Summoner: The Book of Dimension

81 The Escape

If Peter stopped, the trail he left would be taken by the fireball, which meant the fireball would only stop wherever he stopped. If that happened, the fire would reach his feet so that he would be consumed by fire. Seeing the fire trails the fireball created, he wouldn’t be an exception to burn.

The shadow monsters were standing by, hovering about two meters away from everyone. They were afraid of the fireball. One of the attendees took the coffee cup that Peter left on his seat and poured it at the fireball. The fireball disappeared at the touch of the liquid, and everybody was silent. “What did you do?” Peter yelled. He was angry and thankful at the same time, but he couldn’t keep but feel bad because the fireball was protecting them.

He looked at the shadow monsters, and they started approaching them with caution. But then, the fireball appeared just where it had disappeared. Since Peter wasn’t taking a step, and so as the fireball. Peter intended to stay still. He couldn’t just move carelessly. He needed to think about what to do first. The shadow monster couldn’t attack them in the presence of the fireball, so he took that chance to come up with an escape plan.

What made it hard was Josh’s casket, as they couldn’t just leave it behind. They still had to formally and properly bury him in the cemetery.

He looked at everyone. There was Ray, Zack, and other men that could help them. They didn’t help with the possessed locals earlier because they were too scared to get possessed. But now was not the time to be scared. They had to work together and not go lazy. “Ray, Zack, and two other guys carry Josh’s casket and come beside me. Actually, more than four men could be better. You could move around Josh’s body when you’re many.”

They looked at Peter. “As you can see, I can’t be of help. This guy is following me around. I need to move around freely,” he said. “We need to run, understood? This creature is quick. If you’re slow enough, you’ll be left behind. Note that this fireball is protecting us,” he explained.

Six men, among with Ray and Zack, went to get the casket. Peter watched as the men talked about how they would run. “You guys probably have an idea about marching, right? Ray asked. “Left, right, left, right, that’s all it takes. But we need to be on beat.”

“You can lead us, Ray,” Zack almost said impatiently. Ray only nodded.

They lifted Josh’s casket, and with six people sharing the weight of Josh’s body, it looked like it was just light. Ray and Zack were in the front, a hand on the casket and the other was for their torchlight. Two men behind were doing the same behind, while two more men were doping the same, holding the weight in the middle. That explained why it seemed to be balanced.

They did practice, but they failed to march with the same steps, even dropping the casket. Peter snapped, “Hey, get it together! We’re going to run.”

Ray sighed. “I’ll count before we run, is that okay?” the men yelled yes.

Peter sighed as well. Somehow, it made him feel anxious. “I don’t feel good about this. Few people should surround these men. The rest, come beside me,” he instructed, and he waited until everyone got to their position.

“Try to match my step, okay? If you stay behind, use your torchlights. If the men carrying Josh stays behind, few should come and help them when the monsters start to approach,” he added, looking at the housemaid who had a remote in her hand.

The lobby had a part of the wall covered with a rolling gate. It could be controlled by remote control, which the housemaid managed to take earlier before the first attack. Peter thought Benedict should raise her salary since she was quick-witted with escaping.

The housemaid opened the rolling gate, and it rolled upward, revealing the dark world outside. The shadow monster that tried to lure them with fake light was gone, so everything was dark. There’s a very faint light gradient where the sun was supposed to rise, but they couldn’t wait for that long. The shadow monsters would take every advantage served in front of them.

Everybody was ready and waiting for Peter’s first steps. He looked at everyone. He sighed and then counted to let everyone know when he would run. “One, two, three!” At the mention of three, he sprinted with moderate speed to make sure everyone was closely following him. He was glad that they were fast enough to match Peter’s speed despite carrying Josh's casket. Josh was slightly rattling against the casket, but as long as he wouldn’t fall, there would be no problem.

Peter looked behind to see if some were left behind, but there were none. He smiled, but his smile disappeared quickly when he saw the shadow monsters quickly following them but couldn’t actually get close to them. Still, it was dangerous.

“Are you guys, okay?” Peter asked as he quietly panted. They just nodded at him and continued to run. He looked behind again, but to his surprise, he noticed something that made him gasp quietly. The trail of fire left by the fireball was quickly spreading, reaching everything it could.

They were a few meters away from the mansion, but he could see that it was starting to get devoured by the fire. He saw a big window broke, and it revealed the people they locked in the pantry. They had flashlights they left there. It was a relief to Peter; they would probably survive. He hoped so.

He continued to look in front of him until they reached the foot of the mountain. It was the hardest part since there was a slope, and it slowed everyone’s speed, even Peter.

They just needed to reach the other town and think about how to kill the fireball. That was the last plan for their escape. “I swear, I’ll take a long rest after this,” Zack complained.

Linda handed Peter something. A cup of coffee. Peter was puzzled because it was not the time for coffee. And how the heck did she even manage to carry that? “Use it like the guy earlier. In case we need to halt, use it. The fireball would appear again anyway.”

“How can you be so sure?” Peter asked.

She smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know. I just saw that it did earlier.

“Thanks,” Peter said and clipped the mouth of the paper cup with half of the coffee so that the coffee wouldn’t spill over.

Finally, they reached downtown. Peter even saw his car, but he didn’t have time to stop by and take it. He also didn’t want to burn the car with the fireball following him around.

“Where do we go?” Peter asked because last time when he attempted to escape the town, he got lost. He looked at Benedict and the housemaid. The housemaid was pushing the wheelchair of Benedict.

“We should take that alley,” the housemaid said and pointed towards a house with a big tree.

Peter nodded, and everyone was alert that they would take that route. Which made him think, if he ended up successfully taking that route and he got out of this creepy town, what would happen to them?

Will the shadow monsters attack him anyway since he had the book with him? Thinking it through, he thought that the shadow monsters would still push through the plan of attacking them even when he was gone. They didn’t know who possessed the book until he used it, like earlier. That was probably why the monsters were mostly trying to attack him earlier.

“Was this town always scary?” Peter asked, but he meant to think it to himself. He waited for their answer anyway since he asked it.

“Yes, and no. This town is a small town. People who lived here are mostly old, so it was quiet. It became the talk of the town when because some tourists thought people were scary. The truth is that the locals are just intimidated by tourists, so they didn’t know how to communicate properly. However, Everything started to get strange earlier last year, when locals report seeing things—creatures of shadows and such. I just started to work here this year, and I could tell something really was strange,” the housemaid was about to tell the spooky experiences she experienced, but she thought it was not the time to do so.

Peter nodded. He had a hunch that this attack should’ve been planned.

As they ran to the alley, the housemaid told them they could see a bridge there blocks from them, and fortunately, it was concrete. It would be hard if it were a hanging bridge.

“That should be the bridge to the neighboring town,” Zack commented.

“It is, indeed,” Benedict said.

Peter looked behind as they passed by a few houses there. The houses they passed by were being devoured by the trail of fire of the fireball. His eyes widened. He knew what could exactly happen.

The town would be on fire.