Stephen cleared a path through the creepy, black tentacle grass with a single [Solar Flare]. The greasy tentacles stood at around six feet tall and extended for nearly a hundred meters before coming up on the edge of the Lowe’s parking lot. When we stepped through to the other side the tentacles lazily swayed our direction, but didn’t lash out as they had done when we first encountered their ilk in the dungeon.

“By Mork!” Keeg gasped at the scene spread before us in the former parking lot.

Mutterings of “Oh, Shit”, “Oh my God”, and “Fuck” followed soon after.

Hundreds of bodies ringed the outer edge of the demon territory, seemingly torn to pieces then preserved like petrified wood, their last gasps of anguish and despair contorted and locked on their faces where they died. Keeg ran up to the statuesque bodies and examined their faces, then frantically looked about until he found another to examine.

I walked up and squatted down to look at the last one he had left and noticed the similar bone and ear structure of the dead man’s face to that of Keeg’s.

“Some of these are my people. This is where we were separated.” He looked forlornly across the parking lot of horror. “Where I failed them.”

Everyone shifted nervously, not knowing if they should try to comfort the man or leave him to his internal despair. All awkwardness ended when a cry of terror echoed across the hellscape from inside the Lowe’s lumber yard. We all looked towards the source of the shrill cry, staring and listening. Soon I was able to hear more low moans and cries of pain and despair echoing forth from the building.

I took a moment to assess the terrain and found it very much not to my liking, the petrified bodies had been running from the Lowe’s, and created a kind of macabre maze through the lot. All of the lot lights were bent at odd angles and weighed down by the press of bodies that had tried to climb them and were frozen in place. Large flakes of ash floated lazily under the pale streams of light and even though I knew it was nearly noon in Arizona, no light penetrated the thick roiling clouds that hung low over our heads.

“This shit’s straight out of a horror movie.” Henry muttered from the back of the group, “I always hated those.”

“This might actually be worse than the Nightmare Dungeon.” Courtney added from next to Stephen.

I looked at my group, then came up to Keeg where he stared wet eyed at the source of the tormented wails that now cloaked the horror scape with their twisted soundtrack of agony. I walked past the man and motioned everyone forward, “C’mon, there’s clearly people still alive.”

“Of course, let’s” He shook himself from his own sorrow filled thoughts and once again took the lead, weaving his way through the press of petrified bodies. Even though it was only a hundred meters to the entrance of the store, our progress was slowed by the immovable forms of the dead around us. I nearly jumped when I felt Henry’s hand on my shoulder, so focused on what was in front of us I didn’t hear the man move up.

Keeg skidded to a halt next to me and turned around to see what the man needed, “We’re being followed.” Henry provided then went to a knee with his rifle resting lightly against his shoulder.

“Hunted.” Albert corrected his friend and took up a similar position a short distance away from him.

I gave the direction to circle the wagons to my team and we prepared for the first attack to come our way since we had entered the demon territory. Tension was already high, all things considered, and it seemed the quiet route would soon be closed to us.

Our attackers soon revealed themselves as they realized we were on to their deception. A pair of large hairless dogs with elongated snouts and brimstone in their eyes. They stalked in low over the petrified bodies, their weight breaking parts off the ashy statues of humans and dark elves alike. Another pair appeared from the direction we were heading, and yet another pair creeped around a bend in the statuesque maze.

They gave us no more time to analyze the situation, barking and snarling as they charged our positions. With the attackers having fully surrounded us I pulled my axes from their spots on my belt and ready myself. Keeg similarly readied himself for the attack with his sword held low and his body behind his shield. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Carly and Stephen similarly powering up attacks as the monsters charged our position, and the pair of hunters lined up their sights on individual targets.

The pair of old hunters were the first to unleash their attacks, the sound of their rifles echoing across the too quiet parking lot. Keeg released a battle shout that instantly invigorated my movement and increased my stamina regeneration rate. Then Carly launched a jagged spur of ice at one of the monsters that was crawling quickly over the dead around us. Stephen followed shortly with a beam of black energy at a target I couldn’t see while Courtney began placing careful shots at the same monster that Stephen just blasted with his strange energy. Keeg left my side to engage his own enemy and then it was my turn.

One of the monsters barreled around the corner and glared at me as it’s scythe-like claws dug into the asphalt of the lot and it launched in the air towards me. I dropped backwards as the creatures' jaws closed around the space where my neck once was. I swung up across its midsection and opened its stomach. Black blood sprayed free of its abdomen and splashed the ground next to me and began to sizzle and smoke.

“THEIR BLOOD IS ACIDIC!” I roared a warning to my party.

I didn’t have time to check my kill as another of the monsters narrowly missed latching onto my arm as it dropped from atop the frozen dead next to me. The sound of the old hunters' rifles barked out across the lot as I bashed the butt of my axe into the dog’s temple. A sickening crunch was barely heard as it collapsed at my feet and the howls of what seemed like hundreds of the monsters pulled my attention in the direction of the main building.

“They are swarming us now; we must keep moving forward!” Keeg yelled back to me as I split another monster's chest open and kicked it free from my axe before the acidic blood had time to work against the metal.

He worked his sword and shield to fend off two of the creepy dogs and I slid up and removed the head of one that had been trying to pry his shield from him and keep him off balance, he spared a brief glance that spoke his appreciation before smashing the pommel of his sword against his shield. The sound of a gong rang out across our corner of the parking lot and a brilliant white light pulsed out in a wave in front of him, knocking back and searing the demon dogs in front of him, then he blurred forward, smashing the creatures further back down the corridor of the dead.

“Come on! Stephen, blast us a way through these bodies!” I hollered to where he was in the middle of our formation, “I’ll cover!”

I holstered my axes and drew my rail pistol and hand cannon. Keeg returned from his charge as I started dumping fire down one of the corridors of dead. He looked at my change of tactics, saw Stephen charging a [Solar Flare] and took up position to protect the young man as he did his work. Carly stepped up beside the two old hunters and began casting her own spell, a moment before Stephen’s spell completed, she sealed the corridor we had come from with a massive wall of ice. It slowed the creatures enough that the hunters shifted their fire to the grizzly walls around them and alternated firing as the dog’s presented themselves.

Stephen’s [Solar Flare] erupted from his outstretched hand and reduced the petrified bodies to cinders and struck the facing wall of the Lowe’s, scorching and setting it on fire. A half dozen of the monster dogs were incinerated in the attack and several others lost vital limbs along the way. Keeg wasted no time charging forward and swinging his sword repeatedly at the wounded monsters along the new path that was shimmering with radiant heat.

Courtney was firing behind us as another surge of dogs poured over the petrified wall, I tugged on her shoulder and she flinched, realized it was me, and ran down the path Stephen had created. I continued firing and walking backward as the hunters and Carly retreated to the front of the store with the others. Stephen tossed an [Isolated Gravity Field] into the gap behind us and all the dogs that entered it instantly halted under the sudden increase of gravity. The hunters and myself stepped up and began shooting the stranded monsters as they tumbled into the field.

After a dozen more of their number fell, the demon dogs retreated back into the petrified maze of bodies. Everyone released a collective sigh of relief and turned to take in what awaited them at the storefront.

The building had changed from what a normal Lowe’s would look like. The sign still sat on the roof announcing it for all to see, though it hung limply covered in blood and scorch marks. The equipment that would normally be setting about in front of the building to be sold looked as if it had been there for decades. A forklift rested on flat tires, the blades of the lift rusted and pitted, large gouges rent through the canopy, blood splattered the plexi-glass window.

Courtney noticed that all of the display grills were closed and smoking, she walked up to one and raised the lid, then stumbled back and retched. I walked over to see what caused such a reaction and balked. Inside the grill a woman’s head roasted over red-hot coals, the eyeless sockets staring out at any who dared open the infernal thing. I closed the lid and looked to the entrance.

“Fuck me.” Courtney muttered as she regained her composure.

The sounds of tortured moaning drifted out of the sliding doors that had been wedged open. Not that they were capable of stopping entrance while closed considering all the glass had been smashed out of their frames. We crunched our way through the entryway, Keeg taking the lead with his shield up in front of him.

Upon entering the store lobby everyone paused in stunned disbelief. The changes outside the building were nothing compared to those enacted within. Nothing remained that would make you believe this had been a hardware store. The registers were replaced with oily stalagmite formations jutting up from the ground at various angles, forming an impromptu barrier, like tank traps on the beaches of Normandy.

Through a thick, clinging haze we could tell the aisle shelving had been replaced with rusted iron cages, unmoving bodies slumped limp within them. The red glow of the occasional fire that flitted up from small pockets of bubbling oil was the only light visible within the building. A greater orange-red glow filtered from deeper within the building, the source of the desperate wails of the yet living.

“Well, guess I won’t be getting that circular saw I had my eye on from here anymore.” Henry mumbled from the back of the group.

“Nope, this is definitely not a hardware store anymore.” Stephen said to no one in particular.

A moment before I heard the shuffling myself, Henry and Albert spun with rifles raised, pointing down across the non-existent checkout lines to the opposite end of the building. Their perception must be ridiculous! As everyone turned their heads to look at what had spooked the hunters, then myself, a pair of large humanoid type demons resolved themselves from within the haze. Each of the demons sported a hairy pair of unguligrade legs that ended in dark hooves, burnished skin stretched across their naked muscled bodies, with yellowed stubby bone protrusions across their shoulders, and back. A thick brow and chin adorned a face set with sickly yellow eyes.

The demons snarled when they saw us and began charging the nearly hundred-meter distance to our position. I flicked the rail pistol from my hip and muttered “[Mag Dump]”. At 80 meters distant the massive demons flinched as fifty hypersonic slugs slammed into their mana reinforced bodies. Black blood splattered the ground behind them with a hiss and snap, and the demons roared in rage, attempting to continue their charge as the pair of old hunters added their own fire to the barrage. I switched magazines and drew my hand cannon activating [Crippling Shots]. I began carefully stroking the trigger, aiming for their massive legs. The lead demon went down when a heavy 20mm slug slammed into its lower knee joint. The other one reached our position with a limp arm, it’s shoulder momentarily dislocated.

Keeg intercepted that one with a smash of his shield and a swipe of his sword. Albert dropped prone to our right and drew out the M82 and sighted in on the wailing demon I had dropped with a shot to the knee. A moment later its head exploded as the deafening bark of the .50 caliber rifle reported his attack. Keeg battled with the other demon that had since restored its shoulder and swiped its thick claws in sparks across his shield. I spun behind the demon and fired up into the back of its head, which fortunately sprayed its caustic blood on Keeg’s shield, and not the man himself.

The sound of magic behind us keyed me in to why I hadn’t seen any support from Carly or Stephen. Another pair of the demons had charged up from another aisle of cages. They were currently being held at bay by the magic duo and Courtney. The sound of hooves on concrete echoed from the direction the first pair of demons came and I began barking orders. “Keeg, help them! Henry, Albert, cover me! Keep the big guns out!” The three men nodded their understanding and moved into their assumed positions.

I jogged up the main aisle towards the sound of incoming demons and readied my weapons. We nearly ran into each other as the big bastards tore around the corner and I was quick to activate [Mag Dump] as I slid between the pair of demons. At this range I didn’t need to aim and simply emptied the magazines of the weapons into the guts of the angry monsters. Huge chunks of flesh splattered the cages and cement around us and spun in pain at my unexpected assault. I continued sliding across the floor, ejecting the magazines as I stood and reloading my pistols in practiced motion.

The demons turned their rage on me and then fell forward as large holes opened in their chests as the Hunters finished the kills from further back. The fact that their bodies were strong enough to absorb the damage from fifty hypersonic rounds, or twenty 20mm rounds, left me concerned for what more was waiting us within the building. Keeg’s holy magic was proving effective and his half of the team had already defeated several more of the demons. As I was watching their fight and considering heading back, more heavy foot falls were heard from deeper within. I spun around as a trio of the demons accompanied by a half dozen of the dogs we fought earlier rounded the corner and leered at me.

The dogs charged forward without hesitation and I back pedaled emptying my pistols in less than a second. The hunters' rate of fire increased as I retreated to their position and a pair of the vicious dogs had been put down by the time I had reached them. Gonna need a bigger gun. I thought as I holstered my pistols and summoned my heavy plasma machine gun from my spatial inventory and began laying down [Suppressing Fire]. The dogs began to slide to a halt and seek cover too late as Henry and Albert lined up lethal shots. The demons dove out of the path of my barrage of plasma. When I had emptied the large magazine, I tossed the weapon to Henry with a half dozen reloads. “Keep up the cover.” He smiled like a kid who’d gotten a BB gun for Christmas. I looked over my shoulder and saw the other half of my team handling their own business, so I drew my axes and stalked forward to meet the first brave demon. This was going to be a long fight.