Karen shrieked as I entered the little back room before the vault where we had smashed all our supplies. I almost shrieked back in pure surprise and terror myself considering she did it right in my ear. Unfortunately Greg was next to her loading magazines.

“God damn it Karen that's my ear!” Greg snaps at her.

“I'm sorry! It's just, Lucy! What happened to your eyes!?”

“Spell went wrong. I'm already fine, just need to clean up some.” I say.

“Some? You look like you had a full on crying fit but with blood instead of tears!” Greg says.

“Eh, whatever.” I reply, leaning down to one of the food bags to grab a bottle of water, some chips, and a couple of napkins I found.

First thing I do is wet a few of the napkins and wipe the semi dried blood from my face. After that I quickly dig into the chips, shoving the salty potato ‘crisps’ down my gullet as fast as I can without choking. While I'm eating I notice the missile launcher and accompanying ammo bag stuffed in the corner.

I finish stuffing my face and down my water. Toby has talked with Greg some and takes a handful of loaded magazines off him.

“Lucy I'm headed back up front. Join up when you're done.” Toby says before heading back out into the office space.

I give him a nod as I finish off the water bottle. Next on the agenda is a bathroom break, because I haven't gone in…. Well since before this shitshow started. That's probably unhealthy, demon or not. Problem is I don’t know where the bathrooms are. They might not even have employee restrooms back here. But given how small the lobby ones were, and the fact the back is kinda big, I'd be surprised if they didn't at least have a small private one.

“Hey, do either of you know if they have a bathroom back here?” I ask Karen and Greg.

Karen just shakes her head no, but Greg looks up and me and thinks for a moment.

“I think I saw a door down to the left a little ways that was labeled restroom. Not a hundred percent because we were busy moving stuff quickly.” Greg replies.

I thank him and go to step back out, throwing my empty water bottle in a trash can just outside the door. Funny enough it's probably pointless to care about littering or not right now. But civilization hasn’t fallen outside the shield, as far as we know, so I wont act like a total savage just yet. Speaking of, I pass the healing crystal back to Sara before I step out. I'm feeling well enough that I should be fine. Worst case scenario I can heal myself again.

Taking a left and heading down, I pass a few doors before I thankfully find the one Greg was talking about. Sure enough I can just barely make out the restroom sign on the door in the dim light. The problem is when I open the door its pitch black inside, and I don't have a flashlight on me.

Well, I could go back and get one, or I could just temporarily unshift my eyes. The light glow should be enough to barely see in the small space. Built in nightlight for the win! Besides that, there is something else I want to check. I slip inside and close the door behind me, feeling around for a second on the knob to find the lock button. Once I hear the click symbolizing privacy I unshift my eyes and horns. My life sense spreads out around me in a good twenty feet while my eyes bathe the room in a light orange hue. I immediately notice two things. First, these guys are/were almost out of toilet paper. No wonder the demons invaded, complete chaos worshiping behavior right there.

The second is all the souls I'm picking up with my essence sensing. There are concerning more signatures in the building than there are members of our group. I spin around in a panic and almost throw the door open. I stop for a second to shift my horns and eyes back but before I can the rest of my brain catches up and I do a double take on the signatures. They aren't moving, and if my spatial awareness is correct….. I think those signatures are in the vault!

There are six of them in total, grouped up a short distance away from Greg, Karen, and Sara. I can also see three signatures near the front, who I assume are Seymore, Toby, and Robert. I do a quick look over the building, at least what I can see of it, and the only other signature I can detect off alone at the edge of my range. It’s not moving around much, so it might be George.

Well the signatures in the vault aren't moving, which is relieving and concerning, and I don't sense anything else in the building. So it can all wait until I finish my business. Which I surprisingly manage to do without incident. I managed to barely make due with the remaining toilet paper, and the toilet itself was a normal one with a tank so I got one flush. Honestly at this point I expected a tentacle to come out of the toilet or some ugly fucker to come crashing through the ceiling. But nothing happened, so I finish making myself presentable, shifting away my horns and eyes. I open the door to step out…. And am immediately met by the sounds of gunshots and screeching from the front.

I waste no time and sprint towards the front. Even without a gun I can at least provide buffs and use my screech spell. I rush through the back area, weaving between cubicles until I round the final one and arrive at the tellers area. The scene unfolding before me isnt a good one, but not horrible either. Two bloodied ghouls are on the tellers gate throwing their weight around, a few holes splashing black ichor all around as they thrash. A lot of corjo demons are also jumping around outside the gate. Some attempt to also latch onto the gate, only to be sent flying by the ghouls thrashing.

Toby is currently trying to fumble a new mag into his gun, emphasis on the word fumble as he drops the replacement to the floor and has to bend down for it. Robert and Seymore are trying to blast more holes in one of the ghouls. But the ugly bugger is intent on not getting hit and is jumping around like a coked up monkey, sometimes even jumping back and plowing through the horde of corjo demons.

I start rushing over to the gate, hoping to get close enough to use my screach spell without catching the others in the radius. The ghoul not being shot at saw its opportunity and lunged forward, shoving its arm all the way through the gate and grabbing the barrel of Roberts gun. It earns a bullet through the hand for its troubles. But it keeps holding on and yanks the gun, pulling Robert towards the gate. It presses itself against the gate, shoving it's other arm through and swiping a clawed hand at Robert as he stumbles forward.

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For a moment I panic, fearing Robert is about to get sliced up like a block of cheese. But instead it strikes the suddenly manifested rainbow rainbow barrier around him, the claws getting deflected in a shower of rainbow colored sparks.

Seymore takes the opportunity to shoot the now relatively stationary ghoul in the face. The larger caliber meant the difference, as its face exploded into a fountain of gore while chunks flew off the back of its head. Its corpse slumped back and fell off into the ravenous horde of corjo demons snapping from below. And they legit started eating it, god damn.

Robert gets back to his feet as Toby finishes slapping his new magazine in and cooking his rifle.

“Swap to single fire you two, you're not hitting shit on full auto with how much this ones scrambling around.” Seymore says as he tries and fails to effectively track the remaining ghoul with the semi bulky riffle.

And it's not his fault. I don't know if it's doing it on purpose or not, but with its friend dead it has all the room to move around it wants and it's using it.

I get to them as Robert starts picking himself up off the floor. Toby has also joined Seymore in attempting to blast the spazmatic ghoul, but neither of them have any luck as it continues to bounce around.

I'm tempted to blast the ghoul into the face with a screach spell, but that's starting to get expensive. I could tone it down some, but I don't know how powerful it would have to be to effect the ghoul. Then the thought occurs to me, our guns are effective. It's just we're not fast enough to hit the jumpy little shit. Well, the others aren't. I probably could hit it, but that won't solve the larger issue if more show up.

I'm technically a healer, with some support sprinkled in, maybe I should act like it. I charge up a haste spell and give Robert a slap on the back before the glow can even fully envelope my hand. He turns around to look at me like I'm, let's say less than helpful. But his eyes go wide in surprise when the effect settles over him. He spins back around, about a quarter faster than he was before, and almost effortlessly lines up on the ghoul and blasts it in the chest.

It stumbles from the damage, allowing Seymore and Toby to finally catch up with their aim and unleash a barrage of lead into it. It dies fairly quick, all that speed working to its disadvantage as it slips and its limbs get tangled in the gate. Toby taps it a few more times even after its spasming when getting hit.

“Hold your fine boy, it's dead. Save your ammo for something that actually wants to eat you.” Seymore lightly castizes him.

Before anyone can say anything else a corjo demon jumps up out of the group, grabbing the hanging corpse by the neck and savagely dragging it down into the clamoring horde. Sensing the coast is clear of ghouls, the remaining corjo demons all start jumping on the gate. Like rabies ridden dogs in the throws of insanity, they viciously claw and chew at the metal barrier in an attempt to reach us on the other side.

I step over to Toby, who has raised his gun with shaky hands, and carefully tap him on the shoulder to apply the haste effect. If I had slapped him he may have had an accidental discharge or dropped his gun. The good news is the boost seems to have improved his mental state, as he stops shaking almost immediately.

“Long long does this last for Lucy?” Robert asks as he lines up on a dog and puts a bullet into its gaping maw.

“Uh, I think ten minutes. But I'm not one hundred percent on that. I don't use it much.” I reply while giving Seymore his boost.

“Shit, ten minutes or not we shoulda been using this earlier. I feel like I could outrun a car!” Toby says before blasting another corjo in the face.

The problem is that it doesn't die, instead yelping and falling back into the clamor. Only to be replaced by a fresh one jumping onto the gate moments later. And this happens almost every time someone shoots one, with only the occasional going down limp and silent. The assault rifles we stole from the cultists don't pack enough punch to reliably one tap a corjo demon even on a head shot. Which means aside from Seymore, all we are doing is wounding them. Seymore of course is just blowing the things brains out with the higher caliber of his dmr. And I of course don't even have a gun right now.

“Robert, I need a gun!” I yell over the thundering of the weapons fire.

“In the cubicle behind me.” He yells back, not breaking his concentration on shooting the false dogs piling up at the gate.

I cast haste on myself for good measure as I duck into the cubicle. Sure enough waiting for me is one of the gun bags along with the remaining assault rifle and shotgun sitting propped up against the desk. Jackpot! I snatch up the shotgun and quickly start fixing through the gun bag for spare shells. Side pocket? No, nothing there. Front pouch? Just spare empty pistol mags. Another side pouch, Jackpot!

I greedily fish shotgun shells out of the bag and start stuffing them into my pockets. But The stupid women's jeans I'm wearing have those stupid super slim pockets, so I find myself emptying them in a desperate attempt to hold more than ten shells. I toss aside an old pistol mag I forgot I had, along with a butter knife I still had smashed away. I feel something else buried deep in my pocket, flat and small, so I fish it out. To my surprise I pull out a contact card that was given to me by Marcy. Funny, though I lost this and the contract she had given me in the middle of this shithole. I might actually hit them up after this mess, if I survive it.

I stuff the card back into my pocket, then fill the rest of the free space with shotgun shells. Fully loaded I rush back out of the cubicle to the tellers area, ready to join the firing line desperately trying to keep the demons at bay. The shooting has been continuous since I stepped away, and I can see why. Even more corjo demons have piled onto the gate. Its to the point I'm starting to legitimately worry they might collapse it before they eat through it. And I can hear even more clamoring around in the lobby.

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm definitely getting my manas worth if I blast these guys, so that's what I do. I step between Robert and Toby and drop a full powered screach spell set for damage. It's highly effective, ripping through the demons on the gate and washing across most of the remainders in the lobby. Most of the ones on the gate are blasted off in a explosion of blood and fur. Their bodies tumble back into the horde, visibly limp the whole way down. The damage decreases as the wave travels, but it still has enough power to finish off any wounded demons and leave the rest maimed. Suddenly the lobby has gone from a booming chaotic hell hole to eerily silent and still, save for the occasional whimper of a living demon trying to pick itself up and limp away. There's gonna be at least a dozen dead, and three more trying to escape.

Those three don't get very far. Seymore promptly puts a round up the farthest one's ass, while Toby and Robert gun down the closer two.

“Damn, that was effective.” Toby says, lowering his rifle and letting out a huff.

“Yes it was, but we're not done yet. I can see more gathering outside. A lot more, including some….” Seymore says, but he cuts himself off with a shot of his rifle.

“Cultists…..hmm, that one has a shield on him. We might have... GET DOWN!” Seymore screams.

I don't have enough time to react to the command even with my natural and enhanced speed. A deafening thunder clap and a blinding flash rip through the gate. I watch it slam into Seymore as my vision whites out and my hearing fails.