Chapter 18 18: The Chase

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

Freezing mid step, he turned around to see that Isabel was struggling to lift Derrick on her shoulders to carry him to safety.

Noah found her to be very stupid, stupid wasn't the best word to describe what he thought of her right now but she left him lost for words.

But 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's 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 him but he made sure to avoid his front area. He 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 a danger from the bird in the distance but it felt that since the bird wasn't focusing on it then it shouldn't be the danger its master was worried about so 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!"

It didn't take long for them to adjust Derrick's body on the spider. At this time Noah wished it was bigger so they could all get on its back and have the spider jump them to safety. He was about to take off before he noticed in the corner of his vision, Isabelle, who was also trying to climb atop the spider. He pulled at her clothes to bring her down.

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

At first Isabelle was prepared to protest, how did he expect her to keep up with them if she had to run on her own. But she quickly became docile when she heard his threat to leave them. That didn't stop her eyes from threatening to release the water works again.

"Jeez! Fine get on my back…how can you cry about everything?" Just as he offered, he noticed she started crying again before she climbed onto his bed. Even as they began to retreat, he could still hear the occasional sniffle.

Hisss!*

Not long after the group started to make 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 cause Derricks' group from earlier to retreat. Instinctively he knew it could be only one thing and that was the bird from earlier. He heard a call that was similar to the dinosaur movies he saw glimpses of in the past. He didn't know what kind of bird could make such a noise, but now that the sun was finally rising. He could make out the gigantic shadow of the bird above them so he knew the bird had to be the source of the noise.

Flapping*

Not too long afterwards he could hear the sounds and feel the pressure of the creature's wings flapping hard against the air. Noah wasn't sure how to get out of his current predicament. He could leave the two behind and jump away using the spider but he also felt both of them would be out of commission for a longer time without healing. Or he could try to fight it out which seemed even less productive than his first idea.

His hands started to loosen around Isabelle's legs. 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 leg because she was too busy being frantic at the sight of a giant bird slowly gaining on them. 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 thought about originally but it was just a fleeting thought. But 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 boy couldn't use its advantage to fly and move around then killing it or at least defending seemed probable.

Quickly, he could feel the pressure of the wind blowing down on them more strongly. The bird was descending on them, he had to do something and fast. Thankfully there were a couple of trees next to a small garden about 70 yards out. If they can prevent any damage done on the bird's first descent then they would be cleared reaching the trees but it sounded easier than it looked.

"Derrick!"

He heard Isabelle scream from behind him. He looked over towards his spider to see the bird reaching for it with its claws that appeared sharper than a freshly made sword.

Whoosh! Just when the bird approached it, the spider nimbly jumped out of the way and then continued on its run.

Right after, he heard a grunting sound originating from the bird that kind of resembled the sounds of hungry pigs. He figured that the bird was frustrated at not catching its meal.

'He's targeting my spider damnit! 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 as well, 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 starting to squirm to get out of his arms.

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

Hearing 'his spider' almost made him stop his steps. He thought something happened to his spider and was prepared to cause a distraction to help save it. But when he glanced over, he noticed the spider was fine and was still running towards the trees.

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

"Oof!" Noah felt a slight pain in the back of his head. The constant squirming Isabelle was doing caused her to hit Noah in a couple spots that he was finding very annoying.

"Tsk, fine woman. If you want to save him so much then be my guess. 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 but he forced her to release her grip from around his neck while he was still running, causing a small shriek from the woman before falling on her butt. The lack of hesitation from Noah 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 during until she saw the bird swooping down once again for the spider.

"Derrick!" Yelling his name again, she scurried to her feet and rushed towards him.

Noah never looked back, he was already peeved regarding what happened.

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

They both quickly made their way behind the tree, both of them 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 the third time of doing so the bird seemed to have caught on that it won'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 it after a while was that it resembled 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 but 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 while it also revealed its fangs and its small mouth.

'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 causing it to quickly shift its body to show off its threatening posture to the source of the noise which only confused it 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 a hissing effect.

"Dramatic much? Well you can sit there and continue doing…well, whatever it is you're doing. I think I put a few snacks in here…"

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

"Mmph, I almost forgot about her…" He talked with his mouth full, a bar of some sort was in his mouth while he took slow bites out of it. The bar he was eating consisted of a lot of protein, he felt it would be a chore to eat too much at once considering the thickness of the bar.

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.

Maybe the bird felt less threatened by the two since it didn't attack them from the air but landed on the ground and extended its wings provocatively before releasing its dinosaur-like call towards them. Even from here, Noah saw the two shrink away from it.

"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 at Isabelle standing by Derrick who struggled to his knees. And after the first encounter, the two cowardly away from it, surely, the bird felt that it was the dominant one of the three.

Just then, Noah felt something, 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. At first he thought 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, but it's more because…I don't want to? That man." He pointed to Derricked, 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 man hood, 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."