“…I don’t think it will work out well, Liam. There are too many issues in your plan. Besides, we have someone who’s injured and can’t climb. Leaving him behind doesn’t sit right with me. Sorry, but I have to go with Aaron on this one.”

Dan raised his hand with an apologetic look in his eyes; it appeared it was a difficult decision for him.

Liam felt the edges of his lips turn downwards. Claire, on the other hand, had a big grin on her face. She was pleased that she had gotten back at him for his earlier disdain. Liam didn’t notice; he was still focused on Dan. He hadn’t given up yet. If he found out what parts of the plan Dan was worried about and cleared those up, then Dan might change his vote.

Liam was confident in his plan. It wasn’t foolproof by any means, but given the limited time and resources available, it was fair to say it was a decent one. Without the votes from the two self-interested parties and Claire's biased one, the majority was on his side.

“Dan, what parts of the plan are you worried about? If you tell me, then maybe, I can clear those things up.”

Dan sighed.

“Sure, I don’t mind… But I want you to know; I’m still against leaving anyone behind.”

“I’m not saying we should either.”

That was a lie. He was perfectly fine with leaving them here if they contributed nothing. Why they should be allowed to reap all the benefits without doing anything? This wasn’t the time to be a Good Samaritan.

Dan’s eyes widened a bit, interested in what Liam might have to say.

“Alright, first: What makes you think that the wall can hold our weight? It looks old and beat up to me. Given how the benches here are about to collapse from our weight alone, I wouldn’t be surprised if the wall would too.”

“I can’t guarantee it will be sturdy. It could collapse, or we might fall. Those are both possibilities.”

“Then why-?”

Liam’s sharp voice cut Dan off, answering his question before he could ask.

“It’s the same for Aaron’s plan, isn’t it? No plan is perfect. There are always risks involved. If we fight the dog, it might attack any one of us instead of Aaron. We aren’t safe just because he is taking the lead…”

Liam paused as the others began to murmur. They had felt safe knowing that Aaron would lead the attack. The idea that they could get injured had been pushed to the back of their minds, but Liam’s comment changed that. No one’s safety was guaranteed.

Dan interjected before Liam could continue.

“I don’t see your point… Yeah, of course, both plans have their problems, but so what? That alone doesn’t make your plan better than Aaron’s.”

“Well… I was getting to that…”

“Fine, go on. I’m listening.”

“There’s a difference between the types of risk involved. In Aaron’s plan, the risk is ambiguous. It’s impossible to determine who the dog will attack. But my plan doesn’t have that randomness since we can determine if the wall is sturdy before we climb… Personally, given a choice between two alternatives, I prefer the less ambiguous one. At least then I know what I’m getting myself into.”

Holding his chin, Dan nodded.

“I see, that makes sense… But what about the dog?”

Liam tilted his head.

“What does that have to do with this? The point of my plan is avoiding the dog.”

“Yeah, I know that, but there’s no way it won’t hear us climbing over. What’s stopping it from running around the building to the other side?”

“Oh, that’s not a problem. There was a chain around its neck.”

“And was it attached to something? Because if it was that changes things for both plans. We might even be able to go around the dog if someone distracts it… wait, that probably won’t work… it could still bark and alert the people who kidnapped us…”

As Dan began muttering new ideas to himself, Liam became confused in his thoughts.

‘Wait, what? Why wouldn’t the chain be attached to something? Who would do that?’

Liam was unprepared for Dan’s follow up question; he hadn’t thought about it. He clearly remembered seeing a chain around the dog’s neck, but he never checked if it was attached to anything. At the time, that was the least of his concerns – it could be considered a mistake on his part. Liam collected himself before answering Dan.

“I didn’t see if it was attached to anything, but we can check if it is.”

“Yeah, I’ll check. I was already planning to take a look before we started a fight.”

Dan walked over to the door without delay. Turning the handle, Dan pulled it open and poked his head outside and after around ten seconds, he closed it. Unlike both Liam and Aaron, who had immediately slammed the door shut, Dan’s calm demeanor was never shaken.

Dan turned around; his expression alone told everyone that he didn't have good news.

“It wasn’t attached… Liam, sorry, but I’m sticking with my first choice.”

‘Damnit!’

Liam gritted his teeth in frustration. There was no possibility of convincing Dan now, and even Liam knew the plan wasn’t going to work if there was a chance the dog could walk around the building.

‘Who the fuck puts a chain on a dog up and forgets to attach it to something!’

Liam felt bitter. Bitter at the kidnapper’s, the two people who were planning to sit back and do nothing, his poor luck, but most of all himself. Maybe, if he were more charismatic or eloquent, then things would’ve turned out different, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t a leader and never would be; he wasn’t cut out for it.

Smack!

Suddenly a hand hit Liam on the back. The force was strong enough to make him stumble forward. He let out a groan.

“Ugh…”

Standing behind him, Aaron spoke with enthusiasm as if he was trying to cheer him up.

“Hey, don’t let it get you down, Liam! None of us think your plan was bad! It just didn’t work out this time!”

He proceeded to pat Liam on the back. Although it was done with good intentions, it hardly felt that way to Liam. It felt more like he was a nail being hammered into a board than someone who was supposed to be being comforted.

“Yeah… Thanks…”

Liam mumbled insincerely to Aaron for the unnecessary comfort. Seemingly satisfied with Liam’s response, Aaron gave a resolute nod before starting the discussion of their battle plan.

“Alright, great! Let’s get started then! We…”

Creeaaaaak…

The door slowly opened, and Aaron stuck his head out. After confirming where the dog was, he turned around and gave a thumbs-up sign. Everyone silently nodded as their grip tightened on the primitive weapons they were holding.

Their plan was simple. Aaron would get the attention of the dog. While he distracted it, Dan, Liam, and Claire would surround it and kill it using stones and wooden boards, which they had scavenged from the debris. Meanwhile, Alexandra and Erika would stand back and keep a lookout for any signs of other trouble. It had been Aaron and Dan’s decision to have the girls stand guard instead of fight; Claire was only participating due to her relentless insistence. While Liam would've preferred to be on lookout duty, he had no room to voice any complaints.

As for the remaining two, Isabelle and the man in the suit named Michael, they refused to participate. No one was happy with it, but there was nothing they could do. Claire was particularly upset with Isabelle, who didn’t have the convenient excuse of an injury. However, no matter how many insults she threw at her, or threats she made, Isabelle wouldn’t budge. Isabelle hardly paid attention to Claire, only treating her as a minor annoyance, like a fly buzzing around her head. Besides occasionally firing back with a snarky remark about Claire’s appearance or intelligence, she mostly stayed curled up underneath the jersey she’d taken from Aaron.

Liam felt a strange satisfaction watching Claire’s target shift from himself to Isabelle and hoped that it would stay that way.

Aside from a battleplan, they had discussed one other thing. It was the digital screen in his corner of their vision. Liam was relieved to learn he wasn’t hallucinating, but at the same time, it was concerning.

Why?

Why could they see this screen? Learning that everyone saw the same screen had only caused the list of questions to lengthen. Many negative possibilities were running through his head. Most were centered around the idea that a mad scientist captured them and had implanted microchips inside their brains, or that aliens had abducted them. In the end, all these ideas felt outlandish and unrealistic, like something out of a B-rated sci-fi movie.

Liam was starting to wish only he could see the screen, then he could settle on being insane and call it a day. That would’ve been easier than dealing with this abnormal situation, even for a kidnapping, there were too many anomalies.

“Liam! Let’s go!”

Snapping out of his thoughts at the sound of Dan’s voice Liam approached the door. They all gathered in a line at the exit; the order was Aaron, then Dan, Liam, Claire, Alexandra, and finally, Erika. Aaron looked back at them; his face was tense.

“Wait here. I’ll let know when to come out.”

Dan’s expression stiffened upon hearing Aaron’s words.

“Wait, what are you saying, Aaron? I thought we agreed to fight together. What was the point of all our planning if you just decide to go at it alone?”

“You’re misunderstanding me, Dan. I’m still planning to work together. I just need to get the dog’s attention first. After I thought about what Liam said, I realized he was right. There’s no guarantee the dog will attack me. To solve that, I just have to be its only target. Don’t worry, just wait for me to call you!”

Flashing a confident smile, Aaron quickly stepped outside and closed the door before Dan could respond.

Dan clenched his fists, frustrated at Aaron’s recklessness. Throwing their plans out the window and chasing after him would only invite chaos. The best thing he could do now was put his faith in Aaron and wait.

Five seconds passed, then fifteen seconds, and finally, after over thirty seconds passed, Alexandra spoke up with a voice full of worry.

“I-Isn’t it taking too long?”

Claire shrugged.

“Maybe the dog left, and he’s busy looking for it.”

“No, that doesn’t make sense. If the dog was gone, why didn’t Aaron when he looked outside a few seconds ago?”

Alexandra’s anxiety seemed to grow as her thoughts began to narrow on the idea that something had happened. It was then that Dan stepped in.

“Hey, let’s not get worried yet. It’s been less than a minute since he left. Let’s have some faith in Aaron, alright? I’m sure that if something happened, then-”

“Aaaaaaaaahk!”

An agonizing scream cut Dan off. It took less than a second for everyone to reason who it was.

“Damnit!”

Slam!

Immediately, Dan threw the door open and sprinted outside. Liam and the others were right behind him.

Outside was a dirt street lined with buildings in a similar condition to the one they had exited. Directly across the street, less than twenty feet away, they spotted Aaron. He was fighting not one but two dogs. One had latched onto his left arm with both its jaws, digging its teeth into his flesh. The other was standing in front of Aaron growling but not attacking; it was holding it's back right leg up, which appeared to be injured.

All of them were confused; they had no idea what had happened and how things got to this. As they were rushing towards Aaron to assist him, Aaron began swinging his left arm wildly, making the dog's body flipflop in the air as he tried to shake it off. Seeing this, Dan shouted; his normally calm tone had disappeared.

“Aaron, stop! Don’t do that! You’ll only make the wound worse!”

“Huuaaahhk!”

Gritting his teeth, Aaron swung the dog one last time before stopping. With his free hand, he formed a fist and began punching the dog in the ribs. Pow! Pow! Pow! Whether his aggression was fueled by the pain coming from his arm or something else, Aaron directed it all at the dog.

“Watch out! Another one is coming!”

Alexandra’s panic-stricken voice came from behind them. Liam glanced to his side and saw another two-headed dog sprinting out of an alley. It nearly tripped and fell as it entered the street and turned in the direction of them. Regaining its balance, it continued to charge.

In this brief moment, Liam realized something about the two-headed dogs. They were slower and clumsier than a normal dog. Its center of gravity was off because its body wasn’t large enough for two heads.

“Waah!”

Flustered, Claire’s eye darted between the new dog, Aaron, Alexandra, and both Dan and Liam. She was overwhelmed by the situation, which was rapidly spiraling out of control. Her feet became rooted to the ground as she was struck by fear. The dog spotted Claire and started heading straight for her.

“Claire, move out of the way!”

Alexandra screamed at Claire and frantically began running over, abandoning Erika, who was cowering near the door.

“Aaah-!”

Claire snapped out of daze at the sound of Alexandra’s voice. She tried to scramble out of the way but stumbled. Her eyes widened. The dog had jumped off the ground and was aiming directly at her. Its sharp yellow teeth became fully exposed as it opened its mouths, preparing to attack. All she could think to do was clench her eyes shut and pray.

“Damnit!!”

Dan jumped in front of Claire just before the dog reached her. The dog collided with him, knocking him to the ground.

“Aaaaaaaahk!!”

One of its mouths caught Dan’s shoulder, ripping the fabric and tearing part of his flesh. Dan desperately pushed away the snapping jaws that were aiming for his neck. As he wrestled on the ground, he shouted at Liam.

“Liam, go help Aaron!”

“No, don’t worry about me! Help Dan!”

From across the street, Aaron shouted back as he thrust his hand through the loose chain collar of the dog biting him. Grabbing the chain, he twisted it as hard as he could, tightening it and asphyxiating the dog. Its eyes began to bulge as the chain dug into its neck, but still, it refused to release its jaw.

Liam glanced between Aaron and Dan and quickly came to a decision – help Dan. It was the worse choice in terms of efficiency, Liam knew that. It was made purely out of self-interest. Helping Aaron meant turning a one-on-two battle into a two-on-two battle, between that and the two-on-one fight with Dan; it was an easy choice.

“Liam! What the hell are you doing!?”

Liam ignored Dan’s angry shout as he desperately held the dog back as it pushed its teeth closer to his face. Moving to help Dan, Liam shoved Claire out of the way.

“Move!”

Claire stumbled back, falling onto her butt. Her face was pale, and there were tears at the corners of her eyes. She looked up at Liam and stammered.

“I was… I was…”

“If you’re not going to do anything, get out of the way!”

Liam’s cold voice snapped at her like a whip. He had no sympathy for her. Didn’t she know this was partially her fault? She voted to fight, so why was she scared once the fight started? It was pathetic.

‘Useless.’

He thought as he raised a large stone above his head and slammed it down onto the back of the dog.

Thud!

The dog yelped, but it was still alive. It wasn’t the result Liam was hoping for. He had been aiming for the center of its spine but ended up striking closer to its hind legs. At best, he might have fractured its hip based on how it was favoring one of its back legs. Lifting the stone, Liam slammed it down again.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

He continued to hit the dogs back, again, and again until finally…

CRACK!

Its spine broke. The dog's body stopped moving; it was paralyzed, maybe even dead. There was only one way to be sure. He took a moment to catch his breath before raising the stone again and smashing both of its heads.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud…!

Finally, out of energy, he collapsed onto the ground. He was tired and out of breath, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, fatigue was hitting him hard. He looked at his arms bathed in blood, and his clothes looked like they had been splattered with red paint. Cursing, Liam started to push himself up, looking in Aaron’s direction.

‘What the hell is happening?’

He was a bit puzzled at what he was seeing. Aaron had lifted a dog into the air with both his arms and was holding it over his head. Its body was limp; presumably, it had suffocated when Aaron was choking it.

“Huuaaaaah!!”

Aaron roared and threw the dog will all his strength at the other one, pinning it down. From underneath the corpse, the dog squirmed, trying to free itself. Aaron sprinted over and kicked its head as hard as he could, its head snapped upwards at an unnatural angle. Liam could tell it was dead from where he was. However, Aaron continued kicking it while cursing at it under his breath.

‘It’s over…’

Flop.

Liam fell back down and laid on his back. He wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower and lay down in a warm bed, but that was impossible.

“Liam, are you alright?”

Standing above him, Dan held out his hand. He seemed to have noticed that Aaron defeated the dogs as there was no sense of urgency in his voice. Taking his hand, Liam stood up.

“I’m fine, just tired, you okay?”

Dan looked at his shoulder, a large piece of flesh was missing.

“Yeah, it could’ve been much worse if you hadn’t helped me out… Thanks. And sorry for yelling earlier, I was just caught up in the heat of the moment… You made the right call.”

Liam shook his head and quickly tried to change the subject.

“You said you’re an EMT, right? Should you check on Aaron? He has the worst injury.”

Dan nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right… Thanks again.”

Dan headed over to Aaron, leaving Liam behind, alone.

Liam wondered, was this considered a victory? He didn’t know. No one had died, but their battle was far from clean; it was sloppy and unorganized. Aaron had immediately ignored the plan and tried to do everything himself, Claire panicked and couldn’t do anything, while Dan threw himself in harm's way. On top of that, there ended up being three dogs, not one. They had managed to miss critical information that nearly cost them their lives.

Liam couldn’t call it a victory – it was nothing short of luck. They should be dead, but they weren’t.

‘Fuck, I was stupid.’

Liam blamed himself for becoming too complacent after losing the vote. It was a mistake to follow a loosely made plan; he should’ve insisted on taking extra precautions. While he couldn’t have predicted everything, at least if they had done a bit of recon, they might have been more prepared.

Wiping the blood from his hands, Liam looked at Alexandra crouched down next to Claire. Claire was wiping the tears from her eyes as Alexandra hugged her tightly. For the second time, Liam thought,

‘Useless.’