3.12

Woolpack had been let out of prison. She refused to return home and so stuck around Athena City. She had wanted to get to Grand Tunnels, but she didn’t have a means of transport.

She was unsure of what to do with herself. She didn’t feel like returning to a life of crime, but nothing else really appealed to her. Freja had found it exciting when she fought Mite and his friends, but that meant she had to commit a crime.

Woolpack wandered the streets of Athena City at night, looking for something to do.

She saw a small poster in the window of a shop, advertising the desire to hire someone. She walked in and found herself in an overcrowded convenience store. Stock and magazines littered the floor and there was a musty smell about the air.

A burly, grizzly looking man stood behind the counter.

“I’m here about the job you’ve got advertised in the window, said Woolpack.

“Have you ever had a job before?” the man asked.

“Nope. No, I haven’t.”

“You’d be working all the shifts I don’t want to do, and you can’t complain about it.”

“That’s all right.”

“You start now.” The man walked around from behind the counter. He threw a smelly, oversized, yellow shirt to Woolpack and walked out of the store.

“But I don’t know how to operate the till.” Woolpack stood at the doorway, pulling the shirt over her head.

“You’ll figure it out. Your generation knows about all technology.” He got in a nice-looking car and took off into the night.

Woolpack looked at the store she now found herself working in. She walked through the place, making sure to avoid the mess on the floor.

“This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.” Woolpack started to tidy up the place.

“Hi, I’m looking for a particular brand of milk.” The voice broke into Woolpack’s thoughts. She had been tidying up for over an hour and nobody had come in.

Woolpack snapped to attention. The customer was an elderly man with a walking frame.

“Sure, what kind of milk?”

“Follow me.” The man turned around and started walking to the back of the shop. Woolpack followed after him. They arrived at the refrigerated section and the man pointed along the milk.

“None of these,” he said.

“I’m sorry, but that’s all we have. I can talk to my boss tomorrow and see if we can bring some in. What kind of milk were you after?”

“I said, none of these.” There was a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Like I said, that’s all we have. I can try a-”

“Confound it!” the man interrupted Woolpack and slowly shuffled away. Woolpack was baffled and watched as the man walked out of the store.

Woolpack returned to cleaning the place when she heard a noise. She looked up from what she was doing and standing only a few feet away was a monster.

It had thin, wispy hair and red eyes. Its pale skin wrapped tightly around its bones and it was licking its lips. Woolpack noticed that it was blood.

“And what do you want?” Woolpack asked. She took a few steps to left, making a wide circle.

The creature hissed at her.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t stock that.”

The creature hissed at her again. It got down on all fours and bound toward her.

Woolpack stepped aside and stretched out her arm. She wrapped it around the creature’s neck and slammed it face first into the ground. She retracted her arm and glared at the creature.

Its legs shook a little but then it pulled itself back up. It whirled on her and let out an ear-splitting shriek. The glass doors on the refrigerators cracked.

“Is that so?” The creature leapt at Woolpack. She split her body down the middle and let the creature pass her. It landed on the other side and looked confused for a moment. It turned around to face Woolpack again.

Woolpack shot her arm forward. She grabbed the creature by the neck and slammed it through the cracked glass door. The creature exploded into a dark mist and the mist flew out of the door.

Without missing a beat, Woolpack ran out of the store and found the elderly man on the ground, bleeding out.

Woolpack used her mobile and rang for an ambulance. She pressed her hands down on his neck, but it was no use. He had already stopped breathing.

Woolpack looked out into the night. There were people running and screaming through the night, chased by more of the creatures she had just fought in the store.

She watched as one leapt through the air and landed on the back of a fleeing teen in sports gear. The creature shrieked and went to bite down on the kid’s neck, but Woolpack pulled the creature off.

“Thanks.” The kid slipped over as he pulled himself up. He pulled himself up again and ran into the night.

Woolpack eyed the creature and it glared back at her.

The creature bound toward her and before she got a chance to react, something slammed into the head of the creature, sending it sprawling across the ground.

Woolpack recognised the ball of slime and she looked around and sure enough, spotted Quagmire.

“Hi,” said Quagmire.

“Hi,” said Woolpack. “Here to stop the monsters attacking everyone are you?”

“Yeah. And you’re helping?” The teen hero sounded confused.

“Of course. I don’t want these monsters killing everyone they can.” Quagmire shot a few more slimeballs into the head of the creature. It exploded into dark mist.

“Good, we can use the help.”

“Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Mite is busy helping stop the main vampire.” Quagmire pointed in the direction of the art gallery and Woolpack noticed the giant green beam that was shooting up into the sky.

“Vampires hey.”

“Where’s the rest of your team?” Quagmire asked.

“Oh, we don’t keep in touch. We didn’t get along anyway.”

Quagmire shot one of the creatures off to the left and Woolpack grabbed another off to the right. She slammed it headfirst into the ground multiple times until it exploded into dark mist.

“How many are there?” Woolpack asked.

“Hundreds, maybe thousands.”