"Wait!! She's pregnant!!"
Henrick hesitates at those words, his electricity dispersing as he lands on the giant cat's back, eliciting a roar of feral rage. The giant feline bucks ferociously, slamming into vehicles and debris in an effort to throw Henrick off. Father David recovers and stands, but hesitates to unleash his concussive blasts.
The soldier leaps off and rolls to disperse the force of his landing, the ground cracking slightly as he leaps upwards and dodges a vicious swipe. "Stop, pull back!" he shouts, landing quite a distance away.
Leo growls as he circles the feline beast, his own fangs bared and his eyes pulled back in an angry glare. "Leo! Heel!" The command cuts through the air, bringing the canine out of his protective stance. With a whine and drooped ears, Leo hurries to Henrick's side, his eyes never leaving the pregnant feline.
Father David raises his hands in a placating gesture, slowly stepping back as Selene disperses her magical sword. The feline beast's eyes narrow in suspicion as Selene moves closer. "It's ok mama, we're not gonna hurt you." she whispers, her muscles tensed even as she approaches calmly, ready to react at a moments notice.
The massive beast paces back and forth as she regards Selene, its eyes reflecting its uncertainty. Henrick frowns as he hears the distant wailing of monsters rapidly approaching, the ground trembling slightly, hinting at the vast amount of them.
Without a word, the trio slowly move towards a relatively intact eatery. Leo sniffs the air and immediately softens towards the feline. He huffs and nudges her, as if to say "escape.", then follows after Henrick. The pregnant mother watches as the group settle inside the eatery, its eyes no longer narrowed, and softly melts into the shadows.
Father David sits on the ground and looks at the spoiled food in the kitchen. "We're running out of food. We'll have to scavenge for more." Henrick nods at those words and quickly distributes the last few canned food they have.
Leo voraciously empties his can and looks at the soldier with large pleading eyes. The soldier smiles and ruffles Leo's fur before giving him half of his meal. The canine doesn't eat it and looks at Henrick with disapproval as he nudges the can back.
Henrick laughs as he continues eating and leaves half of the remaining food, in which Leo then finishes. "Such a good boy. If only I could give you some treats." sighs Henrick, lamenting the unfair cruelty of this new world. The group tenses as a horde rips through the streets of Koreatown, their screams filling the air, the rapid thuds of their limbs on the ground causing David to slightly jump.
"We shou-" Henrick starts, but is interrupted when the feline snatches a can of food. It raises the can and moves to swallow it. "Wait!!" Selene harshly whispers, the command somehow stopping the feline beast. She steps closer and opens the can, before placing it down on the ground.
The giant cat sniffs the now opened can and its eyes dilate as it laps up the contents, savouring every lick. It makes quick work of the food and stares at the group, still with uncertainty but with less hostility. It curls up in its own corner, somehow making itself seem like royalty, and simply watches the group.
"I think we made a new friend." Father David says, his eyes betraying his desire to pet the giant feline. Henrick shifts his bodyweight when a neon sign collapses in the opposite building, then relaxes as he hears no mutated creatures coming.
The ground shakes again as an earthquake rocks the earth, splitting the ground and collapsing weakened structures. "Hmm. This one is a lot weaker." Henrick mutters under his breath as he scans the street with an electromagnetic wave.
The soldier turns to the group, his face severe as he speaks. "We'll have to scavenge for more supplies. The situation in the empire state building is unknown, so we need to be prepared." Selene nods at those words but notices the grave look on Henrick's face.
"What's wrong?" asks Selene. Henrick simply stares at a nearby building and clenches his fist. "We're being watched, and I have a bad feeling about the one's watching." Selene looks out at the same building that Henrick is staring at and subtly gather magical energy on her fingers.
"Bad how?" Henrick shakes his head at her question and returns to the back of the shop. "I don't know, but I have a sinking feeling in my gut." the soldier replies, his frown only deepening as he ponders, picking up his bag as the group prepares to leave.
Father David does the sign of the cross as he falls in step behind Henrick. "I remember there being a convenience store near here." the priest says as he clasps his hand in prayer, concussive force building between his palms in preparation.
David leads the group to where he remembers the store being, and scratches his shiny head. "I swear it was around here." he says, looking around in confusion. "The world seems to have mutated too. Everything seems to have gone further apart." Henrick says as he looks around for other options.
The soldier's eyes light up when he sees a pet store. "There. Lots of canned foods. Hopefully they remain unspoiled." Father David's face scrunches up in disgust as he considers eating pet food. "I heard it wasn't good to eat pet food, something about toxicity." the priest says, desperately hoping for an alternative.
Henrick laughs lightly at the Father's disgust as he makes his way to the pet store, his face taking on a reminiscent look. "It doesn't taste so bad, plus we'll only be getting enough for two days maximum." he says, almost fondly, as memories of a little girl and a little boy eating cans of pet food rush through his head.
Selene notices the look on his face and chuckles. The sound snaps Henrick out of his thoughts and, with a cough, he opens the door of the pet store. Father David reluctantly grabs a few cans of food that at least sound appetizing, while Selene does the same.
The soldier, however, goes to the grooming section with Leo trailing after. "What do you think, boy? Let's get you some cleaning items." he says, ruffling Leo's luscious golden hair. The canine just taps his feet on the ground in excitement as an answer.
Grabbing some treats after getting cleaning supplies, Henrick and the group immediately head towards the towering Empire State Building. The streets are silent save for the distant cracking of earth and structures.
A few minutes into their walk, Leo starts growling at the corner of a building, his claws digging into the concrete as his lips are peeled back in a snarl. From that corner, a man with glowing purple veins shambles out, his eyes inhumanly wide. "...help...me...please..." the man almost whispers as he steps closer to the group.
Henrick prepares to blast out with electricity when the man suddenly stops and trembles. "...help...Help...HELP ME!!!!" he suddenly shouts as the dark purple energy explodes outwards with a resounding BOOM, knocking the group back with the force of the explosion.
The man, with his chest blown open, stands as dark purple energy spreads outwards, washing over a few blocks. "That was a pretty weak explosion. It didn't even do any serious damage." says David as he picks himself off the ground. Henrick glares at him to stop talking, and scowls as inhuman shrieks suddenly ring out around them.
The man then suddenly convulses and starts rapidly mutating. Bone protrusions bursts out of the skin, forming a jagged exoskeleton. Its limbs elongate and turn into serrated tentacles, as its chest transforms into a grisly teeth filled maw.
Selene decides to be proactive and unleashes a magical bolt that only staggers the abomination. "He's a lot tougher than he looks, and he looks tough!" she says as the group scatters from a sweeping strike from the monster. Its serrated tentacle slams into a building, cutting through the concrete as if it was paper.
Leo stealthily circles around and clamps down hard on one of the monster's tentacles, distracting it enough for Selene to unleash bolt after bolt into its face, cracking the exoskeleton slightly.
Electricity gathers on Henrick's body as he dashes forward at preternatural speeds, his fist blurring as he lands a brutal haymaker that shatters the already fractured exoskeleton on its face. His fist crushes through the armoured layer and slams into the monster's cheek, displacing the air from the impact.
Leo leaps away as David capitalises while the monster staggers back, and unleashes concussive blasts on its feet that makes the creature fall on its face. Selene then notices that its back is entirely unarmoured, and unleashes the biggest magical bolt she can muster at the back of its head.
The monster's head explodes like a watermelon as brain matter is splattered across the floor. Its limbs twitch sporadically then go still as the last signs of life disappear. "We have to go. Now!" Henrick shouts as he takes off towards the Empire State Building, as the rest of the group tries their best to keep up with his electricity enhanced speed.
The distant roars of a gathering horde are ignored in favour of reaching the towering monument. They run for a few minutes, seemingly losing the horde, as they finally arrive at the building's entrance.
Once there, Henrick's soul burns with hatred as he looks at a group gathered right outside the building. Electricity arcs off his body aggressively as he stares at a particular person. That person gives Henrick a big smile as he opens his arms wide.
"It's good to see you again."
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END