The pharmacy aisle no longer smelled sterile.
The air was filled with the smell of iron and sweat and also something that smelled like burned plastic. It really smelled like iron. The smell of sweat was there too.. It smelled like something was burned, like plastic or something. The smell of burned plastic was very strong.
The shelves were completely empty now. All the bandages and antiseptics and painkillers had been thrown into bags. These bags were also filled with knives and other things that Marcus and the others had found. The lights that were still working were flashing on and off above them. Marcus had pulled out a machine from the stockroom that was making these lights work. This machine was making a noise that was the only thing that was stopping the darkness from taking over everything. The emergency lights and the noise, from the machine were all that was keeping them going. Marcus had done a job of finding this machine and getting it to work. The bandages and antiseptics and painkillers were all packed up. Ready to go.
Ethan Cross was down on his knees next to a mess. A display had fallen over. Ethan Cross was carefully picking things up one, by one and putting them back where they belonged. Ethan Cross was working slowly and carefully.
Duct tape is wrapped tight around a mop handle. There are razor blades stuck along the edges of the mop handle. They are spaced out at regular distances. The person testing this thing checks to see if it is balanced then he adjusts the part where he holds it. After that he nods his head one time. The duct tape on the mop handle is still wrapped tight. The razor blades on the mop handle are still, in place.
Crude.
Effective.
The mans shoulder hurt a lot under his jacket. The butterfly strips were just barely keeping his wound closed. When he had that surge of power earlier it made the pain not feel so bad for a while. But the pain was still there it did not go away. The shoulder of the man still throbbed with pain.
Power does not make you live forever. Having power is not the same as being immortal. Power is something that people have it does not mean that the people, with power will live forever. The thing that is important to remember is that power does not make the people who have it immortal.
Marcus was sitting nearby with his back, against a shelf. He had his ribs all taped up tight under his shirt. The bat that Marcus had was now fixed up with nails and tape. Marcus had put the bat where he could grab it easily.
Marcus said this after a while. "It is quieter " he said. "Do you think that means we have won the fight?" Marcus asked about the situation, with the quietness.
Ethan did not look up.
It means that people are thinking about things. When someone says that they are talking about the fact that people are using their brains to think. This is what it means when people say that something is, on their mind and they are thinking about it.
The city was in a mess. Outside the entrances that were all blocked off. They had shopping carts chained together and big shelves stuck in sideways. The city was on fire. The windows of Orion Plaza were all. You could see the sky, behind them all lit up with flames. You could hear guns being fired from away. Then something loud roared from a distance it was so loud that it made the glass shake.
Ethans peripheral vision flickered faintly it was a weird feeling, for Ethan. Ethan could not really explain what was happening with Ethans vision.
No alerts.
No warnings.
The noise was really bad. That bothered him even more.
A sound broke the silence. It was really quiet. Then this noise happened. The silence was nice. The sound broke it.
Soft.
Broken.
Human.
Marcus stiffened. "That was not what I was expecting " Marcus said, referring to the situation that Marcus had just witnessed. Marcus was clearly upset, about what Marcus had seen.
Ethan said I know.
The people moved together. They were moving together. The people were together when they moved.
Careful. Slow.
The bakery section was a mess it was half fallen down. There was flour, over the floor it looked like a thin layer of white dust. Behind a rack that had fallen over someone was hiding.
A woman.
The woman was in her thirties. Her office clothes were all torn up. There was dried blood, on her calf where someone had put a tourniquet but it was clear they had done it too late. The blood had already. The tourniquet was still tied around her calf.
She pulled back when the people came near holding onto a rolling pin really tightly. The rolling pin was all she had. It made her feel a little safer. She was scared. The broken rolling pin was, like something to hold onto when everything else seemed scary.
"Please " she said quietly. "Do not let them take me away. I do not want them to take me."
Ethan lowered the spear a bit.
He told me that I am safe. At least, for the time being the safety of my situation is okay. The man said that for now everything is going to be alright.
Her shoulders dropped down. It seemed like the words were the only thing that was keeping Lena Park standing up. "I am Lena Park " she said in a voice. "They killed my friend Lena Parks friend. They pulled her up into the air like it was easy for them to do that to Lena Parks friend.
Marcus got down beside her. Moved really slowly. He said "Let us take a look at that leg of yours I mean Marcus was talking about her leg."
Marcus wanted to see her leg so he said "Let us take a look, at that leg."
Lena would not stop talking while he was working. She was really scared. The words just kept coming out. There were goblins, at the entrance of the place. People were screaming. Whenever a monster died there was this light.
And when the big one fell she said, her eyes looked over at Ethan the light went into Ethan.
Ethan did not deny it.
Marcus finished wrapping her leg. He told her that she did a job surviving for that long. Marcus said that the fact that she survived this long is really something. Marcus thought that she must be pretty strong to make it through something, like that.
She let out a laugh that was really shaky. She said "I did not feel like it was funny."
They took the woman back to the pharmacy. The pharmacy was where they had started. They went back to the pharmacy, with the woman.
The three of them worked in silence after that. They made the barricades stronger shared the food and water and made alarms, with string and bells they found from old holiday decorations. The three of them did all this to be safe.
It felt almost normal. Things were okay, for a change. The day was going by. It felt almost normal.
That was when the whispers started.
Not voices.
Pressure.
Like something breathing against the back of Ethan's thoughts.
The man just stopped moving all of a. He was doing something. Then he just froze.
The temperature really dropped. It was a change, in the temperature. The temperature is now very low.
The generator was not working properly it flickered. The generator made a noise and then the generator flickered again.
Marcus noticed it away. He said "Ethan?"
Ethan said that he wanted the lights. He wanted all of the lights.
Too late.
The shadows between the aisles got really thick and dark. The shadows made the aisles feel scary. The shadows, between the aisles were so thick you could not see far.
The darkness had things in it that started to take shape. Things that were not really there like shadows that moved and changed like smoke trying to look like people. The air, around these things got all wavy and it was really cold it bit into your skin when you were not covered up.
Lena let out a scream.
Ethan took the spear. He pushed it forward with a lot of force. The spear was what Ethan used to do this. Ethan was really strong when he thrust the spear.
The thing passed through the shape like mist. It was really, like mist when the thing passed through the shape.
The thing turned toward him. It was the thing that was now facing him. The thing was looking at him.
And reached.
A sharp pain went through his arm. It was not the kind of pain that you can see, like a cut or a bruise. This pain was deeper. It felt like the warmth was being pulled away from his bones. The feeling was a lot like when you take something away from a cold place and the heat just gets sucked out. This is what was happening to his arm. It did not feel good. The pain of the heat being torn away from his bones was very uncomfortable, for him.
The blue text was flickering badly. It looked like it was moving around a lot on the screen. The blue text just kept on flickering.
[Energy Drain: Ineffective]
Ethan said "Go in a loud voice.
Marcus swung his bat. It hit something. When it did the shadow let out a scream that sounded like when you tear a piece of cloth. The shadow jumped back. It did not die. The shadow was still alive. Marcus could see that it was hurt from the bat. Marcus had hit the shadow with his bat.
Ethan said the word light again. This time he said it louder.
The man picked up the flare gun. He then held the flare gun in his hand. The flare gun was something he needed now.
The shot was so bright that it turned night into day. The night was suddenly filled with light it was, like day. The shot made everything visible just like it was daytime. That was really something to see.
The white fire suddenly. It tore the darkness to pieces. The creatures let out a scream they could not take the bright light so they started to fall apart. These creatures quickly ran away towards the vents, in the ceiling like insects that got burned.
Not dead.
Driven back.
The flare died. It is out now. The flare is gone.
The darkness came back to take over the space. Darkness filled the space again.
Then there was silence.
Heavy. Watching.
Ethan lowered the weapon slowly. He did this carefully. The weapon was still, in Ethans hand. Ethan made sure to lower the weapon.
That wasn't an attack.
It was a test.
Marcus said this softly. They were not looking to hunt us Marcus said. They were just checking on the people Marcus said. They were checking on us.
Ethan nodded his head in agreement.
Something there had noticed the orcs death. Something was paying attention. It had seen what happened to the orc. The orc was dead. This thing had taken notice of that.
Not monsters.
Observers.
The sky outside my window is getting lighter. It looks really gray. This is because the morning is coming to the city. The sky, beyond the windows is a gray now that dawn is here.
Lena sat with her knees pulled up tight looking at the barricade. What is going to happen when the people come back, to the barricade?
Ethan did not tell a lie.
The man said that we are either ready or we are dead. He meant that the Car Insurance Company people are either prepared for what's going to happen or the Car Insurance Company people are going to be, in big trouble. The man said that the Car Insurance Company people are either ready or the Car Insurance Company people are dead.
A low rumble was heard from away, in the streets. It sounded like engines and rotors. It seemed like something was happening in a planned way. The sound of the engines and rotors was getting louder. It was clear that some kind of organized activity was taking place. The rumble of the engines and rotors was echoing through the streets.
Helicopters were flying across the sky their lights shining down through all the smoke. The helicopters kept moving going back and forth with their searchlights cutting through the smoke.
Human forces.
At last.
Or something pretending to be.
Ethan tightened his grip on the spear. He stared into the growing light. The light was getting bigger. Ethan was staring at the spear and the light. Ethan was holding the spear really tight. He was looking at the light that was coming from somewhere. The spear was, in Ethans hands. He was staring into the light.
The night had shown him the monsters. It was a time, for him because the night had shown him these monsters. The monsters that the night had shown him were really bad. The night had shown him the monsters. Now he was very afraid of the night and the monsters that the night had shown him.
The day will show him the truth, about everything. This is the day when he will finally know what is really going on. The truth is something that the day will bring to him.
That he knew that this was something he was really going to have to think about. He just did not know what to do with the information that he had. The thing that he knew was that he had to make a decision. That decision was going to be, about the thing that he knew.
Would be worse.