A Regular Day at the Hunting Store

Sweat was beginning to bead on Corbin’s temples. It was a hot summer day, but that wasn’t the reason why. He was inside and the air conditioners went straight past a comfortable cool, to a guaranteed ear infection the next day. He took a glance around the shelves and display cases. Guns, gun accessories, ammunition and more guns. He had no real choice in the matter as his father had sent him for some fishing supplies and to his displeasure the only hunting shop in the city was also the sole retailer of both firearms and fishing supplies. There was nothing shady going on, all was perfectly legal, but Corbin simply felt queasy in the presence of guns.

He realised he had stopped and stared, so he shook his head and let out a relaxing sigh. Just as he started moving again, he felt a low rumble. Another earthquake? They had been occurring almost every week for the past couple of months. Most of them had been harmless, but it still added to Corbin’s disquietude. As soon as he regained his balance, he walked even faster.

There was a small squeak behind him, like a girl seeing a bug. He began turning his head around, but all of a sudden a blinding red flash took his vision. He thought he screamed, but was unable to hear himself over the ringing in his ears. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground. Every part of him ached. There were more people lying around on the ground and some were running away from the explosion. He tried speaking but produced no more than a strangled grunt. As he turned around, he saw a bright red half oval shape between the shelves. The surface was a moving wavy pattern and the edges were not well defined. It was surrounded by what looked like some strange ancient runes. Corbin gawped at it and at that moment a dark clad figure emerged from within the portal. The cloaked silhouette betrayed nothing but the height of the person. Moments later two more appeared, followed by a trio of child-sized shapes.

They spread out and began running to various shelves, picking up various items and breaking the glass display cases. Whatever they took, they delivered back to the two of them that remained at near the portal, carrying large sacks. Corbin kept his head down to avoid drawing attention to himself and watched. They seemed to be after random unrelated items, but it was obvious enough that most of them were guns and related objects. As one of them passed a customer trying to get up, it simply kicked the poor old man back down. Corbin’s heart felt as if squeezed, but it didn’t end there. The small figure drew a long knife, or perhaps it was a short sword.

Corbin’s throat felt tight and he stumbled as he got to his feet, the shaking legs barely supporting him. He wanted to run. There wasn’t much time and it was obvious the old man would die. But his legs wouldn’t move and he fell to his knees. All of his body was shaking with terror. The sound of footsteps behind him brought his attention back. He threw himself forward on instinct and heard a chilling clang of metal against tiles. The figure behind him immediately charged towards Corbin, screaming in a rough and unintelligible voice. It swung the blade once more, but hit only the shelves. The attacks were relentless and soon after they were grappling, struggling to control the blade and knocking over display cases and shelves. Corbin had little experience in combat, but the smaller size of his opponent meant that he could at least keep himself from being stabbed for a couple of moments. He managed to land his elbow in his enemy’s face. The hood fell back and staring at Corbin was a pair of piercing completely red eyes, on a bald green head with a large nose, pointy ears and sharp teeth. The creature bore a feral snarl.

The chaos was interrupted with a loud bang. Corbin wasn’t able to keep track of what had been happening to others besides him in the shop, but he assumed that either security or one of the customers finally drew a gun. A whistle sounded moments later and all the figures took off at a sprint back to the portal. One of them simply grabbed both Corbin and the small figure, as they were still grappling and threw them into the red mist.

Corbin coughed and picked himself up from the stone floor. Another person was lying next to him, squirming in pain, with blood staining the ground around him. Two of the men were shouting at each other, pointing towards the wounded person and to Corbin as well. In another part of the room, a man in a dark robe stood. Red runes like the ones around the portal were arranged in a ring around him. The air seemed to crack with power around him. His hands were raised in the air and he was facing the portal. The last thing Corbin saw was a fist flying directly towards his face.