and finish them."

By my side, Nina is glaring at me, she clearly understands what I'm suggesting means I'd be one of the people used as bait.

"I'm staying with you this time."

She whispers near me, which I barely catch.

"It is a good idea, but who would put themselves at such risk?"

I think Marcus too understood my idea, someone has to volunteer for this to work.

"I will go, it's my idea after all."

Nina grabs my arm, she doesn't say it out loud but it is clear to me that she will be joining too.

Following my lead, the hero himself steps up and offers to join, Marcus not only looks like a Greek hero, but he also acts like one. We need someone else to join, no one within the crowd seems willing to become part of the bait group.

Two thug looking guys arrive from behind me, they stare at me respectfully, lowering their heads in a clear sign of submission.

'What the hell?'

"Boss, my brother and I will join you."

People look somewhat afraid of the two brothers, but to my displeasure, they are more terrified by me, some try to avoid my gaze when it meets theirs, I even caught a couple of them flinching.

"Then, it's decided."

At some point, I became the center of the group, people listening to my plan and following my indications. We discussed the details of the plan, Marcus introduces me to the other team leaders who will be in charge of coordinating the subjugation of the monsters.

There are three men and one woman, each of them will take their groups and come to our rescue a couple of minutes after we are surrounded by the pack, they at least look confident of being capable of handling the monsters.

Marcus explains to me that the two brothers who are joining us are the ones who created their own team and have been doing their own thing since their arrival to the village. They don't seem to have much to add to the discussion, men of few words, like me.

Kat has decided to remain in the village, a group of healers is being readied to receive any injured from the hunting teams.

"They are over by this side."

A man running from one of the borders of the village arrives after scouting the pack.

"How many?"

Marcus and the rest of the group seems nervous.

"I lost count at forty."

'So more than forty, let's get this party started.'

I step forward in the pack's direction.

"Let's go, Marcus, Drake and Cesar with me."

The brothers and Marcus started following me while Nina kept holding my arm.

"What about her?"

Asks Marcus while looking at Nina.

"Nina is coming too."

She answers while glaring at him as if daring him to say otherwise. He looks at me and I shrug my shoulders.

"The boss wife is fierce."

Drake, one of the brothers whispers to the other. I was about to tell them she isn't my wife, but I saw Nina looking pleased with herself and decided not to ruin her moment.

"But doesn't she look too young for the boss?"

Cesar the younger of the brother says. Nina turns around and gives him a deathly glare.

'Well, to me it looks like an angry kitten glaring at a pitbull.'

I try to hold back from laughing at the comparison.

"Sorry mam."

The younger brother says when he notices Nina heard him.

'I think I'm going to ignore my surroundings for now.'

'What is this about the boss and his wife, does it look like that to other people? And why am I the boss?'

We soon reach the entrance of the village, there is a sign.

[Welcome to Village #1216]

Marcus is coordinating the hunting teams behind us, they have to come from different directions so that the pack is surrounded, blocking their escape.

Once everything is organized, our little band of five leaves the safety of the village. As we advance into the forest, we hear a woman screaming in fear, the howling from the dogs close to her location.

Our group starts running towards the direction of the screams. There are tens of dogs running after her, a couple of them blocking her path.

"Nina, get on a tree and shoot from there until the hunting teams arrive."

She nods, quickly disappearing from my side and finding a tree to climb, she is fast.

"I'm going to block the dogs following behind the girl, Marcus come with me, Drake and Cesar cover our backs."

"Okay boss."

Both brothers answer while Marcus runs by my side.

"HELP!"

When the woman sees our little group, she starts running in our direction.

With my gauntlets ready, I run towards one of the dogs blocking her path, while Marcus goes after the other, he carries a one-handed sword and a round shield.

The creatures are too focused on the woman and don't notice our arrival, helping Marcus and me attack them from behind. I grab one of the rear legs of the dog and lift it, using a semi-circular motion to forcefully throw it to the ground.

'When did I get that strong? I didn't feel much of its weight.'

I don't waste time on the dog and get in front of the woman, covering her retreat. Marcus pushed the dog with his shield and follows my lead. Drake and Cesar stand behind us, making sure she is at the center of the group, protected from all sides.

A few seconds later we are surrounded by ten to twenty of the monsters, more arriving with each passing second.

'This is crazy.'

Cesar holds summons some sort of spear, holding it with both of his hands, Drake uses a shield the size of a door to cover for his brother. They have some sort of teamwork going on, which isn't surprising.

"Are you okay?"

Asks Marcus to the girl, who is trying to recover her breath.

"I'm fine, but how are going to get out of here? We are surrounded and they keep coming."

She sounds somewhat desperate.

"We just have to hold on for a couple of minutes, there is help coming."

I turn my head towards her, trying to smile while sounding confident, she backs away one step from me, then looks at Marcus who confirms my words.

'Tch… why does this keep happening?'

"There are about forty of them, should I blow the whistle?"

I look around us and see dozens of red eyes viciously staring at us ready to pounce any time. Some of them start dashing in our direction, Marcus has the whistle on his mouth.

"BLOW THE WHISTLE!"

Man do I hope they arrive on time.