I continued following Luna through the city's empty streets, heading toward the nearest store and avoiding those spider-like machines.

Many of them were wandering through the streets, and there were some close calls, but I needed to get to the store to get the map for Dr. Dimitri and Hisoka.

Luna soon approached a store and nudged her nose against the door, opening it before squeezing inside, and I followed behind, entering the store and stepping inside.

"Hey!" I jolted after hearing a voice exclaim and glanced over, seeing it was the store's owner. "Close the damn door!"

I instantly turned around and closed the door fully, saying, "Sorry!"

Once the door was closed, I turned around as he walked over to me, asking, "What are ya doin' out he-yah by yourself? It's dangerous wanderin' out en the dark with those damn machines roamin' around."

"I know," I nodded. "But I came here to get a map to help some new friends get out of the city to a safe place."

"Aah sure do have some maps!" the store owner nodded. "But the problem is that aah must've lost the box while tryin' to board up the windows durin' the panic."

He paused and added, "Maybe ya can help meh find the box en the back 'n gather some other supplies fo-wah meh."

"Okay," I shrugged. "What supplies do you want from the back?"

"Some more boards 'n a couple of boxes of nails," he answered. "These ones aren't 'unna stay up long with the previous nails aah had used."

"Sounds good," I nodded. "Aren't you coming with me to the back, though?"

"Are ya kiddin' meh?" The store owner exclaimed. "Who will stay he-yah 'n hold down the fort if those damn aliens come he-yah?"

"Good point," I nodded.

I walked over to the back of the store and approached the door as Luna walked by my side, and I slowly opened the door, peering through as I saw it was pitch black.

I reached into my satchel, took out the flashlight Dr. Dimitri packed, and turned it on, shining the light into the darkness.

Nothing was hiding in the back of the store, but it was long, had different kinds of boxes on shelves, and had different labels.

"Okay," I said with a soft sigh. "Here goes nothing."

I stepped into the store's backroom, and Luna followed behind me, entering the darkness as I closed the door behind my back, sealing myself more into the darkness.

My heart was nervously beating against my chest as I stepped further into the store with the flashlight in my hand lighting my way and Luna walking by my side, her ears upward, and looking around in the darkness.

I slowly turned around the corner before hearing something scattering from the left of me, causing me to gasp and whip around, seeing it was just a mouse before it scrambled away.

I sighed in relief to calm myself down and turned back around, continuing with my path as I walked through the darkness, looking at the boxes around me and searching for the wood or nails the store owner told me about.

The darkness and quiet of the store's backroom were not pleasant, along with the eerie, somewhat cold feeling as I continued walking further and further, glancing around and behind in case I was followed behind.

Luna suddenly stopped walking and froze where she was, causing me to stop moving and glance down at her before hearing something click.

I covered my mouth to keep myself from gasping and knelt down to Luna's height, keeping myself small and quiet as Luna stared at something in the darkness.

I turned off my light to keep myself in darkness, keeping it near my body as I heard the clicking noise again and felt my heart beating somewhat loudly against my chest.

The clicking noise happened a few times from here and there, and I listened to the noise carefully, waiting patiently with Luna.

She then slowly moved forward, and I followed, crouching and walking simultaneously while listening to the clicking.

Something somewhat large and metallic-like moved in the darkness, and I flinched as Luna stopped, giving silent growls as I moved close to her, wrapping one arm over her neck for protection.

The clicking noise was somewhat louder, and I bit the bottom of my lip to keep myself silent while looking into the darkness, somewhat seeing what looked like a shape in the darkness.

Luna slowly moved forward, and I followed, walking around the large shape behind the boxes as the thing clicked and moved around slightly.

We soon came across a box, and I looked at it, seeing the label reading, "2023 Maps."

I smiled slightly with relief before freezing when the clicking noise got close, clutching the box of maps close to my body as something hovered.

My heart skipped a beat as the clicking was much closer to where I was, holding the box in a death grip as I stayed silent, wanting to look up at what was looming over me.

But I did not want to see what was looming over me.

Minutes felt like hours as I watched anxiously for what was towering over me to pass by, hearing it sometimes clicking before finally moving away, disappearing further into the darkness as the clicking went distant.

I breathed a sigh of relief and took the box with me, carefully crouching and crawling through the darkness with no flashlight, as I had put it away in my satchel to keep Luna or myself from being discovered.

Luna then stopped at something in front of me, and I stopped behind her, nudging something with her nose before squeezing through and turning around to me.

I felt it and noticed a gate leading to another part of the backroom.

I carefully moved the gate somewhat to open it, but it kept making a screeching noise whenever I moved it, causing me to wince and freeze, not moving an inch as I waited.

The clicking noise was still distant, and nothing was looming over me as I quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Instead of pulling the gate, I carefully lifted it upward a little before moving backward, successfully opening it somewhat.

I first pushed the box of maps forward as Luna bit the side and dragged it back to help me, as it was my turn to carefully squeeze through.

I squeezed myself through and paused when my hips did not go through somewhat, so I twisted my hips to the side a little and crawled through.

But a single screech caused me to freeze up, and I realized my satchel was caught on the side of the gate and pulled it forward.

The clicking noise started to come closer, and I panicked, quickly grabbing my satchel and squeezing through, but something cold and wire-like wrapped around my ankles!

I panicked and gave a small yelp of fear as I was almost dragged backward, but Luna grabbed my sweater's sleeve and tugged forward.

I felt like I was in a tug of war between Luna and whatever grabbed my ankles, silently pleading for Luna to not let go of me.

My shoes popped off my feet when the cold and wire-like things around my ankles slipped a little, allowing me to crawl into the safe place as I slammed the gate closed.

I moved back into the space as Luna released my sweater and moved back, entering a larger area as the clicking from the backroom continued before I closed the door.

After closing the door, I listened to the clicking noises as they continued before stopping as they went away.

I sighed in relief after I escaped from whatever had grabbed me and picked up the box of maps in my arms, continuing to walk through the new area I had entered.

It was a little bigger than the other room I entered, but it was part of the backrooms, and I soon approached what looked like a small pile of wood planks.

I placed the box on top of the wood planks and was about to pick it up when Luna suddenly approached me with something in her mouth.

I held my hand out, and she dropped a box of nails into my palm.

"Good girl," I smiled, gently scratching her chin with my other hand as her tail wagged happily.

I placed the box of nails into my satchel, picked up the pile of wood planks, and continued walking through the backrooms before approaching another door.

Luna hopped up and used her paws to open the door for me, allowing me to enter, and we both entered the store, seeing the store manager waiting before turning around to see me.

"Great!" he smiled. "Ya got the planks!"

"You're welcome," I said, nodding before placing the wood planks down.

"Where are the nails?" He asked.

I reached into my satchel and took out the box of nails, handing them to him as he took the box and said, "Thank you."

After noticing I was walking with only my socks on, he paused and asked, "Where are your shoes?"

"Oh, about that," I said, worriedly turning to him. "You didn't tell me an alien was in the backrooms!"

"They-yur was an alien en the backrooms?!" He exclaimed before turning to his counter and taking out a shotgun from over the ledge. "Hold own, aah will git that alien beh-cuz it won't scare off any mah customers."

He paused from walking away and turned to me, saying, "Take as many items as ya want from the store, 'n it's all free since the cash register is down. Mostly as thanks fo-wah helpin' meh git the planks 'n nails."

"Thank you." I nodded as he stormed over to the backroom door with his shotgun.

Not wanting to stand around and watch him, I opened the box of maps and took the map from inside before heading outside as Luna followed.

Stepping on rocks was more hurtful than I expected, but I ignored the pain because I needed to get to the RV and did not plan to return to the store to get my shoes with that alien lurking in the backroom.

Gunshots came from within the store as I hurried outside, closing the door behind me before following Luna back to the RV mobile park.

I returned to the RV mobile park and paused when I noticed strange things about the vehicles around me, as they looked slightly shifted from where they were parked.

I was starting to feel uneasy about the parked vehicles around me.

But I ignored the feeling as I approached the one with Dr. Dimitri and Hisoka, reaching up to the doorknob and grasping it.

I tried turning the knob, but it was stuck, causing me to look confused as I looked down at the doorknob.

I tried repeatedly, but the knob would not turn, and I let go of the knob, not wanting to accidentally rip it off.

"Dr. Dimitri?" I called. "Hisoka? Are you two in there?"

"Yeah, we're in here," Dr. Dimitri nodded, responding from inside. "What's wrong?"

"I can't get inside your RV," I responded.

"What?" Hisoka responded with confusion. "Let me see."

I waited outside before watching Luna start smelling the air before turning to the ground and sniffing.

She put her nose towards the ground and continued sniffing as she headed towards the front of the RV, and I followed.

"Luna?" I spoke, following Luna's lead. "What is it, girl?"

I soon stood in front of the RV, and Luna was smelling something on the ground that looked like something metal.

"Luna, move," I gently spoke, moving Luna to the back.

I paused after moving Luna back, seeing that it was a huge mosquito-like machine with wings and a syringe, but the abdomen was empty.

"Stephanie!" I perked up after hearing my name called and looked up, seeing Hisoka looking through the window. "I can't open the door from my end!"

"Did someone glue the door shut?" I asked in confusion.

"It looked like it," Hisoka said, nodding in agreement. "Did you get a map?"

"Yes," I nodded, taking the map out and showing it to Hisoka and Dr. Dimitri after he walked up to Hisoka's side. "I've got a map."

"Good," Dr. Dimitri nodded. "Now try to find a store that has a scraper and try to open the door for us."

"Okay," I nodded but paused as I asked, "Did you two see a gigantic mosquito appear from the window?"

Both looked confused after I asked, and I knelt down, gingerly picking the dead metal mosquito from the ground and showing it to them.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Hisoka exclaimed as Dr. Dimitri pushed his glasses into place.

"I don't know," I responded. "I found this lying in front of your RV."

"Hmm, it looks dangerous," Dr. Dimitri responded. "Try avoiding those things, as they looked like they could drain your blood in a few minutes."

"Okay," I nodded, dropping the mosquito to the ground. "I'll be back soon with the scraper from the hardware store."

"Oh, wait, Stephanie!" Hisoka exclaimed. "We forgot to give you this before."

He rolled a window down as I approached the window, looking through it as he stuck some of his body out, but the rest was still inside the RV.

Hisoka held out what looked like a walkie-talkie, and I took it into my hand as Hisoka popped back into the RV and rolled the window back up.

He held up his own walkie-talkie and pressed a button, speaking through it, "Can you hear me from the other side?"

"Yes, I can," I nodded, responding after pressing the button.

Hisoka nodded after I responded to his question and pressed the button on his walkie-talkie, "These walkie-talkies are battery-powered, so try finding spare batteries to power them."

"Okay," I responded. "Thank you for handing me the walkie-talkie. I'll be back soon."

"Be safe," Dr. Dimiri nodded, taking Hisoka's wrist and speaking through it.

After that, I walked away from the RV and headed back outside to the city, heading towards the hardware store.

But after Stephanie walked away from Dr. Dimitri and Hisoka's RV, the RV wheel twitched a little as wires spread all over it and started to grow metal.