"It seems like each area has its main monster." Andy was telling me as we drove back to the highway. "East Coast has zombies, liches, maybe ghosts, too. There are a lot of different dinosaurs around us and in the desert states. There were sights of dragons over the prairies. And I saw a video of Kaiju Octopus in Japan."
This was good, useful information, but it was all a little bit too much. I missed my carefully curated feed of workouts, cute outfits and adorable pets. I tried to shut him down by turning on the radio.
"…From the Department of Homeland Security. At approximately 1800 hours on March 2nd, multiple regions experienced what we are classifying as "anomalous biological incursions." All citizens are advised to remain indoors with windows and doors secured, avoid unnecessary travel, and maintain emergency supplies for 72 hours. Do not approach or attempt to engage with any unfamiliar creatures. The President has authorized National Guard deployment. Stay calm. Stay inside. Stay informed. This is an official message from...."
I turned it off.
"We should stop at the pharmacy…" I said.
"We should also get out there to grind and level up. In all shows, books and games, the first monsters to show up are usually a weaker kind. If we wait long, we'll fall behind the curve."
He was treating it as some kind of game. How he could do that after almost dying was beyond me. And it just stressed how we didn't vibe at all.
If my car hadn't been at the shop, there was no way I would have offered for us to work together on this video. I would have probably filmed on my own, too. Damned be my desire to save money on a car rental.
Now the world was falling apart, and I was stuck in the car with this stranger.
"I am not an expert, but games are designed to provide a challenge appropriate to your level to hook you up," I said. "How would a Kaiju Octopus be something weak for beginners?"
"Yeah, you are right," Andy said. "Oh, damn."
"What?"
"We are getting low on gas."
"This day is just getting better and better…"
"You know a gas station just off the 101? I think they had a pharmacy there. It's by the farm that used to sell orange jam. I loved that thing. We should go check. What do you think?"
"We definitely should," I agreed, and Andy switched lanes to take the next exit.
More cars were driving with us on a highway now, and the normalcy of it all was very soothing. So what if some monsters invaded? Maybe the Government, the National Guard, and all those agencies will pull their efforts together, and in a few days, this crisis will blow over.
I just needed to find some antibiotics to keep my leg attached until then.
We exited after a silver Chevy truck and followed them the entire way towards the gas station by Fred's Farm and Bakery. It was an old-fashioned place, where you had to go inside to pay for gas at the register. Each pump had at least two cars waiting. I hoped they wouldn't run out of gas.
The gas station was surrounded by dilapidated houses with chainlink fences that provided a clear line of sight in all directions. In regular circumstances, this kind of neighbourhood would make me stay inside the car. But right now, seeing no blue birds, yellow lizards, or bigger monsters was bringing a sense of safety.
"I will go check out the pharmacy. Is it inside the Farm and Bakery?"
"No, go around this building. The entrance is at the back."
"That's a weird location for a pharmacy…"
"I know, right?! My dad used to say that they must be making a fortune on drugs."
I just hummed and stepped out of the running car.
The day was getting closer to the end, and the noon heat finally subsided. Fred's Farm and Bakery looked empty. Not only were there no people, but the shelves were picked clean, too. I wondered if they were sold out or just didn't have much produce to begin with. It was the middle of spring after all.
The dog started barking somewhere in the distance, and I sped up my limp towards the pharmacy. It looked sketchy: bars behind the glass and grills on the door. But beggars can't be choosers.
The bell above me chimed as I entered. The store was tiny, and I could hear the TV playing on low somewhere at the back. The pharmacist was talking to the customer at the counter.
The man's condition made me want to put on a mask and sanitize my hands: his eyes were bloodshot, he was shivering, and constantly running his hand through a mop of greasy grey hair. A typical sight, if you ever walked any of the big California towns. But something else was off. His clothes were unexpectedly clean, leather shoes looked expensive. He had a Rolex on his wrist, which only emphasized how shaky his hands were, by sending Sun bunnies all over the store.
"Listen, Man. I told you we don't have a rabies vaccine. Either buy Tylenol or get to a Doctor."
"Oh, don't give me that, Juno. Just look at the back. Check in the fridge. You must have something! I can't go to a Doctor in all this craziness. Look at that!" He waved towards the TV, where a mob of small green humanoid creatures was storming a supermarket. "Please, I will pay any price. Do you want my watch?"
I grabbed a basket and started stuffing it with anything useful still left on the shelves.
"And I told you I don't have it. It's administered at the hospitals. How can I sell you something I don't have?!"
The basket filled up quickly, and started cutting painfully into the cuts on my arm. I tried to reason whether it would be worth getting more food or keeping myself light. Moving fast seemed more critical.
"Fuck you, Juno!" The man finally said and stormed out of the store. He was walking very spry for someone with a fever and bloodshot eyes.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
I pulled on my best smile, took another pack of Band-Aids and went up to the counter.
"Hi, Juno," I said, putting the basket on the counter. "I'm Chloe. I was hoping you could help me…"
"Oh, cut the bullshit. What do you need? ADHD meds, Antidepressants?"
"Um, no." I was taken aback by his agitated state, and my smile faltered, but only for a moment. "I was scratched by a wild animal. And my friend, a paramedic, placed some butterfly bandages and said the wound is infected." Juno frowned, but didn't say anything.
"I know that I need a prescription for antibiotics, but really, just look," I waved at the screen. "At the last hospital I stopped by, I almost got eaten by a huge spider. Please, help me. Even if you can recommend some over-the-counter ointment, you would be a lifesaver."
Juno faltered. I could see it in his eyes: he was a rice grain away from calling quits on this entire place.
"Please, I really don't think I can survive this mess with an amputated leg," I lifted the loose fabric of my pants to show the bandage there and plastered my best "please subscribe to my Patreon" smile.
"Oh, fuck it," Juno raised his arms and went to the back to grab a stack of blister packs tied by a rubber band. He counted out three blisters and put them in a paper bag. "I never gave this to you. It's one pill three times a day with food for ten days. Do not shorten the time. Can I see the wound?"
I quickly rolled away the bandage on my leg. I could have peeled back the tape on my forehead, but I didn't want to disturb it when I had other options.
"Oh, sheesh. Ok, also apply this two times a day," he put an ointment pack in the bag. "And keep the wound clean. And again, I never gave this to you." He extended his hand with the bag, and I snatched it before he could change his mind.
"Oh, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" I said.
"You want to buy all this, too?" He pointed at the basket.
"Yeah."
"Our machines are down, so it'll have to be cash."
I definitely did not have that much cash on hand. I started pulling out essentials when the angry man with red eyes ran back into the store.
"They are here! Close the door! Close the door!"
"Who is here?" Juno reacted immediately.
I ran to the window, throwing the duffel bag strap over my shoulder.
"Those green things from the TV." The man replied.
And he was right, I could see from the window a horde of the short green creatures armed with spears and clubs running down the street. A few were separating here and there to go into the nearby houses, but the main mass was moving in the general direction of the gas station.
I grabbed a bottle of water, some food and a few other things from the shelves closest to me and, at Juno's angry shouts, stormed out of the store. I didn't want to be locked in this glass cage when those things swarmed it.
I was turning the corner when something flew by my shoulder and embedded itself into the soft wood shingle. I didn't look to see what it was.
Andy was still in line at the station, and I limped towards the car, waving for him to get the hell out of here.
Unfortunately, he wasn't looking at me. His head was downwards, and he was scrolling through his phone. I could hear the creatures rounding the corner. The overwhelming pitter-patter of their bare feet on the ground made my back crawl with goosebumps.
I leaped towards the car and busted the door open.
"Go! Go! Go!" I yelled at Andy, falling into the seat.
"What? But the gas?"
I was out of breath, so I just waved in the direction of the creatures. Andy reacted immediately.
The car tires drifted for a moment before taking off. A few other cars were making the same maneuver, and we got blocked by the silver Chevy truck.
An arrow bounced harmlessly off the door.
"Shit, goblin archers. Hope they won't hit the tires," Andy mumbled.
A few cars blew their horn while the Chevy was frantically doing the three-point turn. I could see the driver's terrified face, through the dusty window.
The green creatures registered on my periphery. We were about to be surrounded. The truck driver finally figured out that he had free will and went over the bushes on the sidewalk. Someone bumped into us, and the car shook. A thud sounded from our roof, and I could see a few goblins running towards us from the opposite side of the street.
Andy started towards the road, swerving around a goblin with a spear.
"Don't swerve. Hit it! Hit it!" I yelled, and Andy listened.
We hit the next creature, and it went under the hood with a meaty thud-thud. Andy avoided another one, and we were on our way.
I finally breathed out in relief and noticed that I had forgotten about my seatbelt again. With the corner of my eye, I noticed a larger goblin throwing a spear at us from a ditch. I instinctively ducked, but the creature wasn't aiming for the window.
A sharp pop made me jump in my seat. Andy slowed down, but continued driving despite the nerve-racking whump-whump-whump from my side of the car. He had to fight to keep the car straight, and I heard something sliding from side to side on the roof.
"Jinxed it," I mumbled, trying to look up through the side mirrors to see what was on the roof.
"No, I didn't," Andy said through clenched teeth.
"You said they would shoot out the tire and they did… I think we have a passenger on the roof. Can you shake it off?"
"I can't swirve. The car is barely keeping straight."
I looked around the cabin and noticed Jessica's hiking sticks that she hadn't picked up after I took them from her Volvo.
"Cool, cool. Focus on not swerving then," I said.
I grabbed the stick and started to roll down the window. We were barely doing 10 miles per hour. All other goblins stayed behind, and we needed to stop to change the tire.
"What are you doing?"
"Just focus on driving."
I got out of my belt, squatted on the seat and hooked one arm around the headrests. My leg protested, with sharp pain, but I was too used to it at this point to pay much attention.
I took a deep breath and plunged out the window, aiming the sharp end of the stick towards the sound.
A goblin on our roof was holding onto the antenna for dear life. And I hit it somewhere in the middle section.
The car was still swerving a little, and I had to tense my core muscles until it was hard to breathe, to just stay upright. I was hitting it with a stick again and again. The monster tried to swat it away, and I had to admit, it was surprisingly strong for something the size of a teenager.
Finally, I hit something vulnerable on its arm, holding the antenna, and it fell off the car and onto the road behind us. I ducked back into the cabin.
"Reverse!" I yelled at Andy, hitting the dashboard for emphasis.
"What? Why?" He asked but obeyed.
"We should kill it," I explained more calmly. The car swerved like crazy, and a few others passed us in the other lane.
We still managed to hit the goblin, and it went down, just like the other one before it.
"Drive over it again!" I told Andy, and he listened.
"That was unnecessary. It was already down." He commented after we confirmed that the creature wasn't moving in the rear-view mirror.
Just as I expected, a Deal Hand screen came up in my view.
"You were the one who said we need more cards," I said, swiping the screen closed. The car swerved again. I barely had enough time to brace myself before it careened into the ditch.
My head and shoulder painfully hit the door, and the stick I used to hit the goblin lodged itself into my ribs. Thankfully, it was the blunt part, and it was only painful, not life-threatening.
We came to a complete stop, and Andy swore under his breath.
"You should learn to close those screens, buddy," I told Andy, rubbing my forehead and looking around for any signs of goblins.
"Easy to say, when you don't have to fight a jerking wheel with both hands…" He commented, rubbing his chest over the seatbelt.
That was true. The system design was stupid. We could have ended up wrapped around the tree.
I opened the door and stepped out into the squishy mulch on the side of the road. The ditch wasn't that deep. We likely stopped because Andy pressed the brake, not because the car was toast. But there was no way to put a jack under it with this tilt.
"You know, Chlo, I probably wouldn't have agreed to film for you if I knew how blood thirsty you are," Andy said, getting out, too.
"You fosho would," I said, opening the back door and pulling the rest of the hiking supplies we borrowed from Jessica' car. "You asked me to come back to town with you, and you said we should stay ahead of the curve. If you say something, have the guts to stick to it."
"Says the social media influencer, who partnered with the MLM Tupperware Brand."
I chose not to respond to that.
Chloe's Deck (2/10):
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Blue Card: [Leap]
Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.
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Blue Card: [Heal Wound]
A small burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.