Capítulo 18: Chapter 18: The Chase

"W-WAIT! I…I can't carry him on my own…"

Freezing mid-step, he turned around to find Isabelle struggling to lift Derrick onto her shoulders to carry him to safety.

Noah found her actions to be foolish. "Stupid" wasn't the best word to describe what he thought of her right now, but she left him lost for any other words.

However, deep down, he respected her. Her group of friends had already deserted her, and her so-called boyfriend was out of commission. She had no one but a stranger who was initially an enemy to count on, and yet she was still willing to neglect her safety for someone else.

'Stupid… sigh… don't blame me if I have to "sacrifice" your boyfriend to get away later. My life is worth more to me than anyone else.'

He rushed towards Isabelle's side and helped to carry Derrick, but he made sure to avoid his frontal area. He had already decided in his mind not to carry Derrick, but he knew "someone" who should be able to carry him without slowing them down.

"Hey? Come here, you," he called out to his spider, now looking warily around its surroundings. It sensed danger from the bird in the distance, but since the bird wasn't focusing on it, it continued to look around vigilantly.

"Sigh, I swear I really need to give you a name. I'm calling you, and you don't even move!" He muttered aloud, his dissatisfaction not going unnoticed by his spider. It gave one last reluctant glance towards its unfinished meal before trudging its way towards Noah.

It didn't take long for them to adjust Derrick's body on the spider, its immense size allowed them to effortlessly hoist Derrick onto its back without fear of him toppling over. Noah couldn't help but wish it was bigger so they could all get on its back and have the spider jump them to safety.

He was aware that his wishful thinking didn't provide any help in the situation as he was forced to shelve his thoughts so they could retreat from the imminent danger. He was about to take off before he noticed, in the corner of his vision, Isabelle. She was also trying to climb atop the spider's hide. A scowl made its way onto his face, anger sparked in his chest when he saw how she struggled to pull herself up just to fall again.

She failed for the second time and tried to repeat her attempt before being pulled at her clothes to bring her down.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to slow us down and get us all caught? I'd be better off just leaving you both here before I let that happen."

At first, Isabelle was prepared to protest after being berated. How did he expect her to keep up with them if she had to run on her own? The creature behind them could fly! This was a clear sign that he was going to leave her to die. Fear of death gave her a bit of courage to speak out, yet the aftermention of his clear threat was enough to have her become docile. That didn't stop her eyes from threatening to release the waterworks again.

"Jeez! Fine, get on my back… how can you cry about everything?" He offered to carry her to avoid such a situation, leaving him confused as to why his actions became an early trigger for another round of tears. Even as they began to retreat, he could still hear the occasional sniffle. Each step he took as he ran forced her to cling on harder, forcing her to focus on hanging on for dear life. Something that Noah both enjoyed and loathed. He would very much prefer when she's mute, if not for the chokehold he would occasionally be put through.

Hiss!*

Not long after the group began to tread their way to the cafeteria, Noah overheard his spider hissing. He noted before that the spider made that same sound when it was trying to intimidate a force equal to or stronger than itself. Instinctively, Noah braced himself for what could only be one reason behind the spider's agitation.The image of the creature's silhouette was still fresh in his memory when he heard a call that was similar to a prehistoric creature.

He was unaware of any species of bird that were capable of creating such a sound.

Not knowing exactly what was chasing them or its location brought about a stressful tension. Every few breaths Noah would try to glance in a new direction to locate the creature, which was easier said than done when he had "someone" frantically moving on his back.

Ominously, he felt that the creature could only be in one place after his many failed attempts to find it. Soon, however, a soft glare forced its way into his vision, momentarily causing his sensitive eyes to wince as the sun finally rose. The sudden sunlight was unsettling, while also comforting, that is, if it wasn't for the area of shade that covered a significant distance in his surroundings.

If he was unsure about the origin of the predatory call before, now it was safe to say that the bird was the source.

Flapping*

Not too long afterward, Noah could hear the sounds and feel the pressure of the creature's wings flapping powerfully against the air. He wasn't sure how to get out of his current predicament. There was the option of leaving the two behind and escaping using his spider, but that would also mean neither he nor his spider would be healed. Or he could try to fight it out, which seemed even less productive than his first idea.

His hands, which originally firmly gripped around Isabelle's legs, began to loosen. The thought of abandoning the two was becoming strong. Isabelle's emotions were at an all-time high! She didn't notice the lack of support on her legs; she was too busy losing what was left of her mind at the sight of a giant bird. The huge shadow of the creature was slowly growing in size while blocking out more of the sky; it was evident that the creature was closing the distance.

But maybe out of fear of needing to get out of such a terrifying situation, she suggested a way out of their predicament.

"Th-the trees! We can use the trees!"

The suggestion was simple and something that Noah had thought about originally, but it was just a fleeting thought. After thinking about it carefully, they could hide under the trees and maybe use the tree to allow the spider to gain height if the bird decides to follow. He was uncertain of victory if they were to fight in the open, but if the bird couldn't use its advantage to fly, then killing it or at least defending seemed probable.

Suddenly, he could feel the pressure of the wind blowing down on them more strongly. The bird was descending! He had to do something and fast. To their luck, there were a couple of trees next to a small garden about 70 yards out. If they could prevent any damage done during the bird's first descent, then they would be in the clear, only it sounded easier than it looked.

"Derrick!"

Noah heard Isabelle scream from behind. He looked over toward his spider to find the oversized bird swooping down towards it with its outstretched talons. Seeing the talons up close, each talon resembled a freshly forged sword fleshly sharpened, capable of rendering through flesh and bone with ease.

Whoosh! Just when it was safe to assume that the spider was about to be caught, the spider nimbly jumped out of the way and then continued on its run. The entire process was uncanny, not to mention that the time it took to land while running again was without pause.

After the near miss, Noah could hear strong grunts originating from the bird, the sound resembling that of hungry pigs. It was drastically different from its earlier calls; he could only assume that the bird was frustrated at not catching its meal.

'He's targeting my spider, damn it! You better hope we don't find you later after I get stronger. I'm going to cook you alive or maybe I'll just tame you and make you fly around till you die from exhaustion.' Noah was clearly frustrated. Out of all the free meals laying around on the ground, why did it have to go after "his" creature?

He doesn't know if it was because the spider appeared more appetizing or if it was just a more fulfilling meal.

Soon, he calmed down since this is still working to his advantage. He wouldn't be able to avoid the bird as his spider did. It's not like he had eyes behind or above his head, nor could he jump as far. He thought things were going well before he felt the girl he was holding begin to squirm to get out of his hold.

"W-wait! Stop! It… YOUR SPIDER DROPPED DERRICK!"

Hearing 'your spider' almost caused him to trip over himself. He thought something happened to his spider and was prepared to cause a distraction to save it. His gaze panickedly glanced over, he noticed the spider was fine and was still running towards the trees, causing him to become confused over her screams.

Later, his mind caught on about the 'Derrick' part, and he looked a little further back to find a body lying on the ground, reaching out as if they were attempting to crawl but struggling to do so.

"Oof!" Noah felt a sudden pain at the back of his head. Not only was Isabelle still squirming, but she then resorted to throwing her body around wildly, often hitting Noah in the process, something that he wasn't too fond of. His patience was beginning to wane with each flail that struck him until his frustrations were no longer able to be contained.

"Tsk, fine, woman." He muttered through clenched teeth. "If you want to save him so much, then be my guest. I'm not desperate enough to die for you just to receive your healing."

Because of his irritation, he didn't let her down calmly; he forcibly released her grip from around his neck while he was still running, generating a small shriek from the woman before she tumbled onto the ground. Noah's lack of hesitation and sympathy baffled her. Who throws away a lady in distress or a person on the verge of death?

For an instant, she almost forgot what she was originally in the middle of doing until she saw the bird swooping down, its target being the spider once again.

"Derrick!" Yelling his name again, she scurried to her feet and rushed toward him, oblivious to the pain her body was just subjected to.

Noah never looked back as he continued to run onwards; he was already peeved regarding the series of events.

'I couldn't kill him and get my experience, a stupid bird is chasing me, and now we won't be getting healed…' He repeatedly agonized over his bad luck before he and his spider finally made it to the shelter of trees.

They both quickly made their way behind the tree; both were pretty drained. When they saw the bird try to approach from the opposite direction, they both made their way back on the other side. After this scene repeated itself for the uptenth time, the bird seemed to have caught on that it wouldn't be able to reach them without going down and hunting them on land, which it seemed very hesitant about doing.

Maybe it was instinctual for it not to hunt a target that could fight back unless it held an advantage. From what Noah could tell after observing for a while was that its appearance resembled that of a vulture. He couldn't say he was an animal guru, but he knew vultures were one of the only birds that didn't have any hair from their neck up and they were UGLY. And vultures are widely known to be scavengers which Noah assumed is the reason the bird didn't want to directly confront them. However, he couldn't be completely sure since its mentality could change with its size.

He then looked to his side to his "threatening" counterpart. The spider held four of its legs up in the air, desperately trying to showcase its deadly pincers to the bird that no longer held any desire to confront it.

'Well, if that makes you feel safe, then you do you. Sigh… this has been some day, I'm actually getting really tired.'

Grumble!

Just after thinking of resting, his stomach soon loudly protested. The sudden and unfamiliar noise startled his companion; it quickly shifted its body to show off its threatening posture to the source of the noise only to leave it confused when it found out it was Noah. It didn't know creatures like Noah could create such a sound or what it could mean. Either way, it sounded threatening.

Hiss! It heard his stomach growl again. Retaliating, it rubbed its fangs together, creating its signature sound.

"Dramatic much?" Noah couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Well, you can sit there and continue doing… well, whatever it is you're doing." Noah reached toward his side to open his bag, wanting to find anything to temporarily satiate his hunger. "I think I put a few snacks in here…"

"Ahhh! Get away! Stay back! Pl-please save us! I-I-I'll do anything!"

"Mmph, I almost forgot about her…" Noah mumbled aloud, his voice sounded muffled unlike usual. A bar of some sort was in his mouth while he took slow bites. The bar he was eating consisted of a lot of protein; the thickness of the bar caused him to chew tediously with each bite.

But eating didn't stop him from looking over to view the two situations. Earlier he felt that it was a bit too calm, and now he realized why. Since the bird couldn't obtain the spider, which seemed to be its true target, it decided to go after the stragglers instead.

"Oooo… You shouldn't have done that." Noah remarked as if he was watching a show. The bird was clearly testing the waters when it hissed towards Isabelle struggling to aid Derrick to his feet.

"After the first encounter, the two cowered away from it," he mused aloud, his gaze fixed on the bird. "Surely the bird felt that it was the dominant one of the three."

Just as he was enjoying the show, Noah was hit with a foreign feeling, a feeling or more like a suggestion that wasn't his. It felt like an inquiry on why he was only watching instead of fighting with the two out there. Initially, he believed he perhaps was having a guilty conscience and his feelings were not aware of it, but then he had a realization when he heard the sound of scuffling behind him.

"SO IT'S YOU? So I guess the bond does a lot more than I would've guessed… but hmmm… I'm not sure if you'll understand. I guess it's more because… I don't want to? That man." He pointed to Derrick, who at this point didn't appear scared at all. He appeared as if he was an empty vessel. Noah wouldn't blame him after not only losing his manhood but his death right now was kind of set in stone.

"Well, he tried to kill me, and that person over there decided to stick with that person when I was already bringing her to safety. So… I guess what I'm trying to say is, I just don't care anymore."