Walter sat in the Doctor’s chair watching his first sunrise. They had inundated him his whole life of all the horrible experiences he would have on other world’s but they never shared about times like this. The warm rays of the rising sun helping melt the melancholy he felt from killing the doctor.

He had slept fitfully through the night even after the beasts calmed down with nothing to kill. He was just too afraid that the beasts would break in and kill him. The last time he woke he decided to start going through everything in the office. He meticulously examined every item in the office looking for anything that would increase his survivability. The monotony not getting to him, until those first rays of light erupted from the horizon stopping him from his work. His bliss was short-lived when he looked over his shoulder at the mess he made.

Every book and item was removed from the bookshelves as Walter went through the room with a fine-tooth comb. Photos of the Doctor with his family were the only items left mostly unmolested from Walter’s looting. He had reverently set those high up on a shelf to keep them protected as a shrine to the man he failed.

Walter kept the few items he felt useful in a backpack that he found in the closet. The backpack luckily was used to store some clothing that mostly fit him. They smelled of stale sweat and were wrinkled but the shorts and t-shirt fit. The strange racket and green fuzzy balls that were also in the bag were left on the pile of useless items. Checking his gear one last time, he made sure that anything that could make noise was wrapped in a towel he shredded for that use.

Walking up to the window he started to punch it with a spike he found on the desk. Papers had been stabbed onto it for some reason when it was more useful for this purpose. The window made from shatterproof technology took multiple blows before it shattered with a resounding crash.

Hearing this the beasts immediately started slamming against the door and walls. Their hands making meaty thumps as they tried to break into the room. Walter stood there listening to them trying to beat their way in grinning at the stupidity of this idea. He pulled a pack of matches he found in the desk and lit the pyre of books and wood in the middle of the room. This was the funeral for the man he briefly met and his family. Turning his back to the burning pile he walked to the window.

He had only one chance for this plan. He carefully dropped the decorative rug on to the crown of the tree to drape over it. He had tied the curtains to the center of the longer dowel rod he found in the closet. He jumped out the window to land in the middle of the rug to help slow his fall while holding the curtain where he tied them to the rod.

He hit the rug it barely slowing him as gravity carried him to earth. The carpet enveloped him protecting him from the branches as he picked up velocity breaking branches. His arms above his head holding the dowel rod perpendicular to the ground.

Walter bit back a scream as the rod was breaking through branches. Jarring his body back and forth it caught on two branches briefly, slowing Walter long enough to slide down the curtains. Clutching a branch large enough to support him. He watched the dowel rod hit the ground softly.

About halfway down the tree, beasts started falling from the broken window like burning comets. The top of the tree catching, Walter started dropping faster and faster as the dry leaves were quick to burn.

Hitting the ground in a roll he popped up to his feet close to where his new weapon landed. Snatching it up he circled the burning hospital watching for any beasts out in the open. Jogging slowly away from the burning building he started in a random direction into the city.

Further and further he jogged into the city, burnt-out vehicles and dead bodies everywhere. The dead were all face down as if something had attacked them as they ran away. Holes in the torso could be seen in some of the bodies that were less decomposed. Little casing of metal similar to the one in the Doctor’s gun littered the ground closest to where all the dead lay as if they were running away from those piles. These were areas of organized slaughter.

Walter slowed to a stop; these deaths weren’t caused by the beasts. All of this senseless death was caused by the people in this world against their own. This sobering thought made Walter feel unsafe out in the open. He slowed his jogging looking at the buildings around him closely.

The fronts of most of these buildings had their window busted out, most items inside looted. From what he could tell most of the looted items were bigger rectangles with the glass fronts and jewelry. Useless items to take in a catastrophe, but the survivors of this world would learn that shortly.

Walter eventually walked near a business named Mike’s Hardware and Military Surplus. The building was more rundown and shorter than any of the other buildings around it. It looked to be a holdout of gentrification, a lone soldier standing in the way of progress.

Its windows were shattered, but the metal security bars were intact across every window barring looters access inside. If Walter could gain access to it, he could easily set up his base and find building supplies partially completing two different quests at once.

Wrapping one of the curtains around two of the bars, he started twisting the curtain with his staff. The tourniquet slowly tightened bowing the metal, every full rotation taking more effort. As his staff began to crack from the strain the was enough room for Walter wiry physique to squeeze through.

Walter freed his ruined staff planning on using it until he could replace it. Trapped in the building, Walter listened for any signs of life. Hearing nothing, he still moved slowly and silently through the aisle in front of him. With the only light coming from outside, his eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting.

Setting his backpack down he slowly. made his way further in, he started noticing signs of life. Large black pellets were all over the ground next ripped up items. Some of the metal shelves were bent and gouged like something had been gnawing on them. Running his finger across one of the shelves, he felt something wet and sticky like saliva. Pulling his hand back from it he watched another glob fall close to where his hand just was.

Looking up quickly, he saw a new beast on the roof as it began to drop on him. Instincts kicked in and he snapped his staff up, striking the creature across its head knocking it off course. The staff completely broke along the crack leaving him with a sharp jagged piece.

Another one of the creatures jumped on his back, clawing stabbing into his back causing him to stumble a few steps forward. Its hot rank breath against his ear, he stabbed his shard of wood back and over his shoulder into the creature. The creature screamed as the jagged wood stabbed into it flesh wrenching it from his hand as it fell off of him.

Multiple creatures started climbing over shelves on either side of him. Weaponless and outnumbered he used skitter and dashed away from them into darker parts of the building. He could hear the little beasts’ nails clicking on the ground as they came from all directions around him. Quickly checking the shelves around him had nothing but weird metal cans that rattled when he shook them. Grabbing two he started running again throwing one can in the opposite direction hoping to confuse the beasts.

His eyes becoming more accustomed to the dark interior of the building he started to make out large stacks of wood uniformly cut. Running past those he saw more and more building supplies that he needed for his quest. Running through the aisles he kept his eyes peeled for anything he could use as a weapon.

Hearing the many clicks of nails getting closer to him he put on speed as he spotted a row of toilets. Grabbing the heavy porcelain lid from the tank, he skidded to a stop and spinning. He threw it as soon as he saw the beast, smashing its head into a pulp and carrying its body into a swarm of beasts behind it.

Seeing that he used his skitter skill again twice to shoot down another tighter aisle. Breathing heavily he looked at the aisle he was in and saw weapons galore hanging from pegs in the wall. He grinned to himself as he grabbed items from the wall.

“You got this Walter, just don’t get cocky you ass,” he said to himself in imitation of Master Chief.