I jolted upright, dripping in sweat and gasping like I'd been running a marathon.

Laying on the bed in the hallway, I could see hot sunlight searing through the thin blinds and a scarce few bird singing could be heard chirping outside happily.

Bloody hell that was a disturbing nightmare..

For a second I wondered if everything was normal.

*screeeeee*

A shrill unnatural screech sounded off in the distance, shutting up the birds singing and letting me know that, no it fucking isn’t.

Sighing I rubbed my face to help with my bodies wake up process.

I wasn’t a morning person and I hated tea or coffee, so I stayed laying down, taking a moment to recover from the mental trauma I still felt from the horrible dream.

Wonder if people are risking making small fires to make tea..

After several minutes, I groaned as I got up, mainly out of habit but I noticed I felt pain free from the usual joint or knee pains as I stumbled to the bathroom to wash my face.

Even though I didn’t feel tired physically, mentally I was absolutely battered.

I turned the tap on. Nothing from the cold..ughh fuck sakes.

Water systems are going to start failing…oh, there’s water from the hot?..hmm the house probably had a gravity feed water tank which could have around 200-250 litres left in it.

Better not waste that then, we may need to start thinking about drinking water rationing.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I had green eyes, with medium length dark brown wavy hair that was heading past my ears and touching my lowish browline.

My beard was getting longer than I usually allowed it.

The last time I’d let it grow this long, I’d been compared to the main character of FF15 from the front cover of the windows edition, if not a tad bit chubbier.

In Marri’s dreams ha! It was one of her favourite games.

But I noticed my eyes looked slightly more…sparkly? Glowy?

Huh. Weird.

Shrugging it off, I went downstairs to check things out.

Nothing had tried to break in or gotten in for that matter and as I was delicately opening a few blinds to let light in, the others came down and we got straight into some breakfast.

Crackers, cheese and butter were not gone off yet, so we had as much as we could eat since it was only a matter of time before it would expire.

We’ll need to get more long lasting food stocked up..doubt the shops are open though..

Something we’d need to really start thinking about if things were that bad.

I got the conversation swiftly to move towards dreams, since I was eager to share my experience as well but I was also keen to hear if Erza had been to the Garden.

She had.

And she wasn’t best pleased with the whole affair.

She remembered a fair amount of detail, including what her details and numbers were..

MA.YJ (VAR.L) - MAGN.1.940

HP [==10/10HP==]

MP [==10/10MP==]

EP [==100%EP==]

Sword 1

Shield 1

Feather 1

Glyph 2

New Skill evolved:

Violet DEW I - Projectile based.

She detailed how she was forced to endure pain in her hands and arms whilst repeating a complex set of actions to form a white and purple tennis ball of flames.

She could then disperse this or perform a clap behind it to fire it away from her.

“Whilst I appreciate the use cases for being able to create….’projectiles’, I fear it could create some rather precarious situations for me and those around.” She raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lyra.

I pursed my lips and nodded.

“Especially if I were to accidentally ‘fire one off’ as it were..”

Please don’t.

We’d agreed to try that out later in a safer place outside.

Marri thought she’d experienced the Garden again but her sleep was so broken due to Lone so she couldn’t recall properly.

Her poor quality of sleep made me feel incredibly guilty that I wasn't contributing with Lone, so I let her know that if she ever needed me to do anything just to give me a shout.

But she just waved me off saying she was a “strong independent woman who don’t need no man!”

And laughing off my pout she gave me a peck on the check and said if it got too much she would let me know

"But thank you anyway sweety I appreciate you offering."

I tried to hide the sadness in that I was missing important bonding time with them both, but I needed to be the first line of defence first and upmost and now was not the time to be worried about such things.

We need to stay safe, even if that means I miss all those precious first moments with Lone and Marri..

When I made the suggestion she should go straight to napping after breakfast and we'd look over them both, she happily agreed!

I helped her as she went and made herself comfortable on the long L-shaped sofa and promptly passed out within moments, lightly snoring, with Lone snuggled up in her arms.

Lyra went over and sat on a single seated sofa with a book and quietly hummed to herself reading.

She had been well raised and so was so incredibly grounded that I hoped I had the chance to meet her parents so they could let me know how to raise a child that doesn’t break down during a nightmare apocalypse..

I stayed at the table with Erza and our conversation led to the inevitable questions of what my and Marri’s plans were going forward. Although me and Marri hadn’t spoken about it, I knew it made sense to not risk a long journey until we had further information or a better idea of the severity of the situation.

Once I had hinted this information to Erza, she immediately lit up and started listing off reasons why we should stay with them.

I laughed and agreed with her and she was absolutely delighted we were going to stick with them for the indefinite future.

No need to even ask if we could stay with them, as I’d expected from such good people.

Mentioning the lights visible last night, I asked about the neighbourhood and if Erza thought we should think about knocking on doors and asking for information or potential dangers that we didn’t know existed on the streets and just to generally let others know we were here.

Was it also going to be wise to announce our presence and to check who was around?

Or would we start getting creeps or bad types lurking.

“We’ve been living together for a few years now, me, Sylvie my sister, and Lyra. The whole neighbourhood is very friendly and we all know each other, mostly.”

That was the first time Erza had mentioned her sister's name.

A cold sickly feeling washed over me as a memory burst open, showing a name tag.

Sylvie.

Erza’s sister, Sylvie.

Lyra’s Mum, Sylvie.

THAT was the name tag of the nurse that carried on going right when it all started and made sure Lone and Marri were ok!

That’s why Erza and Lyra felt familiar..and I had turned tail, ran away and left her when I saw that bloody corridor.

Dammit! Shit it all..

She did so much for us! And I bet she was torn between helping a couple of strangers with their birth and rushing back to her little girl.

I looked over and Marri and Lone were sleeping, Lyra was drawing quietly in the corner.

I returned my saddened gaze back to Erza.

They could easily and justifiably kick us out if I tell them…but I have to let them know.

“Your sister..I..I think she was the one who birthed little Lone over there.”

I lowered my head, unable to maintain eye contact.

“She carried on right after everything went to hell. Remember how I told you about that hero nurse? That was her….”

My throat closed up from anxiousness, making me cough.

“But…I ran back to the room after seeing that corridor…I feel ashamed that I ran away when we saw it….I’m so sorry! but I couldn’t leave Marri on her own..If I’d known what was going on….I could’ve done something...””

I looked up at Erza, her eyes widened in mild shock but she softly smiled after a couple of seconds.

“I had suspected that it was Sylvie. She’s a remarkable lady that is committed to ensuring the little ones come into this world safely. And don’t be absurd, you had no way of knowing what was going on and like you said, you needed to look after that divine woman over there and that little angel she’s holding.”

She giggled. “She’s a tough cookie, I am sure she’s perfectly well. When she gets back, she’ll come storming through that door and she’ll grumble about how the council and government have done nothing to help the community during this crisis.”

I gave a sad half smile.

I still wish I could help find her. She was-

Blackness filled my vision but I was ‘compos mentis.

What the fuck? Has someone closed my eyelids?

My eyes opened and I could see the room we had been staying in, but there were neon blotches floating around and it was hard to focus on anything.

Except Sylvie was there, curled up in the corner bed that Marri had made..but she looked in bad shape, wounded, clutching her bloodied arm.

It was complete silence until a blast of banging and chattering flooded my senses as if someone had turned a stereo speaker up to full volume.

My vision started to fade out as the deafening noise filled my mind and then it cut off.

Silence and darkness.

Neon Text strobed and flickered into view:

(!)SEV I TASK TX(!)

RECOVER POSITIVE KAR ID (10081549) [SYLVIE]

SUCCESS [+250]

FAILURE [BODACH CATEGORY CONSEQUENCE]

TIME LIMIT [00:48:15]

A few blinks and I was back in the room taking deep breaths, looking at a confused Erza.

I jumped up out of the chair.

“Sylvie! She’s alive! She’s back in our hospital room! The Garden just showed me somehow, but she’s wounded and needs help! We don’t have much time! 48 minutes roughly?!”

I was blurting all this out without thinking about what I was saying.

Without realising that there’s a chance I could be wrong or was some kind of hallucination.

WIthout thinking that, either myself or Erza would need to go.

But the failure wording hadn’t escaped me.

I didn’t know what a ‘BODACH CATEGORY CONSEQUENCE’ was…but it sounded ominous as fuck.

Shit shit shit shiiiiiiiiit…what should I do?

I really don’t want to be going back to the hospital just on some hallucinatory whim!

Erza’s eyes went blank and her head slumped slightly forward.

My heart raced as I realised that she was probably experiencing what I did and that this was actually happening.

After 10 seconds, she suddenly gasped and looked up at me with wide eyes.

“Oh my dear god. I saw her as well! Oh that’s absolutely dreadful and terrifying! We must help her!”

I took a glance at Marri and Lone, then looked at Lyra and finally Erza and decided that instead of thinking about it, I should just move.

I didn’t have time to waste.

Just act and think later.

“You stay, I'll go.” The words slurred out of my mouth as I felt slightly dizzy with a mild panic attack brewing.

“If I don’t make it back, you gotta’ look out for them, I know you would anyway even though we just met, but I felt better saying it out loud.”

I didn’t feel better at all.

WIthout giving Erza a chance to speak, I rushed to the front door hallway, feeling disconnected from reality and grabbed my keys.

Checked through the window to make sure it was clear, opened the front door and jumped into the car.

I was going considerably faster this time back.

But I kept my eyes peeled and I saw a few curtains twitching and I did actually see a young man and woman running into a house.

I didn’t see any signs of people outside the estate but I thought I’d seen an insect leg disappear in some bushes, but it was too big to be real so it was probably my imagination.

Whatever helps me sleep at night.

I laughed out loud. A hint of insanity mixed in.

“What the flying fucking rainbow shit are you doing Godu…” I said out loud.

It couldn’t have been more than 5-6 minutes before I reached B Car Park, however there were roads that led closer to the Maternity ward so I didn’t hesitate to carry on going through B Car Park and follow the road west then north, all the way up to the north side of the Maternity ward.

No signs of anyone or anything as I approached at a crawl, but I saw the fire escape propped open, from where we’d found freedom.

I stopped the car with a squeak of the brakes and scanned around, adrenaline had caught up with me now and I was panting.

To say I was bricking it, would be an understatement.

I hadn’t suddenly gotten used to having to fight for my life, but…fuck it, don’t think about it. Don’t even think about it.

Next steps, get out, go to the fire escape and run up those stairs, third floor, go through security double doors and sprint towards the next double doors leading to the South facing hallway, then it’s the third room.

Adrenaline was really starting to flood my system as I gritted my teeth and jumped out the car and locked it.

I raced up to the door and stopped to listen for any noises.

Peeking through the crack, I heard nothing and could see nothing.

Bordering on having a full blown panic attack, I slipped inside and crept up the stairs.

I was just coming up to the first floor before I heard a voice call out. A man's voice.

“Reg…is that you mate? Are you there?”

The voice muttered something else but I couldn’t make it out.

“Hello? I’m not Reg but I’m here to help a Nurse who is stuck on the third floor, her name is Sylvie.” I responded.

“Oh Ok, what's your name mate?

“My names Goduyne. And you?”

I was on the 1st floor now and the owner of the voice was walking towards me as he gave me a quick wave with one hand.

He had a sledgehammer in the other.

A silver fox, he looked in his late 30’s with dark slightly greying hair with a greying stubble beard, tall and broad shouldered, heavily built.

He had dark workmen trousers on with a dark polo sweater with the sleeves rolled up.

I could somehow sense he had a true brutish physical strength that you usually only could get from doing a heavy physical labour type of job for many years.

“Pleased to meet you mate. I’m Tanner. You said you were here to help Sylvie? I might know her actually, the midwife? she’s got a little’un that plays with my boy and she helped my wife and my little’un when he had a fever.”

He held out his fist for a fist bump which I returned. A gentleman's greeting in today's world after a nasty pandemic had swept through it a few years ago.

He had big forearms and rather than bulging muscles, they were layers of solid, efficient and densely packed muscles.

“Actually, that's why I’m here now. I need some antibiotics for my son. But with everything gone to shit..I can’t get a pissin’ prescription with this poor service!”

He directed the last part at the empty reception desk.

“I hear ya, it is messed up and confusing as hell.” I nodded and awkwardly looked over at the stairwell.

I needed to get moving.

“Okay, I don’t have muc-...OH! I might be able to help! We had some antibiotics in our room and that’s where I’m in a rush to get to right now. On the third floor, where Sylvie is!”

“Well that’s spot on! Ha! bloody made my day mate! Let’s crack on then bud, lead the way!”

We started to move up the stairs carefully

This is great. A new team member has joined!

I was extremely grateful for the company. Well and truly grateful.

“By the way Tanner, who is ‘Reg’?” curiosity struck me as I remembered what he’d said.

“Ah mate, that was just a little test right? There’s no Reg, he’s made up. The way I see it, if someone said ‘yes it’s me’ then I know they are a bullshitter. But if I hear nothing but footsteps, then either the bastards deaf, or they ain’t too friendly...” He trailed off and I heard him gently slap the sledgehammer in his hands.

“Ah fair enough, good strategy” I didn’t think it was that smart, since what kind of nefarious party would stupidly claim to be ‘Reg’...but actually, pretty ingenious as it forces a dialogue and also if it an enemy, they may think Reg is lurking nearby.

Besides, I’m sure there are worse ideas out there…like returning to a death trap on the whim of a possible hallucination.

While we were carefully going up, I gave Tanner a quick heads up about the chance of bumping into the grinner creatures, but he just said he’d already had to deal with a few “mutant pricks” so he wasn’t fussed.

He also pointed out he’d seen some much scarier things in the woods that involved 8 legs to which I just replied in a whisper “oh for fucks sakes not spiders..” making him snigger.

I won’t be going near the woods anytime soon.

Sometimes you just get on really well with someone and you can tell that you’re going to be best buds and this guy felt like one of those people.

Just a dependable, helpful and no nonsense guy, that doesn’t piss about and just gets on with things and tells you what you need to know.

I was late warning him about the bodies on the third floor just as we turned the stairwell corner.

“Coooooor that’s absolutely fuckin’ vile. Jeeeeesus!” He covered his face with his sleeve.

As did I, since I didn’t have my makeshift mask.

“I recommend not looking at the bodies. It’s just fucking too grim and sad..” I muffled through my sleeve.

We swiftly moved past the bodies and pushed through the security doors, ensuring they were tightly shut against their seals.

“That’s some proper dark shit…poor fuckers..” he muttered and blew out a puff of air.

Back in this forsaken hallway…it had changed slightly.

The body of the Janky I had fought here was gone and some of the doors were wide open with one of them looking pretty smashed up, nearly falling off the hinges.

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, which weren’t so bad since I had good company, I gave a run down of the ‘plan’.

“Allllright so, the door is down this hallway, then a right, then it's the third door, room 08. Lets carefully walk down this one and keep as much distance from the open doors. If anything comes at us, I’ll try and stun or knock them down and you can-”

“Smash the wanker with sexy ol’ Linda here” He said in a leery voice waving his hammer.

“Heh uh yeah man lets go” I gave him a shifty side eye as we started cautiously creeping along the hallway.

I wonder if he is mental or just unable to take anything seriously…but seriously?! naming a sledgehammer has psycho-zombie-apocolypse-murderer written all over it!

Curiosity got the better of me however.

“….sorry, why Linda though I have to ask?”

Now was not the time..but like hell will I let myself get murdered without knowing the story.

“Ahhhh heh, long story mate..ah heck we got time. Well it all started with a bucket of cement, an inflatable sex doll and a pair of red lacy knickers. Haha we-”

Suddenly we heard a loud crash and bang and heard a terrified scream.

A woman's scream.

We looked at each and then started slapping ground as we sprinted off towards the source, exactly the place where Sylvie was supposed to be.

It took less than 10 seconds to reach the double doors and burst through, we’d heard hissing behind us as we passed some of the open doorways but we didn’t stop.

It was pretty fucking stupid of us actaully and upon reflection I didn’t know where this caveman mentality appeared from.

We’ve just pulled every single fuckers attention at the same time.

A disturbing scream for help echoed out from room 08 so we rushed towards it and stepped in the entrance.

The door was hanging off one hinge and there was a much stronger, bigger looking Janky stalking a huddled cowering figure in the corner of the room.

It’s hands and feet thumping objects out the way. They were twisting, dislocating and moving in ways that were just plain wrong for a traditional ligament joint.

“HEY YOU SHITTTHEADDDD!” Tanner yelled out in an almost playful challenge as he shifted his weapon into a swinging stance and fearlessly strode up to the muscular Janky.

The Janky snapped his head around before rotating its limbs to shift and adjust where it faced. Like a robot spider with 4 legs, it also moved back quickly away from the approaching nutter with a sledgehammer.

Whilst moving, Tanner started glowing with a red shimmer that left embers floating in his wake, before he burst forward inhumanly fast, like he’d been hit by a bus, but in this case he was the bus as he slammed into the large Janky.

Hammer first, he impacted the shoulder area and by the looks and sounds of it, he had done some serious damage.

The first victory was short lived however, as the Janky screeched and retaliated by booting Tanner back a few feet.

He got back coughing and wheezing as I heard hissing coming from behind me.

I whipped around and caught sight of 5 fucking grinners pushing through the double doors.

Their bulging yellow eyes, creeping towards us just staring and grinning

They were different sizes and a couple had no clothes, but they all had the disgusting slimy black straggly hair.

Their arms were twitching and moving, as if trying to keep balanced, but one of them was chewing on a….goddam tiny mangled leg. A goddamned tiny leg…..those…

Bastards. Demons. Nightmares.

Whatever the fuck they were, I’ll kill them.

I’ll fucking kill them.

The images of Lone being mauled flashed and I drowned in rage.

I charged at them.

As I got closer, I felt the air around me loosen and feel slippery, which provided me with a tremendous speed boost.

But I also noticed that each footstep felt like it was sticking ever so slightly, the same pulling feeling when magnets attract each other.

As I impacted grinner #1 with my shoulder, I felt my feet grip the floor and root themselves. All the kinetic energy thrust forward and slammed into the creature with an audible whip like crack.

My eyes caught sight of the visible rapid air pressure wave through the dust and air particles from the force of impact as the creature belted into grinner #2 behind it and #3 #4 #5 got thrown off their feet from the pressure wave.

Grinner #1’s rib cage was dented inwards and it wasn’t grinning any more. #2 was slumped like a sack of shit on the floor.

#3, #4 and #5 scrambled back up, dazed but following instincts that were intent on attacking me.

I went to throw a slappy punch at one but I pulled my hand away just in time as I got a bad gut feeling and images surged in my head vividly reminding me of my Physical Combat skill and the movement actions learned.

Jumping back a step, I dropped into the same stance that I practised over and over in the garden.

And then the rest came naturally.

Time or their speed felt..calmer, perhaps slower, as I made each attack.

Like there were micro freezes as I landed each blow.

This gave me a greater level of control to ensure my strikes connected where I wanted them and allowed me to not be afraid of getting grappled or receive damage.

The first attack was a punch that saw a heat shimmer briefly appear around my fist before it impacted in the side of the neck of grinner #3.

Its body crumpled to the floor after its head sharply jolted at an angle from the impact.

The second attack was a complex series of strides on approach to build up specific momentum, then an almost-white glow wrapped sidearm smashed into the temple of grinner #4.

It did a half cartwheel as it fell into a heap into the wall.

The third attack was a step into a crouched uppercut that saw another shimmer of heat form around my body and then gather in the fist right before impact into Grinner #5.

The one that had been…eating…had its jaw completely smashed up into the front of its skull, killing it instantly and it wobbled before toppling down onto the ground, causing a mini avalanche of blood, tissue and bone to slide out.

Grinner #2 was struggling to its feet so I took a single big stride towards it and leaned back to build up power. I attacked with an arch overhead right fist that hit the back of its head and slammed it into the ground with a sickening crack, blood exploding onto the floor.

Grinner #4 started to get up whilst wailing loudly, so I rushed forward and performed several punches into the jaw and neck, finishing the fight with a heavy palm strike to the back of the head. It lay there, motionless with red trickling out of its nose and ears.

Grinner #3 was neck stomped twice as I could sense a faint hint of life remaining.

I stood there for several seconds, breathing heavily and shaking from the mild shock and adrenaline.

It was becoming less disturbing to kill, even with the brutality and gore.

But I still felt gravely troubled by it.

Was there a better way?

Live life questioning death, lest you become death that questions all life.

An unknown quote sprung to mind..I couldn’t remember where from-

A screech and a laugh snapped me out of my stupor, as I rushed back to room 08.

I came back in to see Tanner had a damaged arm and blood caked on his face but he sounded in high spirits with all things considered.

But the Janky had some seriously fatal damage to it.

Both its legs and an arm looked snapped and the only thing holding them together was the leathery skin and muscle tissue but bone shards were visibly sticking out with heavy blood loss gushing out everywhere.

“Ayy Goduyne welcome back to the party, this dickhead” he panted as he stumbled and pointed his hammer at the creature

“Ee’ Got a few sucker punches in, but then Linda-”

He shook the hammer in the air.

“-had a few choice words to say and HA! Look at that! I think he now wants to buy her a drink!” his throat audibly filled with fluid and he coughed up blood, his lungs struggling to take in oxygen.

His body was about to tap out any second now.

However, the Janky wasn’t looking so hot either, becoming weaker by the second as Tanner limped towards it.

It started to weakly try and drag itself away with its remaining broken arm.

Was it afraid?

I looked over to Sylvie, the person who had stayed to protect my son and wife in their most vulnerable.

She was completely still...beaten to death.

Looking back at the creature, I just stood there in a post adrenaline fueled daze.

As Tanner regained himself and continued, my mind was thinking yes, smash it, fucking smash its face in.

“Well, if you are buying..I’ll take a …GIN AND TONIC!” He roared as he burst forward and smashed the sledge hammer into the skull of the Janky, creating a horrendous dent in the side of the skull, fluid and blood burst out from its nose and eyes as it was sent crumpling to the floor, like a sack of potatoes.

Tanner moved back and slumped onto a wall and slid to the side and chuckled, before passing out.

Standing still, it took a few seconds before my thoughts became coherent.

I rushed over to check on him and made sure he was breathing.

He was, but I wasn’t sure if he would survive.

So much damage had been done to him and he was still bleeding.

I rushed over to Sylvie who was not moving…but she was breathing!

She must have passed out from fear, blood loss or pain. Probably all three.

There were bit marks all over her with a chunk missing on her upper arm where the most blood was coming from.

I stood up and started nervously pacing around and rubbing my face to try and calm down, scanning around and frantically thinking about what to do next.

Calm down, calm down. Do NOT panic. Assess, plan, act.

I looked back over at Tanner. He needs help first. So I ran over to some of the cupboards and took a few bandages, there were so many tucked away everywhere, no better place to bleed than in a hospital I guess.

Moving over back to him, I stopped as I saw the Janky started to show the same rust like patches appearing and then moving up to form a patch that flowed out into the air, as the familiar, shimmering silvery black mist formed.

It idled in the air, slowly drifting as if it was floating in water, still connected to the corpse like a wispy tentacle.

Hmm I wonder…I reached out slowly to see if I could activate it or something…

My hand ghosted through it and it felt just like a mist, but nothing happened like the previous times.

Hmmmmmmmmm. What was I missing here?

I looked over at Tanner and had an epiphany.

Quickly, I grabbed a thick woollen blanket I spotted and placed it next to him.

Carefully, carefully, roll him onto it…*smack*...fuck sorry! Nothing happened!

Drag him over to the shimmer…OOP! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING!

Once within a couple metres range, the shimmer seemed to react like a ferrofluid, reacting as its intended target drew close.

The shimmer seemingly confirmed its target and then poured into Tanner's face, and I took a few steps back to create some distance.

There must be some kind of distance limitation!

I watched as his skin seemed to bleed pin prick droplets of blood which then turned black and started to snake in little streams up towards some of his visible wounds.

The shimmer poured out of his nose and ran under his eyelids then started concentrating near his shoulders, orbiting his arm joints and then trickling little wispy streams down the skin.

Then at the same time, the shimmer in its entirety plunged into the areas it was covering.

Tanner snapped his eyes open and screamed as I heard cracks and pops.

His scream lasted barely two seconds before it turned into a gurgle wretch as he started to puke up black globs of matter.

“Ughh, shit it, damn that's grim.. I feel like…” He croaked and shakily got to his feet.

“..I feel really..” He gingerly rotated his shoulders and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“..Pretty...good?..Really good? What the flying fucking piss?!” He chuckled and hopped from one foot to another and windmilled his arms then looked at me grinning.

“Am I high Goduyne??” cocking his head and giving me an oh you side look.

“Did you give me drugs?” he asked, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows.

“If you did…”

He gave me two thumbs up.

“You are a legend!”

I just laughed and shook my head. “No drugs man, this ain’t that kind of party. It's that mist shimmer that I’m pretty sure heals you. The one that appears after you kill a nightmare.”

“Ohh riiight, riiight. Huh that smokey stuff can also heal you? It usually just floats into my hand and then dissipates…seen it make my mate a pair of boots too, 3D printer style man.”

I held up my gauntlets “yeah same story with these-SHIT!-”

“-Sorry, we gotta’ hurry Tanner, Sylvie seems okay but we need to get her back home and someone with medical experience to check her over. I think we should get out of here as soon as fucking possible.”

“Oh right shit, yeah defo’ defo’..urmm sorry mate but where are those uhh, anti-”

I pointed over to a cupboard as I started over to Sylvie…thinking about how we could transport her best..

“Look for A-moxy-sil-lin and Co-a-moxy-clav, both are the usual antibiotics. Don’t grab the bottles, they’ll probably be gone off. Yeah, just the tablets, they last longer.”

“Uhhh….sweet! Okay cheers bud!”

Tanner shoved a bunch of the packets into the big side pockets of his worker trousers before pausing to undo something bulky off the wall and then brought it over to Sylvie and me.

“Righty-tighty! Let's see if we can get Sylvie out of here and then onwards back home!”

He placed the object on the floor.

It was an Emergency Stair Evacuation Sled.

Awesome job Tanner.

***