Mona deals with having survived.

Despite having ceased moving several minutes ago, Mona continued to beat the monster's already flattened cranium into the concrete floor, the white fluid it used for blood splashing with each gruesome hit. She'd been so focused on making sure the thing stayed dead that she hadn't even realized she'd been screaming the entire time, only stopping after coming to her senses.

Backing away from the corpse, she felt like she was in another daze. This one was less like a guiding force moving her to where she was meant to be and more out of shock – shock at the fact something like this could exist and at the fact she'd murdered it with her own hands. Monster or not, she'd killed it. Death wasn't a foreign concept by this point in her life, but beating something to death with a piece of wood was entirely different from anything else.

Slowly, she collected herself, wiping her forehead with her sleeve and catching her breath, trembling the whole time. Collecting her phone from where it shone in the darkness, she slipped it back into her pocket before taking a seat near the fire. She refused to let go of the chair leg.

Another few minutes passed before she was able to slow her breathing, a combination of fear and adrenaline surging through her body and forcing her to become aware of every possible sound or movement in the building. Nothing else seemed to be there with her right now. She could always be wrong, though.

No sooner had she managed to catch her breath did she lose it again, coughing and fanning in front of her face as the smoke began to get to her. While the oven fire didn't seem to be spreading, it certainly wasn't burning down. She'd need to find a way out of this place soon before she passed out and asphyxiated.

Collecting herself, Mona began to move further into the store. Weapon clutched in her right hand, she took cautious steps away from the fire and into the dark unknown, jumping at anything that might be another of those creatures. Though her phone's light kept her from being entirely blind, it was far from perfect.

With a great deal of effort, she finally found her way into some sort of office. Papers were strewn about across the room, what looked to be faint bloodstains coating many of them. With any luck, whatever made them was already lying dead outside.

There didn't appear to be much of interest in the cramped space, though upon closer inspection, something small and shining caught her eye. It was a small pendant of sorts, a gold outer bezel holding what seemed to be a glass bauble. It looked to be a strange symbol of three circles enclosed inside a larger one, various cryptic runes and text strewn about within.

Though she had no reason to, Mona decided to pocket the thing. She had no idea what to expect in this place, so who knows what value it might hold down the line? Beyond this souvenir, though, nothing else of interest could be found here.

Exiting the office, she continued along the wall of the store in search of some kind of back door. Though it hadn't reached dangerous levels, it was quite clear the smoke was beginning to get a bit thicker. She couldn't afford to waste more time.

While a door didn't present itself, a hole most certainly did. Not to outside, but to the building next to this one. Taking a few cautious steps inward, Mona found herself inside a small shoe store. Similar to the previous location, things looked like they had been largely untouched for some time.

The thought of stealing a cute pair of shoes she saw on the wall tempted her for just a moment, but she ultimately had more important things to worry about right now. Trying the door, it was once again locked, though the view through the glass showed that the fog hadn't lifted whatsoever. If anything, it was much thicker now, though that might simply be the condensation that had collected from the humidity.

As she explored the store, she came upon a full length mirror near the middle of the room. Like most would, she took the chance to look herself over. Seeing herself covered in sweat, hair a mess, and the creature's white fluid coating the front of her jacket made all of this seem even more real than before.

Mona jumped back as the mirror suddenly cracked, a splintered line growing across her face's reflection. As it did, a loud storm siren began to play from somewhere outside, the store beginning to rumble and shake like it was caught in an earthquake.

The initial crack began to grow, the image in the mirror beginning to distort as the world around her started to fall apart. As shards of glass fell loose of their frame, it became clear that there was a path hidden behind them. It was less than inviting.

The siren grew louder the more of the mirror fell apart, blood beginning to drip down and obscure the view of the outside world through the windows and door while the shoes on display began to crumple and rot. A sickeningly warm, bleach-like stench began to fill the room, overpowering even the smoke to the point Mona thought she could vomit at any moment.

Finally, the sound stopped once the last piece of mirror broke against the floor, a small pathway having opened up into a distressingly bright corridor. Taking a few steps closer, she saw the cramped walls were seemingly constructed from rough stone, the floor being little more than flimsy metal fencing over an improbably raging fire.

While one would normally avoid such a deathly unsafe passageway as this, Mona didn't seem to have much of a choice. The door behind her was locked and, despite her earlier observation, the hole she'd entered through as well as the entire previous store was quickly being consumed with blindly white flames.

The stench from before and the heat of the flames made it impossible to stay put any longer. Against her better judgment, she made the decision to see where this path led. She didn't have to wait and see to know it wouldn't be anywhere good.

That pendant will be important later.

I got the idea for it from someone on the wiki, actually, which is no longer a circumcision nightmare. You can use it for stuff again.

Thanks for reading. Share if you're enjoying. Always remember things can get worse.