“The Cadillac’s gone,” Dez said. “We had to leave it running behind us and sneak away from the flying monsters.”

They’d decided it was best to get rid of the wet clothing as fast as possible. Who knew what sort of deadly, Otherworldly diseases this apocalypse had unleashed. Dez’s group had brought extra clothing, and they were taking turns to use the pharmacy’s only toilet to freshen up, take care of their needs, and change.

“Sucks,” Trish said. “Just when I was getting used to it.”

Allen patted her shoulder, though he wiped it afterwards to get the water off. “We’ll get you a new one.”

“It’s fine,” Rory said. “I’m sure the bank has a lot of cars we can… recover.”

It was, plain and simple, stealing. But apocalypses tended to throw those distinctions out the window.

“Sure, but if they’re new cars, we’ll be out of luck,” Ned said. He grinned sardonically. “Almost makes you think the mayor was thinking ahead by not upgrading the government vehicles for decades.”

Rory hadn’t thought about the mayor. She had probably evacuated to Mirrorend with the others too.

“We’ll worry about that later,” Viv said. She looked so nice in her new full-sleeved red shirt and white slacks. Their shoes were all wet, so like the others, she’d elected to go barefoot for the time being. Rory had difficulty keeping his eyes off her. “We should all rest for now.”

“But for how long?” Evelyn sighed, then rubbed her temple. “Sorry, I just… we’re so close.”

Viv walked over and rubbed her back, the low light displaying the worry reflected from Evelyn. “They’ll be fine, Evy. We’ll pull out Mark and Eric soon, I promise. But I think we still need to recover a bit before we start. A few hours, at least, if we can.”

“You’re right.”

They all crashed after that. Rory changed into surprisingly more comfortable dark shirt and trousers when his turn came. Along with that, he also donned a nice jacket, much needed since removing the wet clothes didn’t take away the chill that had possessed him.

It was also an amazing feeling to take care of nature’s call and just simply refresh himself. He felt better than he’d had all day. Even the pain across his back was starting to recede.

There wasn’t a lot of food, but apart from Viv and Evelyn, they’d all managed to scrounge up some snacks, drinks, and other light, non-perishable fare. Rory had some dried nuts, crackers that were a little hard to swallow, and some mango juice to wash it all down with.

After that, it was time to sleep. Evelyn and Allen decided to keep watch while the others napped, since they needed the least energy among all of them.

The pharmacy was mostly intact, so they didn’t have to work too hard to find spaces between the shelves and counters to sleep in. Sue sheltered May far away from the door, while Miles slept with Jerky cradled in his arms. Mikey and Jerome, who’d been looking a little lost, now appeared glad to be able to just sleep and pretend this was all an awful nightmare. Rory needed to properly talk to them at some point.

For now, he was thankful for the chance to rest too. Not that it was easy. Now that he was finally getting the chance to rest with no obvious threat in sight, the overall situation finally hammered into him with full force.

They were in the middle of an apocalypse. People heard things like that all the time, but it was never supposed to come true. Of all the one-in-a-million chances, it had to happen in Rory’s lifetime, and right when he had just started enjoying his retirement too. But then, with all the horrors that he had seen so far, he’d never wish this on his worst enemy.

Families shattered, friends dead, children orphaned if not killed outright. Most people in Rory’s life were either dead or gone to Mirrorend. Samuel—dear old Sam—his greatest friend, Mrs. Gertrude down the road, Harry from the pub, cousin Willis, his family-in-law, all of them were gone. He wanted to believe they were alive, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold onto hope.

Rory still had no idea where the girl who was supposed to be at the substation really was.

“Hey there.” Viv had settled down next to him in one corner of the pharmacy. She had chosen a slightly precarious position, what with the nearby shelf threatening to topple over. But Rory was just glad to have some privacy with his wife. “You look too down.”

He tried to smile. “I need your power of staying upbeat.”

Viv laughed a little, quietly to not awaken the others. “I’m not sure it’s me so much as a side-effect from the same Sigil that makes me feel like I’m thirty years younger.”

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering what Sigils you got that let you do fight like that with the others.”

“It’s called a Sigil of Prime. Allows me to retain my peak condition no matter what.”

“That’s incredibly helpful.”

“The other one is Sigil of the Omnipresent Sabre, in case you wanted to know.” Viv smiled. “But you’ve changed the subject. What’s got you down, dear?”

“I’m so happy to see you alive, you know that?” he said. “I knew I’d find you alive, that I just had to get to you, but a part of me still kept throwing up all kinds of… nasty scenarios.”

Viv touched his face, then kissed him softly. “Well, we’re together again. Just as I knew we would be.”

Rory had to smile too. “Yes. I never stopped believing. Not once.” His chest seemed to expand in happiness as though a helium balloon was growing in it, and he winced in pain. “Although, I don’t think this apocalypse is going to go easy on me.”

He sighed. Viv patted his cheek.

“Hey, none of that now,” she said. “You know I’ve got your back. We’ve got our Sigils. We’re going to show these monsters what it means to take us on.”

“I don’t know what Sigils you have, but… I don’t even have one that lets me fight. Not really.” He sighed, then tried for a smile. “Sorry, don’t mean to be a downer. We can worry about things later. Or…” Ignoring the twinges all over his body, he wrapped his arms around Viv and drew her closer. “We could cuddle and go to sleep.”

Viv still had her steely look in her eyes. “But you’ll tell me when you wake up, right?”

Rory nodded, and before long, fell asleep in his wife’s arms.

He was woken up too soon by alarmed voices. A burning stench tickled his nostrils, and for a moment, his heart thumped with the idea that there might be a fire going on, just like at the gas station. But he noticed the smoke was outside the pharmacy. Still concerning, but less immediately dangerous than before.

“What’s happening?” Viv asked.

She’d somehow left Rory without waking him up to stand near the door.

“There’s something eating the van.” Allen sounded one second away from hysteria.

Rory got it though. Rocket-winged reptiles, crabs that shot lightning, and flying dinosaurs big as aeroplanes were bad enough. Now their vehicles were monster-food. Things needed to stop being so crazy.

“I can see it,” Dez said, pressing his face against the window. He swore lightly. “It really is eating the van.”

Rory groaned and got to his feet. Dez moved so he could look as well.

A creature was gnawing on the van’s metal walls, biting off huge chunks and chewing it like it was grass. It looked like a dark, mule-sized weasel with hedgehog spikes on its rear. The spikes were burning with lurid fire, which was what had given rise to the smoke.

“What is that thing?” Allen asked.

“An Emberteeth,” Rory said. His Sigil of Knowledge was acting up again, informing him that these monsters ate and digested metal to somehow generate the flames on their backs.

“Can we kill it?” Trish asked.

Rory shook his head. “We can’t charge out blindly. All that smoke is toxic. As in, regular smoke will give you smoke poisoning anyway, but this one is more like poisonous vapour where one whiff would paralyze you.”

Evelyn audibly swallowed. “I’m going to see what I can make. There should be some masks here somewhere.”

“There’s more of the monsters out there too,” Miles said

Rory had to peer and wait for the smoke filling the area to shift before he could verify that. Miles was right. Farther down the alley, where it joined with the main street, Rory could spot more monsters trawling along the road.

“We need to stop that thing before it eats our ride,” Trish said. “It’s already half broken.”

Viv nodded. “I’ve got this. I can use my ranged attacks to take care of it.”

“And not destroy the car too,” Sue whispered.

“I heard that!”

Rory shook his head, not liking that he had to be bullish. “The smoke will still do us all in. But let me see…”

“What are you going to do?” Viv asked with no small amount of suspicion.

In answer, Rory opened the pharmacy’s door. Smoke had already been seeping in through the cracks, bringing with it the faint traces of a stench that made Rory wrinkle his nose. But with the door open, it hit him head-on. His guts roiled in nausea and his skin prickled like a thousand needles were dancing on them.

Viv tried to pull him back, but Rory held his ground and used his Weaving. He made sure to focus on the dark, greenish-black vapour. It took a while. There wasn’t enough of the smoke particles in the air, so as his Weaving dissolved the smoke near him, more smoke spread in from elsewhere thanks to diffusion.

Soon enough, Rory received a list of three Sigil options. He picked the Sigil with the image of a person camouflaged against a wall.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Stealth. Turn into shadows and evade detection from prying eyes. Great for the socially anxious and the criminally minded.

[Argent VI] allows stealth mode use for 30 seconds.

Stats

Type: Concept

Rarity: Uncommon

Tier: Argent VI [0%]

Efficiency: Low [20%]

Rory continued Weaving, pulling in more smoke and turning them into Sigils. But before he could finish, Evelyn returned.

“This was all I could get,” she said.

It was a pack of simple surgical masks. They were better than nothing, but they wouldn’t be good enough against this toxic smoke.

Rory held out a hand. “Here, let me see.”

He pulled out a mask from the pack and used his Weaving on it, turning it into a coral-coloured Sigil as well. Its image showed a plain, surgical mask. How original.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Nasal Filtration. No longer will you need to fear any dust. Your nose is now dustproof.

[Argent VI] allows particle filtration for 6 minutes.

Stats

Type: Biological

Rarity: Uncommon

Tier: Argent VI [0%]

Efficiency: Low [20%]

Rory didn’t stop there. He took one of the Sigils of Smoky Stealth and pressed it against his new Sigil, then used his Weaving on them both. The Sigils soon combined into a new one.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Smoky Stealth. You can now dissolve into smoke and are immune to smoke inhalation damage. Just be careful not to be blown away by a stray gust.

[Argent VI] allows smoke dissolution for 30 seconds.

Stats

Type: Biological

Rarity: Remarkable

Tier: Argent VI [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [28%]

Yet another intriguing Sigil, especially when thinking of it in terms of its potential applications. All fun and games to dissolve into and hide within smoke, but what if a stray wind came in, which was concerning.

“You can combine Sigils too?” Viv asked.

Rory handed the Sigil to her. “Pretty sure this will keep you safe from the smoke. If it ever starts affecting you, just turn into smoke.”

Viv took the Sigil and absorbed it. “Weird, but so is everything else. Watch my back.”

Rory nodded, though she had been looking at Dez, who had also nodded. Viv headed out, and the rest of them closed the door quickly to prevent any more some entering, Rory already felt like retching.

The Emberteeth that had been eating the van had already noticed them. It didn’t approach, but it was looking in their direction. Rory wasn’t great at reading monstrous expressions, but he imagined it was hesitating since it wasn’t attacking just yet. It must have noticed the light from his Weaving. Good thing the other Emberteeth were too far away.

Viv approached quickly. Rory had reduced enough of the smoke that she didn’t need to immediately use her new Sigil. Her red sabre flared to life, and she rushed the monster.

But the Emberteeth let loose a throaty screech that carried everywhere. Then it turned tail and ran.

Viv was so surprised, she paused for a moment. Even Rory and the others inside the pharmacy were taken aback. They were all so used to having the monsters attack them with everything they had, fearless and ferocious.

She didn’t follow after the retreating Emberteeth. Rory thought she was going to return now that she’d scared off a creature twice as big and at least five times as heavy, but instead, her crimson sword flared brighter. Viv slashed and arc down the alley, teleporting to where the Emberteeth was now turning a corner.

But she didn’t attack the creatures there. Instead, she froze.

Rory was starting to get concerned with what Viv had seen when she remained there too long. But then she returned quickly with another slash and teleport.

“You all need to see this,” she said, her eyes and voice insistent and urgent. “Don’t worry, Rory’s taken care of most of the smoke. I don’t feel a thing.”

They all followed her out, making their way past the van that had its back half chewed open, twisted ends of jagged metal pointing this way and that.

The night hadn’t ended yet, though dawn couldn’t have been far off at this point. Rory’s steps were filled with trepidation. Something told him it wasn’t going to be good. The alley opened onto a road, a short distance down which led to the bank. Viv made them stop at the corner.

It was worse than Rory had expected.

A huge horde of Emberteeth had surrounded the bank, strolling along the roads around it and lazing in the courtyard and the parking lot before it. Smoke filled the whole area, coming off the burning hindquarters of several monsters. But it wasn’t just the smoke that filled the air. There were more monsters above.

These were different from the ones that had attacked them earlier in the night. These looked with strange floating octopuses, the head a bloated, leathery sac and the tentacles replaced by flowers with waving petals.

“Mad,” Jerome said from the back. “Everything’s gone insane.”

Rory wished he could have disagreed.