Wow, standing out here is both nerve racking and awkward. It's fine, it's fine, I'm good, just need to be personable, and not look like a looter… Shit.

Upon considering that terrifying thought, he took a quick look at himself objectively and realized that both the nervous looks over his shoulder/to the side, and the half-crouched posture, could very easily be misconstrued.

However, it was reasonable given the situation. A friendly smile of encouragement to the girl as she poked her head back out seemed to have her agree with him. She returned the smile (though somewhat restrained) and after a short argument with the person still behind the counter, she hurried to let him in.

Hm cute, late teens, in uniform but doesn’t look rumpled enough to have been slept in. So the ape probably came in recently, not yesterday. Probably her first job, working for parents maybe?

“Thanks, I take it the new neighbor isn’t well liked. When did it move in?”

She smiled at that and the newly revealed lady behind the counter maybe marginally somewhat eased.

He worked on getting his gun belt on, now that he felt less exposed.

“Um it- We heard it about 4 in the morning…probably? We came in at 3 and then- The fryers-We heard… screams,and crashing, and Mom went to check that everyone was okay! But she got chased back in by it. We hid in the back until she said it was gone, then we locked up. We tried to call the police, but nothing gets through! They did something to the phones. We couldn’t get them to work at all, and the batteries died really fast.”

“Um…Okay, wait, you said ‘they?’ There are multiple of them out there?

Belt now on, he undid the clasp, pulled the .357 out, and popped the spent casings.

The girl’s expression morphed into something confused.. “I think so! There was so much crashing and… screaming…. At first”

He glanced at the mother for confirmation, and she nodded

He paused the reload and checked his phone. It was almost 6AM and his battery was almost dead. He’d taken it off the charger when he woke up. Even if it was struggling to find a signal it shouldn’t be that dead that fast. Granted he’d had it for a few years, and the battery wasn’t in great condition, but that was still fast.

Okay…

He tried momentarily to get a cell signal again, but couldn’t get any bars. He tried the Wi-Fi signal, which yielded the same infuriating results.

“Do you have Wi-Fi?”

She seemed taken aback by that. “Wha-I-”

The mother spoke for her “The shop has Wi-Fi, but there's no power”

Every time. Gana start flipping light switches as I walk into a room too, I bet.

He frowned slightly. “Right, Right. No good.You haven't been able to talk to anyone since they showed up? Gotten any news? Or any word out?”

He went back to reloading, making sure when closing the revolver’s cylinder to make the 2 rat-shot would cycle last. He thought briefly about going all 6 slug, but it was unlikely he’d get that many shots no matter what happened.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The mother continued: “No nothing. The cells lost connection when it started, and before I could get to the phone when I came back in, there was a brownout. Then, full blackout.”

She took a breath before barrelling on. “Other than the… crashing and screaming, the only thing we heard was some shouting later back the other way.” She pointed opposite where the ape had come from.

“From what I could hear from here, I think Father Frederick is holding a final sermon before the end.”

“ That … No, no, as far as I can tell, this is local, I drove in this morning and everything was normal ‘till I went to pass through here. So unless . . . No it's probably local. Is there anyone else nearby taking shelter that you know of?”

The daughter was watching their discussion with intensity, a lot of concern, and a touch of hope. Until the mother mentioned the final sermon, but the hope returned full force when he refuted.

“No, I don’t think so. Most people don’t come in as early as bakeries, especially donut shops. Most would still be at home, or have joined Father Fredrick for his sermon.”

“Okay. I guess I should head over there as well then. Don’t have anywhere more important to be with my truck wrecked until I can call out. I might as well see if I can be any help”

She didn’t seem to find as much humor in this as he did and merely gave him an incredulous look.

“I don’t suppose you have easy roof access?”

“No . . .?

Oliver decided he’d need to check with the church if people were gathering there. Maybe someone there knew more about what was going on. Although . . .

Hardly a biblical level catastrophe, but even I defaulted to calling them demons based on appearance, and I'm not local, so this will probably be painful conversations at best and

He paled slightly when his thoughts turned towards potential worst case scenario of walking in on people sheltering in a church during a ‘demon uprising’

I should probably be careful not get lynched by panicking people somehow.

“Great.”

The girls gave him questioning looks.

“I’m going to head over to the church, see if anyone knows anything more. Any ideas how I can minimize the bickering during such a turbulent time?”

“Oh” said the mother, her eyes widening as she came to a similar realization.

At a time like this, there would be several people thinking first of themselves and putting very little effort toward helping others. If the church was offering refuge, those of a selfish personality would gather there quickly and reinforce the idea.

“Oh! Mrs. Melody will probably be one of the first ones there, and she’ll keep the congregation organized if Father Fredricks is busy, and assist if he isn’t. You won’t have any trouble finding her.”

Oh good, The-Person-to-Know sounds very personable.

He showed his relief and thanks on his face along with a nod “Okay, and there wouldn’t happen to be easy roof access from inside, by any chance?”

“No? Why…?”

“They either don’t climb or don’t consider that height could be ‘their territory.’ Ducking into a building would probably work too, but a lot of the buildings have glass windows that won’t stop anything, are locked, or both. On top of that, I can’t keep a good view of what's going on. Nor can I tell if they really left, if I'm hunkered in a corner.”

The daughter was starting to look at him with awe; the mother, as though he’d lost his mind.

“Okay, then where is the church exactly, and do you know of any place else along the way that might not have their doors locked in case I need to dodge one of the . . . demons?”

Since GPS maps were out, she gave him old fashioned directions using street names and landmarks.

Once he had the route down he got ready to leave.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, Apologies. I’m Oliver Swanson.”

He started to leave, but turned back.

“Hey, stupid question but, you're an employer, right?”

She nodded, bemused.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how good of an excuse is ‘Sorry I missed my first day of work, but my truck got rolled into a demon attack?”