It had already been a day, and the groups of people had broken off into their own groups. Nick managed to keep people from leaving and raising hysteria.
He had to separate the woman named Ms. Carmandy from the group and force her into the employees-only room. She was still spouting her "end of days" religious beliefs and purposely riling up the crowd.
Now that things had calmed down some, Nick was sitting alone in the middle of the now disorganized store. His eyes were closed and his mind was focused intensely on something.
He managed to get ahold of the store's map from the manager's office. After talking with some of the employees, he learned about where their trash cans were placed and about any possible obstacles outside. With a rough knowledge of the outside's layout, Nick began.
Using his telekinetic influence he still had on his car, Nick turned it on by manually turning the ignition even without the key!
Then he slowly crept it forward and drove the car around the back of the shop, parking it near the loading bay. This entire thing was mentally taxing, he not only had to control the car but also visualize the path and all of the obstacles on the way to the back.
While he managed to get the car to its destination, he bumped into a few things, causing a grinding noise that shocked the people inside. Nick just prayed that it didn't attract any creatures, but his nose assured him that nothing was nearby.
Opening his eyes after finishing, Nick let out a sigh of relief and smiled as he put the carin park just outside of the loading bay.
'From what I remember in that movie, there were all types of creatures that dwelled in the mist. Some creatures the size of mountains that shook the ground when they walked, others the size of buildings, some insects, but I'll be after the spiders!'
There was an acidic spider in the movie, one that shot out webs made out of acid that could burn through flesh and clothes with just a tiny strand of acid webbing. While other creatures would undoubtedly increase his strength more than the spider, he was after this spider's acid ability specifically.
'In the movie, this store got attacked by bugs who saw the lights and people inside, one dude got set on fire, and they needed meds from a nearby pharmacy. The spiders that I'm after are holed up in that pharmacy, this fog is perfect for me to go all out without worrying about my appearance!'
Walking over into the supply aisle, Nick opened up two garbage bags and began filling them up with liquids. More specifically he filled the bags with fire starter and hard liquor, things that were flammable! Then he tore up the clothing he found in the employees office into strand fabric, and grabbed multiple lighters to complete his plan.
Nick had labeled the loading bay off limits on account of the loading door not closing all the way and letting some mist in. After making sure no one was looking, Nick slipped into the loading bay and quickly fumbled his way to the exit door. Unlocking it, he walked outside into the thick mist.
Now alone, he immediately activated bear body on his lower half and dropped the cane he'd been using, as he didn't need it while transformed
Nick couldn't see far, just a few feet with his regular eyes, so he immediately switched to his snake's thermal vision! While the fog did diminish its ability somewhat, it'd still see potential threats better than regular vision.
With his thermals on, Nick quickly walked over to his car, whose engine glowed orange from heat in his sight. He didn't get in, he only opened up his trunk and pulled out an empty duffel bag that he began filling up with weapons.
Nick didn't need his car, he'd undoubtedly bump into things with it and make noise but he also had a better form of transportation. Grabbing his shirt, Nick gave it a yank and ripped it off to expose his bare upper torso as he began using one of the Creeper's ability.
From two points on his back, a pair of massive, batlike wings erupted outward and wrapped around him! Nick had tested his wings out before, but he'd never had an opportunity to use them out in the open, this fog was a great opportunity!
Unfurling his large 16-foot-wide leathery wings, they flapped heavily as Nick slowly began gaining altitude. When he tested it before, Nick actually moved incredibly fast, the problem was that he was carrying nearly two hundred pounds of weight from both the flammable liquids and his guns.
Flying towards where an employee said the pharmacy was, Nick took quite a while finding it through such thick mist. It had taken him at least ten minutes to locate the pharmacy, he was about to land at the entrance when suddenly a smell of bile entered his nose!
Nick turned around to see a massive orange and red figure in his thermal vision dive bombing towards him!
Dropping the bags, Nick managed to fly upward and just barely dodge, but he saw the winged creature doubling back towards him! The creature had to be 7 ft in length and weighed 200 lb, the air was its natural habitat and Nick was invading it!
Unfortunately for this flying creature, while the air was its natural habitat, Nick had a gun which was the great equalizer! Trying to adjust for its movements, Nick fired off multiple shots from his service pistol and managed to land just one of them.
With both Nick and the creature flying very quickly, his accuracy had several dropped, fortunately all it took was one bullet to clip its wings as the creature plummeted to the ground and splattered face first into the ground!
Flying down, Nick spotted that while a couple of the liquor bottles had broken open, the fire starters were still perfectly fine. He quickly reloaded his gun from the ammo in his duffel bag and took flight once again.
"Hopefully that was the last flying monster I encounter, if so this looks like this'll be an easy hunt after all," Nick thought as his eyes locked onto the sign that said "King's Pharmacy."
He smelled what could only be described as rot and vinegar coming from the store, but he didn't care. Instead of entering the shop and risking his life, he'll just burn the place to the ground!
***
A mile away from the store, inside of a city bus whose back end had been ripped open, sat a being of abject horror.
It was humanoid in appearance, but no one would dare claim it was human. It stood 5ft tall and scrawny, it had grey, oily skin which was far too tight for its bones. It reeked of ammonia and honey, its body and face was constantly shifting, making one's head hurt just looking at it.
Its shifting maw was stained red as it spat out a wedding ring into its shifting hand. It looked at the golden piece of metal with the diamond on top in wonder. Pressing slightly on the ring, it crumpled under the being's immense strength and shattered the diamond.
With a frown on its hairless face, the creature threw the crumpled ring away and stopped eating the woman's body. It instead picked up a large tentacle from a large monster it had just killed when it suddenly heard something.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Looking to its right, the hairless being of horror followed the sounds of gunshots as it opened its mouth and spoke for the first time in this new dimension.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Emulating the distant gunshots perfectly, even the faint echoes, the being dropped the tentacle of the monster and began fumbling its way over to the Noise at an ungodly speed!
***
In a reality far beyond the Marvel universe, two formless beings watched over Nick.
The White and Gold formless being, the one who cursed Nick with bad luck and took the bet, watched this scene unfold next to the Black and Gold formless being, the one who gave Nick his Absorption powers and created the world he resided in.
WG didn't know how his friend cheated, but he knew he had to have given this human named "Nicholas Valentine" a hidden advantage. So if his friend was going to cheat, so would he!
The hairless, ever-shifting abomination making its way towards Nick... was its creation!