Attack

“Sergeant Mel. Do you have eyes on the target?”

Gab crawled forward, twigs poking his stomach as he peeked through the dense bushes.

“Have Eyes.” The little girl confirmed.

“Good, it would be difficult without them,” Gab said, watching as their target passed into the sun dappled street before them.

“Difficult.” Mel repeated, nodding sagely.

“Distance approximately twenty meters.”

Beside Gab the little girl’s hands tightened on her weapon.

“Prepare to engage on my mark.”

“Engage.” The little girl whispered, squinting down the length of her weapon, her face a mask of perfect concentration.

“3.”

The target neared them, tapping at her phone and holding it to her ear.

“2.”

A buzz, and Gab felt his phone begin to ring.

They were compromised.

“1.”

Gab inhaled.

“Fire!” Gab screamed as the two of them leapt from the bushes, the little girl beside him spraying her older sister with the water gun, soaking the school uniform through.

“Target still standing.” Gab waved his hand at the little girl. “Reload Sergeant Mel, we must punish her for always returning late.”

“Reload.” The little girl repeated, putting the gun between her legs and straining as she struggled to pump it. “Punish.”

Gab’s classmate let out a long suffering sigh, wiping water from her face and flicking it at Gab with her fingers.

“Well. Looks like someone doesn’t want dinner.”

Mel looked up aghast, the water gun slowly slipping out from her legs to clatter on the pavement.

“I surrender.” Said Gab, raising his hands.

Beside him the little girl nodded reluctantly, copying his gesture.
“Surrender.”

…

Beep.

The sound of the cashier scanning items rang out loud and clear through the grocery store as Gab followed his classmate and her little sister Mel down the aisles.

“Legs hurt.” Mel reached up to Gab, imploring him to carry her.

“Hmm… already?” he asked sceptically, smiling in amusement.

“Yes. Carry.” Mel answered, looking guiltily away as Gab scooped her up and into his arms, stopping before his classmate as she frowned down at a shelf.

“Hey Mel.” She asked her sister, tapping thoughtfully at her mouth. “Feel like curry tonight?”

“No.” Mel declared, turning her head away in defiance.

“Well I want curry.” his classmate said, pulling a packet from the shelf.

“So too bad.”

Mel leaned over Gab’s shoulder, sticking her tongue out the minute her sister had turned her back.

Beep.

“Want to help.” Mel said as they reached the counter, looking down at the conveyor belt in fascination.

“Alright then.” Gab picked her up, putting her on the checkout counter and letting her put their groceries onto the conveyor belt.

“Don’t you dare Mel.” Sighed the girl beside him as her little sister discreetly slipped a chocolate bar off the rack and onto the belt.

“It’s fine isn’t it” Gab smiled down at the little girl, ruffling her hair as she grinned cheekily at her big sister, any pretense of helping vanishing now that the sweets had reached the other side of the checkout.

Beep.

The sound of the checkout felt muted, the lights above them flickered and dimmed.

“Honestly.” The girl grabbed his arm, squeezing affectionately and smiling despite her attempt to reprimand her sister. “You’re going to spoil her rotten.”

Beep.

It wasn’t just the checkout, the chatter, sound of steps, everything around him sounded distorted, like the world was under water.

A shadow fell over the grocery store, as if the sun had vanished behind clouds, the red stained darkness carrying with it the faint sound of wailing in the distance.

What… was happening? Thought Gab, his unresponsive body struggling to move as if he were in a dream.

Did nobody notice this? Turning his head he saw the blank faces of nearby shoppers, Mel and her sister standing frozen at the checkout.

In the glass before Gab the reflection shifted, a gauntly horrific creature that had no counterpart on the other side moving within.

Crack.

The first clear sound echoed through the store, the cracking of glass as an elongated head pressed itself out of the shop windows, a sickly white eye fixing on the shoppers.

He couldn’t move.

Long limbs followed as the horror pressed against the glass, seemingly pushing itself out of the reflection itself and towards the first of the shoppers.

Crack.

With a snap of its jaws it ripped them apart, moving leisurely to the motionless cashier in front of them.

Crack.

It consumed them as well, its spindly legs stepping over the body as it crawled over the counter with weightless ease.

Please.

It stopped before his classmate, her eyes still moving as she stared up in horror from where she stood frozen.

No… Please.

Gab closed his eyes.

Crack.

Opening his eyes he looked down to where he still held his classmate's hand, the remainder of the arm attached to nothing as her lifeless body slumped against him.

It couldn't be real.

Feeling life return to his body Gab grabbed Mel off the counter, the dreamlike state replaced by screams of horror as he dived under the counter, his body slipping on the bloody floor as he desperately crawled away.

It couldn’t.

Gab backed away against the shopping aisle, cradling the terrified little girl in his arms as the screams grew silent, his panicked breathing the only sound remaining.

But it was.

A milky eye appeared above them, reflecting him holding the little girl.

And they were going to die.

The horror descended towards them, a being that felt both in this world and not, its grotesque body reaching down towards them…

“Lorr.” Hissed a voice through the darkened shop, freezing the creature in its place.

A woman… no a man stepped into the store, a person more beautiful than any he had seen before, and more terrifying than the horror before him could ever be.

Yet despite their beauty… they felt repulsive, undefinably wrong, demonic.

“Lorr.”

The creature heeded the demon’s command, retreating to his side and hanging over him like a spectre as he stopped before Gab, looking down with contempt.

The demon gestured and Gab felt his body rise into the air, lifted by some unseen force to follow them out onto the road, gliding towards a distorted tear in reality that reached up to the heavens and allowed neither light nor sound to escape.

He felt his hands clench around the little girl refusing to let go despite his addled mind and unresponsive body and then….

They were consumed by nothingness.