Part Forty

Under the dim light of a half moon, three figures were sprinting down a desolate highway. All of them were breathing heavily, as they’d been at this for quite some time.

“Haaaah…..haaaah, ready to…take a…break yet?”

“Not a chance. I’m not even…tired.”

“Good, neither…am I.”

“Kuu…kuu…kuu.”

The three figures were of course Michael, Regis and Gwen, who’d gone to look for a vehicle for the group to use. They’d all started out just jogging down the highway, but the two humans had begun unconsciously speeding up somewhere along the way. Eventually, the two of them had broken out into full-on sprints, completely ignoring the need or desire to pace themselves, forcing poor Regis to try and keep up with them.

“Oh look, the exit. I guess…we’re almost there.”

“Haaaah, haaaah…about…time.”

“Kuuuhuhuuuuu.”

***

What the heck happened? I know I have a bit of a competitive streak, but why the heck did we race each other down the highway like that? Are we children?

We’d started down the road normally enough, though we hadn’t said a word on the way. Gwen hadn’t been annoyed by having to accompany me or anything, we just didn’t have anything to talk about. Gwen and I didn’t interact all that often, so we didn’t really know one another. And the fact that both of us shared certain character traits, so it was obvious that we wouldn’t be able to hit it off when paired together so suddenly.

Somewhere along the line, we had started moving a little faster, and then a little faster. And though neither of us actually said anything, we had both been unable to just stop speeding up. It had turned into a childish foot race before we knew it.

Well, at least we made it. There’s the gas station, and there’s a few cars in the parking lot, just like I hoped. Probably from employees or people who were stopped here when World Decay began. Hopefully we can find one with the keys in it.

I glanced at my two ‘partners’. Gwen was bent over, desperately trying to draw in air, while Regis looked like he’d passed out, splayed out on the ground as he was. Both of them would need a minute or two to recover, so I started canvassing the cars by myself.

Unfortunately, I struck out each and every time. The odds of the keys just conveniently being in there were obviously going to be low, but I’d actually lucked out before. It was hard to believe, but some people actually left their keys in their car. Kind of stupid if you ask me, but it had helped me out several times in the past, so I wouldn’t complain.

Well, that was a bust. I’ll have to check the building itself to see if I can find any keys. Haaah, hopefully this doesn’t turn out to be a wild goose chase. Though since the cars are still here, then logic says that at least one set must be as well. I can’t imagine that someone would see monsters, and run away without their car. Unless they just completely panicked and didn’t think it through. Which to be fair, is entirely understandable. Monsters are scary, especially when you haven’t seen any before.

If there were keys left behind, then it was because their owners had died here, slain by some kind of monster. So long as the corpses weren’t dragged away, finding the keys would just take sifting through some refuse, or remains. A gross task, but it was better than walking.

“Kuuu?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna have to go in there. Can you smell anything?”

“Kyu. Kuhuu.”

“Okay, I’m not gonna pretend that I understood that. Haaah. Spirit, go and see what's in there.”

*…*

A few seconds after I gave it the order, the familiar sent me a report back. There were several living things inside the building, most likely monsters. I set my ear to the door and listened intently, but I couldn’t hear anything noteworthy. There’s no telling what’s in here. And since it’s dark…yeah, this’ll be fun.

“Hey Gwen, you good yet? There’s some monsters in here we’ll need to deal with. Fun times.”

“I’m good. Just, don’t make me run like that again.”

“Hey, I didn’t make you do anything. You’re the one who started rushing first.”

“Oi! You’re the one who started runnin’ in the first place! Don’t try pinnin' it on me!”

“Haaaah, fine, fine. Let’s just clear this building and be done with this shit.”

“Fine by me. Let’s get this over with.”

I pulled one of the doors open a crack, and recoiled at the scent that came out. Death, mixed with the stale scent of reptile. Hesitantly, I opened the door, only to throw it shut two seconds later. There was a ball of snakes lying a short distance from the door, so intertwined that I couldn’t tell one from another. And yes, they were definitely monsters.

Silent Ash Viper

Rank: D

Description: An Evolved Silent Viper that possesses venom with a powerful necrotic effect, in addition to the normal effects of Silent Viper venom.

“Snakes. It had to be snakes.”

“Really? You’re gonna make that reference here? Haaah.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Hm, we’ll need to find a way to get in there without alerting all those snakes. I really don’t want to deal with something like that.”

“What about just…going in and killing the monsters?”

“No. No, no, no, no, no. There’s no telling just how many snakes are in there, and even if we kill all the ones in that ball, there could be more hiding in any nook or cranny. And depending in how poisonous they are, even a single bite could kill us. Going in there is not a good idea.”

“Fuck. Then what the hell are we doin' here?”

“Hrm, let’s find a window, then take it from there.”

“Huh? Why?”

I didn’t bother answering her question, as finding the window would do so for me. The only thing I did do was to pull out my flashlight. I hadn’t been kidding about the danger those snakes posed. A single bite could be deadly.

Monster snakes, that’s just horrifying. The venom of regular snakes is bad enough, but the venom of monsters is probably a hundred times worse. Haaaah, why’d this have to happen right after Kalia had a breakdown? If she was here, I wouldn’t feel so on edge about this.

Circling the building, I soon found a window within easy reach that fortunately wasn’t locked. Getting it open was the easy part. Getting up to it wouldn’t be as simple.

“Gwen, go roll that dumpster towards us. We should be able to us it to climb into the window.”

“Ugh, fine.”

I suppose we’ll have to be careful that we can get back out. I really don’t want to have to sneak past all those snakes. That sounds like a nightmare.

Gwen grumbled about it, but she soon had the dumpster rolled over by the window. I climbed up on top of it, and peeked in through the window, lighting up the room with my flashlight.

“Hm, looks like an office of some sort. I don’t see any snakes, but we should be careful. They might just be hiding.”

“Uh-huh. Come on, let’s just get this done with.”

“Patience. Don’t drop your guard.”

Seeing as it was safe, I slipped off the windowsill and dropped to the floor. Since there were only a few objects that any snakes could be hiding under or behind, I felt pretty safe entering the room. Until I looked at what I assumed was the door to a private bathroom or something.

A single snake had wormed its way under the door and was tasting the air, as if it was hunting something. Reacting quickly, I threw a knife at it, catching it in the head and killing it as silently as possible.

“Huh, think there’s any more of them in here?”

“Always. Snakes have this way of just crawling into places you don’t want them to. They’re a bit like mice that way, only poisonous. Just be careful before you open anything, and you should be fine.”

“…Do you…have somethin' against snakes?”

“No, not really. I just grew up in a pretty rural area, so I’m used to seeing them. Come on, let’s get searching. An office like this is likely to have a set of keys lying around.”

“And why do you say that?”

“Because there’s no need to keep them in your pocket when you have a perfectly good desk to hide them in. Aha, a locked draw. Hm, looks like a simple lock. Where’s that paper clip and safety pin I had? Here we go.”

“What the hell are you doin’?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m picking the lock, duh. Aaaaand, done. Behold, my ability to quickly unlock small drawers. Also, here’s the keys I was hoping for. Hopefully these are for one of the cars outside. If not, we might be fucked a little.”

“Do you just…break into things all the time? ‘Cause you seem kinda used to this.”

“Hm, oh no. This is the first time I’ve done it where it wasn’t part of a prank. And I can probably only pick simple locks like this one. The more tumblers they have, the more complex their insides are, which means it’ll take longer and longer to open. By that point it’s better to just slice the lock itself off.”

“You’re weirdly knowledgeable about this…..You aren’t one of those nut jobs that thought the world would end any day, are you?”

“Wha? No. No, I am not a prepper. I just happen to have a few odd interests. Now come on, let’s get out of here.”

***

[Alicia’s POV]

About an hour had gone by since Michael and Gwen left. During that time, only a single wolf had approached them, but Alicia quickly out it down before it could get close, so it had been fairly quiet compared to the last couple hours.

Gwyn had told her about Michael’s theory regarding the Spirits they encountered, and she agreed. Everything had simply happened too coincidentally. They’d most likely been coerced in this direction, which led to them fighting the Phantasm, though she didn’t know why the shadow would do such a thing. The only explanation she could think was that both Spirits had been working together, but that sounded so ludicrous that she threw it out as soon as she thought it.

And then there was Kalia. She had yet to awaken after her panic attack earlier, and was currently sleeping in the cab of the wrecked truck. While she and Gwyn had discussed it for a time, neither of them had a concrete reason for her breakdown, though Gwyn said that it could be due to something that happened before he met her, but he wouldn’t elaborate on it. That kind of thing was for Kalia to tell, not him.

Haaaaah. Way too much happened today. We now know that there’s two powerful beings at war with one another, and that we unknowingly stumbled upon it. And then there’s the fact that Michael will be leaving us once we get back, assuming this hasn’t changed his mind. I don’t think it will. Heck, it’ll probably make him even more resolved to go through with it. I just…….

Haaaah. Sometimes I wish I could just stop thinking. It would make life so much simpler if I could.

Thankfully, it seemed that she’d soon be able to do so. A pair of headlights broke through the darkness, meaning that either there was someone else roaming around England, or Michael and Gwen had finally returned.