A minute ago, Clay was exhausted, slumped on an inflatable bunker just to stay on his feet. Now, suddenly, he was standing in what looked like a rundown Target, holding a smartphone with the flashlight on, wearing wool gloves with the fingers torn off. His light revealed the dusty, ruined, nearly barren storefront filled with inactive self-checkout machines. Though Clay was seeing this all in first person, he couldn’t move his mouth and his body was moving all on its own.

What the absolute hell? Where am I? Clay thought to himself in a panic.

“Dough! Look! I found stuff!” A young girl excitedly announced as she ran from the back of the store to near the entrance where Clay was standing.

“Be Careful Phil!” Clay’s body replied to the young girl as she climbed over a stack of toppled shelves.

“Ok, seriously, what the fuck. I didn’t even say that!” Clay continued to panic, before catching what his body just said, which raised the question Wait, hold the phone! Phil?

“I know, geez. Worry about the twins, not me, ok?” The young girl brushed off Clay’s genuine concern.

“How about I worry about all of you, deal?” Clay’s body rebuffed with a smile on his face.

“I mean, I can do stuff too, right? All Shawn and Shane ever do is stay behind and work on useless junk anyway.” The young girl mentioned as she looked away from Clay. Her voice got lower with each word.

Clay’s body gently grabed the young girl’s shoulder and told her “Ophelia, we all have our parts to play here. Don’t downplay their role in this, and don’t downplay yours. Understood?”

Ophelia just responds with a shy nod.

Well, this is new…. Clay observed.

“Now put those back. Please.” Clay’s body asked as he looked down at what Ophelia hugged in both of her arms. They were packs of Nutter Butters and Oreos, which seemed surprisingly intact given the rundown store they were in.

“Why!? They look good to me!” Ophelia complied.

Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same…. Clay commented with exasperated sarcasm.

“They’re junk. Plus, I can guarantee that they are well past expired.”

“Oh yeah!? How could you?!” Ophelia defiantly asked Clay.

As Clay’s body grabbed the boxes from Ophelia’s arms and pointed his flashlight at them, the first thing he looked for was an expiration date, which he was able to find on the bottom of each.

“March 12th 1998 and February 10th 1998. I don’t know Phil. I’d say that’s a few years off from now.” Clay’s body informs the young Ophelia.

“I mean….. they’re still good…. Probably…..” Ophelia grumbled and once again looked away from Clay’s body.

“Did you find anything else?” Clay’s body asks.

Before Ophelia could answer him, Clay heard the light, rapid, pitter patter of small footsteps that got louder each second.

“Shit, times up.” Clay’s body declared as he dropped the packs of cookies in his hands and put the hood of his makeshift clock on his head.

When Clay walked past the entrance where the automatic doors would have been, the first thing that caught his eye was the unnatural sky made of shifting colors that swirled and changed like an old lava lamp.

As Clay stared at the small bright yellow pearl in the sky that was either supposed to be the moon or the sun and his body pulled out a large knife taped to his makeshift clock, Clay heard echoes, which got louder with each utterance of his name.

“CLAY! CHOP CHOP!”

With that comment, the surreal, haunting sky vanished, and he opened his eyes. He gasped and yelped like he just had a bad dream. When Clay got a hold of himself, he noticed that he was laid out on the brown coach inside the RV.

“Get up and get dressed. The faster we can move out, the better.” Ophelia ordered as she stood above Clay.

“Jezz, I’m fine thanks.” Clay mentioned as he placed his hand over his sweaty forehead.

“I told you not to use your powers man, seems like they burn you out…” Ophelia observed.

“Yeah well, they get the job done, so we both gonna have to get used to it.” Clay proclaimed.

“I don’t know man, you just collapsed out of nowhere right after the big battle. Whether a job is done or not means shit if the worker can’t get up from it.” Ophelia advised.

“Clever. Where did you…..?” Clay began to ask before realizing he might have found his answer a few minutes ago.

“Say, Ophelia. What was the sky like back in your…. World?” Clay sheepishly inquired.

“Why the hell are you asking that now?” Ophelia wondered with mild irritation.

“Just answer my question please.” Clay insisted, his tone more exhausted than irritated.

“Fine! …. It depended on the day really. It wasn’t blue, that’s for damn sure. The colors seemed to change every goddamn minute. Usually, it was some shade of purple.” Ophelia attempted to explain.

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“For real….?” Clay asked with shock, Ophelia’s loose description matching what he saw in his dream.

“You ok? Seriously, why did you ask me about the damn sky?” Ophelia questioned further.

“It’s nothing, I just…. want to get to know you…. Is all,” Clay nervously deflected, since he didn’t think Ophelia would have any clue what the deal was with his strange, vivid dreams, Clay decided not to bring them up.

“Anyway, where’s Shane?” Clay asked.

“He and his crew packed up and left a few hours ago.” Ophelia answered.

“Wait seriously? He just left without saying goodbye? What the hell?!” Clay complained.

Yeah, that guy was always a loner, barely ever talked to me or Clay, my Clay I mean. Never really had friends back home. He just focused on his tech junk.” Ophelia once again explained, a hint of nostalgia reentering her words.

“I mean, he was aloof when I first met him, but I figured that would go away when I actually met him in real life. Guess I was wrong….” Clay lamented as he looked down on the floor, his fists tightly clenched.

After a solid minute of bitter silence, Ophelia finally said “Calm down, you’re just overthinking this.”

“I mean, probably. But how so.” Clay wondered.

“Me and Shane, we’ve known each other since we were kids, though I guess in my case, ‘know’ isn’t the right word for it.” Ophelia began to clarify, looking towards the left-hand windows where sunshine leaked through the blinds.

“Like, I’ll just say it. I never knew his deal and I still don’t know it, but I know this. Shane cares about you.” Ophelia confirmed. Her gaze now on Clay.

“What makes you-”

“He talks you up and trusts you to do this job when he could have just waited and tracked down another Chosen. I don’t know all the details about how you met or what your relationship with him was like before I showed up, but I have a feeling you are the one person he doesn’t see as disposable.” Ophelia concluded.

“….. Thanks….”

“Huh?”

“I’ll admit, I’ve always had my doubts about Shane. He never showed me what he looked like until…. I met you. Whenever I would ask any questions about him, he would always dodge them. I didn’t even know his name until I basically forced it out of him.” Clay reflected, taking a deep breath before he continued.

“I figured when I asked him for his name, that we wouldn’t be friends anymore, but I was fine with that outcome. I figured if a bond could be broken that easily, it wasn’t worth it. And yet he still told me his name. It was then I knew, no matter how close he kept his cards to his chest, I would never distrust him again.” Clay finished explaining.

“So yeah, I’m not gonna say he’s not shady but at least he’s on your side, even if it’s only yours.” Ophelia advised.

“Again, thanks.” Clay said while looking her in the eye.

“Yeah, yeah, now hit the showers and get changed. You look like a wet towel and smell like Rat shit.” Ophelia ordered, a slight blush on her face as she looked away from Clay.

“R-right.” Clay confirmed after looking down on the right sleeve of his hoodie and noticed that it was completely drenched in sweat. Clay even wondered if he could ring it out like a sponge.

Before Clay walked up the small steps to the right of the small flat screen TV that led to the small bathroom, Clay grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator near the transparent sliding door that led to the bunk bed where he and Ophelia rested, and started guzzling it.

“Look, we need to hurry. If I could drive this thing, I would but I don’t have a license. We only got so much daylight left….” Ophelia reminded Clay.

As Clay turned to address her. He noticed something different about her. Ophelia was no longer wearing the sweat suit that she had worn since she first arrived. She now wore a new outfit consisting of a short black sweater tube top, black short-shorts, and black ankle boots. The black onesie she had been wearing underneath her clothes both covered up the empty areas of her stomach and made for makeshift tights.

“What?” Ophelia asked once she noticed Clay was staring at her, which caused water to go down the wrong tube for him.

“N-n-nothing….” Clay insisted as he coughed.

“By the way, Shane also left you a change of clothes on your bunk.” Ophelia informed Clay.

“Wait, also?”

“You think I would wear these clothes if I had the choice?” Ophelia asked in irritation.

“N-n-no. I-I mean- ah-” Clay tried to answer, completely unable to find the words.

“O-ok. I’m- I’m gonna take a shower. I’ll-I’ll try not to take too long.” Clay confirmed as he rushed into the small bathroom.

“Wait! Your clothes-!” Ophelia tried to remind Clay, but he had already slammed the bathroom door shut.

God damnit! I fought giant flies and rats, not to mention went through weeks of hellish training. Yet I can’t give a girl a compliment? Christ, I’m so fucking pathetic…. Clay berated himself as he took off his hoodie.

Once his hoodie was off, Clay was shocked to find what he saw in the mirror. His small belly was gone, completely replaced by chiseled abs. All Clay could do in response to the transformation his body when through without him even noticing was laugh. He was in his late 20’s and he had been training for only about a few weeks. Clay assumed these abs were in part due to the gifts of his Lord. He had only partially earned the great shape he was in.

As Clay stepped into the shower, flies began to come through the open window on the top left-hand side.

“Hey, not now damn it. Go away!” Clay ordered the flies, who turned and left the bathroom through the window.

As Clay grabbed the bottle of shampoo on the shower caddy to his right, more flies came into the bathroom.

“Goddamn it! Not right now! Leave!” Clay complained. As the new batch of flies went away, Clay quickly closed the window above the shower.

When Clay put shampoo on his hair, He heard a crowd of loud buzzing at the window and found that it was completely black.

“DAMN IT!”

Despite the overwhelming buzzing and uncomfortable sight of flies covering the window, Clay finally finished his shower. As he dried himself with a towel, he realized that he didn’t pick up his change of clothes.

As Clay started to panic, the thought crossed his mind that maybe Ophelia left them outside the bathroom. At least that’s what he hoped for anyway. Otherwise, this whole situation would turn into a shit fanservice joke from a crappy romantic comedy.

Clay nervously cracked open the door and found Black dress shoes and purple clothes nicely folded in front of the door. His feeling of relief was dashed immediately when he took the clothes into the bathroom and found out what they were.

Soon, Clay walked out of the bathroom wearing a striped, purple suit with no tie. Ophelia spent a minute staring at Clay before she burst into hysterical laughter.

Damn it Shane, I look like the fucking Joker! All that’s missing is the makeup and green hair dye. Clay seethed.

As Ophelia continued to laugh, Clay took a deep breath and told her “Alright, Let’s get this show on the road.”

As walked out of the RV trailer and into the truck that hauled it, he pulled out his phone to see if Shane mentioned anything about his suit. Sure enough, Clay found a DM from Shane on Discord asking him “So… how’d you like the suit?”

“Not my style….” Clay commented.

“Hey, it’s comfy and Kevlar. Not bad right? Like something out of John Wick.” Shane added.

“Yeah, not the biggest fan of John Wick….” Clay mentioned.

“No accounting for taste.” Shane replied.

“Sorry I like my action with substance and without obvious plot armor. Also, Keanu was never a good actor.” Clay added before asking “anyway, why the suit?”

“You gotta be dressed for the part, right? You and Phill are the first invites to the funeral for the world lmao.” Shane joked.

“Right, that’s not gonna happen….” Clay declared.

“Well, good luck then. Have a safe trip.” Shane said.

Before Clay sent the DM, “Wait, I need to ask you something”, Ophelia entered the truck and took the shotgun seat.

“Ok, let’s roll. Shane told us the signal was in California. On a beach somewhere.” Ophelia reminded Clay.

“R-right.” Clay responded, as he put his phone in his jacket pocket and turned the key to the truck. After weeks of heelish training, Clay and Ophelia now finally began their hunt for the other Chosen.