“GO, go, go!” Charles yelled as he jumped into the truck cab with wide eyes.

Kira twisted around and immediately saw what had him so panicked. Countless monsters were jumping from the top of the dungeon wall and down into the river far below them. They were too far away to tell if any of the monsters survived the jump, but the thick rain like fall of monsters left her heart racing and the gas pedal under her foot pressed to the floor.

In the back, Kira’s younger sister Kate was clinging to a sleepy-eyed Alli while her parents huddled in the opposite corner.

The engine roared and the truck began to shake as Kira pushed it to the limits in their rush to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible.

Clouds had begun to gather in the sky with the completion of the dungeon and were roiling high in the sky. The wind began to pick up, whistling past the sides of the racing truck. The temperature outside plummeted by the second until their breaths began to mist and fog with each exhale.

Charles rolled down the cab window and leaned out as he withdrew coats and blankets from his inventory. Krystal took each of them from his hands and handed them out to her daughter and husband.

“We need to find someplace to get out of this!” Kira yelled at him, trying to be heard over the roaring of the wind and the open window. She had leaned over the steering wheel and was looking intently at the stormy clouds above them. The crackling of old hard leather stressing and breaking with every movement filled the cabin alongside the smell of old tobacco pipe smoke.

Alli pushed her tired and still adjusting body into an upright position. “I’ll find a place for everyone to hide,” Without waiting for a reply she leaped out of the speeding truck and disappeared into its shadow. “I’ll be going on ahead.” Her words echoed in his mind although she had already left.

There was a flash of lightning that struck the dungeon wall behind them followed by a crash of rolling thunder. In the back of the truck, Kate huddled together with her parents each of them wearing the coats he distributed and wrapped together in a blanket.

The sky overhead continued to grow darker as the clouds joined together in a dark mass. The wind had started to pick up buffeting the truck constantly as it tried to push them off the side of the road.

Kira had the heater cranked all the way up as their white puffs of breath began to fog up the windshield and windows. Charles held onto the door, shivering from the cold as the truck continued to shake and rattle from the slowly degrading road.

Abandoned cars and trucks had appeared on the road again once they left the dungeon behind. Some of them were mere husks of what they had once been, while others showed the bloody aftermath of their owner’s deaths. Tires that had been ripped from their axles and doors that had been torn from their frames littered the highway.

Kira’s hands were white from the pressure she was exerting on the steering wheel as she concentrated on steering between the rubble. Charles kept his eyes on the sky as the clouds came together and started to change.

“You need to go faster!” He shouted as a tornado formed behind them with a speed he had never seen before.

The air around them screamed as the wind continued to pick up. The three people in the back of the truck were holding on to one another and hiding under a thick blanket in an effort to escape the chilling wind.

“I think I have found a place,” Alli’s voice suddenly intruded into Charles mind startling him. “I’ll be back with you in just a moment. Going through shadows is fun, weee!” The glee she was having with her new ability obvious as she appeared in front of them stepping out of the shadow of a car with a wide ecstatic doggy grin.

“Alli says she found a place for us, follow her,” Charles commanded Kira as she slowed at the giant dog’s sudden appearance.

Ahead of them, Alli stepped from one shadow to the next, her form fluid and quick as she remained ahead of the speeding truck. Charles kept his gaze fixed on the lengthening shadows as the clouds above covered the sun completely, leaving everything in shadow.

Kira was silent as she focused on the condition of the road and keeping their speed up. Behind them, the tornado had continued to form and was extending down to the ground with a distant roar. Slowing down too much could leave them in its path without enough time to getaway.

“Turn here,” Alli told him as she stopped moving next to a small dirt turnoff.

They were just barely outside the city proper and already the number of buildings had dwindled to almost nothing. Wide empty fields replaced the skyscrapers and large sprawling parking lots filled with non-functional vehicles.

Charles pointed ahead of them to Alli, “She says to turn onto that dirt road.”

Kira shifted into a lower gear, slowing as little as possible before spinning the wheel. The truck fishtailed as the people in the back were thrown around helplessly, a cloud of dirt spewed out behind them and then drifted away. The dirt road was bumpy as they sped down it towards a house and barn that could barely be seen in the distance. Alli ran alongside the bouncing truck, maintaining the same speed easily now that Kira couldn’t drive as fast as she had on the highway.

The cabin of the truck was silent as they drew closer to the two-story farmhouse and large red barn at the end of what was apparently a very long driveway. The force of the wind had fallen slightly once they were off the main roads, although the temperature had yet to rise at all. Puffs of white mist flew from their mouths with every exhale.

With a loud squeal of brakes, Kira stopped the truck in front of the barn and looked to Charles. “Open the doors, I’ll store the truck inside and then we’ll go over to the house.”

Charles opened the door without delay and sprinted over to the large sliding doors. He had to reach into the small gap between the door and the wall to unlatch it before pushing it open. With a heave, he slid the door open on well-oiled and silent wheels.

Kira flicked on the headlights as she drove the truck into the dark interior of the barn. The yellow beams of light revealed the backside of an old military transport vehicle that had undoubtedly been sitting in the barn for years, judging by the cobwebs that covered it.

She pulled in behind the larger truck and turned off the ignition, plunging the barn into darkness once more. The only light in the otherwise dark building coming from the open door. In the back of the truck, Kate peeked out from beneath the blanket before pulling it to the side, unbundling herself and her parents. “Where are we?” She asked softly as she climbed from the truck and onto the dirt flooring. Outside the barn, the wind screamed past creating an awful howling noise.

Kira’s mother stored the blankets in her inventory as she and her husband followed after their youngest daughter and climbed from the back of the stationary truck.

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Charles stood just inside the barn at the open door with Alli at his side listening to the howling wind and watching the small decorative windmill in the yard next to the house spin ever faster. His arm was resting on Alli’s shoulders as he leaned against her soaking in her warmth.

“We need to hurry, the storm is coming closer,” She told him in a worried tone, her large head twisted to look at the distant spinning clouds.

Kira held onto her younger sister as she came to a stop behind Charles and Alli, noticing how much the wind had picked up just in the short amount of time that they had been in the barn. “We need to hurry!” She called back to her parents, trying to rush them along.

Alli stepped into the fierce wind, her silver hair rippling like a wave from the pressure. She turned to face the dark interior of the barn; her large pointy ears held flat against her head. “The house has a storm cellar we can hide in,” She paused and looked at Charles, her head sinking slightly. “There are some people already inside however that we will need to share the space with.”

Charles didn’t respond as he followed her out of the barn and into the cold windy air. He didn’t really mind that people were there, he just didn’t feel the need to help everyone because they were both humans. Holding out his hand, he grabbed hold of Kates' hand and pulled her along behind him. She grabbed onto her fathers’ arm who then held onto his wife.

Kira was the last person to leave the barn, taking the time to close and latch the door behind them. Alli waited for her to take hold of her mothers’ arm before leading them to the door inset in the ground to the side of the house. Each step was a work of effort against the wind as they struggled to push forward while taking small steps that kept them close to the ground.

Underneath Charles’ hand, the door to the storm cellar was flung open as the wind ripped it from his grasp, sending it crashing to the ground with a bang, the hinges barely holding on. A scream of terror was heard from the cellar before he took his first step down the stairs.

“Calm down,” He yelled, “We’re going to be sharing this space with you until the storm passes.”

“D-Don’t come down, we’re armed and we’re not afraid to use them.”

Charles sighed in annoyance before throwing a simple light spell into the darkened cellar. “I said to calm down!” He ordered the roomful of people as he stepped into view, the glowing orb of light he had thrown down silencing them.

Alli stayed by his side as he stepped off of the stairs and onto the concrete flooring, her size drawing muffled gasps from every person gathered there. Charles kept his arm on her shoulder to ensure that people didn’t get any ideas of attacking her.

Everyone stepped back hugging the wall in fear of the giant dog and the man who had lit up the area in a fashion they had never seen before. Kate and her parents stepped into view behind him as Kira struggled to close the door above them. The wind was pushing against her efforts, making even her leveled-up strength struggle against the pressure.

Kira took in a deep breath and heaved with everything she had, the hinges twisted and screamed as the thick metal flexed and gave in. The door slammed shut, locking them in as the ruined hinges were no longer operable.

Kate hid behind Alli, her large silver body making it easy, as Kira pushed past her coming to a stop next to Charles. She folded her arms across her once white oil-smudged shirt, her lean muscled arms and her scowling face stopping anyone from protesting further.

The crowd of people that were revealed under the harsh white light created by Charles’ magic was dirty and ragged in appearance. Several of them were obviously married or part of a family in the way that they clung to one another. The air in the cellar was rank with the stifling smell of sweat and unwashed bodies.

Charles stepped away from the stairs and headed for a corner of the room, leading his group to the now clear area. Above their heads, the old farmhouse creaked and groaned from the wind as it continued to pick up in speed until conversation was barely possible in the cellar.

Kate kept her hand on Alli while Kira followed behind her parents, glaring at the other group of people. The four of them settled down against the wall with Kira next to Kate and Alli stretched out in front of them like a protective wall.

One of the women stepped forward, her face tanned but dirty making it hard to tell her actual age beneath the harsh light. “Hi, my name is Tara, this farm belongs to my family, or at least it did before everything happened. I don’t know if anyone can own land in this new world.” She looked down unsure of herself before seeming to firm her resolve and looking up again at them. “I know I shouldn’t ask this of you considering the storm outside, but if you have any water or food would you mind sharing it with us? There has been little drinkable water to be found recently and most of us haven’t eaten in the last day or so.”

Alli immediately turned her massive silver head to look at Charles, her large mismatched eyes pleading with him despite her not saying anything.

Charles sighed and gave in to her overly expressive eyes pulling a 24 pack of water from his inventory. He only had three more 24 packs of water in there, he hadn’t been worrying about water up to this point since he could just refill the bottles as needed. That wasn’t something he would be able to keep doing however if more people joined them.

Tara’s face went through several changes at the sight of the water, “How, what, where? Where did that water come from?” She finally settled on as she gingerly reached for the proffered water.

“My inventory,” He answered simply.

“The inventory doesn’t work like that,” She began once she had the water firmly in her grasp where he couldn’t take it back. “The inventory only allows one of each item per slot.” She looked at the bottles of water. “Although certain items do count as just one thing, a box of bullets for example.” She held the pack to her chest and closed her eyes.

Nothing happened.

Charles turned away from her and settled on the ground with Alli at his back. “I guess my inventory works differently than yours, don’t make a big deal about it.” In truth, he had already been through this a couple of times and knew just how different his inventory truly was from everyone else’s. He wasn’t going to hide that information however, that didn’t mean he was going to purposefully draw attention to it either.

The people on the far side of the room began making noise at the sight of the water. The thirst they had each been forcefully ignoring till now rearing its head with mouth-drying force.

Behind him Alli bumped against his back, her eyes narrowing. “Give them some food as well, I know you have more than enough for all them and us.”

Charles turned to look at her with a scowl on his face. “If I give food to every person, we come across it won’t last very long.” He whispered softly to her, before sighing and turning around. With a careless toss of his hand, a box was tossed across the floor to them. It was full of breakfast granola bars of various flavors and types; some were filled with fruit while others were grain and nuts. “If you’re hungry then eat those.”

A few muffled sobs came from the people as they tore in the box of food and the bottles of water, the lack of tears, however, showing just how dehydrated they truly were. One of the bottles of water disappeared down Tara’s throat without letting a single drop escape her dry cracked lips. She greedily gasped for breath drawing attention to her stained dark blue long-sleeve shirt.

Alli nudged Charles’ back again drawing his attention. “Fill their bottles for them, they need more water than just a single bottle of water each.”

The house above their heads shuddered and creaked loudly, drawing everyone’s attention and silencing the basement for several seconds.

“Do you have a pitcher or something with a spigot on it?” Charles asked Tara, disturbing the quiet cellar without even moving.

She pointed her hand to the corner of the room where everything they couldn’t use has been piled together in one giant mess. “I think there should be something along those lines in that pile somewhere.”

Kira and Kate were talking quietly on the other side of Alli as Charles climbed to his feet with a barely contained sigh of annoyance. He was only doing this because Alli had asked him to help them. The orb of light floated across the room settling itself over the mess in the corner while throwing the rest of the basement into shadows.

Charles dug into the pile, moving an older toaster to the side that had a plastic plate stuffed in it. Deeper within the pile the sound of something scuttling around had him jerking his hand back for a second. Trying to ignore the entirely mental based feeling of bugs crawling over his skin he reached back into the pile and shifted an old foam boogie board to the side. With the large item out of the way a colony of cockroaches crawling over an old brown plastic juice pitcher with a spigot at the bottom was revealed.

The cockroaches flew into motion scattering in every direction that would take them deeper in the pile and away from the humans questing hands. Charles flexed his hand and pulled the nasty brown pitcher into the light, wishing he had a gallon of disinfectant to bury his hand in afterward.

His mouth was twisted into a grimace as he held it between two fingers and used his cleaning spell to scour the grime from his hand and the pitcher.

Shocked gasps resounded behind him, reminding him that he hadn’t had a chance to explain the fact that he could use magic to them.