Final Night

I slowly wake up, still exhausted from last night's shift. The cold creeps in and it takes any warmth that remained, not that this shack of a house could hold on to any warmth. Without needing to look at the old clock, I know it was one o’clock in the afternoon. As I begin to stand from my futon, I feel the soreness of my body and the aches from my wounds. In the mirror, purple spots can be seen through my undershirt. “Tonight’s the night”, I thought to myself out loud. I slowly get ready for the rest of my day.

I stick my head out my broken window to look at the sky of screens, which has been grey because of the eternal ash. However today it has become a darker grey, and I feel natural snow fall into my face. I dread the fact that winter is coming, and I can only hope whoever is above those screens doesn't send anything down to us. I shift through what little I have to put on my shoes, and then put on the warmest jacket I have and leave the shack. The cold air hits, and after some adjustment I see other shacks like mine; old and breaking down with scorch marks littering the sides. I begin to walk to the community center to get some food for lunch. When I ran into one of my neighbors. A tall woman with red hair and a half human and half snake body.

“Ah, good day Blaine”, the woman says.

“Good day to you too, Sylvie”, I reply.

“If you’re going to the community center, may we go together?”

“Sure thing.”

Sylvie was one of the few neighbors who talked to me, it feels warm when she does. She’s wearing heavy clothing to keep herself warm. More people like her arrived over the week, these people share a mythical beast like connection. Sylvie is a lamia, a snake person who has snake legs, but has a more humanoid torso and face. Hence why she’s completely covered with only her red hair visible from her hoodie. They differ from us humans, but no one can deny we share the same sense of humanity. Those who try to deny it only caused more chaos and destruction, and we had enough of that. I still have nightmares about that cursed night.

Sylvie asks, “How was work last night?”

“Overall it was fine,” I say.

“I know you are not allowed to talk about work,” Sylvie says with a sigh, “but come on, please tell me more.”

“You know I can’t tell you more even if I wanted to. Besides, why do you want to know so badly?”

“Because I can tell that you are hurt, and it worries me to think that you have to go to that place alone.”

“I’m not alone. Beowulf takes me there.”

“But he doesn’t stay with you…”

“True…”

Sylvie grabs my hand and it is cold, “I don’t want to lose you. You are very precious to me.”

I squeeze her hand oblivious to the romantic gesture, and I try to warm her, “Thank you, you are too.”

“I’m glad we finally made it to a peaceful time.”

“Yeah, no more worrying about extremists trying to divide us and get us killed,” I say. As the snow falls, I feel the warmest I have ever been. The cracks in the fresh snow is the only noise we can hear. I want this walk to last for a lot longer, Sylvie makes me feel positive.

Twenty minutes of walking and talking pass and we arrived at the community center, and there is a long line for the lunch rush. A week ago I would’ve been in the Slum line with Sylvie, but with the current job I have my lunch with my coworkers.

“Gotta go”, I say and before I can say another word.

“Can you come with me to help get supplies? I-I know you’ve been working nights and the time to get supplies is in the morning”, Sylvie says nervously.

“I’m down, just don’t expect me to be too chatty.”

“Thank you. I just- I just feel more comfortable going with you.”

“Is someone picking on you?”

“No, nothing like that I promise. Those types of humans and Xenos have been banished already.”

“Okay, just checking. See ya tomorrow.”

“See you soon.”

I walk to go around the community center to get to a ladder on the side of the building. Climbing the leader leads to an open window, where you can hear laughter. As I climb in the window like a monkey, I can see over the wooden wall that surrounds this town. In the distance, I see the old damaged mall; back in the day, the Willomat Mall was a great place to hang out with friends and had plenty of shops that fulfill anything that you want. Today is going to be a foggy day, hopefully it doesn’t affect the night. As I get to the window, I feel the warmth of the room in an instant. I can never get used to that. The room was spacious and there were nice tables spread around the room with folding chairs. In the center of the room there is a small fireplace, it is a popular spot for many kids to meet up with their friends. I sit at the furthest table from the fireplace.

A human man with ginger hair sits next to me holding two bowls of oatmeal, “Still can’t get used to the fire?”, he asks sarcastically as he passes me a bowl and spoon.

“You know I can’t Jimmothy. That night is forever trapped in my nightmares”, I said with a deadpan tone.

“I know, I know. You got a really bad case of pyrophobia dude.”

“It’s more rare to see humans with a low case, like you.”

“Right, right. Just for the record, as a Searcher how are you feeling? These past two nights have been rough on you.”

I lean on the table, “I’m fine, more sleepy than anything.”

Jimmothy sits down, “Same response as last time, but I guess it’s not too surprising. But off the record tho, how do you feel about this being the last night?”

“Good, the pay is going to feel great. I could probably afford some furniture.” I chuckle. However, Jimmothy didn’t laugh and was looking at me with concern.

“How many close calls are you having?”, Jimmothy asked

“None, they do keep me on my toes. Those things are ruthless”, I replied.

“Have your nightmares gotten worse?”

I don’t want to answer that question, especially not to him. While he is my friend, he is also technically my boss; it was Jimmothy that got me this job and I don’t want him to worry about what has been happening in the mall. How this job did indeed made my nightmares worse; those things in the mall try to kill me, those demons. However, he shouldn’t blame himself for this; this job is very important. We need the supplies in the mall, the night shift is a precaution to make sure no vandal comes in, make a threat assessment, and note down what is there. After a brief pause, I say.

“Nope, it's the same as that night.”

“Are you sure?”, Jimmothy asks.

“Yes, and if we are talking about nights. Did you find someone who will join me?”

“Unfortunately, no. People are too scared of the dangers.”

“Ahhh, of course. Obviously.”

“Well, Sarah did train you well. There has to be some solace there?”

“The reason why she is not here is because of her leg injuries.”

“Right.”

“It is hard to manage the generator's power, since everything uses it as a power source. If it had more power we would have more survivors, because we would be able to close the door and be safe.”

“Unfortunately, that is the only one we have.”

“Jimbo!”, a loud voice pierced our ears. We turn around and see a tall man with dreadlocks that look like tree roots. He seems to be carrying two of his children, while his wife follows behind them with their food.

“Hey Zay”, Jimmothy says casually.

“Hi Zayvion”, I say a bit awkwardly.

It was chaotic, settling down rowdy children and getting them to eat their food was rough to see. I have respect for Zayvion and especially his wife, Tanya, since she’s the one who takes the most care of them. I begin to zone out and focus on my food and just eat; Jimmothy and Zayvion’s conversation gets sucked into the white noise. Zayvion is a part of the day crew, they are the ones who explore the mall during the day and get supplies. I’ve read that in order to be a part of the day crew, you need to be able to run fast while carrying heavy loads. It is a hard team to get into, but if you can then you get a good check. While the night crew gets paid more, no one wants to have the job I have and people want to have that fame of exploration. Hence, I am the only one who does nights.

As I eat my food, I feel that one of the kids stare lasers at me. I look up and both children are staring at me; thinking about it now, I don’t think any of the kids have ever met me. I don’t know what to say or do anything entertaining to them. In my mental panic, a cold breeze passes through the window. It doesn’t really bother me anymore and the room is warm enough either way. However, the cold air makes one of the children shiver and start to complain to the parents.

“We can go near the fireplace and warm up a bit. Daddy has to talk to these gentlemen”, Tanya says.

“Why are you so far from the fire mister?”, says the child sitting directly in front of me.

“That question is a little too personal to ask sweetie.”

“But, why?”

“You see Sunny. Things were different back in the day”, Zayvion explains, “The buildings weren’t broken, plants looked beautiful, and there was no danger lurking. It was a peaceful time.”

“Did something bad happen?”, Sunny asked.

“One day, there was a fire. That fire burned our world and many people couldn’t handle what happened. It’s something that you will learn later, it’s too scary for kiddos like you.”

That brief explanation made both children look at me again, this time looking guilty for asking a bad question. I know that if I don’t say anything it’ll ruin their day. Plus, I remember what a teacher once said, “Don’t kill curiosity, make it safe to explore.”

“It’s fine. The world did get a lot more mysterious”, I say trying to reassure the children.

“How come?”, both Sunny and his sister Cynthia ask.

“Well, it was a while after the fire when we learned that there were other people aside from us.”

“The monsters?”, Cynthia asked.

“They’re not monsters, don’t call them that. They want to be called Xenos.”

The children leaned even closer to the table, wanting to hear more even against the cold. However, they were getting too cold and I can feel Tanya staring daggers at me hinting me to stop. After some convincing, Tanya and the kids left to get closer to the fire to warm up. I continue to eat, the cold air has taken any warmth my food had, there was a silence between the three of us. Eventually, Zayvion spoke up “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, they’re just kids. Plus, they weren’t around when everything went down.”

“Thanks Blainie.”

I give him the disappointed teacher look, he knows I don’t like nicknames.

“You have something for us Zay”, Jimmothy says.

“Right”, Zayvion says as he grabs a piece of paper from his pocket, "this is a list of things we got from the new area of the mall.” They were able to get loads of supplies ranging from warm clothes to canned goods. “Since this is what we have, we need Blainie here to check if there is more for us to find.”

“Including any threats that didn’t show up when you guys went?”, I say.

“Yup.”

“This is your last night, so we need you to be attentive and safe”, Jimmothy says.

“How aggressive have they gotten?”, I asked.

“This is the most aggressive that we have ever recorded. So much so that we are giving you a rifle and extra energy”, Zayvion says. My eyes widen, guns have become rare over time. Not because it is difficult to make guns, it’s just impossible to make more bullets; all the world's gunpowder has burned away during the fire. With the fall of guns, the resurgence of martial weapons rose dramatically. In a sense, we have gone back in time.

“It has gotten that bad”, I say.

“Yeah. So please, make your shots count Blainie”, Zayvion demanded gently.

“Right, go to the same spot and the carriage will take you to the mall. Just survive till 6am, save as much power and supplies as you can, and get out safely”, Jimmothy says seriously.

“I will, I always do”, I say. Zayvion leaves to his family, satisfied with how the briefing went. Jimmothy eventually left, since he had other managerial stuff to do, but I know he left unsatisfied. I know he wanted to talk to me more about my nights, but he knows I won’t talk about it. I finished my cold oatmeal, dropped off the bowl in the kitchen dirty dish box, and went to the ladder. I slid down the ladder, and started to walk to the carriage station. I am so early that professors in the world could be impressed; the station owner has a deal with the Searchers that allows the night crew to sleep there till they have to go. I arrived and the front desk already had a key waiting for me. I grabbed the key, went to a door, unlocked it, and went asleep in a pod bed.

A while has passed, and one of the employees wakes me up and tells me that the carriage is ready. I got up, grabbed a simple sandwich, and started walking to the correct gate. I feel refreshed, probably because I’ve gotten used to waking up around this time. I get there and the wagon is prepared. I climb in and get a clipboard that has a list of what should be with me in the wagon. I start to check the list of things like a lantern, charge port, taser staff (which is a taser strapped to a claw staff), crossbow rifle, bolts bullets, memory card, medkit. I check each box noting that everything is here, I also note how much charge and bullets I have. This is the most they’ve ever given me, I hope I can save as much as I can to get paid extra. I look at the rifle and can’t believe that someone willingly lent it to us. It was a classic rifle like the old cartoons just with a knife duct taped to the front of the barrel.

An old coot comes to me and says, “You know how-to shoot dat gun boy!”

“This will be the first time, sir.” I say politely.

“Make sure you bring dat gun back. I gotta bullet for the son of a bitch who destroyed our world waitin’ for em.”

“Will do,” I say. We know that the screens in the sky were made after the fire, what was surprising was how fast it was made. We believe that the scum who summoned the demons that night lives up there. This is backed up with the fact that anytime something strange is going on with the weather, the screen sky is usually the culprit. It feels like someone is intentionally made to screw us over specifically. Many say that when we finally see the bastard, anyone and everyone will try to kill them. The old man leaves and I begin to wait for the driver.

I only had to wait a minute and the driver was in the front ready to take me to the mall. The driver is a werewolf with black fur and blue sclera eyes; his clothes are much more basic than mine as he is wearing a white tank top and cargo shorts. “Hey Beowulf, how have you been?” I awkwardly tried to make small talk.

“Same old same old, time feels like it has been crawling.” Beowulf says while getting the horses to move.

“How does a war hero have so much regret in their eyes?”

“It happens when you either make the wrong choice or something happens that you can’t control.”

“Which one was it for you?”

“Who knows.”

“I’m sorry, I’m being too pushy.”

“It’s fine, in your position I’d ask the same. All I’ll tell you is that I am looking for someone.”

“Lover?”

“No, an old friend.”

Silence takes over, only the sound of hoofs and the wind can be heard. I just look at the scorched earth, some of the snow has stuck to the ground. Fallen buildings pass us as the horses race past broken items. Before I can say anything, Beowulf says “We’re here.”

I checked and we are in fact at the abandoned mall. I get off and get the supplies ready and on my back. “I’ll be back here at 6am sharp. Be ready, do your job, and most importantly don’t die!” Beowulf says while looking at me with a serious expression. I nod my head, we’ve been doing this song and dance for about a week. I walk to the ladder that reaches to the roof, I grab one rung Lykaon says, “There is more danger tonight, I can smell it. Be careful.”

Before I can say anything, Beowulf has already left. I can see him racing back to town to avoid staying out in the dark for too long. I lit the candle in the lantern and started climbing; I was grateful that the fog cleared up but as I got higher the colder it got. Doesn’t help that I am keeping the lantern on a stick, keeping it at my arm length as I climb. I get on the roof and I walk to a fake vent. This vent was specifically designed for people to climb in and out while making it not so obvious where the night crew’s location is. We don’t want any dangerous people coming and sneakily attacking us on the job. I get in the vent and slowly climb down, still keeping the lantern at a distance.

I climb down to an old store that has been repurposed for the night crew. This room has a desk in the center with many monitors, right next to the desk is a motor, in front of the desk is a large metal sliding door, and behind the desk is a vent. There are many small demons who can fit in that vent. I place down the lantern on the desk and look over the next page in the clipboard. I open the medkit and check on what was restocked. I load the rifle with blessed bullets, charge the taser staff to the allowed amount, and use the rest of the charge in the port for the battery in the motor. I write down, “I have been given fifteen bullets and twenty shocks for the night. The medkit has been fully restocked, and nothing has moved since last night.” I place the clipboard and medkit on the desk, and I left the staff and rifle on my side leaning on the desk. I inserted the memory card in a robot. This robot goes to places where there are no cameras so I can look for more supplies to get. With preparations done, I turn on the motor and blow out the candle in the lantern; it is 11PM.

I press a button on the desk and the monitors turn on, low electronic lights turn on in the shop, and both doors open. The robot leaves the room as I set it to go where there are no cameras. The fact that the doors open to save power isn’t new to me, but it always makes me nervous. Fortunately, nothing was waiting for me and I start looking around the cameras. I did a quick search on the old cameras to check if anything was missed from previous trips. Fortunately no, I wrote that down. I went to the cameras that were set up during the day shift, which is the first floor of the mall. Checking the cameras I note down stores that haven’t been explored or explored thoroughly. That’s when I see it.

A dark hole within an abandoned Sears, I note that there was nothing else of importance. Just like clock work, I begin to smell hell fire. I opened the medkit and took a pill to reduce my fear. For the entire week I didn’t know where the smell originated, now I can see that it comes from the dark hole. I immediately see hellhounds come out of the hole, since they were far away from me I check the other cameras. The usual suspects appear; animatronic and broken mannequins who have been possessed. I note down what I see and make a special note specifying that more of them have appeared. I keep an eye out for the mannequins, since they don’t move until they believe they aren’t being watched. Although, what made me nervous was that the demons and animatronics are closing in on my location faster than an ostrich.

Only three hours have pass, and I check specific cameras that had vents leading to the upper floors. These monsters are coming up to me fast, I see a hellhound going up a vent that specifically leads into the back vent of the store. I grabbed the rifle and turned around. As expected, the hellhound loudly climbs up the vent and greets me with a devilish grin. I take aim and fired the gun. A direct shot to the head made the demon immediately turn to ash. “Woah. This thing packs a punch,” I thought, I felt its power on my shoulder. I turn around and an animatronic jumped me. It bites and slashes me all while saying ‘It’s your fault’, I begin to bleed from my arms. I pushed it hard and grabbed the taser staff and shocked the animatronic. It screams in pain as it runs out of the building and falls to the first floor. In the front door I see three mannequins frozen waiting for me to look away.

I flipped a switch and the front door and vent door closes. Fully closed, the monsters that were at both doors smacked the door hard. I get gauze and wrapping tape from the medkit and start to patch myself up. I was halfway done with the patch up then I started to cry, “Why did I take this job? I should’ve just stayed home. I wish I could just sleep.” Tears flew like a pressurized pipe that just sprung a leak. How long was I ignoring this despair? Days, the whole week, weeks, months,... years? I lay down as the banging of the metal doors started to quiet. My thoughts go back in time, when was the last time I felt truly happy? When the fires came, nearly everyone I knew was gone, I tried to keep on living for their sake. After years of chaos have passed, I feel like I’m at my wits end.

Who do I have who’ll miss me? Jimmothy? I knew him since high school, but after the fire we drifted apart. Even when we met back up, he was already a part of the Searchers and I needed a bone thrown. Zayvion? I only met him through this job and we don’t really get along too well. I only know about his family because he keeps talking. I haven’t been in this town for that long, so I don’t know anyone. The shack is something I barely was able to afford, it was the job itself that convinced the landlord to let me stay there. What more is there waiting for me in this town? Comfort? Safety? There really is nothing here for me?

Then a memory came to mind. ‘I don’t want to lose you. You are very precious to me’. Sylvie? She always talked to me in those early mornings. I always felt better talking to her, but I don’t know her that well. Thinking about her made me feel warm, what is this? I wipe away my tears and finish patching myself up. I get a tetanus shot from the medkit, and check the motor's battery. I’ve spent too much time wallowing, the battery is low. I pull out its crank and start rotating, “Even if it is nothing, I want to keep trying to be better.” After some time, I have gotten up to over half the battery. I check the cameras and fortunately nothing is waiting for me beyond the doors. I flip the switch and open the doors. I spent an entire hour in emergency mode.

In order to make up time, I start to speedrun my tasks while noting down where the mannequins are to keep shifting my camera to them. Every once in a while, I throw rocks outside in order to make noise to distract animatronics and hell beasts. I keep quiet in order to hear the vent and front door, based on what I hear I attack. If I hear mechanical clicks I get the staff, or if I hear fire I get the gun. I’ve been rushing so much to the point that my aim suffered. I’ve only killed about four demons, the rest have been injured or scared off. I only have five bullets and nine shocks. Only two hours have passed, it feels exhausting. These monsters are so aggressive, and since I was rushing I took more damage. As I am about to reach for the medkit, the power turns off. The motor ran out of battery and to make things worse the doors are open.

I stand up and start the emergency power procedure. This motor is a hybrid, it is an electrical motor that has a gas motor for emergencies. I grab the cord and yank it, similar to a lawn mower. Panic settles in, and I can see that the mannequins are approaching. I go faster and harder just to get it started, I hear a loud noise in the vent. “Come on please! I have to make it out of here!” I screamed as fear settles in. Until, at last, the motor roared to life. I flip the switch immediately and I am safe.

I patch myself up, the medkit is running out of supplies; gotta check the cameras, they are still there. I breathe, I check the clock and it just turns to 5AM. “Holy shit, I can do this,” I say out loud. I just have to take my time and finish the night strong. I check the cameras again, safe. I flip the switch and crank the motor to give it extra energy. I sit down, take a deep breath, and start shifting over the cameras. “Just one more hour,” I say out loud.

I double check the clipboard just in case I overlook anything because I was rushing. I properly note down anything I missed from the number of shots taken, power used, and updating the enemy list. I then check the camera where the dark hole is and I see something strange. I think I can see a person there. I begin to write on the clipboard what I see. The subject seems to be human, it looks like they are wearing a potato sack, their hair is insanely long and messy so I can’t tell any facial details. It was strange because I only saw people at the beginning of the week, and they were just teenagers looking to loot or hang out. However, they always die to the monsters that are here. I am not obligated to try to save some dumbasses from them because I barely have enough protection for myself. Going out there will only kill all of us, well I did try hacking the mall's intercom to tell them to leave. Of course, I only get the middle finger in the camera and they always go to places where there are no cameras. However, this one is different; this human has piles of mechanical parts, mannequin parts, and piles of ash by his side. I look closely and see that he has a sword. It looks like a large heap of scrap metal, but there is no doubt that weapon caused this. The human moves to look at the camera, and I am terrified to see their glowing green eyes that pierces my soul. It feels radioactive and the screen glitches and when it clears up, the person is gone. I note it down on the clipboard.

Even though there are fewer monsters to worry about, their aggression hasn’t gone down. After staying in emergency mode, I felt calm and the motions of the job are going smoothly. It is scary that I’m out of shocks and I’m down to one bullet. I check everything on the clipboard and cameras, everything seems good. I press a button on the computer that automatically calls back the robot so I can get the footage. It is 6am, I press the button and the iron doors close. The power turns off, and I light my lantern. The robot has a latch that I open and get its memory card and put it in my pocket. I get my clipboard and start noting down how much stuff I used. Just listing down the supplies I used from the medkit makes me worried. If I am not careful with managing my supplies and power I can miss out on a bonus. I finish and I can safely say, I won’t get the bonus. I begin to pack and I hear a loud bang on the front iron door.

It was stronger than any monster, the door bending forward. Like scissors cutting through paper, a sword pierces through the door. One more slam, the door is sliced open and the person from the cameras is right there. I can feel myself nearly pissing myself. I ask, “Uh, what are you–oh shit!” The person is lunging forward with their sword over their head crashing into the monitors. I quickly grab the rifle and fire.

I think I hit them, but I feel cold metal tearing into my body. This scrap metal of a sword is both slicing and ripping me. I fall on my back as I bleed out, the person slams his sword across my desk and screams out a roar. I saw him leave and I realized it didn’t matter if I shot or stabbed them. I see no exit wound on their body, and I see dark green blood fall and I hear a sizzling noise. I feel cold and say, “I’m sorry for breaking my promise, Sylvie.” I close my eyes and prepare to embrace what’s coming.

***

I approach the mall in my wagon, I thank God that when it is day I can relax more. I look around and see the familiar sights. Seeing the broken glass on the floor makes me think of the crystals from the cave. Seeing large scorch marks on the ground and buildings make me feel that civilization would never go back to what the humans say it was. I can smell that the hell fire has gone down, which relieves me. The more safe this path is, the easier the journey back will be. I reach the same spot I dropped off Blaine and wait for him to come down.

Something feels wrong, it has been 10 minutes and Blaine hasn’t come down. Standard procedure states that 6am is when the night crew finishes. The maximum time the night crew should spend packing up is 5 minutes. Any longer, should be cause of concern and any carrier should wait to hear a voice. If 10 minutes have passed, then it must be assumed that the night crew has died. This doesn’t sit well with me, considering that Blaine is the only member of the night crew. I tie the horses to a broken bike parking thing, grab a huge bag, and climb the long ladder.

As soon as I open the fake vent, my nose picks up his blood. “Are you okay Blaine? Blaine!” I call out to him, but I hear nothing. I fear for the worst and slide down the ladder. Only to have my worst fears confirmed, Blaine is dead. His torso has been hacked by a crooked blade, I am pretty sure that he died swiftly but painfully. My eyes dart around the room as I see the monitors, desk, and the iron door completely destroyed. Horror settles in as my nose picks up a familiar scent. “You were here, weren’t you? Where are you? Why did you do this?” I scream questions, but I know it is futile because the scent is old. Most likely, he is not even here anymore. As anger and sorrow build up, I punch the floor to let out such emotions.

I search Blaine's body and find a memory chip, fortunately it didn't suffer any damage, at the very least we will have information. Pulled out the bag and carefully put Blaine’s dead body in the bag, I grab the clipboard and rifle before I start the climb. On the roof, I look over the burnt city and feel defeated. “My failures keep catching up to me. My friend has gone insane and killed an innocent man. All because of making the mistake of going against you when you needed me the most. I will find you and I will make things right.” I slowly leave the mall and return to town with sorrow and hope as company.