"RUN!!!"
Henrick shouts out as he leaps down from the building, breaking his fall with a wrecked Prius. His bare feet crush the metal, momentarily stunning him with the force of the landing, before he rolls off the car and looks up at his two other companions. "What are you waiting for?!?!" the soldier shouts as David and Selene stand there with dumfounded expressions.
Leo leaps down and gently lands next to Henrick, his eyes droopy as exhaustion starts to seep in. "Awoof." says the canine as he nudges Henrick towards a subway entrance, his limbs feeling heavy from doing so much so soon after his evolution. The distant skyscraper looms even larger as its foundations fail further, glass shattering and rebar snapping as it suddenly accelerates on its descent.
Father David looks at the rapidly approaching building, then to Henrick, and does the sign of the cross quickly. "Lord, he's crazy. Give me strength." says the priest before he and Selene leap off the building. The ground rushes up to meet them, adrenaline coursing through their bodies as David instinctively releases a steady stream of concussive force from his feet that slow his landing.
Selene, meanwhile, unleashes an explosive magical blast at the building. The explosion pushes her forward at an angle, allowing her to bleed off the majority of her momentum and roll on the ground into a standing position easily.
The group then run into the subway entrance, Henrick ensuring that they don't enter into its depths. They wait for what seems like an agonizingly long time, before the earth rumbles violently as the skyscraper smashes into the ground.
A frown deepens on the soldier's face as he hears the unmistakeable sounds of people being crushed, their screams cut short by tons upon tons of rubble. He looks at David and Selene, who are holding onto the railings tightly, and notes that they don't seem to have heard the anguished wails abruptly being cut off.
Henrick decides to keep this to himself as the rumbling slowly subsides, and the earth regains a tentative calm. "It should be safe now." he says, swiftly and silently heading up the steps, mindful of his surroundings.
A glance outside paints a chaotic picture. Debris is strewn about as the remains of the building decimated most of the block, dust billowing as a breeze spreads it throughout the street. Through the haze, the soldier's eyes lock onto some movement beneath the rubble.
It shifts and gets thrown off as a muscular red haired woman shakily gets up. She notices Henrick but frowns, clutching her left elbow, no doubt injured by the monumental collapse. Her summer dress is ripped in certain places, but keep her decent as she hobbles away from the soldier.
Henrick makes no move to approach as she gets further away. "What's going on out there?" David whispers loudly, curiousity rearing its head from the soldier's silence, as the rest of the group slowly start to surface. Henrick raises a fist, making them all freeze, as he holds the sign up until the woman disappears.
"It's nothing. All clear." says Henrick, still eyeing the direction that the woman walked off to, a feeling of suspicion welling in his gut. The group looks around at the devastation and are lost as to what they should do next.
Selene limps forward, Leo supporting her because of her still sore limbs, and looks at Henrick. "Where to now?" she asks, a note of desperation creeping into her voice, her body shivering from the exertion and excitement of this day.
Henrick looks around, taking notes of where they are, when he sees a glint from a distant skyscraper. "We're near Midtown." he says as he starts moving in a certain direction. "How do you know? Everything looks so different." Father David asks as he follows after the soldier.
"The Empire State is still standing somehow." Henrick says, pointing at the iconic Manhattan monolith in the distance. Selene focuses her eyes and frown as she looks at the building. "Is it just me, or does that glint seem out of place in a world without the sun?" she asks as the group make their way towards it.
The soldier nods then presses himself flat against the wall along with the others, as a rat horde pass by on a nearby street. "That's what I thought too. Let's check it out. If there are more survivors, then our chances of surviving go up." Those words invigorate the battered and exhausted group, pushing them to walk just a little bit faster.
Father David stops and taps Henrick on the shoulder, pointing towards a thrift store that's only partially collapsed. "I know it isn't really necessary right now, but your lack of shoes is really bothering me. Let's see if we can't find better clothes."
Henrick nods at that and the group enter to find a largely undamaged store. They pilfer through the store and grab spare clothing and shoes, as their old ones are worn and damaged. Selene manages to find a set of workout clothes and David finds some comfortable clothing.
The soldier, meanwhile, scowls at the thrift store, his new bulk proving to be detrimental in the clothing department. "This is bullshit." he says, tossing another medium sized shirt away, as he makes his way to the sales section. He picks up an XXL shirt and smiles. He takes off the torn, sweaty, and constricting shirt that David gave him and puts the new shirt on.
The shirt proves to be a little too large, but the comfort Henrick feels makes it a small price to pay. "We should move out. Can't stay here, it's not defensible enough." he says to the rest of the group as he grabs some spare shirts for the future. Selene raises a brow at the cute cat design on Henrick's shirt, but wisely chooses to keep silent.
Father David, however, openly laughs at the unexpected look. Henrick just scowls as they leave the thrift store, silently moving in between alleys and leaping over large cracks on the asphalt. They fight off a horde of mutated monsters, but choose to quickly escape instead of finishing them all off.
The decision proves to be the correct one, when a large canine creature the size of a bus swiftly bursts through some rubble and into the combat site. It tears through the mutated horde of what were once humans, while Henrick and his group watch.
"So they aren't connected to a hive mind. Good to know." the soldier mutters under his breath, his musings being heard by David. "How do you know?" he asks, his face reddening in embarrassment as Henrick gives him a deadpan look. "Right, they're killing each other right now." Henrick nods and they decide that they've watched enough.
They steadily make their way closer to the Empire State building, the massive structure almost seeming like a beacon of hope. Selene, whose gait seems smoother and more relaxed, hums softly to herself. "...New York, concrete jungle...where dreams are made of..." she scoffs to herself as she bitterly stares at the skies. "Yeah right."
"More like, where nightmares are born." Her words come out in shuddering gasps as tears start streaming down, too quiet to be heard by the group. Flashes of her brother's face replaying in her head as if to mock her.
Henrick's face remains impassive at the front of the group as he scoffs as well. "The lyrics to that song don't even make sense. Where dreams are made of?" Father David chimes in, amusement in his tone. "Well, at least it's catchy and hilariously ironic considering our situation right now." The soldier smiles at that and shakes his head in exasperation as they continue walking.
They approach 32nd street and find themselves at Korea town, deserted and filled with half eaten bodies. Father David almost pukes at the gristly sight, but holds it in as concussive energy starts building on his hands. Selene readies a spear of magical energy, while Henrick's hands crackle with electricity.
"Guys. I feel like something is watching us." says the priest, his hands trembling and his brow perspiring in fear. From within a building, a pair of purple slitted eyes calmly watches the group, then melts into the darkness.
Without warning, David gets slashed on the chest and sent flying into the air, crashing through an apartment building. Henrick notices a swirl of dark mist and fires a bolt of electricity that forces it to recede into the darkness. All is silent, until concussive blasts of energy explode outwards from the apartment building that David was sent into.
"It's over here!" Henrick frowns at David's exclamation. He abruptly sprints towards the building and leaps up, electricity trailing after him as he grabs an air conditioner unit on the 1st floor and pulls himself on top of it.
With a flex of his legs, he jumps into the hole made by David on the second floor, and immediately rolls to the side as the priest fires a concussive blast straight at him. "Woah! Friendlies!" Father David is about to apologise, when a large paw slaps him out of the hole.
"Ahh!" the priest screams as he slams belly first into a fire hydrant on the ground below. Henrick evades a shadowy strike and grabs the creature's limb, throwing it out onto the street. It lands with a feline grace, and immediately gets Leo to growl, his face set in a predatory mask and his hair standing on end.
Selene deflects a strike and gets a good look at the creature. "It's a cat! A very large and mean cat!" she shouts, dodging a shadowy tendril that slices a motorcycle cleanly in half. Selene leaps backwards and notices the difficulty in which the cat turns, the protective aura she emanates, as well as the large swell of her belly.
Her eyes widen when she sees Henrick leaping down, his eyes glowing with a violent electric blue light, his fists crackling and poised to strike down with a double handed smash.
"Wait!! She's pregnant!!"
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END