Once I've gotten everything settled in the treehouse, I sit down at the coffee table and pull some food from my bag. I look around the treehouse one more time. This place has a lot of free space, and these shelves are perfect for stocking resources. I can put all my citrus grenades and smokescreens on one, put soom food and medical stuff on another. This was the perfect place to set up!
Thing is, I'm gonna need more food for myself. What I'm eating now is the last of my resources, so I need to go out and find some more. I finish my food and say to Alfie, "I need to go now. I'll be back. Make sure the cats don't hurt themselves, okay?" He chirps, a cute little response that assures me that he and the cats will be okay.
I grab my backpack and my satchel and climb down the treehouse, making sure to shut the door so that one of the cats don't get out on accident. It wouldn't be that smart to go too far from the treehouse, so I guess the best place to start looking for food would be the house in front of the treehouse. I hope whoever lived here doesn't mind me going through their stuff. I make my way into the house through the back door and carefully walk around, keeping my eye out for any Eldritch that may be in here with me.
Looks like the place is safe. "Let's start with the fridge," I say to myself. I open my backpack and set it down on one of the kitchen chairs before opening up the fridge. A lot of the stuff in here is either expired or just plain nasty. Although, I do find a jug of blue Frost Aid that hasn't hit its expiration date yet, as well as a bottle of lemon juice. I'll be taking those. I move on to the pantry, finding some canned food. That's not too bad. I collect it and put it into my bag with the stuff from the fridge.
After some more looking around, I find some fruits that seem to somehow still be fresh. Oranges, limes, a pineapple, a lot of citrus stuff. Good for food and making citrus bombs. "This house is actually pretty good," I say as I pack the food into my bag. I wonder if there's anything useful upstairs. I leave my backpack in the kitchen and head upstairs. Hopefully, this isn't a waste of my time.
I cautiously walk into the master bedroom. I see a lady's old corpse sprawled across the bed with her internal organs hanging outside of her stomach. What I assume to be her husband is also dead on the floor, with one of his hands and a large chunk of his leg missing. I move past them and go to the bathroom, although I don't find anything of use. I continue looking around, spotting a conveniently clean blanket in one of the other rooms. I'm definitely gonna take that with me. I fold it up and carry it into the next room with me.
The curtains are closed in here. That, paired with a majority of the sunlight being blocked by clouds, makes the room dark and hard to see in. I put the blanket on the bed and look for something I can take with me. I don't find anything, but then I have an idea. I could take these curtains back to the treehouse and make a little bed for the cats. That'd be cute.
I approach the window to take the curtains down, but my efforts are interrupted by an Eldritch! It leaps at me from behind the curtains, and I stumble back, caught off guard by the sudden attack. "SHIT!!" I shout as I fall down onto my back. The Eldritch pins me down and screeches before opening up its mouth!
Before it bites my face off, I manage to pull a citrus grenade from my bag and jam it between the Eldritch's teeth. I close my eyes and mouth as the lemon juice pops, taking over the Eldritch's sense of taste. It stumbles back and gags, giving me the opportunity to get to my feet. I arm myself with my spear and whack its face a couple times to distract it a bit more.
It gives me an angry glare and shrieks, but I pull out a smokescreen and toss it down to the floor. I dash out of the room and close the door, but the Eldritch destroys it and follows close behind! I narrowly avoid a claw attack to my back and try to smack it with my spear again, but it moves out of the way and swings its tail at me. I jump back to avoid it, but find my back against a wall above the stairs! Shit, shit! It lunges for me, but I duck to my left.
Bad move.
I tumble down the stairs, only stopping when my back collides with the wall at the bottom of the staircase. I groan from the pain, but there's no time to worry about that! I look up to see the Eldritch jumping down the entire flight of stairs, its eyes deadset on attacking me! I get out of the staircase and run to the kitchen, opening a cabinet and finding a cooking pot. The Eldritch comes around the corner just as I grab it, and I swing the pot at its face as it tries to attack.
The pot bounces right off of the Eldritch's face, but no matter! I throw the pot before whacking it with my spear, hoping to keep it at bay long enough for me to think of a plan. The Eldritch eventually gets tired of my attacks and shrieks. It dodges my next swing and spins around quickly, its tail smacking me in the side of my face. The attack sends me to the side, and I find the edge of the kitchen table colliding with my side, full force! It hurts my ribs a little bit, but I can't worry about that pain, not yet!
I manage to avoid the next attack and pull out two smokescreens, throwing them down to blind the Eldritch for a bit. I grab the back of one of the kitchen chairs and spin it around, hitting the Eldritch's face. I follow that up by jumping onto and over the chair, landing myself behind the Eldritch. "Die already!!" I yell out, plunging my spear into its back. It shrieks out in pain and falls to the ground, flailing around like a fish out of water. I pull the spear out and stab the Eldritch in the face, which manges to finish it off.
I let go of my weapon and fall down, out of breath. "Damn, all this time, and I'm still not used to sneak attacks," I mutter. I lay back on the kitchen floor and catch my breath. I stand with wobbly legs and retrieve my spear from the Eldritch's corpse, using it to steady myself. I lift my hand to wipe the sweat off my face, but I feel something sticking out of my cheek. "What the hell?" I ask myself. I walk over to the downstairs bathroom and look in the mirror, seeing one of the Eldritch's spikes stuck in the side of my face. "Ew, that's nasty," I groan. "How did I not notice that?"
The adrenaline rush of the fight must've blocked my pain sensors. I need to pull this thing out. I grab my medical kit from my backpack and look in the mirror, trying to mentally prepare myself for whatever pain comes with this.
I slowly wiggle the spike from my cheek. It hurts a bit, but I power through it and begin cleaning the wound. The hole isn't very wide or deep, so I don't really need to stitch it or anything. The alchohol burns like hell, but there's no need to risk an infection. Once I make sure it's completely clean, I place a thick gauze pad over the wound and secure it with medical tape.
"On the bright side," I start, trying to stay positive, "That's probably gonna be a cool scar?" I slide my spear into its holster and rub my shoulder. Come to think of it, the tumble down the stairs hurt more than the spike in my face. I probably have a good amount of bruises from that.
I grab my backpack and return to the treehouse with a slight limp. "I'm back," I say, starting to unload my bag. "This is everything I brought back. I'll need to make a store run for more food,". Alfie chirps. The cats are sleeping in the corner, huddled together for warmth.
Dammit, I never brought those curtains or that blanket back for them. "Sorry," I mutter, putting my resources away. "Are you hungry, Alfie?" I ask. He chirps a no, and I rub his head. "That's okay. I need to get more kale for you anyways,". I let him crawl on my finger and put him down on the coffee table, sitting across from him on the bench.
I look at his cute little lizard face and realize what just happened. "What the hell is wrong with me, Alfie?" I ask him. "I mean, I'm having entire conversations with you like you're a person. You probably don't even understand what I'm saying,". Alfie chirps with a smile, and I sigh. "It's only been 3 months since I last talked to a human, I shouldn't be losing it already."
I lay across the bench, both mentally and physically exhausted. "Fuck this shit," I groan. "I'm so tired..." My eyes feel heavy, beginning to fall. Even though I don't wanna go to sleep yet, I know I should. I need the rest. I let my eyes fall and stop resisting sleep. It'll just be a small nap, only an hour or two...
-------------------------------
Sunlight seeps through my eyelids, signaling a new day. "What... What the hell..?" I groan. I sit up from where I was laying and stretch. "Dammit... I slept through that entire day??" I question. I get my feet off the bench and stand up. My arms, legs, shoulder, and back feel so uncomfortable from yesterday's fight.
Whatever. I ignore the discomfort and roll one of my shoulders. A quick yawn and stretch is all I need to get ready. "Good mornin', kitties," I groan, pouring some food into their bowls. I still need to get some food for myself. I find Alfie and give him one of the last pieces of kale I have. "I need to leave again, buddy. I'll be gone for a little longer this time," I say to him. "Stay in the treehouse, okay?"
He chirps, and I grab my bag and leave. Where should I go get some food, though? Walmart, maybe?
Wait, no, I have the perfect place! It shouldn't be too far from here. "Sam's Club, here I come!"
I take a quick shortcut and walk for a little bit until I'm outside the store. I walk through the broken glass door and survey the warehouse. I should get the cats and Alfie some food first. I head towards the fresh produce to start, thought it isn't very fresh anymore. I grab a bunch of kale and pack it into my bag before heading to the pet area.
I reach the aisle and start looking around before hearing some sort of rustling in the next aisle over. A gruff, deep voice mutters, "Where the hell is that stupid ass box?"
A person.
There's another person here.
There's another living person here.
I carefully make my way over to the end of my aisle, peeking my head into the next one over. On the other side of the large shelf, I see a man squatting over something. He wears a backpack that holds a construction sledgehammer in between some straps on the back.
He seems focused, and I'm almost hesitant to approach. Still, if this is my only chance to talk to another human for once, I need to take it. "H-Hello?" I quietly call out. I cautiously approach the guy so that I don't startle him. I don't think he heard me. "H-Hey, can you hear me?" I ask, getting closer.
He looks over his shoulder, and we make eye contact. His steely gaze freezes me in place. Something about it feels angry, maybe even dangerous.
When he stands up, I realize exactly why it was that I froze. This guy is absolutely huge. His physique is impressive, I can tell he works out.
His arms are big, the muscles looking rather firm. He seems to have a bit of a big chest as well. His shirt doesn't rest against his body perfectly. "O-Oh, uhm..." I stutter.
"Who the hell are you?"