Immediately after hearing Ophelia’s command, Clay stepped on the gas pedal as hard as he could, only thinking about escaping the mutated rat in front of him. As the SUV moves toward the rat, Clay makes a sharp right turn and narrowly skirts past the monstrous abomination, tossing Ophelia across the back row of seats.
“Hey! Be careful asshole!” Ophelia yells furiously at Clay, who does not respond and continues driving.
“Phil, this is why you wear a seatbelt.” Shane comments.
“Shut- ….. Damn it….” Ophelia trails off, her previous anger washed away by a sight she was only told about by her grandma. Mutated monsters: flies, rats, moths, and even grasshoppers, rampaging as far as the eye can see, attacking cars, people, and anything in their path. It hadn’t even been a minute since Clay and the rest first saw the mutated rat and it was already pandemonium.
“Clay. Get it together.” Shane tells his friend in an unusually calm voice.
“T-this is my fault? Isn’t it?” Clay asks Shane, in the lowest, most sullen tone his voice could reach, His eyes staring forward.
“Who- “
“ISN’T IT?!?!” Clay interrupts, on the verge of tears.
“…. Who knows.”
Clay knew what those words meant from Shane. He realized they meant that Shane knew who was at fault, but he was unwilling to tell Clay.
“Damn…. DAMN IT!!!” Clay agonized as he slammed his left hand on the center of the steering wheel, causing the horn to blare as he weaved around the ruined cars, panicked people, and rampaging beasts. All with tears flowing like waterfalls.
“Shit, stop crying, I’ve been through wor- LOOK OUT!” Ophelia shouts. A swarm of massive, light brown grasshoppers crowded around a fallen light pole across from the light where Clay was about to turn.
Panicked, Clay hit the brakes, hoping to turn around. But as the car was on its way to a screeching stop, something rams into the back of the SUV. Causing the car to fly into the air, right over the swarm of giant grasshoppers.
The car soon crashed upside down on the road ahead of the fallen light pole. What at one moment might have seemed like a stroke of luck turned completely upside down, in more ways than one.
Clay quickly breaks the window on his left in one punch and crawls out of the car. As Clay stood up, he was shocked to see Shane standing on the other side of the turned over car.
“Are you ok?” Shane loudly asks, looking noticeably unscathed, right down to his sunglasses being undamaged and on his face. All the while, his smile somehow still plastered on his face despite the barrage of hellish buzzing, clicking, and squeaking mixing with emergency sirens and panicked screams.
“I’m …. Fine, I guess. What about you?” Clay yells with hesitation and confusion.
“I’m good too, thanks for asking. What a miracle seat belts are indeed.” Shane answers, calmly. Shane had always told Clay that nothing really bothered him emotionally, which made him a great person to vent to in times of uncertainty. But even Clay thought this level of calm was almost unnerving.
“Son of a bitch!” Ophelia shouts from underneath the car, furiously kicking the back door window on the driver’s side.
“Clay, help her out.” Shane orders.
Clay looks down at his knuckles and notices that they are undamaged. No blood or glass anywhere on them.
“Clay!” Shane shouts, snapping Clay out of the panicked, trance-like staring of his knuckles.
“Right, sorry. I’ll help.” Clay proclaims, still startled.
As Clay kneels to the back door window on the left, he sees Ophelia furiously and rapidly slamming her feet into the glass. Despite her efforts, the window looked mostly intact, with only small cracks in the spots that were kicked.
Without warning Clay punches the back window, which shatters on impact, his fist making contact with Ophelia’s foot as it passes through the glass. Luckily the window took the brunt of the force from Clay’s punch but that didn’t stop the awkwardness of Clay quickly moving his hand back in embarrassment.
After a second to regain his bearings, Clay reaches his hand out to Ophelia, who just continues to sit in the flipped over car like she’d seen a ghost. After a minute of holding out his hand, Clay stands up and yells “Shane, I-I might need some help over here!” Like a slap in the face, this call brings Ophelia back to reality.
“I’m fine, damn it. I’ll get up on my own, thanks.” Ophelia says to Clay, slowly and carefully crawling out of the flipped over car.
“You ok?” Clay asks Ophelia as she stands up.
“As ‘ok’ as I can be after crashing in a flipped over car anyway.” Ophelia answers, clutching her left shoulder, her legs shaking.
“Still have your morbid wit about you huh?” Shane comments.
“Quiet-!” Ophelia snaps at Shane before the pain in her legs causes her to fall to her knees.
“Shit! We need to find someplace for you to at least res-!”
“Thanks, but I don’t want- I don’t need someone like you worrying about me.” Ophelia impassionedly dismisses Clay despite her sudden correction.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Now is not the time to-.”
“And I never said I was in on your plan! I could try to fix the problem right-!”
Before Ophelia could finish what was about to say, the loud buzzing of two mutated flies drew closer to the group of three.
Without saying a word, Ophelia struggled to her feet and began desperately moving away from the crashed car. Her damaged legs leaked blood and the run she desperately wanted to break into could only become a fast, painful hobble.
“Are you just going to let her limp like that?” Shane prods Clay.
“I mean, she doesn’t want my help. Besides, I-.”
Like Ophelia a minute ago, Clay’s words are interrupted, not just by the buzzing that somehow reaches his and the other two’s ears amidst the screams and crashing cars. Right in front and behind Clay’s feet were thick neon green goops that slowly fell from the sky and melted the concrete around him.
“Son of a bitch, we don’t have time for this shit!” Clay declares, running up to Ophelia and scooping her up by the waist.
“What are-?!”
“Sorry! Do what you need to do later!” Clay says to Ophelia while looking away from her. Of all the things he saw in anime, Clay never once thought he would ever have to do a princess carry in his life. But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Despite the chaos of fear and embarrassment that swirled throughout Clay’s mind, the one thing that caught his attention at the moment was how light Ophelia felt in his hands. Were women really as light as they appear to be in manga and anime, or was it just another one of the ‘gifts’ given to him by the Lord of the Void?
As Clay ran forward, ignoring all the carnage and dead bodies around him, as well as the doubt in his mind, Shane jogged right behind him.
“Clay Alverez, you really are an interesting person.” Shane mutters under his breath at the sight of his online friend carrying Ophelia like a runaway bride.
Just after saying his comment, Shane’s phone, cracked screen and all, started vibrating in his pocket. Without wasting a moment, Shane answers his phone and hangs up after only a minute.
“Clay, where’s the Tile Store?” Shane suddenly asks as the group runs toward the Wireless Toyz phone store.
“Why?” Clay quickly questions as he struggles to catch his breath.
“I just got a call from my people. They are at the Tile Store; I don’t know where that is.” Shane explains.
While Clay had never been inside the Tile Store that Shane mentioned, he had driven by it more times than he could count. It was going to be a long run, but Clay had run at least a mile with a grown person in his arms, what’s a few miles more?
“Well shit, at least we have something resembling a plan. Follow me.” Clay proclaims.
All throughout the mad dash, Ophelia’s fists remain balled as tightly as possible, her mind caught in feelings of confusion and doubt similar to Clay's yet unique to her.
Seriously? Who the hell is this guy? Ophelia ponders to herself as she briefly glances at Clay’s head.”
“Are you ok?” Clay asks Ophelia, looking down on her for the first time as he runs.
“I’m…. fine.” Ophelia responds coldly.
“Um… Ok. I’m sorry if the ride has been bumb-.”
“Please! J-just don’t talk. ….. Ok?” Ophelia harshly cuts Clay off. A quiet, listless panic underscoring her voice.
“…Fine.” Clay concludes, lifting his head up and focusing his gaze on the path ahead.
Give me a goddamn break! The last thing I need right now is girl issues.
***
With the Chinese seafood takeout restaurant on the other side of the road within sight, Clay feels a sense of relief knowing that they are almost at the Tile Store. That sense of relief is quickly interrupted as a giant moth and fly start hovering above Clay and Ophelia. The fly hovering behind them, the moth hovering in the front.
“Anybody got a gun?!” Clay asks in a panic.
“Sadly, I do not,” Shane informs Clay in the background.
“Seriously?!” Clay whines as Ophelia searches her pockets.
“I got this…” Ophelia declares as she presents a knife to Clay.
“Wasn’t that-? Whatever. Just do something!” Clay demands.
As the moth begins to dive at Clay, Ophelia aims her knife at its massive wings.
Come on. Hit the damn mark! Ophelia pleads to herself as she throws her knife as hard as she can.
As the moth glades downward toward Clay, Ophelia’s knife tears straight through its left, light brown wing, which causes the moth to let out an unnatural and painful shriek as it crashes down right in front of Clay.
Clay, without thinking, just runs atop the giant moth as if it was a carpet. Though Clay and the gang had dealt with one problem, they still had a fly on their tail. Clay had noticed that the monsters were only aiming at himself and not Shane, who was following a couple paces behind him and Ophelia. Maybe this was something like a test for Clay but to what end?
As Clay ran onto the parking lot leading to the Tile Store, Clay had evaded the pursuing fly at least five times on his way there. Even as the store was within reach, Clay jukes to the right one more time as the fly divebombs him and Ophelia.
When will this shit end? Clay complains to himself once more as he gets closer to the door.
When Clay finally reaches the door of the Tile Store, a couple of members of the Tourist Squad walk toward them, their guns aimed right at the fly above them. As the squad members start unloading on the fly, a combination of the loud sound of handgun fire and the exhaustion of running for miles causes Clay to trip and fall face first onto the floor as he enters the store.
“Ouch…. Are you ok?” Clay asks Ophelia as he stands back up.
“I’m fine, thanks for the last-minute assist.” Ophelia referencing Clay reaching his arms out as he fell, which made her landing a bit smoother, though not by much.
“I’d ask for a status report but that would be…. redundant, wouldn’t it?” Shane comments as he enters the store himself, walking in with an almost superhuman level of poise given the current situation.
“Sir, what do we do?” One of the Tourist Squad members asks Shane.
Before Shane can give his answer, Ophelia stands up and says, “It’s obvious, we need to kill him.” Pointing at Clay as he dusts off the dirt on his jeans.
“Gee thanks, I’m so glad I helped you out back there.” Clay sarcastically quips.
“Shut up, whether you wanted this or not, this is your fault! The Chosen are the ones that spread the corruption of the Lords and I’d say that it’s spreading!” Ophelia explains, refusing to look Clay in the eyes despite the irritation in her voice.
“Ok, so how do I fix any of this-?”
“I just told you! You need to-!”
“Phil! Calm down. You are being too short sighted.” Shane finally interjects.
“Oh, so you got an idea. What the hell can either of you do to stop this?” Ophelia asks, almost as if she was pleading.
“Let him think.” Shane suggests.
“You can’t be serious?!” Ophelia harshly wonders, flabbergasted by Shane’s idea.
“I’m serious. Only Clay can calm this storm of madness. And only he can do it once his mind is clear.”
“Or this city and this universe are torn apart by the Lord of the Void and his corruption as he, what? Meditates?” Ophelia blows Shane off, before asking, “Besides, how do you know if that would even work?”
“Who knows.” Shane responds.
“Well, you’ve made a convincing case…..” Ophelia sarcastic jokes, before concluding, “But it’s clear what we need to do here.”
“And how exactly do you plan to do it?” Shane calmly asks.
“I’ll start…” Ophelia begins to explain before sending a sharp elbow directly into the midsection of one of the Tourist Squad, taking their gun before it can hit the floor.
“..with this!” Ophelia declares as she lets out a shot from the handgun, the bullet reaching Clay’s forehead.
As smoke rises from the barrel and a line of blood begins flowing down Clay’s head, the only thing he can say is “Huh?” before falling back to the dusty floor.