When I heard the noises behind me, I grabbed my laser rifle from where it had been resting on the counter as I turned around. I could see part of the door was splintered and, judging from the growls, it was the wolves doing. They must have somehow known we were in here. I very much doubt it was smell, since a nanite-wolf didn't need to breathe. I didn't need to breath either for that matter, yet I found myself taking faster and faster breaths as fear set in. Maybe it was all in my mind, a ghost of my memories as a human. A thumping noise at the door caused those thoughts to evaporate.

I needed a plan and fast. I glanced over Gregory only to find him pale and shaking. I reached over and shook his shoulder. "Gregory! Pull yourself together! Grab your laser pistols and head up the stairs! If the wolves want to get to us, they'll have to climb the stairs. We'll be able to hold them off at the top of landing. Come on Gregory! We'll survive and your parents will come find you!"

My little pep talk must have helped Gregory, since he grabbed his laser pistols and headed into the hallway. The house was two stories, so I knew there must be a stairway. Of course, I didn't know where it was since this wasn't my house. I followed Gregory as he, presumably, went to the stairs. The second I saw it, I realized that there was a bit of a stumbling block in our plan. The stairs weren't in a straight line like I had imagined. Halfway up, the made a U-turn before going to the second floor. That meant we would not have the nearly ten feet I was planning on. Instead, we would have five feet.

As we climbed the stairs, I heard the wolves finally break the door down. The pattering of their feet urged me to climb faster. Reaching the top, I turned back around and aimed my laser rifle. Gregory was right beside me, both his pistols ready to fire as well.

The snout of a wolf was visible through the railing of the stairs, causing both me and Gregory to fire our lasers. Mine was a constant beam, but Gregory's were simple flashes of light. The railing melted as the wolf yelped before leaving our line of eyesight.

Gregory kept his eyes on the bottom of the stairs, but he asked me "Why is your laser like that? Is it cause yours is a rifle?"

I replied back, "No. All laser guns can do it, you just have to hold down on the trigger. You might want to do it with your own weapons, makes aiming easier and I think you do more damage as well. Takes only a second or two to kill a wolf."

Gregory nodded. "Good to know."

There were a couple glimpses of grey fur that caused us both to fire our lasers. None of it hit though, the wolves scrambling for cover. Based upon the sounds, they were right below us in the hallway. "Gregory, it might be better if we let them get partly up to the stairs before we shoot. If we don't, the wolves are just going to stay down there where we can't shoot them. Remember, once we get to ten thousand wolves, the monster wave will be over."

"What?" Gregory said. "What do you mean ten-thousand wolves."

Oh yeah. I guess I hadn't told him about it. Well, now wasn't the time to talk about it. "We can't talk now. Just trust me and wait until you can get a clear shot before you fire."

I saw Gregory nod from the corner of my eye as he said, "Okay. I'm trusting you."

We waited, the wolves below us waiting too. There were glimpses of fur through the railings. I saw Gregory twitch, but he didn't shoot. Finally, I saw a wolf climbing the stairs. Two more followed the first. The first one saw us and started growling, the two behind him growling as well. They started running up the stairs now, the first wolf just rounding the corner.

When he did, I yelled, "Fire!" My laser rifle lanced out, burning a hole through the banister before catching the oncoming wolf in the face. Two smaller beams hit the wolf behind that one, Gregory's pistols coming into play. The wolves continued up the stairs, yelping and crying in pain the entire time. The first one finally tumbled to a stop, its body melting into grey goo as the laser finally punched right through its face.

The one that Gregory was trying to kill still had blue light emerging from its body. While the beam from Gregory's right laser pistol was steady, the one in his left hand was wavering. Firing a gun with two hands wasn't an easy task for someone that isn't ambidextrous.

I couldn't help him out though, I was more focused on the other wolf. Firing my laser at that one, I realized that I wouldn't be able to kill it before it could reach the stop of the stairs. I let go of the rifle with my left hand yelling "open inventory equip laser pistol!" The beam from my rifle started shifting, but I clenched my rifle hard and kept it on the wolf.

My hand shifted and transformed, the laser pistol forming in my left hand in a split second. The wolf, in midair from its leap at me, slammed into my chest. I lost my grip on the rifle, but I managed to keep the laser pistol. As the wolf tried to bite me, I fired the pistol into its side. Two more beams joined me, the wolf yelping in pain before dissolving into grey goo as the laser beams melted through the wolf.

Combat has ended! You have defeated 3 wolves, Level 10 Loot Gained: 7 shards

Gregory came up to me sobbing. "I'm so sorry Tony! They, they got past me. I couldn't help you! I'm so sorry!"

I sat up, causing Gregory to jump back. I grabbed his shoulder, sayng "Don't worry Gregory, I'm alright."

Gregory sniffed. "But, you got hurt because I couldn't help you."

I shook my head. "No Gregory, I survived because of you. Don't blame yourself if I got hurt. We're alive, that's all that matters." I stood up and looked down the stairs. The stairs were a good chokepoint, but we needed something better. Picking up my rifle, I took aim. The beam lanced out, slicing through the stairs. I destroyed a good portion of the stairs, completely cutting us off from the downstairs. Gregory was yelling the whole time, but I ignored him.

When the last portion of the stairs fell, I put down my rifle. "What have you done?!" Gregory yelled. "My mom is going to kill me when she gets home! Do you have any idea how mad she'll be?! Well?! Do you?!"

I almost laughed as I finally heard what he was saying. Ignoring my funny side, I raised my hand to stop his shouting I was starting to get a headache. "No, I don't know how mad she'll be. What I do know is that she will be happy to have her son here, alive. Cutting the stairs down should make it harder for the wolves to get to us. I know the wolves can jump pretty high, one got me at ten feet in the air. Still, we should be able to at least knock them back down to the ground when they jump. After all, the only way they can hurt us is if they bite us. If the wolves can't reach us, then they might as well be sheep."

Gregory had his mouth open, as if to say something. He looked at the ruined stairs, at me, and then back at the stairs. He simply nodded before sitting down. I checked the monster wave completion. 1,008/10,000. That was a big jump from the two-hundred something. Most likely, the wolves had finally made it to downtown. By myself, I could easily take down a single wolf, maybe two if there was some distance. If there were ten, twenty people all fighting with laser rifles. Well, I wouldn't be betting on the wolves.

Honestly, the wolves weren't too dangerous so long as there weren't too many of them and you weren't alone. I had Gregory with me, but I wasn't sure how reliable he was in a fight. I pulled up my nanite count. 469 shards, 54 chunks. I was definitely hurting for nanites. Unfortunately, these wolves weren't paying a whole lot. Even if they gave out at least five shards, which was the most a single wolf had given me so far, it would take over two-hundred wolves to get a single chunk. I'd need to kill at least four-hundred wolves to get one ability point.

I thought back to the 500 chunks I started out with and winced. I was incredibly poor now. Even worse, it didn't look like I was going to be able to get any significant amount of money. Not from monsters. Speaking of monsters, I never did tell Gregory about the monster counter. "Hey Gregory?"

He looked up from where he'd been sitting on the floor. "What Tony?"

"You remember the countdown that we had till the beast wave, right?" I asked him. Gregory nodded. "Good. If you look where it used to be, you'll see the Monster Wave Completion. With each wolf we kill, we get closer to the completion rate. I think when we get to that point, the monster wave should be over."

He slowly nodded as he stared off into space, probably looking at the numbers. I heard him gasp. "Ten thousand! We have to kill ten thousand wolves!"

I let out a little huff of amusement. "Yeah, but it isn't just us that have to do it. Between us, I think we may have killed ten wolves between us. As it is now, over a thousand wolves have died according to the completion thing. I believe its the whole town that has to do it."

Gregory nodded. "Makes sense, otherwise there couldn't have been so many dead wolves. If it was the whole world, it would be in the millions, not the thousands."

I decided to go ahead and throw my two-cents in. "I say, we stay put in your house and kill whatever wolves try and kill us. I don't want to be ambushed by a bunch of wolves trying to find other people. Plus, you wanna stay here to find your folks, right?"

"Yeah." Gregory said. "Let's just check on the numbers every now and then though. Just to see when we can finally get out of the house."

I rolled my neck, feeling the crack of my spine as I did so. "Might as well get comfortable. We're going to be here for a few hours while we wait."

Gregory suddenly went ramrod straight. "Wait! I might have something that can help."

He went into one of the rooms down the hall. He came out a minute later pushing a rolling desk chair in front of him while a folding chair was in his other arm. "I figured this might come in handy if we have to stay here for a while. Sitting on the floor gets uncomfortable after a while." Gregory said.

I gave him an appreciative nod. "Thanks, this is great."

I grabbed the folding chair, letting Gregory take the more comfortable rolling chair. I set my laser pistol on my lap, the laser rifle on top of it. I took out one of my three frag grenades, taking a closer look at it. It was green and round, with a textured surface. A squeeze handle and a large ring clearly showed the safety lever and the pin. I might not be a genius, but I didn't have to be one to know how a grenade worked. I gave that one to Gregory, warning him to only throw it if I said so, and only downstairs, never upstairs.

With my weapons around me, I felt a whole lot better. Maybe, just maybe, I would survive this.