CJ turned toward the entrance of the door after placing a large cardboard box he’d found on the counter. After instructing the ladies to fill it up, he and Monty headed toward the front of the store. Before they got to the doors, they noticed Rubio crouch walking his way into the store. He kept his back to the wall before slowly closing the glass sliding door behind him. Ever so gently easing it shut with his open palm flat to the glass.

Message from Party Leader CJ: We were just coming back to you.

Message from Rubio: Get down and keep quiet.

Message from Elena: What’s wrong papaito?

Message from Rubio: Finish what you are doing quietly, then meet us in the front.

Monty and CJ slumped against the wall where they met Rubio. He had his rifle stock casually resting against his bandaged right arm. He kept leaning over the corner and peering through the glass from his left side. He held his left hand up in front of CJ in a wait gesture. The sound of crunching gravel then came to CJ’s ears. He looked down at Monty whose ears were sticking straight above his head. CJ had come to know that posture as Monty’s heightened alert state. The crunching continued far longer than CJ anticipated. He now wanted to know what was out there. If someone was out there, they weren’t very noisy. Just the constant staccato of grinding rock. After ten minutes of non-stop tension, the sound began to lessen.

“Alright, I think enough of them have passed that we can talk quietly,” gasped Rubio.

“Why not just message?” asked CJ trying to keep his voice down.

“Too much information and I didn’t want to be distracted by it as soon as you all start your chattering. Now listen. It was a veritable army of skeletons. Some had strips of flesh still hanging from their bones, others were pristine white bone, they all had an eerie purple glow coming from their eye sockets. I noticed them when I was out looking for a hose. If you go right from the entrance here and turn down the street there is a mortuary with an enormous graveyard behind it. The wrought iron fence that surrounds the property was smashed through. Pieces of metal and a lot of dirt looked to be spilled into the street. That was enough for me turn around and come back but of course I spotted something large rolling slowly in the road a few blocks south of my position. I climbed a nearby fence before scrambling atop a backyard play set. I looked through my sights and was once again surprised by the changes to our world. It was a rolling ball of flesh. All colors and states of decay. Arms, legs, you name it stuck out at every angle. The worst part is its level ten and has a name. Flesh Roller,” explained Rubio becoming increasingly agitated as he spoke.

“Good god. Wait, what do the skeletons have to do with the meat ball?” asked CJ trying to break the tension.

“The skeletons are just marching behind it as it rolls. It’s like some sick and twisted parade. The ball itself is roughly as large as my van. After I saw it had a name, I packed up shop and crossed over two more yards to get back here avoiding the street. I made it just before it started coming up this street,” answered Rubio before something else caught his attention.

A light was flashing across the street. It was coming from the retirement home. Up on the roof, someone was reflecting sunlight with a mirror straight into the CVS doors. It would blink twice, then two longer flashes, then blink twice again. Rubio looked back at CJ just before Monty looked up at CJ.

“It’s an SOS. Old school morse code. Dot Dot Dash Dash Dot Dot. They don’t teach that in the army anymore. I used it to signal one of my assistants for emergencies back when I had a water tank illusion. I stopped doing that part of the show after a while. Tired of being soaked after every show,” explained CJ.

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“So, you were right. There is someone over there. Look, I think they can see us,” replied Rubio peering through the doors.

Indeed, there was someone on the roof of the retirement home waiving them over to the building. There didn’t appear to be any skeletons out in the parking lot now. Even still, Rubio, Monty, and CJ went to the back of the store to inform the others about what was happening.

“An army of skeletons. How big an army?” asked Elena preparing to start up her chainsaw.

“You intend to chop them down to size,” chuckled CJ before getting a look of disapproval from Monty.

“Too big. I think that flesh ball emptied out the graveyard. The name is really what’s throwing me. Most of the time I just get a descriptive identifier and a level. Like skeleton level one or rabbit level five,” explained Rubio.

“Oh, you’re level five Monty? That’s very good,” said Jenn while scratching behind Monty’s right ear.

Instead of shrugging her off like CJ expected, Monty’s back right foot started rapidly thumping the ground. CJ gave him a quizzical look. Monty’s foot slowed before coming to a halt entirely. The rabbit’s nose twitching left and right. CJ knew he caught him acting like a pet. He’d make sure to rub it in his face later.

“So did the skeleton’s just fuck off or do we have a fight on our hands?” asked Elena, standing ready to rev trusty chainsaw.

“No miha, I think we should head over to our mystery signaler. He might have more information that could prove useful,” replied Rubio.

“Why don’t we just get on our bikes and head back to the safe zone?” asked Jenn.

“Simple. You tell her CJ, I’m going to signal back,” commented Rubio before slinking his way back outside.

“Because if there is someone over there, they might need our help. We also need to find trustworthy people to bring back to the safe zone. Like I told Rubio this morning, I don’t intend to stay there all the time just because it’s safe. There are other people I need to get back too,” answered CJ before making his way over to the large box on the counter.

Inside the box were various pieces of equipment, multiple pill bottles, some vats of chemical substances, and finally freeze-dried powders. CJ looked over the contents before Jenn tossed in one more thing making the sides of the box bulge.

“This will last a while, but we’ll need to refill several things. That or come back here to get the rest. How long will it take you to stuff all this up your sleeves? Elena said it didn’t matter how big it was,” prattled Jennifer with a head tilt that shifted her long blonde hair.

CJ just reached out his right hand and cast Spatial compression. A grey light swirled around the box before it shuttered, shrank to half its size, then a third of its original size before plopping into CJ’s outstretched hand. At that point, the whole thing disappeared like it was never there. Jenn’s eyes were wide the whole time she watched the proceedings. Then Elena dropped an equally large box on the counter. She had come from the make-up and perfume aisle.

“This one too,” she said.

“I’ve got this one,” said Monty as he hopped up on the counter.

The same effect happened once Monty placed his front paw on the new box. Only this one shrank down even further so that it fit on Monty’s upturned paw. CJ flourished his handkerchief over Monty’s paw and when he removed it the little box was gone.

“Tada,” said CJ as both he and Monty took a bow.

Within the next ten minutes they all were making their way across the street. CJ noted the tracks for the parade of horror had crossed through the CVS parking lot and continued down the road before they made a right turn and kept going. Rubio was already at the front door knocking on it. A slit in the door at eye level opened up. There were a pair of brown eyes surrounded by ebony skin looking through them.

“You the folks what broke into the CVS?” said the eyes.

“Yes, are you going to let us in or not?” countered Rubio.

“Hell no. Not without some insulin. Bring me some insulin, and I’ll open this door,” replied the eyes.

“Who are you? There are monsters out here and you called us over here. What do you mean you won’t open the door?” asked CJ as he pressed up against the wall.

All the windows were boarded up from the inside and the entrance to the building had a heavy metal door. CJ could tell this was a later edition. There was no way people brought their elderly to leave behind what amounted to a speakeasy door.

“What you want my government name for? You with the census?” questioned the eyes.

“Paranoid one, isn’t he. You want me to…” asked Elena gesturing with her chain saw.

“How about no. I know where the insulin is, I’ll just run back across the street and get it. Be back in two shakes of Monty’s tail,” said Jenn before taking off back across the street.

New message from Party Leader CJ: Monty go with her.

Monty didn’t respond. He just turned and ran after Jenn making sure to shake his tail more than twice.