By the ti Magnus reached Hanford City, darkness had already swallowed the sky. Alone, he moved in silence. On the outskirts, he found piles of corpses chewed through by spider-centipedes. Many bodies had gunshot wounds - likely the work of Emily and her group.
Judging by how much had been ripped from the flesh, they’d been dead at least a day.
He glanced up. No moon tonight. In this apocalypse, no streetlights, no lit hos - just a thick, pressing black. He could barely see his hand in front of him. Everything felt warped, hazy.
Slipping into the city, he scouted two residential blocks. No sign of life. Abandoned cars were pushed up onto sidewalks - clear traces of a massive convoy.
Outside an Adidas clothing store, a black Passat sat crumpled, wrecked beyond shape. Webs clung everywhere - from buildings to streets - spider-centipedes squatting on walls and pavent. Magnus wasn’t rattled. Not with the tal Crystal coursing through him. But his thumb told a different story - the golden light there was fading fast. Ti on the crystal was almost up.
He climbed into the back of the ruined Passat, pulled a new tal Crystal from his space and crushed it in one hand to recharge.
Just as he steadied his breath, sothing snagged his attention - barely audible whispers from the clothing store. Faint and fleeting. He strained to listen again. Nothing.
Sothing was off. The store’s rolling gate was shut, yet its lock was broken. If soone had searched this place, they wouldn’t bother closing it behind them. But here it was - sealed tight.
Yanking up the gate, Magnus flicked on his flashlight. The glass inside the doorway had been shattered. Inside, dead quiet. No movent at all.
He pulled the gate back down behind him. Soone was definitely here. The last thing he needed was to stumble into a room full of infected while soone needed saving.
The beam from his flashlight cut through the gloom. The store was in shambles. Most of the shirts, likely torn off mannequins as neck guards, were gone. A few single basketball shoes scattered about - display pieces, not pairs.
He moved down the line of fitting rooms, knocking, pushing open doors. Nothing. To the right, stairs led up to the second-floor storage.
Upstairs, he scanned the windows - makeshift coverings blocked them out. Boxes slamd against the fras like a barricade.
"Co out. I’m not here to hurt anyone."
Magnus directed his light to one corner - piled trash, broken planks, so display shelves. He walked over, yanked two crooked shelves aside, nudged the junk pile with his boot.
Nothing.
Confused, he frowned. Had he gotten it wrong?
Then his eyes narrowed. Those cardboard boxes on the windows - who uses boxes to block a window?
He swung the beam back to the window, strode over, and yanked the boxes away.
A piercing scream burst out from behind it - a woman’s voice.
"Down here. All of you! Co down!"
Magnus had been prepared for this. His flashlight beam lit up the three won crouched by the window. The pane had been sealed up with wooden boards, and they’d stacked large cardboard boxes around it for cover. That’s probably why the Ridgebreak Battalion had passed through without spotting them.
The three girls trembled as they climbed down. One of them couldn’t help glancing toward another boarded-up window. Magnus followed her gaze. More cardboard blocked that one too...
Six girls in total, young, all seated in a line near the window, heads hanging low. Magnus shone the flashlight across their faces, voice cold and to the point. "I’ll keep this short. Answer a few questions and I’ll leave. You can go back to hiding here."
"First - has a large military group rolled into Hanford recently? Or have they been stationed here all along?"
"I know!" one girl said, raising her hand. But the light hit her eyes - she quickly ducked her head again. Magnus turned the beam toward the ceiling.
"What do you know?" he asked.
She looked up hesitantly. "A week ago, soldiers suddenly flooded into the city. Lots of trucks. They took people... kidnapped them. We saw through the cracks - so many got dragged away. n who fought back got killed. The won... they took them."
"How many soldiers?"
She shook her head. "I don’t know. Just... a lot."
"Do you know where they’re staying?"
Another head shake. But then the girl next to her chid in, "We think they went to Hanford Advanced Finance College. I studied there. The campus was secure. Our principal made sure we locked it down tight..."
The girl talked for several minutes. Magnus listened quietly, then nodded. "Got it. Thanks. I’ll head there and take a look."
He turned to go, but the girl who spoke earlier suddenly called out, "Wait - sir, wait!"
He stopped and looked back. She had stood up for a mont, but now she crouched again, voice trembling, eyes pleading. "Do you... have any food? We haven’t eaten in days..."
Food - he had that. Cans, bottled water, chocolate, jerky... all stored in his space. Seeing how desperate they were, he tilted the flashlight away, shielding his movents. Then he took out ten cans, several bars of chocolate and beef jerky, and a full crate of mineral water. When he lit up the supplies on the ground, the six girls sprang up at once, eyes locked on the stash, gulping hungrily.
They were starving. The sa girl pointed at the food and asked softly, "Mister... is this really for us?"
"Yeah. Eat," Magnus said, lightly nudging the water crate forward with his foot.
If he weren’t in such a rush to rescue soone, he might’ve considered bringing these girls into the Ice Regint.
Thinking this, he added, "I’ve got sothing to do now. But if you ever feel like you can’t survive out here, you’re welco to join our team. We’re mostly won - "
He suddenly paused, a thought hitting him. He glanced at the girls.
"From the ti those monsters showed up till now... what’ve you been eating?"
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