Andy crammed into the elevator, now full of the vault dwellers which Clara had rescued, and held his breath as the doors closed behind him. Their fear was pungent. It made his stomach queasy, like the effects of a hangover, caught between sickness and starvation. When the doors opened again on the Hydroponic level, the civilians rushed out of the compact lift, but then mingled in the loading bay outside reluctant to stray from the herd.

Clara pushed to the front followed by a man wielding one of the experimental shock rifles. Andy begrudgingly took the rear. He’d chucked his assault rifles once they’d run out of ammo. Compared to Clara’s flashy new powers, Andy didn’t have very much which could combat the shadow demons. Julie tried to console him, humming in her holster, but Andy could only deal temporary damage with her Vortex abilities, distorting the shadows, but not destroying them. He was supposed to be the one that handled these situations, while Clara did the people management. But his Augmentation just wasn’t very useful against something that was immune to bullets. He had run out of fuel for his homemade flamethrower, and overall felt impotent.

Distorted screeches mocked them on the speaker systems as they fled through the massive Hydroponics chamber. The monolithic pillars of UV light on either side of their path blinked out, sending waves of panic through the survivors. Children sobbed in their mothers arms. A cold wind swept through Andy, although there was no air current in the vault. He paused to look back. The darkness seeped out of air vents in the ceiling, blooming like a rapid mould infestation from the loading bay where they had been just moments before. It congealed, forming blobs, puddles of black liquid streaming together to form a lake, which swelled upwards and outwards, shrouding everything in an impenetrable veil.

“You’re pretty,” Andy admired. “Shame I’ve got nothing to kill you with.” But… perhaps if they headed through the workshop area he could pick himself up another fuel canister and reignite his barbeque-babe. What would be a nice name for a flamethrower? Freja? Felecia?

“Gabriel, come in.” Clara’s voice sounded through the radio on his lapel. “Do you read?”

There was no response from the techie, or else his voice was drowned out by the machine-screams on the intercom. It didn’t make much difference to Andy. What had he been doing anyway, opening doors and operating elevators? Andy could do that himself.

Turning his back on the dark entity, Andy caught up to the group of survivors. Clara had strayed from the main path, veering towards an outer wall with no exit in sight. Her route took the group of civilians through a thicket of growing walls, aquaponic ponds and steel-bearing trees, disorientating them further.

“Wrong way sis,” Andy radioed.

“What? Really?” Clara replied.

“Yeah, can’t you see?” To Andy, it was only a little dull. Perhaps it was a new Augmentation module. The voice had said something about becoming a predator. Suddenly, the phantom memory of a man’s neck pressed against his jaws. Andy’s stomach turned, the aftertaste of sickly-sweet blood bubbled up his throat. He didn’t want to think about that right now.

“Only as far as my guiding light.”

“Turn left about fifteen degrees. Get back on the main path.”

Clara turned, beckoning her group to follow. They ran after her like a pack of hungry dogs, attracted to the golden light held in her hands. Andy continued down the main path, heading straight for the workshop. Due to Clara’s detour, he got there first and keyed the door to open, however it jammed half way. Slipping through into the short corridor beyond, he didn’t waste time on the second door leading to the workshop, instead, he blew the glass window out of its frame with a Vortex shot. Clearing the shards with the sleeve of his leather jacket, Andy hopped into the workshop and searched for more fuel. Behind him, the cries of the surviving vault dwellers rose to a frenzy as they all struggled to fit through the half-opened door.

To Andy’s delight, he found a fuel canister, but upon testing it, discovered that it was already empty. He rummaged through boxes and shelves, searching for that sweet, succulent ‘FLAMMABLE’ icon, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Today, his arsenal was just one disappointment after another.

Julie vibrated at his hip, a low disgruntled grumble.

“Not you, babe,” Andy said, giving her a pat. “Of course not you.”

Andy’s ears pricked up as gunfire sounded in the Hydroponics warehouse behind the corridor. He looked for Clara amongst the dozen or so people who had made it through the door, but she was absent. Had she stayed behind to protect the vaulties’ backs as they squeezed through the door? Shit, of course she had. And now she was in danger.

Andy scrambled through the crowd towards the door and tried to push against the stream of refugees. “Excuse me,” he said, very politely, but then one man shoved him back. He felt a bump behind him and a small voice cried out, some kid falling to the floor.

“Out of the way,” the vault dweller said. “People coming through.”

Andy considered shooting him and blasting his way through the door to relieve Clara on the other side, but it would probably be unnecessary. Clara would undoubtedly have a massive fit about him killing innocents, and then after all that, he probably couldn’t help her anyway, because he could barely harm the shadow monster with any of his weapons.

Sulking, Andy let the man push him back, getting dragged away in the current of refugees. His heel tangled with something on the floor and Andy grabbed a nearby stranger not to fall. Beneath him was a boy, maybe twelve years old, terrified and trapped beneath the crowd. As the vaulties squirmed through the door’s gap, they burst into the corridor, pushing and shoving to get to the front of the throng. Weak as he was, Andy was uprooted by the turmoil, but he struck his arm out and caught the kid by the collar, dragging him away from the melee.

“On your feet, kiddo,” Andy said, propping him against the corridor’s wall. The boy’s pale face was awash with fear. His eyes were tear stained red. Kneeling beside the boy, with the panicking crowd behind them, Andy had a distinct memory of rescuing Clara from a stampede on a city street during the early days. Andy’s heart beat warm once, then settled back to its usual cold crawl.

“It’s alright,” he said. “It gets easier.”

Clara’s voice came from behind him. Finally, she came through the gap, drenched in sweat as though she’d just been on a ten mile sprint. Following her was the vault dweller wielding a shock rifle. Now that was one sexy piece of firepower. Why should that randomer get to wield it. Why not himself?

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Give me that,” Andy said, grabbing the man’s shoulder to get his attention.

“What?” he said. “No, only I know how to use it.”

“I could figure it out,” Andy said, grabbing the stock. “I’m Augmented. I’m special. I’ve got this thing… combat-something-or-other.”

“No,” the man yanked back. “I’d be defenceless.”

“Andy,” Clara called over the clamour of voices in the tight corridor. “Quit stalling, use your own guns.”

“They don’t work,” he protested.

“We’re leaving.”

Andy let the rifle go, sulking at the back of the group again while Clara led the refugees down the corridor and towards the vault’s primary elevator. Andy glared at the back of Mr Shock Rifle’s head, making a note of his short ginger hair and scruffy, torn yellow jumpsuit. He would slip up and get taken out by the shadow demon soon enough, and Andy would be by his side to repossess his weapon.

Suddenly, a freezing cold jolt shot through Andy–it was as though someone had dropped a handful of ice down his back. Spinning around, Andy drew Julie and fired a Vortex shot into the doorway. Spears of black dissipated like smoke, but all about him, the darkness was drawn like a curtain. It swooped down, faster than ever, plunging him into pitch-black waters. Andy thrashed out, adrenaline flooding his veins. He could feel the tug of the shadow, like a threadbare blanket covered in a layer of slime. Digging his nails in, he tore holes into the entity, clawing his way to the surface.

A flash of light stunned him. Andy clenched his eyes shut, flailing blindly at the dark. When he opened his eyes he was standing in a smoky ruin. Clara was beside him, fists clenched with golden light, her face aghast. The air lit up with a million tiny embers as Clara waved her glowing lights through the smoke, burning it to ash. Andy could taste the familiar metal tang of his Augmentation’s powers activating, but there was a new flavour too–acidic and potent–which he recognised having tasted once before in the vault’s armoury. Andy cleared his throat and spat on the floor, reaching for his hip flask to swill the taste out, but it was still empty. Groaning, he picked Julie up off the floor where he’d dropped her. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said. “I didn’t mean to drop you.”

“You three, with the shields,” Clara shouted to the vault dwellers cowering at the opposite end of the corridor. “Block this door. I’ll help you.” She turned to Andy. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know. Do what? I just fought back.”

“You touched it,” she said, amazed. “You tore it up.”

“Isn’t that something everyone can do?”

“No, it’s not.” A bulb strobed above the doorway, taunting the steady glow of Clara’s golden aura with a bluish white light. “You just… stuck your hand in it. How is that possible? Was that your Augmentation?”

“Don’t think so, it’s pretty fucking useless right now honestly.”

Clara scanned his face, scowling. “Something about you’s changed. Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine, a little hungry. Oh, yeah actually I did, erm…” Andy trailed off, fidgeting with Julie in her holster. “It’s a little embarrassing actually.”

“What?” Clara said. Two men with shields plugged the gap in the door. Clara stood over their shoulders, fists of light ready to fight off the shadow. At the opposite end of the corridor, the vaulties were entering the elevator one small group at a time. Mr Shock Rifle was absent, he must have gone up with the first group.

“I got in a fight,” Andy said. “And it’s hard to explain but… erm, I don’t feel comfortable saying it.”

“Just spit it out.”

Andy muttered the confession under his breath.

“What?” Clara said. “Speak up.”

“I drank this man’s blood.”

One of the shield bearing vaulties looked around at him disgusted. Clara’s eyes flitted to the floor, brow furrowed in thought. “Why?”

“I don’t know why, okay. It was just an impulse. I was unarmed and getting beaten up.”

“So you bit him?”

“Yeah… and then some.”

“Andy, that’s disgusting.”

“Fuck, I know! That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”

“What if he had a disease?”

“Oh god, I didn’t even think of that.”

“You’re revolting.”

“I know. Don’t make fun of me.”

A grin crept on Clara’s lips, then she shook her head and regained composure. “How did it make you feel?”

“Pretty good,” Andy shrugged. “Except for the taste, and the shame.”

“Have you noticed any other changes?”

Andy looked at his hands–they seemed the same to him, but there was something else beneath it all. His senses were heightened, his vision and smell amplified. Andy had passed it off as having been sober for too long, but now, with touching the shadow thing… what was happening to him?

Clara glanced at the ceiling above the doorway, and Andy followed her gaze. A thick shadow oozed out of the air vent there. “Let’s retreat,” she said, pulling the shield bearers away from the broken door and fled down the corridor. At the opposite end, the vaulties were filling into an access stairwell beside the elevator shaft. “What’s going on?” Clara asked.

“The elevator’s jammed,” someone responded.

“They’re stuck in there,” someone else said.

“Get up, quickly. People with weapons to the front.” Clara turned her back on the group, addressing Andy. “Help me guard the rear.”

“Yes Ma'am.”

Lamplight carried by the citizens cast a network of shifting shadows above them in the stairwell shaft. Their footsteps echoed in the dark, clanging like atonal church-bells.

“I’ve been wondering,” Clara said. “You got bit by that vampire. Maybe that changed you.”

“No way.”

“Drinking blood. Being able to touch shadows. Sound familiar?”

“No fucking way.” Andy’s hand shot to his mouth. “I thought it was just… Augmentation stuff.”

“Maybe not this time.”

“Hold on.” He stopped and tensed his muscles, envisioning sprouting demonic wings from his back, but nothing happened.

“What are you doing?” Clara said.

“Transforming.”

Clara slapped his shoulder. “Stop being stupid.”

“What do you reckon I can do now? Think I could fly?” Andy looked over the edge of the stairs. They were about three flights up.

“Why don’t you try taking off from the ground first?”

“That’s a pussy move.” He climbed onto the railing, but Clara dragged him back down by the collar of his jacket.

“If you really want to know, then stick my wrist terminal on and transcribe your abilities.”

“Huh, that’s not a bad idea, actually.”

“Are you messing with me?”

“No. Pretty sound advice.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“I’m not being sarcastic! Slap it on, let’s see what I’ve got.”

Clara looked at him sceptically. “Okay, good. But not now. Let’s get to safety first.”

Andy rolled his eyes. “You’re kidding me. This is like… your number one fantasy. I actually give a shit.”

Clara scoffed, but a grin crept over her face. “Not now.”

“This opportunity might never come again,” he threatened.

“Yes it will.” She grabbed his arm. “Stop being stupid. Come on. We’ve got a job to do.”