Ten.

Mei opened her eyes, staring up at the gray sky above her. The air was bitingly cold, jarringly opposite from the flames that she had been surrounded by just moments prior. She sat up slowly, dizzy from the feeling of falling and the disorientation she was currently experiencing. She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her bare skin to try and generate some warmth. She needed to get indoors or find warmer clothes and fast. Her teeth chattered and her fingers ached from the cold. She stood up, steadying herself as she nearly fell again.

She was on an unfamiliar street with a handful of houses around her. They had fallen into disrepair like the ones that surrounded her home and she could see no sign of life. The wind whipped her hair around wildly and stung her cheeks as she ran for shelter. She reached the door of one of the houses and twisted the doorknob, pushing in. It gave without much resistance, the hinges coming out of place as the door opened. She stepped inside and pulled the door shut. The door remained tilted, allowing the cold wind to infiltrate through the gap between the door and its frame.

The house did not offer much shelter but anything was better than nothing. Mei immediately began to search the house for warmer clothes. She found a fur lined jacket that was several sizes too large for her and slid it on, wrapping it tightly around her body. She also found a pair of boots but they were also too large for her and inhibited her movement. She kept her feet in them until she regained feeling in her toes and then slid them off to explore the rest of the house. There were a handful of unopened canned food items and some blankets which Mei brought to the couch to make a sort of bed. She wasn’t entirely comfortable in her new surroundings but she was exhausted. She wrapped several blankets around herself and laid down on the couch, closing her eyes.

Thud

The windows of the house rattled, waking Mei from her sleep. It was dark out now, the gray skies having faded to black. She sat up slowly, quieting her breathing as she listened.

Thud

The windows rattled again and Mei felt the vibrations from the floor through the couch. Adrenaline began to kick in. She unwrapped herself from the blankets and quietly stepped off the couch onto the wooden floors, wincing from the cold against her bare feet. She slid on her sneakers and ducked down, sneaking over to the window.

She peered over the window sill and looked out across the street to try and identify the source of the noise.

Thud

The house shook again and Mei paused.

Thud

She felt the vibrations and realized that she was looking out the wrong side of the house. Whatever was causing the vibrations was coming from behind the house. Goosebumps raised on her arms and she took a deep breath. She tiptoed to the other side of the room and looked out the window, keeping low so as to avoid detection.

Thud

She looked down the long, dark street at the hulking dark mass a few yards away. It was much larger than the thing she had encountered back in Hong Kong though it had similar glowing red eyes that pierced through the inky darkness. The creature stood on two legs and had two massive wings that unfurled behind it, ending in sharp tips. Curled horns sprouted from its head and the creature had a goat-like silhouette, if goats were over nine feet tall and stood on their hind legs. She ducked down and retreated from the window. Toward the back of the house was a door to a cellar. She walked as silently as possible towards it, keeping track of the plodding footsteps of the creature stalking outside to ensure it hadn’t made it to the house she was in. She opened the door, wincing as the hinges squealed. She paused, listening again.

She squeezed in between the door and the entryway to the cellar, afraid of making any more noise by opening it further. She slid into the void like darkness of the cellar, wrapping the blanket more tightly around her as the intensity of the cold increased in the uninsulated room. She retreated to the corner and sat with the blanket wrapped tightly around her. She began counting in her head just like her mother always told her to do when she was afraid or upset. Just like she had done during the air raids and the way she had done every time she had a nightmare about finding her deceased brother. Just as she had done when she believed she was falling to her death.

Thud. One.

She slowed her breathing, trying to remain as calm and quiet as she possibly could. None of this was normal but nothing had been normal for a long time.

Thud. Two.

Just a few hours ago, her parents were alive and she was home. Just two years ago, her entire family was alive. Bolin, mom and dad. She couldn’t even remember the last time they all had a meal together.

Thud. Three.

Now she didn’t even know where she was or where anyone else was. The war had made life difficult but the aftermath was proving to be impossible to navigate. And now she was dealing with things that made even less sense.

Thud. Four.

She wanted to be back home again. She wanted to feel warm again and feel safe. As she thought about these things, a warm feeling spread through her body, cutting through the frigid cold. She stopped shivering.

Thud. Five.

The rattling was more intense now as the creature drew closer. Mei thought about her chances of remaining hidden. Intuitively she knew they were low, but she thought about something her mother had always told her. She had always told Mei to remain optimistic and focus on the best outcome rather than the most likely one.

“There’s always a chance that things will go wrong, but there’s always a chance that things will go right. Focus on that chance,” her mother always used to say. Those words played through her mind now. Her mother was the wisest person she knew.

Thud. Six.

The footsteps were right outside. Each footfall was like a jackhammer against the walls. Mei held onto that slim chance that she may remain undetected and safe. She thought about that chance over and over again, willing it to be one-hundred percent. She squeezed her eyes shut so tightly that she felt as though they would close in on themselves.

Thud. Seven.

The footsteps seemed to be getting further away, passing by where Mei was hidden. She opened her eyes and looked up towards the cellar door. She held her breath, scarcely daring to believe her luck. She continued to think about the chance that she would get out of the cellar safely. She imagined it growing from a small number into a larger one until it reached the point where the probability of it not happening was nearly impossible.

Thud. Eight.

The windows rattled less as the footsteps got further away. Mei stood up, slightly releasing her grip on the blanket. She remained focused on the cellar door.

Nine.

The creature, whatever it was, had walked far enough away that Mei could no longer hear its footsteps. She crept up the stairs slowly. She reached the top of the stairs and took a deep breath,

“Ten,” she said aloud, pushing open the door regardless of the squeaky hinges. She felt emboldened and invulnerable in that moment. She had survived not one encounter but two with terrifying creatures and she had done so on her own. She had overcome incredible odds and obstacles and she knew her parents would be proud of her. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and walked back over to the couch. She laid down and closed her eyes, falling asleep nearly immediately.

Mei woke up feeling refreshed. The sun struggled to break through the bleak gray skies outside and the house remained dim. There was enough light for Mei to see and she sat up, pulling her sneakers back on and wrapping the fur lined jacket around herself. She stuffed some of the canned goods into the jacket pockets and walked out of the house, stepping back out into the blustery winds. She waited for the cold to penetrate through to her skin but it never did. She remained warm, even in the areas that the jacket did not cover. She decided to test a theory and she allowed the jacket to slip off of her arms and fall to the ground. It landed with a heavy thud, weighed down by the cans in the pockets.

Mei held out her arms and waited for the cold bite of the winter air but it never came. Ever since she had been in the cellar she had felt warm. As she picked up the jacket and the cans clanked inside the pockets, she realized that she hadn’t felt hungry either. She opened one of the cans using the pull tab. Inside was some sort of canned meat and Mei felt a slight sense of revulsion, but she wanted to test a theory.

Sometimes when she was stressed or preoccupied, she would forget to eat. It would take eating to remind her how hungry she was. Even the smallest taste of food would bring a surge of hunger. She reached into the can and picked up a piece of whatever meat was inside. She grimaced as she pushed it past her lips and chewed. The taste was more bearable than its appearance and Mei was able to swallow it without difficulty. She waited for the feeling of hunger to surge in like it always did after long periods of not eating, but it did not come. She wasn’t hungry nor was she cold. There was a sense of liberation that came with her realization. She did not have to worry about finding food or thicker clothes that fit. Her only focus had to be on making it through whatever strange occurrence would come next.

She emptied the pockets of the jacket, leaving the cans of food stacked on the porch in case there were any other people in the area who might be scavenging for supplies. She pulled the jacket back on even though she did not need it. There was a sort of comfort in the normalcy and she wanted to keep every advantage that she had, including shielding her abilities from things like that which had stomped through the street the night before. She tucked her hands into the jacket pockets and walked into the street, trying to determine where she should go next.

As she walked down the road, Mei tried to fight back the feeling of being overwhelmed. She was completely directionless and alone for the second time in as many days. Unlike in Hong Kong, there was no building beckoning her towards it. She only had an experience hiding from some strange creature that stalked through the night to give her any indicator of what was going on.

The streets were silent. In Hong Kong, there had been a fair number of survivors following the war and Mei and her family would often interact with those who resided close to them. That did not appear to be the case here. Mei noted the number of houses with collapsed roofs and burned interiors. The airstrikes that drove Mei’s family into their basement must have been more common here. Mei continued walking, hoping to find either another person or some idea of where she should go. A creeping sense of futility was growing in her mind but she pushed it down.

As she struggled with her own feelings, something caught her eye. Off the main road, buried slightly in unmelted snow, sat a decaying and rusted machine of war. It was a tank branded with the insignia of the Iron Alliance, the losing alliance in the final war and the one that Mei’s own country was a part of. Mei remembered watching the news and seeing similar ones rolling into Taiwan and South Korea. They had all bore the same insignia but the build was different from this one. She walked over to the tank and began to inspect it. In its side was a hole, about 8 feet in diameter, with jagged edges and bent metal. The tank had clearly been damaged during battle. She continued to inspect the machine and her eyes fell on a second insignia, on the opposite side as the Iron Alliance emblem. It was a crossed hammer and sickle underneath a singular star, the insignia of Russia.

Mei stared at the emblem, lost in thought. It would make sense that this was Russia especially when considering the weather and the architecture. However, it was also possible that this was a tank that was invading a neighboring country or had been deployed in one further away during a ground invasion. Of the three major nations within the Iron Alliance, Russia had been the most aggressive and had continuously launched ground invasions even as it led to mounting defeats. Based on the estimated age of the tank, Mei concluded that she was either in Russia or in a nation that directly bordered Russia.

Mei still had no idea where she should be going. She continued walking and she slipped off the jacket once again. She let snowflakes fall on her bare skin and marveled at how the cold lingered for only a few seconds. She brushed the snowflakes off, feeling the wetness of her skin as they melted beneath the heat of her fingers. She knew that she should be shivering like she was when she first arrived here. Yet she felt as comfortable as she would if she was back home in the climate she was used to. She carried the jacket with her as she walked along. The wind whipped through her hair and around her exposed skin. She knew she looked out of place in her short sleeved shirt and ripped jeans but there were no people around to notice.

As she kept walking, she noticed a house. The ones she passed were like the one she stayed in the night before. They were small and gray with few windows and simple designs, but the one ahead of her was stately in nature. It had multiple stories and loomed over the street, dwarfing the houses beside it. An iron and stone gate surrounded the home. Tattered banners hung from the windows and Mei could just make out parts of the Russian flag and the emblem of the Iron Alliance, the same ones she had seen on the Russian tank a few yards back. There was an innate magnetism to the house and Mei found herself pulled into its orbit. She carefully navigated between the stone wall and the rusted iron gate which hung haphazardly on its hinges. She stared up at the front of the house as she walked down the path towards it. It had gray brick walls that stood strong against the elements and time. Though there was missing glass from the window panes, the house was otherwise intact. It appeared to have survived the war and the years that followed.

Mei stopped at the solid oak double doors that shielded the interior of the house from the elements. She paused and pressed her hand against the wood, pushing in. The door did not budge. She pushed down on the tarnished silver handle and pushed the door again but the door resisted her once more. Setting aside all logic, she grabbed hold of the ornate silver knocker shaped like a lion and pounded on the door.

From inside her childhood home, Natalya heard a rhythmic pounding as if someone was knocking on the door. She tilted her head and listened.

THUD THUD THUD

She felt the tingling of the divine power inside her. She stood from the couch and stretched, her aged joints cracking as they moved. She slowly shuffled to the window and pulled aside the tattered curtain to look outside. A young girl was banging on the door. Her face was covered in soot and she carried a fur lined jacket at her side. Natalya was perplexed. She made her way to the door and unlocked the multitude of locks.

Mei could hear the sound of locks being undone from inside. She stopped knocking and stepped back. Her heart raced in her chest and she suddenly became hyper aware of her appearance. She slid the jacket back on and pushed loose strands of hair back from her face. She noticed the dark soot on her hands and she wiped them on her jeans to no avail. The door swung open and an old woman looked at her quizzically. The two stared at each other in silence.

Natalya looked at the girl standing outside of her front door. She had put on the jacket that she had been carrying and now she was staring at Natalya with the same level of intrigue that Natalya looked at her with. The girl looked familiar to Natalya but she couldn’t place where she had seen her.

Mei stared at the old woman for what felt like an eternity. It was then that she realized that it was highly unlikely that this woman spoke Mandarin. Mei was fluent in three languages, but none of them were Russian.

“Do you want to come in?” the woman asked. Mei looked at her in astonishment. She could understand the woman perfectly but she was also aware of the fact that the woman was not speaking in a language she was familiar with.

“Yes, thank you,” Mei replied.

Natalya looked at the girl curiously, trying to understand how she was able to communicate with the girl. Neither of them had spoken the same language in their brief interaction with each other and yet they each clearly understood the other. Natalya stood to the side and allowed the girl to walk in.

Mei marveled at the interior of the house as she entered. In its prime, the house would have been a sight to behold. Its high ceilings held crystalline chandeliers and light fixtures made from antlers. Along the walls were paintings of a family and various landscapes. A set of curved stairs led up to the second floor, overlooking the house and reminding Mei of a set from a movie. The dark wood floors had been worn with age but they still were impressive. It was so different from the flat that Mei and her family had called him in Wei Chai.

The woman shut the door, redoing each lock and then she turned to Mei and gestured down the hallway. Mei waited for the woman to begin walking and she followed her into a massive living room. Against the wall was a stone fireplace with a fire roaring behind the grate. In the room were two blue velvet couches that sat on a sprawling rug with an elaborate design. In between them was a glass top coffee table. Various sculptures and art were tastefully placed throughout the room. Even without electricity, the room felt luxurious.

“Would you like any tea?” the woman asked Mei. Mei thought for a moment. She didn’t need it but there was something comforting about the idea of sharing tea with a person again.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Yes please,” she replied. The woman shuffled out of the room and returned a few minutes later with a small mug and saucer. She slid open the grate in front of the fireplace and grabbed the handle of the tea kettle hung over the fire. She carefully poured the steaming water over the tea bag in the mug and then passed it to Mei.

“Thank you,” Mei said.

“You’re welcome,” the woman responded, returning the kettle to the kettle hook over the fire and shutting the grate. She made her way over to the couch opposite of Mei and sat down, grabbing her own mug from one of the side tables and taking a sip.

“I will ask the obvious here, how are you able to understand me?” The woman asked.

“I don’t know.” Mei responded truthfully, “How are you able to understand me?”

“My answer is the same as yours. That is to say, I don’t know.” the woman replied. They sat in silence and drank from their mugs of tea.

“My name is Natalya Vasilyev,” the woman said, staring into the fire.

“I am Mei Chen. It’s nice to meet you,” Mei replied. Natlya looked at her and smiled. Her smile was filled with a sort of sadness and it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Though the circumstances of our meeting are not nice, it is nice to meet you as well, Mei Chen.” Natalya said. She set her mug of tea down on the side table, “How did you end up here?” she asked.

Mei fought back tears as she told the old woman about the explosion that killed her parents and destroyed her home. She told her about the hellhound that turned into a dragon and about falling into the ground and landing here. She told her about the massive beast with the cloven hooves and bat-like wings that had stalked outside of the house she sheltered in the night before.

Natalya listened to the girl speak and suddenly she remembered where she had seen the girl. It was the girl from her dream when she was just a child, the one that was running through the smoke on a street far below her. This was the second indication that Natalya’s dream had been a vision. The first had been the day that she saw the meteor hit the Kremlin.

“And what about you? Is this your home?” Mei asked.

“Not entirely,” Natalya said.

“What do you mean?”

“I lived here as a little girl, but only briefly. My grandmother was a strict practitioner of the Orthodox faith and my father’s party became an enemy to it when I was young. Our church was shut down and my grandmother convinced my parents to send me to a convent in Estonia. My parents had never liked me very much. They had hoped for a son and I was the only child that God gave them. So when they were offered the opportunity, they sent me off.”

Mei gave the woman a sympathetic look but Natalya shook her head,

“No child, do not feel sorry for me. I was put into the care of wonderful people at the convent. I lived there happily for five years before things changed.” Natalya told Mei about the black ram and the man in the red suit.

Mei listened to Natalya as she told her about her life at the convent in Estonia and then her time at the monastery in Sicily where she had encountered a male witch. Natalya told her of her revelation as to the abilities she possessed and how she used them to assist in the capture of the witch. As she talked about the feeling within her that she came to recognize as divine power, Mei found that they described her feelings since the meteor. The warm tingling feeling grew stronger as she listened to Natalya.

“I spent many years at the monastery after the capture of the witch, Enzo Romano. I was invited to the Vatican and allowed to access their sprawling libraries and once met with His Holiness as well. As the Final War came to its climax and it became clear that the nations were going to tear each other apart, the monastery evacuated its members from the island. I didn’t know where to go and so I returned to Russia. By the time I made it back home, the world as we knew it was over. My family was gone. So I took up residence here, alone. And this is where I have been for the past few years” Natalya finished.

“How did you know that the feeling inside you were abilities and not, I don’t know, something else?” Mei asked.

“Something else doesn’t give one the ability to walk in these frigid temperatures without a jacket.” Natalya said knowingly. Mei realized what she meant,

“Oh, you saw that,” She said and Natalya laughed,

“Yes, I did. And I am assuming that our ability to communicate with one another is born of our respective abilities as well. You have been feeling that feeling I described earlier since the meteor haven’t you?” Natalya asked.

“Yes, I have,” Mei replied.

“It’s why you’re alive, dear.”

Natalya explained the Virtues and the Vices to Mei. Natalya also explained the Christian concept of the Times of Tribulation to Mei as she had grown up and remained a practicing Buddhist.

“Are we both Virtues then?” Mei asked and Natalya shrugged,

“Truly I do not know, but I believe so,” she said. “It would explain how you and I have survived the encounters we’ve been faced with and how we ended up here together.”

“What was that thing that I saw last night?” Mei asked and the fire seemed to flicker. Natalya knew that the girl would ask that question, but she still felt unprepared to answer it.

“Something very similar to what you encountered back home. However, I think it is stronger than that entity. I believe it to be the man in the red suit,” Natalya said. Mei was perplexed,

“But that wasn’t a man,” she replied.

“It never was.”

Mei felt a cold chill run down her spine and she grabbed her mug of tea, cupping it in her hands and feeling the warmth emanate from it. There was a comfort in the familiarity of the action. Natalya sensed the girl’s anxiousness and she leaned forward from the couch, placing her hand on Mei’s arm.

Mei felt a rush of warmth from Natalya’s fingertips and her jaw unclenched and shoulders relaxed. Her mind stopped racing and she felt at ease. It was as if all of her worries had suddenly been removed from her mind.

“How did you do that?” she asked in a hushed whisper. Natalya removed her hand and slowly sat back,

“It is one of the gifts I have been blessed with. Ever since I became aware of it, I have been able to affect the mood of others. I don’t know how, but I can.” Natalya replied.

“Like how I was able to feel warm and how I haven’t felt hungry once since arriving?” Mei asked and Natalya nodded.

“Our blessings are different and I suspect that they suit the purpose we are meant to serve.”

“What purpose is that?” Mei asked.

“I thought you might ask that and I am sorry to disappoint you again, but I do not know. I suspect it may be us that are the last hope for humanity.” Natalya paused, “What little is left of it.”

“Just me and you?” Mei asked skeptically and Natalya laughed,

“No, there are seven Vices and there are seven Virtues. However, I do not know if there can be multiple of the same virtue or if there is only one. I take it as a small comfort that there are at least seven of us with the possibility of more,” she replied.

“But that would also mean there could be more than seven vices, right?”

“It could but I don’t think it is likely because virtues manifest in humanity and can do so in a collective sense. It was that mutual manifestation that prevented us from falling into the apocalypse sooner. Vices, however, represent the deadliest sins of humanity, born from the corruption of Hell. Those seven are all encompassing and I believe represented by the seven figures I saw in my dream years ago. There are others with those seven but I do not believe they are as powerful.” Natalya answered. A sudden realization hit her as she watched Mei process the information she had just shared, “Mei, have you had time to grieve?” she asked.

It was as if a dam burst. Mei’s eyes immediately flooded with tears and the emotions she had been holding back surged forward. She had been in survival mode since the explosion, dodging dragons and scrambling for shelter in an unfamiliar place. Her parents were dead and Mei had only been able to keep moving. There were too many things to process at once and her brain prioritized her survival first. This was the first instance in which she was free to feel.

Mei’s body shook as she fell into heaving sobs, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging her legs tightly against her body. Her wails filled the room and echoed from the walls. Natalya stood up from the couch and sat next to the girl, gently rubbing her back.

“Let it all out,” she said reassuringly. “You’re safe now.”

Mei continued to cry for the next twenty minutes, grieving the loss of her family and the normalcy of her life. She slowly composed herself and wiped the tears from her eyes and unwrapped her arms from around her legs. Natalya smiled at her warmly,

“Tell me one of your favorite memories with your family,” she said. Mei thought for a moment and then she smiled as one came to mind,

“Papa always worked a lot and he was hardly ever home before the war ended. But when the province lost power and the newspaper could no longer print, they laid everyone off. Papa didn’t let it bother him and we had more time with him. There was a short amount of time where life felt perfect, despite everything going on around us. It was when my brother, Bolin, was on the medicine I got for him and he was able to do things like he used to and Papa wasn’t working and Mama was home like usual. We had to get creative with entertaining ourselves because there was no electricity and no connection to the outside world.” Mei began.

“The city was dangerous at the time. People were desperate and houses were being broken into and things were getting stolen. Most of our neighbors had left but there were still people in the province and my papa, who was one of the most caring people I knew, decided he wanted to do something for the neighborhood and give it a sense of community again. He brought out this kickball from when Bolin and I were little and he rolled out his tiny charcoal grill. He still had some charcoal stored away and a lighter. He started up the grill and just started roasting vegetables from our garden outside. The smell drew people out and he invited them to eat. There wasn’t nearly enough food but he provided as much as he could and he had all these dirty, stressed out people eating roasted vegetables and playing kickball. Bolin and I were the team captains and we had this crazy mix of people on our teams. There were old people and young people, soldiers and salesmen. But that day, we were all just neighbors.”

Natalya smiled as she listened to Mei recount the memory of her family. The fact that this was the memory that she had chosen to share spoke to the girl’s own character and resilience.

“As it got dark out, papa added more lighter fluid to the grill and found some random pieces of wood to make a fire. We pulled as many chairs as we had in the house out to the street and we sat around the fire. Mama led us in songs and Bolin told stories and jokes. We sat out there and laughed and enjoyed each other’s company until the sun started to rise over the skyscrapers. Just for that night, we were a community again.”

“Your father sounds like a very wonderful man,” Natalya remarked.

“He is,” Mei said before correcting herself, “he was.”

The fire was dying down, its flames reduced to smoldering embers. Natalya stood from the couch,

“Would you like to sleep here tonight?” she asked Mei.

“Yes please,” Mei replied.

From the hall, a clock struck nine. The entire day had passed as the two had talked and Mei had hardly noticed.

“I know that you said you didn’t feel hungry, but would you like to eat something?” Natalya offered. Mei knew that she could survive without food but she didn’t know if Natalya could do the same.

“No thank you, you should save the food for yourself or anyone who needs it.” she replied.

Always thinking about others, Natalya thought. She couldn’t help but wonder if Mei was the embodiment of the Virtue of Selflessness.

“Ok, let me show you to the bedroom then.” Natalya said. She opened a drawer on one of the side tables and pulled out a flashlight, clicking it on. The yellow beam from the light illuminated the space in front of them and Natalya carefully led Mei back into the main hall and up the staircase. Natalya opened one of the doors into a room with a wide four-poster bed complete with long curtains and plush pillows.

“I know it’s a bit gaudy,” Natalya said as she pounded on the bed and brushed dust from the duvet. “But I hope you will find it comfortable.”

“Thank you, Natalya, for everything,” Mei said. Natalya smiled and walked over to her, giving her a hug,

“Thank you, Mei. For giving me the opportunity to meet you,” she replied. Natalya closed the door behind her as she left the room and Mei laid down in the bed, sinking into the soft mattress. She stared up at the canopy of the bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

THUD

Mei’s eyes shot open and she sat up in the darkness.

THUD

The window panes rattled and she recognized the sound immediately. The creature from the other night was prowling again. Mei quietly stood up from the bed and tiptoed to the bedroom door. She gingerly opened the door and looked out into the dark hallway,

THUD

The footsteps sounded closer.

“Natalya!” Mei called out in a hushed whisper. She received no answer.

THUD. BOOM

There was a crashing sound from outside that sounded as if a bomb had gone off in a nearby building. The house shook violently. Mei used the noise to hide her footsteps as she ran out into the hallway, looking around for where Natalya might have gone. Mei slowly made her way down the stairs,

THUD

“Mei!” Natalya whispered as Mei made it to the bottom of the staircase. She was standing off from the entrance of the main hall and gestured rapidly with her hand for Mei to follow her.

Mei followed closely behind Natalya as she led them to the entrance to the basement. She opened the door and pointed down the steps with the flashlight, clicking it on so Mei could see.

THUD

The house shook again and Mei could feel the vibrations through the floor. The creature was close. Mei started down the steps and Natalya followed behind her, closing the basement door. Mei made it to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Natalya, waiting for her to make it into the basement.

THUD

Natalya lost her footing midway down the stairs and fell. The flashlight flew out of her hands as she pitched forward into the darkness. Mei tried to catch her but she couldn’t see where Natalya was. The flashlight hit the ground and its light went out. There was a loud crash and a moan from Natalya as she hit the hard stone ground.

Mei scrambled for the flashlight, feeling the ground with her hands until they hit the handle of the flashlight. She grabbed it and fumbled for the switch before finally getting it back on.

THUD. BOOM

Mei shone the light on Natalya and gasped. Her left arm had broken her fall and the bone had snapped, protruding through skin. Mei couldn’t imagine the amount of pain that the woman was in but Natalya cradled her arm with her other hand quietly.

“Natalya,” Mei whispered, crouching down to where Natalya was sitting on the floor. Up close the arm looked even worse. Jagged white bone jutted out of the torn skin amid a pool of crimson blood. Mei covered her mouth and looked away, feeling lightheaded. She looked back at Natalya. Her face was paper white and Mei knew she was in pain.

THUD

The house shook again. The ground vibrated and Mei knew the creature was nearly on them. She felt the warm tingling feeling and gently reached out, touching Natalya’s forearm.

Natalya winced and then watched in amazement as a golden glow began to pulse from Mei’s fingers. She felt a gentle tingle that flowed from Mei’s fingers like an electric current. It spread through her veins and the pain began to recede. She felt a growing warmth and then she watched as the skin pulled back over her broken bone and knit together. She could feel her bone pulling back together and locking in its rightful place.

THUD. CRASH

Above them was the sound of glass shattering and crashing to the floor as the creature smashed through the walls of the house. The golden light faded from Mei’s fingers and she pulled her hand back. Natalya slowly stretched her arm and tested her range of motion. Mei watched her as she moved her arm and wiggled her fingers.

“Mei, you’re incredible,” Natalya whispered.

BAM

The basement door flew open and Mei shut off the flashlight. Natalya pulled her back from the bottom of the stairs, using the darkness of the basement to hide them from view. They shuffled underneath the stairs and Natalya pulled Mei close.

Mei shut her eyes tightly and began to replay her mother’s words through her head,

Hold onto that chance.

Thump.

The stair creaked under the weight of something coming down them. Mei willed the chance that she and Natalya would remain hidden to grow larger.

Thump.

Dust fell down on the pair from the steps above them. Natalya gripped Mei’s arm tighter and prayed silently. Mei continued to imagine their odds growing larger, picturing the number ballooning in her head.

Thump.

Natalya’s heart was in her throat. She clung to Mei and began to think through their limited options. If she distracted the demon, Mei might be able to escape. But there was a greater than zero chance that they would both end up dead.

BONG BONG BONG

The clock sounded from the hallway and the stairs groaned as they suddenly released the weight on them. Taking advantage of the distraction, Natalya pulled Mei behind her from underneath the stairs and deeper into the basement. She pulled open a door and pushed Mei ahead of her.

Another set of stairs stretched up, leading to an exit from the house. Natalya closed the door behind them and rushed up the stairs. Once they were outside, Natalya pressed a finger to her lips and grabbed Mei’s hand, leading her somewhere. Smoke filled the air, billowing from a house next to Natalya’s. Once they were some distance away from the house, Natalya looked to Mei.

“My father was a member of the Communist Party and his father grew up during the overthrow of the Czar. That led to my father being deeply paranoid, which is why we had an emergency exit in the basement. And following the Cuban Missile Crisis, he had this installed.” Natalya bent down and brushed the snow from a metal door. She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked it, opening the door to another set of stairs.

“Awful lot of these,” Natalya grumbled as she led the way down the dark steps into the underground bunker. Mei carefully closed the door behind them, plunging them into darkness. She pulled the flashlight from her pocket and turned it on,

“Oh, I’m glad you kept that with you,” Natalya remarked, carefully walking down the steps. “There’s some more down here and batteries too which will be useful.”

As Natalya made it to the bottom of the steps and stood in the small space of the bunker, she realized she was in her evening gown. Despite the thin material and loose fitting sleeves, she had not felt the piercing cold of the snow and ice outside.

“Your abilities are able to affect others the same as you,” she whispered in awe.

“Are they?” Mei asked and Natalya spread her arms and gestured at herself, “Maybe it’s adrenaline.” Mei said and Natalya shook her head,

“Not everything has a rational explanation, especially now. I watched you heal my arm. You are why the broken bone pulled itself back together and why there’s not a scratch on me now after falling down those stairs. And I know you are why I am not currently succumbing to hypothermia,” Natalya said. “The old ways of the world no longer apply. I think you know that by now. May I have the flashlight, please?”

Mei passed Natalya the flashlight and she began to use it to scan across the shelves in the bunker, taking inventory of the supplies that remained. She grabbed another flashlight off the shelf and opened it, sliding in a couple of batteries and testing it before handing it off to Mei. Natalya grabbed a bag from off the shelf and began stuffing it with batteries and blankets that were stored in the shelter. There were a few cans of food but most of them had passed their expiration date and Natalya decided not to take them along. Their weight would only slow down whoever carried the bag and, so long as she remained with Mei, neither of them would need food. She did throw in a few bottles of water just in case as she was not yet sure of the extent of Mei’s abilities and their effect on others.

“Do you need any help?” Mei asked and Natalya looked back at her and smiled,

“Not unless you see something we need that I am forgetting,” she replied.

Mei scanned the shelves with her flashlight and looked at the items covered in cobwebs. In the corner was a dusty copy of the Orthodox bible. She grabbed it and blew the dust off the cover and slid it into the bag. Natalya paused, gently grabbing the book and flipping open the cover. It was the copy that had belonged to her grandmother.

“Good find,” she said. She gently tucked the book into the bag and zipped it up.

“What’s the plan?” Mei asked.

“First we survive the night.”