No Way Out

“They can’t evacuate Chief, the roads are burning!”

These were not words he wanted to hear. The lava monsters had made their way to surround the town, and several were now closing in. It seemed that the single large monster was actually several smaller, and a few had broken from the formation to start destroying the town directly.

“Where do we go chief?!”

“We’re going nowhere till everyone in this town is safe and sound! Get as many people as you can into underground stone basements! There are a couple around the older neighborhoods the old order built.”

In hindsight I guess they were built like that to hamper this sort of thing?

The Chief continued issuing orders, finding places to bring people and attempting to find some sort of safe zone, but such thoughts were cut off when he came face to face with one of the monsters. It was burning through one of his favorite restaurants.

Ah no, I guess I can’t eat there anymore?

The Chiefs lackadaisical thoughts were cut off by the creatures roar, apparently its goofy appearance hid quite the large tract of primal animosity.

He began to immediately run the other direction alongside the other ten officers still with him, but the creature followed closely behind, setting fire to the wooden buildings it slinked over.

After a block he motioned two officers to take a 90 degree turn left, in some hope to warn people of the coming creature. As this order was given, he noticed that the creature slowed down for the barest of moments to observe the separation, before continuing to follow the larger group.

I could use this…? Well maybe not, it’s a bit too small of a window by itself. But it does give me something to work with.

By this point the creature was gaining, and gaining quickly. To move forward with his strange little tests, the Chief motioned for all but two officers to take a 90 degree turn right. In response, the creature slowed for an instant as it had earlier, before turning to follow the Chief and his group of six officers.

That confirms it, it probably is made to follow and hunt down groups of humans, and focuses on the largest group. But this doesn’t tell me how to hurt it… oh here’s an idea!

Feeling strangely playful despite the looming danger, the chief sent a single officer to the right. The creature followed its previous habits perfectly, slowing for a moment before getting back on pace. This further cemented the Chiefs suspicions, though that was not his only reason for sending this officer.

Guess they ain’t to bright ‘uh? Can’t take too much info at once.

The Chief was grinning quite widely now, despite his job necessitating discipline, he took a certain joy in high stakes situations such as this.

The next step in his plan was to send a few quick orders to the fire department trucks left in the town, who were mostly occupied trying to rescue people and keep the fires spread by the monsters under control.

Well well well, let's see how this goes.

This plan was quite frankly dangerous, but there was little that could be done otherwise, especially considering the creature only getting closer to them.

“You folks ready for the next steps?”

“Ready as we’ll ever be sir!”

Despite themselves the other officers were grinning as well, perhaps it was some sense of loyalty? After all, the Chief made a point of staying with the larger group no matter what.

“We’re reaching the cutoff point, get ready to rumble!”

They creature was practically on top of them now, it was a miracle they didn’t burst into flames on the spot.

“Ready…? 3… 2… 1…”