The Day of Reckoning (Prototype)

Chapter 41: Small Outing

Ramil and I duck out of the way as I swing my hammer into an Eldritch's face. Ramil stabs its stomach and we move on to the next one. Its face is already right in front of mine, but Ramil swings his spear into its chin. Its head is thrown upwards as Ramil is tackled by another one. I save him and kick an Eldritch into 2 others. Ramil kills the one that attacked me before, then throws down a smokescreen.

He grabs my jacket sleeve and runs. "Come on!" He shouts, and we run up a broken escalator. We run into a Tallbats, breathing hard and fast. "I wasn't about to fight all those things. I came here to shop, not die." Ramil says between breaths. My torso hurts so much, and it's getting harder to hide it. I control my breathing, and it hurts a little less. We put our weapons away and slowly walk out of the store, looking over the glass railing for the Eldritch.

They aren't where we left them. They must've retreated into the M&H they came from. "Let's stay away from there." Ramil says.

"Good idea." I say. We walk along the upper level, and I thank him for saving me.

"It gets easier the more I do it." He jokes. I smile for the second time today. It still feels kind of weird, but I'm sure I'll get used to it at some point. Ramil spots a Marcy's and we go for it. "I'm sure we can find something nice in here!" He says. We stroll through the store, but neither of us find anything good. "I should've known better than to trust this store." Ramil says.

"Where else do you wanna look?" I ask him.

"I don't know. What about you?" He asks.

"Well, I don't even know half the stores here, so--" Ramil cuts me off.

"How? Have you not come to this mall before?" He asks.

"N-not really, no." I say. "I didn't get out much before all this."

"Why?" He asks. I think of a lie.

"Social anxiety." I say. "I never liked the mall because it was always so crowded."

"That actually sounds like there could be some truth in that." Ramil says. I sigh in my head as we exit Marcy's. "Alright, let's go to the Manhattane store across the mall. It tends to have good stuff." He suggests.

"Okay." I say. We walk across the upper level, and I look over the railing. There are a bunch of Eldritch walking around on the 1st floor, probably looking for us. We walk inside the store and look around. Ramil finds a shirt that's actually really nice. "You like this?" Ramil asks me.

"Yeah." I say, looking it up and down. It's a slightly dark green shirt with a black globe and a white word in it: "SE7EN". "The 'seven' is pretty random, though." I say.

"Honestly, I've got no idea what that's about, but it looks pretty cool!" Ramil says. He puts it back and pulls out another one. Its bigger, probably two sizes up. "Come on, the fitting rooms are back here." Ramil says. I follow him to the fitting rooms, and he hands me the shirt and says "Try it on."

"Huh?" I ask.

"I don't need a new shirt. It's for you." Ramil says.

"O-okay." I say. I walk into the fitting room and switch what I'm wearing for the shirt Ramil found. It fits perfectly, and looks pretty good. I step out of the room and show Ramil. "You look great!" He says, and it kinda throws me off. It's really not something I hear a lot.

"Ahh, thanks." I say. I reach back in and grab my jacket. "I'm gonna leave this on." I say, putting my jacket back on.

"Good. Your other shirt was thoroughly shredded." Ramil says, and we turn to walk out. As we exit the store, I hear a growl to my left before seeing an Eldritch pounce at us from the corner of my eye. I quickly throw my hand onto Ramil's chest and jump back, pulling him backwards as well. The Eldritch moves right past us as Ramil regains his balance. "Holy- what the hell!?" He shouts.

"We almost just got ambushed just now." I say. "The piece of shit was hiding just outside the entrance."

"Woah, thanks for the save." Ramil says, pulling out his spear. "Let's fuck it up."

"Agreed." I say. I grab my hammer and we run out. It comes for us, but we both move left. It turns around, but is immediately met with a spear to its face. I follow the attack by throwing my hammer into its chin as hard as I can. Its chin flies off its head, and it falls and dies. Ramil stares at the dead body, then looks to me. "I was trying to knock it over the railing." I say, putting my hammer away.

"Well, I sure won't be getting on your bad side." Ramil says. "Wanna head to Rue 22?"

"Uh, sure." I say. We carefully walk to Rue, looking out for any other Eldritch trying to surprise us. We safely make it to the store without being attacked, and Ramil looks around. "I forgot a majority of this stuff is pretty feminine." Ramil says. We hear a lot of growling and I slowly look outside the store. "Its coming from downstairs." I inform Ramil.

"Do you think they know we're up here?" He asks.

"Most likely not, but they'll probably be heading up here either way." I say.

"Alright, I think it's time to leave, then." Ramil says, grabbing his weapon.

"Yeah, this wasn't the best idea." We exit the store and look over the railing. We can still hear growling, but neither of us can see where it's coming from. "Shit." I say, scanning the ground level.

"Let's go ahead and make our way to the exit." Ramil says. We speedwalk to the upper level entrance as the smell of rotting corpses grows stronger. I begin to hold my breath, but it makes my torso throb. "Why does it smell so bad over here?" I say, feeling puke in my throat.

"We're passing Dillan's, so a lot of people got killed here, I guess." Ramil says. We hear growls get louder, and I look behind us. Nothing. Suddenly, Ramil pushes me back as an Eldritch flies past me and through the railing. I catch myself and say "Thanks."

"Come on." He says, and we run to the upper entrance. We leave the store, but the growls don't stop. The Eldritch get closer, but turn around after the rain hits them. Ramil sighs and says "This outing kinda sucked. Wanna head home?" He asks. I want to say yes, but I still want to spend more time with him. We didn't even talk much. I won't force him to do something he doesn't want to, though. "Do you want to?" I ask. The rain slows down.

"Choose for yourself. I'll do what ever you do." He says.

"I wouldn't mind staying out a bit longer." I say.

"Alright. Where to?" Ramil asks.

"Maybe the park?" I suggest.

"Sure." He says, and we go on our way. The walk is quiet, and I watch Ramil look around to make sure there aren't any hidden Eldritch around. He's pretty vigilant, fixating on the slightest amount of movement. His eyes are such a bright purple, it's hard to not admire them. I guess this is how Lauryn felt when she saw mine. I wonder if Ramil feels the same. "Hey, are you staring at me?" Ramil asks. He doesn't sound mad, though.

"Shit, sorry." I say. "I wasn't trying to be rude."

"Oh, it's alright! I just realized it." Ramil says.

"Oh. Also, I wanted to ask you something." I remember. "What's up with your outfit? Not saying it's bad, just wondering."

"Let's see." Ramil starts. "Uh, the coat is a birthday gift from my girlfriend. I'd been wearing these sweatpants when this all started and never changed them, and I just grabbed these boots after my shoes got messed up." He answers.

"Got it." I say. The coat's from his girlfriend? That was nice. I kinda wanna ask him more about her, but I don't want to make him uncomfortable. The rain finally goes away once we reach the park. As we look around, I realize just how bad of an idea this was. There are dead bodies littered everywhere, both of adults and children. "Shit, I didn't think about this.." I say, scratching my head. I look at Ramil, who just stares. He pops his lips and says "Let's just head home."