We make our way out of the police station and pause uncertainly as we look at the desolate town. Loki looks up at me "what should we do now Kairi?"
I look over at Ryan and say "well it's your wife we're looking for, any clues on where she might be?"
Ryan looks at the burning town in front of us and hesitates "well... she works in a bakery, but I doubt she will still be there... I think our best bet is to cross the river and get to the west end, that's where Lily would have headed." He points in the direction of the bridge.
I nod "the west end huh? That's not too far from where we are... I think its only an hour drive, but walking there? That could easily take three! But more importantly why do you think she would go there?" I ask curiously.
"I'm sure we'll figure out a faster route. I think she'll be there because that's where the chief set up the emergency shelter, so there'll be at least a dozen officers, all armed. There'll also be food, water, and it will provide a safe place to sleep when night comes." Ryan explains.
Loki looks really excited at the prospect of safety, while I knit my brows together in confusion and tilt my head while picturing a prison-like building with fences and armed guards. "I didn't know that there was a building like that here, surely I would've seen it before?"
Ryan shakes his head and says gravely "it's not whatever you're imagining. The chief said they'll set up at the university because it's big and close enough to the hospital that they'll be able to protect and use its facilities without a great deal of difficulty."
My face pales when he mentions the hospital and I reach out and grip his arm before asking "won't that be dangerous? I mean you said yourself that three of the most capable officers you know got bitten... and we know what happens when you get bitten. If they try to save anyone who's been bitten then that hospital will look just like the one we came from. And having a bunch of useless, scared people so close by could be LETHAL, not just dangerous!"
Ryan looks slightly concerned by my statement, however he replies confidently with "we didn't receive any calls from the west side, they all came from over here before the lines shut down. Which means that there wasn't any of those monsters over there, so they would have to cross the bridge in order to attack the university. And it would be easy to defend the bridge. So you don't need to worry, the university is perfectly safe."
I consider this for a moment before I slowly nod my head, although I'm far from convinced. "Well I guess there's no harm in trying... but we need to figure out how to get there. Me and Loki don't have enough energy to walk for three hours, heck I don't think you can walk for three hours either!" Loki nods agreement and looks expectantly at Ryan.
Ryan scratches the back of his head while he considers a solution. "Well unfortunately I don't have a car here because I live close enough to walk, and all of the police cruisers have been taken by the others... so we don't have a car. Plus all transit is down so I think walking is our only option at this point."
I sigh before shrugging in defeat "alright fine, I guess we have no choice, but at the very least we can pick the fastest route."
I think for a moment before I say "I think the fastest route is actually the main road... well we don't have to worry about being hit by cars, because there's no one around to hit us. Plus I don't really want to try walking through alleys with the Lifeless still roaming around."
"Good point." Ryan says before he realizes something "wait, earlier you didn't mention anything about running into Lifeless on your way here?"
I nod hair swaying slightly before saying "that's because we didn't run into any. But it makes sense because East hospital is a little outside the city limits, nobody goes there unless they need to go to the hospital, so the Lifeless would have no reason to stay, especially if they could hear cars, or screams, coming from the city. I doubt we'll be that lucky now that we're inside the city... but I think we can make it if we're quiet, I think we can slip past them because they appear to be blind."
Ryan nods his head in confirmation " it's true that they don't see well, but how do you figure that the beasts are blind? They could be like bears and have poor vision." Ryan points out.
I look at Loki quickly before I reply to Ryan "back when we were in the hospital three Lifeless walked into the hallway we were in, none of them noticed us until after we made some noise, even though we were in plain sight and moving around, which suggests that they're completely blind. Although they seem to come running if they hear anything so I don't recommend using your gun..." I look meaningfully at the weapon at Ryan's hip "or you could attract all of the Lifeless in the city." I finish.
Ryan places his hand on the gun with a worried look on his face "but if I don't use my gun when we run into one, we could all die..." I shake my head refusing to back down. He sighs before letting his hands drop to his sides "fine, you're the expert! Well I guess it wouldn't be very useful anyway... those things don't die unless you destroy the brain, and I'm not that good of a shot... plus to make things worse there are only six bullets in a standard issue police handgun." Loki and me look up at Ryan in surprise and stare at him silently. Ryan shifts nervously "what?"
I look at Ryan incredulously when I say "you're kidding right? What do you mean they only die if you destroy the brain? And how do you know that?"
Ryan blinks in surprise before he says "you guys didn't know that? But I thought you said that you'd killed seven of them?" I nod confirming that I have indeed killed seven Lifeless. "You're telling me you killed seven... Lifeless... by chance?!"
I glare at officer Ryan and snap "most of the time I only had blunt weapons! The fastest way to kill someone with a blunt weapon is to bash them over the head with it!! Repeatedly if they keep moving! By the time I got a gun I was so freaked out I aimed for their heads, because it becomes the most important target when your opponent is trying to tear your throat out! I only managed to kill two or three with the gun before it ran out of ammo! I mean why the heck do police guns only have six bullets?!"
Ryan throws his hands up in the air in a placating gesture "whoa, whoa! I'm sorry, I know I went too far, now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense that you two didn't know, heck the only reason I know is because one of the other officers screamed it over the radio before they died! And it was wrong of me to imply that killing those Lifeless was easy. Do you forgive me?" He asks very sincerely and without subterfuge.
I calm down and begin to feel ashamed of my anger, again. Cursed temper! Why do you have to be so short?! "The fault wasn't yours entirely... I totally over reacted."
Ryan shakes his head "no I think your reaction was justified. Anyway... that gun you mentioned... and the baton you carry... you said they were my brother's?" Ryan asks, his voice barely above a whisper.
I start guiltily "yes... if I didn't have them we would have died... I could trade batons with you if you want?..."
Ryan shakes his head and gives me a shaky smile "it's fine... I'm perfectly happy with my own. Plus I'd feel better if you had it... if I had it I'd probably throw it away in anger, wouldn't want it reminding me of Vincent... anyway! We should get going, we don't want to be out here during the night!" Understanding the logic behind what he said and suddenly feeling very exposed I nod enthusiastically and start jogging down the road, the others match my pace, they also probably feel exposed out here.
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As I round a bend in the road my red hair whips about in the wind, covering my eyes and momentarily obstructing my vision. At that moment I run into something soft yet firm. "Sor-" I immediately begin to apologize, years of habit kicking in before logic did. My apology is cut short as hands close painfully tight around my throat. I immediately begin to choke as the nails bite deep into my flesh, so deep that I soon feel blood run in a slow trickle down my throat.
"Kairi!" Loki shouts, his voice high with fear. I feel the pressure ease off a little as an impact knocks my attacker away, its nails slicing deep furrows in the sides of my neck. My body collapses to the ground as I gasp for breath my head spinning uncontrollably as blood rushes back to my brain. "AGH!!" I hear a cry of pain off to my right. I quickly yank my hair out of my face and am relieved to see that the six foot Lifeless that had been strangling me had simply knocked Loki over instead of biting him. My relief is short-lived as it begins to approach Loki at a shuffling run, I try to get to my feet, but when I do my head spins and my vision fills with black dots causing me to stumble and fall, my raw hands scraped deeper by the ashphalt. My heart stops as the Lifeless nearly throws itself on top of Loki in order to eat him.
"LOKI!" All I manage is to gasp Loki's name in horror before its teeth reach Loki's arm. THUD! Ryan smashes the Lifeless' head away from Loki's arm an instant before its teeth could tear into him. The Lifeless falls backward and Ryan quickly grabs Loki and starts to carry him away from the Lifeless, the movement hampered by the baton Ryan had used to hit it away.
Having regained my strength I push myself to my feet and sprint at the Lifeless. Ryan stares shocked at me as we pass one another, he reaches out a desperate arm to try and drag me away from the monster that had nearly killed me and Loki. But I easily dodge the arm and sprint past him, I only have one goal, killing it and moving on before any more show up. We might be able to outrun it because they're pretty slow but we'd have to run as fast as we could, and I had no doubt that it would follow us and there is no way we can run for three hours straight. No, that Lifeless had to die.
It got on its knees as I covered the distance between us, but luckily for me it was facing the other way, so I roundhouse kicked him in the back of the head as hard as I could. Which caused him to fall forward at a very fast speed and there was a wet crunching sound as his head bounced off the road, breaking its nose and I suspect the bone over its right eye. I don't waste a second as I move forward and slam my right foot down on its head with as much strength as I can muster. I feel the head give under my heel but then it bounces back into place without breaking, although I know I weakened it significantly. I lift my foot to try again when its hands reach up behind it and scrabble over my right leg. Its nails bite into the bruised knee and cause me to yank my foot away from the pain. I pulled my leg right out of its grip and swiftly delivered the killing blow onto its skull. The head explodes with a sickeningly wet CRUNCH! Which causes bits of brain, coagulated blood, bone and clumps of hair to splatter up my leg. The slimy feeling of the brain between my toes and the stench of blood cause me to puke almost instantly. Oh God! I wish I was wearing shoes yesterday!!! My body continues trying to puke for a good minute after I had run out of things to throw up. After which I simply continued to shudder from revulsion.
I feel a small hand on my back as tears slide down my face. "Kairi? Are you alright?" Loki's concerned face appears in my field of vision.
I try to smile but it mostly came out as a twisted grimace. "I'll be alright as soon as I get the brain out from between my toes... and wash my leg... and get something to eat... and drink... and to tie my hair up with... and shoes wouldn't hurt either" I mutter darkly. Can't believe I forgot I wasn't wearing shoes... I guess everywhere else hurts so much I didn't think much about my aching feet. I sigh dejectedly "well I guess we better keep going..." I begin to make my way down the road when a small hand closes around my arm, stopping my progress.
Loki looks up at me concerned "are you sure you're alright? Shouldn't we treat your wounds?" He looks hopefully at Ryan as he says this, pleading with him to agree.
Ryan looks me over once before he grimaces and takes my other arm "I guess we have to... I mean it's probably impossible for you to keep going in your condition... and I doubt I could protect you both without your help. Don't look at me like that Kairi! You know what I'm saying is true! If you hadn't taken it down we'd probably be in a lot of shit right now, so for the moment your health takes priority." He marches me determinedly down a side road.
"But what about your wife?... the longer we stall, the more she'll believe you're dead." I argue rather weakly.
Ryan shakes his head, his path never faltering "Lily will wait for me. Besides we'll arrive faster if we rest now instead of walking until you collapse."
Knowing what Ryan says is right and honestly feeling relieved at the chance to get cleaned up, I obediently allow him to lead me down the street. We continue walking for only a couple minutes before we stop in front of a series of stores, small ones either locally owned or by small companies, instead of the large chain stores.
Ryan gestures at the neat row of stores in front of us and says "do you want to stop by the grocery store to get something to eat first? Or maybe you'd prefer to go to that lovely little pharmacy and get patched up? Oh! And there's even a clothing store for you to peruse! What shall it be my lady?" He says with a playful grin and a mocking bow.
I shove him away from me lightly, laughing at him "I think the clothing store should come first, then we can go to the grocer to get something to eat, and then we'll head to the pharmacy."
Ryan frowns at me a little puzzled "I'd like to know why you decided on that order... surely the pharmacy is the most important?"
I smile at him then point to the clothing store "look, shoes! If I'm to keep walking I need a pair, rather urgently wouldn't you say? Plus they have a couple backpacks that we can put food and medicine in... and my clothes are covered in blood! It is not comfortable. But clothes are the last thing on the list." Ryan nods in understanding. "I chose the grocery store next because we will need energy to keep walking and fighting, whereas my injuries are only scratches and bruises, albeit rather bad scratches and bruises, but they're still nowhere near enough to stop me."
As Ryan nods once more Loki grabs my hand and starts pulling me toward the clothing store "if that's settled what are we waiting for? Let's go!" He says cheerfully.
I make it to the door when I stop uncertainly and glance at Ryan "umm Ryan?... we kinda don't have any money... and even if we did I doubt there'd be anyone working the store... so we're kinda about to y'know loot the store? Are you gonna tell your chief when we meet him?..." I shuffle my feet nervously as I ask.
Ryan stops uncertainly when I ask "oh, I... err I didn't think about that..." he scratches the back of his head awkwardly before he says "well I guess it's fine... I doubt the owner is going to care much considering the state of the city... but if they are here and if for some reason they do care then we'll apologize and leave their stuff alone! That should be fine, right?"
I nod relieved "yeah that will work fine. It's just I kinda remembered you were a police officer and that looting is a crime so I got a little worried..."
Ryan shakes his head "unfortunately the police are not currently able to uphold the law so... there are worse laws you could be breaking. Besides right now the few of us left have our priorities set to gathering and protecting any survivors, and you need these things to help you survive, so I think the chief would forgive us if he knew."
I smile at him and open the door "I'm glad this isn't going to cause any problems between us." I look down at Loki and remember that since he's still young he might not have a good sense of right and wrong, and I wouldn't want to distort it. "Remember Loki we're only taking this stuff because we need it but if its owner is still around we won't take anything without permission, because it's bad to take things that belong to someone else." Loki nods seriously and we enter the store.
We quickly look around the store and find it empty, no Lifeless and no owner. So we move on with our business. The first thing I do is gravitate towards the shoes, it takes a bit of looking but eventually I find a pair of functional but nice runners in my size. They are mostly black with white soles, the laces and the trim are a dark pink, I don't usually like pink but on these shoes it looks good, plus the inside of the shoe is quite spongey so they'll be gentle on my poor feet.
I grab the shoes and walk over to where Loki and Ryan are, they each have a backpack in their hands. Ryan's is navy blue and has a chest strap to keep it from bouncing around, Loki's was obviously a kids backpack but he seems to have chosen the one with the least decoration on it, which admitedly would be pretty hard considering the small selection, as such Loki chose a backpack with a dark green camouflage print. I look at the backpacks and grimace at all of them, all the "womens" backpacks are either vibrant pink or have a really gaudy flower print and I wouldn't be caught dead with either. I turn my attention to the "mens" backpacks which have much tamer colours, I consider for a bit before I grab a backpack that is the same style as Ryan's but is black.
I throw it over my shoulder before turning my attention to the clothes, I see much of the same colour discrepancy between the girls and boys sections as I did with the backpacks. Sighing I grab six solid coloured tanktops and a couple pairs of dark coloured cargo pants in my sizes and shove them into the bag. I also grab a couple guy's hoodies and shove them into the bag along with a warm coat. I check to make sure Ryan and Loki are busy before I grab three black sports bras and several pairs of underwear and stuff them in as well, and finally I grab several pairs of socks, mostly ankle socks and some fuzzy socks for when it gets cold.
Having finished with my shopping I head towards the door, when I notice the check out counter, what catches my attention are the hairties attached in bundles and sitting on the counter. I rummage through them until I find the "ouchless" ones, aka the ones without the metal bits, and I place them in one of the side pockets, making sure to put one around my wrist first. I should find a hairbrush in the pharmacy then I'll tie my hair up.
I'm standing in front of the glass door waiting for the boys to finish up, when a hand closes around my shoulder. I drive my elbow back into their stomach knocking them off balance, the shoes I had been holding fall to the ground as I whip around, my right leg raising in a round house kick aimed at head height. My first glimpse confirms that my attacker was indeed a Lifeless, and my shin slams into the side of its head, the Lifeless falls to my left and I charge after it intent on killing it before it can get back up. But in my haste I tripped over some clothes that had fallen off the shelf and went sprawling on the ground.
"KAIRI?!" I hear Loki and Ryan shout as they run up the aisle towards me.
"LIFELESS!!" I shriek at them just before a heavy form lands on top of me. I'm in a bad position with my stomach on the ground and the Lifeless on my back, I struggle to push its head away with my hands, my heart nearly stops when I accidently shove my fingers into its mouth because I couldn't see its position behind me. I yank my fingers out seconds before its teeth snap shut, unfortunately I'd yanked my hands clean off its head so I was no longer pushing it away from me. "Help..." I whisper brokenly as I feel teeth grate against my shoulder, I clench my eyes shut against the pain I knew was going to follow, when all of a sudden its weight is removed and I hear its teeth snap shut bitting into nothing but air. I roll over and see that Ryan is standing over me, in his arms is the Lifeless, he's holding it up with one of his arms looped around its waist and the other is clenched tightly around its neck, in order to keep the head from moving around and bitting him.
"Come on Kairi! Finish it!" Ryan hisses out through clenched teeth.
"AH! Right!" I jump to my feet and grab the baton out of my waist band, I hesitate as I try to decide how to finish it in its current position "drop it Ryan! I can't get a good shot at its head!"
Ryan grumbles "seriously?!" Before he lowers it to the ground, as he lets go he kicks it behind the knees and shoves it forward so that it lands on its face. In a position eerily similar to the one I was just in. "Don't let it get up!" Ryan shouts as he reaches for his baton.
"Got it covered!" I shout as I step forward and bring the baton down on its head repeatedly. I breath a sigh of relief as it slumps motionless to the ground "thank you so much for the help Ryan! If you'd been a second slower I would've been a goner!" I shudder as I remember the fear I felt when its teeth touched my shoulder.
"You're welcome! Although picking it up wouldn't have worked if it didn't used to be a girl. I don't know what I would've done if it'd been a body builder, or fat, or something. We were lucky." Ryan says gravely.
I nod "we were lucky, honestly I wish we were luckier and that it hadn't come in at all!" I bend over and pick up my shoes.
"So do I" Ryan sighs. "But if it didn't we wouldn't have learned that we should have someone watching the door at all times, by the way... why aren't you wearing your shoes?" He asks while pointing at the shoes in my hands.
I point at my blood covered leg "I don't want this crap all over my shoes and socks, the grocery store should have a bathroom I can wash up in, and if it doesn't it will have some bottled water I can use instead." I say with my arms crossed defiantly.
Ryan shrugs "forgot about that actually, anyway I have no problem with you washing up first. God knows that crud is uncomfortable."
I laugh and roll my eyes as I take Loki's hand and exit the store "tell me about it."
Ryan hurries in front of me and enters the grocery store, he quietly searches the store as me and Loki wait by the door. "Found one!" He whispers from somewhere near the back, its quickly followed by the meaty whacks of the baton smashing into skull. And finally the thud of a body hitting the ground.
"Did you get it?" I whisper back into the store, anxiously fiddling with the baton in my hand.
We wait during a couple of seconds of silence before our question is answered by Ryan returning safe and unharmed. "Got it" he says. "The stores clear now, but who should watch the door?"
"Loki can do it" both of my companions look at me in surprise. "What? All he has to do is tell us if any Lifeless approach the door! He doesn't have to kill any, besides he wouldn't know what to get anyway." I say with a shrug.
Ryan scratches the back of his head "I guess that's true... but only if he agrees." We both turn to Loki "will you do it Loki? If not, I can..."
Ryan is interrupted by Loki "No! I can do it! Please let me do it!" Loki pleads desperately.
I put my hand on Loki's shoulder and give him a reassuring squeeze "I guess that's settled, let's get to work!" Ryan nods and we move into the store.
"Kairi, what kind of food do you think we should get? Food that will last a long time? Or fresh food?" Ryan asks as he looks over the shelves.
I stop and tilt my head, with my hands on my hips "hmmm good question..." I pause for a moment, thinking it over before I respond "fresh food." I move towards the shelves and start grabbing fruits and stuff "I get the feeling that this might be our last chance in awhile to eat something fresh... plus cans are heavy so they'll weigh us down, if we had a car I'd say to grab as many cans as we could on top of the produce... but we don't have a car!"
Ryan nods and also starts putting some produce in his bag "makes sense."
I grin "of course it makes sense! That was the epitome of logical thinking I tell you!" I start laughing quietly as I grab a couple water bottles and stuff them into my bag "well that should be enough for now... there'll be plenty of things we'll need from the pharmacy, so we better save space."
Ryan nods "yeah I was just thinking that getting medicine and bandages is really important."
I nod back "yeah those are important but pharmacies have other important things, like hairbrushes and pads..." I slowly trail off as I realize what I just said. My face goes red and my eyes widen with embarassment.
Ryan smiles obliviously at me "that's true, you'll definitely need pads if this lasts too long."
"RYAN!!" In my embarassment I practically shout his name. But as he turns to look at me, surprised and slightly alarmed, I quickly decide on something to say to explain why I called him "Ryan do you mind getting Loki some stuff while I wash up in the bathroom?" I smile shakily as I point at the bathrooms.
Ryan nods and smiles at me, blissfully unaware of how embarassed I was "sure, I can handle that."
I flash Ryan a quick smile before I start running towards the bathroom "thanks! I appreciate it!" Once in the bathroom I look at myself in the mirror and grimace, my clothes and body are covered in mud and blood, my hair is tangled beyond belief from all the falling, and running, and wind, and the fact that I haven't brushed it today. This is gonna hurt alot when I finally run a brush through it! I reach into my backpack and pull out a wine red tanktop, plus a pair of cargo pants, a pair of fuzzy socks the same colour as the shirt The extra padding will feel good on my savaged feet and should help me keep walking, and finally I pull out one of the sports bras The straps are thin so you shouldn't see it under my shirt, plus regular bras aren't comfortable to run or sleep in, so this should be perfect!. I look around nervously before I pull my clothes off and start scrubbing myself with the tap water and the hand soap. Oh I sure as hell hope neither of them come in... this is so embarassing! And what if we get attacked?! I quickly hurry my improvised bath along and pull my clothes on.
"Sighhh it feels so good to be clean!" I whisper to myself as I begin pulling my shoes on. "I'm glad these shoes are comfortable, I finally feel ready for this trip! Plus I'm glad I got the chance to check out my stitches, I was a little worried after that Lifeless scratched them and made them bleed, but they look fine! I should probably go back to the boys..." I mumble as I throw my ruined clothes into the trash can.
"Any trouble?" I ask as I see Ryan standing with Loki by the door.
"Kairi!" Loki shouts happily as he runs over and gives me a hug. "No trouble, we were just eating together."
I smile as I ruffle his hair "good plan, I think I'll get something to eat as well then we can head to the pharmacy if you two are finished." Loki nods and moves back to his spot at the door.
Ryan comes towards me and says "I'm ready to go as well." He looks at my clothes and gives me a joking grin "I was starting to get worried since you were taking so long... but it looks like you were calmly enjoying a bath!"
I pout at him jokingly "sorry to worry you, but I can assure you that my 'bath' as you put it, was not relaxing! I was worried that one of you two would walk in on me or worse, a Lifeless would decide to join me!"
Ryan laughs and hands me some food "it definately seems as though no one could relax in that situation, now come on and eat something so that we can move on to the pharmacy, no point spending more time here than is strictly necessary."
I nod taking the food from Ryan and heading towards the door, though I don't bother giving him an answer as my mouth is full of sandwhich.
"Come on Loki time to go!" Ryan calls cheerfully to Loki as we reach him.
Loki smiles up at Ryan and asks excitedly "we're finally going to the pharmacy to patch Kairi up right?"
Ryan laughs and ruffles Loki's hair "that's right Loki."
We proceeded through the pharmacy the same way we did the grocery store, Ryan goes in and searches for Lifeless and I protect Loki and the entrance. However this time we found two Lifeless so I had to leave Loki and deal with one of them, we finished quickly and there were no accidents or surprises. I got several medicines ranging from pain killers to cough drops, I also picked up a nice hairbrush and finally managed to tie my hair up into a simple pony tail, I acquired as many pads as I could feasibly fit into my bag, and some bandages and medical tape.
It was as we were leaving and planing to continue on our way when something happened, we'd just exited the pharmacy and were heading back towards the main road when something across the parking lot caught our attention. "What is that?" I ask trying to focus on the thing that had made Ryan stop in his tracts, it was hard to see because the sun was shinning right into my eyes.
"Run!" Ryan whispers fiercely as he grabs me and Loki and starts pulling us towards one of the stores.
Noticing the fear in his voice and the palour of his face I follow him readily "is it the Lifeless?" I ask, my voice trembling from fear.
Ryan nods, his lips pressed into a grim line, as he hurries us into a store we hadn't entered before "there's at least five of them, we can't deal with that many, the batons require several solid blows to kill one of them, five would..." he shakes his head as he trails off, but he doesn't need to finish his sentence because I already understand. They'd overwhelm us... they'd probably get Loki first because he doesn't have a weapon and me and Ryan would already be busy. "Our best hope is to hide in here until they move on. If they're blind like you said then they won't follow us in here... but we should barricade the door just to be safe." I nod and me and Ryan get to work moving things in front of the door as quietly as we can. We finish quickly because we ran out of things to put in front of the door because the shelves are bolted to the floor and thus impossible to move. I move away from the door and that's when I notice that Loki has been staring into the store all this time.
"Loki what's wrong?" I whisper as I grab his arm.
Loki points at the shelves in front of him while he looks up at me "you said the batons take too long and the gun's too loud, so why don't you use those." As I turn my gaze towards the shelves I notice that we have conveniently run into a hunting shop and the shelves are loaded with knives, crossbows, compound bows, and rifles.
I laugh weakly for a second before I spring into action "Ryan! There are weapons! Grab some!"
Ryan whips away from the door to look at me and his eyes widen with shock as he sees the weapon leaden shelves "damn! I didn't notice cause the lights are off!" He quickly moves towards the shelves and starts grabbing weapons. I grab two large hunting knives with matching belt sheathes, and a medium draw crossbow for myself, I've never used a crossbow before but they are apparently easier to hit accurately with than the bow and quick to learn how to use, plus they don't require you to draw the string back and fire immediately. For Loki I grab a small hunting knife with matching sheath and the smallest, lightest crossbow I can find, normally I'd hesitate to give Loki a crossbow 'cause I wouldn't want him accidently setting it off and shooting someone, but right now is an emergency, and if having a crossbow increases Loki's chance of survival, then Loki is going to get a freaking crossbow. I look over at Ryan and see that he has chosen a single hunting knife and a rifle, I raise my brow at the rifle but I understand that it will fire faster than a crossbow, and it has more bullets than that stupid pistol, so I don't say anything. We have attached our knives to our belts and have our weapons loaded and ready as we wait for any sign of the Lifeless trying to break in.
We wait for what feels like forever, but was probably closer to an hour, before we realize that they don't know we're here. I slowly and carefully creep toward the door and peer out, I look in every direction but see no sign of the Lifeless, they've moved on. Relaxing I gesture for them to come to me "they're gone, and we should be too if we want to make it to west end tonight, because it's starting to get dark out." Ryan and Loki look at each other before they head outside.
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They've traveled for three hours avoiding and killing the Lifeless as needed. Some time ago the power in the city went out and they've been traveling past darkened buildings, somehow more irrevocably desolate without the presence of synthetic light, and now the sky is dyed in red as the sun begins to dip past the horizon and they haven't made it to the bridge yet. They know that traveling in the dark would be suicide and that they should find somewhere to hole up for the night, but none of them can bring it up, none of them can bring themselves to give up for the night when a place with other people and safety is so close. It's even worse for Ryan because he knows he is so close to meeting his wife again, but he also knows that Kairi and Loki can't keep walking much longer, and that if they keep going they will collapse, which is a death sentence. However the three of them keep walking until the red starts to bleed out of the sky, almost as if it is fleeing from the darkness to come, and eventually it does come. A blanket of darkness unlike any they have ever experienced begins to envelope them in its frosty and lethal embrace, it begins to draw closer, slowly stealing pieces of their world away as if they never existed in the first place. Just as they were about to succomb to its murderous folds they hear something they had begun to believe they would never hear again, the sound of peoples voices. They turn as one towards the source and they see a small shaft of light piercing out from under the bottom of the door. The light seems to flicker and surge out into the darkness, calling them towards it, and they go. They open the door and step inside, each one completely unprepared for the sight that meets their eyes, because it is both wonderful and terrible.