Chapter 11

The four recovered from their shock quickly and Eli yelled, "Split up!"

The four of them ran in different directions, just barely missing the snapping jaws of the Wolf. The Wolf seemed to lock its attention on Daphne and the wooden board it was in suddenly rolled forward. Daphne managed to throw herself out of the way as the place she was standing moments ago was now under Wolf's legs. It turned towards her once again and Daphne scrambled to her feet, throwing herself out of Wolf's way.

"Daphne!" Eli yelled as she ran away from the Wolf. "Creator never said that we couldn't take off our costumes! The game is called The Wolf and the Sheep, which means that the Wolf will most likely only go after the Sheep!"

Daphne managed to slip out of her costume just as Wolf's head flew towards her to snap her up. The Wolf's open jaws paused over her body before it retracted its head and went for the nearest Sheep, William. William quickly slipped off his costume, and so did Kiana. The Wolf swiveled around, and just as Daphne thought that they had found a way out of the game, Eli shouted at them to watch out. Daphne turned to see that Wolf's belly had split open, and a miniature version of the Wolf sprang out. It ran at William, who threw himself out of the way.

"I think that the Wolf will only chase after Sheep when there are Sheep, but once there are no more Sheep, it'll let its baby chase after us normal players!" Eli yelled.

Kiana grabbed Eli's discarded Sheep costume and pulled it back over her head. Once she did, the baby Wolf stopped chasing William, and Wolf's head sprang at Kiana. She dived out of the way. "Well, I guess that solves the question."

"I got an idea!" Daphne yelled. "We should all hold onto our costumes over our heads but only one of us put it on. The moment Wolf's head springs towards us, the Sheep will pull off his or her costume and someone else will put on the costume. This way, we can keep Wolf busy while we come up with a plan to hit the button."

"Okay," William yelled. "I'll go, then Kiana, then Eli, then Daphne, okay?"

Everyone agreed, and they started doing Daphne's plan. It was working, but they knew that they couldn't do this forever. Suddenly, Eli shouted, "Daphne, Kiana, can you two cover William and me? I need William's help for something."

Kiana and Daphne nodded and Eli pulled William towards Wolf. "See that big iron ring there?" Eli pointed to one of the iron hoops nearer to them, then gestured at some large wooden boxes. "If we stack the boxes up, we can climb up to the ring."

"Why would we do that?" William asked, even as he was moving towards the boxes and starting to stack them.

Eli grabbed onto the long, leather rope hanging off Wolf's collar. "I think we might be able to leash it." Eli held onto the rope tight as he balanced on the boxes carefully, making it high enough to swing the rope through the ring and pull it down on the other side.

"Now what?" William asked.

"Now, you go back and help Daphne and Kiana. They're getting exhausted, and we can't leash the baby Wolf." William nodded and went back to help the girls as Eli's hands quickly knotted the remaining rope in his hands. He kept on knotting it so that it was one big knot before letting go. "Guys, just keep it up for a bit longer!"

They nodded tiredly, getting tired of having to dodge from a crazy mechanical wolf head. Eli picked up one of the balls in the containers and threw it at the button of the Wolf, but it missed. Eli threw a couple more balls, but it missed every time. Eli paused for a moment to think. The Wolf was already bending down, so that made it slightly easier for him. And since the Wolf was leashed, only its head was moving, not its body. Eli suddenly thought of something and yelled, "William! I need your help again!"

William hurried over, and Eli told him, "Help me stack the boxes in front of the Wolf. It isn't moving right now, which means I might be able to get high enough and hit the button with a ball."

William and Eli hurriedly stacked up the boxes and Eli climbed onto it. Catching a ball that William tossed to him, he threw it at the button. It missed. He threw a few more balls, and each time, he got closer and closer to the button. Just as Daphne ran out of energy and fell to the ground, the Wolf getting ready to devour her, Eli threw a ball that landed dead center on the button. The Wolf seemed to shut off, and the baby Wolf returned to Wolf's stomach.

[You have beaten The Wolf and the Sheep. The surviving players can move onto the next floor.]

The four of them saw the metal barrier opening, but at that moment, they just collapsed onto the ground, too tired to move.