Jake cursed under his breath as he moved up the tunnel slope. He was dragging his foot across the ground in an attempt to remove the disgusting shit. When the last of it finally came off, leaving only a brown stripe behind him, he looked up inspecting the tunnel exit.

A long and jumbled shape partially blocked the moonlit sky. Getting closer the saw that a traffic light had fallen across the entrance. The top part with grey metal boxes containing the actual light bulbs was now nothing more than a jumbled mess of twisted metal and broken glass. It blocked one part of the entrance, leaving just enough room for Masons muscular frame to pass through.

Mason was standing at the top looking outside. With some strain, he managed to squeeze past the metal and out of the tunnel. Not wanting to be left behind, Jake ran up and rushed past the obstacle. Almost outside, he felt the remainders of his jacket catch onto something sharp, and a ripping sound followed as his momentum carried him forward.

Wondering how much bad luck he could have, he looked at his jacket. The backside of it was ripped apart but whatever had cut into it had missed his skin.

"Ah man, things keep getting better and better..." He mumbled as he remembered getting it from his now-impoverished father. Sighing he moved next to Mason who was silently looking out across the last stretch of their small journey.

In front of them was their goal, the hospital. White and tall, it lay sprawling across a large area close to what used to be downtown. Only days before it was one of the prettiest buildings miles around. Now, without lights and large parts of it in ruins, it gave off a dark and brooding atmosphere.

The only thing separating the Kobolds from the entrance was a large and almost empty parking lot. There were a few lonely cars and some scattered debris lying around at the edges.

"That's one wide open space… Not a lot in the way of the cover. If any of those cats are around and looking, they will spot us right away." Jake stated, swallowing as he remembered the corpse they had just left in the tunnel.

Mason didn't respond but was silently examining the surrounding buildings for a while. Then, he began pointing around.

"If we run to the entrance in a straight line we should be ok. Look, all that debris cluttering the streets make it hard to see the parking lot from the ground. Besides that, the only buildings from which anything could see us are pretty far away."

Rolling his shoulders, Mason turned to Jake, his yellow eyes glowing slightly in the dark, causing peculiar angles to display on his face. The word, 'inhuman,' floated up in Jakes mind for an instant.

"You saw the speed at which that cat moved. Although they are faster than we are, they can't teleport. We should have plenty of time to reach the door."

Jake cringed. "Why did you have to go and say that? I bet we will find teleporting cats now."

Seeing his friend paying no attention to his attempt to lighten the mood, he sighed and tried to determine the distance between the surrounding buildings and the hospital. Making some quick calculations, he was pretty sure that Mason was right. The taller boy always did have an intuitive understanding of spatial dimensions and distances.

"Alright. But I think this time we should move together. If something spots us, we should be able to make it to the hospital, and there are better hiding spots there."

Without waiting for a response, Mason walked towards the hospital, his head swiveling around as he tried to keep an eye out for any incoming trouble. Emma's' head was gently bobbing up and down on his bare arm.

Noticing how Mason was becoming more silent and brooding throughout the night, Jake began worrying. His friend was heading down one of his darker moods. Hoping the hospital would give them the safety they needed, he quickly ran after him.

Catching up, he fell in line with his friend and examined him for a moment. He noticed for the first time how worn Mason's clothing had become. Small rips and holes dotted his pants and sweater, and brown and green stains covered most of his back. Taking a peek at his own jeans, Jake realized they both looked like wandering hoboes. Mason turned his head toward him, raising an eyebrow. Faking a grin, Jake shook his head and started scanning the surroundings.

Halfway across the parking lot, they had seen no movement yet, and when the shadow of the hospital building covered them, Jake let out a sigh of relief.

"I saw something move," Mason whispered.

Jake almost jumped out of his scaly skin. Quickly looking in the direction Mason was pointing the only thing he saw was the crumbled bank building his mom had worked at when she was young. It had been one of the tallest buildings in this part of town, jet black with only the logo of the bank on the front. Now it seemed to have exploded, parts of it stuck in the surrounding buildings. The only thing left standing was part of the elevator shaft.

"Where? I don't see anything." Jake whispered as he increased his pace.

"At the bottom, next to the elevator shaft. I don't know what it was, but it seemed small." Mason increased his pace, looking down at the unmoving shape in his arms to make sure his cargo was still safe. Luckily it seemed that Emma was breathing more comfortable since the glowing lights had touched her, and the faster movement didn't bother her either. Put at ease Mason started running towards the entrance of the hospital.

Feeling his heart beating in his chest, Jake followed, looking across his shoulder, trying to suppress the panic that was slowly building. Just when he thought he saw something move between the debris, his foot landed on a loose rock and slid sideways. Flailing his arms and tail in an attempt to keep his balance, Jake failed and crashed into the ground. Grinding his teeth, he scrambled back up and looked at the remnants of the old bank building again.

From the shadows, a host of small, fast-moving shapes darted through the debris, heading his way. Jake's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw how many there were.

"Fuck!!"

He turned and dashing after Mason, who was already moving up the slope leading to the entrance. It took Jake only moments to catch up, and rushing passed Mason he slowed down.

"We're in deep shit! There are huge rats after us, hundreds!"

Deciding to open the door for Mason and Emma, he dashed towards the door, quickly arriving in front of the large glass swivel doors. The glass seemed to be intact, which had he the time to think about it, would have surprised him. Right now he was just happy that door wouldn't let the rats in, and he pushed against the frame. The door didn't budge.

"Are you bloody kidding me?" Jake hissed, putting both of his clawed hands against the metal doorframe. Veins popped up on his hands as he started pushing. The talons on his feet dug into the concrete, keeping him in place, and at the same time causing a horrible noise. Feeling his muscles bulge, he saw the door begin to bend inward slightly. Mason rushed next to him and moving his body sideways to keep Emma from any harm he rammed his shoulder into the door, causing it to vibrate loudly. As the door started bending, even more, a sudden movement from behind the glass startled them.

"Please stop! If you break it, the rats will get in. I'll open it. I'll open it!

A grey humanoid figure, wearing a well-fitting white lab-coat, looked at them from the other side of the glass. Shadows obscured its face, and only a gleam showed where its eyes were. The figure moved to the side entrance and opened a pane on the wall, uncovering an assortment of buttons and levers. With a last glance at the Kobolds behind the glass, two slender grey hands gripped a white handle and pulled it down.

The doors shuddered a bit, and Jake immediately resumed pushing. With a well-oiled sound, the doors started moving, rotating gently. Jake rushed inside, and looking over his shoulder, made his eyes pop. Behind Mason, who was right behind him, swarming up the slope was the first of a vast horde of rats. Calling them rats, however, was an insult to rats. Although having the general shape of rats, they were much bigger and their skin was a hairless black and grey. They had disgusting yellow, pulsating, growths on their backs and, like their teeth, their eyes were milky white and without a pupil. Where normal rats had flat rodent teeth, these things had pointy teeth like those of a bat.

Turning his eyes back forward, Jake pushed as hard as he could. With a soft groan, the doors sped up, and moments later, he and Mason jumped on the blue tiles covering the inside of the hospital hallway. As soon as he saw Mason enter, Jake turned towards their savior.

"LOCK IT!"

His words weren't needed because the figure was already pushing with his full weight against the lever, causing it to click back into place. Moments later loud thumps came from the door as rats began slamming against the glass, trying to get in.

Backing up, Mason was breathing fast and hard. "The glass won't hold, will it?"

A soft sigh came from the grey figure as he walked towards them. "Don't worry, that's not just any kind of glass. They've tried to enter before, but they are unable to breakthrough. See? They are giving up." The voice that came from the figure was oily and slick like some phone operator trying to sell you something both of you know you didn't need or want.

Soon it became apparent that the figure was right. Outside of the hospital, the rats, with a few last indignant squeaks, began rushing back towards the ruins of the city.

Putting his back against the wall, Jake took a deep breath before turning towards their savior who was now standing close behind them. Above the lab coat was a face that made Jake draw a deep breath, and he rushed next to Mason.

"Scary is it? Perhaps I would have thought the same before the change." The grey man sighed. A whistling sound came from his mouth as the air moved between the pointy fangs that were barely noticeable against the grey-white lips.

"You're a Fiend…" Mason hissed, at the same time turning his shoulder towards the figure in an attempt to hide Emma.