Multiverse: by Nick Venomz (best books to read for beginners .txt) 📕

Ex undid his Forcefield, walking up to Teo; who stood up while still weakened terribly, declaring: “you may keep your companion with you.” The crowd remained silent, observing them. Nobody wanted to speak a word, watching as Teo’s body wavered from consciousness to unconsciousness. 

“This Diamondrock Wolf will be allowed to stay in the capital and nobody is allowed to touch it or his master.” He ordered, motioning for the crowd to disperse. They listened, walking off as Teo, Ex, and Brooklyn remained behind. 

“I’m surprised, I expected you to badmouth me or wish death upon me,” Ex muttered.

Teo shook his head, shooting down Ex’s thought. “You have shown me the errors of my way. I acted without maturity, proving to be a nuisance more so than a hero. If anything, you should be insulting me.” He remarked, bowing his head. 

Color me surprised, Ex thought. He bowed his head back, watching as Teo departed, struggling to walk. He nearly tripped on his shoes, worrying passersby. After a few seconds, he was then assisted by another guard, who took him away.

Meanwhile, Ex glanced at Brooklyn. He then asked her to lead him to Night Cat Inn. She nodded, grabbing his hand and taking him towards the inn. As they made their way there, Ex thought to himself. The Capital isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. So far, it’s been better than I could ever imagine.

TBC…

The next day, the first round of Uncaged Beasts began. The participants were paired up, forming up the fifteen rounds that made up the elimination rounds. The first fourteen rounds went on while Ashanti tried to calm Chase’s nerves. He was nervous but prepared. With his first opponent named, being Alexia, he had already thought of an idea of how he could stop her Fenrir. 

Ashanti, meanwhile, didn’t share the same confidence that Chase had. In her mind, he was going to be devoured by her Fenrir. It was a closed case for her as Alexia’s Fenrir’s strength surpassed Chase’s weak human strength. He was outmatched.  

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Ashanti asked, still freaking out. They walked up the arena. She glanced at Alexia, who was walking towards the arena’s entrance, who noticed them and shot a smug smirk. She was sure that victory was in her palms.

“Yeah, I think I have a plan. Just watch me, I’ll defeat her!” He declared with a weird burst of confidence. 

“It’s a legendary beast!” She shouted. “How could you… defeat him?” Her voice turned into a whisper at the end as she lowered her head. 

Chase grabbed her hands, bringing them to his face. She raised her head, staring at him. “I promise you,” He stated while tightly holding her hands. “I will destroy her Fenrir, I swear on my family.”

Ashanti smiled and nodded, being swept away by Chase for a brief moment. “In the end, it’s still a dog. I’ll deal with Fenrir like any street dog I’ve met.” He remarked, confusing Ashanti.

Treat a Fenrir like a normal dog? She thought in her mind. Otherworlders must have it rougher than us if they see a Fenrir like a normal stray dog.

Chase released Ashanti, turning towards the arena’s entrance, and yanked the mesh door open. He stepped inside. The previous fight’s carnage was being cleaned up by the janitors while the spectators waited for the next battle.  None of the carnage was in the stands as a magic barrier was erected to protect the spectators from being wounded by any stray attacks. 

Already standing in her place was Alexia, who had been waiting for Chase and Ashanti to enter. Chase stepped inside first, taking his spot while Ashanti followed behind, standing on a red square. 

Ashanti chuckled softly to herself, laughing at their expense. She felt like the boy was overkill for a Fenrir to go against a human. Like a god going against a human. 

“Welcome back to the last battle of the first round. I‘m ready to show you the next competitors.  Alexia Fize’s Fenrir versus Ashanti Min’s human. This fight will be extremely bloody, so another gore warning for those with even weaker stomachs as I doubt that Alexia will go easy on Ashanti.” The announcer--Ejak Hav---declared from the stands. As soon as he finished his words, an alarm blared as the red squares rose to a grand height. The summoners weren’t allowed to be injured during the fight, so the village decided on using magic to raise them into the sky and out of danger as their summon beasts dealt with each other. 

Alexia---irritated with her time being wasted by preparations---called out to Ashanti. “If I win this battle, then that weak human will become my servant to his last breaths!” She shouted from her tower. 

Ashanti shook her head, denying the bet and shouting, “why would I give Chase over to you?” To her. She was out of her mind if she believed that Ashanti would bet Chase over anything. 

However, Chase had heard the bet, deciding to agree but with a condition. “If I win, then you can’t bully Ashanti anymore. You must stay clear of her!” He shouted. 

“Chase!” Ashanti screamed. “What are you doing?”

“Getting rid of your bullies,” Chase remarked, glancing at Ashanti. He then turned to focus on Alexia. “You accept the condition?”

“Sure, I’ll win anyway.” She arrogantly stated. 

“Are both sides ready?” Ejak asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Alexia said. She then turned towards her Fenrir, ordering for it to not kill Chase, but hurt him enough that he wished for death.

“I-I’m r-ready…” Her voice trailed off as Ejak blew the horn three times, signaling the beginning of the battle. Chase and Fenrir stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. It was slowly moving to a standstill. 

TBC…

We headed back towards HQ with our tails in between our legs. We couldn’t do anything but obediently return to the people that fed and clothed us. None of us were happy about it, but there wasn’t anything to do aside from following orders.

As we walked back towards HQ with our heads facing the ground, ashamed of our failure, we stopped at a cabin on the side of our path. Our legs grew tired and our eyes became heavy. We were halfway in our adventure back to HQ, but we were still worn out. The adrenaline had died during our walk of shame, leaving sore joints and hungry stomachs.

“We’ll stop here. The horde isn’t too far away, so we have 5 - 10 minutes to rest.” Luna told us. 

“What if we sit here and wait for our deaths?” Lee asked, catching a lot of confused stares. None of us ever thought of peacefully accepting our deaths and allowing the zombies to tear us apart. The visions of Will Cruz’s death were enough to deter me from dying. Cruz, Mccormick, and others lost their lives for the mission. I didn’t want to disrespect them by killing myself - throwing myself into the zombie horde.

“Shut up, Lee. We don’t need negative thoughts, right now. Let’s focus on surviving this and move towards our next goal.” Garfield remarked. 

“I agree with Alvarez-” Salinas pointed at Garfield. “-right now, we should focus on getting out of here. Many have already lost their lives, let’s not lose ours.”

The team nodded simultaneously. We rested by the cabin’s, somehow, sturdy walls. I glanced up at the zombie horde periodically before turning off my mind for a second. Garfield would then prevent me from entering a deep slumber by shaking me. 

This pattern continued for six minutes before Luna ordered everybody up. “We’re leaving, get packed up.”

“Yes, squad leader.” We said simultaneously. 

Luna nodded, turning to face the horde as it neared us. Afraid of being surrounded, we continued to move towards HQ. When we arrived at HQ, we were safe. Or that’s what we believed.

***

“Alvarez, any news on Red Scorpions? Are they in a better place than us?” Luna asked, glancing over her shoulder at Garfield.

Garfield looked down at the walkie-talkie before grabbing it and bringing it up to his mouth. “This is Alvarez from the Warriors reporting in. What is your sitrep?”

“Alvarez, this is Red Scorpions leader, Hugh Hackman, reporting in. Do not return to HQ!” He shouted.

“Hackman, what is happening? Why shouldn’t we return?”

“HQ has abandoned us. My scouts were sent ahead to ensure our path, arriving at HQ, and were viciously gunned down by the 101st.”

“101st?” Salinas questioned.

“That’s the elite force, right?” Luna asked. “Why are they gunning us down?”

“Confirm, HQ is gunning us down?” Garfield asked.

“Correct, do not return to HQ. They have betrayed us.”

Garfield glanced up at me, raising an eyebrow. He then looked back at the walkie-talkie. “Understand, we’re rerouting ourselves.”

“Good, now keep radio silence. Discard your walkie-talkie and flee. We’re no longer wanted by our superiors.”

“Discard them?” Salinas questioned. “We’re throwing our lives at Alpha Fox away?” He asked. Alpha Fox was the name of our base, but people rarely use the name. Instead, many called it Headquarters or HQ, for short.

“Discarding walkie-talkie. I wish you and your men the best of luck.” Garfield responded.

Hackson didn’t immediately respond, hesitating. “Good luck, Warriors. I’ll see you again on the other side.” A bullet could be heard being chambered. 

Luna placed her hand over her mouth while the others looked away or tried to cover their ears. 

“Goodbye, my brethren,” Hackson remarked before the sound of gunfire echoed through the walkie-talkie. Hackson was dead.

Luna turned away and hurled. Salinas teared up, looking away to wipe away the tears. The rest of the unit, including myself, looked away from the walkie-talkie. 

“Let’s go,” Garfield remarked, throwing the walkie-talkie to the side. “The horde is catching up.”

“Where are we going? We’ll be gunned down at HQ!” Salinas shouted. 

“Then…” my voice trailed off. “... how about we leave HQ and live our own lives?”

“We’ll be discarding everything… but I agree with that plan,” Lee remarked, glancing towards the direction of HQ. “However, I still have family there. I can’t leave without them.”

“I-” Luna wiped the puke from her mouth with her sleeve. “-have family there as well. I’m not leaving without them.”

“Then, shall we split here? Luna and Lee go to HQ to pick up their families while the rest of us go to the nearest city? The city of Celina.” Salinas asked.

“That makes sense,” Luna said. 

“I’m good with that.” Lee chimed in.

“Then we’re going with that plan. Luna and Lee will get