Henry staggered back from the shaft a few metres, before falling backwards onto the floor. His hands shook uncontrollably, as bile rose in the back of his throat.

I killed her… She’s dead… Another human… Dead, because of me…

He continued to sit there, staring down at his hands, having difficulty believing the reality of his actions. He couldn’t stop his mind from reliving the horrific moment as he had kicked her to her death. Over and over it replayed before his eyes, his foot extending, her piercing scream, and the sickening thud as she landed. He could only endure so much. The sick feeling in his stomach built steadily, until it reached bursting. He vomited, spewing the contents of his stomach all over the floor.

He recovered gradually, his mind pushing away the bad memories, while fabricating explanations for his actions.

I had no choice. I’d be dead instead. Now, I can help more people. Save them!

But, before he could emerge from the dark fog of despair entirely, his thoughts were interrupted, as a voice reached his ears.

“Henry?”

Henry’s eyes snapped open. It was coming from the shaft.

No… No! She’s dead. I killed her!

“Henry? Are you there?” the voice of Amanda continued, refuting his denial.

Heedless of the mess before him, he slithered along the floor to the shaft, refusing to believe his ears. As his head crested the edge, he could no longer deny it. There was Amanda, clutching the elevator cables that ran through the middle of the shaft. She was just above the barrier of darkness that permeated the lower depths of the shaft. She looked injured, her hair matted with blood. But, she was very much alive.

“Henry! Oh, thank goodness” she called up to him, her voice sounding a bit sluggish and confused. “Can you find a rope and help me up? I don’t think I can climb all the way back up on my own… I’m feeling dizzy, I think I hit my head on the way down.”

Henry’s eyes bored into her. Emotions welled inside him. He felt horrible pain, seeing her injured so. Feelings of guilt and remorse soon joined the party, tearing at his heart.

I have to help her… a rope, I need a rope…

He turned part way from the lift before grinding to a halt.

But, if I do…

The horrible thought of his own death, was enough to sway his heart back to the dark path he had chosen. He set off in search of something to solve the situation, and it wasn’t rope he was after. He stopped at a nearby desk. Only one set of its legs had been smashed, while the computer screen that sat on top had slid to the floor, but was still intact. He grabbed it and returned to the shaft.

Unceremoniously, he threw it down at the injured woman below. But, he missed, the projectile whizzing past Amanda silently. She didn’t even seem to notice. At least until it reached the end of its journey, with a loud crash.

“What was that?” Amanda called up at him.

The feelings of pain, guilt, and remorse that still lingered within him, were blasted aside as his anger blazed.

For fuck’s sake! Just, die!

In a flurry of motion, he dashed over and grabbed the remains of a nearby swivel chair. Returning to the shaft, armed once more, he took aim and threw his payload at the target below. This time his aim was true.

“Oww, what was that!? Henry, what are you doing!?” Amanda’s voice was shrill, filled with panic and alarm.

He had hit her, but not dislodged her. His jaw clamped shut. His fists clenched.

“Would you just fucking die already!” he roared out into the confined space of the shaft.

“Henry, what are you saying? We have to …..” Amanda’s words were cut off as he rushed off to find something else to throw at her.

Ignoring her cries for help, he went searching for something larger, something that could end the horrific ordeal once and for all. It didn’t take him long to find something suitable, a large metal radiator that had fallen off the wall. It was both heavy and large. He half carried, half dragged it over to the shaft.

Amanda shouted out as soon as she saw him.

“Henry! Please… What have I done to upset you?” She gasped as she saw what he was carrying. “Don’t do this, please!” Despite the darkness he could see tears in her eyes, or maybe he just heard it in her voice.

He faltered, those same emotions trying to force their way back into his heart. She looked so pitiful down there, so fragile.

No, damn it! I have to do this, or I’m dead. I have to!

His jaw muscles worked, grinding his teeth together. He slammed his hand against the radiator he carried, once, twice, three times, forcefully strengthening his resolve. Gradually, he stepped up to the edge of the shaft. He hefted the radiator, stretching it out in front of him as far as he could, wanting to ensure it would hit his target.

“Don’t do this Henry! Please! Stop!!” Amanda shouted up at him.

Henry released his grip on the radiator. Or he tried to, but his body was no longer responding to his commands. He seemed to be completely unable to move. But, he wasn’t immune to gravity. As he stood there frozen, he began tipping ever so slightly forward, he was going to fall, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Henry and the radiator both fell into the darkness. He couldn’t even scream as he fell.

Henry slowly regained consciousness.

“Urgh…”

He was in a great deal of pain, and the left side of his body in particular seemed to be screaming for attention. He opened his eyes to assess the situation, but it was too dark to see anything. Instead, he carefully tried moving each of his limbs in turn, testing for damage. His right arm and leg were fine, but when he got to his left leg, he found he couldn’t move it far without it hurting. Lastly, he tested his left arm, and as soon as he moved it, pain overcame him. The arm was clearly broken, and some gentle probing with his other arm revealed a sizeable bump around the elbow.

How the hell did I survive that? Shit, did she survive too?

He gingerly eased himself into a sitting position.

“Amanda?” he called out into the darkness. No response was forthcoming.

Damn, my arm hurts. What are the chances someone has a spare sling for a broken arm in the office? If I can get out of here, maybe I can find out.

Careful not to hit his injured arm on anything, he slowly started groping about in the dark with his other arm. He found the cold ridged metal of the radiator, it seemed to be resting at an angle, stretching from the floor to one wall of the elevator shaft. Near the edge of the radiator that was against the floor, his good hand found a distinctly feminine form. It was Amanda.

“Amanda?” he called out again, his voice overly loud in the confined space of the shaft, with just a touch of panic hinting through.

There was still no reply. He carefully placed his hand back on her chest. She felt warm, but didn’t appear to be breathing.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice. I just wanted to save people, like you did. But, turns out I’m really just a selfish monster.” he spat out the last words, self-loathing and anger warring within him.

He slowly steered his thoughts back to getting out of his current predicament.

I need to find one of the elevator doors, I really hope there’s one in reach. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about it. Trapped alone, in here, with her…

Standing up carefully, Henry looked up. Further up the shaft, light was spilling in from the door he and Amanda had both entered from earlier. The light didn’t reach very far down the shaft, making it difficult to guess where the closest doors would be. He slowly felt along the wall searching for it.

He eventually found what he was looking for. They were above him. At maximum stretch he could just touch the doors.

Shit, there’s no way I can get that open with my broken arm.

During his blind groping earlier, Henry had noticed that the floor was actually the roof of the elevator car, which was amazingly intact despite all that had happened to it.

My only hope is that I can get out through the doors below. If I can get into the elevator car, I should be able to pry them open, even with my broken arm. It’s difficult to judge if the next set of doors will be close enough. I have to hope they are.

He groped around in search of the hatch that would lead him into the inside of the elevator car. It didn’t take long. His broken arm was only a small hindrance as he pried it open. Naturally, the inside of the car was also dark. As he made to jump down, a thought struck him.

I won't be able to pull myself back up with this broken arm. Damn it, if I can’t open the door in there, I’ll be stuck!

He weighed his options.

I guess I could shift the radiator so it ramps up to the door above. Will it reach far enough? Bit hard to tell in the dark…

With this arm, my only way to open the doors will require my feet as well. I could only just reach the doors above, so it must be close to 2 metres. I didn’t exactly measure the radiator before dropping it down here, but I doubt it’s that long, especially propped against the wall so I can climb it.

Henry sighed.

Looks like the elevator car is my only option. I really hope I haven’t misjudged the distance to the doors below.

With his left arm still useless, getting through the hatch was tricky. He had to slide in along his right side, feet first, careful not to hit the edge with his damaged arm. He used his good arm to lower himself as far he could before he was forced to let go. As his feet hit the floor with a thud, his left leg, still injured from his earlier fall, gave out. He toppled over onto his left side, bashing his arm against the floor.

“YEEEEEARRRGHH!” he screamed.

It took Henry a while to recover from the intense pain. When he had done so, he dragged him self over to where the door should be.

It’s here! What a relief. Finally, something’s going my way. Now to open it.

The door was just poking up from bottom of the elevator car. In the end he had to brace his back against the inside of the door on the right side. From there he could just about pull the door apart with his right arm and foot. Light flooded the car as he pried the doors open. He squeezed his way out through the half metre gap, careful to land most of his weight on his right side as he fell down to the floor.

He set about looking for something to bind his injured arm with. During his search, he took a detour when his stomach notified him of his hunger. He found some wrapped sandwiches in a small office. They didn’t smell particularly appetising, but that didn’t stop him wolfing them down all the same. The search for an arm sling continued for a while, but he eventually gave up, opting instead to fashion a crude sling from some bin bags and duct tap.

At least this will stop it from swinging about and hitting things. Not much more I can do at the moment. Just have to hope I don’t run into any more those creatures.

There were still a few more floors between him and the building entrance. Henry made his way down cautiously, constantly on the look out for danger and any other survivors. The trip down was uneventful, other than a brief moment of panic, when a monitor fell off a damaged desk just as he passed by. The lower floors were just as heavily damaged as the upper floors, but he didn’t see any demons or other survivors. He eventually made it to the ground floor. After checking to make sure it was safe, he chose a chair with a good view of the main entrance, and sat down.

Well, I made it. I killed Gyxr’s champion… Which makes me the champion now? I was expecting something to happen… Like a meeting with Gyxr?

“Hey, Gyxr,” Henry said out loud. “I completed your task. How about some guidance here?”

Henry waited most of a minute before sighing quietly in frustration.

What a fucking surprise. Puts me through all that, and doesn’t even bother to acknowledge my hard work.

Ah, anyway… I guess I need to think about what else I’m going to do. No new task means I’m free to do whatever I want. Though, I guess it’s more a question of what can I actually do with the city how it is.

Finding more survivors would be a good start. Maybe I could even find someone that has some answers… That would sure be nice. Otherwise, I guess I just need to try and stay alive. Avoid getting murdered again, make sure I have enough food and water to live off, and shit like that.

So, time to gather some gear.

The company building had its own cafeteria, so finding food and water wasn’t an issue. Henry helped himself to some packaged sandwiches, storing them in a rucksack he had scavenged along the way. He quenched his thirst with some water, and added a couple of bottles to his pack. Having left the fire axe and the steel rod several floors up, Henry had to track down a new weapon. He eventually found another fire axe, two floors up, this one was still resting snugly in its wall mounted glass case. Smashing the case open with a small metal bin, he took the axe and slid it between the straps of his rucksack.

Henry moved on to take care of his other needs. In addition to a cafeteria, the building had a small area with showers. Lacking his own towel, he used his new axe to pilfer supplies from the locker area. It took him a while to wash all the blood off his body, the broken arm didn’t help matters either, but he managed. Finally refreshed, he donned the clothes his pilfering had also discovered, a new shirt and trousers, and some underwear that he really hoped was fresh. He even found some sturdy looking boots, they were a size too big, but he stuffed the ends with some extra socks he had found and made do.

Alright, time to get going. Phew, even the thought of that is troubling. How demon infested is the city still? It sounds quiet, it even looks quiet out there, but all it will take is a few of the damn things and I’ll probably be dead again.

Where to go, I wonder? Where would survivors hide? Maybe a police station… They’d have access to riot gear, body armour, maybe even some guns? That would sure help.

He racked his brain trying to recall the location of the nearest police station.

Damn it. I’ve been here for four years! How can I not know that?

Henry sighed loudly.

Ah, whatever, finding a map shouldn’t be hard. Having to actually use a paper map though, that’s funny. Eh, maybe funny isn’t the right word. Life without phones is going to be kind of shit…

Henry was finally ready to leave the office building he had spent the last few years working in. Not wanting to dwell on the painful memories of his recent experiences, he gathered up his scavenged gear and stepped outside without further hesitation.