We continued down the hallway, where I found a book in, strangely enough, good condition. Flipping through it briefly, I didn't recognize anything from it- not surprising at all- and it looked like some sort of fiction book. Shrugging, I pocketed that and looked up to find some instant noodles on a shelf. I stared at it. I looked at Oliver for an explanation, but he only shrugged back.

"Okay," I muttered to myself, "Strange, but okay." Checking the labels on it, I found that the expiration date was… not any that I recognized. Trying to decipher when it expired turned out to be near-impossible, it seems. Thankfully, I had Oliver. "Oliver- do you know when this expires? I don't understand it."

He took the noodles from me and brought it close to his face. "It says..." he twisted it back and forth a bit. "May… six- teenth, I think? Twenty… two-thousand… thirty two? Or is that… hmm." Shrugging he handed it back. "I can barely tell."

Sharing the shrug, I shoved it away. "Let's just hope that it's good enough to eat."

"You do realize that we don't actually have to eat food to stay alive? We only need blood."

"I was trying not to think of that, actually, thank you very much."

He shrugged. "It's the truth."

"Anyway!" I said with faux-brightness, "Let's keep going." I turned back down the hallway and only made it a few paces before something purple and slimy assaulted me. I screamed and writhed underneath it. Oliver likely yelled something to me, but I was too panicked to hear anything. Wriggling, I grasped something solid and pulled it away from my body.

The purple slimy thing screeched and was thrown away from me an into a wall, where it sunk into the rubble. Briefly filled with rage, I scrambled up and slashed down with my axe to where it had disappeared. I felt several things crunch and a screech. Unsatisfied by that, I pulled away my axe, and instead used my right arm as some sort of claw to strike into the rubble, where I saw a bit of purple.

Five red slashed came from my hand as I slashed down and when it came into contact with the creature, I felt some sort of energy- the same type as when I fired the bayonet- flow into me. Lifting my hand from the ground, I released the weird energy in my arm and watched as the weird light motes float up from the rubble.

Coming back to my senses, I lifted my gloved arm back up and stared at it. "The hell was that?" I asked incredulously.

"The monster or the red claw thing?" Oliver replied.

"Yes."

"Well, the monster was a slime, or at least that's what we call em. Squelch like them, move like them, and most definitely smell like them. Ugly little things like to cling to walls and ceilings and drop onto their prey."

"Oh great, now I have to watch the ceilings, too."

"And that claw thing was an ability granted to you by your Blood Veil."

"Blood Veil?" I asked about the unfamiliar term.

"Blood Veil," Oliver confirmed. "It's the jacket that I'm wearing and that half-cloak you're wearing. Yours is a more standard style than mine, since I found mine, but it grants an ability to use things like claws, thorns, dogs, or tails. There's some sort of drain feature built in that drains ichor from the enemies or something, I don't really pay attention to the details."

"Is ichor the weird draining feeling I get when I fire my bayonet?"

"Might be. I've never used one, so I don't know, but others have told me about being tired after firing a few shots from em, so near everyone uses bullets."

"Okay," I said slowly. That… made some sense. But I'll probably have to ask around some more. And use different 'Blood Veils,' as Oliver called them.

Continuing through the door, my foot skidded against something metal. Looking down, I found a coin. It was worn down, but still in good condition. Holding it up to my face, I could barely read what it said. Deciding not to bother deciphering it, I pocketed it. Coins were money, after all.

I glanced upward after, before I started walking and found a purple blob oozing between the ceiling's rafters. I did a double take and realized what it was. Glaring at it, I stuck my axe into the ground and took off my bayonet. "Oh, no you don't," I muttered as I lined up a shot. Deciding to test something, I held the trigger down a bit linger than it should've been and was rewarded with a much larger kick and a larger red-black bullet heading towards the purple ooze.

When it came into contact, it exploded, destroying part of the already destroyed ceiling and killing the ooze monster, since light motes were floating from where it fell onto the floor. Slinging the bayonet back over my shoulder, I pulled my axe from the ground and continued down the hallway. Looking at a strange object on the ground at the end of the hallway, I picked it up.

"Do all items glow like this when dropped on the ground or is it just me?"

"I think it's just you. I didn't notice the few items on the ground unless you pointed them out to me."

"Really?" I asked. He nodded. "Huh." Shrugging, I shoved it into my back pouch. Which, strangely, hasn't gotten full yet. Climbing the ladder at the end of the hallway, we found a weird plant with some red mist coating it. "Er, Oliver, what's this?"

"It looks like, it looks like mistle. Though, it's corrupted somehow. What with all the red stuff on it."

"Okay," I said slowly. "So, if I were to splatter my blood on it, then it would do what the mistle did a while ago?"

"I have no idea!" Oliver said brightly.

"Thanks for the reassurance, Oliver." Sighing, I decided to get it over with and bit my hand that wasn't coved with a glove. My fangs pierced the skin and I let it drip down onto the weird plant. Instantly, the red mist cleared into a light teal, with the corruption on it cleansing and revealing the white leaves underneath.

The wound closed quickly, and I licked the excess blood off. I paused once I was done and stared at my hand for an indeterminate amount of time.

"You okay?" Oliver asked.

"I have no idea. I'm just thinking. When had something like this become my new normal. Or if I even had a normal before all of this."

"You're gonna be fine. We're gonna get through this, don't worry."

"Yeah. Right. I'm fine now. Let's go." Turning to my left, I took the stairs there down and opened the door-gate. I looked around. "Is this the area we started off at?"

Oliver looked past me. "It is, yeah! See the mistle there? That's the one you opened earlier."

"Oh, it is, isn't it." I walked over to it and tapped it, feeling my exhaustion and pain fade away. I shivered. "That felt weird."

Going back through the gated door, I found another chest next to the foot of the stairs. I paused as I stared at the crest it adorned on the lid. Almost unconsciously, I traced it. It was a three-headed dog with each of the heads holding its mouth open and showing its tongue. It stood on its hind legs as if it were standing, while its forelegs were clawing at open air. Its tail spread upward to meet the right head. I stared at it, feeling something nagging at the back of my head.

"Oliver, what is this?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, that's a chest."

"No, I know it's a chest, but what's this symbol on it."

"Oh, that's the symbol for the provisional government. You know how the boss was muttering on about Silva's collectors and stuff?" I nodded. He did that before he took the white-haired woman away. "Silva is the guy who created it and runs it. They collect and distribute blood beads while protecting the few remaining humans. Why do you ask?"

"There's something about this that nags at my memory, but I can't figure it out. Your explanation helps, but it's not what I was looking for." I shook my head. "Whatever, it's nothing to worry about right now." I opened the chest and inside was a blue jacket. "Er, Oliver, what's this?"

"Oh, that's a blood veil! It looks like a Hounds-type, like mine."

I tugged at my own blood veil, to see if it would come off, but nothing happened. I started patting around, muttering, "Is there a, somewhere? No, doesn't seem like it." I shook my head. "Whatever. Not like I need to wear it right now." Nor did I know if I was wearing clothes under this. So, really, not the best idea. Grabbing the jacket, I stowed it away… somewhere. It wasn't worth finding out where.

Climbing back up the stairs, I started off towards the hole in the wall that led into a cave.

Just finished up ch10 today. ya'll ain't ready