Mike had seen his fair share of movies and shows that depicted ghost towns. Empty cities that were dead of any inhabitants, for one reason or another. But man, did most of them not give the actual feeling of pure creepiness any justice. For one thing, Mike realized that he didn’t know how much time had passed during that period of just making choices in the void. But now he knew the answer was… a while.

He peaked into a small building that was both a bakery and cage, just out of curiosity while passing by it. But as soon as he got past the door, he cringed at the yeasty smell that immediately assaulted his nostrils. All the bread put out on display was hardly recognizable as most of their surfaces were covered by a whole rainbow of different kinds of mold. He flicked the light switch, but rather expectantly after seeing ruined baked goods, the electricity was also gone.

Yet even more eerie was just how much stuff was lying around. It seems that like him, the residents of this city were teleported with nothing else but the clothes they’d been wearing.

There was a laptop on one table next to a cup of coffee, the lid of which was still on, thank God. Anyone who forgot coffee in one of those traveling mugs could all agree that when forgotten about in the car or something and assumed empty, would very quickly find out that it hadn’t when opening it again.

Anyway, there were plenty of other random objects, too, including a few smartphones. However, they were all fully dead when Mike went over to try to see if any of them still worked. Then there were some purses, more food that’d been left half-eaten, and then just a single stuffed toy. Something which made his heart feel heavy, as he knew that somewhere out there, the kid who owned was likely terrified and alone with nothing but their Summon.

Mike just shook his head as he exited the little cafe. Yet it was the strangest thing at the same time. Because while all the foodstuffs had been long expired, there was a key element for time passing that had been pointedly missing. Dust.

The inside of the shop itself and all the items within it had been completely free of dust. If it hadn’t been for the rotten food and dead batteries, he would have actually believed that no time had passed since the System and Committee yanked them out of their lives. Outside the cafe and in the streets was a similar situation. The more time that passed would have surely translated to more weeds and such growing around, right?

Yet as far as Mike could tell, there wasn’t anything to indicate that was the case. Sure there was some overgrown grass and a few tiny plants growing from between cracks in the pavement. But it was at the level that one would expect from anywhere that didn’t have someone who was meticulous in keeping things tidy. In other words, it was this really strange dichotomy where the city both did and didn’t look like all of its residents had been gone for a while.

Mike looked off to the side. He also noted how little wind there was in the city. Likely because of all the giant trees that probably acted as an army of windbreakers, but still, it was creepy. Without an ongoing breeze to act as at least some kind of background noise, the city was just way too quiet for his liking. Though now that he was looking around, perhaps calling it a city was a bit of a stretch.

While he wasn’t sure what technically defined a town versus a city, this place seemed to be on the smaller side. Just big enough to be home to a population of a couple thousand people, maybe. Compared to living in the midtown apartment of an actual big city, the quaint smallness of it just felt even more so in comparison.

Though at the very least, Mike had confirmed that he was at least somewhere in what used to be an American town. Or maybe Canadian or Australian was still possible, now that he thought about it.

Mainly because an advertisement for chips on the front sign of a grocery store he passed by was in English, used a dollar sign, and actually had a picture of real chips. None of the chips are actually fries silliness that the British did, so at least he knew that he wasn’t in the UK. That was at least one miracle that he could be thankful for. Though as for the other mentioned former colonies, he just wasn’t sure if they were on the correct side of chips being chips, or followed their mother country in being wrong.

Though that too was answered soon enough. Because when Mike passed a certain burger chain, he saw that a 32 oz soda was clearly available in the drive-through sign. Now that definitely confirmed that he was still in the good old US of A. And while Mike had a craving for sugary soda and was tempted to see if the syrups they used were potentially still before their best-by dates, he still had a mission for new clothes to focus on.

Yet during their walking around and exploration so far, Mike’s companion had been rather quiet. So while resuming the hunt for somewhere to commandeer a fresh set of clothing, he decided to be the one to break the relative silence.

“Do you have on thoughts about this place, Spear? I don’t know if there is anything like humans back where you’re from, but this is your first time in a human city, right? Just curious if you had any comments so far,” Mike asked as he stopped to look around. His gaze then landed on a thrift store, which was as good of a place as any to get some clothes.

The angel nodded. “Hmm. While my home is home to multiple forms of sapient life, there is nothing quite like your kind. To the truth, Mike, I have paid this place much heed. To me, it is simply a place that we may either stay for a short while or use as a base for a longer amount of time. Whicher you decide, it is simply my duty to keep you safe for however long we are here. As we continue to walk around, I will continue to stay on watch and listen for any potentially incoming threats.”

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“Ah, okay. Well don’t let me keep distracting you while you keep at it, then. If you do think something is coming at us, just go ahead and feel free to do with it in whatever way you think is best. I’ll trust your judgment.”

“Very well, I will keep that trust in mind,” Raemiel affirmed. With that, the two of them headed toward the thrift store and went inside.

Well, only Mike actually went inside, to be specific. With the doorway and ceiling alike being too low to accommodate the angel, he stayed outside to focus on guard duty. Which Mike was honestly fine with, because it meant that he could just look around and then change in peace. While he kind of doubted that his Summon cared the slightest bit about seeing him change, there’d just be something awkward about someone watching him do it.

Let’s see, not exactly gonna be any fancy suits here most likely. Not that they’re my style, normally. But when in the apocalypse and able to grab anything for free, why not get experimental? Down with the days of just a black hoodie with basic jeans! It’s time for something new to rise as the new fashion in a trend that’s starting here and now! Mike declared to nobody but himself.

He then spent the next several minutes looking around, assembling the perfect post-apocalypse outfit. One that will go down the… well he was going to say ages, but could only be next decade in legend! Because if there was every chance that their whole plant could be extinct in ten years anyway, then who cared what others thought about how silly his outfit of choice was.

Dear God, you’re perfect, Mike thought as he spotted what would definitely be the pants of this set. Oh yes, this was going to indeed be the best outfit the world would ever be forced to witness.

Meanwhile, outside the building, Raemiel took notice of something. He then knocked on the tiny window to grab his Summoner’s attention, and gestured to the left with a head tilt.

“Hmm? Oh, got it! Just be careful, you don’t have to fight to the death for honor or anything like that! If things get too dangerous, just come grab me and we’ll run for it!” Mike loudly called out out so that the angel would hear him through the wall.

Raemiel just nodded to indicate his understanding, before moving away from the window. From inside the store, Mike was just barely able to hear the sound of flapping wings as his Summon took off from the ground. He just hoped that now that his new companion had been given express permission to flee if things got hairy, Raemiel would actually take it to heart as an order.

But in any case, he trusted that the angel would have it handled. Since Remiel hadn’t said anything to express otherwise, it was likely just another Wild Summon. Which even if it was something big, fast, and seemingly tough like the last one, Mike saw how easily it’d been dealt with. He wasn’t sure how the System balanced the Skills that the Summons came with, assuming they all started at Level 1.

Or, for that matter, if it even cared to balance them at all. For all he knew, Raemiel could have been the gacha game equivalent to a SSS tier character, or just a B tier while the Charger was some D tier weakling. Or maybe there were no hidden tiers to separate them by for their power level, and it was just that Raemiel had been a poor match-up for the Wild Summon. Who knew?

For the time being, Mike continued his free shopping spree. Which in a world where the owners were likely across the planet and money didn’t matter anymore, did stealing even really exist? Like maybe it did on a moral level, since if he broke into a house and started scavenging, the people who owned that stuff might hypothetically come back and miss what he’d taken. But… probably safer to bet that they wouldn’t ever return, as incredibly dark as that sounded now that he thought about it.

In any case, as he tried to push his mind past such thoughts, he continued to put together his legendary new outfit. It took a few more minutes of scanning items, but luckily Mike’s criteria was rather welcoming to all sorts. And that was simply what would end up with the most ugly and ridiculous fashion crime known to mankind.

Finally, it was complete. And after finding a big enough mirror to stand in front of, he stood proud of the new set of clothes he had already finished changing into.

Starting from the bottom was a pair of dark, leather combat boots. Then visible above them were some tall polka-dot socks. Next were was golfer’s pants, specifically one with a blue and green diamond pattern. For the upper body were two layers. The first was a flannel shirt that was perhaps two sizes too large for him. Then lastly, as the pièce de résistance, was an equally way too large and tan trench coat. Exactly the kind one would stereotypically imagine that a detective in a cartoon based on the 80s would wear.

In Mike’s most humble of opinions, it was a beautiful look overall. Anyone that he encountered from here on out would definitely find him hard to forget, that was for damn sure. While he stood there admiring himself in the mirror with an admittedly goofy expression on his face to match the outfit. Mike suddenly felt a sharp pain in a spot right around his naval.

“Ow! The fuck?!” Mike groaned with pain as he doubled over. He felt something warm and wet begin to stain his flannel shirt. And then a sudden chill overcame him as the world appeared to become blurry.

He fell forward, crashing into the mirror and knocking it over. When it crashed and shattered apart, a jagged shard of glass flew out to pierce into him. But thanks to the changes of the System, what would have been a stab wound instead just harmlessly bounced off his skin. It did puncture a hole in his outfit, however.

The wall of the thrift store was then blasted apart. More glass was sent across the floor as the window got broken into countless pieces. Large chunks of the wall went rolling across the floor as a cloud of dust filled the space. Within it was the golden armor of Raemiel, practically glowing with a ray of sunlight hitting him from behind.

Mike opened his mouth to say something, but then froze with horror as he saw his companion’s state. The angel’s armor was cracked in several placed, with a gauntlet pressed against a large hole in his midsection as well. Right in the same spot as Mike had felt the sudden surge of pain like someone stabbing him in the gut before twisting the knife.

“We need to flee, NOW!” Raemiel yelled as he stumbled over and grabbed Mike. Pulling him out of the store, the angel quickly beat his wings in a desperate hurry to start flying away as quickly as possible.

As they took off in one direction, Mike looked back in the other. He couldn’t see any other Summons, but perhaps that was for be best. Because if it was capable of injuring Raemiel so badly and inspiring him to immediately start running, Mike wasn’t sure if he wanted to see what kind of monster could trigger such a reaction.