Now, if I could figure out a way to let Lindsay be in charge of herself, then maybe I’d consider it. Otherwise, I didn’t need the headache.
Once I was airborne again, I watched them drive into the massive parking lot and point to the largest building. Of course, they must have just gone in through the main entrance, not expecting to come across Night Stalkers.
However, much to my surprise, they then turned around, only to shut the truck off, get out, and begin pushing the vehicle backwards. I assumed they must be trying to get as close as possible, so I didn’t have to carry Tony’s body far.
A nice sentiment.
Flying closer to the building, I silently glided lower and lower to the ground, landing quietly near the double-set of glass doors. Oddly enough, they weren’t broken like I would have assumed if there had been a horde infestation, though it did appear it had been barricaded at one point in time. I suspected it had been Randy’s group that carefully made an opening in the flimsy layer of desks and tables.
But that just meant that the horde had infiltrated from a different route. It also meant that the enemy must have attacked from the sides of the building, rather than this front entrance, probably attracted to the sound of the running truck.
Good.
It meant that the majority of the enemy would be elsewhere then.
If I had to guess, these humans had been lucky up until this point with not having any encounters during the daytime. From my understanding, they used the truck rarely due to their limited supply of gasoline, but that also meant they had unknowingly walked right past sleeping hordes on foot, avoiding the certain death that might have ensued from using their noisy vehicle.
Carefully opening the door and sliding my big ass through the barricade, my vision shifted as a combination of my red night vision and my grayscale heat vision activated to allow me to see perfectly in the dim interior.
Clearly, this area had been the front office, with a lobby, waiting area, and main desk in the immediate vicinity. I didn’t see any enemies, but I did see a bathroom entrance, so I checked that first, only to find that no one was inside the men’s or women’s restrooms. Thus, instead, I carefully walked behind the counter to a doorless opening on the right that led to a large room with a series of cubicles.
Still no signs of any heat signatures.
Unlike when I had that cloud of tear gas blocking my vision, I could see every minute detail in a crimson hue, with objects that were slightly warmer being a lighter red, though there was nothing actually warm in the room.
Moving among the cubicles, I carefully opened a door on the right to see that it led to a breakroom…
And a dead body that was mutilated almost beyond recognition.
It wasn’t Tony though, since the corpse appeared to be female. The gore was also just as cold as the room, and the stench was overpowering, indicating this person had been dead for a while. For a moment, I was confused as to how a Night Stalker had gotten in here, since the door I had used appeared to be untouched, but then I realized I wasn’t looking at the whole room.
Past a couple of soda and snack vending machines on my left, the room curved around to some tables and a makeshift kitchen, having a sink and microwave.
And on that end, there was a broken-down door lying on the floor, along with more coagulated blood.
Well dammit.
Maybe the guy was dead after all. I wouldn’t know for sure unless I found his body though.
Silently creeping towards the door, I peeked my head into a hallway seeing that it went both directions, with the trail of blood leading to my left. Alternatively, on the right I saw a couple of more bathroom signs, with the entrances lacking doorways like in the lobby.
I doubted anyone would be alive in them, but decided to check anyway.
The men’s room was definitely empty, so I stepped into the women’s restroom, being more than tall enough to look over the stalls – definitely taller than the average Night Stalker, even if most of the mindless beasts didn’t seem to walk fully upright to begin with. However, before I got to the last one, I stopped when I noticed that toilet paper had been shoved into the cracks of the door at the end, effectively preventing a Night Stalker from seeing any heat signatures within, since the bunched up material made a great insulator.
Smart.
Not to mention, any sane person inside would be sitting on the toilet with their feet up, the porcelain structure serving as a heat sink to diffuse their body temperature into the wall. At the very least, I didn’t notice much of a difference in the heat of the air below or above the stall, compared to everything else.
Had human Night Stalkers been more like animals, instead of unintelligent zombies, then they might rely more heavily on sound and scent to track down their prey, but I suspected those senses were just as muted as a human’s was, instead hunting primarily with visual cues.
Which was probably the main reason why humans had even survived this long – because the apex predator was at a significant disadvantage both visually and intellectually, even if they were much stronger and faster.
Knowing I might scare the shit out of anyone hiding, including Tony, to have a pair of red eyes suddenly be looking at them, I decided to try to see if anyone was there by asking verbally first.
“Tony?” I whispered quietly.
No answer, but I heard a noise, like someone taking a sharp breath through their nose.
“Anyone there?” I tried again. “We have a truck waiting outside to pick up any survivors. But you need to be completely quiet.”
“W-Who are you?” a female voice whispered, sounding like she was around Savannah’s age.
I hesitated, not sure how to answer that. She was going to end up seeing me though, so I had to do my best to explain. “Well, there are some people living in a hospital downtown,” I began whispering. “They came to check this place out when the electricity didn’t come on, but they were attacked and one of their guys got lost. They asked me to help them out.”
“W-What could you possibly do?” she stammered.
I sighed, taking a deep breath. “I can fight the Night Stalkers…because I am one.”
Instantly, she sucked in a sharp breath and whimpered, sounding like she was beginning to hyperventilate.
“Look,” I hissed urgently. “I’m not going to hurt you. I wouldn’t be talking to you if that was my intention. This isn’t some kind of horror movie where a mindless beast tricks you or something. Now do you want to get out of here or not? If not, then I’ll just leave you and maybe you’ll survive another night in this place – maybe not.”
“N-No,” she replied a little too loudly.
“Shh,” I hissed. “Not so loud.”
“S-Sorry,” she whimpered.
I sighed again. “I get that you’re scared, but you’re going to die here if you stay. There’s a truck waiting outside. You just have to walk through a couple of rooms and you’re there. And I’ll protect you if any of those monsters show up.”
It was silent for a moment. “P-Promise?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“Yes, although don’t open the door. It might make too much noise. Crawl underneath the stall instead.” When she still didn’t move, I pressed more urgently. “Come on. Now.”
Her feet appeared on the floor then, with her apparently having been sitting curled up on the seat, and she dropped down beginning to peak her head out.
However, she froze solid with terrified eyes when she looked up and saw my glowing crimson gaze staring back at her.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I tried to reassure her, taking a few steps back. “Now, come. Hurry. I’ll protect you.”
Once I was far enough away, she slowly eased herself out, her thin figure and youthful face giving me the impression that she had still been in high school before all this shit happened – maybe sixteen at the oldest, though I could be wrong since Savannah looked fairly young herself, even though she was nineteen.
The girl was hesitant to follow after me though, so I kept backing out of the room, glancing down the hall to make sure the coast was clear.
“Come on,” I repeated. “Let’s hurry. I still have more people to find.”
She finally picked up the pace a little, though she was still hesitant to come any closer than seven or eight feet, her hand gliding over the wall for guidance. I retraced my steps back down the hallway, and back into the breakroom.
I was already halfway through when she finally appeared at the doorway, now attempting to catch up since she was finally registering something might grab her in the dark if she didn’t stick with me. However, it hadn’t occurred to me that she couldn’t see the red light my eyes were projecting, because she tripped right over the corpse, landing squarely on her hands, an audible squeal of pain escaping her lips.
And then, she realized what she had tripped over, hearing the sound the mangled body made as she pulled her legs over it.
“Oh shit, oh sh–” Her voice cut off as she hurled bile all over the floor.
Lovely.
“Don’t scream,” I hissed, rushing over to pick her up in my arms as she heaved again, nothing coming out this time.
Her entire body tensed up solid in fright, but she didn’t make a sound like instructed, allowing me to bolt with her out of the breakroom, through the office, and out into the front lobby. I suspected she hadn’t even fully processed what was happening yet, her body just locking down instead.
As I stepped into the sunlight, I saw that the guys had pushed the truck pretty close, so I didn’t have far to go. When they saw me, John and Chris both rushed over to grab the teenager, with Randy at the wheel, ready to start the engine and peel out at a moment’s notice.
“Did you find him?” Chris asked urgently as he helped his father take her from my arms.
“Not yet,” I replied simply, not wanting to waste time with chit-chat. I quickly headed back in, figuring I’d check down the other end of the hallway now.
Once I was there, I noticed that there was a doorway not far down. It was locked, so I forced it open as quietly as possible, basically just breaking the screws holding the metal handle together, only to discover that it was a janitor’s closet with no people in sight. I did a more thorough check anyway, just to make sure no one was hiding, but I suspected this door had been locked for months.
Exiting back into the hall, I continued further, coming across another doorway that was also locked. Except, this time, I heard commotion inside when I began breaking the handle. The damage had already been done though, so instead of trying to talk to them through the door, I finished pulling the handle apart, being careful to not separate it entirely to prevent the metal piece on the other side from loudly clattering to the floor.
Then, I cracked the door open just enough to whisper.
“Tony,” I hissed.
Silence.
“T–”
“Mason?” a familiar voice replied.
Ah, good. He was alive after all.
“Yeah, it’s me. Your father and brother are waiting outside. They asked me to save your stupid ass.”
Another guy’s voice spoke up. “Who’s that?”
Tony replied. “He’s one of them, but he’s on our side.”
A third person gasped, only for Tony to speak up again. “It’s okay. He’s helped us before.” He then raised his voice a little, directing his words at me. “It’s not just me in here,” he explained. “Can you get all of us out safely? There was a Night Stalker in the hall not long ago.”
I glanced further down the hallway, seeing that it turned a corner another twenty feet down.
“Be right back,” I whispered, closing the door again. I then crept toward the corner and peeked around, still not seeing any signs of an enemy. Rushing back, I opened the door again. “Yeah, the coast is clear. How many are there? It might be better to just do a few at a time.”
I heard some jostling, only for that guy’s voice to speak again. “It’s me and my buddy, along with our wives and kids.” He paused. “Eleven of us altogether, not counting your friend.”
“Is it just all of you here?” I wondered.
“N-No, there are three other families who live here – we don’t know where they are though.”
Great.
Well, I wasn’t going to look forever. As long as I could get Tony out, then I could just worry about hunting down the enemy after that. “Okay, well, let’s just get this over with. I’m going to close the door and wait a minute. All of you get lined up – Tony, you’re in front. It’s dark, so…” I groaned internally. “So, I’ll lead you all out by the hand.”
I then closed the door, not about to wait for them to agree to it. As far as I was concerned, it was either follow my directions, or they could all just die due to their stupidity. Thankfully, I began to hear commotion on the other side after a small delay, along with a lot of whispering. It was the reason why I had chosen to do it this way, because there was no way in hell a group this large, with half of them being kids, was going to be able to stay quiet.
Once the commotion died down, I cracked the door again.
“Ready?”
“Yes,” Tony replied, right next to it now.
I opened the door, hearing some gasps as the others caught sight of my red eyes glowing in the dark. Thankfully, no foolish child screamed though. Without another thought, I reached down and grabbed Tony’s forearm, not about to hold his hand for this like I had implied. I then began leading them gently, the line being long enough that I couldn’t rush it without jerking people apart.
One of the kids said something about the horrid smell only for three other people to shush him. However, as we began entering into the breakroom, most everyone began gagging uncontrollably. I tried to pick up the pace a little, escorting them through the office.
For a moment, I thought we were going to get through without a hitch, but then someone tripped on a desk, knocking a flat-screen computer monitor over, along with what I assumed must have been a thermos, or something similar, considering it was painfully loud as it hit the floor, bouncing and rolling away noisily.
Everyone froze solid.
Just as the container found a spot to settle, the metallic sound was immediately replaced with a roar coming down the hall, followed immediately by the sound of a stampede – as if hundreds of monsters were attempting to fight their way down the hallway to reach us.
And yet, for half a second, no one moved a muscle, frozen in terror.
Chapter 18: Horrors
“Shit!” I exclaimed, tugging on Tony’s arm, shoving him forward past me. “Go, go, go! Run!”
They all complied, rushing forward in an unorganized mob as we all heard one of the monsters skid into the breakroom, followed by several more, their eagerness to hunt causing them to smash into the counters.
The moment the last person was out of the office, I followed after them, shoving one of the women directly in front of me, carrying a kid about five or six-years-old – along with a man in front of her, trying to pull her along, another younger kid in his arm as well.
Desks went flying everywhere as Night Stalkers began pouring into the office, the humans now beginning to run through the barricade. I had to hand it to Tony though – rather than saving his own neck, he held open the glass door as they rushed through, finally grabbing one of the kids about Ethan’s age once the last of them had made it out.
I yanked on one of the upright desks as I shoved through as well, trying to block the onslaught of enemies at my neck, knowing full well that even the weaker ones could make up for their lack of strength in sheer numbers.
The door had slammed shut now that no one was holding it, causing me to burst right through it, the glass shattering, the metal snapping. People were screaming now as they tried to climb into the back of the running truck, a kid probably about thirteen or fourteen having fallen behind the woman holding the five-year-old.
I pounded t
he ground underneath me as I bolted for him, hearing more shattering glass as what seemed like an uncountable number of beasts broke through the fragile entryway. Reaching out, I snagged the boy by the back of the neck, causing him to shriek as I lifted him straight off the ground and tossed him at Chris.
He hadn’t really been ready to catch a flying kid though, falling backwards as he half grabbed him, half broke his fall, slamming into the people sitting down behind him.
The last woman had just handed off her five-year-old, trying to climb in herself, but there wasn’t time to watch her struggle with it, so I grabbed her butt and shoved her up, causing her to actually flip and land on her side.
“DRIVE!” I barked out to Randy, now that everyone was in.
Randy floored it, the wheels squealing against the pavement, the truck momentarily not moving. Feeling the enemy right on my neck, my tail shot straight up to impale a monster that tried leaping over me, stabbing it right in the gut. At the same time, I shoved my foot out and kicked the bumper as hard as I could, causing the truck to jerk forward before the wheels finally found purchase on the pavement and bolted away.
Flinging my tail down and around, I slingshot myself towards the next closest enemy, digging my claws in its throat, before kicking off another coming from the side and then jumping into the air. Instantly, I was twenty feet above them, climbing higher as I prepared to shoot them all down.
Like fish in a barrel.
Except they weren’t after me to begin with.
While a couple swiped at the air, over ten humanoid Night Stalkers bolted forward on all fours, rapidly gaining on the accelerating truck.
Shit!
I began beating my wings as hard as I could, deciding to use my fire magic to shoot behind me, attempting to accelerate faster. A few bursts helped, but it was too late. One of the Night Stalkers swiped at the rear corner, even as Chris and John tried firing at it with their guns, the hit enough to sway the back of the truck, the taillight exploding. Everyone screamed as the whole rear rocked violently.
Rise of the Night Stalkers Page 20
