Henrick laboriously rises from the floor, wincing at the slight jolt of pain from his ankle. "Let's move, before those things get smart and stop throwing themselves off the building." he says as he helps David and Selene, both of them gasping at the impact of the landing.
"You're a crazy man, Henrick, but I guess that's what we need to survive." says Father David as he nurses his lower back, no doubt bruised from the leap of faith.
The soldier looks around at the building they're in, sighing at the expansive office floor that greets him. "We had to trade the mall for this. There's nothing useful here."he scoffs, lamenting the lack of resources. Gingerly moving forward with his injured foot, the trio make their way to the stairs.
Silence dominates the atmosphere as they make their way to the ground floor, save for the splattering of mutated creatures from the mall. "Should we head back?" the priest asks, wearily keeping an eye out for any danger. Selene simply nods, taking the injuries that the group suffered into account. "We can't keep going if we're injured, one more horde like that and we'll die."
The howling of the thunderstorm has mostly subsided, leaving only occasional gusts of wind in its wake. The black clouds, however, remain as thunder shatters the silence. Inhuman shrieks answer the thunder's roar, but remains too far to be a threat. The group make their way back to the manhole cover, relief evident in their expressions.
Henrick pulls the manhole cover out and lets Father David and Selene go down first, before taking one last look around and entering it himself. The trio navigate the maze-like sewer channels and arrive at the camp, seemingly being the first group to arrive from scavenging.
Selene places her backpack in front of Bobby's tent and places most of its contents down on the ground. She then gives Henrick and David a curt nod before walking away, still clutching her elbow. Henrick does the same and tries to walk away before a slimy voice calls out for him. "Hey, you don't get to keep anything." says Bobby as his massive frame steps out of the tent.
Bobby walks up to Henrick, who is still holding his backpack, and grabs it. "Let go. It's my mercy that allows you guys to stay here. You'll get rations just like everyone else." he says as he tries to pull the bag away, but finds the soldier's grip to be iron-like.
Henrick simply raises a brow and keeps his hold on the bag firm. "I scavenged for food to give to this entire camp. I'll get my cut." he states, dragging Bobby closer despite the rotund man's struggle. A hint of fear and something else, perhaps greed, flashes through Bobby's eyes before he lets go.
"Fine...fine... let's see how long you can keep that attitude up." says Bobby as he goes back into the tent. Father David eyes the fat man with righteous anger and mutters prayers to keep himself calm. "Heavenly Father, grant me the strength so that I may forgive my enemies." Henrick just chuckles at the priest and places a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
They make their way back to their spot, and finds Elly waiting nearby. She perks up and leaps at Henrick, evidently trying to crush him in a hug. "I was so worried!!" she says as she hangs on Henrick chest. The soldier just laughs as he places her down gently, ruffling her hair as he sits.
"I got something for you, Elly." Henrick says as he rummages through his backpack, taking out a pack of potato chips a moment later. Elly's eyes widen, then redden as Henrick opens it for her, tears threatening to spill out. She shakily takes a chip and places it in her mouth, savouring the taste of something so mundane.
With a sob, she hugs Henrick tightly, and continues eating the chips with her free hand. Henrick simply lets her release all the pent up emotions and smiles as her crying face slowly turns into a smile. "There, there, we'll all be fine. We'll kick this apocalypse in the ass." the soldier says, exaggeratingly punching the air, making Elly laugh.
Father David smiles as he looks upwards with his hands clasped in prayer. "Thank you, Lord, for the kindness that still exists."
Elly's emotions gradually proves to be overwhelming as fatigue sets in. "I think I'll go to sleep, Henrick, David." she yawns as she reluctantly lets go of Henrick and makes her way back to the kind lady that lets her sleep in a tent, the bag of potato chips still clutched in her hands. Father David places a hand on Henrick's shoulder as he says, "we should rest too.", and sits down by the wall to sleep.
The soldier chuckles as he watches Elly groggily making her way to a woman that gives Henrick a wave. He walks up to the woman, and sees Elly already passed out on her side. "She's a good kid." says the soldier as he crosses his arms, a smile playing on his lips.
The middle aged woman places a hand on Henrick arm as she gives him a kind smile. "You are a good man. That's hard to find right now." she says, making Henrick pause at her words, his face darkening. "I'm not such a good man, the things I've done..." he says, clenching his jaw in anger.
The woman simply shakes her head, a frown on her face cutting off Henrick's words. "The things you've done, matter less than the things you are doing now. I'm Sam, and thank you for taking care of Elly." she says holding out a hand for Henrick to shake. The soldier hesitates, slowly absorbing her words.
Henrick's jaw unclenches as he takes her hand. "I'm Henrick. Thank you for taking care of her too." he finally says with a nod. Sam gives him a motherly smile and enters her tent, leaving Henrick outside to ponder on her words.
"Good. Never thought that word would be used to describe me." he mutters, making his way back to his spot. Halfway there, he freezes in his tracks as a strange sound registers in his ears. The sound is off-putting, a mix of meaty thumps and wing beating. Henrick's thoughts move at lightning speed.
Sewage. Insects. Mutation. Those three words appear in Henrick's head as he runs back to Elly, but it is too late. A swarm of cat sized mosquitoes burst in through the various sewer channels. Screams and the sounds of death suddenly break the relative silence of the camp. Hundreds of mosquitoes pick their victims as they rapidly drain them of their blood. Withered husks remain of what was once survivors.
Henrick's body is wreathed in electricity as he makes his way to Sam's tent, but the sheer volume of mosquitoes makes it hard to see or even move. He snarls as he lashes out with electricity enhanced strikes that kill a few mosquitoes at a time, but seems to do nothing in culling their vast numbers.
Bobby steps out of his tent in a panic as he sees his camp being slaughtered. "Cameron! Devin!! Where are you both?!?!" he shouts for his guards, unable to see that they have become mosquito food. With a growl, Bobby's hands, legs, and head retreat into his round form as he starts rolling over both mosquitoes and survivors.
The crunching of bones and the splattering of insects ring out in a grotesque melody of carnage as Bobby makes his way to a channel that leads to safety. He is almost out of the camp, when a magical blade slices deeply into his flesh. "AAAAHHH!!" he screams in agony as he exits his ball form and falls onto the ground.
Selene steps out from the shadows and runs a sword through Bobby's hand, immobilising him. She grabs him by the collar of his shirt and puts another blade to his neck. "Where's my little brother?!!!" she screams as the blade starts sinking into Bobby's flesh.
"Wait! Fuck wait!!!" Bobby shouts as he tries to stop the blade. Selene ignores him and pushes it even deeper as she snarls, but regains her senses at the last minute. The human ball breathes a sigh of relief as the blade stops. "He's... he's...DEAD!!" he suddenly shouts as he kicks Selene and sends her flying away.
Selene flips in the air, landing gracefully while her eyes redden. "...no..." she whispers, as magical energy starts to gather on her fingers. Bobby just laughs as he picks himself up. "Yes. He was fun to break. His bones were like twigs, and his organs were like putty. I'm sad that he didn't scream mo-ack!!" he starts, but is interrupted as a blade cuts his throat.
Bobby staggers back in shock as he starts choking on his own blood. His eyes dart around as he notices the mosquitoes all looking at him. Selene wickedly smiles as the mosquitoes start swarming on Bobby and begin to drain him dry. "Burn in hell, you bastard." she spits out as she cuts more wounds on his body, attracting even more mosquitoes.
Meanwhile, the soldier screams at the top of his lungs as he cuts a bloody path through the swarm. "Elly!! Where are you?!?!" his fists never stop as he starts running and finally makes it to the tent. Henrick's eyes widen as he drops to his knees. The tent is punctured through, and the only thing that remains are blood stains and a half-empty bag of chips.
Henrick starts hyperventilating, his eyes glowing with unbridled fury. Electricity gathers all over his body as he slams both fists into the ground. "GAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" A shockwave of electricity washes over the camp as a large area is completely cleared of mosquitoes.
Henrick kneels in the aftermath, his muscles bulging with the exertion and his eyes still glowing. A hand on his shoulder brings him out of his rage as Father David blasts a group of mosquitoes into paste. "Henrick, we have to run!! There's more of them!" he says, trying to kill as many mosquitoes as he can.
Henrick looks sadly at the slightly charred potato chips bag and places it in his pocket, as he runs with Father David.
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END