Chapter 23 (1/2)

The Chimera was, frankly, pretty damn massive from up close. Not as big as it used to be when it was in its gorilla-guise, but it was still damn big. It lost some of its bulk due to the lost limb (as far as I could tell from a glance it still had about the biomass of an average human in it before it was torn off), but considering how honking huge it was before, the difference in size was only academic.

More importantly though, this was the first time I could observe its transformation happening in real-time. Its hind legs were growing both longer and more muscular, its torso was elongating, its shoulders moved to allow its head to take a forward-looking position and the front legs were forming into digitigrade limbs with clawed paws right in front of my eyes. In less than fifteen seconds the creature began to resemble a giant feline with a misshapen dinosaur-head and a thick lizard's tail.

I kept staring at the metamorphosis in a daze until my higher brain functions finally got a handle on the situation and asked a very simple yet profound question: ‘Why are you standing still and gawking like a slack-jawed idiot instead of running as far as your legs can carry you?!'

I... had no good comeback to that, so I roused myself and followed my own advice, dashing around the corner of the building like the devil himself was on my tail. Normally this would've been the time when I came up with something snappy about how ‘it might not have been the devil, but definitely the next worst thing,' but considering my track record when it came to taunting the narrative, I decided to think of more immediately life-saving things instead. Not to mention, considering the company I kept, I wasn't entirely certain there wasn't an actual devil in this world, and he might just find the irony delicious enough to show up just to spite me. At this point, it would've only mildly surprised me.

Now, where was I? Oh, right. Running for my life while screaming from the top of my lungs. The latter was something that my lower monkey-brain decided on without asking my higher functions first, so I promptly put an end to it. It was embarrassing and wholly counterproductive, as my lungs could've been put to much better use by pumping delicious, life-saving oxygen to my leg muscles.

Speaking of which, I winced as my feet slapped painfully against the pavement with every adrenaline-fueled step. I was a good thirty meters from the stairs leading up to the entrance, and while it came from a gut-level instead of a more sophisticated logical response, I had no better idea at the time than to get inside. It carried the threat of being cornered indoors, but I doubted it would have been any worse than trying to wrestle the Chimera in the open and without a weapon.

I dashed towards the doors with all my might, only allowing myself a quick peek over my shoulder. I nearly stumbled when I realized the creature was literally behind my back, and my instincts kicked in a split-second later, forcing me to dive to the side as the creature's meaty paw sliced through the space my torso occupied just a moment ago. It probably wasn't used to its quadrupedal form yet, as the miss threw it off-balance. It stumbled and rolled on its back, the spear making a painful scraping noise as it hit the pavement, but a moment later the Chimera was back on its feet again.

I clicked my tongue and concentrated on running again while trying to ignore how quickly the distance I gained was starting to rapidly decrease once again. I absently noted that the area of the stairs was littered with shards of safety glass. The source of said shards also became obvious as I came a little closer; the main doors of the building were broken into smithereens. At the time I considered that a good thing, as it meant an easier entry. In retrospect, I concluded it was probably caused by the girls. The last time I was in the Purple Zone, the automatic doors wouldn't open on their own, so I figured they must've taken a more direct approach.

Then I glanced back and my stomach sunk into a dark pit. The Chimera was upon me again, and this time its gait told me it wasn't going to comically stumble on the last leap. Time slowed to a crawl as I was trying to figure out a way to avoid my steadily approaching and seemingly inevitable fate as monster-chowder. I glanced ahead and saw that the now busted entrance was only about ten meters away from me. It may as well have been on the other side of the moon for all the good it did to me though, as I wasn't going to reach it on foot either way.

And then it happened. It was another of those head-slapping, self-berating, utterly embarrassing moments when the blatantly obvious hit me like a runaway tow-truck. It was the doors that did the trick. Or the lack thereof. It reminded me of the first time I ran into them and how astoundingly stupid I had to be not to remember it until now.

I swiftly recalled the feeling and it came to me with laughable ease. It started with a moment of violent nausea, my vision dissolving like an oil painting under a torrent of paint-thinner. I pictured the hall just on the other side of those broken doors that seemed so far away just a few seconds ago. As matter of fact, it was still very far, and every nerve in my body violently protested against my attempt to rip through space-time. I nearly stumbled as the backlash hit me. An idle part of my brain noted that I've only done very short teleports even during my mind-battle with Brang, and it was entirely possible the hall was simply out of my range, but the rest of my grey matter silenced it as I focused on doing it anyway, because I had no choice in the matter. Since my only other choice was getting eaten, I pushed ahead, strained whatever part of my being was responsible for the ability, and all of a sudden my senses were assailed by a prickling sensation all over my skin, followed by a solid tug, like I was falling from a great height, except sideways.

Then, at last, there was a faint ‘pop' as my surroundings abruptly snapped into place and I was in the hall just like that. There was already a triumphant cry in my throat that my stupid monkey-brain authorized without my consent, one which abruptly turned into one of panic as I noticed the quickly approaching shoe-locker in my way. I had no way to stop, due to a combination of momentum and a sudden spike of violent nausea no doubt caused by my reckless use of my newfound ability, so I twisted my upper body so that I would hit it with my shoulder instead of my head, and hitting it I did. So hard in fact, that the large metal cabinet lurched back from the impact, standing precariously on two legs for a moment before it ultimately tipped over and I fell right on top of it.

For a long second I lay splayed out on top of the locker and tried my best to keep my violently churning stomach under control. I failed, and before I knew it, I got my dinner sprayed all over the floor. It only made me feel marginally better, but I pushed my body off the cabinet all the same, and once I was back on my feet, I hastily wiped the corner of my mouth.

My hopes for catching my breath were promptly dashed as the Chimera, alerted to my presence by the noise of falling furniture, barreled in through the blasted open entrance with a blood-curdling roar of pure, primal anger... which a moment later turned into a surprised whimper as its paws landed on the shattered glass and it just... kind of slid past me like it was on an ice-skating rink. I couldn't tell if it really rolled past on the glass shards (safety glass tends to break into small fragments one ‘could' theoretically slip on after all) or only its pained flailing created the illusion. Either way, I ducked to the side as the large creature tumbled over the other row of shoe lockers and came to a stumbling halt, one of its massive forearms clearly embedded in the metal of the cabinet that finally stopped its tumble.

It looked around, its three pairs of eyes scanning the hall with jerky motions until it found me, still sprawled on the floor where I landed after I got out of its way. It let out a low growl that sounded decidedly exasperated, a surprising emotion to detect in a half-ton shape-changing monstrosity. I was getting ready to dash up the stairs when the realization hit me again and I mumbled to myself, ”Teleport, you idiot.”

I promptly did so, this time aiming at the faculty office by the stairwell, and this time I reached my destination without any more embarrassing hijinks. The nausea was still pretty severe though, so I immediately threw my back against one of the teachers' desks and quieted my ragged breathing. In the meantime, the creature on the other side of the wall let out a frustrated howl and began doing something, which by the sounds of it either involved scrapping the lockers, or the world's worst string quartet. Not that I cared. I was more interested in the fact that this intermezzo finally allowed me to breathe. Also, and arguably more importantly, to think. I wasn't doing much of that lately, was I?

All the more reason to rectify it, I concluded silently before I took a deep breath.

Okay, let's analyze my situation. I was chased by a shape-shifting beast. That was already established, I think. It was also much more resilient than I originally imagined. In retrospect I should've figured it would come with being a shape-shifter, but even so, the notion that losing one of its limbs would somehow make it more dangerous was completely outside of my calculations.

I decided to imagine the worst-case scenario and presumed that the thing was functionally immune to physical harm due to high-speed regeneration. How was I supposed to deal with something like that?

The first idea that came to mind was simple: ignore it and focus on catching up to the girls instead. With my teleportation ability, I had a definitive mobility advantage over it. In fact, I could probably even move to the other side of the barrier if I wanted to.

The idea had some nice sequence-breaking potential, but I discarded it as quickly as I came up with it. Using this new ability of mine was really taxing. My range maxed out at around five meters, and anything beyond that was like trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle. Not to mention, even if I somehow managed to evade the Chimera and move to the other side of the barrier, then what? I had no weapon, I couldn't take any of the girls with me, and I couldn't teleport out with Josh either. Or at least I didn't think I could, but this wasn't exactly the right moment to gamble on that.

In other words, if I tried to avoid this monster and regroup with the girls, it would just put us back to square one, with no closer to rescuing Josh and Snowy, and it would even expose them to more risk. So, what else could I do? Kill it? Can this thing even be killed?

That wasn't just a rhetorical question, by the way. I needed to come up with something fast, and so I reached for my vast treasure trove of tropes that I collected during my research. How did people in stories deal with creatures with high-speed regeneration? ... Fire would be a good start, I supposed. I was a little short on flamethrowers, but maybe the girls could improvise something. The class rep, in particular, was a mage, I was sure she should've some level one firebolts or even a fireball in her spellbook. But then again, didn't they say that Chimeras were resistant to magic?

”Okay, so let's relegate magical fire to the backup plan,” I whispered while glancing over the desk. The creature was still busy tearing apart the shoe lockers outside. It might've thought I was hiding in one of them, which was good news for me. But back to the issue at hand: What options did I have for non-magical fire?

I needed a source of fuel. My first candidate was the home economics classroom, but then I vaguely recalled that the princess once complained about the electric ovens during a lunch break. That didn't mean the classroom had no gas, but I was not going to gamble on that.

There was a place I was fairly certain had gas though, and it was the basement. The school's heating system was using gas boilers, and they were housed there. I learned this tidbit from the class rep, and I had no reason to doubt her. I could most certainly get down there, but I had no idea how I could set up a trap for the creature using the propane landline. Speaking of which, would there even be gas there? Purple Zones had definitive borders as far as I knew, with the inside being a copy of the real world and the outside being just a dark void. Would that mean that the gas lines were connected to nothing? But then again, our phones were still working even when inside a pocket space, so what the hell did I know? That said, even if there was gas there, I was supposed to head for the roof as soon as possible. Going to the basement first would've been a wee bit counter-intuitive.

”Okay, let's call that plan B...” I murmured while rubbing my forehead.

The more I thought about it, the more I had to realize propane wouldn't work anyways. It would just explode, and while the shockwave would probably pulverize me, it would likely only mildly inconvenience the Chimera.

”Scratch that, let's make it plan D instead. Now to fill out plans A to C...”

What other flammable materials were there? I could go outside and look for cars to get gasoline, but I didn't know how big the Purple Zone was, so that was a long shot at best. Still, it should do for plan C, I concluded. What other flammable materials were out there? Oil, paint-thinner, alcohol... Alcohol?

”The burners in the science classroom!” I muttered with a smile.

Yes, that should work, I decided. The chemistry supplies were kept in a secure cabinet at the back of the room, but I was confident I could break it down with some effort, and I once saw Mrs. Applebottom refill one of the alcohol burners from a large metal flask. As far as flammable materials were concerned, I was sure that much was enough to immolate the Chimera, granted I could douse it and then light it without setting myself on fire in the process.

I was ready to declare that plan A when I remembered something else. In roleplaying games, the second most common way of dealing with trolls and other nasty regenerators was acid. Or rather, any corrosives, as bases could be just as caustic. Chemistry 101 aside, while I doubted I could get something as floor-meltingly potent as most fictional acids were, I could definitely get my hands on some rather nasty stuff nonetheless, and luckily they were kept around the same place as the burner fuel.

Considering that sprinkling acid on something was easier and comparatively safer than lighting it on fire, I decided that it should be plan A, and I relegated the burner fuel to plan B. It was about time I started moving though, as the Chimera stopped making a ruckus outside and I was worried I would get discovered.

I made a mental floor-plan of the school in my head. The science classroom was on the first floor. I needed some prep time, so I wanted to get there unnoticed. With my newly christened teleportation ability, that should've been fairly easy. I have already discovered that it had a relatively short range and that I didn't need a line of sight to teleport, though it did help when it came to avoiding collisions. I could teleport up to the next floor through the ceiling, at least in theory, grab the stuff from the supply closet and then return and ruin the day of the creature growling outside the door. It was a decent plan, considering the circumstances. It might have even worked. But then there was a guitar solo...

”Oh for the love of...!” I exclaimed as my fingers sloppily groped at my phone. ”What?!”

”Chief, we are in trouble...” my assistant began before her voice was drowned out by a deafening roar as the Chimera tore off the faculty office's door.

”So am I!” I roared back while the creature leaped towards me. My mind vaguely noted that its face was deformed by a pair of huge, bat-like nostrils, but then I teleported right to the classroom above me, so I had no time to marvel at its weirdness... and then my vision was suddenly filled with stars as I materialized high above the floor, fell on the edge of a desk, tumbled down from said desk, hit my shoulder on the way down on the back-rest of a chair and then hit the ground head-first for good measure.

For the next couple of seconds I glared at a random point on the ceiling with all my might in order to keep myself from slipping into unconsciousness. After the first wave of sudden exhaustion abated I carefully untangled myself from the furniture and rose to a pair of shaky feet. I must've received a concussion just now, my sluggish brain concluded after the world stopped spinning. I tried to shake my head, but it only made it worse.

It was only then that I remembered the phone. I looked around in the empty classroom dimly lit by only the small violet cracks on the walls. I was vaguely aware of the ruckus coming from downstairs. The Chimera was no doubt in the process of tearing apart the faculty office looking for me. Good riddance. It bought me some time at the very least.

I felt around the floor near where I landed, and after some fumbling, I found my phone under a desk two rows away. It took way more effort than expected, but I managed to reach it while crawling. For a moment I was a little disoriented by the brightness of the screen, though I noted with some satisfaction that there wasn't even a scratch on the glass. Then I remembered why I picked up the phone in the first place and raised it to my ear.

”Hello?”

”Are you okay?”

”No?” I answered the obvious question. ”But I'm safe for the time being. Why did you call?”

There was a short pause in the conversation. It could've been caused by my assistant still being worried or them having a discussion on the other end of the line, which I couldn't hear over all the noise the monster was making downstairs. Either way, Judy finally spoke up in a voice that was no less worried than a few seconds ago.

”The fence posts are warded.”

”What?” I asked back reflectively.

”They are warded. That's what Amelia said.”

”Can't you just break them down?”

”They are on the inside. We can't even touch them.”

”Marvelous...”

”What should we do? Eleanor and Angeline are holding back the Faun at the door, but they cannot do that forever.” There was a commotion in the background loud enough I could hear it even through the ambient office-destruction noises and the abundant static noise, and Judy added, ”Eleanor asks where you are.”

”I don't know... Which classroom is right above the faculty office?”

”2-C.”

”Then that's where I am. Why?”

”She says you should stay there and she will get you.”

”No, she won't,” I stated defiantly. ”Tell her to guard the entrance. I'll go up.”

”But there is nothing to do up here. I told you the...”

”I've heard it the first time. I'll figure something out by the time I get there. See you soon, and please don't call again unless absolutely necessary.”

Saying so I cut the line and hastily put my phone away. There was silence. That meant the Chimera already got bored with trashing the room below and was likely on the prowl again. I had to move quickly. If I was indeed at 2-C, it meant the science classroom was on the diametrically opposite end of the floor. I quickly limbered up and checked myself for injuries first. Aside from the bump on my head I had a scratched thigh, a bruised shoulder, and a torn coat. I considered taking off the latter, as its flaps could restrict my movements in close-quarters, but in the end I left it on for the time being. As flimsy an excuse as it was for armor, it could potentially still offer some protection, and the padded shoulder already proved itself useful during my tumbles.

I headed towards the door and opened it... only to jerk back as I found myself staring into three sets of glowing eyes framed by a large, fleshy snout and a pair of huge ears that made the face in front of me look decidedly batlike. My moment of surprise was then shattered by a close-proximity roar that rattled the bones under my skin.

”Motherfucker!” I roared in response and swung my fist in a mixture of surprise, terror, and exasperation.

I hit the Chimera right on the snout. The impact was soft and meaty and made a muffled ‘plop' sound that might've been silly under other circumstances, but I wasn't in the right mindset to appreciate the comical nuances of the situation. The creature let out a surprised yelp in response and shrunk back from the strike like a dog that was hit by a rolled-up newspaper, but once the initial shock passed its eyes opened wide and its guarded stance smoothly shifted into it preparing to lunge forwards.

”Shit,” I hissed with only a minor tinge of absolute, blood-curling panic as I tried to slam the door on the monster... only to realize I couldn't. ”SHIT!”

Sliding doors. I knew they were going to be my death one day. I didn't foresee the circumstances, but still...

Thankfully, my legs were not fans of ironic echoes, as they propelled me to the side even as the Chimera barreled through the half-open door, tearing the flimsy construction off its rails like it was made of paper. It landed with a feline grace only mildly spoiled by the desks sent flying behind its back. It took a sharp, whistling sniff and immediately turned its head towards me. It was the moment I was waiting for. I raised the chair I bumped into during my dive and threw it at its ugly face. It raised one of its enormous paws and contemptuously swept the chair out of the air. Or at least I think that's what it did. I wasn't there to see.

I stood in the corridor just outside the classroom. My previous experiences with teleporting made me cautious enough to refrain from moving any further than that in one go. I don't think anyone would blame me for it, considering my jumps through space somehow managed to already hurt me more than the giant murderous monster I was running away from. Speaking of which, the Chimera let out another window-shaking roar of frustration. While I was getting a little tired of its howls, this time I didn't really mind, as it gave me a couple of seconds of a head start.

I capitalized on that by rushing down the hallways at full speed. There was no point in trying to be stealthy anymore; I've already seen how the creature modified itself to track me down, so I had to make sure I was a step ahead of it. I allowed myself a short teleport to the end of the hallway, which I could actually see, and I found myself practically in front of the science classroom. Since it had a lot of sensitive (not to mention expensive) equipment inside, this room was always locked. It was also a proper door instead of a sliding one, though thankfully it was only secured with a single cylinder lock. I could hear the Chimera overcoming its confusion and already out in the hallways, so I didn't hesitate to teleport right to the other side of the door.

Not a second later, there was a loud thud that shook the ground under my feet, followed by the sound of groaning metal. I fell forwards by surprise but managed to roll onto my feet and promptly faced the doorway, which immediately revealed the reason behind the impact; the Chimera rammed through the closed door and knocked it off its hinges, but its massive shoulders were wedged between the doorframes as its left paw fruitlessly clawed the air in a futile effort to reach me.

For a moment I almost felt safe. Then I remembered that the thing could shapeshift and that it could probably reduce the width of its shoulders to squeeze through, so I ran to the rows of large glass-doored cabinets at the back of the room. As I got there, I met with an unexpected setback: Since the only light source in the Purple Zone came from the luminescent cracks and the violet moonlight, it was too dark for me to read the text on the containers. I switched tactics then, focusing on the warning labels instead of the names of the materials.

Once I got a handful of the more dangerous-looking stuff, I turned around and found that the Chimera has already squeezed most of its upper body through the doorway. I raised one of the glass bottles, the one I was fairly sure contained sulfuric acid, and lobbed it at the shrieking monstrosity with an angry growl of my own.

The Chimera saw it coming and swiped at the bottle. Unfortunately (for it) the container broke on impact and sprayed the creature with a loud splash. For a moment it didn't react, but then it began howling in pain and struggling even harder against the door.

I roared as well as I threw another bottle at it. This one had thicker plastic, so even though I hit it right in the middle of its face, it didn't break. ”No matter! There is more where that came from!” I roared and continued to pelt the creature with whatever I could get my hands on, each impact accentuated by a new howl of pained rage.

Soon the air was filled with a dangerous mix of chemicals that made my eyes itch. That was supposed to be my cue to leave the area, but the Chimera thought otherwise. With one last heave, it cracked the doorframe and landed inside the classroom with a thud that once again shook the floor beneath my feet. It shivered for a moment, its motions clumsy and groggy like it was drunk. Even in the weak lighting (or maybe exactly because of it), I saw that two of its glowing eyes were closed on one side and the skin on its nose was, for the lack of better words, melting. Not literally, but kind of like a wax statue that was exposed to heat, drooping and elongating as gravity pulled on it. After a short while it leveled its eyes on me and lunged.

I might've gotten a little light-headed from the exposure to the fumes, as I once again completely forgot that I could bloody teleport. Instead, I let out a roar as well and, in a moment of desperation, I grabbed hold of the cabinet next to me and pulled with all my might. The heavy wooden furniture rose onto two of its peg-legs, wobbled for a moment, and then it toppled right on top of the charging Chimera. Maybe it was the missing eyes, but it apparently didn't see it coming, as it let out a surprised squeak as its legs slipped out from under it.

Then something utterly ridiculous happened: the thing burst into flames. I had no idea why. Maybe it was a combination of the chemicals or the fumes or the burner fuel in the cabinet catching a spark, but all of a sudden the dark classroom was filled with warm orange light. Then came the scream. A positively heart-wrenching howl of pain that made me want to cover my ears for a second.