“Come on, let’s get going. We need to get to the meeting halls, pronto.” Allison whispered. The wide, terrified eyes of the campers huddled in the cabin with her made her heart ache. They should be sleeping after a fun, peaceful day at camp, not awake in the early hours of the morning wondering if they would be alive to see the sun rise. She shouldn’t be wondering if she’d ever see her family, her friends-

Stop. Breathe.

Allison forced the panic down out of her own head. Not the time for that. Get to safety first, break down in hysterics later.

Allison closed her eyes, listening carefully. One of the behemoth, shadowy creatures had passed behind the cabin not too long ago, likely on the pathway outside the Aquarius cabin site. Even so, it had taken everything she had to keep the campers inside from panicking and bolting, to be quiet and wait for it to pass by. Luckily, her efforts had worked, and the tremors heralding it’s footsteps had slowly moved away until they stopped shaking the cabin. If there was a time to move, it was now.

“Move quick, move quiet. We’re not far from the meeting halls. Andromeda’s basement should be secure and safe. Follow me.” Allison continued. The older girls nodded, and Allison crept towards the door, opening it as quietly as possible.

The night air was still and calm as the small group exited the cabin. Allison scanned the area, trying to see into the shadows if there were any signs of another one of those beasts nearby.

A scream and the sounds of a titanic crash in the distance made the whole group jump, one of the younger girls whimpering in fright, holding her hands over her mouth. One of the older girls was holding onto another one of the youngest, who looked as though she were trying to pull her arm out of its socket and run.

“Come on, let’s keep going.” Allison reassured them, hating how shaky her own voice sounded. She wasn’t cut out for this. Life-or-death situations had never been good with her, and she was unpleasantly reminded of the sensation of nearly being drowned by her first rescue victim her first year lifeguarding. Only now she was drowning in anxiety and panic, instead of water.

The thick stench of blood wafted by, curdling her stomach as they passed by the cinder-block shower building. Allison scanned the area wildly in the moonlight, trying to see if there was something there. The kids didn’t need to see some of the things she had seen already. Her stomach rebelled as she tried to force the memories of the carnage she had witnessed in her rounds away. Getting the kids to safety was the priority, she repeated to herself again. And again. And again.

“Help!” Allison whirled, looking back at the shower building. A young, pale-faced girl stood in the doorway, trembling as she stared at them. Allison pushed through her group back to the doorway.

“Come on, we’ve got to go.” Allison said, taking her by the hand. The girl tugged backwards, her hand slipping easily away.

“Wait! Chrissy needs help!” The girl whined. Allison looked at her hand, slick with blood. She looked at the girl, suddenly noticing that the shadows of the building hid the fact that the young girl had blood stains all down her side.

“Are you all right?” Allison asked, kneeling in front of her. The girl nodded.

“I’m fine. It’s Chrissy’s. Please, help her!”

“Where is she?” Allison asked.

“In here.” The girl turned, her bare feet stepping over a trail of blood hidden in the shadows. Allison looked back at the Aquarius girls.

“Get in here, just inside the door. No splitting up.” Allison stated. The girls looked pale, and one of the younger ones held her hand over her nose, but none dared disobey as they all stepped inside.

Allison followed the young girl into the darkened building, turning the corner into the changing room. Her stomach roiled again as the sharp scent of blood assaulted her nose. The trail of blood led to a dark shadow curled up in the corner.

“Chrissy! Help’s here!” The girl said, stumbling closer. Allison cursed to herself.

Chrissy’s entire side was dark with blood, and in the darkness, she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Allison fished her flashlight out of her pocket, praying that none of the beasts were close enough to see any light possibly spilling out of the building as she flicked it on.

Her mind went into overdrive as she knelt next to the duo. Two long lacerations cut down the girl's arm from her shoulder to her elbow, and Allison’s heart sank. A large pool of blood had gathered beneath her, evidence of how long ago the wounds had been made. Still, Allison could see the girl breathing, which gave her some hope.

“Chrissy, can you hear me? I’m Allison, can you tell me what happened?” She asked, looking around the shower room for anything that she could use to help. The younger girl's eyes peeled open, bleary and unfocused.

“One of them hit the back of our cabin as we were escaping, I was the last out but Chrissy was right behind me. I think some of the doorframe hit her.” The other girl babbled. “Can you help her?”

“I’m going to do my best. Don’t worry, I’m a lifeguard.” The other girl perked up slightly, a hopeful look in her eye. “Can you look around and see if there are any towels around? We need to stop the bleeding.” Allison stripped off her shirt, pressing it against the wounds as Chrissy moaned in pain.

The other girl backed away, looking around the space as Allison’s mind raced. A tourniquet would probably be best, if they could find some cord or bandages. Not likely in a shower facility.

“Here!” The girl came back, a large beach towel in her hands. Allison smiled.

“Perfect. Can you help me for a minute? I need you to hold the towel against her arm, like this. Can you do that for me?” Allison asked. The young girl’s face paled, but she nodded. Allison removed her t-shirt from the wound, helping her cover it with the towel instead.

“Perfect. What’s your name?” Allison asked, tearing the bloodstained t-shirt into long strips.

“Penelopie, but my friends call me Penny.” She replied.

“Well, Penny, you’re definitely the best friend Chrissy could have asked for.” Allison replied, using the strips of cloth to tie a tourniquet around Chrissy’s shoulder, several other strips around the towel to hold it in place.

“I only just met her this week.” Penny replied.

“Time isn’t a factor when evaluating a friendship, deeds and experience are.” Allison recited. Penny looked at her oddly. Allison shrugged. “Something a professor once told me.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Penny asked. Allison paused.

Despite her actions, Allsion knew that unless help arrived soon, there wasn’t much of a chance Chrissy would make it through the night. The girl had lost entirely too much blood, and without a transfusion and stitches to shut the lacerations, there wasn’t much more she could do. And without the radios working, Allison couldn’t be sure that someone had called 911 yet. Still, she couldn’t tell that to the younger girl, or she’d panic.

“Chrissy will be fine, so long as we move quickly. Owen and Madison will help her once we get to the meeting hall. We just need to get her there safely, all right?” Determination shone in Penny’s eyes, and Allison smiled.

“How can I help?”

“Can you get the other girls ready to go? We’ll need to move quickly, and I don’t know how good the beast's sense of smell is. We may need to run before they smell her blood.” Penny wavered, but nodded, quickly scooting around the corner to the exit.

“If you can hear me Chrissy, I’m sorry, this is going to hurt a bit. I need to pick you up so we can get you to safety.” Chrissy moaned in pain as Allison gathered her up, the young girl entirely too light in her arms. Allison huffed as she lifted, making sure to keep the injured arm pressed against her front to keep it stable.

The other girls gasped as Allison came around the corner, and she eyed each of them in turn.

“Ready to go? Lindsey, can you lead the way? Keep your eyes peeled.” The oldest girl nodded, and looked outside for a long moment before waving them all out, leading them back into the night air. Allison breathed deeply as she broke into a light jog, the whole group quickly following her as they headed for the meeting halls in the distance.

Allison kept her head on a swivel as they approached the cluster of meeting halls, breathing a sigh of relief as they passed between Circinus and Hydra without a sign of trouble. The front door of Andromeda opened as they came near, Charlie’s face looming out of the dark interior as he silently waved the group inside. He closed the door tight behind them, and remained silent as they traversed the rows of chairs to the door in the rear of the hall. Finn appeared out of the darkness there, his face pale as he opened the door to the basement and ushered them inside.

Muffled sounds of panic and talking grew louder as they descended the steps, a small light above them the only illumination until they reached the bottom. The basement opened up wide before them, and Allison was glad to see quite a number of campers and staff present. Not as many as she had hoped to see, but a good number nonetheless.

“Where’s Owen and Madison, have they arrived yet?” Allison asked as Travis approached the group. Travis frowned, shaking his head.

“No one’s heard from them. We’ve tried the radios several times, but they’re still not working.” Allison’s heart sank. She looked down at Chrissy, who was shivering as her breath came in short gasps.

“Come on, we’ve set up a triage area over here. Helena and Savannah got back a bit ago and have some injured as well.” Travis pulled her over to a corner of the basement where several sheets and blankets had been thrown over stacks of chairs to provide a makeshift barrier. Allison looked back at the Aquarius girls.

“Go over and check in with Jeremy, please.” Allison nodded towards the other side of the room, and the Aquarius girls moved away silently. Penny stayed glued to her side, and Allison didn’t have the heart to tell her to go as well. She had stomached everything she had seen so far, Allison wasn’t going to ask her to leave her friend now.

Allsion carried Chrissy over to the sectioned off corner. Several yoga mats had been spread on the concrete, and nearly a dozen campers and a few staff members lay on them. The stench of blood was thick in the air as she faltered for a moment, her eyes scanning the makeshift triage center. Her heart sank as she saw Savannah doing chest compressions on a boy in the middle of the area. Jack was wrapping another boy’s leg with makeshift bandages made from a ripped sheet next to him. Russell caught her eye as he shook his head, putting a sheet over a body in the corner.

“Are you all right?” Helena asked as she approached. Allison nodded, unable to take her eyes away as Savannah sat back on her heels, shoulders slumping as she looked at the ceiling, tears dripping from her eyes.

“I’m fine. Chrissy needs some help.” Allison replied quietly. Helena looked at the young girl in her arms, a soft sadness in them.

“We’ll do what we can. Over here.” Helena led them over to an empty yoga mat, and Allison’s arms quivered as she set Chrissy down on it. Penny immediately sat next to her, taking the other girls’ good hand and holding it tightly.

“Penny, I’m going to go get her help, can you stay with her?” Allison asked. Penny didn’t respond, her eyes glued to Chrissy’s face as tears began to fall, her body trembling. Allison’s heart broke for her, she had been so strong when she needed to be, and now the reality of the situation was hitting her.

“Here.” Allison turned, looking at Travis as he pulled off his shirt and handed it to her. Allison looked at him, a bit bemused.

“It’s just a bra, you really think that-”

“Not the bra. The blood. Don’t need the kids out there to see that.” Travis interrupted. Allison looked down at her front, Chrissy’s blood having soaked through the towel and run down her chest. Allison’s mood faded, taking the shirt and shrugging it on.

“What first aid supplies do we have?” Allison asked as they moved back towards the entrance of the triage area, away from the injured who might overhear them.

“Nothing at the moment. We ran out of the stuff in the first aid kit on the wall pretty much immediately. We need Owen and Madison, none of us are trained for serious trauma.” Travis replied, his voice tight.

“I know, I know. No three day first aid crash course could have anticipated this.” Allison looked back into the triage area. A dismal sense of resignation had come over her as soon as she had seen the number of injuries. There wasn’t much she could do better than what the rest of her team already had done.

Her gaze swept over the huddled groups of campers strewn across the dimly lit basement. Many of the youngest campers cried softly, huddled in miserable lumps as older campers and staff tried to comfort them. Too many of the older youth looked completely shell-shocked some covered in spatters of blood as they stared into space, completely lost inside their own heads. Everywhere she looked, the wide, terrified eyes of the people around her looked back, and her heart began to beat harder as her breath became harder to draw in.

They had been lucky and escaped from the beasts, but at what cost? So many dead or dying, and with her own meager first aid skills, there really wasn’t much she could offer in the way of help. They needed professionals, they needed EMTs, they needed Owen, and Madison. The injured needed more than what just the lifeguard staff could give them. A heavy weight settled across her shoulders as she looked back at Penny, the young girl’s tearful eyes staring listlessly at Chrissy, her whole body trembling with exhaustion and fear.

“Allison? What do we do?” Travis asked, his voice wavering. Allison looked back at him, immediately noticing the way his eyes had widened and his face gone pale.

“Travis, breathe. Sit down for a second, take a breather-”

“How can I rest? There’s people dying, and you want me to rest?!” Travis shouted. Allison’s heart wrenched as his shoulders shook.

“You can’t help anyone if you don’t take care of yourself first, Travis. You need to-”

“We need help, Allison! We’re sitting here while people are dying, and we can’t- I can’t help- I can’t-” Travis gasped, and Allison stepped forwards, catching him as he slumped forwards.

“Easy there. Jack! Assistance!” Allison called. Jack appeared out from behind the hanging blankets, muffling a surprised curse as he helped Allison sit him down against a wall.

“What happened?” Travis asked.

“I think the situation just caught up with him. Keep an eye on him, all right?” Allison asked.

“Sure thing. You okay?” Jack asked, looking up at her as she stood.

Allison wavered in place. Was she okay? How could she be, after what she had seen? Death and pain swirled around her, and she shuddered-

Stop. Breathe.

Allison forced it down. There was no choice, she couldn’t dwell on it right now, there was too much at stake, and if she thought about the reality of the situation they were stuck in, she wasn’t sure she would be able to-

Stop. Breathe.

Focus. What was the next step?

“I’m fine. Whose in charge right now?”

“Xavier was here for a bit, but he went out to go help the evacuation. He left Jeremy in charge here.” Jack replied. Allison nodded, looking over to the other side of the room. A few staff members were huddled around the Wilderness Survival Team Leader, and she could hear harsh whispering from them, agitated movements from a few as they argued.

“Stay here. I’m going to check in and see what our next steps are. See if anyone's called 911 yet, or got in contact with Owen or Madison. And supplies, we’ll need supplies if we're going to be able to help the injured, or we’re not going to-”

“Allison? You’re rambling.” Jack interrupted, and Allison jumped. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. I have to be.” Allison forced herself towards the group, her mind whirling as she passed through the campers. There was too much at stake to let herself stop now, she had to keep pressing forwards.

“Jay, it’s no use, we’ve tried everything-”

“Has anyone gone for the landlines, Arnold? Has anyone called for outside help?” Jeremy interrupted.

“I don't know, Xavier said to send someone before he left, but I don’t know if anyone did.” Arnold replied, nervously wiping his glasses with the bottom of his shirt. Allison noticed the blood smearing on the lenses, and stopped him.

“You’ll need something clean for that.” She said. Arnold looked at her, then looked down, his face paling.

“Oh shit, I didn’t even-”

“Allison. You got Aquarius back, good job.” Jeremy interrupted, stepping towards her. “That's about half the camp so far. We’re making good progress.”

“We need help, Jay. Has anyone gotten a hold of Owen or Madison yet?” She asked. Jeremy frowned, shaking his head.

“Radios are still on the fritz. I sent Curtis, Blake and Stewart to find them a little while ago, their cabins aren't far. They should get back-” Jeremy looked at his watch, then frowned, cursing under his breath.

“What?” Allison asked.

“Time got away from me, they’ve been gone for half an hour.” Allison’s heart dropped.

“Their cabin’s only, what, two minutes walk from here? They must have run into trouble.” Yasmina stated from behind Jeremy, her eyes dark.

“Maybe they’re just being cautious?” Arnold squinted at the group, having given up on cleaning his glasses.

“It wouldn’t take them this long, they know we need medical help ASAP. Allison, your lifeguards will just have to make do till they get back.” Jeremy said. Allison’s stomach twisted.

“My lifeguards have done good, but they’re not professionals, Jeremy. We’ve done what we can-”

“If you’re standing here talking to me instead of helping them, can you really say you’ve done everything? You just got back, surely some of them need more help?” Jeremy burst out, his eyes wide and fierce. Allison stepped back, her heart racing as Yasmina put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him back.

“Jay, I’m sure that’s not what she meant. Allison, what do you need?” Yasmina asked. Allison steadied herself as Jeremy calmed himself.

“Like I said, we need professionals. If we can’t find Owen or Madison-” Her heart clenched, but she pushed on. “If we can’t find them, we need to be sure outside help is on the way. And we need medical supplies. Ripped up old sheets and shirts aren’t going to cut it for much longer, we need to be doing more than just stopping the bleeding. We need stitches, and sterilizer, and-”

“All right, we get it. Communication and supplies. I’ll go for the phones at Admin, they should be working so long as the generators keep running.” Jeremy stated.

“You mean we’ll go to Admin. Buddy system.” Yasmina interrupted. Jeremy cracked a small grin at her before turning back to Allison.

“Allison, you know what medical supplies you need, so you’ll need to go to the health center. Take Arnold with you-”

“I’ll take someone on my team. No offense, Arnold, but with your glasses like that, you’re not going to be much help.” Jeremy shook his head

“We need the rest of your lifeguards here, there should be more campers coming back soon and they’ll need medical attention. Take Finn, he should be able to help carry stuff back at least.” Jeremy replied.

“Has he been outside since he got here?” Allison asked.

“Ask him yourself. You guys get going, we’ll follow in a few minutes. Smaller groups will have less chance of being noticed.” Jeremy replied.

“If he hasn’t seen what’s going on out there, he’s likely to panic at the first sign of trouble-”

“I know that, Allison. But we’re low on people, and we don’t have much of a choice. FInn will do fine, it’s just to First Aid and back.” Allison frowned, anxiety churning in her gut as Jeremy turned away from the small group. “I need to hand off the lead to someone else before I go, you go ahead. If you run into trouble, Yas and I will be right behind you.” Jeremy stalked off, and Allison squeezed her eyes closed as she fought to breathe.

Back outside. To where those...things were waiting to kill her. But what choice did she have? If she didn’t move, more people would die, because she was too weak, too scared to do something, anything that might-

Stop. Breathe. Just breathe.

“Right. I’m going.” Allison turned, heading back for the stairs.

“Allison? Be careful.” She looked back at Arnold, slumped against the closest wall, staring down at his blood-smeared glasses. He raised his head, fear in his eyes, and Allison’s heart wavered for a moment before she steeled herself once more. She turned, marching across the basement to the staircase.

“Allison?” Jack intercepted her, and she moved around him, her eyes locked on the exit.

“I’ll be back, Jack. Take care of them while I’m out.” She snapped. She didn’t bother looking back at him as she climbed the stairs.

She just had to keep moving, before her nerves got a hold of her and turned her back around, gibbering and screaming in panic and hiding under the chair, away from the demon beasts outside that wanted nothing more that to-

Stop. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

Allison reached the top of the staircase, taking a moment to center herself before she opened the door. Finn’s startled eyes looked back at her from the other side from his post next to it, the dim light of the single bulb in the staircase casting harsh shadows across his face.

“Come with me, Finn. We’ve got a mission.”

“What? Where are we going?” Finn asked as she headed towards the exit.

“We need to get medical supplies from the First Aid building. Owen and Madison are missing, and the injured down there need help if they’re going to survive.” Allison responded.

“We’re going back out there?” Allison heard the shaking in his voice and sighed.

“Look, Finn, I wouldn’t be asking for help if I could do this myself. I need help bringing back as much as possible, the more supplies we get, the better chances those kids have.”

“Sorry, I just… What if we run into one of those things?”

“It’s not that far, I did an evacuation run through half of the girl’s cabin sites without seeing one of them. And they don’t seem to be able to get between the trees that well, if we see one, we make a break for the nearest treeline. We just have to move quickly and quietly. Are you with me?” Allison asked, looking back at him. After a long moment, Finn pushed himself away from the wall near the basement door.

“I’d feel a lot better if we had some of my armor from the campfire act. Should have brought it back to my cabin instead of the draft shop, else I’d be wearing it right now.” Finn grumbled as they approached the front door, Charlie nodding at them as they drew near.

“Those ‘armor’ sets were loud, you’d be drawing their attention if you were. Besides, if one of them does manage to get to you, I don’t think it’d stand up to those things.” Allison replied.

“That makes me feel so much better about not having anything protecting me, thanks.” Finn snarked. He slapped his cheeks a few times, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “All right. I’m ready. Let’s do this-”

“Wait.” Charlie held up a hand, peering out the windows on either side of the door. “I see lights.”

Allison and Finn joined him at the doorway, peering down the dark pathway towards the health center. Long streaks of light were shattering the darkness, and after a few moments, the light spun wildly for a moment before a red pickup truck flew across the crossway, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

“Someone’s got the right idea, vehicles might be able to outrun those things.” Finn said.

“Could that be the group Jeremy sent out earlier? Where are they going though? If anything, they should be heading off-campus to get help.” Allison replied.

“Maybe there isn’t enough gas in the tank?” Finn shrugged.

“Then why get in the truck at all? Closest town’s only, what, ten miles away? If they don’t have the gas to get there, then what are they doing driving around camp?” Charlie asked.

“No idea. But there’s no time for idle speculation. Did anyone see anything following them, or are we good to go?” Allison looked to both of them, and both of them shook their heads.

“Nothing in sight, good luck. Be safe.” Charlie said, quietly opening the front door.

Allison stepped outside into the night air, shivering despite the warm temperature. The far-off sound of another cabin collapsing immediately had her heart racing, her eyes scanning the darkness all around them past the meeting halls for any sign of movement. Finn stepped out beside her and she glanced at him, his face drawn and pale in the dim orange light of the outdoor floodlights.

“Let’s go.” Allison set off down the path, jogging lightly, cushioning her footfalls to keep them from making too much noise. Finn followed her example after a few strides.

The pathway darkened as they left the relative safety of the quintet of meeting halls. Far in front of them, the light above the doorway into the health center shining like a distant beacon, beckoning them forwards. Allison’s neck ached as she kept her head on a swivel, scanning the dark forest around them.

The muffled roar of the back-up power generators soon made trying to listen for any sign of the beasts impossible. It was a wonder that they hadn’t attacked those yet. The whole camp would be in a much worse place overall if there was no light at all. If only the radio’s hadn’t gone out, coordinating the staff spread out across the camp would have been so much easier without needing to rely on word-of-mouth.

Allison peered down the path towards the admin building as they hit the crossway in front of the health office. Something moved in the distance, and her heart quickened as she peered into the dark parking lot. She breathed a sigh of relief as the shadow slowly disappeared towards the maintenance garage. Hopefully it would stay put until Jeremy and Yasmina were able to make their way into Admin to try the phones-

Allison’s heart stopped as she looked the other way down the path, towards the direction the truck went. On the other side of the path, a single light flickered ominously near the ground, the dark husk of the nearby staff cabin crushed and pulverized into oblivion. The cabin Madison resided in, shattered beyond repair, a ghostly ruin in silent vigil to the horrors the night had borne.

Her feet pulled her towards the broken building, a desperate, aching yearning to search the destruction grabbing a hold of her. Was Madison in there? Could she have survived when so many others hadn’t? She had to know, and to help, if there was anything-

A hand on her shoulder stopped her, and she turned, looking back at Finn. Tears fell from his eyes as he pulled her back, towards the health office. A numb sense of resignation washed over her as tears flooded her vision. His silence spoke volumes, a testament to how dangerous it was to make any noise. Yet Allison understood him perfectly.

Anyone who was in there when it was destroyed was dead, and there were more important things to do than try to dig out bodies.

Allison reluctantly turned, and Finn gently led her towards the health office as her shoulders shook, trying to stifle her sobs. It took entirely too long for her to fish her keyring out of her pocket and unlock the door. She took a few steps into the darkened space until Finn shut and locked the door behind him, and her legs collapsed from underneath her.

Madison was probably dead, crushed beneath one of those demonic beasts.

Without Madison or Owen, Chrissy, and many other injured, were probably going to die within the hour as well.

The sight of the crushed and ruined cabins she passed by on her evacuation rounds, many filled with the smell of blood and death, pushed itself to the forefront, and her stomach rebelled, twisting violently as she vomited onto the floor. She coughed and gagged through the bile as her body continued to heave. A distant part of her mind rationalized that she should probably stop pounding her fist into the floor, but the rest of her was too far gone to care.

Finn’s hand rubbed her back, but no comforting words came forth from him as his own tears fell, his other hand clenched firmly around his jaw as though to keep himself from echoing her. Allison grabbed onto him, burying her face into his shoulder, trying desperately to muffle her own screams of pain and despair.

Finally, Allison pushed herself off of him, staggering to her feet. A deadly calm focus settled over her as she wiped the tears off of her face, forcing herself past the waiting room and towards the office and storage room. Her hand found the flashlight in her pocket, pulling it out and flicking it on, not trusting that the building’s lights wouldn’t attract the beasts through the windows. She turned to the office first, pulling open the reception desk drawer and fishing inside of the emergency storage room key.

“What can I do?” Finn’s voice was hollow as he appeared in the doorway. Allison ignored him as she found the keyring buried in the false bottom of the drawer, pushing past him to the door on the other side of the short hallway and unlocking the door there.

“We’re going to need the emergency response kit, it’s back by the back exit, or out on the golf cart. Grab it and bring it back to the front, we can’t use the golf cart or we might alert one of them.” Finn nodded, disappearing down the hall.

Allison found another large duffel bag and dug into the cabinets, loading up as much bandages and gauze into the bag as she could find. In any other situation, she might have thought it was more than enough, but right now their supply seemed dangerously small.

“Got them, what else?” Finn came into the room, grabbing another duffel bag from the floor.

“There should be a Field Blood Transfusion kit somewhere in here, we’ll need that. Hopefully it’s got blood type test kits in it, we’re going to need some donors to help out until EMTs can get here. There should also be some surgical supply kits nearby, we’ll need to be able to do stitches.” Finn nodded, moving across the room as Allison zipped her duffel bag closed and reached for another. Disinfectant, pain medication and plenty of personal protective gear filled up the next duffel bag until it too was full to bursting.

“All set. What else?” Finn asked. Allison looked at their pile of duffel bags.

“That’s all for now. If we need more we’ll have to come back again, we won’t be able to carry more than that without it slowing us down. Let’s get back with this and we’ll make another run later if we need it.” Allison hoisted her two duffel bags, and Finn grabbed his and the emergency response kit. Allison turned off her flashlight, pocketing the storage key as they headed back to the front door. Finn peered out through the door’s windows for a minute, scanning up and down the pathways.

“Looks clear, let’s go.” He opened the door and they slipped out. Allison didn’t bother to lock the door behind them as they jogged back the way they came. Her eyes lingered momentarily on the ruined staff cabin before she forced herself to look away.

The hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end, and Allison froze, scanning the paths around them wildly. Finn stopped after a few strides, looking back at her.

“You see something?” He asked, scanning around them as well. Allison kept looking for a few moments before she relaxed.

“No, just got a feeling-” Vibrations ran up her leg and she froze again, and Finn’s eyes widened as well. Another remor shook the ground, and Allison’s heart raced as she looked up the pathway towards the meeting halls.

An enormous black shadow crossed into view between the two smaller meeting halls and Andromeda, blocking their direct path back to their destination. Allison looked back at the health center, now seemingly miles away. Of course, they were halfway there when one appeared. Allison prayed for it to continue on it’s way, to not look down the pathway-

Red eyes swiveled towards them, and Allison’s stomach dropped.

“Run!” She screamed, reversing course and sprinting back towards the health office. Finn followed in her wake as the beast let out an earsplitting, shrieking roar and started after them.

“Not to the trees?!” Finn yelled.

“They’re too thin here, it’ll crush them!” She looked over her shoulder as the demon beast slowly gained speed. Pushing that much weight around luckily meant that their acceleration was slow, but unless they got inside soon, it would catch up.

Allison focused on the health center door once more, the light above it now a holy beacon of safety and security as they sprinted for their lives. She considered throwing down the duffel bags weighing her down, except that their straps were crossed over her and just taking the time to remove them would also slow her down.

Light suddenly blinded her from the side as they reached the crosspath, and Allison turned to see the red truck from before barrelling down the path towards them.

“Move!” Allison screamed, throwing herself up against the wall of the health center as the truck swerved, tires gouging into the dirt. Finn slammed into the wall next to her, gasping for breath as his feet nearly were run over. The truck stopped in front of them, and Allison gaped up at it as a few figures, silhouetted by bright lights above the truck’s cabin loomed over them.

“Target acquired!” A voice boomed above her.

“Rifles ready!”

“Blind it!” Allison’s hands rocketed towards her ears as a barrage of sharp cracks shattered the night air, followed by the pained bellowing of the demon beast as it continued its charge.

“Finn, we gotta move!” Allison pulled at him, and they scrambled into the doorway. If the beast hit the truck, they’d be squashed between it and the wall.

“Move on my mark! Shotguns ready!”

“Locked and loaded!”

“Fire!” The night erupted as loud, explosive gunfire erupted from the back of the truck, momentarily deafening her, even with her ears covered. Immediately, the truck lurched forwards, and Allison was glad to have moved as the demon beast’s corpse slid on the ground, ramming into the side of the building with enough force to rattle her bones. Dazed, she looked at the truck’s riders.

A small group of boys- teenage boys, looked back at her, fierce expressions on their faces as they glanced her way before looking around again, one using the floodlights on the truck’s roof to scan the dark forest around them. The tallest of the boys in the truck bed jumped out and walked towards them.

“You alright there?” He asked, and as he came further into the light she saw he was covered in a black, tarry substance. She didn’t need to think too hard about where that must have come from.

“We’re good. Thanks for the rescue.” Allison shuddered, and the boy grinned.

“Third one we’ve gotten so far. We raided the gun ranges, hope you don’t mind.” He said. Allison gaped at him before bursting into hysterical laughter, Finn soon joining him.

“In any other case, I’d be reporting you to Chris, but right now, I’d be kissing you if you weren't covered in...that.” She motioned awkwardly at him, and he looked himself over for a second.

“Ah, well, that’s the price of it I guess. Hope this shit washes off-”

A deafening roar from nearby made them all swivel, and Allison’s heart dropped.

“That sounds like it came from near Admin.” The boy readied his shotgun, and Allison gasped.

“Jeremy and Yasmina were headed there to try the phones!” The boy looked at her for a second.

“You coming with? Be safer with us, I think.” He said.

“We need to get these back to Andromeda, we’ve got injured there.” Finn replied, shaking the duffel bags.

“We should be fine, if anything’s nearby, it’s going to come gunning for you after all that noise.” Allison replied. The boy grinned, a fierce shine in his eyes.

“Let them come. We’ve got plenty of gifts to go around.” He punctuated his statement by loading fresh shells into the chamber. “Will! Fred! Honor guard these two, will you? Precious cargo!” Two boys spilled out of the truck’s cabin, rifles in hand as they ran over.

“But we wanted to stay with you, Brian!” Will whined.

“This is important, Will. You’ll be making sure these two get those medical supplies to the injured, and probably save some lives. This is important, these two are VIP, understand? Nothing happens to them.”

“Yessir!” The boys saluted, and Brian grinned.

“Good men. We’ll see you soon!” Brian turned, climbing back into the truck bed, and the truck peeled away as Will and Fred looked at them.

“Let’s go.” Will and Fred flanked them as they jogged back down the path once more. It was somewhat surreal, seeing the boys, who looked no more than young teens at best, seriously scanning the forest on either side of them, their rifles ready for action at any moment. It was a testament to just how ridiculous the night had gotten that she actually felt safer with them there, instead of pulling the guns from their hands and lecturing them all the way to the director’s office.

More gunfire from a distance shattered the night as they reached the door into Andromeda. For a moment, Charlie looked at the boys with guns, and Allison understood his hesitation as they piled inside.

“Will, Fred, can you stand guard with Charlie up here? You’ll be more useful up here than down in the basement. Charlie, they’re good. I’ll vouch for them.” She hoped Charlie wouldn’t try to antagonize them over the guns but now she had other things to worry about.

Allison and Finn descended the stairs, and her lifeguard team looked exceedingly relieved as they revealed the contents of the duffle bags they brought back. Supplies were distributed rapidly, and Allison gathered a few things before heading over towards Penny and Chrissy. She kneeled next to them, the Field Blood Transfusion kit in her hands as Penny looked up at her.

“Let’s see what we can do, right?” Allison asked. Penny nodded, her eyes clear and focused once more.

As they got to work, Allison prayed that Madison was safe, that she hadn’t been one of the victims crushed underneath the beast’s rampage.

They still had to go sailing, after all.