After an improvised meeting, the supermarket turned into a military camp. Men built barricades, women organized supplies and an improvised medical center, children clinged to their parents, and elderly people settled on folding chairs in the center of the hall, away from windows and doors.
Alexander watched all this from the outside, leaning against the wall at the electronics department. He mechanically stroked his palm with his fingers, from which an electric discharge had recently escaped. The ability to control electricity is not so bad. Especially against organic creatures. But far from omnipotence.
"It's strange," he thought, "how quickly people adapt to a nightmare. An hour ago they were ordinary commoners, and now they are already distributing responsibilities, building survival plans. Evolution in action - either adapt or die."
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Mrs. Carmodi, who was sitting surrounded by a small group of people, reading the Bible aloud. Her voice, soft, but shrill, was heard in the hall:
- "And I saw a beast coming out of the sea... And the dragon gave him his strength and his throne and great power..."
"It's already starting," Alexander thought with irritation. "Religious hysteria is the last thing we need now."
Having separated from the wall, he went to David, who, together with the mechanic Jim and a few other men, was finishing strengthening the showcase at the entrance.
- How's it going? - Alexander asked.
David straightened up, wiping the sweat from his forehead:
- I think it will withstand... at least from something the size of that tentacle. But if something bigger decides to break inside...
He didn't finish the phrase, but it was clear anyway.
- Where is your son? - Alexander asked, looking around.
- With Mrs. Reppler and other children, - David nodded towards the school teacher who organized something like a play corner for children. - She said it's better to occupy them with something so they don't panic.
Alexander nodded approvingly:
- A reasonable woman.
They were silent, looking at the white veil outside the window. Its density did not allow to see even the nearest cars in the parking lot.
- What do you think, - David finally asked quietly, - what's up with my wife? With Amanda?
Alexander tensed up internally. Here it is. The main reason why the finale of the film was so tragic. David couldn't stop thinking about his wife who stayed in their house.
- I don't know, - he answered honestly. - But now we need to focus on those we can definitely save. In public here. On your son.
David pursed his lips, but nodded:
- You're right. It's just... hard.
- I know, - Alexander said, and a note slipped in his voice that he himself did not expect - something reminiscent of sympathy. - But we will do everything right. I promise.
He didn't know why he said that. During his life, Alexander Fable did not make a single promise that he was going to keep. But now something has changed. Perhaps the Devil's game touched some strings of his soul, the existence of which he himself did not suspect.
Their conversation was interrupted by a scream from the meat department:
- WHAT THE FUT IS THIS?!
Everyone turned around. A young employee of the store, pale as a canvas, pointed to something in the refrigerator.
Alexander and David quickly went there. The crowded people parted, giving them a passage.
In the twilight of the refrigerating chamber, between the suspended carcasses, fog seeped through the crack in the back wall. And with it - dozens of tiny creatures similar to a mixture of spiders and scorpions. Each the size of a palm is no bigger, but with long thin limbs and chitinous shells.
"What the fuck," whispered someone next to Alexander.
- Close the door! - David ordered. - Don't let them out!
But it was late. The creatures, noticing people, quickly moved to the exit from the refrigerator. The first ones had already crossed the threshold and crawled on the floor of the supermarket.
People withdreed in a panic. Someone screamed. A young woman with a child stumbled and fell, and several spider-like creatures instantly rushed to her.
Alexander acted instinctively. Stepping forward, he stretched out his hand, concentrating on the sensation he had experienced earlier when he electrocuted the tentacle. Electricity. Energy. Discharge.
This time it turned out to be easier. As if the body has already memorised the algorithm. Blue sparks danced between his fingers, and then rushed to the nearest creature.
The creature instantly squanched, making a high-preed scream. There was smoke from it, and then the chitin shell cracked, exposing the charred insides.
Alexander didn't stop. With the next movement, he directed a more powerful discharge to a group of creatures gathered at the feet of the fallen woman. The electric arc discharge pierced the air and hit the thick of the creatures, turning them into smoking debris.
"God's right," exhaled someone behind.
Alexander continued to methodically destroy the creatures, feeling a strange mixture of disgust and gloomy satisfaction. Each category became more accurate, more and more controlled. He literally felt this ability become an extension of his body.
After a few minutes, all visible creatures were destroyed. The air was filled with the smell of ozone and burnt flesh.
David approached the refrigerator with a fire extinguisher in his hands:
- We need to plug this hole," he said. - Otherwise, they will continue to climb.
Several men nodded and started quickly looking for materials to block the gap. Alexander stepped aside, suddenly feeling weak. The use of the ability obviously required energy.
People looked at him with awe. Some whispered, throwing oblique glances. Mrs. Carmodi, standing in the distance, drilled him with a look full of undisguised hostility.
- Devilish bastard, - he heard her whisper. - The offspring of darkness.
Alexander grinned and winked at her, which only increased her righteous anger.
David came up to him with a bottle of water:
- Are you okay?
Alexander took a bottle and took a few greedy sips:
- It's been worse, - he replied, wiping his mouth. - But this ability clearly consumes my internal resource.
- Where did you get this... power? - David asked quietly, looking back so that they wouldn't be overheard.
Alexander thought about it. He couldn't tell the truth, but he didn't want to lie frankly.
- Let's say, - he finally said, - I made a deal with a creature that is much scarier than these creatures. And the price was... significant.
David looked at him carefully, as if trying to understand if Alexander was joking.
- And for what?
Alexander looked away:
- For the sake of a second chance. Opportunities to fix... some things.
He did not add that "some things" included saving David's own family from a terrible fate.
***
The next few hours passed in relative calm. The breach in the refrigerator was sealed using metal shelves and scotch tape. Distributed duty at all possible entrances. We organized an improvised kitchen to prepare food from available products.
Alexander used this time to better study the layout of the supermarket and estimate the resources. If the memory of the movie did not let him go, there was a long night ahead and an even harder day.
He also observed how the dynamics in the group change. Informal leaders and outcasts have already been formed. David, with his calm confidence, naturally became one of the leaders. Mrs. Carmody gathered around her a small but loyal group of followers who listened to her every word about God's wrath and the Day of Judgment.
"People need a structure," Alexander thought, sitting on an improvised post at the emergency exit. - "Hierarchy. System of beliefs. Anything, just not to face the chaos."
His thoughts were interrupted by Billy, David's son, who timidly approached him with a sandwich in his hand.
- Mr. Fable? - the boy called uncertainly. - Dad said you must have been hungry.
Alexander took the sandwich in surprise:
- Thank you, Billy.
The boy did not leave, as Alexander expected, but remained standing next to him, obviously wanting to ask something.
- What is it? - Alexander asked, biting off a piece. The bread was a little stale, but in general the taste was not bad.
- These monsters... - Billy started. - Did they kill my mother?
Alexander froze with a sandwich at his mouth. That's the straightforwardness, typical for children. And what to answer him?
- I don't know, Billy, - he finally said, deciding not to give false hopes. - But your father is very strong and smart. And if there is even the slightest chance to help your mother, we will do it.
The boy's face cleared up a little:
- Really?
Alexander nodded:
- True. Now go to Mrs. Reppler, okay? I need to think about something.
Billy ran away, and Alexander leaned back on the chair, feeling strange. He has never been good at communicating with children. And with people in general, for that matter. Life has taught him that attachments are a weakness that is necessarily used against you.
But now, in this surreal situation, something has changed. He began to feel... responsibility? For these people? For the boy?
"Don't be stupid," he pulled himself away. - "It's just a task. Do it and move on."
The evening slowly passed into night. Nothing was visible from the outside, except for the same white veil, now illuminated only by emergency lights of the supermarket. Shades of different sizes flashed in the fog from time to time as creatures that seemed to patrol the territory.
- It's like they're looking for an entrance, - David said quietly, joining Alexander at the window. - They're checking the perimeter.
- Reasonable creatures, - Alexander nodded. - Or at least having basic predator instincts.
- Do you think they will leave?
Alexander shook his head:
- No. We are like a can of food for them. They will circle around until they find a way to get to the contents.
David nodded darkly:
- That's what I thought. You know, I... - he didn't finish the phrase, suddenly getting wary. - Do you hear that?
Alexander listened. At first, he caught nothing but muffled conversations of people and the hum of generators. But then... A sight rustling, grinding, as if something was scratching the glass. And not in one place - the sound was heard from all sides.
- Fuck, - Alexander exhaled, leaving the window. - EVERYTHING BACK FROM THE WINDOWS! - he shouted.
People looked in his direction anxiously, but before someone could move from the place, there was a ringing of broken glass. One of the large windows of the supermarket flew to pieces, and a mist flowed inside, and with it - dozens of insect-like creatures.
They were the size of a large rat, with many paws covered with sharp spines and long flexible tails, at the ends of which stings were visible. Their bodies, covered with shiny chitin, moved rapidly along the floor, walls and even the ceiling.
People screamed. Panic began.
- To the center of the hall! - David commanded, grabbing the nearest child and pulling him away from the window. - Stick together!
Alexander rushed to the broken window, where the creatures continued to penetrate inside. After concentrating, he released a powerful electric discharge, which passed through a group of creatures, causing them to curl up and fall to the floor.
But there were too many of them, and they were moving too fast. One of the creatures slipped past his protection and clung to the young woman's hand with its sharp paws. She screamed, trying to shake off the creature, but the creature only plunged its thorns deeper into her flesh.
Alexander rushed to her, grabbed the creature with his bare hand and passed the charge of electricity through it. The creature was smoky and fainted, but the woman continued to scream, looking at her hand, which began to swell and blush.
- Poison, - Alexander understood. - They have poisonous thorns.
Meanwhile, a few more windows flew to pieces, and even more creatures burst inside. People repelled them with everything they could get their hands on: mops, sticks, cans of canned food.
Alexander continued to methodically destroy creatures, sending discharges with increasing accuracy. But there were so many of them that he understood: sooner or later his energy would run out.
David, armed with a long metal stick, fought off the creatures, trying to make his way to his son, who was cut off from the main group together with Mrs. Reppler.
- I need help! - he shouted to Alexander.
Alexander nodded and moved towards him, destroying several more creatures on the way. Together they created a corridor to Billy and the teacher, allowing them to join the main group.
- We need to lock the windows! - said David, breathing heavily.
- I'll take care of the creatures, you organize the defense, - Alexander replied, feeling his strength gradually dry up.
The next twenty minutes turned into a real hell. Alexander rushed around the supermarket, destroying the creatures with his electric discharges. David and other men blocked broken windows with everything they could find: boards, cardboard, metal sheets.
Finally, the stream of creatures began to dry up. The last creatures that broke through were destroyed, and all possible entrances were barricaded.
Alexander, feeling very tired, fell to the floor, leaning against the counter. David approached him with a bottle of water and an energy bar:
- You saved many of us," he said, holding out water. - Thank you.
Alexander nodded silently, taking a big sip. His gaze slid through the hall, assessing the losses. Two dead - an elderly man and a teenager, who were overtaken by creatures before they could run to the center of the hall. Several wounded, including a woman with a swollen hand, who was now moaning quietly, lying on an improvised couch.
"It could have been worse," he thought. "Much worse."
But he knew it was just the beginning. There was another attack in the movie - more deadly.
- How are your... strength? - David asked quietly, sitting down next to him. - You look exhausted.
- That's right, - Alexander answered honestly. - It's not an infinite resource. I need to recover.
- How long?
- I don't know. I've never used them before... so intensely.
David frowned:
- But you can handle it if they come back, right?
Alexander would like to give an affirmative answer, but he couldn't lie:
- I'm not sure. It depends on what will appear next time.
David nodded, accepting the uncertainty of the answer:
- Then we need to find other ways of protection. Something that could...
He was interrupted by a cry from the pharmacy department:
- OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THIS?!
Everyone turned to the source of the cry. A young guy, one of the store workers, pointed to the ceiling where something was moved in the ventilation grille.
Before anyone had time to react, the lattice fell to the floor with a bang, and a creature similar to a giant dragonfly with a body the size of a cat and a wingspan of about a meter flew out of the hole. She was followed by several more of the same ones.
- LIE DOWN! - David shouted, and the people instinctively bent down when the first creature with a piercing scream swept over their heads.
Alexander jumped to his feet, preparing to release another category, but immediately realized that flying creatures were a completely different problem. They moved too fast and chaotically to aim.
- We need a weapon! - he shouted. - Something with a long handle!
People rushed to look for suitable objects. David grabbed a mop, Jim grabbed a metal pipe, Mrs. Repler armed herself with a tennis racket, which she found in the sports department.
One of the flying creatures was at a group of people crowding at the cash register. There was a scream, and a middle-aged man fell, grabbing his neck, from which blood was whipping. The creature, having made a circle, rushed to him again, but David managed to drive him away, waving a mop.
Alexander focused on the nearest creature, which hung at the ceiling, as if choosing a victim. Raising his hand, he directed a discharge into it, but the creature, as if sensing danger, abruptly changed the trajectory, and the electricity went into the void.
"Damn, they're fast," Alexander thought. "And they seem to feel electric fields."
One of the creatures suddenly came right at him. Alexander barely had time to bend down, and the creature swept over his head, hitting his shoulder with a razor-sharp wing. He felt the fabric of the coat tearing, and a burning pain running over the skin.
- Shit! - he cursed, pressing his hand to the wound.
The creature turned around and flew to him again. This time Alexander was ready. Instead of aiming at the creature itself, he released a wide electric discharge, creating a kind of network in the air.
The flying creature got right into this invisible trap. The discharge pierced her thin wings and chitinous body, turning it into a burning lump that collapsed on the floor.
- That's it, - Alexander exhaled. - We need not to aim, but to create a field.
He tried to apply the same tactics to other creatures, but with less success. His strength decreased, and the creatures seemed to learn from the mistakes of their fellows, avoiding the places where he created electric traps.
One of the creatures attacked Billy, who was hiding under the table. David rushed to his son with a scream, waving his mop, but he didn't have time. Alexander, without hesitation, rushed forward, intercepting the creature on the fly. His hand wrapped around the chitinous body, and he instantly released the discharge, feeling the creature burn in his grip.
But in the next second, another creature pointed at him from behind, and Alexander felt a sharp pain between his shoulder blades. He fell to his knees, swearing through his teeth.
- Alexander! - David shouted, running up to him.
The creature attacked again, but at that moment Jim, swinging the pipe like a baseball bat, shot him down in flight. The creature collapsed on the floor, and David immediately finished it off, brazing her head with a mop.
- How are you? - he asked, helping Alexander to get up.
- I'll live, - he strained, feeling blood flowing down his back. - But I don't have enough strength for everyone.
- I have an idea, - David suddenly said. - These creatures fly, so they must have a high need for oxygen.
Alexander immediately understood what he was going to do:
- Aerosol and lighter?
David nodded:
- Exactly. There should be cans of insecticides or air fresheners in the utility department.
- Then let's get down to business," Alexander said, straightening up despite the pain.
They quickly found the necessary. Armed with cans and lighters, they began to methodically destroy flying creatures. Alexander, saving the remaining forces, created small electric discharges to distract creatures and direct them into traps, where David and others met them with jets of flame.
Gradually, the number of creatures decreased. Some, realizing the danger, tried to return to the ventilation shaft, but Jim, climbing the ladder, blocked this path, destroying them one by one.
Finally, the last creature was destroyed. People, exhausted but alive, began to assess the losses and help the wounded.
Alexander, feeling squeezed like a lemon, sat down on a chair by the wall. Each movement was given by back pain, where the creature left a deep wound.
David approached him with a first aid kit:
- Let me see your back.
Alexander reluctantly took off his coat and shirt, frowning in pain. The wound between the shoulder blades was deep, but, fortunately, it did not touch anything vital.
- It looks lousy, - David said honestly, starting to treat the wound with an antiseptic. - But you'll live.
"What a relief," Alexander sarcastically remarked.
David grinned, sticking a large plaster on the wound:
- You know, you're quite vulnerable for a man with devilish powers.
Alexander hummed:
- The devil doesn't give anything for free. Especially invulnerability.
They were silent, watching people put in order the destroyed hall, drag the bodies of the killed creatures away and close the ventilation holes with everything that comes to hand.
- We can't go on like this forever, - David finally said. - Sooner or later they will find a way to break through our barricades. Or they'll just wait until we run out of food.
Alexander nodded thoughtfully:
- I know. We need a plan.
- What's the plan? - David asked. - Sit here and wait for salvation? Or try to get out?
Alexander looked into his eyes:
- You're thinking about your wife, right? About getting to her?
David looked away:
- Yes. I know what you said is suicide. But I can't just sit here and do nothing.
Alexander was silent for a long time, thinking about the options. He knew how the movie ended. I knew what kind of tragedy awaits David if events take their course. But how to change history?
- Listen, - he finally said. - I have an idea. But it will be risky.
David looked at him carefully:
- I'm ready to take a risk. Especially if there is a chance to save Amanda.
Alexander nodded:
- Good. But first we need to rest. Restore strength. And I need to check something.
- What exactly?
Alexander smiled mysteriously:
- Let's say, I want to know how far my... abilities extend.
***
The night was relatively calm. The creatures did not make any new attempts to get inside, as if giving people a break - or, more likely, preparing for a new, more massive attack.
People settled down for the night, using everything they could find: sleeping bags from the tourist department, blankets, even clothes wrapped in improvised pillows.
Alexander didn't sleep. He was sitting by the window, looking into the white veil of the fog and thinking about his strange position. Yesterday he was dead, his soul belonged to the Devil. And today he fights monsters from a horror movie, trying to save people who in another reality were just characters.
"It's funny," he thought. "I've only taken care of myself all my life. And now, after death, I suddenly start to worry about others."
He looked at the sleeping Billy, who curled up next to his father. A child who, in the original version, was to die at the hands of his own father.
"No," Alexander decided. "It won't happen. Not this time."
His attention was attracted by the traffic at the entrance to the supermarket. Looking closely, he saw a strange figure - tall, thin, with long limbs. The creature carefully studied the barricade, as if assessing its strength.
"Scout," Alexander understood. "They're preparing for a new attack."
He quietly stood up and came closer to the window, trying not to wake up the sleeping people. The creature outside seemed to feel his presence and turned its head - if it could be called a head - in his direction.
Alexander couldn't see his eyes, but for some reason he was sure that the creature was looking straight at him. There was no hatred or malice in this look - only the cold, detached curiosity of a predator studying potential prey.
"Tomorrow will be a hard day," Alexander thought, returning to his seat. "Perhaps the decisive one."
He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and began to mentally form a plan. The plan that was supposed to change the end of this story.