p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The night passed on with a relative quietness. The calming moonlight shone and illuminated the collapsed city, it looked somewhat unreal, mythical even. The moon reminded me of span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"her /span. Her gentleness, her soft voice, her kindness. Her… illness. The moon was both welcomed and unwelcomed to me. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I was ripped from my thoughts with the sound of a small, quiet whimper. I tensed up out of reflex, but calmed down easily enough when I realized it was just from the little mouse. I glanced at the small blonde on the couch, curled up into a ball trembling. She was asleep all right, that much was for sure. She probably was reliving some of her demons in a nightmare, something that most people had nowadays. Tears formed at her tightly shut eyes, her skin dipped with sweat. It was a normal sight to see, so I didn't pay it much mind until she started to get too loud./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""The hell you dreaming about..?" I asked her knowing I wouldn't get an answer. I walked over to her and was about to wake her before a soft, panicked hand grasped my jacket./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Haru… no.. don't… go.." She whispered, tears staining her face. Curiosity brimmed within me at who she was talking about, but I pushed it away. It didn't matter who "Haru" was, I didn't need to know. I needed to get her to wake up or settle down, but it seemed like it resolved itself when her hand moved to grasp mine. It was strange, as that small motion instantly calmed her. I stood a bit confused, but leaving the windows unguarded would be unwise, so I moved her hand out of mine and next to her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I draped my jacket over her and soon returned to the window. It was almost December but all that girl wore was a torn up jacket with a short sleeve shirt. Part of me wondered how she survived the first winter like that, but I dismissed the thought. It didn't matter. Howls echoed through the air, signaling that the reapers were becoming more and more active. As long as we kept quiet we would be fine, even knowing that, I still felt on edge. Thoughts whirled around within my head, and before I knew it orange and pink hues peeked over the horizon and throughout the city, the chatter of the reapers dying down to only a few growls and shrieks./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I glanced at the petite girl on the couch, and thought over my options. I debated on what to do, to leave or to stay and lose daylight. I needed to find span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"her /span. I had to, she needed me. I couldn't risk losing her over a debt. But on the other hand I promised her I wouldn't leave. I mulled over it for a few more moments before I made my decision./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The door creaked as I moved past it, as a safety measure I pulled a dresser in front of the door before closing it. It was the closest to "locking up" I could get. It wasn't like I would leave for good, I just needed to see if she left anything. As soon as I found something I'd come back. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The early winter breeze whipped at my cheeks, reminding me of how long it had been since it first started. My jacket was still with the little mouse, so a slight chill creeped through me. It didn't bother me that much, so I paid no mind to it. I started to make my way further into the city. Last time I heard she was in the shopping district. A community apparently, but from the sounds of it they didn't last. It was a wonder they ever managed to make one in such an infested zone in the first place. I walked from roof to roof, until finally reaching the heart of the shopping district. The mall./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The street was eerily quiet and bare below me, something that put my nerves on edge. Something felt wrong, like I was walking into a lion's den. Just to be safe, I took a moment to double check my knives before climbing down from the building and onto the street. Cars were turned over, bodies littered the street. There were wooden panels along a chain fence surrounding the mall, but it was decorated with the remains of the dead, half of the wall crushed under an accumulation of bodies and vehicles. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Something in my gut was telling me that it was a bad idea to enter the mall, that I should turn back from the creepily still shopping center. I glanced at a semi truck, another question irked at me. Why were there vehicles? If the camp was overrun as I was told, why would a semi-truck be crashed midway through the fence? It didn't make sense for it to be span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"just /spanreapers. No, it was something else entirely, span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"someone /spandid that. My internal debate was interrupted by the sound of a shrill scream and a pain erupting from a full-on tackle to the ground./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Air felt hard to grasp as my side ached and burned, my head rang slightly from the harsh impact with the concrete. I had walked into more than a lion's den./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Before I could get my bearings I felt the reaper's claws graze my arm. It's face inches from my bandaged arms. It was almost by instinct as I grabbed one of my knives and slammed it into the reaper's eye. It stopped movement completely, giving me some short-lived peace. I groaned as I stood up and retrieved my knife, then turned to examine the mall. I needed to hurry and finish up before the little mouse woke up. Explaining was so much of a pain that I'd rather avoid it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The mall was relatively big, a c-shaped structure with windows covering nearly every nook and cranny of the building. They were a pale comparison of what they were before, dust and blood splattered all over, half of the windows broken with decaying corpses decorating some of them. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I managed to get into the back parking lot, and started to make way for the back door for staff. I did find it, but mostly unhinged and shredded to bits. It was squeaky, so I might have had to reconsider my approach. It felt as if I were running in circles, losing more and more time with each miniscule setback. It pissed me off./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I looked into the nearly pitch-black building, the deathening silence only adding more unease. It was quiet, too quiet. I cautiously stepped into the back room, walking slowly to avoid noise. That precaution was quickly put to waste though, as an ear-piercing howl cried out and I felt a violent force shove me into the wall. That was the second time I had been tackled like some scrawny rugby player, and I was less than amused./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I was too slow in grabbing one of my throwing knives, and the reaper savagely bit down onto my arm. Pain erupted from the disgustingly familiar feeling of teeth sinking into my skin. I hissed out in pain and ripped the reaper from my arm before grabbing another dagger and aggressively stabbing it in the eye, over and over again. Each stab was accompanied by a sickening strongspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"squelch/span /strongand strongspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"splat./span /strongSounds that became disturbingly familiar to me. I only stopped my assault when it's face was beyond recognizable. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I sat up and backed away from it, then looked down at my arm. Another bite mark. I groaned in discomfort and hurriedly opened my bag for the gauze. Blood covered my arms and clothes, the sheer amount of black blood that was on me was sickening./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Great…" I growled in annoyance before turning my attention to the loud clanging of the door leading deeper into the mall. The door to the staff room was barricaded with a couch and chairs, but the reapers banging against it wouldn't stop any time soon. I picked up my bag and ripped my knife from the eye of the reaper, a grotesque squishy sound accompanying it. I couldn't do any searching while those guys were all riled up, so a retreat was a better option. I had wasted so much time to only turn back, frankly- I wanted to punch something./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"With that in mind I turned on my heel and left the building. The commotion had led some span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"undesirable /spanguests, but part of me was glad I had so many punching bags. Reaper's began to approach from the darkened alleys and broken stores, jumping and running around the collapsed mall encampment. I pulled out my daggers, ready to blow off some steam. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"One reaper leaped towards me aggressively, ready to tear me apart. I jumped out of it's way and kicked it's back. It growled and turned to claw at my leg but before it could I grabbed hold of it's arm and threw it over my shoulder onto another reaper who tried to charge at me. Just as I was about to go in for the kill I was jerked forwards, a reaper clung onto my back. It was a smaller one, so it was faster. It began to claw into my body, the hot pain of blood accompanying it. I moved to an alley wall and banged against it, the reaper on my back falling off rather easily. It attempted to get back up, but I kicked it down and threw my knife into its eye. I let out a quick breath, my rage simmering down. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What am I doing?" I asked myself, realizing what an span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"idiot /spanI had been. I groaned in frustration, and decided to get back to the little mouse before the reapers got up from my attack./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It took me a few hours to get back to the apartment, exhaustion starting to set in. I regretted my actions slightly, but it did help clear my head a bit. I walked down the stairwell to the second floor where I left the mouse, a part of me wondered if she left. Turning the corner, I quickly had to take cover. In the dilapidated apartment hallway stood two armed men, reaper bodies on the ground next to them. They were armed with semi-automatic rifles, a black snake tattoo on both of their shoulders. They were from a gang, probably raiders. The room they were guarding read span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""213", /spansending annoyance through me. Out of all the apartments it had to be the one with the little mouse in it, how troublesome. I only left her alone for a few hours, yet she might be inside that apartment with even more men./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Damn it…" I cursed as I hid behind the hallway corner. I needed to make sure she was still inside the apartment, or if she was even alive. Part of me just wanted to turn around and not deal with it, but I wasn't going to leave my things behind. I mulled over how to get to her, and make sure she was alright, and held in a groan of irritation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't touch me!" A sudden cry of fear and retaliation told me all I needed to know about the little mouse. She was alive, but it didn't sound like it'd stay that way for long. I readied my knives and peeked over the corner. Two men were outside, talking to each other in hushed voices. I began to estimate how far they were./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""About 20… no- 30 yards…" /spanI concluded, and after taking a quick glance around I threw my first knife. It impaled the neck of one of the men, causing him to begin choking on his own blood. He gurgled sickeningly before I threw another knife to end him, guilt pricking at me only for a second before I shifted my attention to the other man, seconds away from yelling. I threw another knife to silence him on impact with his eye. Two down. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I sneaked forward, cautiously and quietly opening the door to get a look inside. There was nobody in the main room, so I kept low to the ground and carefully entered. The door to what probably was the bedroom was left open, and I could see three silhouettes surrounding one smaller one. After getting close enough to see the little mouse clearly I could make out what was happening./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The little mouse was in the corner holding a lamp. Her pink hues were wide and scared, they darted to where I was peeking out, but she looked back at her attackers. The three men had guns aimed at her with a span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"lamp /spanin her defense./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I pulled out a third knife from my belt and took aim for the man in the middle. His tanned, bald head, an easy target. The little mouse looked at me once more, trying to convey something through her look alone. I couldn't tell what she was trying to tell me./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I'm not a mind reader." /spanI thought to myself sarcastically before focusing back on the situation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""C'mon sweetheart don't be like that." The man in the middle mused pervertedly. He leaned in to only get a lamp to his temple. He cursed loudly, but as he was recovering she mouthed to me span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""don't kill them."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""What?" /spanI mouthed back. She wanted to spare them? I thought about the pros and cons of killing them or not, but she kept shaking her head back and forth, conveying she didn't want me to do it. The men took her head shaking as more defiance, and the bald man in the middle started to become annoyed. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Distract them." /spanshe mouthed one last time to me before she was slapped harshly. I nodded and decided that splitting them up and knocking them out would be best. While killing them did make it so we didn't have to deal with them, the smell of their fresh blood would attract reapers. I already killed two guys, any more than that will attract a hoard. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I quickly banged against the front door, causing the men's jeers to stop, their faces hardened into serious glares./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What was that?" One of the men asked the bald man, his voice sounding timid and fearful./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Like I know, Kiro go and check it out." The leader ordered, and the one man who had been quiet soon walked out of the room. He had black hair and was fairly tall. I hid behind the front door as he inspected it. As soon as he turned the door and his eyes met mine I gripped him into a harsh chokehold and pulled him out of view. He had a death-like grip on my arm, and his legs kicked all about. He made more noise doing that so I increased the strength of my hold./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Finally he passed out, and I lowered him silently to the ground. I turned around and went to go deal with the other two. I peeked into the room and saw that things had gotten more intense. The blonde had a few new bruises and the leader looked more angry than before. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The little mouse looked over to me with desperation, and I searched for something to distract. The apartment had nothing of value, and so I looked towards the small girl and thought span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Screw it."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I pulled out another knife to stab the bald man in the back. He cried out in disgruntled pain, and the short blonde kicked at the bald man's crotch to finish him off. I quickly turned to a shorter blonde boy and pushed him against the wall with my arm, slowly choking him. I used a lot of pressure but he still persisted. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The leader yelled out a string of curses, somehow still conscious. For extra measure, the little mouse hit him over the head with the lamp, breaking it. The sound of a loud crash accompanied it, and a distant screech told me that the reaper's heard it. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As soon as the man in the hold went limp I let him down to the floor and finally began to catch my breath./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Minutes passed in silence as we sat there heaving and shaking off the adrenaline, but it didn't take long to hear the reaper's approaching the apartment. Much worse, the distant aches of thunder boomed throughout the sky./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, mouse we gotta go." I walked over to the leader of the men, about to retrieve my dagger from his back./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't!" The mouse called out somewhat desperately, her voice elevated and shaky./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why not?" I tried to keep patient, but that girl kept getting on my nerves. She didn't so much as run when she was attacked, she didn't steal my stuff, she followed a stranger to the most infested area in the city. Just how did she manage to live so long when she was that weak and stupid?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""He'll bleed to death if you do.. if he attracts too many then the other two will get eaten…" she replied, I groaned in irritation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You're so weak it's pathetic." She looked hurt by my words, but it was necessary. She needed to grow up, or she wouldn't last much longer./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Blood sputtered from the man's wound as I ripped out my knife, wiping it off before placing it back on my belt. The mouse looked down for a moment, then stumbled past me to grab her bag. Just as I turned to leave, she stopped following./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What?" I was so tired of her hesitance. She went to the couch and grabbed a blanket that was under it, rushing over to place it on the bald man's wounds before leaving him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's wrong to let him die just because he is a bad person." Her words set anger within me, almost simmering over. Just as I opened my mouth to vent the anger, a shrill scream erupted from the window behind the mouse./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Shit!" I cursed as the reaper was inches away from the girl, the blonde too slow to evade it. She was going to get bit./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was like it was in slow motion, my body moving faster than ever before to push the blonde out of the way. The reaper bit into my jacket before I harshly shook it off. The mouse pulled up from behind it and used a broken glass shard to stab the reaper./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Are you okay?!" She asked with concern, but I didn't bother responding./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We need to leave. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Now. /span" I shoved the limp body off of me, harshly grabbing the little mouse's hand and ran to the door. She whimpered as I dragged her, but I didn't have time to care. Just as we reached the stairs the blonde behind me cried out in pain, I looked back to see that her foot had gotten caught on the overhang of one of the stairs./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why are you so desperate?" she heaved, I glanced back up at the stairs with the same question. I was going so far to save her, and I hated it. I surely already repaid that favor, but part of me couldn't let go./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I don't want to be abandoned again." /spanHer words echoed throughout my mind, playing over and over. A sharp tug on my arm ripped me to reality./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Please answer!" She said, seemingly forcing herself to use her injured leg./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We don't have time for this." I tried to move but was jerked back. The little mouse stood behind me, unmoving./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I have so many questions and you never answer…" her voice wavered, almost as if she was frustrated. I didn't have time to care though, the reapers were on our tails./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We don't have time right now little mouse." We really didn't. I sighed in aggravation before lifting the little mouse up hurriedly. She squeaked but didn't protest./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The air whipped at us harshly as we reached the roof. A storm was brewing, dark clouds closing in with its harsh whip tides of wind./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The air smelled damp, the grumbling of the clouds didn't bode well. The first few drops of rain began to fall, and before long a downpour showered upon us./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I was ripped from my thoughts with the sound of a small, quiet whimper. I tensed up out of reflex, but calmed down easily enough when I realized it was just from the little mouse. I glanced at the small blonde on the couch, curled up into a ball trembling. She was asleep all right, that much was for sure. She probably was reliving some of her demons in a nightmare, something that most people had nowadays. Tears formed at her tightly shut eyes, her skin dipped with sweat. It was a normal sight to see, so I didn't pay it much mind until she started to get too loud./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""The hell you dreaming about..?" I asked her knowing I wouldn't get an answer. I walked over to her and was about to wake her before a soft, panicked hand grasped my jacket./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Haru… no.. don't… go.." She whispered, tears staining her face. Curiosity brimmed within me at who she was talking about, but I pushed it away. It didn't matter who "Haru" was, I didn't need to know. I needed to get her to wake up or settle down, but it seemed like it resolved itself when her hand moved to grasp mine. It was strange, as that small motion instantly calmed her. I stood a bit confused, but leaving the windows unguarded would be unwise, so I moved her hand out of mine and next to her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I draped my jacket over her and soon returned to the window. It was almost December but all that girl wore was a torn up jacket with a short sleeve shirt. Part of me wondered how she survived the first winter like that, but I dismissed the thought. It didn't matter. Howls echoed through the air, signaling that the reapers were becoming more and more active. As long as we kept quiet we would be fine, even knowing that, I still felt on edge. Thoughts whirled around within my head, and before I knew it orange and pink hues peeked over the horizon and throughout the city, the chatter of the reapers dying down to only a few growls and shrieks./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I glanced at the petite girl on the couch, and thought over my options. I debated on what to do, to leave or to stay and lose daylight. I needed to find span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"her /span. I had to, she needed me. I couldn't risk losing her over a debt. But on the other hand I promised her I wouldn't leave. I mulled over it for a few more moments before I made my decision./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The door creaked as I moved past it, as a safety measure I pulled a dresser in front of the door before closing it. It was the closest to "locking up" I could get. It wasn't like I would leave for good, I just needed to see if she left anything. As soon as I found something I'd come back. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The early winter breeze whipped at my cheeks, reminding me of how long it had been since it first started. My jacket was still with the little mouse, so a slight chill creeped through me. It didn't bother me that much, so I paid no mind to it. I started to make my way further into the city. Last time I heard she was in the shopping district. A community apparently, but from the sounds of it they didn't last. It was a wonder they ever managed to make one in such an infested zone in the first place. I walked from roof to roof, until finally reaching the heart of the shopping district. The mall./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The street was eerily quiet and bare below me, something that put my nerves on edge. Something felt wrong, like I was walking into a lion's den. Just to be safe, I took a moment to double check my knives before climbing down from the building and onto the street. Cars were turned over, bodies littered the street. There were wooden panels along a chain fence surrounding the mall, but it was decorated with the remains of the dead, half of the wall crushed under an accumulation of bodies and vehicles. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Something in my gut was telling me that it was a bad idea to enter the mall, that I should turn back from the creepily still shopping center. I glanced at a semi truck, another question irked at me. Why were there vehicles? If the camp was overrun as I was told, why would a semi-truck be crashed midway through the fence? It didn't make sense for it to be span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"just /spanreapers. No, it was something else entirely, span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"someone /spandid that. My internal debate was interrupted by the sound of a shrill scream and a pain erupting from a full-on tackle to the ground./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Air felt hard to grasp as my side ached and burned, my head rang slightly from the harsh impact with the concrete. I had walked into more than a lion's den./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Before I could get my bearings I felt the reaper's claws graze my arm. It's face inches from my bandaged arms. It was almost by instinct as I grabbed one of my knives and slammed it into the reaper's eye. It stopped movement completely, giving me some short-lived peace. I groaned as I stood up and retrieved my knife, then turned to examine the mall. I needed to hurry and finish up before the little mouse woke up. Explaining was so much of a pain that I'd rather avoid it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The mall was relatively big, a c-shaped structure with windows covering nearly every nook and cranny of the building. They were a pale comparison of what they were before, dust and blood splattered all over, half of the windows broken with decaying corpses decorating some of them. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I managed to get into the back parking lot, and started to make way for the back door for staff. I did find it, but mostly unhinged and shredded to bits. It was squeaky, so I might have had to reconsider my approach. It felt as if I were running in circles, losing more and more time with each miniscule setback. It pissed me off./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I looked into the nearly pitch-black building, the deathening silence only adding more unease. It was quiet, too quiet. I cautiously stepped into the back room, walking slowly to avoid noise. That precaution was quickly put to waste though, as an ear-piercing howl cried out and I felt a violent force shove me into the wall. That was the second time I had been tackled like some scrawny rugby player, and I was less than amused./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I was too slow in grabbing one of my throwing knives, and the reaper savagely bit down onto my arm. Pain erupted from the disgustingly familiar feeling of teeth sinking into my skin. I hissed out in pain and ripped the reaper from my arm before grabbing another dagger and aggressively stabbing it in the eye, over and over again. Each stab was accompanied by a sickening strongspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"squelch/span /strongand strongspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"splat./span /strongSounds that became disturbingly familiar to me. I only stopped my assault when it's face was beyond recognizable. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I sat up and backed away from it, then looked down at my arm. Another bite mark. I groaned in discomfort and hurriedly opened my bag for the gauze. Blood covered my arms and clothes, the sheer amount of black blood that was on me was sickening./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Great…" I growled in annoyance before turning my attention to the loud clanging of the door leading deeper into the mall. The door to the staff room was barricaded with a couch and chairs, but the reapers banging against it wouldn't stop any time soon. I picked up my bag and ripped my knife from the eye of the reaper, a grotesque squishy sound accompanying it. I couldn't do any searching while those guys were all riled up, so a retreat was a better option. I had wasted so much time to only turn back, frankly- I wanted to punch something./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"With that in mind I turned on my heel and left the building. The commotion had led some span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"undesirable /spanguests, but part of me was glad I had so many punching bags. Reaper's began to approach from the darkened alleys and broken stores, jumping and running around the collapsed mall encampment. I pulled out my daggers, ready to blow off some steam. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"One reaper leaped towards me aggressively, ready to tear me apart. I jumped out of it's way and kicked it's back. It growled and turned to claw at my leg but before it could I grabbed hold of it's arm and threw it over my shoulder onto another reaper who tried to charge at me. Just as I was about to go in for the kill I was jerked forwards, a reaper clung onto my back. It was a smaller one, so it was faster. It began to claw into my body, the hot pain of blood accompanying it. I moved to an alley wall and banged against it, the reaper on my back falling off rather easily. It attempted to get back up, but I kicked it down and threw my knife into its eye. I let out a quick breath, my rage simmering down. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What am I doing?" I asked myself, realizing what an span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"idiot /spanI had been. I groaned in frustration, and decided to get back to the little mouse before the reapers got up from my attack./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It took me a few hours to get back to the apartment, exhaustion starting to set in. I regretted my actions slightly, but it did help clear my head a bit. I walked down the stairwell to the second floor where I left the mouse, a part of me wondered if she left. Turning the corner, I quickly had to take cover. In the dilapidated apartment hallway stood two armed men, reaper bodies on the ground next to them. They were armed with semi-automatic rifles, a black snake tattoo on both of their shoulders. They were from a gang, probably raiders. The room they were guarding read span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""213", /spansending annoyance through me. Out of all the apartments it had to be the one with the little mouse in it, how troublesome. I only left her alone for a few hours, yet she might be inside that apartment with even more men./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Damn it…" I cursed as I hid behind the hallway corner. I needed to make sure she was still inside the apartment, or if she was even alive. Part of me just wanted to turn around and not deal with it, but I wasn't going to leave my things behind. I mulled over how to get to her, and make sure she was alright, and held in a groan of irritation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't touch me!" A sudden cry of fear and retaliation told me all I needed to know about the little mouse. She was alive, but it didn't sound like it'd stay that way for long. I readied my knives and peeked over the corner. Two men were outside, talking to each other in hushed voices. I began to estimate how far they were./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""About 20… no- 30 yards…" /spanI concluded, and after taking a quick glance around I threw my first knife. It impaled the neck of one of the men, causing him to begin choking on his own blood. He gurgled sickeningly before I threw another knife to end him, guilt pricking at me only for a second before I shifted my attention to the other man, seconds away from yelling. I threw another knife to silence him on impact with his eye. Two down. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I sneaked forward, cautiously and quietly opening the door to get a look inside. There was nobody in the main room, so I kept low to the ground and carefully entered. The door to what probably was the bedroom was left open, and I could see three silhouettes surrounding one smaller one. After getting close enough to see the little mouse clearly I could make out what was happening./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The little mouse was in the corner holding a lamp. Her pink hues were wide and scared, they darted to where I was peeking out, but she looked back at her attackers. The three men had guns aimed at her with a span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"lamp /spanin her defense./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I pulled out a third knife from my belt and took aim for the man in the middle. His tanned, bald head, an easy target. The little mouse looked at me once more, trying to convey something through her look alone. I couldn't tell what she was trying to tell me./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I'm not a mind reader." /spanI thought to myself sarcastically before focusing back on the situation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""C'mon sweetheart don't be like that." The man in the middle mused pervertedly. He leaned in to only get a lamp to his temple. He cursed loudly, but as he was recovering she mouthed to me span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""don't kill them."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""What?" /spanI mouthed back. She wanted to spare them? I thought about the pros and cons of killing them or not, but she kept shaking her head back and forth, conveying she didn't want me to do it. The men took her head shaking as more defiance, and the bald man in the middle started to become annoyed. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Distract them." /spanshe mouthed one last time to me before she was slapped harshly. I nodded and decided that splitting them up and knocking them out would be best. While killing them did make it so we didn't have to deal with them, the smell of their fresh blood would attract reapers. I already killed two guys, any more than that will attract a hoard. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I quickly banged against the front door, causing the men's jeers to stop, their faces hardened into serious glares./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What was that?" One of the men asked the bald man, his voice sounding timid and fearful./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Like I know, Kiro go and check it out." The leader ordered, and the one man who had been quiet soon walked out of the room. He had black hair and was fairly tall. I hid behind the front door as he inspected it. As soon as he turned the door and his eyes met mine I gripped him into a harsh chokehold and pulled him out of view. He had a death-like grip on my arm, and his legs kicked all about. He made more noise doing that so I increased the strength of my hold./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Finally he passed out, and I lowered him silently to the ground. I turned around and went to go deal with the other two. I peeked into the room and saw that things had gotten more intense. The blonde had a few new bruises and the leader looked more angry than before. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The little mouse looked over to me with desperation, and I searched for something to distract. The apartment had nothing of value, and so I looked towards the small girl and thought span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Screw it."/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I pulled out another knife to stab the bald man in the back. He cried out in disgruntled pain, and the short blonde kicked at the bald man's crotch to finish him off. I quickly turned to a shorter blonde boy and pushed him against the wall with my arm, slowly choking him. I used a lot of pressure but he still persisted. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The leader yelled out a string of curses, somehow still conscious. For extra measure, the little mouse hit him over the head with the lamp, breaking it. The sound of a loud crash accompanied it, and a distant screech told me that the reaper's heard it. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As soon as the man in the hold went limp I let him down to the floor and finally began to catch my breath./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Minutes passed in silence as we sat there heaving and shaking off the adrenaline, but it didn't take long to hear the reaper's approaching the apartment. Much worse, the distant aches of thunder boomed throughout the sky./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, mouse we gotta go." I walked over to the leader of the men, about to retrieve my dagger from his back./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't!" The mouse called out somewhat desperately, her voice elevated and shaky./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why not?" I tried to keep patient, but that girl kept getting on my nerves. She didn't so much as run when she was attacked, she didn't steal my stuff, she followed a stranger to the most infested area in the city. Just how did she manage to live so long when she was that weak and stupid?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""He'll bleed to death if you do.. if he attracts too many then the other two will get eaten…" she replied, I groaned in irritation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You're so weak it's pathetic." She looked hurt by my words, but it was necessary. She needed to grow up, or she wouldn't last much longer./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Blood sputtered from the man's wound as I ripped out my knife, wiping it off before placing it back on my belt. The mouse looked down for a moment, then stumbled past me to grab her bag. Just as I turned to leave, she stopped following./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""What?" I was so tired of her hesitance. She went to the couch and grabbed a blanket that was under it, rushing over to place it on the bald man's wounds before leaving him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's wrong to let him die just because he is a bad person." Her words set anger within me, almost simmering over. Just as I opened my mouth to vent the anger, a shrill scream erupted from the window behind the mouse./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Shit!" I cursed as the reaper was inches away from the girl, the blonde too slow to evade it. She was going to get bit./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was like it was in slow motion, my body moving faster than ever before to push the blonde out of the way. The reaper bit into my jacket before I harshly shook it off. The mouse pulled up from behind it and used a broken glass shard to stab the reaper./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Are you okay?!" She asked with concern, but I didn't bother responding./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We need to leave. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Now. /span" I shoved the limp body off of me, harshly grabbing the little mouse's hand and ran to the door. She whimpered as I dragged her, but I didn't have time to care. Just as we reached the stairs the blonde behind me cried out in pain, I looked back to see that her foot had gotten caught on the overhang of one of the stairs./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Why are you so desperate?" she heaved, I glanced back up at the stairs with the same question. I was going so far to save her, and I hated it. I surely already repaid that favor, but part of me couldn't let go./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I don't want to be abandoned again." /spanHer words echoed throughout my mind, playing over and over. A sharp tug on my arm ripped me to reality./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Please answer!" She said, seemingly forcing herself to use her injured leg./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We don't have time for this." I tried to move but was jerked back. The little mouse stood behind me, unmoving./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I have so many questions and you never answer…" her voice wavered, almost as if she was frustrated. I didn't have time to care though, the reapers were on our tails./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""We don't have time right now little mouse." We really didn't. I sighed in aggravation before lifting the little mouse up hurriedly. She squeaked but didn't protest./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The air whipped at us harshly as we reached the roof. A storm was brewing, dark clouds closing in with its harsh whip tides of wind./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The air smelled damp, the grumbling of the clouds didn't bode well. The first few drops of rain began to fall, and before long a downpour showered upon us./p