We sent out four teams of six on the insulation business’s side of the building. It was still dark out, mostly. With explosive playing off in the distance, some streetlights still functioning, and a cloudless sky, there really wasn’t as much darkness as we were all comfortable with. I was in the fourth group alongside Nora, Frank, Will, Billy, and Brittney. I wasn’t comfortable with Brittney being out here, nor Will, for that matter, but Brittney needed some level of revenge that she could enact. She was still angry over the loss of her brother, and the only thing that perked her up beside a better quiver were some magical cooking supplies. Billy was the only one behind me in levels. Everyone else was level 6 or 7. It was a sad realization that I was next to lowest in the party.

  We tried to move silently through a parking lot. I tried to use this opportunity to practice how I stepped to manage minimal sound. I was just starting to get a feel for asphalt, a very straight forward ground to walk quietly on, when we reached some sort of vehicle service. Billy tried the door, but it was locked. Next, we heard a voice whisper, “Who goes there?”

  Billy couldn’t help himself, “Just some fellow Americans trying to make sure there are no demons inside. You wouldn’t happen to be one of those?”

  The angry and predictable reply was, “No, and how do we know you aren’t demons and shit?”

  “Could a demon recite Green Eggs and Ham to you?”

  “Umm, probably not.”

  Billy cleared his throat, “I am Sam. I am Sam. Sam, I am.” Before he could switch voices to the other character, he was interrupted.

  “Okay, okay, I get it. You can read a story. You’re either a human or some Seussian Demon. Don’t go knockin’ on people’s doors next time.”

  Billy’s reply, “Seussian Demon. Nice one!” How did that work of all things? Of all the choices in the universe, why that one to work?

  I threw my hands up in the air. “It really is the Apocalypse. Billy’s diplomacy style finally worked.”

  The door opened up to reveal a man older than us, but not by much. He might be in his late twenties. He wore a ‘Friends’ t-shirt and some gym shorts, while sporting a hunting rifle in his free hand. He took one look at me, “You’re that politician from YouTube. The one with all the apocalypse videos. Sweet!” The distinct smell of weed emanated from behind him. Billy coughed. “Sorry man, gotta cope with all this shit somehow.”

  I nodded. “We have people coming by here soon. We are going to get to the train yard and get civilians out of here. When you start to see them, you are welcome to join.”

  “I’ll think about it. I got a lot of necessary supplies for this kind of event. I can’t leave that behind.”

  I wasn’t going to waste any more time on a pothead who was afraid of losing their weed in the apocalypse. “That’s fine. Join or don’t. The option is there only until the train leaves the yard.”

  “Sweet. Be seein’ you, YouTube man.” He shut the door, and I was suddenly worried I subjected two minors to that much secondhand weed smoke.

  We moved on. I didn’t know what the next business was based on the back of the building, but we crept through the bushes of one lot to get back to the asphalt of the next. The back door to this one was open. There was also a trail of blood going from the outside in, as well as blood on the door. That wasn’t ominous at all; those were the words screaming in my head.

  With the back door already open, Frank went in shield first. We didn’t call out for anybody, just in case there were enemies inside. Frank passed into the building, and I went in right behind him. Disturbing was the first word that came to mind to describe the interior. Visually there was the continuing trail of blood which led humans killed where they sat or stood. The smell coming from them wasn’t of someone who had just died, but of a body cooking in a building in August. The next obvious thing I noticed was splotches of blood on the wall, but the tint to it was different, which didn’t make anything better. I stepped forward, desperately trying to avoid the blood trail on the floor. Behind me, Nora stopped in the doorway. It was probably for the best.

  As Frank and I proceeded further into the business, we saw a pile of dead lupin. There were words on the wall above them that simply read “OFFICE NOTE.” It may have been an indication to go to the office to look for a note, but who left those directions? The other thing that got me into all of this is the lack of noise. I could hear water dripping into the sink of a bathroom to my right, but other than that eerie silence. I looked to Frank to see what he thought. He was looking at me already. He motioned for me to go into the room on the left. He motioned that he was moving forward. Well, at least he wasn’t standing there to watch me die.

  I stepped into the room, my rifle still out, only to find a long-dead body. That and the note written marker:

  “S=Safe, D=Danger, all the people were dead before, but I killed the lupin. You're welcome,

  Joe”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “We should be clear. The lupins are because of Joe. His note assures me he didn’t kill the humans.” I said it loud enough to be heard by Frank out in the room, and hopefully Nora back near the back door. I heard a few footsteps come to the room I was in. Billy and Nora were both in the doorway. I shrugged and handed the note to Nora; she merely shrugged her shoulders in immediate understanding before handing it over to Billy.

  He looked at it and laughed. The laugh sputtered out, like he simply failed to contain it. I looked on the desk for some tape, but I found none. “What’s so funny?” Nora and I both demanded of him separately.

  “Important information, yes, but the worst poetry ever. Lupin doesn’t rhyme with before or danger. Joe really needs to work on that if he is going to leave really weird poems for us.” He then laughed and walked back out of the building. I shook my head in his direction. I wasn’t sure why he thought he was funny. Nora’s eyes got big, and she got a look like she could punch Billy. She stalked out of the room, rather livid. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders before leaving. I really didn’t want to look at the rest of the building after seeing everything I had in there. The note was a perfect excuse to leave this den of the dead.

  We moved on and used the note as a guide. On the next two buildings were spraypainted S’s. Where Joe found the spray paint, I will never know, but it certainly worked. The Third building had an S as well, but there was a D below it with an arrow pointing towards the next building. I really needed to thank Joe for the heads up he provided without even being near us. His scouting was priceless.

  The next building was two stories and sat at an angle to the last set of buildings, which had all run parallel to the industrial road on their other side. The sign on the side of the building said, Wildlife Command Center. I wasn’t even sure if that was a local government agency or a pest removal company. The irony was not lost on me that we were going to exterminate a bunch of lupin, which I regarded as serious pests to our world. I checked the time on my phone and noticed that I had several unread text messages. I pulled back from the corner of the current building to check for anything that might be genuinely pertinent to our situation.

  I ignored the messages from most, as they weren’t time sensitive. I saw a message from my dad, “Son, I’ve got your back. I trust you.” This was followed by a message several hours later, “Why is the General telling me you gave his daughter a diamond necklace? Is there something you should be telling your old man?” That all escalated quickly.

  I texted back, “Glad you got my back, but the necklace is a defensive magic item to protect her in case something happens to me. Sending you an audio file now. For safekeeping purposes.” I sent him the recording of the phone call with Major Grant. I didn’t want to get double-crossed. From those texts, I could surmise that Dad and her father were talking a lot. The general wouldn’t mention the necklace unless he really wanted to mess with my dad. Granted, Natalie wouldn’t message that to her dad except to mess with him. I guess people still played a few jokes on each other despite the apocalypse.

  The time was after 5 AM. We had to push forward if we were going to make any headway before sunrise. There was already predawn light outside, mixed in with all the usual lights at night. I stepped around the corner, shielded by Frank. We made our way to the building. With two stories and a roof, there were a lot of possibilities where they could be. There was also the building almost attached to the main one, which must be some sort of place where they kept dangerous animals. All the warning signs were the first indicator of that. The next one was the pile of dead snakes piled up out front. Maybe lupin have problems with snakes? We rushed forward to the front doors, but stopped very short as they opened up; Lupin spilled out. I wasn’t prepared for that level of response from them, but we started firing our rifles, the noise ringing out far louder than I hoped it would. There was gunfire in the far distance, but nearby, everything and everyone had tried for relative silence up until now. My rifle shots took out the first lupin that had gotten less than 15 feet away. Frank, didn’t have a ranged weapon out, just the axe and shield. However, it was a grossly effective combo; arrows didn’t stick in it, and the first lupin that came close learned that Frank wasn’t horrible in close combat. The axe slid down and through all of the creature’s front, making for two half-lupin, both dead. Arrows flew at me, but I was partially protected by Frank’s shield, and my ring of lesser force armor did the rest of the heavy lifting to protect me. The ring’s armor effect slowed the arrows coming in that were dead on and deflected the arrows that were barely hits at all. Behind us, Nora, Will, and Billy opened up fire as well, trying to clear out the rest of the lupin. I know that they should have caught us by surprise, but heightened initiative kicked in. We responded too fast. They really couldn’t get the drop on us when all of us had the ability. The fight ended almost before it began, with us no worse for wear, and several dead lupins in front and around us. Only two had made it to melee with Frank, and both suffered horribly for their rabid desire to close in on us.

  We saw and heard a window on the second floor break; our heads snapped to this newest development. A lupin flew through the air, badly landing face-first. It did not get up. I was pretty sure that wasn’t on purpose. That instinct was confirmed a moment later with Joe’s profile standing in the window. He spoke calmly, “Come inside. There are a few left.” Frank rushed forward at those words without thinking any further about it. We all followed behind Frank and his big shield.

  Joe was correct. There were a few left: two. The first was a bodyguard who got around Frank’s shield and stabbed him in the leg before getting brained by the axe. I really didn’t like it when that happened. I always got brain splatter on me, but it was a very small price to pay for dispatching one more enemy. The last was a spell caster, and with his bodyguard out of the way Joe took a shot on the wolf-like creature, shearing part of it’s snout off with a bullet. The lupin paused in pain. That pause was all I needed to puncture it with several more rifle shots. I was right behind Frank, so I was responsible for taking those shots. I wasn’t a great shot, but these shots were practically point-blank. I might have hesitated slightly on day one of the apocalypse, but we had entered day 6. There was no room left for hesitation. I wasn’t a bad ass, but I was rather non-empathetic towards any of the demons that were here. They needed to die, every single one of them, if we were going to reclaim our country and planet.

  “Building is clear,” were Joe’s words. Then he slumped down against the wall behind him. Only then did I notice all the blood coming from him. His breathing was ragged and shallow as Brittney pulled out an orc healing potion. She fed it to him, but I wasn’t sure if that would be enough. I really couldn’t lose another friend this week. Chris, then young Brett, and now Joe. I hoped that Brittney could stabilize him.