《In the Murk》


 Tasting Salt

    The last thing the crew saw was a pale face getting reclaimed by the foam of the harsh ocean waves. The clouds strangled what remained of the faint moonlight as the remaining passengers faded into the obscurity of the darkness. Against every promise, the iniquitous, salty manifest of the unexplored ocean had won.


    The credits began rolling. However, the cinema lights did not illuminate to usher out the audience of the 9pm screening for the new summer romance thriller:Tasting Salt.


    Elizabeth sat in silence, looking down at Gowan''s hand that had slowly crept its way into hers during a much happier section of the movie. The credits finished and the theatre remained silent and still, only lit the dim glow of a projector now in standby mode. Elizabeth composed herself, letting out a small sniffle before forcing on a braver face, "I like the movies better when the lovers end up together at the end."


    "I liked it this way." Gowan was still looking straight ahead, "It''s more realistic."


    They let the silence settle around them in the theatre. Gowan didn''t let go of her hand, instead opting to jolt his head towards the screen, "What do you think this is about? Maybe the projector guy fell asleep or something."


    The Southglen Shopping Centre was always open for late night shopping but the movie started at 9pm so all the stores were shutting down as they made their way up to the theatre on the 2nd floor. A cinema in the centre was great for stopping by the grocery store to get cheap cinema snacks beforehand, but once the clock struck 9pm all the retail workers were out of there.


    Elizabeth could totally empathise with the workers scrambling to have the shops shuttered at 9pm sharp. She did not miss her minimum wage job at Candles n'' Things when she was in high school. The downside to this was that if the few remaining cinema workers abandoned their posts during a movie and something went wrong, there wasn''t a whole lot anyone could really do until everything opened again on Friday morning. Not that she would ever dream of causing a fuss over having to leave the cinema in the dark after seeing the full movie.


    They craned their necks as other couples who had also braved the weather to the late night screening were also sitting in their seats with puzzled looks on their faces as the lights didn''t budge. After it was clear there was no post-credit scene, and it was clearly an unintentional darkness, one couple tentatively began to edge their way out of their row towards the aisle that tilted upwards towards the exit.


    Just as the couple made it to the end of the row, the lady let out an expletive as the cinema doors burst open with a loud bang. The man dropped to the ground, intentionally pulling the woman with him.


    A figure loomed at the top of the cinema stairs. Elizabeth could only make out a trenchcoat and a backpack before the glint of a large blade in his hand caught her eye. The warmth of Gowan''s hand battled against the chill that began to overwhelm her own extremities. Her blood seemed to dissipate from her very being. She could feel her pulse in her throat.


    The stranger''s voice sounded like an older teenager trying to seem authoritative, "Do not be afraid. I am here to save you. You are the lucky ones. You have been chosen."


    Elizabeth''s eyes began to adjust to the dim glow emanating from the standby mode of the projector. It wasn''t just the blade that was shining from the light of the screen, the blood was shining too. The figure was lanky. While tall, the uncontrolled pitch changes in his voice suggested to Elizabeth that he was just a kid. A brave kid. A stupid kid. Still a kid. Probably no older than 19.


    It didn''t take long for a burly man in his 40s to pick himself off the floor and disarm the boy, almost casually. The woman accompanying him rolled her eyes, as if this was just a regular Thursday for him. She walked over to the seats where the man had thrown the knife, fishing for it under the seats, as her husband restrained the boy with ease.


    "I''m telling you," the teen yelled anxiously, "I''m here to save you!"


    "Then who did you use the knife on?" The woman walked over to the boy. "Whose blood are you shedding to save us?"


    "Those who disbelieve."


    The large guy looked at his wife as he continued to restrain the teen, "Amy, go figure out whose blood that is."


    She nodded back to her husband. Without a word, Amy began calmly making her way down the aisle towards Elizabeth and Gowan.


    "What do we do?" Elizabeth whispered out of the corner of her mouth.


    Gowan simply gave her hand a squeeze.


    The man began to walk with the boy back out towards the doors. The boy began writhing to get away, was almost shrieking now, "NO! STOP! THAT''S WHERE THE DEMONS ARE! WE NEED TO START PRAYING NOW IF WE WANT ANY CHANCE OF SURVIVAL."


    "I survived Iraq, bud. I can take on a cinema lobby." He held the boy with one hand, using the other to press down on the large vertical bar on the door.


    As the large handle pressed down, the room snapped to pitch black. The sound of the teen''s struggles quickly stopped. The handle was jolted back up, the door remaining closed.


    "Fuck." Another man exclaimed, sitting with a beautiful woman who could be his daughter. Although, Elizabeth had noticed they''d been holding hands the whole movie, so she highly doubted that. "Enough of this tough guy shit! I''m calling the bloody police!"


    There was rustling in the theatre as the moviegoers began to locate their phones for lighting. There were a lot of confused noises, swearing, and tapping. Somehow, they had all stopped working.


    "I TOLD YOU. I TOLD YOU. I TOLD YOU. THE THREE DAYS IS COMING! IT''S COMING. IT IS HERE."


    "Mate. Mate. Calm down. We gotta make sense of you before you can help us, ok? When you calm down, I''ll let you go," The man remained rock solid at the doorway of the cinema as the teen finally stopped resisting, "What''s your name, mate?"


    "WE HAVE TO SURVIVE FOR THREE DAYS!", he continued shouting.


    "Ok, so we''re here for three days, mate. That''s fine. We better get to know each other before we can trust each other right? So what''s your name? I''m Emilio. Amy, who''s out there, is my wife. Now you know us, who are you?"


    The dejected figure mumbled something.


    "What, mate? Richard?"


    "No. Victor. I''m Victor. That''s what I have to be. It''s the end of the days."


    As everyone''s eyes got used to the darkness, and Victor had stopped resisting, Emilio eased up on his restraint hold. By this point, everyone had made their way up to where Emilio and Victor were standing. While there was no light in the room, the shape of Victor''s severe cheekbones cut through the darkness as he looked around for his backpack that had been tussled from him in the struggle.


    Emilio noticed, snatching it from the floor, "I don''t think so," He turned to Gowan and snickered, "Hey, Kobe, catch!"


    Gowan caught the bulky pack, but he was not impressed with the improv, "Dude."


    "Well, I don''t know your name so I had to improvise, don''t I?" He looked Gowan up and down, "Don''t worry, it''s a basketball thing, not a black thing."


    Gowan worked in Youth Ministry for the last 9 years of his life. Including kids who were forced to be there by their parents and were going through their edgy stages. He kind of just expected it then, unfortunately. He couldn''t believe that he was still getting this nonsense during a date that was interrupted by a knife-wielding lunatic saying the world was ending.


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    "Gowan. It''s Gowan Daniel." He placed the backpack at his feet, "And no," He said sarcastically, "I can''t dunk."


    "Yeah, real funny." Emilio said, moving his sights to the old white guy whose date''s age was questionable, "And you, grandpa?"


    "Gideon, and I''ll have you know I''ve onlyjustturned fifty ni-"


    The heavy doors were rattling. Like something was trying to force them open. The room fell silent. Elizabeth ducked to the floor, feeling the rough, sticky cinema carpet soaked with years and years of spilled sodas and slushies. Gowan crouched beside her, finding her hand on the floor and squeezing it reassuringly.


    Elizabeth shallowed her breathing, trying to be as still as possible, even though she already felt frozen. She knew it wasn''t demons, but this whole situation was surreal to her. She slowly turned her eyesight to Gowan, who seemed focused and ready to rush the door. Emilio began to get up slowly and silently.


    "Don''t!" Victor whispered, "Don''t let them in. They will trick you."


    Emilio let go of Victor, "Vic, if you try anything, you''re dead either way, got it?"


    Victor did not respond as he moved away from the doors.


    The thumping at the doors began again, a voice on the other side was calling for help.


    Once again, Emilio pushed down on the heavy opening mechanism, pulling one side of the door open and darting behind the other side for cover.


    Amy sprinted up the stairs to the staggering figure who slumped at the door. She struggled to hold them up. Emilio sprung out from behind the door and helped her immediately.


    "Oh shit." She said. "OH. SHIT." She yelled, yanking off her t-shirt and pressing it down against the wound on the abdomen of the cinema worker. "Help me get him down to the front, the floor is flat. We can lay him down."


    Gowan arose from where he and Elizabeth had been crouching, and helped the young worker to the flat floor in front of the first row of seats. Everyone in the room began to follow them down, besides Victor.


    After helping the worker to the floor, she began to examine the wounds as best she could in the dark. Amy and the worker spoke softly to each other as she tried her best to assess the damage.


    She looked to Emilio, "From what little I can see, it looks like Sweeney over there got a good slash or two in, but he missed anything important."


    Emilio took off his jacket to mop the cold sweat from the boy who looked around the same age as Victor, "What do we do now?"


    "Call the fucking cops!" Gideon spoke up again, just as angrily as the first time.


    Amy passive-aggressively ignored the old man, still only addressing Emilio, "I''d suggest an ambulance but I have no signal... No battery, my phone is flat."


    A shy voice spoke up, "They all are." It was the woman who had been accompanying Gideon.


    "... Shit." Amy paused to think, "Well then the next thing we need is drugs. For an abdominal wound you need ... What''s the pneumonic? Shit." Her mind went blank, "We need ... Kef... Sero... Ceta... Shit. I don''t remember." She sighed in defeat, "Fuck it. When in doubt, we used amoxicillin and doxycycline. If someone''s still at the pharmacy it''ll be easier to get drugs and get back here than to go outside to find help."


    "NO!" Victor cried again, "We can''t go outside! That''s where they are! They''ll get in!"


    Emilio rolled his eyes, "The last time you claimed a demon was coming to get us it turned out to be," He gestured to the worker on the ground.


    "Matt." Amy answered for the worker.


    "Matt, Victor. Victor, Matt. I''m sure you too are best friends." He pointed around the circle, we also have "Gowan, Gideon... That''s as far as we''d got."


    "Elizabeth." Elizabeth said, as she took off her cardigan to give to Amy who was still in just her bra. Amy thanked her and let Emilio take over applying pressure as she re-dressed.


    Gowan had a knack for looking out for the ones in a group who were quiet or feeling left out. He turned in the general direction of the meek woman who was half-hiding behind Gideon. He softened his voice, "Who are you? Are you Gideon''s wife?"


    "No," Amy answered for her in a somewhat monotone fashion, "He''s got a wedding ring. She doesn''t. That handbag is about $900. Do the math."


    The lights didn''t need to be on to feel the woman blushing from embarrassment, "I''m Violet."


    "That''s a nice name." Elizabeth tried to break the tension.


    Gideon let out an annoyed sigh, "Fuck this shit. One of my cars is being detailed in the shop across from here. I''ll go across the road and we can drive him to the hospital."


    "The carwash would be closed by now." Emilio pointed out.


    "Son. If I need to break the fucking windows of the shop to get to my car, I will. ''Restitution'' is just a fancy way of saying ''inconvenience fee''. Just call me Sugar Daddy Do-Gooder." He began muttering to himself as he walked towards the cinema doors, "Getting some kid''s blood on my freshly detailed seats. Fuck."


    Victor rushed to follow Gideon. "You can''t leave!"


    Gowan tried to help Emilio get Matt to his feet, but he kept writhing in pain.


    Gideon kept walking, brushing Victor''s hand from his arm, "Listen, you rejected Tim Burton sketch: I don''t care what bullshit you read on some forum about radio active water turning frogs gay. It''s just a fucking storm." He turned to face Victor, while still walking up the slanted aisle, "And guess what? Storms have electricity. When that electricity hits shit... Blackouts happen." He opened the heavy cinema doors out into the foyer, "Next, I''ll explain magnets to you!"


    Even in the dark, as their eyes adjusted, Gowan and Emilio exchanged a glance. They had given up trying to move the worker, but knew Victor couldn''t be left alone with anyone. Elizabeth followed them out, while Amy continued to apply pressure and her crumpled t-shirt to the wound. Violet kneeled beside her impotently, trying to see if there was anything she could even do to help.


    "Stop!" Emilio ran after Gideon who was making his way down the stationary escalator to the ground floor of the shopping centre, "Even if the kid is bonkers, what the fuck do you think you''re going to do? Save the day?" He pointed at the big glass windows covered in masking tape and paper. "Look at all the windows. You think they''re like that for some kind of new trend? No. It''s because they''re anticipating flying branches. Hail stones as big as your fucking head. So why don''t you use yours?"


    Emilio was right. Even though all the couples had chosen to brave the weather, hardly anything remained open after the storm that had been hitting for the past few days. It had been rough. There had been flooding. Stores and houses alike had been taping their windows and covering them in old magazines and newspapers to try and mitigate any damage in the off-chance that the glass was shattered. While today''s weather had been less wild, the paper was still up to cover the view to the outside world. People had already gone through the "Panic buy" phase, so unless someone was out to see a movie or get some knick-knacks, it was unlikely the store would be packed and anyone would be too concerned about the less-than-aesthetic window decor being up an extra day.


    Nonetheless, Gideon continued charging through the dark down the stairs. There wasn''t much light, but it looked like some light of the moon may have bounced through the undercover parking area as the doors seemed to have a faint glow behind them that could be seen from afar. The escalators from the cinema level lead down to an atrium, however the skylight was made from milky glass to stop shoppers knowing exactly what time of the day it was. During the day, this helped keep the shoppers lost in a frenzy of deals and the cash registers ringing. At night, with no additional lighting except for the exit to the carpark, it appeared almost liminal.


    Emilio, Gowan, and Elizabeth had caught up to Gideon who was still swatting Victor away like a fly as he tried to pry open the doors with his hands, after failing to activate the regular sensor that would open them.


    "This is bullshit!" He spat at Victor, "You stabbed someone! Do you get that? You fucking put a knife in someone''s gut and told us God told you to do it." He continued to shove him, "Do you understand how god damned insane that is? I won''t be sat in this shithole getting told what to do by some lunatic kid!" He smashed the green button one would normally use to exit the shopping centre into carpark. The doors remained closed. He let out a frustrated noise and fumbled around the edge of the door until he was able to find the safety lever that allowed the doors to loosely glide along their tracks manually.


    "Don''t!" Victor exclaimed once more.


    "Catch! Here are the spare keys to the car across the road. You know, just to be on the safe side once I get struck down by lightning for walking outside," Gideon sarcastically remarked as he threw his keys at Elizabeth.


    She flinched in just the right way that the keys jangled on her chest and dropped to the ground. As she scrambled to pick them up, Gideon had already opened the door. The keys felt jagged and cold in her hands, but at least she felt something. Everyone squinted, barely able to see him as their eyes still adjusted to the darkness.


    He walked out into the carpark before turning around. Facing the group with his hands triumphantly on his hips he announced "See, I''m fine! "


    With almost divine timing, his skin began rising upwards. Charcoal flakes peeled from his body and floated in the air while the remnants of his corporeal form began to melt into a weighted slush on the ground. The noise he let out was not a scream, it was the sound of air being forced out of his lungs as they were ripped apart. In mere moments, the ordeal was over. Every cell in his body had been reclaimed by the black depths of the parking lot.


    "I think the fuck not." Emilio yelled, as he dashed toward the door, closing it back up and flicking the manual latch to reinstate the locking mechanism, "Run!"


    They all darted back through the first level and up the escalator stairs before slamming closed the cinema doors behind them.


    For the first time, there was a shake to Emilio''s voice. "Is everyone else safe?"


    Gowan, Victor, and Elizabeth all identified themselves in the dark.


    "What... Was that?" Elizabeth asked, trying her hardest not to simply freeze again.


    "Whatever it is, it''s outside for now." Gowan squeezed Elizabeth''s shoulder to try and comfort her.


    Victor scanned the door to ensure that the cinema doors were properly closed. "I told you. We need to stay in here." He was much more certain they believed him now.

 It Cant Be Dark Forever

    The group rushed back to Violet and Amy who were still tending to Matthew. Emilio immediately began to fill his wife in on the situation. Amy simply nodded. There was no skepticism. She simply took her husband at his word and went back to the task of keeping Matthew responsive.


    Matthew''s feet were elevated, resting on the platform where the first row of tiered seating began. It was hard to tell if his eyes were open with the darkness so settled around them. Violet kept her hand on his chest to make sure it was still rising and falling.


    Violet threw her voice in the general direction of the group who were descending towards them. "Matt let us know he''s 19. He''s got two cuts. One on the lower abdomen, one on the arm. It''s hard to tell how bad his abdomen really is, but his arm will need stitches. Or at least, the closest we can get to stitches. What he needs is pain relief and antibiotics. We need rubber gloves."


    The room was shocked into silence at the sudden assertiveness of the young looking girl who had been quiet up until this time.


    Emilio broke the silence with a quip, "Diary of a call girl suddenly got the Doctor Barbie upgrade?"


    "I''m a med student. My parents were poor. Now they''re dead. Centrelink pays $400 under the poverty line. I like nice things. Unless you have any other fantastic one liners, shut the hell up and get us what we need. If we''re here for three days, I''d rather not be sharing a room with necrotic tissue." She retorted bluntly as Victor''s backpack began rustling beside her.


    Emilio yelled in the direction of the rustling, squaring up for a confrontation as he tried to squint into the darkness. "Get back, you little psycho."


    Victor''s pale skin made it almost impossible for him to act undetected in the dark, "I''d imagine that light would be a good idea if we''re going to sew up wounds." He walked toward the mountain that was Emilio''s shadow and shoved a rough, cylindrical object into his hand. "It''s a beeswax candle. This is the only thing that will produce light for us."


    Victor proceeded to find Gowan and gave him the second candle. He left the third on the floor with Amy, Violet, and Matt.


    "Anyone got a light?" A sentence Gowan had never pictured himself saying.


    Violet was already trying to flick a lighter, but the sharp noises of the flint simply sprung through the cavernous theatre with no accompanying flame. Not even a spark. "I bought this yesterday, what the hell?"


    A second, more surreptitious click softly left the darkness on the floor.


    "Mine''s out too." Amy''s voice disappointedly whispered from beside Violet.


    For the first time, even after seeing a cranky sugar-daddy evaporate in a parking lot due to supernatural causes, Emilio seemed genuinely shaken, "Babe, why do you have that?"


    The clicks of Amy''s lighter became louder with each impotent attempt to start a flame before she let out a frustrated sigh and began to throw sharp words at her husband, "I''m smoking in the bathroom when I can get away with it. Ok? It''s called coping. Can we please focus on the kid bleeding out right now?"


    Emilio turned back to Victor''s general direction, "Ok Crypt Keeper, we don''t have time for this shit. Fast forward to the seventh day or what-the-fuck ever and let there be light."


    "It''s too late. I thought these candles would keep light because they are blessed. The prophecy said they''d keep alight for the full three days. I hadn''t considered what would happen if they did not get lit prior to the other light sources being taken away. We are trapped as shapes in the darkness."


    Elizabeth had always loved puzzles. "What if we can light it without fire? Like a battery and a chewy wrapper. The kind with foil on one side. That''s how they do it in jail."


    A row of chairs rattled as Emilio struck them in frustration, "Oh, great. We''re stuck in here with the kid from The Omen AND a jailbird."


    "I''m a single woman in my early 30s. True crime podcasts and prison doccos are my evergreen versions of..." She searched her mind for something that would likely resonate with a headstrong man high on his own testosterone, "... State of Origin. Whatever. We can''t just sit here helpless in the dark for three days."


    Gowan''s hand fell gently on her shoulder.


    Victor spoke, "You will only need to take one candle with you. Just in case anything happens. If you light one, it will not melt or go out as long as you pray over it first. Bring it back and we can light the others."


    "Emilio?" Gowan asked into the void, "We could really use extra hands on this one."


    "And leave the kid who stabbed someone alone with my wife? Tough luck, mate," He scoffed back.


    Elizabeth backed up Gowan, "The grocery store doors are massive. I don''t think we''ll be able to get in without some strength behind us."


    The young man on the floor finally said something through his groans, "Please go. My boyfriend. He''s still out there." He let out a sharp breath as Violet guided him back down from the one good elbow he had propped himself up on, "Please. If he''s hurt..."


    A tense silence filled the room until Matthew grunted in pain as he moved again. Violet tried to soothe him with gentle words. The clothing they were using to keep his wounds closed made hideous noises as the women tending to him tried to find dry spaces that remained in the material. The smell of iron filled the air.


    "Honey," Amy urged, "I''ll be fine."


    Emilio sighed. "I guess if I go we can carry more shit." He mumbled, walking towards the sound of Elizabeth conferring with Violet over what was required from the pharmacy that was near the grocery store.


    Violet had verbally given Elizabeth a list that she muttered to herself over and over again as she walked up the slanted flooring to the back exit of the cinema. The heavy door was lugged open and Emilio, Gowan, and Elizabeth walked into the pitch black.


    Both the grocery store and pharmacy were on the ground floor of the building. One by one, feeling their way down the still escalator, they shuffled downwards. Elizabeth took Gideon''s car keys out of her pocket and dangled the key ring from her fingers so that the jingling keys could help the pair locate her if they got disoriented.


    She reached into her distant memories from being a Candles n'' Things employee who had to traverse the corridors of the shopping centre almost every day. Her muscle memory surprised her. Her mind was cast back to a time that a customer told her that they purposely designed shopping centres to be dizzying, like casinos, so that you were more likely to get disoriented and shop for longer. Even when they weren''t at the whim of the cloudy glass sunroof, it took many months of working there to really get the layout of the place down pat. Apparently though, once the layout was burned into her brain, even years later, it was a permanent core memory.


    She wondered if the necessity for menial labour, and all of the novelty stories that followed a stint in customer service, was now the reason there was no room for actual intellectual skills. Math. Science. Hard skills. Subjective skills. The only skill she could really market was empathy and that was draining and did not pay well.


    They reached the grocery store to find the large, security roller-doors down and locked, as expected. Emilio walked up and began to bang on them. The clangs echoed in the entanglement of empty corridors.


    Gowan rushed over, speaking in hushed tones, "Dude, what are you doing?"


    "Getting us inside. We need the fucking light." He continued to let his frustration out on the doors.


    Elizabeth stood frozen. She wanted him to stop, but she couldn''t get her body to move.


    Gowan touched his shoulder gingerly, as if he was calming down a child mid-tantrum. "I get that you''re frustrated, but we don''t know what''s in there. We don''t even know what''s out here!"


    Elizabeth began to briskly walk again. The movement made the other two stopped bickering as they watched her continue through the maze of corridors and closed stores before following.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    She explained herself, "The Home Store has batteries in the office supplies section and gum at the registers. They have glass windows. Emilio, let''s put you to real work."


    They arrived at The Home Store. At least, the two men trusted that Elizabeth had lead them to The Home Store. It was impossible to tell. Emilio had grabbed a chair from a closed up cafe kiosk nearby. As much as he''d love to punch through the glass, they already had one guy bleeding out.


    Elizabeth and Gowan stood back as Emilio tried to throw the chair through the large, glass window. A crack was heard but there was no shatter. Emilio slowly walked toward the window, grasping around the space where he suspected the chair to be. Once he found it he tried a second time.


    The chair was heavy and steel. This time it broke through. Gowan passed him a second chair which he used to make sure their entrance through the broken glass was free of any jagged edges. The ease at which he did this was like waving a stick on a bushwalk to clear the path of cobwebs. With a somewhat surprising softness, he guided Elizabeth and Gowan through the broken glass until they were safe on the other side. Elizabeth was just glad she''d chosen to wear flats on the date instead of heels.


    Making their way to the office section was more of a challenge. They found a number of different batteries that they took with them as they walked towards the cash registers to find the gum.


    As it turned out, more gum had changed to paper wrappers these days. The smell of peppermint lingered in the air as packet after packet was opened from the different brands. Gowan disturbed the gum-opening monotony with an exclamation.


    "FINALLY!" He''d found a foil wrapper. "Ok, now what do we do?"


    Elizabeth took the candle that she''d perched on one of the checkouts and an AA battery, and walked towards the sound of Gowan''s voice. She miscalculated, feeling the warmth of his chest warning her that she had ventured too far forward.


    For just a moment she lingered. She knew his cologne. It was the same kind as her ex-ex-ex-ex-boyfriend wore. Who knows how many exes ago. It smelled earthy and yet slightly sweet. It took her back to lonely mornings, after nights with men that promised to call her but never did. Every time.


    The rough material of his jacket rustled as she forced herself backwards, fumbling for the wrapper in his hand that had managed to get trapped between them.


    She gingerly took the wrapper and tried to align the middle of the folded foil with the candle wick. Gowan took the candle to free up one of her hands to connect the foil with the two ends of the battery. Without light, the wrapper smoldered away before the candle wick caught alight. They tried again with the same results. An exasperated Emilio stepped between the two and took the candle from Gowan, lining it up with a slight crease he made in the next gum wrapper before giving Elizabeth the go-ahead to try again.


    Finally a small flame illuminated the space in front of them. Elizabeth bounced excitedly before stopping herself and turning to Gowan, "Oh! Whats-his-face said we have to pray over it so it will stay lit!"


    "Sounds like a crock of shit." Emilio scoffed, looking almost sinister as the flame illuminated him from below. He paused for a moment as his face softened with a subtle-but-proud smile. "But whatever floats ya." Emilio shifted his weight awkwardly while Elizabeth and Gowan''s eyes met across the darkness.


    Gowan took a deep breath. His voice, usually tuned to a friendly frequency to herd the teenagers in youth groups, changed to a deeper and more authoritative tone.


    "Our Father in heaven,


    Hallowed be your name,


    Your kingdom come,


    Your will be done,


    On earth as in heaven.


    Give us today our daily bread.


    Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.


    Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.


    For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever.


    Amen."


    He didn''t feel so confident on the inside, but it looked like it was good enough for Elizabeth. She echoed the "Amen" while Emilio grunted dismissively.


    Elizabeth looked around at the discarded gum packets. She picked up after the others and exhaled contentedly, yet decisively. Like a piece of punctuation on their journey, crossing off one piece from the to-do list in her mind.


    After they carefully stepped back over the glass, a much easier feat now that they had light, they continued their journey to find the pharmacy. It too, had a roller door. Unlike the grocery store, it was flimsy. Emilio handed the candle to Gowan and began to batter and kick one of them. Loud bangs echoed and bounced once more.


    Elizabeth supposed that some people processed silently. Others processed alone. Many processed over time. Emilio was like a flashbang. He kept it all deep down, only to let it out all at once. It wasn''t like breaking the window. His roars were almost primal. They were let out with pure anger and frustration. Not at the door in the way. She worked with veterans, she knew that noise. She knew that switch when it flicked. She stood to the side, holding up one hand to make sure that Gowan gave Emilio space to process.


    The roller-door buckled under years of frustrations let out all at once. Emilio grabbed the bottom of the secura-door that was no longer so secure and yanked it back so they had a larger opening to get through. They made their way to the "Prescriptions" counter, only to be met with a door to where they assumed the good stuff was kept.


    As Elizabeth went to grab the store-issued baskets for easier carry, Emilio gave Gowan the heads up to stand back again as he walked towards a chair in the waiting area near the prescription desk. Once again, with the intention of using it as a tool to break the window in the door to the back room. He lined up the chair, focusing on the glass. He pulled back. Just before he swung, his blood went cold.


    The horizontal venetian blinds behind the glass panel in the door clacked together and two eyes peered out. The figure snapped shut the metal blinds as the candlelight cast the shadow of the chair over the walls. Emilio put down the chair slowly. He had seen fear like that before.


    He looked to Elizabeth and gestured at the door, "Mate, you better take this one."


    She didn''t know why he had asked her, but nonetheless she tentatively approached the door, "Hello? Is someone there? I''m Elizabeth, and the men with me are Gowan and Emilio." The figure behind the door did not reply. She continued as softly as she could while allowing her voice to be heard through the door, "We are looking for medical supplies. There is someone with us who is very hurt. Can you help us?"


    After a moment of stillness, the blinds clicked against the glass before the door handle began to rattle. Elizabeth stepped backwards and the handle slowly turned. The slate coloured door creaked open as the figure stepped into the light. Her dark eyes darted between the three.


    Her shaky hands fidgeted with her white blouse. Her nametag read "Masina". Even with her sensible leather flats, she was less than a head shorter than Emilio. Her breathing remained shallow. She did not speak.


    Elizabeth walked up to her and continued to speak gently, "Masina, we''re not here to hurt you. If you''d like, you can join us. I think that you could really help us make sure our friend is as safe as possible during this power outage."


    She nodded. "What do you need?"


    "Where do you keep the schedule 8 medications? Do you have access to them?" Elizabeth enquired.


    Masina looked into the room that she had just exited from with uncertainty. "I know where they are but I don''t have the key. I''m not a pharmacist. I was just here for late night shopping and to lock up but then..." She gestured vaguely.


    Emilio followed Masina into the office. Gowan and Elizabeth continued to walk the aisles with baskets. They filled them with bandages, dressings, antiseptic ointments, rubber gloves, and other helpful supplies. From behind the counter they took the suture kits, paracetamol, and anything else that sounded remotely like Violet and Amy had requested.


    With two filled baskets on the counter, they walked into the back room with two new baskets. Emilio and Masina were just staring at a large safe.


    "We have to store the schedule 8s in here. I don''t have access."


    Elizabeth looked it up and down. "They didn''t give you the code at all?"


    "Nah. Only fully qualified pharmacists have the code. During lock up and stocktake the pharmacist locks up all the important stuff and just leaves me to do my own thing. We process any prescriptions the next morning."


    "Ok. Well, while we''re here, hopefully these aren''t in the safe:" It pained Elizabeth to hear the words spill out so inelegantly, "I need Amock-sillin and Dock-a-sa-silan..." She tried really hard to remember.


    Masina took Elizabeth into an adjoining room to show her the antibiotics. She knew what Elizabeth meant and explained that because they were only schedule 4, unlike the schedule 8 pain killers, they were just in the dispensary. Masina had done plenty of consultations for runny noses and tickly throats, but was not prepared to ever need to find the best medicine for a young adult bleeding out on a cinema floor.


    "How old is he?"


    "19, I think." Elizabeth was awful at telling ages as she got older.


    Emilio was standing in the doorway, "He''s also Asian."


    Elizabeth gave him a sideways glance.


    "What? Sometimes it matters."


    "Probably not when his current situation is having his bleeding stopped with ripped, bloodied t-shirts."


    Gowan shouted from the other room, "Hey, Masina? Is the main pharmacist old?"


    She turned to face the doorway, leaning to the side to peer around Emilio who was taking up most of the door frame, "Yes?"


    "Old, old?"


    "How old is old, old?"


    "Over 50?"


    "At least one of them is."


    Gowan closed his eyes and took a moment to smile. He''d worked with enough late teens in youth ministry to know what their parents were like with data security. "Could you show me which computer they use?"


    Masina took Gowan over to two desktop computers sitting in the room where the safe was. He began frantically looking through papers and unsecured drawers. He smiled as he held up a tiny, spiral-bound notebook. It was beat up and the edges were frayed. He began leafing through the small pages that were already clinging for dear life to the spiral binding.


    He flipped right to the back and rushed to the safe, "I knew it. I knew it!" He crouched down and began turning the lock to the correct numbers. The door to the safe heaved open.


    Masina raised her eyebrows, "Nice." She crouched and began to ferret through the medications but paused, "We shouldn''t be doing this. This is like... Really illegal."


    Emilio had wandered back to where the action was, "I get it. I like rules too. I shit you not when I tell you we just watched a guy disintegrate in front of our very eyes. It sounds ridiculous but we were there. Right now we just need this."


    Elizabeth paused for a minute, creeping back into the main room, "Wait..." She looked to Gowan, "Is... Are you ok with this? All the stuff we''re stealing, I mean. Isn''t stealing one of the big no-no sins."


    Gowan had many years of experience with high schoolers throwing every loophole and apocalypse scenario at him. "It doesn''t count. Stealing is a crime, but-" It pained him to say, "Emilio is right. Once Gideon, uh, flaked away? All bets are off. It''s no longer stealing. It''s scavenging. From what I''ve read, scavenging is ok for survival."


    "And how do we survive this?" Masina asked worriedly.


    Emilio began placing the handfuls of pain killer packets into one of the baskets, "Well hopefully all it takes is riding this fucker out for 3 days."

 Foraging

    Baskets rattled with the hopeful sound of medical supplies as the four figures walked down the slope of the cinema floor. Matthew was still writhing on the floor. They''d taken a few bottles of water from the display in the pharmacy to help him wash down the medicine.


    "Did you find Donovan?" Matthew winced.


    Gowan crouched beside him. He used the lit candle to light the remaining two. As the room began to glow, Amy and Violet made a start on sewing, bandaging, and pooling their rudimentary pharmaceutical knowledge together to make the best choices for treatment.


    "I''m sorry mate," Gowan said, "We needed to get back to you as fast as we could. We only found Masina through sheer luck. She was in the pharmacy."


    Victor stood a little away from the group, not taking his eyes off the wounds being sewn up and the blood glimmering in the candle light before the antiseptic was added.


    Elizabeth approached him. "What''s next?" she asked.


    "We need a bible."


    "What about food? Water?"


    "We can survive three days without those things if we have a bible." He said plainly. "What you should be doing is being wary of anyone who wasn''t originally in the cinema. The evil can enter any place invited. Even once the darkness has departed."


    Elizabeth calculated her next words, "Victor, I trust that you know about this. I do. But our little base camp here has prayer. It has you. Now it has light. Aren''t all of those things kryptonite to," She thought for a minute, "To whatever took Gideon away?"


    "Gideon went to them. They could take him. They could still make it to us. They just have to be invited in. You did that with her." Victor subtly pointed over to Masina who was crouched on the ground with Amy and Violet.


    "But she was already here. She was locked in the pharmacy."


    Victor turned his eyes towards the industrial vents above them suspiciously. "Evil is smarter than you give it credit for."


    "So the demons in this darkness mess are basically vampires? You have to let them in?" Elizabeth tried to mask the skepticism in her voice.


    "Ever since the forbidden fruit, we have always had to invite sin in first." The light caught Victor''s pensive expression.


    Elizabeth found such a statement jarring. Victor looked like the kind of boy whose mother would tousle the mop of his hair and remind him to get a haircut. He looked like the kind of boy who would have his maths homework done three weeks early. She''d seen edgy young adults who were keen to join the armed forces to find a purpose, but she''d never seen a young adult who hadn''t been in the armed forces so organically produce such thoughtful cynicism.


    Elizabeth looked to the candle light flickering over Matthew who was still lying on the ground. Her gaze drifted across the scene with Amy and Violet beside him, cleaning and bandaging. As Gowan walked back towards Elizabeth and Victor with one of the candles, Emilio dropped himself into one of the fold down cinema seats. His hands were clasped in front of him as he leaned his elbows on his knees as he looked deep in pensive thought.


    Elizabeth looked up to Gowan, "Next on the list is bibles. We should probably get blankets and water as well."


    Gowan hesitated, "I don''t want to be crass, but I''ve been camping a lot and we should probably consider bathrooms too. Three days is a long time. Even if most of that time is lying in wait."


    Elizabeth turned back to Victor, "We can get buckets, food, and water at The Home Store. I know you said we don''t need food, but I think it''s a smart idea anyway. If it doesn''t have a bible, there''s a book store near the food court."


    Gowan looked over to the silhouette of Emilio, "Perhaps it should just be us this time. Emilio looks like he''s going through some stuff right now." He turned to Victor. "Are you sure you need to stay here?"


    Victor held up his scrawny, pale arm in the light, "Do you really think I could be much help in anything strength related?"


    He turned back to Elizabeth. "I guess we''re the expendable ones. Story of my life." He walked back to the group around Matthew to grab one of the now emptied baskets. He transferred the contents of the remaining basket to the floor. "Ok. Let''s get going."


    Clutching one of the candles and two of the empty baskets, the couple walked back up into the darkness outside the safe haven of the cinema doors.


    The flickering light of the candle made the corridors seem longer. There was no hard point where the shadows begun. The metal vents around the building would occasionally pop. Elizabeth hoped it was just the building settling in the unfamiliar solitude that had befallen them.


    Elizabeth broke the silence, gesturing with her head back to the general area of the cinema at the top of the escalator. "So what''s your read on that whole situation?"


    "I''ve been on worse dates." Gowan''s eyes remained scanning the darkness as they walked around the chairs stacked on the tables in the food court. His prominent brow was furrowed in concentration.


    She smiled gently before looking up at him from over her shoulder. "Nah, but really. What do you reckon?"


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He was peering up at the directional signs above their heads that were hazy in the dark. His voice remained deep in concentration. "I''ve worked in youth ministry long enough to know that any event run by teenagers, even teenagers that are old enough to drink, is going to be a circus. Ever read Lord of the Flies? That book got it wrong. They''ll turn on each other even with adult supervision. They weren''t even faced with the apocalyp-" He grabbed Elizabeth''s basket and pulled her behind him.


    The feeling of hot TV static began to trickle down her spine at a shape in the dark corridor in front of them. Scurrying footsteps accompanied a small shadow that hurried into The Home Store. Elizabeth could only let out a single, unbecoming, whisper: "Fuck."


    She let out a sharp breath and doubled over with her hands on her knees. Her head was spinning. The images of Gideon''s charred remains flaking into the night air flashed in her mind as fear began to weave it''s way through the very cells of her body. She wasn''t ready to die.


    "What do we do?" She whispered frantically.


    Gowan put his warm hand on her shoulder. He wasn''t afraid. He couldn''t explain it. He could just feel rage. This person, this thing, must have heard them in their previous endeavor. The fact it kept to the shadows suggested it wasn''t interested in joining their coalition. At this stage, he could only deduct that it would hurt his friends. He couldn''t do it again. He wouldn''t let his friends be taken by his careless mistake.


    He ushered Elizabeth forward.


    "What are you doing?!" she hissed.


    The flames cast an orange glow across Gowan''s face that emphasized his determination that had settled within his dark eyes. "We need to know what that is. Then we need to stop it."


    "What?" Elizabeth shook Gowan''s hand off her. "What if it''s..." She mouthed the words "A demon" as her eyes grew wide.


    Gowan began to pick up his pace as he stormed past the bookstore and stood in front of the shattered The Home Store window. "Then I''ll show that jerk how big my God is."


    Before Elizabeth could argue, he had already began to crunch through the broken glass. She closed her eyes and sighed, following after the stubborn man who was potentially going to lead them to their deaths.


    The inside of the store was eerily silent. There were no footsteps. There was no rustling. The pair were all alone with their candle light, surrounded by a cold womb of darkness that ascended into the raised ceiling above them where the drab fluorescent light fixtures hid impotently. The racks of clothes and shelves of homewares continued onward, seemingly forever, into the endless expanse which their eyes could not perceive.


    Gowan steered them towards the bedding sections. They found an abandoned trolley which they began to fill with a number of thick throw blankets. Some linen sheets were taken just in case they needed more makeshift tourniquets.


    Each step they took would echo through the store. Each step grew louder and louder in Elizabeth''s mind. Anxiety rose in her chest as she continued to walk forward. She couldn''t do it anymore. She froze.


    "Come on. The longer we''re out here, the longer we''re unsafe." Gowan tried to hurry her reassuringly.


    A small sob escaped her lips. "I can''t."


    She''d had to counsel veterans at her work who had come back from combat. She could empathise, but was fully aware she could never really comprehend what they had gone through.


    The one that always stuck with her was the man who would simply go to rock concerts and sit up at the bar with a drink in his hand. He just wanted watch the crowds and contemplate that he was a nobody in a room of smiling people. His girlfriend had died while he was on deployment. In her note, she detailed her last moment of going to a local concert but feeling so alone even though all of her friends stood around her. She said her goodbyes to her friends and went home. She wrote an apology note for cheating. She was found later the next day.


    The veteran told Elizabeth that he just wanted to feel what she felt and maybe he would understand what was going through her head. The unfortunate thing was that over time, he did. During a meeting, he had told Elizabeth that it hadn''t mattered what he''d had to do during boot, what he had to lug around on deployment. He said that the heaviest thing in his life was coming home to an empty house and realising that the feeling of solitude never left him. Even when he was in a crowded room.


    Standing next to Gowan, Elizabeth got it now. She felt nothing. She felt like she was the only person left in the world. She was trapped in a prison guarded by demons like it was fucking Azkaban and she felt alone. Why wouldn''t she? They were all strangers.


    "Hey." Gowan moved closer to Elizabeth. He tenderly put his hand on her elbow. "I get it."


    She turned to him, pulling away. The hurt in her brown eyes swelled in the glow of the blessed candle. "No. You don''t. We''re strangers. I didn''t even get through one date with you."


    He placed his free hand beside hers on the long bar of the shopping trolley. "If we can make it through tonight, we have 48 hours. After that, I promise to take you on a real date. No blood."


    "But you don''t know that. You don''t know that the world won''t just end. What about all the people outside of this shopping center? The people who don''t have a wiry little guy on hand to tell them about beeswax candles and bibles?"


    Gowan nudged the trolley forward. "We all have questions and the only way to answer them is to keep putting one foot after the other to make it out of here."


    Elizabeth focused on her feet. She slowly moved forward with the trolley as Gowan placed some bottled water and various snack items in the cart as they walked through the party food aisle and towards the stationary and books section. Gowan''s eyes darted around the shelves as he tried to spot the figure that they had seen running into the store. No luck. Maybe all the luck, depending on what the creature was and if it wanted anything from them.


    As they passed the kitchenware section, Gowan had an idea. He pointed to the knives. "Maybe we should get weapons."


    "We just watched demon-air evaporate a dude into space and you think their one weakness is going to be a $7 knife?"


    "What''s the alternative? Candles and hoping for the best?"


    He had a point. Jerking her head towards the larger knifes that came with silicone sheathes, she lowered her voice. "Get one for me and one for you. Keep it in your pocket. They might come in handy for general crafting but I don''t think we should be giving them out to a room full of kids when one is already bleeding out." She thought for a moment. "And we need to make sure we get ahold of Victor''s knife too until he proves he''s not going to get stabby again."


    Gowan pulled the two knives out of their cardboard packaging by using a less-secured pair of shoddy kitchen scissors. He put the weapon in the waistband of his pants. Elizabeth did the same.


    By the time they got to the book section, the cart was heavy with items they thought would be useful. Buckets, kitty litter, toilet paper, food, water. Unfortunately, the bible was nowhere to be found in The Home Store. Maybe management found it too divisive.


    Whatever the reason, they knew they''d need to make an additional trip to the shuttered book store further down the mall corridor. This would take them further away from the cinema. As the glass crunched under the wheels of the heavy trolley, they realised they''d need to make a detour first to dump the goods. For they were less limber with a loaded shopping cart.


    This became more apparent as a dark figure approached them.


    It was bigger than the previous shadow.


    This one did not run away.

 Under the Darkness

    The light bounced off the pale skin of the figure that continued towards them slowly. One foot after the other, punctuated with a slight limp. The candlelight caught the glimmer of a name badge. It was for the cinema where they had been watching their film. DONOVAN was written in messy handwriting with a black marker. Donovan stood at the edge of the light, keeping his distance. He looked young.


    Gowan spoke hesitantly. "Hello?"


    Donovan did not reply.


    Gowan stepped towards him. "I am Gowan and this is Elizabeth. Are you friendly?"


    Donovan''s attempt to look unphased had been betrayed by his thick eyebrows which advertised his fear.  "Y-Yes?" he stammered.


    "Good. We are too. Are you lost?"


    Donovan moved closer. "I don''t know what happened. I got out early and left to get Matt ..." He looked the pair up and down. "... Uh, My friend, his favourite drink. We were going to hang out after my shift." He pulled a 250mL can of Unholy Lemonade from one of the pockets in his black, cargo pants. He looked down at the can and then over to the trolley the pair was travelling with that was carrying multiple cases of water. "Are others with you? Have you seen Matt? 19? About 6ft tall? Chinese? Black hair? Glasses?"


    Elizabeth had conquered the fear that had frozen her in place and pushed the trolley over to Donovan. She gulped, looking up to Gowan for the right way to answer. With her line of work, she had to give heartbreaking news many times. Yet she still didn''t know what to say to a kid whose boyfriend was bleeding out on the floor of his workplace.


    Gowan saved her. "Yes. He has been with us. He is injured but he is stable and alive. Would you like to-" He was interrupted by a loud crashing in The Home Store nearby. "You should come with us. Now!"


    The trio forwent their trip to the book store. As fast as the full trolley would let them, they ran through the corridors of the mall and back to the escalator. With the trolley too heavy and awkward to get upstairs, Elizabeth activated every piece of muscle memory she could acquire to sprint through the pitch black to the double doors to recruit the others to come and help unload the supplies that would tide them over for the three days.


    Donovan and Gowan flanked the trolley as the group came out to meet them. They moved like a school of fish in the light of the second candle.


    Soon the cart was picked clean and the supplies were delivered safely into the cinema. Gowan had left the blankets until last. He handed them to Donovan.


    As Donovan reached the top of the cinema stairs, he peered down to the candle beside Matthew. He recognised the figure immediately and swooped down to him as fast as his gait would let him. He pressed Matthew firmly to his chest with relief.


    Victor sauntered over to the pair on the floor, sneering down his nose. "So you''re the boyfriend we''ve heard about."


    Donovan froze. He spoke plainly, "Nah, we''re just bros."


    "Bros that hang out on the ground lovingly embracing?"


    Donovan grinned impishly. "Yeah. Didn''t think you''d understand." He looked Victor up and down. "You don''t seem like you''d have a lot of experience with, you know, having friends."


    Matthew moved his head slowly. He wished more than ever to have the cells of their bodies part even a tiny bit so that he could sink into Donovan''s soul a little further. A sharp breath betrayed the intimacy that he was trying to achieve.


    Donovan snapped his attention back to Matthew. It was then that he noticed the gauze and the damp, rust scented carpet below them. "What the fuck is this?"


    Matthew''s wounds had been bandaged as best they could but a mixture of antiseptics, blood, and serous fluid continued to transform the DIY first-aid attempts into watercolour canvasses. Donovan began to register Matthew''s clammy skin and slight tremor.


    Masina rushed over to  hand water and a pouch of fruit puree to Matthew, who was trying to whisper an apology to Donovan. She opened her mouth to try and calm the rage that was slowly being brought to a boil.


    "I must apologise. It was an emergency." Victor continued to talk in Donovan''s direction, never quite making eye contact. "I simply had to get into the theatre. There were souls to save."


    Donovan tried to keep himself calm. He began to lower Matthew back to the floor. "What do you mean?"


    "I knew the lights would be off soon. I had to keep as many people indoors as I could. The easiest way was shock value. All the signs for the darkness were there. So I just ... " He made a stabbing motion. "I tried my best to avoid the important bits."


    "So you stabbed him?"


    "I had to."


    Donovan launched himself off the floor yelling, "So you fucking stabbed him?"


    "I understand you''re upset. Would you prefer people die?" Victor calmly responded as the nineteen year old grabbed him by the front of his shirt. It may have been intimidating if Victor wasn''t looking downward at his aggressor.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "You fucking stabbed him?!" Donovan repeated. "What the fuck is your problem?" He continued to push and grab at Victor. "Stab your-fucking-self, you useless fucking piece of failed dentistry!"


    The others noticed the scuffle and hustled toward them. Masina was already trying to intervene. "Hey!" She tried to place herself between the two.


    "This is between me and Stitch. I don''t need your help, Lilo." Donovan growled, trying to swat her away.


    "Lilo?!" As Donovan''s hand connected with her she squared her stance and disregarded any notions of attempting a peaceful resolution. She ripped Donovan off of Victor with no mercy. "I''m Samoan, you short-ass, Bundy looking fuck."


    Donovan crumpled to the ground. "Fine. Moana. Damn." he mumbled quietly to no one in particular.


    She took some deep breaths as she scanned the stunned room. "Does anyone else have any drama they need to be airing right now? We''ve got time."


    She was met with murmurs in the negative.


    The group began to descend to the floor space with blankets and other comforts. They focused on Matthew first and then moved on to general sleeping arrangements and lesser priorities. Amy sat with her back against the wall, looking over at Matthew before slumping over with her head in her hands. She couldn''t do it. Not again. She didn''t want to see another body. She was doing everything right.


    Emilio stopped helping Gowan unpack the water and walked over to her. He knew the signs of when his wife was starting to spiral. He sat beside her and put his arm over her shoulders. She immediately began sobbing into his chest. "I''m sorry." Her speech was muffled by Emilio''s arms wrapped tightly around her.


    Elizabeth turned around as soon as she heard the cries. She wasn''t expecting the gruff guy whose date-night outfit included cargo pants to be whispering sweet nothings into his wife''s ear. Especially not after his previous outbursts.


    "Hey," he soothed, "It''s ok. It''s alright." He rocked her back and forth gently. "We''ve made it through the first day. We''ve only got two left. We can make it."


    Amy said something that slapped Elizabeth with intense realisation. "Make it for what? What will even be out there anymore?"


    He held Amy''s face in his hands and gently guided his eyes to hers. "Make it for me."


    Elizabeth''s unintentional voyeurisms was interrupted by Victor tapping her on the shoulder.


    "I couldn''t see a bible in the pile of supplies."


    "I''m really sorry. We couldn''t find one. The Home Store didn''t have one and the book store has the same kind of doors that the grocery store has."


    Anger seethed from his eyes. "Do you understand that there are demons out there?"


    "But you''ve said it yourself: They have to be invited in. If we stay in here we''ll be fine." Elizabeth looked around at the tableaux of the survivors around her. "We have enough supplies for two more days."


    His eyes darted around the room. He shook his head. "It is not enough to keep them out. Do you want to survive? We need to get everything now before they find an alternate way in. Vents. An open fire door." He focused his gaze to Gowan, who was now crouched down with Emilio and Amy. "You and Gowan need to go."


    Elizabeth''s eyebrows turned down as she tentatively looked Victor in the eye. "No." she said slowly, "You should go. We''ve gone multiple times now. Why are we the most disposable to you?"


    "You misunderstand. I think you''re the strongest." He pointed to Emilio and Amy. "Amy is one step away from a breakdown." He pointed to Violet. "She''s got medical skills that we need for him." He gestured his head subtly to Matthew and Donovan. "One is stabbed, one is new and wants me dead."


    "You were the one that stabbed him though!" She tried to temper her exasperation.


    "That''s not the point right now." He pointed to Masina. "I think enough movies have shown that we should keep all medical knowledge close." He turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "That leaves you and Gowan. You two watched a man disintegrate into the universe and seem to be the most stable here. You''re both reliable and have track records of being able to return."


    "That''s a nice deflection, but why not you?"


    His floppy, dark hair covered his eyes as he looked to the floor. His voice softened as a rare air of vulnerability could be heard through his mumbling. "Nobody would go with me. I''d have to go alone and no one would come looking if I didn''t come back."


    Elizabeth felt her heart constricting. "I''d look for you. I would, Victor." She took a breath to allow the hot wave of empathy wash over her spine. "Ok. We''ll go tomorrow. It would be no use right now. I''m just tired." She didn''t know if it was late. She just knew she was exhausted.


    The cart had been propped up against the cinema door as a flimsy makeshift barricade. Donovan had set up his bedding beside Matthew.


    Masina and Violet were nearby. Just in case Matthew needed them in, what they assumed was, the night.


    Amy had set up herself and Emilio near the medical scene in an impotent attempt to appear like she could still be helpful.


    The candles in the middle of the floor gave everyone enough darkness to fall asleep in, but enough light to feel safe.


    Gowan and Elizabeth had set up small nests of blankets. They had faced towards each other. Gowan hadn''t noticed how soft Elizabeth''s hair looked now that it fell down around her shoulders after she''d taken out her date night hairstyle.


    Elizabeth sighed. "Where do you think we''d be right now? You know, if the world wasn''t ending?" she asked Gowan sleepily.


    He looked down in thought before letting a smile slip through his pensive expression. "Well," he started, "I think after the film I would make conversation in the lobby to find out if you drove here or got a ride share."


    "I got a rideshare. I wasn''t sure if we''d go for drinks."


    "On a first date?"


    She let out a small, nervous laugh. "Well, yeah."


    "On a first date, to a late night screening, on a Thursday?"


    Flustered she explained, "Well, not like super wild drinks but I don''t know. I thought maybe we''d spend more time than just a movie."


    "How about we go on a drive then? I''d drive you home, but we could go the long way." He observed Elizabeth''s reception to the idea. "Maybe up to Mount Caulder depending on how far away that is for you." After Elizabeth stayed silent he sat up a little. "It really doesn''t bother you that we just met and, in this hypothetical, we''re going to drive up a dark mountain? I mean, I know that I''m not going to murder you but -"


    "Dude, you work in youth ministry. I''d imagine these days you''d have to be pretty well vetted."


    "Sure, but what if I''m just lying to you?"


    "I''m pretty good at spotting liars. That''s kind of in my job description." She rested her head on her hand as she continued to lay on her side. "Ok, enough about your concern for my sense of danger. Tell me more about how you''d wow me."


    "Well," Gowan stammered, "if the conversation went well I suppose we could pull the car over. We could lay on the hood of my crappy car and watch the stars. The moon. I''d ask if you were cold. You''d say yes. I''d give you my jacket." He moved to lay his back, looking up at the black ceiling. "Then maybe," he continued bravely, "maybe if I was feeling brave I would test to see how you receptive you''d be to holding my hand."


    The silence lingered as Elizabeth maneuvered herself to her back. She reached her hand down to the space on the carpet that separated them. "I''d be receptive to that."


    Gowan smiled to himself, as he brought his hand out of his blankets to meet hers. The pair remained in silence, hand in hand, just staring at the ceiling as the feeling of sleep lazily drifted over them.


    Victor lay alone.

 Fray

    Elizabeth stirred awake to the sounds of Masina climbing over the chairs towards the back of the cinema. She took her hands out of Gowan''s and groggily made her way up the aisle. "Oi! What''re you doing?" she whispered.


    "Well I can''t bloody change my tampon with everyone watching, aye?"


    Elizabeth blinked, letting her brain catch up. "Fair."


    "Can you bring the bucket up? Someone''s gotta use it eventually, and I don''t wanna watch that." Masina was looking up at the fuzzy, soundproofed walls.


    Elizabeth jogged back down to retrieve the unused, makeshift bathroom supplies and returned to the top corner of the room with a bucket, some toilet paper, and a bag that was once packaging for one of the quilts they had liberated from The Home Store. "How are you planning to put the blankets up?"


    Masina pointed above their heads to a broken broom that she had wedged at a diagonal angle into the corner. "I belted it in as much as I could. This velcro stuff they made the walls out of is a bit rubbish but I don''t think using safety pins from the first aid kit would be any better. I don''t think it''d hold the weight. I just want privacy and I''m sure others do too, even if it doesn''t do anything to mask the sounds." She took one of the cotton sheets and gave Elizabeth the other end as they tried to delicately place it over the rod.


    "Or the smells." Elizabeth added. "I hope they don''t mind doing their business in the dark."


    "How many dudes do we have in here? If we don''t designate a pee corner now, we''ll end up with entire walls. That''d be the real hell on earth." Masina placed the bucket down in front of the seats that folded upwards when not in use. She patted the arm rest. "See, we''ve got a little bit of luxury. Makes hovering a breeze."


    The snickering began to wake up the other group who were still sleeping at the base of the theatre on the flat ground. It was easy to tell because Emilio''s snores were no longer permeating the camp.


    "Hey! Sisterhood of the traveling pants! Do you mind? Some of us want to sleep through the rapture, you know." Emilio was awake, and he was going to make sure it was everyone''s problem.


    "Dude, what the fuck is your problem?" Donovan had propped himself up on his elbows. He looked around and remembered where he was, slumping back down. "Fuck." he mumbled. He glanced upwards, squinting to see the women setting up the curtain at the very back of the theatre. "Do you guys know how long we were out?"


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    "I bet Tim Burton does." Emilio gestured over to Victor, who had apparently not slept at all.


    "Why would I know?"


    "You know about the candles." Emilio shrugged. "You keep bugging us to get a bible and you keep wanting us to leave safety to risk getting eaten by god-knows-what. You look like you probably carry one of them old pocket watches."


    Victor patted down his pockets. "Unless you want to start trying to break into jewellery stores and hope one of them has a wind-up watch, we''ve got to ride this out."


    Donovan stood up and started pacing. "And what if we don''t?" He gestured to the curtain. "What if we end up stuck with this bucket forever? What if the sun never rises? How will we know if you''re not just playing us because you''re a sick fuck opportunist that decided that stabbing my boyf- My bro was a good idea for shits and giggles?"


    Amy threw her fist against the coarse wall. "You just fucking got here. You didn''t see an old man get torn apart by the universe. What the fuck do you know?"


    Donovan got louder. "Well, for one thing, I think I fucking know where the pain killers are going. I heard rustling last night and there aren''t many blonde chicks rifling around the medicine supplies, are there?"


    "I was checking on tampon supplies you wanker. You''re like, what? 17? 18? I wouldn''t expect you to know how women work but I wouldn''t fucking push it with your conspiracy bullshit." She stormed up to Masina and Elizabeth and aggressively slammed the cache of pads and tampons just to the outside of the makeshift bathroom. She looked at Elizabeth. "Get some hand sanitiser up here too if you know what''s good for us."


    Their heads turned back to Donovan, who was still ranting. "So the junkie bitch also grabbed a handful of tampons while she was grabbing Mat''s medicine too? Shit cover story, bro."


    Like a bat out of hell, Emilio grabbed Donovan by the scruff of his shirt. "What the fuck did you just call my wife?"


    He smiled, looking directly into Emilio''s eyes. "I called your wife a junkie bitch."


    "I suggest you back the fuck off."


    The two were now standing chest to chest. Matthew was calling to Donovan weakly from the floor.


    "Or what? You''ll hit me? Yeah, that''s going to go down super well on judgement day. I''ll say it the fuck again: Junkie bitch. Junkie bitch. Junkie b-"


    A thick, tattooed arm flung Donovan to the floor. Emilio''s voice was lower now. "Do you want to try again?"


    "Fuck off!" From the floor, Donovan looked around helplessly as the rest of the group looked on.


    Punctuated with a chuckle, Emilio looked downward. "Better get your boyfriend to kiss it better."


    Heavy breathing could be heard as Donovan pulled himself off the floor, struggling as his legs betrayed him. He touched his lip to feel the sting where his dirty hands were intruding upon the new, bloody slit that Emilio had left him. It was his father all over again. He could feel the heat inside him. "He''s not my fucking boyfriend." He balled up his fist. "Just shut the fuck up, or I''ll..."


    Towering over him, Emilio squared up once more. "Or you''ll what?"


    Donovan looked around. No one was coming to help him. It was the same story that played out every other day in his life. He felt like he was floating, but like the walls were caving in. He couldn''t take it. He ran. He flung the doors open and he ran.


    Nobody followed him.

 Candy Land

    Nobody could tell how long they had been sitting silently in the candlelight. The ventilation system groaned above them. The packets of chips gleamed as they remained untouched lest the crinkling gave them away.


    The damage Donovan could do in a rage had the potential to be devastating. He could open a door just to spite them. He could invite in the demons. He could simply walk outside through the front door, or one of the many fire doors that would have remained unlocked due to the moviegoers still being in the building when the darkness took over the moon.


    Gowan stirred. "We have to go find him."


    "How many times have you left already?" Amy put down the plastic cup that had teeth marks across the rim. "He''s probably dead."


    Matthew let out a wince. It was a mixture of grief and pain. Even though the boxes of pain medication were emptying at a steady pace, nothing could totally remove the feeling. Violet stroked his hair, trying to help him back down slowly, but he continued to sit up. He looked around. "Please. Please bring him back."


    "Amy is right." Elizabeth said. She looked over to Amy who had since sunk back into the wall, looking at nothing in particular ahead of her.


    A cacophony of clangs followed by a primal scream could be heard somewhere in the shopping center. It was some distance away, but it was loud enough to make Elizabeth jump.


    As Matthew began to plead with the room that the scream must have belonged to Donovan, the vent cracked again. Louder this time. The metal dinged and popped as small spatters of red liquid fell through. They splattered into the dark carpet beside Victor.


    Matthew looked up at Victor. "Was that blood?"


    "I''m not sure how many other red liquids are going to spill from air vents in the middle of a demonic takeover." Victor replied.


    Everyone except for Victor looked up to where the liquid had dropped from. Victor slowly looked to his arm and disdainfully wiped away the small droplets that had not missed. "Perhaps we all should be leaving here."


    "Does that count?" Masina''s eyes widened. "What counts? Where does the cinema begin? The ducts share airspace, does that mean they can get in now?" Her breathing was getting heavy as she joined Violet in trying to keep Matthew still.


    Emilio shook himself out of his fear and yelled to the vent, "OI DICKHEAD, FUCK OFF OUT OF THERE!" He turned to the group. "Maybe the little shit just wants to see if his tantrum got us talking."


    Gowan tried to get Emilio to tone it down. "I''ve seen enough debunking videos online to know those vents can''t hold a full grown dude." Gowan stood with his hands on his hips, sizing up the vent like a dad inspecting an unknown person who was making a U-turn in his driveway.


    "Please man." Matthew looked to Gowan again. "Please. It might be Donovan''s."


    Gowan looked to Elizabeth and raised his eyebrows. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to get the feeling of tightness out of her chest. "You''re right." she said, "We can''t just leave him out there."


    Masina stepped forward. "Wait! I want to come with youse."


    Victor shook his head. "No. You must be kept here."


    "Why?" She pointed to the makeshift bathroom. "I obviously got the survival skills."


    "That''s exactly right." Victor noted. "You also have valuable medical knowledge and Matthew doesn''t seem to be getting better at any groundbreaking speed."


    Masina looked at Matthew. She looked to Violet who had been glued to his side, trying to calm him about Donovan''s disappearance. Amy had spent more time slumped over on the wall, her eyes showing her dissociation with the current circumstances. She knew he was right. With a head nod at Victor, she pursed her full lips and gave Gowan and Elizabeth an apologetic look.


    More banging echoed through the halls outside. The ethereal wails of metal grinding against itself softly filled the previous silence. Elizabeth tried to keep a brave face, but for the first time she felt tears welling in her eyes. For the first time she really felt like this could be the end. Even the knife in her waistband didn''t feel like a safety net.


    She walked over to Gowan and whispered softly, "Do you have your knife?"


    "Yeah." He murmured back before yelling to the group on the floor. "Hey! Is Victor''s knife still down there? I think it''s better if we have the weapon."


    "Babe, didn''t you have the weapon?" Emilio addressed his wife gently.


    Amy did not move. She didn''t drop her gaze from the darkness ahead of her. She simply let out a gentle, helpless "No."


    Emilio looked to Victor. "Jigsaw?"


    "No." Victor narrowed his gaze. The candlelight exaggerated his gaunt face as he slowly wandered towards Emilio. "However, if I did have the knife and I didn''t want anyone to know about it, I could always start asking others about it."


    "Mate. If I had the knife it''d have been brandished at Bundy by now."


    "Then where is it?" Gowan walked to Victor''s backpack and began looking into the pockets as Victor looked on unemotionally.


    "Not there." Victor said. "We''ll have a look around while you find Donovan."


    Gowan hesitated.


    Victor let out a noise of frustration and stormed up to Gowan. "You need to go now. If someone has the knife then they obviously haven''t used it yet. We''ll find it." For once, Victor established eye contact with Gowan. His demeanor briefly warmed. "You can''t save everyone all the time."


    There was an air of tension as the room waited on Gowan.


    "You''re right." Gowan dropped his gaze from Victor and turned to Elizabeth. "Let''s go."


    After taking one of the candles from the room, the pair ambled upwards towards the cinema door. The familiar clunk announced their arrival to whatever was lurking. After the door shut behind them, the feeling of isolation flooded in.


    The light reflected off the shiny, terrazzo flooring. The warm glow of the fire did nothing to remove the chill of the stagnant air around them. With her free hand, Elizabeth took the knife from her waistband.


    As they walked onwards into the unknown, she smirked a little. "So when did you take the other knife?"


    "I didn''t." Gowan took his knife from his pants and winced while he held the handle tightly. "Ouch! I think I accidentally nicked myself like a million times while holstering that one."


    Elizabeth chuckled despondently. "Yeah, we should have spent a little more time finding the ones with sheaths."


    They wandered the halls, listening intently for any sounds. For quite some time it felt like they were the only two people left in the world.


    Back before the world was ending, Elizabeth had liked to imagine what nothing truly sounded like. Her apartment had sounds of water pipes and footsteps. When she decided to book a small shed on a rural property in Bundaberg for a long weekend, she could still hear the cars and the airplanes overhead. Now that the abyss enveloped her, she just wanted to hear the ringing phone with her father on the other end repeating a joke he got in an email forward.


    Distant footsteps jolted her out of her brooding. With no hands free, she leaned to the side to softly headbutt Gowan. He took the candle from her as she walked briskly to a nearby kiosk in the middle of the corridor and lifted the thick, heavy, cheap-feeling velour to usher him inside the small fort made by the clear shelving that housed tubs of lollies.


    Awkwardly crawling through the small space, he found that the desk with the register had enclosed sides. He placed the candle under it and tried as quietly as he could to move some nearby empty boxes to help contain the light as best as possible. After this, they waited silently.


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    The footsteps drew closer. Elizabeth felt herself shaking. She moved closer to Gowan who was sitting almost as still as a statue, listening intently. Closing her eyes, she begged to whatever entity controlled the universe to keep them safe. In an attempt to block out all other stimuli, she shut her eyes tightly. Her ears strained to match the footsteps to familiar ones.


    At that moment she realised that unless Donovan now walked with his hands as well as his feet, there was more than one set of footsteps. Her eyes remained shut as tears began to escape them. The pair sat in silence as the footsteps moved from one end of the corridor, directly past them, and back out of earshot. Maybe they were out of earshot. It was hard to hear anything with Elizabeth''s heartbeat pumping through her ears.


    "What do we do?" She whispered to Gowan who was crawling back through the tiny shelved-labyrinth to get back to the candle.


    When he had retrieved it, he scooted across the floor to sit beside her. "I wish I knew."


    "Should we pray? Is this the kind of thing you pray for?" she stammered nervously.


    He gave a soft smile, balanced the thick candle on the ground, and placed his hands on one of hers. "God. Thank you for giving us the bravery to venture out to save our friend. Please watch over us. Thank you for keeping us safe. Guide us to do what is best for your work through the situation we''ve found ourselves in. Lord, we are scared. We place that on you. Amen." He paused throughout the prayer to listen for footsteps but they did not approach again.


    An impish smile crept across Gowans face. Turning his body towards the clear bins of candy behind him, he lifted the lid and used the scoop to gather a handful of small, blue coloured, raspberry gummies. He popped one in his mouth before gently tossing one at Elizabeth.


    The gummy bounced off her forehead, leaving her with a confused expression. "What are you doing?" she whispered, somewhat amused.


    "I think we should wait here for a little while. We need to enjoy the little things." he whispered back.


    She scooped a handful of mint leaf-shaped gummies from another bin and returned fire before popping one in her mouth to muffle the airy laugh. Gowan opened his mouth and she took aim. He snapped his mouth shut and widened his eyes in surprised as he tasted the gummy in his mouth. "The crowd goes wild!" he said softly, before cupping his hands to his mouth and making a hissing noise to imitate muffled applause.


    He studied Elizabeth''s smile. Her soft, brown hair brushed over her shoulders as she pushed it back as she momentarily forgot that the reason they were in what was essentially a blanket fort. Tension from her body seemed to dissolve into the cozy ambience surrounding them.


    "You know," he began, "I hope the next two days go quickly. I''m going to ask you for a do-over."


    "I''m going to say yes. Although, we could just call it the second date. Trauma bonds still count as bonding."


    "Is that healthy?"


    Elizabeth laughed, her voice getting a little louder in the moment of happiness she''d found herself in. "How healthy will the outside world be after the corrosive demons are done with it?"


    Glass shattered in the distance at the same time Elizabeth''s face dropped and the tension in her shoulders draped itself back into her being as she realised the true gravity around their situation.


    "Hello?" A low pitched voice called from the direction of the shatter. "Hey? Get the fuck out here!"


    Before Elizabeth could stop him, Gowan was crawling out from the candy kiosk with the candle. She followed him, lest she be left alone in the dark.


    "Donovan?" Gowan called out to the dark.


    "Hello?" the voice called again.


    "Wait?" Elizabeth stage whispered after him.


    Gowan stopped.


    Elizabeth gestured at her ear. "Listen. I don''t think he''s alone."


    The pair edged forward, listening to a muffled conversation between Donovan''s deep voice and a bouncy, much higher pitched voice. They exchanged looks.


    "Who''s with you?" Gowan called out.


    After a brief pause, Donovan answered back, "I found a little girl." His voice was louder now.


    "I''m not little!" The small voice protested. "I''m tough!"


    After conversation back and forth to help guide the two pairs to each other, they finally met up.


    Elizabeth and Gowan once again concealed their weapons.


    Donovan was holding a Book Nook tote bag, standing beside a small girl. She was about the size of six year-olds in Gowan''s youth group at his church.


    He knelt down to meet the girl''s eyeline. "Hi there." He smiled. "I''m Gowan. Nice to meet you. My friend here is Elizabeth. What''s your name?"


    The girl stepped forward. Her light brown hands were contrasted against the dark tone of Gowan''s face as she began to run her hands over his features. "I''m Tanda."


    "Did you get lost?" Gowan asked her.


    "She''s looking for her mum." Donovan interjected, hastily. "She''s made it through the dark because-"


    "Yeah." Gowan interrupted.


    Elizabeth lowered herself to the floor as well. "What''s your mum''s name?"


    Tanda walked towards Elizabeth''s voice. "Maya. Maya Padua. Have you seen her?"


    Elizabeth shook her head. "No." she said, turning to Gowan. "We should get back."


    Gowan looked up to Donovan. "Are you ready?"


    After rummaging through the tote bag, Donovan pulled out a bible smugly. "Yeah. I come bearing gifts."


    The group made their way back to the double doors.


    Elizabeth stopped them before entering. She knocked on the door, opening it slightly. "It''s us." she yelled through the gap.


    The strict, military regulation haircut peeked out from the doors. Emilio turned around and called down the aisle, "Yep. It''s them." He opened the door, but blocked the group''s entry with his body. "Wait," he said suspiciously, "who''s this?"


    "Her name is Tanda." Donovan stepped forward. "She lost her mum. I found her."


    Victor swooped behind Emilio. "So you found a child who was somehow able to survive in pitch darkness and you want to invite her into the space a demon can''t enter during the three days unless we invite it in?"


    Donovan looked down at the small child. "Look at how small she is. If she tries to evaporate you, just use your arm to keep her away." He put his hand on Tanda''s forehead to demonstrate.


    "Hey!" she protested, swinging her arms in defense but stopping short of being able to reach Donovan.


    "See." He used his other hand to gesture to the flailing girl. "Sorry, mate." He playfully tousled her hair.


    "I agree with Victor." Violet stood behind Emilio and Victor. "Don''t let her in."


    Elizabeth could not remember Violet ever leaving Matthew''s side since they''d gotten here.


    "Three against three." Emilio stated, crossing his arms.


    "Masina? Matthew? Amy?"


    Masina''s voice rang through the cinema, "Yeah. Let her in. Honestly, come on! Just let them all in! You''re probably putting us in more danger by making them wait out there. It''s a risk, but at this point, isn''t everything?" She paused before noting "Matthew wants them in too."


    "Babe?" Emilio called back.


    "Yeah." Amy''s monotone, entranced voice floated through the auditorium. "Let them in."


    "Three against six." Gowan noted.


    Emilio''s stature subtly shrank. He, somewhat bashfully, moved out of the doorway. With a shrug at Victor, he stepped aside as Violet swooped into the entryway.


    Violet stuck her arms out, trying her best to block the four survivors outside. "No. Please. Y- You heard Victor." Her voice was somewhat shaking. She looked pleadingly at Elizabeth. "Please." There was an air of desperation in her voice.


    Victor stood beside her, aiding in blocking the door. "What if we take turns in watching her outside?" He looked to Gowan. "You work with children. You could start."


    Widening his eyes, Gowan shook his head in disbelief. "Even if the world wasn''t ending, you can''t just leave a child alone with a random adult. None of us have any proof of vetting!"


    Victor gestured to Elizabeth. "We can take shifts in pairs then."


    "I would prefer we just come inside." Elizabeth strode towards Victor and stared him down.


    Neither budged.


    "I''m bored of this!" Emilio exclaimed with a huff, Victor and Violet were suddenly jolted back. Emilio''s strong hands took them by surprise and guided them backwards. Both stumbled out of the way.


    Donovan took Tanda''s hand and guided her forward through the door. "Come on. Don''t worry about them. Let''s go set you up, ok? If anyone gives you trouble you just tell them to speak with me." He glared at Victor.


    The pair wandered down to where Matthew lay on the floor, with Masina sitting nearby. Tanda was cutely waddling beside Donovan who was slowed down navigating the slope with his limp. He was careful to describe the room, mentioning the candle in the center. His voice was more gentle with her. He had patience that had previously been absent.


    Victor was frustrated, but made his way down to the floor without much protest. Violet was still pleading. Her desperate begging devolved into sobbing. She fell to her knees as Elizabeth entered and closed the doors behind her.


    "Hey." Elizabeth gently knelt beside Violet and begun to stroke her back comfortingly. "It will be ok. Look at how many there are of us."


    "You don''t understand."


    "No, I totally get it." Elizabeth empathised. "I know we have to be careful, but if these are our last days, we can''t lose our humanity either." She looked around for inspiration. "Things are different since..." She placed her hand in her pocket, running her fingers over the ridges of Gideon''s car keys. "We didn''t have candles then." Her eyes glanced down to the group below. "And, if you can believe it, Donovan got us a bible. Victor said that it was the strongest weapon we have."


    "No, I-"


    "If that''s not good enough," Elizabeth interrupted, "between you and I, I have an actual weapon." She pulled the knife a little way out from beside her hip. At this point, she just wanted Violet to feel safe.


    "You took the knife? We''ve been at each others throats! Victor and Emilio only just decided that Donovan took it."


    Elizabeth looked sheepish. "Nah. This is a different one."


    Violet closed her eyes. "Shit. Now we''re universally fucked in two ways."


    "Wait. What''s the other way?"


    Violet''s perfectly drawn eyebrows angled downwards into worry. "I think that''s my daughter."


    "I don''t understand. You have kids?"


    "When I was 18, I was studying pathology collection." She closed her eyes, trying to slow her breathing. "One day, I was messing around bored and decided to take my own blood and do a hGC test." She looked at Elizabeth. "That''s the one that tells you if you''re pregnant." She continued, "My period was slightly late and I thought if I took it then it would help destress me and it would arrive sooner."


    "Except you were pregnant."


    "Yeah."


    "And you didn''t want to be."


    Violet looked down. "My boyfriend at the time didn''t want me to be. He said if I didn''t get rid of it, he''d leave me. I thought I loved him." She ran her finger over the carpet. "It was early enough that I could take the pills instead of have the procedure. So I did. Of course, as soon as he was in the clear he left anyway. Everyone does." She paused. "It''s been six years. I thought I was over it but..."


    Elizabeth took Violet''s hand and squeezed it. "Thank you for telling me. I know that we''re already in a scary situation. I know seeing her must bring back memories. I''m hear if you need it." She went to leave, but Violet held her hand tightly.


    "You don''t understand," Violet said with fear in her eyes, "I was going to name her Tanda."

 Drip, drip, boom!

    "It''s not like in the movies." Violet''s voice was almost monotone. "I had to go to an appointment to get the medication. My boyfriend picked me up. There were no picketers. No one telling me I was going to hell, or how my baby had fingernails like in that one movie... But on the way to the car-" She chuckled to herself, "This is so stupid, but on the way to the car there was this tiny ball. A balled up pair of baby socks must have fallen out of someone''s stroller nearby." She looked up to Elizabeth. "I took it as some grand sign from the universe that I was doing the right thing and it would all be ok."


    "Was it ok?"


    Violet shook her head slightly. "I honestly don''t know. I mean, I know I couldn''t be in med school and living the life I have with a kid. Even with adoption I''d have all the markers of a mother so I couldn''t do the job I currently do to get me through. I know now that sharing a kid with Damien would have been absolute torture. That boy wasn''t even ready to clean up his own puke after playing goon of fortune..."


    Elizabeth watched the confident medical student shrink further into the cinema flooring.


    She contorted her mouth, "But it''s not something I wanted to jump from the roof tops and sing about how I reduced the potential for life into what felt like a really painful period. You know?"


    Nodding empathetically, Elizabeth remained silent to give Violet the space to unload a burden she''d clearly kept to herself for a long time.


    "I was angry. I was angry at the people who told me I should be happy I had the opportunity. I was angry at the people who were telling me I should be sad. I wasn''t either. I was scared. I was scared that when I was ready to have a child I would look into the face of my living baby and remember the one I discarded to give that one a better life. I was scared one day I would regret it because people said I would. I couldn''t talk to anyone about it because no matter which side I spoke to I was either a murderer or a heroine when all I really was, was a scared and confused teenager who had to make a really fucking hard decision while trying to get out of the poverty my parents never managed to leave." Tears welled in her eyes. "I just wanted them to be proud of me."


    "Thank you for telling me." Elizabeth said seriously. "I won''t tell you how to feel. It sounds really hard." She met Violet''s eyes. "I am nobody. I get that. If no one has told you, I am proud of you."


    Propelling herself forward, Violet began sobbing into Elizabeth''s shoulder. Elizabeth could feel the warm tears seeping into her blouse. She placed her hand lightly on the back of Violet''s head, stroking her silky, dark hair. As she pressed the side of her head to Violet''s and rocked back and forth to help soothe her, she couldn''t help but smell the light floral perfume Violet wore. She closed her own eyes, trying to hold back her tears. Her emotions never helped anyone.


    It was not clear how long they sat on the perimeters of the shadows. Eventually Violet was able to calm herself. She took slow, deep breaths until the interruptions of short, involuntary sobs lessened significantly.


    Elizabeth stood up and held out her hand. "Are you ready?"


    She nodded her head, grasping Elizabeth''s hand. "I just... I just can''t shake a feeling in my stomach about that child."


    As they walked down the aisle, they looked to Tanda sitting with Donovan. "It''s ok, I''ll make sure that we can keep you two apart. I don''t know what you''re going through, but I know what it''s like to have a face that makes a memory impossible to move past." She smiled warmly at how gently Donovan was interacting with the child, a huge juxtaposition from the way he''d previously engaged with the group. "It looks like Donovan has a handle on it anyway."


    Plastic cups were scattered around Donovan and Tanda. Donovan rummaged in his tote bag for thumbtacks as he asked Tanda how high she could count.


    "I can count to one hundred!" she said excitedly.


    "Wow! That''s so many! Can you help me do a really important experiment to help our friends?" He punched a thumb tack through the base of the cup.


    Tanda nodded.


    "Do you know how they told time without clocks?"


    "Sun clocks!"


    "Yeah! Sundials. That''s right. Woah. You''re smart, buddy! When it was night time though-"


    "There was no sun!"


    "Right again! They used these things called water clocks. They were lucky because they could use the sun to time the water clocks." He used thumb tacks to affix the cup with the hole to the wall and then placed another cup below it. "We don''t have that. So we''ll have to count each minute to find out how much water goes through that little hole in sixty seconds."


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    Tanda handed Donovan another cup. "We have to count every minute!" she said excitedly.


    "Well," he began, fiddling with the cup on the wall, "the good news is that we only need to know one cup. Then I can do the maths to find out how many times that many minutes goes into an hour. We can then make a looooong line and the water can trickle down. So it''s still a lot, but it''s less work. So I will make the markings, and you can count out loud for me."


    "Yeah! I can do it!" Tanda ran her hands over the plastic cups, pressing them and making them crinkle.


    "Awesome! That''s a great attitude!"


    They continued to build and giggle as they used water for their new invention.


    Masina smiled warmly at the scene before she was snapped back to reality as Matthew sucked in a sharp breath as the antiseptic stung his wounds. She tried to distract him. "He''s really good with kids, hey?"


    "Yeah," he winced, "he has younger siblings. He''s from one of those super big families."


    "Oh, cool!" Masina re-applied a dressing and passed him two codeine tablets. "Me too. Hey, use those wisely. We''re running low." She tried to hide her worry about the warmth coming from the slash, even with the best care they could manage.


    Matthew threw the tablets into his mouth and washed them down with water. "Not so cool. They''re one of those big religious families." He looked over fondly at his boyfriend. "They weren''t really fans of, you know," he changed his tone to one of mockery, "his lifestyle choices."


    "Ah. So that''s why he''s so..." Masina struggled to eloquently address the topic.


    "Yeah. His dad''s a real dick. He came to live with my parents for a while after his dad left him with a black eye. It was really messed up."


    "Why did he go back?"


    "I think his family realised kicking out their gay son wasn''t a great look."


    "Yeah, but why did he go back instead of stay with you?"


    "What man with a shitty father doesn''t hold out hope that one day their dad will love them?"


    "True."


    "Oh, sh- Sugar. Sorry. The drugs get me chatty. I shouldn''t be telling you his business. I just love him so damn much, you know?"


    Masina smiled gently, raising her hand up and shaking her head. "Nah. The secret''s safe with me."


    The groups were scattered around the floors of the cinema auditorium: Emilio placed his hand on his wife, who had simply begun sleeping through the apocalypse. Elizabeth and Gowan were deep in hushed conversation while rehydrating after nervously sweating through the footstep saga. Victor was holding the bible that Donovan had liberated from Book Nook after decimating the rollerdoor.


    Violet was sitting beside him, making any conversation that she could to keep her focus off of Tanda. Eventually, she had to look over as Donovan announced the success of the experiment that he and Tanda had been working on.


    "Alright!" he called out to get everyone''s attention, "I''ve gotta show you how this works." He pointed to the 12 cups tacked to the wall with multiple pins each. "We take the cup at the bottom, make sure it''s filled to the long black line and pour it into the top. Each cup holds five minutes of water. When this cup is filled back up down the bottom, an hour has passed... ish." He pointed to a blank piece of paper beside the line. "If you notice that the water has made it''s way to the bottom of the cups, make a mark and pour it all back in the top. That''s an hour."


    "But we don''t know how much time has already passed." Emilio protested.


    Donovan went to argue but looked down at Tanda and took a breath. "Right, but obviously that means if we get to 72 tally marks then we need to worry."


    "Or stick our heads outside to see if it''s light yet." Gowan said, attempting to be helpful.


    "Yeah, or that." Donovan noted.


    Victor sauntered over tentatively to the new addition to the cinema. "You don''t think that we''ll know that the darkness will end?"


    "I think it''s smart for us to consider that-" He mouthed the word demons, "can deceive us."


    Violet stood up from the seats where she had been talking with Victor. "Oh, so now you think demons can be deceptive?"


    "Yeah. I think they might fake us out with either a false ending or a lengthy apocalypse. You know, something powerful. Not coming in and faking the ability to count to sixty."


    Tanda''s tiny hand tugged on Donovan''s pants. "Did I do something wrong?" She sounded like she was about to cry.


    "Oh, no!" He comforted, kneeling down to put both his hands on her elbows so she knew he was at her level. "No, no, no. Not at all, mate. You have been a great helper. You haven''t done anything wrong." He glared at Violet before taking her hand, placing it on his nose, and scrunching it up which made her giggle. "Some adults just don''t understand fun."


    Tanda let out a small whine. "She was never mean when I was up there..."


    "Up where?!" Violet rushed over with terrified eyes. "Up WHERE, Tanda?"


    "Hey!" Donovan shoved her away. "She thought she''d be safe in the vents. She could hear us talk so she felt less alone."


    "You mean the vent where the blood came from?" Her brown eyes were filled with anxiety.


    Donovan simply blinked. "Have you considered that children drink juice, and additionally, they can spill said juice?"


    "Can you confirm it was juice?" she shot back.


    He looked upwards to where the vent was above them. "I assume whatever happened, it came out of this vent?" He walked to the floor and, with disgust on his face, touched the sticky cinema floor. "The floor is sticky. You''re a med student." His voice turned to condescension. "Can you tell me if blood is sticky?"


    Violet stood with her mouth agape, searching for a response.


    Elizabeth rushed to Violet who had tears welling in her eyes again. "Hey, it''s ok. Come sit with Gowan and me." Elizabeth ushered her over to their corner.


    Violet was biting down on her bottom lip nervously. Her mascara was still smudged, but was subtly running again as she tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to begin again. "There''s just something wrong."


    "We thought of something that might help sway your fear." Gowan''s smile was always so comforting. "She told us the name of her mother. It''s not Violet."


    "What was it?" Violet asked.


    Elizabeth and Gowan took a moment to dive into their recall.


    Elizabeth started stammering random syllables to jog her memory. "M... Pa... Mahp... Marcia..." She clicked and pointed. "Maya. Maya Pa-"


    "Maya Padua." Violet''s body was as still as stone.


    "Yeah." Elizabeth smiled warmly before her smile turned to mild concern. "Wait. How''d you know that?"


    Violet leaned forward to rummage through her bra. Gowan let out a soft exclamation and shielded his eyes until she had finished. She had produced her drivers license which she handed to Elizabeth.

 Everything They Ever...

    The bottom of the cinema auditorium was almost serene. The soft light from the candles spread through the space, mingling with the rare sense of calm, to give a welcome sense of homeliness. It was rare that Matthew was able to sleep. Without his interjections of pain, it was easier for the others to relax just a little. The dripping of the water clock kept a soothing reminder that the situation would be over soon.


    Violet made her way gently through the row of seats in the corner of the back of the cinema. She sat silently beside Victor, waiting for him to budge or tell her to leave. He simply continued to read The Bible in what little light made it''s way up the slanted aisle.


    "How do you remain so calm?" she asked. "How do you do it?"


    He looked up from his book and gazed at the scene below. "I have faith that the situation is under control."


    "By you?"


    He closed The Bible and held it up. "There has been a battle raging since the dawn of time. The strongest always win," he said confidently.


    Skin from around the corners of Violet''s nails fell to the floor as she picked nervously. "How do you know who''s the strongest? Whatever is coming after us made Gideon evaporate into the air."


    He shook his head, letting a rare laugh escape his thin lips. "It''s not about the ability to move mountains." There was a sense of joy beginning to simmer under his deep set eyes.


    Violet had thought that Victor looked a little bit like a rat. Now that he''d smiled, even gently, she thought said rat could even be considered handsome. She always had a soft-spot for the interesting looking guys. It made her work somewhat easier, so she never really questioned why.


    "For me," he began, "consider the amount of grief I got for trying to save people."


    There was a brief silence.


    "Victor... You stabbed Matthew."


    "Yes, but it was proved to be a means to an end when..." He wiggled his fingers and raised his hands to simulate the burned, flaking skin rising off of Gideon. "Afterwards, they still treated me badly." The light flickered against his eyes, making them appear like a bottomless chasm that Violet could find herself easily falling into. "Don''t you agree?"


    She stuttered, "I suppose. Don''t you understand why, though?"


    "Empathy is grace, but it is still something that could draw one away from wanting to help." He placed the bible on the floor and moved his full attention to Violet. "Take you for example. I assume that in your line of work, you''ve seen the worst of men."


    "There are many parts of my life that have shown me what men are capable of. Yes."


    "Yet you want to be a doctor. You want to help people."


    "I want money. You know? To live."


    "Then why not stay in your current profession if it''s just about money? I assume from your nails and your eyelashes that it pays well. If you''re wanting money and posterity, why not a lawyer? If you''re wanting money and the ability to show how smart you are, why not programming?" He cocked his head to the side. "No. You chose medicine. You chose a profession that would still leave you helping people. A lawyer will always have another party losing, a programmer can work for corrupt companies, but a doctor? Well, there are malicious doctors in the news, but you don''t seem like a person with ill intentions."


    The eyelashes that Victor had previously pointed out began to flutter. Violet had never felt this seen before. "I''m not." She worried that she sounded like a bitch. "I mean, I don''t think I am." She began moving her wrists in circles, trying to find the right words.


    A thin hand was held up, as Victor invited her to calm down. "I understand." He gently grasped one of her hands, stopping it and placing it on the arm rest.


    Together, they took a moment to survey the scene below. Donovan had begun to stir beside Matthew. He stood up to check on the water clock. An additional tally was added to the current 5 tally marks. Water glugged carefully back into the top cup. He wandered carefully back over to Matthew, Masina, and Tanda. The child sat up as Donovan swooped over to comfort her.


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    Victor could feel Violet tensing back up. He placed his other hand over the hand that was entwined with hers. Leaning toward her ear, he kindly said, "I hope one day you understand just how important you were to the end of the world."


    Over time, more tally marks were added to the paper. Nine were added before the rest of the group stirred awake. Paper plates were distributed as chips and biscuits were dumped in the center of the circle for everyone to pick at.


    Emilio broke the silence. He looked toward the marks on the wall. "So how many notches do you think we''ll have until we can expect this whole thing to be over? 48?"


    The group murmured in agreement between crunching of beige-coloured snack foods.


    Gowan pulled his phone from his pocket and shook it gently. "I''d imagine we''d know from the phones coming back."


    Elizabeth pointed upwards to the screen. "Or the projector." Her eyes wandered across the roof and over to the projection booth. "Hey. We haven''t gone up there yet."


    "Why would we?" Amy''s voice remained monotone. Her exhaustion seemed to steep into her every word, "There''d be nothing in there. It''s not worth the energy."


    "She''s right," Donovan spoke up, "we weren''t even allowed snacks up there. All you''d find up there is a projector and homophobic graffiti about me." He scoffed. "Forget about it. It''s where dreams go to die."


    "What''s hone-a-phobic?" a small voice piped up.


    A look of panic struck Donovan''s face. He looked to Matthew, who was propped up as to not choke on his food.


    Gowan made a nervous sound in the back of his throat. "Well, you know how Donovan and Matthew are good friends?"


    "Are they boyfriends?" Tanda asked matter-of-factly.


    Donovan was still looking over to Matthew. "Yeah," he said tenderly, "we''re boyfriends."


    "And some people don''t like that," Gowan explained.


    "Why?"


    "It''s ..." Gowan searched for the words, "just not what they expected." He looked up to Victor to make sure he was staying silent. "And people can be mean about it. That meanness is homophobia."


    "Donovan, will you have babies with Matthew?"


    Sensing that nobody really knew how to answer that one, Gowan scanned the plates for a way to divert the thinking little mind. "Isn''t it cool that we get to eat cookies! Would you like me to get you one?"


    "Yeah!"


    The tally count continued to progress.


    At twelve marks, Violet found herself getting restless again. She spent as many moments as she could avoiding the little girl. She didn''t know what she would unleash if the girl found out who she was. Even if it was coincidence, it''s not something she wanted to announce to the world. The only person who seemed to truly understand the potential danger was Victor. She shuddered to think what would happen if she let slip why she was so worried about the child.


    Victor said it himself. She was important to how this would play out. He was also correct that all she wanted to do was help people. A sense of guilt washed over her as she thought of what would happen when the small girl caught her.


    She took a bottle of water and made her way back to the auditorium again. Victor went to follow her but she shook her head. From the second back row, she slowly pulled the collection of combination paracetamol and codeine tablets from her pockets and popped three in her mouth. She swigged from the bottle.


    Calm began to slowly rush over her as she felt the warm embrace kicking in. She had never abused tablets before, she took her position in med school very seriously. None of her hard work mattered now. There wouldn''t be a school to go back to.


    If a demon was only here for her, then she''d rather go out on her own terms. She popped another two tablets. Sickness rumbled in her stomach and nausea crept in through the feelings of euphoria that began to sparkle through her brain in the early stages.


    Thirteen tally marks were on the chart as she opened her eyes. In class she knew that she was not consuming the pills fast enough to ensure an overdose. She knew that if she went too slow she''d simply sleep it off and wake up very unglamorously, likely covered in her own vomit. As quickly and quietly as she could, she took all of the silver packets out of the boxes she collected and put the loose tablets into a single box for easy access.


    To test her ability to move quickly, she stood up. The room was spinning and her chest felt heavy. Filling her mouth with water, she dropped a number of pills in as she briskly walked to the door of the cinema. If she was going to go out of the world, she did not want to be a burden.


    The clunk of the door gave away her position.


    "Don''t follow me!" she yelled from the top of the stairs.


    Violet stumbled into the door and rammed her entire body into it. She did not care who, or what, would be waiting for her on the other side. Whatever was there couldn''t be worse than the embodiment of her abortion.


    Holding herself up on the wall outside the cinema, beside a garbage bin, she began alternating between putting the medication in her mouth and taking gulps of water. Violet could hear the arguing from the cinema below. She knew that once the sounds of arguing hushed, she wouldn''t have much time.


    Victor flung open the doors. "We''ve got to get her inside, quick!" he yelled.


    "No, no, no, no!" Elizabeth rolled her to her side while Masina helped move her legs.


    "Look at the pills." Amy''s voice was filled with a burst of adrenaline, "Do you have Naloxone? Shit. I''ll try to get her to vomit."


    Violet could feel the breath leaving her lungs. She couldn''t open her eyes, but the voices let her know how many people came to help. Her full lips curled into a smile, feeling accomplished, even if they''d never know the sacrifice she made for them. With one last breath, she let the words "you''re welcome" linger in the universe, waiting for the day her friends were ready to say thank you.

 Home.

    Emilio placed the cold corpse beside the candles. The room was silent, as if everyone was waiting for Violet''s chest to begin rising and falling again. Her closed eyes looked as though they could flutter open at any moment.


    A 14th tally mark was placed on the wall.


    "What do we do now?" Elizabeth asked.


    "We shouldn''t keep her near Matthew. Germs are already against us with the floor as gross as it is, let alone a dead body. Even if it''s just for a couple of days," Masina noted.


    Emilio looked back towards the doors. "Should we just keep her outside?"


    "No!" A chorus of incredulous voices sounded in unison.


    He shrugged his shoulders defensively. "Bloody hell! It was just a suggestion!"


    "We should put her in the back." Elizabeth pointed to the seats where Victor liked to brood.


    "We could put her in the projector room," Donovan suggested. "Although, it would mean that we''d need to walk out of the auditorium again. That might be a risk."


    "We''ve got like ..." she peered at the tally sheet, "two days left. Probably less. I don''t mind housing her with us for two days. It''s the safest for us." She looked down to the corpse. "It''s probably the safest for her too. We don''t know if the demons can smell death."


    Emilio went to move the body but Elizabeth stopped him. She thought it would be best to say a few words before they shoved her to the side.


    The group crowded around the body, except for Matthew who lay behind them. He looked at the ceiling. It felt like her eyes would just open to look at him through the feet of the bystanders. Wrapping a half-eaten cookie in a napkin, he called Donovan over. The crumbs trailed through the air as Donovan took the biscuit with the hand that Tanda was not grasping on to, and gave Matthew a confused look.


    "At the funerals of my family, we leave food with the bodies. Something about the soul having something to eat." He weakly smiled. "I''d rather just be safe."


    Donovan nodded and put it down beside Violet''s corpse. "I''ll make sure it follows the body."


    Silence fell uncomfortably as everyone searched for something to say. Gowan looked to Victor who shook his head faintly without really taking his eyes off the corpse. The burdensome absence of one of their own loomed heavily over their heads.


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    Elizabeth cleared her throat. "We didn''t know Violet for long, but she was ..." she looked over to Matthew, "exactly what we needed. She was a gift. From what I knew of her, she was hard working. She was caring. She was smart and compassionate and..." she thought back to their talk at the top of the cinema. Her ears rumbled as she fought back her wavering voice. "Violet was complex. Not in a difficult way. In the way that one could appreciate a wine."


    Sniffs and small sobs popped through the crowd. She asked if anyone wanted to add anything, but she was met with shaking heads. Gowan began to softly sing Amazing Grace and a few others joined him.


    Over their singing, Elizabeth closed the small memorial. "I don''t want Violet going out of the world without acknowledging who she really was. Lord, please watch over Maya Padua."


    Tanda gasped, "Maya Padua?"


    Tingles crawled up Elizabeth''s neck. "Yes." She tried to smile kindly at the child, hoping the smile would help change the tone of her voice to a kind one, "She can''t be your mum though."


    "Why not?" Tanda asked.


    Elizabeth remained standing. She did not kneel down to the child''s level. Her feet slowly shifted from side to side. "Well ... When was the last time you were with your mum." Relief broke out across her face and she felt her chest relax as she averted the crisis.


    "Six years ago."


    The tension was sucked back into the room.


    The small girl let go of Donovan''s hand and began to make her way towards the warmth of the candles where the body had been placed. Feeling the body at her feet she knelt down.


    The group watched on, entranced.


    Pulling herself into a ball, Tanda placed her mothers arm around herself and closed her eyes for a brief moment. After a deep breath she maneuvered herself to place both hands on her mother''s chest, just above her heart. "Mama? It''s time to go now."


    Tears silently fell from the crowd.


    "Mama?"


    Donovan stepped forward to lead the child away. He placed his hand gently on Tanda''s shoulder. "Come on, you can come and-"


    Violet''s eyes opened. She blinked for a moment and looked at Tanda serenely.


    "Mama. It''s time we go now. You don''t need to be sad anymore."


    Violet steadily got to her feet. She didn''t even acknowledge the others in the room. There was no fear in her voice now, "Yes, baby. It''s time to go."


    She calmly took her child''s hand as together they slowly wandered through the crowd and onto the smooth slope of the cinema aisle. The double doors at the top of the room appeared to have a shining light behind them. With no hesitation, they continued to walk as the double doors opened. It was a smooth movement. There was no clunk, no bulk of the doors, and no shudder of the frame.


    A gentle smoke flowed out of the white light, covering the back of the theatre. As the smoke made it''s way to the remaining 7 figures, they noticed it was a lavender colour. It smelled like vanilla cookies and honey. They weren''t scared of the scene anymore.


    Violet and Tanda stepped into the smoke. Violet bent down and picked up her child, holding her up in the air.


    "I love you so much, mummy." Tanda giggled.


    The last thing the group heard was "I love you too" as the doors closed gently behind the pair. The smoke dissipated as those left behind were left to wonder what this meant for their remaining days on Earth.


    Once again, the smell in the room soured back to the reality they had found themselves trapped in.

 Warning Signs

    Over time, Donovan added to the tally marks. The water clock had now logged 19 hours. Whether they were correct or not was anyone''s guess. Uncertainty had cleared away any semblance of normalcy and the group had begun to withdraw into their previous pairs and trios.


    Victor sat alone again.


    Gowan and Elizabeth were on the floor, facing each other, sharing a packet of chocolate biscuits. They had set up a small nest in one of the corners with their beds. The piles of thick blankets they used as makeshift pillows made the perfect hiding spot for their knives so that they didn''t have to worry about the blades slicing them by accident when trying to conceal them in their pants.


    Of course, they weren''t going to mess up the beds with food. Who knew if the rats survived the world ending.


    "I think when I leave the first thing I do will be visiting my parents." The dark crumbs fell down Elizabeth''s chin. She tried to dust them off.


    "You missed some." He watched her try and brush them off. "Nope, still there."


    She tried to point to where they were to get an idea of where to brush them off.


    "Just-" He scrunched his face in frustration.


    Elizabeth licked her cookie and pressed it into her face. "Ah well, we''ll just call it fashion."


    Air escaped his nose as he shook his head.


    "My family are religious, you know? They''re probably hunched over a bible right now if they made it." Her voice softened, "I hope they continue to make it."


    "I''m sure they will."


    "What about you?" she asked, in an effort to get the spotlight off herself.


    "Yeah. Christianity is most common religion in South Sudan. I think it helped my parents find community once they immigrated too." He shrugged. "Churches are good for that kind of thing."


    "Totally. Is that why you got into ministry?"


    Gowan''s face grew solemn. "No." He cleared his throat.


    "Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "Sorry! I didn''t- Sorry! I didn''t mean to intrude at all, I just-"


    He stopped her rambling. "It''s ok. I just ... I had to have a pretty significant wakeup call to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up."


    She nodded and decided against prying any further.


    Matthew''s cries interrupted their awkward conversation. His wounds had begun seeping a milky liquid which Masina was trying to wipe away with wet gauze. She passed him more pain medication but they were both aware that it was running low after Violet had used so much of the stash.


    "Think you owe my wife an apology, mate." Emilio towered over Donovan who was fussing around the water clock.


    Donovan tilted his head upward. His eyes always had bags under them, but now it was like the life had been removed. "Ok." He stood up immediately and walked over to Amy. "Sorry," he droned in a lifeless voice. He stood there, watching her.


    "That''s ok," Amy replied uncomfortably. "Are you doing ok, mate?"


    "I''ll be ok." He wandered back to the water clock and robotically added another tally to the wall then tipping the bottom cup back into the top cup.


    Victor scanned the sorry scene as he walked to Elizabeth and Gowan. "Sorry to interrupt," he began, "I know we''re trying to stay put but I don''t know how much longer I can take the screaming."


    "Do you have an idea on how to fix it?" Gowan asked.


    "More drugs?"


    Masina had been listening in. "We cleaned out the pharmacy of anything that''s relatively safe to use in a general emergency like this. Beside breaking into random back rooms and hoping someone sucks at securing their personal stashes, we''re S.O.L."


    "I should use the bathroom now," Matthew spoke up, "before it gets worse."


    Matthew had begun to develop tremors. His lips were chapped and dry. The skin on his fingertips had been drained of it''s usual colour. Labored breathing rung through the air as Masina helped him up to the bathroom that was so far away. Every now and then he would let out a yelp or a wheeze.


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    Donovan looked on helplessly. "Hey." His voice was soft, nobody noticed he''d gotten up. "Hey!" He yelled a little louder.


    The room turned to look at him.


    "I''ll do it." He made his way to the center of the room. "I''ll go through the break rooms. I''ll go scavenging for whatever we can."


    Elizabeth gestured to the paper on the wall. "It''s ok. I''m sure we can survive for another day." She looked to Masina who was helping Matthew back down the aisle. "Right?"


    Masina had stopped as Matthew contorted in pain. "Yeah," she said, as she struggled to hold Matthew up. She strained her voice as she tensed her core, "We can ration. It''ll be ok."


    Donovan put his hand on his hip and gestured to Gowan. "So he can save the day, but I''m a fuck up? Is that it? My boyfriend is dying."


    "I asked Gowan because he''s a man of God who''s come back unscathed twice," Victor noted.


    "I left and came back with a God damned angel!" Donovan shot back.


    "By accident. After chucking a temper tantrum," Emilio added. "Captain Phillips here hasn''t so much raised his voice."


    Gowan squinted his eyes and shook his head in disbelief at Emilio''s new level of being an absolute tool. "What?" he said quietly, "Captain Phillips wasn''t even the-"


    "SHUT UP!" Donovan yelled, "FOR ONCE! Just shut the fuck up. What have you done for anyone beside break a window?"


    Emilio walked up to Donovan stony faced. Through gritted teeth he told him, "I stayed here and loved my wife so she wouldn''t end up gurgling on the floor like Violet. What the fuck is it to you?"


    Amy brushed past Emilio. She handed a white, plastic lighter to Donovan. "I''ll tell you what," she said with her back to her husband, "hold onto this. Try this when your clock tells you that the world is spinning again. You''ll be able to double check your working. If you flick it and the flame works..." She shrugged.


    Donovan looked down thoughtfully at the lighter. All he could manage was "thank you".


    "I know your little helper isn''t around anymore, but if you want to get some shut eye I can take over the tally process." Amy suggested.


    "Thanks, but I can''t sleep when Matthew is like this."


    "Please," Matthew groaned, "babe, you need sleep."


    Amy''s icy blue eyes cut through the dark, pleading at Donovan. "It would mean so much to me if I could help. I just really need a purpose. I need to keep my mind off ..." she gestured broadly, "everything."


    Donovan hesitated, lowering his dark eyebrows suspiciously. "Ok."


    "I''ve set you up a bed." Masina gestured to the small pile of blankets she had set up beside Matthew.


    Walking over to the blanket pile, he whipped around to the crowd. "I don''t need an audience!"


    The onlookers quickly snapped to pretending that the closest object on hand was absolutely fascinating.


    Matthew''s hand was cold and clammy, but Donovan was happy to finally be holding it proudly nonetheless. He decided he didn''t give a fuck about Victor or Emilio, and it seemed like no one else really seemed to mind. Rolling to his side, he clasped Matthew''s hand with both of his. The invitation for time to pass as slowly as it needed to was carved across his heart as he studied every centimeter of his boyfriend''s beautiful face.


    "I love you so much," he whispered into his boyfriend''s ear.


    Matthew clenched his hand a little. "I love you too."


    "I wish ..." Donovan''s eyelids began to flutter closed, "I wish I hadn''t waited for the world to end to tell you that."


    Donovan slept soundly as Amy dutifully added the tallies as the water clock required.


    "It''s just struck 24," she noted to Gowan and Elizabeth who were standing nearby.


    "24 hours left. Dang," Gowan said softly.


    "What are you going to do with your newfound freedom once the world starts ... spinning again?" Amy asked Elizabeth.


    She took Gideon''s car keys out of her pocket, jingling them lightly. "Probably go for a joyride."


    "You still have those?" Gowan looked impressed.


    She shrugged. "I''m a packrat at heart."


    Amy looked over her shoulder as she tipped the water back into the top cup. "I call shotgun," she joked. She looked over to Donovan, Matthew and Masina on the floor. All three were asleep. "What do we do if the light comes back but we''re the only ones left?"


    Elizabeth put the keys back in her pocket. "We find the car and dirty up those freshly detailed seats.


    "Can we keep him alive like that forever? Just drugged up?" Amy felt her cynicism creeping back in.


    Gowan brought out his calming smile. "I''m sure there would be other survivors. Victor can''t be the only person in the world who knows what''s going on."


    "Yeah," Amy agreed. She didn''t really believe it would be ok. It seemed like every time they got closer to freedom, she considered how many changes must await her.


    Changes were never Amy''s forte. That''s why she loved her husband. He was simple and easy to anticipate. He was hot headed, but he was never violent with her. That was heads and shoulders above what her mother put up with. At least she could expect him to blow up. She could expect him to show up when she messed up.


    He understood trauma. His was from the military, so it wasn''t totally the same, but he was so gentle whenever she relapsed. He trusted her. He stood up for her. She could rely on him to be loyal and without any surprises. The hangover of habits from being in the army meant he had a schedule that ran like clockwork and she found it comforting.


    She put him through so much shit and he never faltered. He never cheated or complained. Even at her lowest, he never saw her as damaged goods. Their relationship was the most she could ask for without feeling too selfish. Yet she didn''t know how much more of the apocalypse she could handle.


    She had watched her husband move an entire fridge by himself. He ran marathons for fun. No matter what was thrown at him, it was just embedded in his DNA to survive. She used to joke that he was her sexy cockroach.


    Now the plates were falling. There were too many changes at once and none of them were in her control. She couldn''t help but think back to when she watched Violet leave the room with such love and serenity. Even beforehand, when she was just jamming her fingers down Violet''s throat to try and get her to vomit up the pills, all she could feel was jealousy. She simply felt bitter.


    If she could have traded places with Violet''s lifeless corpse, there wouldn''t be a second thought.


    She wondered if there''d be smoke for her too.

 Healing Prayer

    28 tally marks were added to the paper. Matthew''s screams were getting louder. The air was heavy with waiting, but not reinforced with any hope.


    By 30 tally marks, Elizabeth was crouched beside Masina. "We really can''t do anything?"


    Masina took her hand off Matthew''s forehead. She shook her head. "At this point, we''d need a debridement and the only person even close to having a proper medical background floated away in purple smoke."


    "Don''t you have some kind of training?" Elizabeth was a little more desperate now. "Surely anything is better than-"


    She was interrupted by Matthew coughing violently, then wincing in pain.


    " ... that."


    Masina shook her head. "I''m already so far out of my comfort zone. To be a pharmacy assistant I went to TAFE, not Johns Hopkins. Everything else I learned was through osmosis, to be honest."


    Donovan walked over from the water clock, after adding the 31st mark. He stammered a little, "What about prayer?"


    Masina and Elizabeth exchanged a glance with each other. It was partially pity, and partially the absolute lack of energy to deal with Donovan''s outbursts if the prayer didn''t work. He was a powder keg that was easy enough to deal with, but when their diet for 2 days had been handfuls of processed, beige snack foods, it was harder and harder to be a solid rock for his waves to crash into.


    Victor casually walked over to the huddle. "I think that''s a phenomenal idea."


    Donovan rolled his eyes. "Oh, so you''ve found it in your heart to pray for people like us," he said sarcastically.


    "1 Timothy 2 has always been in The Bible. The instructions to intercede for others have always been clear," Victor said plainly.


    He walked over to Gowan who had been napping in the cocoon of blankets that had been moving closer and closer to Elizabeth''s blanket pile. With a deep inhale, Gowan groggily woke up.


    "Is it over?" Gowan looked to the tallies. "Ugh." He had to focus all his energy to sluggishly make his way over to the gathering.


    Emilio stopped his push-ups to join them. He called over to his wife who awkwardly stood over Matthew''s body. She looked down, somewhat in shame, at the wounds she had abandoned in the days prior. Amy was just so tired.


    When everyone had gathered, Victor re-joined them. He walked from the corner of the room where Elizabeth and Gowan''s bedding was set up to the center of the room. He picked up one of the candles and brought it over to the existing candle set up near Matthew''s body.


    The orange glow only seemed to exaggerate the textures on Matthew''s side. His arm wound was mild and easily under control. His abdomen was bruising and seeping. There were glitters across his golden, autumn skin. It could have been considered beautiful if the moisture hadn''t come from the pus and blood that Masina had missed while trying to keep Matthew clean with the ever dwindling resources.


    Victor cleared his throat. "Lord, we gather here today to ask you to heal this man. He was used as a tool for you, to help keep those gathered here in safety. We don''t see, Lord, how his wounds can be of any more assistance. Matthew has been a soldier for you, Lord. It is time now to heal his wounds." He stopped, waiting. "Heal his wounds, Lord!" he commanded.


    The room was silent. Masina and Elizabeth shared another look. The wounds did not change at all.


    Victor looked at Masina. "Bandage it up."


    Masina changed the dressing while most of the group looked away. Amy covered her ears as Matthew let out more cries of pain. Donovan desperately stroked Matthew''s hair, whispering frantic attempts at comfort to his boyfriend.


    "Lord!" Victor said, even louder this time. "Lord! I call upon your name to heal Matthew like you healed lepers. Heal him like you healed the blind! Take the wounds away, Lord!" He used his free hand to gesture upwards dramatically. He clamped his eyes shut as he continued to beg the Lord for the deliverance of Matthew''s wounds.


    After some time had passed, he pointed to the bandage. "Remove them."


    Masina hesitated. She wanted to believe. A miracle would provide so much hope in a dark time. Her inner voice was begging God to have worked through Victor. The fallout of failure was something that she didn''t even want to think about.


    Gowan had his eyes closed, muttering to himself. Elizabeth had grasped his upper-arm in anticipation. Emilio''s strong arms held Amy who had simply buried her head into his chest. Victor stared at the bandages.


    Donovan was squeezing Matthew''s hand. "Do you feel any different?"


    "No." Matthew managed.


    The wound looked no different.


    The breath the room was collectively holding fell to the floor, deflated.


    "I need to eat." Masina walked over to the food as the silence continued.


    Without thinking, Emilio just wanted to break the tension. "Maybe God doesn''t work for the queers."


    Elizabeth''s mouth dropped.


    "What the fuck did you just say?" Donovan sprang up.


    "I was just making a joke." Emilio shrugged. "Sorry, I-"


    Gowan twisted towards Emilio, "What the hell, dude. That''s an awful thing to say."


    "Oh, come on." He groaned. "It''s just my humour. You know I''m fine with queers."


    Donovan shoved Emilio. "Say it again. Say it the fuck again. A man is dying and you want to fucking try me?"


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Fine, I won''t say it," Emilio huffed. He remained in place, and Donovan was pushing on his chest to goad him into fighting. "Don''t be so soft. We had gay guys in the unit and they were fine with it. At least I didn''t call you a fa-"


    Masina called from behind them. "Uh, guys?"


    The fighting snapped off like a light switch as they turned in horror.


    "I guess I didn''t see the egg warning on these." She held up the pack of food she was holding.


    "Fuck." Donovan stated. He walked over to a cinema chair and begun swinging at it in a blind rage. "FUCK!" he screamed louder, "FUUUUUUCK!"


    "What do we do? What do you need?" Elizabeth ran over, placing her hands on Masina''s upper arms. "Do you have an EpiPen?"


    "I must have left it," Masina wheezed.


    Gowan was ferreting through the medical supplies. "Nothing in here."


    "Do we have antihistamines?" Masina began lowering herself to the ground. "Someone needs to run to go to the pharmacy to grab an EpiPen." She lay on her back, looking up at the roof. Gowan handed her a box of children''s liquid antihistamine he had grabbed while they were emptying the pharmacy. "They''re behind the counter. Just ..." her breathing got more laboured, "grab anything."


    "I know CPR, I''ll stay here." Amy said to Elizabeth.


    Gowan nodded to Victor, then raised his hand to get Elizabeth''s attention. He ran to their bedding to fish out the knives while Elizabeth organised the others.


    Elizabeth began pointing. "Donovan, stay with Matthew. Emilio, come with us in case we need you to break something." She grabbed a candle and sprinted to the doors.


    Gowan grabbed the second candle and handed it to Emilio, telling him to run ahead if he could. He seemed much fitter than Gowan or Elizabeth and time was of the essence. The third candle left the faint glow from the cinema floor as the double doors slammed shut behind them and their footsteps clanked down the stationary elevator.


    Emilio zoomed past Elizabeth as Gowan jogged beside her. He waited until Emilio''s flame was far in the distance before he passed her the knife. Elizabeth placed the knife back in her waistband, lest Emilio saw.


    "You got yours?" she asked.


    He continued running straight ahead. "One''s missing."


    "Shit." Elizabeth muttered. "So Victor''s knife is AWOL and now so is one of ours?"


    "Yeah."


    Elizabeth was huffing now. She tried to speed up. "If Emilio or Donovan has one of them..."


    They arrived at the pharmacy and ducked back under the roller door that Emilio had yanked off the floor when the end of their worlds were just beginning. The man-mountain was already shoving things off shelves behind the counter in an anxious flurry, swearing to himself.


    Elizabeth noticed a small set of plastic shelves under the counter labelled "Autoinjectors". She grabbed the entire box and shoved it into Emilio''s hands. "Run."


    He darted out of the store, leaving the pair alone in the candle light. The two collapsed behind the counter as the boxes of medication were littered around them.


    After allowing himself a moment to let his shoulders drop, Gowan began scanning the boxes. "Maybe we can find something for Matthew."


    "Nah," Elizabeth shook her head, "you won''t find anything here."


    "My friends in high school used to take some medication for their ..." he looked uncomfortable, "lady... times." The moment of relaxation was slowly crawling away.


    Elizabeth chuckled, "Oh, the low dose pain medication? Nah. The government made it so you can''t get them over the counter anymore."


    "Because people were abusing them?"


    "Probably. Although I find it easier to believe they wanted to continue the age old tradition of handling menstruation by just telling women to deal with it and calling them hysterical if they object."


    Gowan made a small noise in agreement and continued to awkwardly scan the boxes.


    Elizabeth rose to her feet, "Let''s check the safe again. Amy''s got this, and as much as Emilio is," she contorted her lips, trying to find a non-scathing indictment, "as much as he sucks, he''ll be able to help out. I think it would be better if we tried to find something for Matt."


    "Yeah." Gowan looked towards the door before nodding to himself and following Elizabeth through the door.


    The safe was still open, but it was completely empty.


    "Did we really take everything?" she asked Emilio.


    "I guess so."


    She clicked her tongue. "Dammit." Frustrated tears welled in her eyes. Each time they threatened to finally spill over, they were harder to fight back. Her sinuses were waving a white flag as she felt her nose begin to run. She had never been a pretty crier.


    Her fa?ade fell as she plopped to the ground and put her head in her hands. She started to rock, gently tapping her head on the safe behind her. The tapping helped her soothe herself. She''d always been that way.


    Gowan lowered himself beside her. He wasn''t sure of where to place his arms. Scared that she might rock back too hard, he placed his arm around his shoulders to impede how far back Elizabeth could move. Embracing her, he began to rock side to side.


    He tried to soothe her. "Emptiness isn''t always a sign of despair. It can mean better things. The empty tomb was a message of hope."


    "But we have a nineteen year old kid bleeding out on our floor," she sobbed into his chest, "even if he makes it, what world is left for him? What''s he surviving for?" She froze and softened with a realisation. "What are any of us surviving for?"


    Gowan stopped rocking and wiped one of her tears away, "Love."


    "Love?" she asked flatly, between sobs.


    "Do you know how I decided to go into ministry?"


    She shook her head.


    "My friends went out drinking one night. We''d just finished high school and I was a real rule follower so I didn''t go with them. They called me at 3am, and loudly and obnoxiously asked me for a lift home. I said no and went back to sleep."


    "And they died?"


    "Yeah. The next day I woke up to the police wanting to speak with me, since I was the last person they called. Four of my friends died in the drunk driving crash. Later it turned out one of them was pregnant. I held that guilt for years." He paused thoughtfully. "I still do."


    "So we just keep living even though bad things happen?" Elizabeth hadn''t even realised she''d stopped crying amidst trying to figure out the point.


    "We do, but the point is that there were numerous ways I could move through the guilt. For a long time I thought I couldn''t live with it." He looked downward. "I moved through the guilt by finding how I could use the situation to help others. I chose youth ministry because every emotion is big at that age and all you want is someone who understands. Every mistake feels like the end of the world, and I wanted to show them that nothing was too awful to prematurely declare that their life had ended. It was too hard to live for myself, but it was easy to live for others."


    "Thank you for telling me," Elizabeth said. She took a deep breath. "But how can we be living for others if we''re the only ones left?"


    "Please." He was now holding both of her hands. "For me. Let''s just pretend there are people to live for."


    Elizabeth felt his gentle breath on her hands as he brought them to his soft lips, and kissed her fingers delicately. He bent his neck to place his forehead against them. She smiled.


    "We should get going," he said, jolting himself out of the moment.


    Elizabeth shook a little, embarrassed at how easy she melted. "What about the filing cabinets? They''re combination locks. Do you remember the safe combo? Don''t older people tend to just use the same thing for all their locks?"


    "Yeah. I don''t remember the combination, but I don''t think the notepad would have gone far." He stood up and began scanning with the candlelight. His brow furrowed. "Is it on the floor?"


    Elizabeth looked in the spaces between the safe and the nearby desks. "Nothing here." She maneuvered herself on her hands and knees towards the door to check behind it.


    Her blood ran cold.


    Shadowy figures were in the pharmacy and moving towards them. A slow scratching noise across the carpet made it''s way closer and closer. Soon they were behind the counter.


    She should have closed the door, but once again all she could do was freeze up. Not even a sound escaped her mouth to alert Gowan.


    A stocky woman looked down at Elizabeth, then knocked on the door to alert Gowan. As she came into view, the light gleamed off her short hair that Elizabeth guessed had been coloured red with box dye. The shadows aided her fringe to keep her face rather concealed.


    One of the men behind her was carrying a plank of wood. The other was carrying a trolley bar. They moved past the woman in the doorway, grasping Gowan and Elizabeth who had no other exit.


    "You''ll be coming with us now and I''d prefer it if you didn''t scream."

 The Others

    Darkness fell on Gowan and Elizabeth for the first time since the three candles were lit. They had been taken to an office in the back of Lux Heights, a high end fashion and homewares department store. The strangers had taken the candle before they''d even left the pharmacy.


    "What do we do?" Elizabeth whispered.


    "We could try to find the door. Although I don''t know how safe the other side would be."


    They didn''t need to begin the search. The door was aggressively pushed open. Candlelight illuminated the door frame.


    "Ok." A gruff voice said, "Follow me." The man still had his plank of wood in one hand with the candle in the other. Elizabeth noted that his voice didn''t really match his baby face and greying hair.


    As they left the doorway they were followed by the other man from the pharmacy who held the trolley bar. There was no way that Gowan and Elizabeth could run without risk of being hurt.


    After winding through aisles of bougie homewares and electronics, the man knocked on a shelf in a distinct pattern.


    "Yep." A familiar female voice called from the other side.


    The backing to the metal shelf was dragged out of the way as the four had to crawl into the hiding place. It revealed a crude living area put together by the trio who had clearly been left to fumble in the dark. The bedding was made from soft clothing that had been taken from the racks.  Snacks that had been obviously liberated from the gifting section were littered around.


    The small entryway was sealed back up and the candle was placed in the center. Gowan and Elizabeth were made to sit in a corner as the three stood over them.


    "You''re not so scary when you''re inside, are you?" The woman looked the pair up and down. She crossed her toned, tattooed arms.


    "We haven''t ..." Elizabeth searched for the words to answer the clearly rhetorical question.


    "Haven''t been outside? Interesting how you and your little friends can run around the halls with fire when," she pulled a lighter out of the small pocket in her jeans and clicked it, "none of our lighters seem to be working."


    "My phone is in my pocket." Gowan tilted his hips while remaining seated. "You can take it out and check."


    The babyfaced man with the plank of wood stepped forward. His pale blue eyes were filled with rage. "You can tear my wife limb from limb. You can fake a dead phone."


    Gowan put his hands up, making the trio standing above them jolt back. "Woah! We definitely didn''t do that."


    "One of youse did, and you''re a good enough sacrifice as any." The man squared up his stance.


    The woman with the red hair tried to hide the turning of her head as she closed her eyes and braced for the impact of the wood against their skulls.


    Elizabeth began slowly moving her hand towards the knife in her waistband.


    "Wait." The man holding the trolley bar softly spoke up. As he moved forward, Elizabeth noticed that his thick, tightly coiled hair was not simply reflecting the light, but was a deep brown with dark pink dye crowning his head at the top. "What if it''s true?"


    The woman looked him up and down. "You expect me to believe that in the dead of whatever this is, that they''re just normal people holding candles?"


    "We are." Elizabeth looked at the woman directly. "My name is Elizabeth. This is Gowan. There are a group of us. Keep us alive and you can be where there''s light all the time." She used the wall to help herself up slowly. "We can take you there."


    "Stop." The pale man with the plank of wood commanded. "We''re not moving to another location so you and your friends can rip us apart."


    "We''re not demons!" Gowan was exasperated. "Look, according to our calculations there''s only about 12 hours until this whole thing ends. Just chill out for 12 hours and you''ll see."


    "I believe you." The man with the pink hair sat down beside Gowan. "I''m Saleem." He gestured to his friends. "Kellie and Evan."


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Do you have no fucking survival instincts?" Evan snapped. "Don''t give them information. You!" He pointed to Elizabeth. "Sit!" He gestured to Saleem with the wood. "You! I''m getting sick of you. Shut the fuck up."


    "Please," Gowan tried to reason, "our friend is sick. We need to get back to her."


    Kellie turned to Evan. "What if it''s true?"


    "You too?" Evan began pacing between Kellie and Saleem. "You saw it too, right? Kellie? You saw Shay get fucking decimated, right? Why do I feel like I''m losing my fucking mind?"


    "You think I don''t have shit riding on this?" Kellie stormed over to Evan, shoving his shoulder. "What do you think''s gonna happen to me if they''re right? If this was just a storm? If this all stops and the cops come?"


    Evan grabbed the neck area of her tank top. "We both saw that body disappear. You did what you had to do and for whatever reason, that smoke did you a solid. You be grateful and you shut the fuck up. That''s what you do."


    "Smoke?" Gowan shouted into the scuffle.


    "Stay the fuck out of this." Evan snarled.


    "You saw smoke?"


    "No. You didn''t hear that. Shut the fuck up. Shut the FUCK up!" Evan began pacing and mumbling to himself rapidly. Suddenly he stopped. "We''re leaving. We''ve got to leave here. What if they know we''re here because they''re here."


    After snatching the candle, he flung the shelf backing aside and crawled out.


    "Follow me."


    Nobody moved from their position. It was hard to see anything as the glow of the candle forced it''s way over the shelves and through the space where Evan had crawled. Saleem turned to Gowan and subtly shook his head. Gowan gave him a look that would scream "no shit", if Gowan ever swore.


    "Follow me!" Evan said a little louder.


    Kellie hesitated, looking to the trio in the corner. Her eyes were underlined with bags. Elizabeth was unsure if it was from mascara that had been cried off, or bags from a lack of sleep. Perhaps it was both. Either way, Kellie simply looked empty.


    Kellie''s shoulders dropped and she let out a deep sigh. She got on all fours, ready to crawl through the shelf. She was half way out when she said Evan''s name like it was a question.


    In an instant, there was an ugly noise. The thwack sounded like the time a boy in Elizabeth''s class pushed her down the stairs and she fell on the back of her head. Of course, worse. Juicier. Another loud thump occurred, as Kellie let out a blood-curdling cry. It was guttural and full of betrayal. Evan grunted as a third strike was made and Kellie''s body crumpled like a piece of paper.


    Evan grabbed Kellie''s shoulders and dragged her out of the shelving, discarding her by the candle which he''d placed on the ground. "The rest of yas. Get out now."


    "N- No?" Gowan stuttered.


    "Doesn''t matter what you want, fuckhead." Evan pushed the shelf forward.


    Saleem grabbed them, pulling them backwards as the large, metal shelf towered forward. The top of the shelf just missed the trio pressed against the wall in the back of the store. There was nowhere to run. They could not back further into the two walls, and the one remaining shelf making a temporary wall was braced against the shelving behind it.


    Saleem grasped the trolley bar.


    "You wanna die defending demons, noodle arms?" Evan asked, looming closer.


    Elizabeth could feel Saleem shaking. He remained silent.


    "Which of you wants to be next? This is the fucking apocalypse? I''m gonna make sure I''m the last one standing." He was getting closer to striking distance.


    Elizabeth brandished her knife. "Back off." She was nervous and could not hide it. "Two weapons against one, Evan. I''m asking you to think this through. It''s not too late."


    "FUCK!" He slammed the plank into the fallen shelf. "IT''S ALWAYS BEEN TOO LATE!" His voice was gravelly.


    Elizabeth didn''t have time to consider what he''d meant. An ethereal sound filled the air. It was like out of tune violins and gears grinding against each other, but just slightly. It was like the sound of the elevator in Elizabeth''s apartment coming to a halt. She always found it somehow both weirdly comforting and somewhat unsettling.


    A dark smoke began flowing out of Kellie''s body. It smelled like sour milk and freshly asphalted roads.


    Evan looked down and leapt towards the trio in an effort to avoid the smoke. "What the f-"


    As Saleem grasped Gowan''s shirt and moved backwards quickly, Elizabeth closed her eyes and gouged the knife into Evan''s side with as much force as she could. It wasn''t the stabbing that surprised her, it was the suction she felt as she pulled the weapon out to go for a second stab. She got as low as she could to avoid Evan swinging the plank wildly.


    Saleem managed to hit Evan''s arm to drop the plank, but not before getting a firm hit to the head. Gowan scrambled for the plank as Elizabeth continued to stab, over and over again until the threat was neutralised.


    Only then did she step back and really see what she had done.


    Evan lay in his own blood, holding his side the way Matthew does. He was wheezing, just the way Matthew does. She had blood on her hands, just the way Victor did.


    She stood over Evan, not quite realising she was watching the man die. All she could do was reflect on what the men she worked with had told her. "Killing was never something you pictured yourself doing until you had to. You could make awful mistakes, but hey, at least you didn''t kill anyone".


    It wasn''t something she could take back. As she watched Evan struggle on the floor while she stood still, she thought that perhaps it wasn''t something she would even try to take back. She was frozen as his chest stopped rising and falling. She chose to leave the knife with the body. She didn''t want anyone else to make the choice that she just had to make.


    With a deep breath, she picked up the candle that had been knocked over. It was still lit. She nodded to the two men. "Let''s go home."


    The ethereal screeching played the postlude to their captivity. Smoke began to billow into the area as the smell of sour milk and asphalted roads returned. Evan''s bloodied corpse disappeared into the darkness as the trio and their candlelight wandered further and further away.

 The Final Hour

    Elizabeth did not bother to knock. She did not have the energy to have another argument about a new person being a potential demon. With a welcoming gesture, she ushered Saleem in and decided that if she died, she died.


    The walk downward was lonely. The trio were not welcomed to any fanfare. There were no rushed footsteps or buzzing chatter about what they saw or what they brought back. Everyone remained where they had been upon the doors thumping open.


    Donovan watched over Matthew like a hawk. Emilio and Amy were curled up in a corner. Victor sat alone.


    Elizabeth scanned the shadows for a sign of Masina. A blanket covered a human-sized shape against a wall. She walked over to remove the blanket but all it revealed were the scrunched up bedding that Masina and Violet once used.


    Amy and Emilio looked up towards the movement, realising what Elizabeth was looking for.


    Amy shook her head. "The smoke got her too."


    "What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.


    Emilio could not look her in the eyes. "I couldn''t make it in time." He softly pounded the ground beside him. It wasn''t his usual anger. It was a disappointment. One he had lived through before. One that, at this point, he had come to expect, even when he''d let himself get hopeful.


    "Oh" was all Elizabeth could muster.


    Gowan put his arm around her shoulders and guided her back to their corner of blankets. He used his head to gesture Saleem to follow them.


    Saleem looked to the cups tacked to the wall, and the paper beside it with 38 tally marks. He took the time to look around at his new home. Foil packets were like a glitter on the ground from various meals. His eyes wanted to take in everything they could. The light was a gift, even if it was warm and ambient, casting shadows across the walls. He wasn''t used to the somber atmosphere, but he was willing to embrace it over the high intensity that came with being trapped in the dark with the former group he had found.


    Gowan pointed to the paper on the wall. "We''re trying to count the hours until this should all be over."


    Saleem was confused. "You know how long it will take?"


    "Sort of. We think it was a day before Donovan over there rigged up a water clock. Who knows if the timing is accurate, but it''s better than nothing. It''s hope. Ten more hours and we can only pray the lights come back on."


    The group sat in silence for a while, underscored only by Donovan whispering into Matthew''s ear.


    After a while, Elizabeth looked to Amy. "What colour was the smoke?"


    "What?" she asked back.


    "What colour was the smoke?" Elizabeth''s voice was pensive.


    "Same as Violet''s. A light kinda purple-ish."


    Elizabeth thought for a moment. "Did anyone come and get her?"


    Amy''s voice was a little softer now. "No." Amy took a breath, as if to ask another question. She leaned forward, to look past Emilio. Her brow furrowed. "Wait, are you covered in blood?"


    Elizabeth looked down at herself. "Yeah." Maybe it was shock, but she was feeling far less than she thought she would.


    "Would you like to fill us in?" Amy prompted.


    Gowan felt Elizabeth tense up, but he understood the need for answers. "She saved us."


    Saleem nodded along. "She did what she had to do." He looked around the room at Victor and Donovan who were also facing him now. "Hi, I''m Saleem," he said awkwardly, "I promise I''m just here to survive like you guys." He waved the trolley bar in his hand. "I was collecting trolleys on night shift and then, you know. I grabbed the closest thing in the shed I could use as a weapon. Just glad I ran inside the shops instead of trying to get to my car."


    There was a long pause.


    "Cool hair," Donovan remarked.


    "Thanks."


    Elizabeth felt the words come out of her mouth before she could really think about them. "We saw other smoke."


    Victor leaned forward. "Other smoke?"


    "When I ..." she began to take stock of her word choices, "When the incident happened, afterwards, there was smoke. It wasn''t the one Violet had."


    "What do you mean?" Victor prompted.


    "It was dark. It smelled unpleasant."


    Both Amy and Victor were approaching Elizabeth now. From different sides of the room, they drew closer and found space amongst Saleem and Gowan.


    For once, Emilio walked over to where Donovan was. He didn''t say anything, he just gave a slight nod to Donovan and sat nearby, looking at Matthew.


    Amy found herself talking slowly to really ponder her words. "I assume you acted in self defense. You know, when the smoke happened."


    Elizabeth nodded.


    Saleem spoke up. "We''d spent so long in the dark. There were three of them and myself at first. Evan''s wife got killed by something before I''d met them, but they were shaken up by it. He was the one who ... Evan was trying to kill us."


    "How did the other one in your group ..." Gowan trailed off. "Sorry, you know. When we met you it was just you, Evan, and Kellie."


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Kellie''s wife, or partner, or whatever ... Dana. Her name was Dana. Kellie and Dana went to find food. From what Kellie told me, someone else found them first. There was a fight and whoever it was got Dana, and then Kellie got them in retaliation. I think Kellie was Evan''s wife''s sister or something. We didn''t really go into anyone''s details." He looked up to the chart of tally marks. "We thought it would last forever and that it''s a game of last person standing so it''s easier in the long run to just, you know, not get attached. Finding people walking around with light was a welcome distraction."


    "They kidnapped us from the pharmacy." Gowan filled in.


    "We just figured you were dead," Victor said, somewhat dispassionately.


    Gowan put his thumb and pointer finger close together. "About this far from it."


    "So, the woman," Amy interrupted, "Kellie? Did you also ..." She made a gesture across her throat.


    Saleem shook his head. "Evan did that. He was coming for us after."


    "Her smoke?" Victor asked.


    "Dark smoke too." Saleem answered.


    "Maybe it''s got to do with different areas?" Amy suggested.


    Gowan looked to Saleem. "Maybe you were rolling with demons this whole time."


    "I don''t think a demon would be paranoid that everyone around him was evil." Saleem rebuffed.


    The familiar silence took over the circle as each member sat calculating. Eventually, Amy stood up and added the 39th tally to the board. Donovan took the white lighter from his pocket and flicked it with just a shred of hope that his timing was off by virtue of being too slow.


    The remaining hours crawled by at a snail''s pace. There wasn''t much left to be said as the 40th hour passed. Nor the 41st or 42nd. Hope had become a dangerous thing, except seemingly for Victor who was still clinging to the bible that Donovan had liberated for him many hours, and deaths, ago.


    It was hour 43 and no one had eaten for a while. Amy had taken over clock duties in between hugging Emilio tightly. Without Masina or Violet watching over Matthew anymore, Donovan had shifted his focus to his boyfriend on the floor who was becoming less and less animated as each tally was added. Amy tried to help, but there wasn''t much that could be done besides stroke his hair and lie to the boy that everything would be alright.


    As hour 44 rolled by, Donovan had given him what had remained of the pain medication. The search in the pharmacy had not been fruitful, and with Elizabeth and Donovan coming back empty handed he''d tried his best to conserve it. However, it was worse to listen to Matthew in pain. Every now and then Matthew would doze off for a few moments. Sometimes a few seconds, sometimes what felt like 20 minutes.


    When Matthew was asleep, Donovan could finally feel his shoulders drop. He kept his eye on Matthew''s chest like a hawk to ensure he remained breathing. When Matthew was asleep, Donovan could finally let out the tears as surreptitiously as he could. He didn''t want Emilio to see.


    The small reprieve would get disturbed by the familiar gasp of air as Matthew would ultimately jolt, or try and roll on his side mid-slumber causing the pain to shock through his body. His wounds were getting more inflamed and infected. The heat was not contained to his wounds anymore. He was hot and cold, but could only have blankets on his legs and chest, leaving the areas with the wounds exposed to the cold, even though he was sweating and burning up.


    As hour 45 was ushered in, Matthew was back to screaming.


    Every bone in Elizabeth''s body begged her to help the boy. She wanted to fix him, but when there''s nothing but darkness around, the only thing she really had time to look at was deep within herself. It pained her to finally admit that she couldn''t fix everyone. If she could, Evan wouldn''t have been sprawled and bloody across fallen department store shelving.


    She had a moment of anger. Her entire life was spent using words to try and make people feel better. From the moment she lost a fight in primary school, where the other girl was twice her size, she realised the only weapon she really had was to talk her way out of bad situations because she would never win physically.


    For a moment, she reflected morbidly that her win rate was now 50%. She felt sick and disappointed in her own brain and tried to erase it from her mind. All she could do was question how she would move on from here. She thought about what would happen if the world did go back to normal. She thought back to her conversation with Violet. When the light does come back, would she ever be able to be happy with Gowan or would she just feel pain about what could have been if things had gone differently?


    Hour 46 had Emilio hugging his wife tightly when she was not trying to help keep Matthew ready for the light to come back. He was not ready to walk out into the light. From deployment to a cinema, he just wanted to walk out of one traumatic event without being a fuck up. In the plane coming back from deployment, he''d felt so light. He had felt like he was lifting up and out of the worst part of his life. Maybe, he thought, maybe it would just always be like this. Maybe there would just always be death. Maybe it would always be his fault.


    By hour 47, everyone was simply remaining in place. It was like the launch of a rocket ship with no one willing to jeopardize the mission. Saleem and Gowan made small talk. Even after everything that had happened, Gowan still loved people. He still wanted to connect with them and make them feel like no matter what they went through, the world was better with them in it.


    He didn''t just reserve that attitude for the people who came to his church, or to his youth ministry events. He tried his best to live his life with John 15:12-13 written on his heart. Waiting for the end of the world to be over was no different... Where possible. His attitude was not one of naivet¨¦, nor was he forgetting the horrors that had loomed before this waiting game.


    His mother had always told him to look for the gaps. "Whenever there is trouble," she would say, "Look for the gaps."


    What she meant by that was to look for what had to be done. Usually it was a way for her to berate him into doing housework without making her perform the emotional labour of formulating a chore chart for a teenager who was more than capable of figuring it out himself. In this case, there was a room full of people looking down at the floor, staying silent, and looking inward to reflect on what this would mean for them in the moment.


    The gap that he was trying to fill was to help them get into the future where the light was. He wanted to help, gently, guide them to what lay beyond the walls of the center that had trapped them. He knew there wasn''t much time left, even if the hours were crawling by at a snail''s pace due to the anticipation.


    He didn''t want to demand the time or attention of anyone though, so he simply turned to Saleem and began conversation to try and help him feel more at ease in the space. In another life, where things were different, Gowan thought that he and Saleem would have gotten on splendidly. Perhaps not hundreds of years ago when Christians were going to war with Muslims, but like, if they were born in the same year and were neighbours or something.


    He could see their mothers intensely-but-politely competing with each other to see who could bring around the most food to potlucks. He could see their dad''s trying to out-polite each other when a boundary fence needed to be patched up. Mostly, he had the same look in his eye a decade earlier: A look that said he still found a bit of fun in the feelings of danger.


    Gowan felt a slight pain in his heart as he considered that this would be the event that caused that look to evolve. This would be the event to give him the realisation that the danger would always be imminent, but as you aged, your body could no longer promise that everything would be ok. You become less sure that you are invincible


    The 48th hour was the hardest. Even the drops of water dripping from cup to cup seemed to slow themselves down. The group huddled together around Matthew to be together for what they hoped would be a celebration. It was a faint hope. It was a hope smothered in cynicism lest they fall folly to one more disappointment.


    "Just a little longer," voices from the group would whisper to Matthew.


    No one had the energy to give grand speeches. There was no clear path forward. They didn''t know what would remain outside after the screams die down and the air turned crisp and clean again.


    Elizabeth was squeezing Gowan''s hand. He bumped his shoulder into hers and smiled comfortingly. They watched as the water made it''s way down the chain of cups that had miraculously stayed tacked up for almost 48 hours.


    Finally, the last drop fell into the bottom cup.


    Donovan looked to Amy and took the white lighter in his hand.


    "Click"...

 Its Called Coping

    The world did not get any further illuminated.


    Donovan flicked the lighter again. Harder this time.


    The three candles still remained the only light in the room.


    "It''s ok," Gowan said, "maybe the water clock is out of sync. We did rely on a six year old to do the counting."


    As more time went by, a sinking feeling hit Elizabeth that maybe the water clock was not off at all.


    "What do we do if this really is it?" Amy asked.


    "We survive." Her husband replied.


    By the 51st hour, the group had stopped attending to the water clock. Amy had retreated back to the wall she had spent so many previous hours leaning against, looking toward the projection booth. Hoping with some fragment of her being that a red light would flash somewhere, or that the projector would whir back into standby mode.


    Matthew could no longer move without immense pain. He lay with his head stiff to the floor. The screams of pain weren''t needed anymore, his body was simply consumed by a heat that had become his baseline. Tears moved from the corners of his eyes, directly down the sides of his face, and to the floor.


    "It''s ok." Donovan tried desperately to dry the tears away. His voice was shaky, but he would not lose his boyfriend. "The timing is just wrong. That''s all. It''s ok. We''ll make it through this. You just need to hold on a little longer." He looked to Elizabeth. "As soon as she can leave, Elizabeth is going to grab the car and drive us like crazy to the hospital, aren''t you?"


    Elizabeth nodded. "That''s right." She tried hard to add sincerity to her voice, but any attempt to do so just simply fell flat. "I''ll drive like mad."


    Gowan walked towards Victor. He addressed him quietly, "I am coming to you as a brother in Christ, Victor. I don''t assign any blame to you, but I want to know. Do you still think it''s the three days?"


    Victor made direct eye contact with Gowan. "Of course. The signs are there. The candles worked. God doesn''t lie."


    Emilio had been listening. "Fuck your God. This bullshit didn''t come from him! It''s easy to believe in a God when you''ve not had to watch your mate''s legs get amputated. It''s easy to believe in a God when you aren''t face to face with kids holding guns thinking they''re serving their God. Of course you think sinners deserve hell, when you''ve not even been alive long enough to experience more than feel guilty about your mum finding a crusty sock under the bed!" His balled up fist hit the carpeted cinema wall.


    "No, Em. You don''t get to do this now." Amy faced her husband. "You aren''t the only one in the room who has been through shit. You aren''t the only one who feels cheated or tricked with what they''ve been dealt. I love you, but fuck." She gestured around. "We have all seen someone ripped to shreds. We all saw women die and vanish into smoke. We have all seen some shit."


    He lowered his voice, "You didn''t run back and realise you shoulda run faster."


    "No." She walked closer to him and looked up at him with her sad, grey eyes. "And you didn''t have to sit there compressing her chest, even when it was clear she''d stopped breathing."


    Saleem shifted awkwardly, as the others watched from a distance. His mouth kept opening and closing, like he wanted to interject. Watching the tension rise made him feel uncomfortable. In his life prior to the sky turning black, a yelling match usually meant a physical altercation was coming. At best, only an object would get broken. Never within his own family at home, but he couldn''t stay at home forever.


    Gowan murmured from the side of his mouth, "It''s better to just let him get it out of his system. Trust me."


    "I can''t take it." Matthew was repeating over and over again.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Donovan continued to stroke his head with a shaking hand. He tried to comfort him. "Just a little longer," he''d say. "Just a little longer."


    Elizabeth couldn''t keep her mind off the smoke. She tried to draw conclusions with the limited information that she had. Evan tried to kill people for selfish reasons, and he got dark smoke. Yet Kellie got dark smoke too. She had killed someone, but it sounded like self defense. Violet got purple smoke. Masina got purple smoke.


    Had they killed anyone? They didn''t seem like the type.


    If it was about biblical sin, then surely Violet would have-


    Her speculation was cut short. Gowan and Saleem had come over to sit back in their corner.


    "Just wondering," she began, "what colour do you think your smoke would be?"


    Gowan just smiled at her. "I hope to never find out. I hope to live until this is over and we can all just walk away for a long enough time that this all seems like a weird dream."


    She looked at him with a frustrated glance. She yelled across the room, "Hey Victor! What colour do you reckon your smoke will be?"


    He seemed taken aback by her callousness at the reality facing them. "It''s not a personality test."


    Saleem straightened his posture. "What do you think it is?"


    "I think it''s a good reminder that we should spend more time trying to live under the laws of God and repent." Victor held up his bible, looking at Donovan.


    "Not now, dude." Donovan simply sounded tired. He sounded defeated. "If this love on earth is the only kind I am afforded, then it has still been worth it." He looked to Matthew, who had slid back into a shallow sleep, "It is worth it, and it will continue to be worth it."


    "I want you to know," Emilio piped up, "I got nothing against you mate. I mean, if the sun never comes up," he stopped and stuttered a little bit, "I mean, it will. It will. If it didn''t though," he had an air of uncertainty about him, "I just hope you both would get the good smoke."


    Amy rubbed her husbands arm to comfort him.


    Donovan just looked down to Matthew. He didn''t respond. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He pulled out the lighter again as the air filled with another unsuccessful click.


    Gowan stood up. "I think we need to discuss what our plan of action will be if the lights don''t come on."


    A few nodded in agreement. The space had been treated in the way a short term hotel room might have been. There were empty packages of food littering the floor around the candles. Bedding of Violet and Masina were still balled up against a wall. The toilet in the corner was never intended as a long term solution, and it''s smell was detected earlier and earlier when it was approached from the floor.


    "There''s always other cinemas we could pack up and move to?" Amy suggested.


    Donovan objected. They could not move while Matthew was deteriorating so quickly. The group would definitely never opt to leave him alone in the dark.


    "If we''re staying in here long term we would need to prioritise supplies. Food, more bedding," he looked towards the makeshift latrine, "new buckets."


    "But what if there''s more people out there?" Elizabeth asked. She couldn''t do it again. She couldn''t handle the thought of ever having to do that again. When her body was still for too long, she could still feel the suction of the knife being pulled out of the stab wounds. It made her stomach churn. She didn''t understand how Emilio could be so angry about deaths around him. In her line of work, she thought she could empathise with veterans who came home angry. Now all she could feel was sick.


    "Were there?" Gowan referred the question to Saleem.


    "I don''t know." The shadows over the scruff of his facial hair cast small shadows which made it hard to read his facial expressions, but Gowan was sure he seemed almost disappointed. "We saw people in the dark, but I''m not sure if they were all just you guys or if, you know."


    "Shit." Emilio muttered.


    It was clear that sending more people out would be a risk. The only weapon on hand to defend themselves with now was the trolley bar. Victor''s knife was still missing. Gowan and Elizabeth remained silent about the other missing knife, as well as the one that they had left in amongst the shelving. It was remarkable no one really probed too far into why Elizabeth had been so bloody after their return.


    Matthew''s gasps continued to remind them how ill-equipped they were in cases where injury was likely to happen.


    They came to the consensus to wait. After all, perhaps they had just miscalculated. Perhaps the water clock had only been made after a half day. There was only so long that the adrenaline of waiting for their freedom to arrive could course through their veins before their bodies would begin to crash again.


    Gowan and Elizabeth remained in their separate bed nests, holding hands across the border like small otters floating through their dam. Saleem had repurposed the bedding that had been discarded after Masina and Violet no longer needed them.


    Donovan continued to fight to keep his eyes open. However, Matthew drowsily asked him to lay next to him. Even just for a little while. Just to rest. They could not embrace, lest putting Matthew in more pain, so Matthew simply pressed the back of his hand to Donovan''s side.


    Emilio had fallen asleep in a sitting position. Amy was using his lap as a headrest. She couldn''t help but continue to stare at the empty projector room, waiting for a flash of a light. Just waiting for something. She fought her heavy eyelids, lest she missed the call to their freedom.


    With only his bible and the beeswax candlelight, Victor sat alone.

 About Amy

    Amy had become an expert at hiding things from her husband. She had to be. Long ago she had given up on guessing exactly what would set him off, so she simply just stopped telling him things.


    It had worked most of the time.


    She had learned how to phrase questions for compliance. "You were meant to do this dishes last night" would likely get a defensive response. However, "Would you like me to do the dishes for you?" would get them done faster than a magpie finding a fresh head to swoop.


    Her husband had helped her through a lot. He was patient with her. The fact that she understood he had demons of his own was something that helped keep them together. She trusted him to lay down his life for her. All she could offer was a head nod, no questions about the night terrors, and not to question his insistence that the beds must be made in a very specific way.


    His temper was no secret. When confined to a room with a bunch of strangers that he had a tenuous relationship with at best, she decided against letting him know that she had the knife that they''d struggled away from Victor days before.


    She had changed hiding places when she could. For a while, she tried to keep it on her person, but every now and then it would give her a small cut. She tried to hide it in her bedding, but with Emilio so close, she had to change that around too.


    Every so often, she would make sure it was still where she left it. She didn''t know what it would be used for, just that if it was with her then at least it was an option. Today was the day that she would utilize that option.


    Everyone except for Victor was asleep. With the knife flat against her side, she found her way to the corner of the room and gently bent down to pick up one of the candles. Her eyes fell on the face of each person in the room. She wanted to remember each of the people she had spent her final days with just like this. Blissful. At peace.


    It seemed like every other person in the room thought that they''d just got the timing wrong. The thing was, even if they were right, she didn''t want to live in a world where her past continued to simply be traumatic. She couldn''t go through that again.


    Everyone always said she was a survivor. Pats on the back didn''t stop her own dreams from being just as scary as the ones Emilio would wake up from screaming.


    Therapists would tell her that her university days were over. The naked photos that circulated around campus wouldn''t harm her in this day and age. The burn marks from ex''s past would fade with time. That no one thought any less of her. That no one worth their salt would ever hold it over her head. "It''s current year," they''d tell her, "no employer would hold that over your head. No one thinks any differently of you. You''re a champion."


    It didn''t stop her shaking. It didn''t stop the panic attacks when she had to be reminded of what she went through every day when something similar happened in the news. Sure, progress was made, but the cost was her sanity every. Fucking. Day... And it''s not like she could ask people not to stop talking about the abuse they went through. It made her a monster to not want to hear about it, because it would make her a monster to silence others.


    When her doctors told her that she didn''t need drugs, she just needed mindfulness, of course she found other ways to medicate. Journaling what she was grateful for wouldn''t stop men printing out her photos found on the depths of the internet so they could then send them to her boss, covered in what appeared to be semen, hoping for a reaction. That job didn''t last long, even if the boss told her she wouldn''t be fired over something like that. She knew they looked at her differently. She could feel her status of liability even if no one ever said anything outright.


    Emilio found her only after she''d gotten to rehab. Only after she''d done things she wasn''t proud of for a lot less than what Violet made. If her body had been deemed a vile, public asset, she may as well use it to afford the high that helped her feel better. Even if it was temporary.


    Organisations helped her find work in a new town. He bought a used car off her. After the deal was made, he asked if she''d like to go for a drink to celebrate.


    She told him everything. She warned him what could come his way. In truth, she wanted to scare him off.


    He simply nodded and said "I have thick skin, but thank you for telling me."


    She was never scared again. Maybe it wasn''t very feminist of her to say, but she secretly felt that his love for her is what had brought her value back.


    As she continued to walk softly up the stairs, hiding the knife at her side, holding the candle with the other hand, Victor didn''t really pay her any mind. She just looked towards the bathroom, hoping he just assumed she was heading to chuck a late night splash.


    She looked down at the candle that never seemed to drip. It never seemed to get any lower. Wax never seemed to pool.


    Perhaps the candles were time, and perhaps they were frozen.


    She felt safer in this moment than she ever did when she had to simply live in the light.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Even if the light came back. Even if every one of her tormentors died the deaths she felt they deserved... She knew she wouldn''t be happy.


    Her new, free life in the light would still carry her old scars. Her body would still shake when someone called her a bitch. She was sure she would still have dreams about reliving the very first day those images were published. Just, from now on, they''d be interspersed with a fear of the dark. They''d be spliced with the sounds of Masina gasping for air, clutching wildly at her hands, watching the blood vessels in her eyes burst like tiny, bloodied fireworks.


    The scars in her life could never heal because there was always some new, jagged edge of the human experience that would carve across the wounds to rip them back open again and tear her soul to pieces.


    What she did know though, is that she wanted to cause as little trauma as she could to those that she had loved. If they did choose to stay, and if the sun did rise, she hoped that their wounds would have the proper care to really heal. She hoped any wounds she left on others would be able to fully close before life just happened to run it''s claws across their souls again.


    She tried to open the double doors quietly, but by this stage she knew that would be impossible so she acted as fast as she could. As soon as she was out, she held the candle up to see the signs in the cinema hallway. When she found the directional arrow for "Projection Room" she broke into a sprint.


    After she was past all the other double doors, she found a plain black door. It was so inconspicuous, she almost mistook it for the janitorial closet. By sheer luck, the minimum wage employees did not leave it locked. "Thanks, Donovan," she whispered as she softly closed it behind her and made her way up the stairs.


    The projection room was more of a long hallway. She walked past projector after projector, each one pointing into a different theatre. Each theatre was pitch black until finally she saw the only one with lights. Looking down, she saw the figures of the cinema now awake and frantically buzzing at her disappearance.


    She didn''t want them to worry that she had been taken.


    She began pounding on the glass and yelling out to get their attention.


    The saw the group below freeze and look up at her.


    This would be her last chance to say goodbye and she knew it. It was the last chance to leave and let them know there were no hard feelings. She only had one final thing she wanted to say to them.


    First she sat the candle down on the desk in front of the window. She turned to face away from the glass, as to not leave them with the emotional scarring she had been burdened with for what seemed like her entire life.


    When the wound was deep enough, and even the shallow edges of the laceration had small beads of blood, she pressed her arm to the glass. She wiped her arm over the glass in one big arch, then finishing off the other arch to form a heart shape. It was illuminated by the candlelight, just enough so those in the booth could see.


    The pain in her arm made her smile for a minute. Her head didn''t hurt anymore. Her head was almost silent. Stinging pain in her arm made her brain feel like it was embraced in a warm blanket for once. The usual chatter in her brain fell silent. She felt peace, as she smiled down from the shadows to those that she would need to say goodbye too. The shadowy phantom of an existence that just wouldn''t hurt anymore once the blood stopped.


    She saw Emilio running up the aisle.


    He would always want to save her. She couldn''t be that burden to him anymore. He had so many other things to mourn that one day she knew she would just be a distant dream to him. Her husband deserved better. He deserved a life where he could finally work on himself, and he''d understand one day.


    The movies always made it seem like blood loss would take less time. She felt woozy, she felt at peace, but she didn''t feel like death.


    The door she had entered through opened and she heard a number of footsteps run towards her. She wouldn''t let them change her mind.


    She grabbed the candle from the desk and began to run through the projection hallway to the other end, praying that there would be a second exit. "Surely," she thought, "there was enough media out there about cinema fires that they can''t just have one exit."


    Fire safety laws had her back. She slipped out the other exit as the footsteps closed in on her. She ran back through the foyer and started moving towards the escalators. However, with the loss of blood, she was not able to move as quickly as before.


    Elizabeth, Saleem, Gowan, and Emilio stood a short distance away from her.


    Emilio stepped forward. "Oh my god, babe. Oh my GOD!" He saw the mess she had made of her forearms. "Please. Please babe. We can talk about this." There was a begging in his voice. She had never heard desperation from her husband like this. "We''ve got bandages. We can fix you up. Please."


    All Amy could do was smile. There were tears in her eyes, but she would go out smiling.


    She placed the candle on the ground nearby, leaving drops of blood as she bent down. "I don''t want to wait anymore." She looked to the others. "Maybe the timing is wrong. Maybe the sun will rise. It doesn''t matter."


    She took a step towards her husband, who relaxed his shoulders. "You know what I''ve been carrying, Emilio. This extra load," she held out her hands, "all of this? I can''t carry all of that too for the rest of a lifetime."


    Emilio took another step towards her, he put his hands on the sides of her face and looked intently in her eyes. "You have me, baby. I''m strong. I''m so strong. It doesn''t matter how much baggage you have in this life. I will always help you carry it. Please, let''s go inside."


    She closed her eyes. "To carry someone else''s baggage, you need a free hand. I can''t ask that of you for an entire lifetime." She looked deep into her husband''s eyes and put her hands over his. "I love you. I love that you loved me. I can never repay how wonderful you have made me feel. You deserve time to finally work on saving yourself."


    She used her hands to remove his hands from her face. She gave them one last squeeze and began walking backwards towards the railing to the balcony beside the tops of the escalators. "I will always cherish the way you loved me so deeply."


    In one quick move, Amy placed her hands on the bar of the balcony and pushed herself up and backwards, feeling herself fall. She closed her eyes with a soft smile. She did not regret a thing.


    "No!" Emilio cried, instinctively holding his hand out to grasp her ankle.


    He was not fast enough.


    There was only one level between the cinema and the polished floor of the ground level. A metallic thunk rang out as Amy''s head hit an ATM below. A smaller crack and softer thud followed as her head and body made contact with the polished floor.


    Nobody needed to guess if Amy had survived the fall. Lavender smoke rose up in front of the frosted glass panels of the balcony. The smell of vanilla cookies and honey lingered around the group.


    All that was left for Emilio to do was pick up the candle from the floor, the same way he''d always picked up the pieces after cyclone Amy.

 We Cant Go Under It

    "What was the point of fighting for a better world when all the good things in it seemed to constantly fall?"


    Elizabeth, Gowan, and Saleem tried to usher Emilio back into the safety of the cinema, but he just wanted to sit on the ground. For once in his life, he just wanted a rest. He didn''t care if there was someone lurking, ready to come and take him. He was just ready to stop.


    "I''d just like to be alone," Emilio muttered into the candlelight.


    The trio standing nearby looked at each other awkwardly. He wasn''t exactly their friend, but he was also a part of their weird shadow family and they couldn''t just leave him. Especially not after he''d lost his wife.


    "Please, I''ll be fine." Emilio was still large, even when sitting on the floor with every fiber of his being sinking down to show absolute defeat.


    Without a word, Saleem began to wander off toward the part of the foyer where tickets and concessions were purchased.


    Elizabeth looked to Saleem wandering away with one candle, back to Emilio with the other, then looked down at the candle shared between Gowan and herself. She looked to him for guidance. He shrugged and jerked his head towards the direction of Saleem.


    Elizabeth knew that Gowan was right. If something snuck up on Emilio he would do his darndest to fight it, even if all he wanted to do right now was to stop existing. She had met with so many veterans before, but she could not figure out what made this man tick.


    The pair left him in a pool of light on the cinema floor as he wished.


    The concession area was somewhat an open space. Gone were the days of everything hidden behind a counter. One could now simply pick up what they wanted and then pay as they ordered their tickets to the movie.


    The buttery scent of popcorn seemed to linger on every surface, even though the heat had been out for some time.


    Gowan traced his finger over the ring of the plexiglass door and slid it across. "Why didn''t we raid this place when getting our food? It''s way closer."


    "I guess we will be if the lights stay off." Elizabeth looked to the freezers. "Shot-not on fishing out the Maxibon soup though."


    Gowan plucked a piece of stray popcorn from the shelf and gently threw it through the air, watching it bounce off Elizabeth''s head.


    She turned back to him. "What is it with you and throwing things at my head?"


    He shrugged. "It''s a good head."


    For a moment, they forgot about the woman who had just flung herself from the balcony. They had to let themselves forget. Elizabeth took solace that the smoke was lavender. She assumed the lavender was for the good people. She had to.


    Packets rustled and fell from a shelf a little way ahead of them. Elizabeth''s heart finally remained at a constant rate. She didn''t freeze. The light at the top of the shelving helped to calm her.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Dude, you can''t just run off like that!" Gowan rushed to Saleem. "We''ve got you, but you have to have us too."


    Saleem had the candle in one hand, and as many packs of sour candy as he could hold in his free arm. He turned to Gowan, "I do. I do have you."


    He handed his candle over to the pair and took more sour candy in his arms. With that, he charged back towards the small pool of light that could be seen in the distance, through the panes of glass in the balcony barrier.


    Elizabeth and Gowan followed from a distance and watched as Saleem set the pile down in front of Emilio.


    Saleem took a bag of sour candy, opened it, and poured the individually packaged War Heads onto the floor. He looked Emilio directly in the eye. "Bet you I can eat more of these than you."


    Elizabeth and Gowan exchanged a raised eyebrow, their breath abated. They waited for the eruption of anger or sudden onset of something racist.


    Instead, Emilio held Saleem''s stare back. He picked up one of the candies and put it in his mouth. Saleem matched. Emilio put another in his mouth. Saleem matched.


    Soon, the men were sitting on the floor surrounded by small lolly wrappers, with tears in their eyes. It wasn''t clear if it was from the large amount of sour candy in Emilio''s mouth, or because he was genuinely crying, and perhaps that was the point.


    Both men looked silly as their mouths bulged like chipmunks. Emilio was squinting and eventually could not hold it in anymore. Saleem''s distorted face, and odd noise trying to hold all the candy in, made Emilio lose it. Between laughing and coughing, the lollies sprayed from his mouth like tiny pellets.


    Saleem let out a muffled "Ah, fuck!" as he got hit in the arm by sugared shrapnel. This caused him to lose all of his candy as well. The two sat in the light laughing together as Saleem offered Emilio an actual sour candy quietly.


    They sat in the silence for a little while, sucking on their treats.


    Emilio looked over to Gowan and Elizabeth. "Enjoying the show, ya creeps?"


    Gowan walked over confidently. "Well, I''m not gonna leave you unsupervised."


    Emilio slapped his knees. "You know what?" He stood up and offered Gowan the bag of candy. "Yeah, that''s fair."


    Gowan accepted. "Come on, mate. We better get inside before Victor smacks Donovan with a bible or something."


    He slapped Emilio on the back and they made their way back into the safety of the double doors.


    Elizabeth helped Saleem pick up the candy wrappers and remaining packs of candy. "That was a pretty smart coping mechanism."


    "Thanks," said Saleem, focusing on picking up the rubbish. "My dad always told us men shouldn''t cry. Whenever we''d get hurt or something sad would happen, my mum would give us barberries to eat. They''re these little, sour, red berries. We''d eat a handful and tell dad that we just had too many at once."


    Elizabeth didn''t know if she should address the not crying part, or the cute anecdote part. She couldn''t tell how Saleem felt about the story. After trying to read his face, she just gave a soft smile.


    "It came in handy later in life." Saleem reflected. "I''m only 20, but I''ve seen some shit." His thoughtful eyes got bigger and more serious. "It''s easier to live with yourself watching a grown man cry into a sack of sour worms than it is to watch them convulse in their own vomit because nobody ever told them it was ok to feel."


    For a while, he looked into the distance. His thick eyebrows furrowed before he jumped slightly. "Fuck. I mean, shit. I mean, sorry. This whole ..." He gestured to the balcony. "... This. It makes you reflect a lot, you know? Shit. Sorry."


    Elizabeth couldn''t help but feel those threatening tears creeping up on her again. She was able to suppress them this time. "I get it."


    The door to safety stood in front of them and she welcomed Saleem back to his new, hopefully temporary, home. She knew Gowan could handle himself, but the triad of Victor, Emilio, and Donovan had her itching to get back. The water clock had been useless, but surely there couldn''t be that much longer until the lights came back on.


    She tried not to think about how she could no longer ignore the blood that soaked her clothes when the light came back.


    Furthermore, she tried not to think about the blood that would stain her conscience.

 Smoke and Mirrors

    The empty wrappers were slowly outweighing the packs of food remaining from the haul on the first night. Time seemed to stagnate now that the water clock had been decommissioned. Conversation was sparse.


    Donovan whispered to Matthew, trying to keep him alert. Emilio sat silently and Saleem simply sat side-by-side in silence. Gowan slumped against a wall as Elizabeth rested her head on his shoulder and listened as he softly hummed church hymns under his breath. Victor sat in a row of seats in the middle of the auditorium, alone, reading his bible by candlelight.


    In a room full of men going through an objectively traumatic time, Elizabeth had a feeling that she would be trapped in silence forever. It had to be her and it had to be now.


    "Amy could come back for you," Elizabeth suggested hopefully.


    Emilio shook his head. "Nah. If the purple smoke took her to heaven," he looked down, "it means a world without me."


    Elizabeth thought back to her first memories of watching the couple so easily handle the situation of a stranger covered in blood. "But I saw you two together. She loved you. She trusted you."


    "She was scared of me." Emilio''s voice held a quiet anger that was scarier than when he simply yelled. "She''s not coming back. If I go, my smoke is mine."


    Victor was pacing across the floor, looking at Matthew writhing at his feet. "From what I can figure out, all three women on our side caused their own deaths. They all got purple smoke."


    Gowan let out a thinking noise. "Masina didn''t do it on purpose though."


    "Perhaps it''s just black and white." Victor held up his bible. "God doesn''t do tricks."


    Donovan rolled his eyes. He stood in Victor''s path. "Where does your bible mention any of this?" He gestured around, growing more and more frustrated as time passed.


    Elizabeth felt herself grow colder. She spoke in almost a whisper, "Kellie and Evan both ..." she tried to steady her breathing, "What if it''s based on if you''ve killed someone?"


    "Nonsense!" Victor scrunched his rodent-like nose. "Violet would have engulfed us all in smoke as black as ash."


    "Agree to disagree," Elizabeth murmured.


    "Maybe there''s a loophole about forgiveness?" Gowan interjected.


    Victor stopped his pacing in front of Elizabeth. "Maybe it depends on how much one enjoyed the killing."


    Elizabeth felt her shoulders tense. Shame shot through her veins like she''d never felt before. She wouldn''t usually be one to care what some random kid thinks, but she couldn''t shake the feeling. He was right. She was a killer now. Perhaps her smoke was destined to be dark too.


    "We don''t have to sit around to find out." Emilio pointed to the projector room where the bloodied heart still remained on the window. "Amy left the knife she borrowed from Lestat''s rampage in there."


    It didn''t take much time for the room to realise where Emilio was headed with his explanation.


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    To the surprise of the bystanders, it was Donovan who spoke up, "No. Fuck off. I didn''t sit in this room with you, to get this far, for you to go and off yourself when things get hard. Like it''s some kind of service to us."


    Emilio had already stepped towards the doors. He stopped and turned around. "You wanna know hard? I watched guys lose limbs. Lose lives. They came back and couldn''t work and the government paid them peanuts, only for them to shove it all into beers, horses, or pokies just to feel some kind of happiness. That was their reward. You either start a podcast, or you drink until you punch a wall when the stress kicks back in. I''ve been through it once. I earned my stripes."


    "Oh," Donovan nodded his head sarcastically, "some dudes you know lost their legs? My boyfriend is fucking dying, if you haven''t noticed." He pointed to Matthew who simply had his eyes closed in pain. "Did you have to watch the man you love die in front of you while the fucking lights don''t work and the meds ran out?"


    Donovan almost immediately regretted his outburst.


    All Emilio could muster to stop the tears that welled in his eyes from falling was a nod and a soft "yeah." He took in a sharp breath and pushed his chest forward, looking Donovan back in the eye, wiping his nose obnoxiously. "Yeah, actually," he said more confidently. He flicked his tongue across his inner lip and slightly lifted his head to try and muster some of the staunchness back into his demeanour. With merely a look, Emilio dared Donovan to fire back.


    Donovan remained silent.


    A voice called from the floor a short distance away, "If you guys could figure out if killing myself is going to be a better decision in the long run ..." Matthew groaned.


    His condition had deteriorated rapidly. Elizabeth had never seen a necrotic wound before, but she had a feeling that this is what it looked like. The thick, black patches of skin that sidled alongside the yellowed pus coming from the wound that had continued to seep for days continued to smell worse and worse. Every time Elizabeth left the cinema and came back the smell would hit her again.


    "No!" Donovan snapped his attention back to Matthew. "We''ve waited this long. We''ve waited it out." He rushed to Victor and shoved his shoulder. "You said it''s three days. Why hasn''t it been three days?"


    Victor clutched his bible to make sure that it didn''t get hit. "I don''t control time. You just made a clock and decided it was correct." He looked to the real adults in the room who seemed to just be standing by, the way they always did. His thick brows angled downwards as he looked to the crowd. There was hurt in his voice, "I brought you candles."


    "You brought us a fucking death sentence!" He grabbed Victor now, shoving him towards Matthew. "Look at him! You did this. YOU. Some fucking candles don''t change that!"


    "Woah, woah!" Gowan stepped in to separate the pair.


    Donovan continued to struggle to get to Victor. His limp and shorter stature did him no favours in looking imposing. "When the sun rises, you better watch your back. I don''t care if every cop is dead, you still have to pay."


    "When the sun rises," Victor stepped back to help Gowan keep Donovan away from him, "and you step out of those double doors without being ripped to shreds," Victor''s eyes had an intense fire to them, "you can thank me by never crossing my path again."


    Donovan let out a huff. "I hope your smoke is dark."


    No one had anything to say to this statement. Of every insult that could have been flung, this one was the most visceral. It hit a wound in Elizabeth''s soul that she didn''t know had opened. Static ran itself over her body as she realised that the normalcy of the statement meant that she had, indeed, accepted this as her reality now.


    It had to be over soon. She remembered that it took people 72 hours to begin to really accept a major shift in their life circumstances. Although, she was fairly sure that it was from reality TV show she watched on The Discovery Channel and not from her educational journey.


    "I''m done." Emilio flung himself from the wall. "I don''t care if the sun rises anymore. I''m not going to sit here for nothing just to end up dying for nothing." He stormed up the aisle towards the double doors and yelled to the others below, "If my smoke is dark, you know it''s about killing."


    Saleem followed quickly behind him. Elizabeth hoped, to stop him rather than just waiting for the colour of the smoke. Not that Saleem''s wiry frame could do much against anything Emilio did.


    "If it''s purple," he flung open the double doors, "know there''s a God and he''s got more fucking mercy than I ever had."

 Finding Amy

    The double doors swung open, Emilio''s hulking frame backlit by Saleem holding the candle while trying to keep up. For once Emilio did not look sure of himself. He walked quickly, with purpose, back down to the floor where the others had resigned from trying to stop him.


    "I think Amy came back."


    Elizabeth gathered herself from the sprawling nest of bedding that seemed to grow across the floor as the hours passed. "What?"


    "You know how the kid came for Violet? I think Amy''s coming back!" His voice had a hint of excitement.


    Elizabeth shot Gowan a hesitant look. They both looked to Saleem.


    Emilio looked over as well, "Tell ''em, Sal. The knife was gone."


    Saleem nodded to confirm that the knife was gone.


    Emilio waited for Saleem to tell the rest of the story, but he couldn''t contain himself any longer. His voice was almost frantic, "When we came back down, there was light in the distance."


    Donovan looked up from Matthew, "Like, light light? The sun? Through the windows."


    "Nah," Emilio pointed to the candle Saleem had grabbed prior to leaving the first time, "Candle. When we came out of the room, I swear there was light coming from around the corner down past the escalators." He lowered his voice, "Down near where she ..." He stared ahead for a moment, all expression dropped from his face before setting back to his usual seriousness. "I think she wants me to follow her."


    Victor shook his head. "In normal circumstances it drives out the cockroaches from the darkness. It''s used for good. These aren''t normal times. This is the deep ocean. It could be an anglerfish luring prey."


    Emilio sidled up to Victor, "Well, you can try and stop me, but I''m going to get my wife back."


    Victor''s voice was a little frantic now, "Why would she come back? You said it yourself that she wouldn''t come back for you. We are running out of people and there can''t be long until the sun is out. How would she come back?"


    "We''ve seen miracles!" Emilio roared, "We''ve seen a kid bring a woman back from the dead to walk her into mystery smoke. We saw an old guy get turned to ash and tar just by walking outside. We saw ANOTHER woman turn to smoke!" He pointed at Elizabeth, "Apparently she saw a dude turn to smoke." His pointed finger stabbed Victor''s chest. "Now you''re telling me that my wife loving me is a bridge too far?"


    Victor''s eyes were blinking fast, "Moments ago you were saying-"


    "Well I changed my mind. She is back and I''m going to get her."


    Victor looked helplessly at Gowan and Elizabeth to do something.


    Matthew called out from the floor, "Just go. Fuck. Who cares. Find out if there''s something out there. All you people do is talk. If you got a chance at love go get it, if you die, you''re fucking luckier than I am." He let out a loud, curdling yell in agony as his movements caused his wound to pull itself apart. His head was spinning. He was hot. It was difficult to breathe. "Just bring back a way to kill me."


    Donovan passed him one of the few remaining water bottles to drink from slowly. They''d been crushing up water and potato chips to try and keep his salt levels up from all of the sweating and crying. It was the only thing he could keep down. As every hour passed, he was less and less confident that Matthew would make it through this.


    Elizabeth stood up and looked to Matthew and Donovan. "Do you guys need anything?" She turned to Victor, gesturing to Emilio and Saleem. "I can''t let them go alone."


    Gowan joined her. "We can''t let them go alone."


    "Just bring back the fucking knife so I can end it." Matthew said from the floor before tapping back out of the conversation. He just wanted them to go so he would have some quiet again.


    Victor was shaking his head in disbelief. "You have no weapons. You have nothing to defend yourself. Whatever is out there has a knife and a way to make light. You don''t think that''s a danger?"


    Gowan looked to him, "There should be three knives. Elizabeth and I took two when we were unwrapping the gum. We can account for two. One that was left with the body from when we met Saleem. One that Amy used." He addressed the group, "We don''t know where the third is. Someone here must have it."


    "Hold up." Emilio stopped Gowan. "You two had knives? You just brought in knives and had them lying around? And you didn''t tell anyone?"


    "You and Donovan were at each other''s throats!" Elizabeth interjected. "Obviously Victor got his knife privileges revoked-"


    "Yeah, and now my wife is fucking dead."


    "And you think that''s on us?"


    Emilio pointed to the window where the dried, bloody heart shape had been drawn. "Well that didn''t get there through a fucking arts and crafts afternoon, did it?"


    "That was Victor''s knife. If you get it back, check the handle. The one that''s unaccounted for was taken from our beds." Elizabeth was not scared to scan the room again. "So if anyone has the knife that was taken from our beds, speak up or you''re putting us all in danger before we go and check out the light."


    The room remained silent.


    Emilio huffed. "We can''t even trust you to share vital intel. How am I meant to think you''re going to be any help with this."


    Gowan couldn''t believe what he was hearing. "Because we were doing it to try and protect you. This whole time. Elizabeth, me, time after time we keep leaving. We left so you could spend more time with your wife. We only took you out with us when we knew you would be vital to help, not just willy nilly as some body guard."


    Gowan couldn''t help but feel a heaviness to his eyes. It was the same story over and over in his life. People assuming his kindness was a sales tactic. He knew it was expected when working in youth ministry, and there it made sense, he understood and encouraged the accountability.


    The moment the lights went out and they were told that the world was being refreshed, he held out hope. He held out hope that maybe, just maybe, when the lights came on and the world recovered that things would be different. That he could go to a store, and smile, and be nice, and the shop keeper wouldn''t keep a keen eye on his friends, or on his hands, to assume it was a front to take something. He thought that maybe he could ask an elderly woman if she needed help carrying her groceries without her being skeptical there was some kind of scam going on.


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    Whenever he tried to take the values that Jesus taught him out of his own community, where people who largely looked like him, there was always a skepticism. There was always an underlying fear that there was another reason. He didn''t like to talk about it, because even talking about it made him one of those people who were divisive, or troublesome, or outspoken. It just got to him that at the end of the world, he was still a black man trying to love his neighbour and having his motives doubted.


    In his mind, Gowan prayed to his God for strength and then tried to calmly approach Emilio. He narrowed his eyes with sincerity. He knew Emilio had his own hang-ups, but he had to try. "Please let us help, because we care about you, man. I care about you. My God says I gotta care about you. We can let all that stuff in the past slide. We have all fought so hard and I don''t care if we don''t see eye to eye. I just want us to both see the sun rise."


    Emilio appreciated forwardness. He was good at spotting bullshit. He nodded slightly, then nodded more aggressively. "Yeah. Ok. Come with us." He looked around at Donovan, Matthew, and Victor. "If any of youse have the knife and you''re not telling us," He pointed to Matthew, "Bruce Lee won''t be the only one on the ground."


    With that, he stomped back up the ramp with Saleem, Gowan, and Elizabeth in tow. Armed with nothing but two of the candles. The remaining one they had left for the trio in the cinema.


    Victor was sitting closer to Donovan and Matthew now, slowly reciting bible verses under his breath as he watched Donovan continue to try and keep Matthew alert.


    Even though they had left the cinema many times, Elizabeth had never gotten used to the way the corridors and small alcoves looked so different in the dark. The mall always had a liminal feel during late night hours, or when she''d finished a shift at Candles n'' Things and it was just her, the security guards, and the other poor minimum wage suckers closing shop. However, the small things made the difference.


    When the world wasn''t ending, but the shopping center was asleep, she didn''t notice the comfort that the buzzing overhead lights would bring. She didn''t notice how the air from the vents acted like the breath of the center. There was no floor polisher in the distance. Every now and then, there would still be a squeak or a creak from what she hoped was simply the building settling around them.


    She enjoyed the footsteps of the group which slapped over the polished floors. Maybe the echoes would give their positions away, but at least it meant they were still alive to make those steps. There was no time to process the horrors that she had witnessed. Perhaps soon, when the sun hit her face and she stepped outside those double doors she would need some time to reflect before she began to rebuild her life. However, right now, her only goal was to track down the light source.


    She was nervous at what they would find, but these days she was freezing less and less. When times got scary, she could continue to put one foot in front of the other because she had to. What was the alternative? If she stood still, that''s when she''d be found the easiest by whatever was lurking.


    The center had two central corridors that ran parallel, with small breaks in between to join them up to each other. This is where additional shops were placed so you could move between the main strips fairly easily. It did mean that it was very easy to get turned around when moving from one side to the other.


    At the end that they were at, the cinema was directly above a food court. Leaving that area took you to the main entrance with a wide space and the double doors. If you walked towards the double doors but turned left instead, you would find one of the corridors, with the other corridor starting slightly later down the path in the remaining space after the food court. There were meant to be renovations but Southglen was always promising renovations, even when she was back at Candles n'' Things.


    The corridors were so long, even in the daylight you weren''t able to see down to the end. It was easy to forget which one the shop you were looking for was in, let alone now when the group didn''t really know what they were looking for. They spanned all the way down and eventually hit the food court at the other end, with a grocery store.


    "Should we each take a corridor?" Saleem asked quietly.


    Elizabeth sucked in through her teeth, "Last time we split up we got kidnapped."


    "I mean yeah," Saleem stage whispered, "by me though." He gestured to himself, "And I''m here now."


    "We''d cover more ground," Emilio thought out loud. He turned to Gowan. "What do you think, mate?"


    "We''re going to need to search the stores. We need to look for smashed windows and actually go into the stores to look." He turned to Saleem, "What if there are more like you?"


    Elizabeth had an idea. She turned to Emilio. "Did Amy like candles?"


    "Yeah, I guess. Doesn''t every woman over 30 have a weird obsession with candles they never light?" Emilio shrugged.


    She went to take offence and then raised her eyebrows, "You''re not wrong." She hovered her hands, ready to get told her plan was ridiculous, "Hear me out: Let''s just for the sake of argument assume it''s not a celestial miracle being. It would be someone with a candle, right? What if instead of splitting up, lurking around to find smashed windows and unlocked doors, risking getting taken by more roving gangs of weird people who think we''re demons," she looked around, "we start with the candle stores. The Home Store would have them and that''s got an entry thanks to us, but if I needed a candle fast, wouldn''t Candles n'' Things be the best option?"


    "But they already have a candle," Saleem noted.


    Elizabeth shrugged. "They might want spares."


    Gowan bunched his lips in thought. "Why don''t we stick our heads into The Home Store and see if there''s any light showing. That way we''re at less risk of getting jumped. Just on our way, then we walk down the corridor to Candles n'' Things. It''s a small store, right? We can sidle on past and if not we''ll keep walking to the food court then make our way back through the other corridor."


    Turning to Emilio, Elizabeth gently placed her small hand on his buff upper arm in an attempt to be comforting, "If it is Amy, she might find us along the way."


    Emilio thought for a moment and then nodded before he lead the trudge through the dark.


    They found their way into the beginning of The Home Store. It was large and had shelves of diverse stock. They did not walk in very far. After a cursory scan and no lights around, they decided to head out and go further down the corridor.


    It was clear that at some point, someone had broken into Candles n'' Things. However, there was no longer any sign of life. When Elizabeth worked there, she never remembered beeswax candles being something that they stocked. It was all fragranced soy wax. If someone was trying to find the right kind of candle, they wouldn''t have found it there.


    Elizabeth took a brief moment in the store to close her eyes and smell the nostalgic aroma of what was once her life. She hated the job. The cheap, black, polyester shirts and pants of the uniform made her feel like she was chewing on alfoil. At least when she dealt with angry people in her veteran services role, they were angry over real problems, not the limited edition candle scent being out of stock.


    Yet right then, she missed it. She didn''t realise that even the light she was greeted with each morning was a security. The artificial smells of river cottage and forest mist took her back to a time when her heart wasn''t pounding in her throat and her stomach wasn''t protesting the entire way through her digestive tract after packets of beige became her only sustenance. Working a minimum wage casual job meant that she could only feed herself every second day after the rent was paid, and she honestly didn''t know which kind of hunger sucked more.


    The group made their way down to the food court. If there was anyone following them, or luring them, they were doing a terrible job. When their footsteps stopped, it sounded like there was nobody else left in the universe. The only sounds continued to be the protests of the building as it continued to stand through the temperature changes, along with whatever else may have been happening outside.


    A sour smell hung in the air from the refrigerators and freezers being left off for a long period of time. The sushi place suffered the most. The food was always so fresh. Once the power was cut, Elizabeth assumed that the seafood would be the first casualty.


    "Maybe you''re right. It was fucking stupid of me to think she came back," Emilio mumbled dejectedly.


    They made their way through the court and turned around to begin their way back through the other corridor. Gowan dutifully checked under the tarps and material covering the kiosk stands in the middle of the hall while Saleem was holding the candle to reflect off the glass display windows around them to see if any had been smashed to gain entry.


    Nothing.


    Suddenly, Gowan yelled to them as he darted ahead and into the darkness. Ahead of him was a single pinpoint of light.


    The group pleaded for him to wait for them, but when his lover awaited him, the man was unstoppable.

 Light Source

    It was clear that the light in the distance was more than a single candle. As the group ran closer, they could see Emilio was fully illuminated by a soft, warm glow. Elizabeth knew the store well.


    Moss & Fire was the local new age store. It was an absolute hit with the people who would come into Candles n'' Things to berate her about the candles in her store having synthetic scents. As if she, a random 16 year old, personally was in charge of inventory.


    She''d take a deep breath, push down every fiber of her being that wanted to point out to the yelling customer they were pounding down an energy drink while yelling about smells, and instead, make the customer Moss & Fire''s problem. It was always the people wearing yoga pants and carrying random stones in their pockets that seemed to be the least relaxed. Hopefully Moss & Fire did them good because the store itself was beautiful.


    The candle light in the store as they stood in front of it really accentuated the thought put into the space. While other stores had opted for easy to clean flooring, Moss & Fire had dark wooden floorboards. Their shelving units were heavy book cases with intricate carvings. The walls were littered with crystals and tarot cards. The smell of patchouli lingered in the air.


    The entry to the store was a wooden door with glass panels. One had been smashed out. As they walked in, they could see the numerous candles lit and placed in various places, only adding to the mystical element the shop owners had tried to cultivate.


    "Amy?" Emilio called out into the room softly. He nervously played with his wedding band. "Babe. Are you here? Do you need help?"


    A figure slowly rose from ducking behind the counter.


    "Oh," Emilio said disappointedly, "We were looking for someone else."


    The woman had dark curly hair that fell past her shoulders. It was clear that the past days had not played well with her hair, as she had taken a scarf to try and fashion a headband. Elizabeth thought that she may be in her 40s or 50s, as her nasolabial folds framed her thin lips. Her brown eyes were large, despite her hooded lids.


    "You guys friendly," the woman asked hesitantly "''cause this sure as shit isn''t the way I want to be going out".


    Elizabeth had many relatives and family friends in Bankstown, New South Wales. The woman spoke like them. It wasn''t quite the time for Elizabeth to strike up a conversation about Lebanon.


    "We should be asking you." Emilio placed his hands on the counter, as if to start an interrogation.


    The woman wasn''t shaken by Emilio''s attempt at intimidation and stood her ground. "I''m friendly."


    "How''d you make the fire?" Emilio didn''t take his gaze from the woman.


    She gestured around to Elizabeth, Gowan, then back to Emilio. "Same way you did. That gum wrapper thing was clever."


    Gowan stepped forward, "You were watching us?"


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    She nodded. "Sorry I didn''t say hi. I watched you pocket the knives and didn''t want to start anything. I just figured I''d keep my head down and wait for the lights."


    "Wait," Elizabeth began to look around at the candles, "so you didn''t pray over them?"


    The woman shook her head.


    Saleem ran his finger over one of the smooth candles near him. He picked one up and looked at the ingredients sticker on the base. No wax fell as he moved it. "They''re not beeswax either."


    The group looked to the woman again. This time their faces were a mix of apprehension and horror. Elizabeth had a sinking feeling in her stomach.


    "I was just working with one for a while. It was easy to hide when I heard something. I thought I''d just light a couple more just in case, but then they just wouldn''t go out."


    Gowan tried to blow out one of the candles. Just like theirs, it remained lit. He took Elizabeth''s hand surreptitiously and began to slowly get them closer to the door.


    There was a solid door in the back of the store that Elizabeth assumed lead to the stock room.


    The woman saw Elizabeth eyeing it. "I got the lock open and used that to hide. After ... I''ve seen what you people have been doing in the dark. I decided it was easier to do things solo. It still locks on the other side. I figured people would mostly just want candles so I left them out." She eyed the room. "I guess it looks far more like a trap though."


    Saleem had helped himself to the door at the back of the room. "What''s this?" He opened the door, pointing to small crystals that were lined up in rows of ten.


    "Don''t touch those!" She swooped over to Saleem, grabbing his arm. She gestured to an hourglass with white sand and a golden frame. "I''ve been using them to keep track of time." She clicked her tongue. "Certainly not as temporary as I would have liked, ay."


    Saleem looked to the display of hourglasses that looked the same as the one on the floor. There were a few loose as demonstrations, but the boxes has been labelled "FULL HOUR HOURGLASS". He picked it up to confirm that each device did, in fact, count a full hour.


    He looked back over to the shiny stones that had been placed and began to count. There were 12 rows of 10. Maths wasn''t his strong point. "Uh, hey, how many times does 24 go into 120."


    Gowan needed barely any time, "5. Why?"


    Saleem looked back to the woman, "When did you start counting?"


    "Dunno." She shrugged. "I mean, I had to spend a bunch of time avoiding everyone first."


    "Everyone?" Emilio probed.


    She gestured to the group. "You guys. There was another group holed up in Lux Heights."


    Saleem cleared his throat. "It''s just us now."


    The woman nodded.


    Emilio turned back to the group. "We have to strategise before we tell the others. There''s a knife floating around. Floor boy is going to beg for it."


    A soft thunk rang out as the woman placed the knife on the wooden desk beside the cash register. "This one?"


    Emilio took the knife from the desk. He looked it over in his hands. "Not this one, but," his eyes closed, "this is helpful."


    Saleem pat Emilio on his back.


    The woman waved her hands in front of her frantically. "I didn''t mean to spy or anything. I just-" She looked empathetically into Emilio''s eyes. "There''s been so much death. I thought I just might need ... It''s a shame what happened to her, mate."


    Emilio simply nodded.


    Gowan squeezed Elizabeth''s hand tightly, before approaching the woman. "You might be safer if you come with us. Elizabeth and I will go and liberate some more supplies. It looks like we might be in this for the long hall." He walked to Emilio and put out his hand for the knife.


    Emilio begrudgingly obliged.


    "No." The woman shook her head. "I think I''ll stay here."


    "What if there''s others out there?" Emilio softened his posture. "We can help you. We''ve got a fairly safe place."


    She shook her head again. "There''s been too much pain in there." She gestured around Moss & Fire. "I like it here. If somewhere has to be my tomb, I''d rather it be on my own terms surrounded by nature and shiny things."


    "Do you know how to get to the cinema?" Gowan asked.


    "I know where to find you." She sauntered over to a candle, passing it to Saleem. "Would you like some additional light?"

 About Emilio

    He should have known she wouldn''t come back for him. When she pushed herself over that balcony he knew. When Elizabeth said she might come back, he knew. Yet when he saw that bastion of light, he let himself hope like a fucking idiot.


    If there was one thing Emilio could rely on, it was that Amy was unreliable. It was fun when they first got together. Amy loved hard. When Emilio had spent his days in routines and formations, the spontaneity and fierce passion was something that he got sucked into. He didn''t really know how.


    She never really hated him. There was never an opposition to love. One day, and he never knew which day, she would simply need to put her love on mute. It was like holding the energy of filling the bedroom with candles and rose petals, or organising a weekend away so they could learn about farm animals, left her unable to hold the stable feeling of love.


    When he came home with the mates who were lucky enough to come home too, a lot of them went to the pokies. They would spend days there. He thought they were stupid. He would pride himself on how smart he was that he didn''t fall into the gambling trap. That he found some purpose to his life: Family.


    Maybe his ticket to a family, Amy, was just a gamble too. She held herself accountable to her past. Her sobriety journey was admirable. Nonetheless, each day was a gamble as to how much love she would pay out to him. Perhaps he was just as stupid as the mates that disappeared to pubs and casinos for hours at a time. Christ, it was good when her love paid out though. It was an intense zap to his brain that would keep him going. It was always memorable and something to cherish.


    Sometimes it hurt though. He knew he was lucky to come home. He knew, from all the wars, all the veterans, all of the history of the army that he was lucky to be able to see way more of his mates than the blokes from the years past. Sometimes he wondered how much of a gift it was when so many of them came back way different than when they left. The guys from the older wars might not have had many mates return outside of boxes, but at least their final memories were of something brave and heroic. Not blacking out and getting into a fight with a bouncer.


    It wasn''t all awful. There were lots of mateship programs to help keep him involved after he returned. Even after he left service he''d get checked up on. He would come to events for active and past military, and have a gander at all the new weaponry. He''d get to tell some tall tales to the fresh meat standing bright eyed by their little demonstration stall, just happy that they were getting a day off. He''d get to hang with other men, and women too, who just got it. Sure, Amy was a trooper in her own way but it just wasn''t the same.


    There was one day in particular, a family fun run day to raise money for veterans and the families of those who hadn''t returned, that would always be seared in his mind. Emilio supposed he''d tried to wipe it when the smoke wiped Amy from the earth. He should have kept it in mind, even when those fucking candles were lit.


    It was Amy''s idea. She''d signed them up for the 10k course. She wasn''t super sporty, but she kept in shape. Emilio wasn''t scared of much, but he certainly tried to outrun the jiggle as he got older. He lived for the gym and 10 kilometers was nothing for him. Nonetheless, he said "yes dear" because he enjoyed spending time with his wife and doing active outdoor fitness activities helped give her the endorphins required to make drugs less enticing.


    I think she knew he''d say yes because the cause was close to him. He appreciated that she was thoughtful, even if she didn''t show it all the time. It was like a bubbling obsession that would overflow every now and again. She was always on the lookout for things he would like, even on the days she''d barely speak a word to him. On a surface level he knew that, but it was harder to convince the vulnerable parts of him that their wedding vows were carved in stone.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    She''d gone out for some after work drinks with her colleagues the evening before. He didn''t think anything of it, because he wasn''t going to stop her having some fun. She knew that she had the run the next day and he wasn''t her keeper. As 7pm rolled around, he sent a text. By 10pm he had a sinking feeling.


    "Gonna stay at Shay''s tonight. See you at the run." or words to that effect, with much worse spelling and grammar. The letters scattered and emojis peppered in.


    That''s when he knew it was time for bed. He told her ok, that he loved her, and he went to bed. After every single point in his life, including firearms pointed directly at his person, he never felt more powerless than when he knew Amy was failing.


    What could he do? He knew the stereotype of the overcontrolling jarhead-type who never let his wife have any fun. Amy watched a lot of trash TV and on those shows with the wives swapping, there would always be defense force guys who were total tools and ran their families like a squad. He never wanted to be that guy.


    Sure, he was harsh around the edges, he had a temper, he knew he had marks in his soul from the things he had been through to fight for his country. That didn''t mean he wanted to make the country he fought for worse by being a dickhead. Accountability was one thing he cared a lot about.


    The next day he showed up to the run alone. He saw the people with their families. Pangs of jealousy struck his heart as he saw dads with their cute kids in matching running shoes. Feelings of a sad nostalgia passed across his chest when he saw young men and women in their fatigues smiling with each other, forming friendships he wish he could feel the passion in again. There were a few old friends that he''d give the nod too, cementing that over all the years they were merely acquaintances now.


    By the time the race was assembling, Amy had not shown up. He craned his neck, called her phone, sent her texts. While the army band played a cover of that song from The Breakfast Club and some guy from a Brisbane radio station read out the sponsor list, it was clear he''d be running alone. He still ran. Of course, he still ran. When Emilio said he would do something, he did it. When he died, the last thing he wanted was a bunch of ANZACs tougher than him giving him a hard time for all eternity for piking out on his commitments.


    He gave it his all. For a while, once the endorphins kicked in, he really did enjoy himself. Everyone was friendly and giving each other encouragement as they went by. There were vets and families that he got to chat with when he slowed down to jog, or stop at the water stations. He really didn''t feel alone, but he didn''t get to share it with his wife.


    When he was young and his face couldn''t grow a beard to save his life, all he wanted was to die in a war so his life had purpose. As he grew up, he didn''t want to die any more because through connecting to people like him, he realised family life was a perfectly fine aspiration. Sure, he ended up finding no weapons of mass destruction, and he wasn''t met with a parade when he got home, but at least he could find someone to love.


    He did. She loved him fiercely. Except when she didn''t show up. Except when she fell off the wagon. Except when she''d burned herself out from a cycle of overcompensating from the guilt of never quite being able to get a handle on a steady-burning relationship.


    Those bright candles in Moss & Fire got his hopes up that it was one final gesture. He thought she''d come for him. That she''d take him too. He would gladly hold her hand one more time and help keep her safe through to whatever came next. All he wanted was to protect her as best he could. Be the bumpers as she spiraled. It was na?ve of him.


    When Emilio made commitments, he would never break them. The vows he made to his wife were carved on the inner working of his soul. Yet times like that, running in a family fun run without his wife after fighting to try and do some good in the world, he realised it would only hurt him to ever expect the same.


    He would never leave her, but once she fell from that ledge he knew she wasn''t coming back. To let himself have even a sliver of hope was foolish. He didn''t like being played a fool. With 120 rocks in the back room, he knew that someone in the so called "Three days of darkness" was absolutely taking the piss.

 Math is Hard, Lets Go Shopping!

    The four adventurers stopped before the escalators. Their trip back was silent, albeit slightly better lit from the candle the woman gave to Saleem. It was only when they were back up their end of the shopping center that they''d realised they''d never asked her name. So much was happening, Elizabeth doubted that she''d remember it.


    "What''s the plan?" Saleem asked, looking to Emilio.


    "We can''t tell them it''s been 5 days," he replied.


    "We can''t tell Donovan it''s been 5 days," Elizabeth corrected.


    Emilio crossed his arms. "You wanna tell Interview with a Vampire that he was way off? That his candle theory is bunk? You think he''d handle it well if we told him praying didn''t mean shit?"


    Gowan let out a breath to calm himself. "I think we just hide what we know. At least for now."


    Elizabeth gestured to the candle Saleem was holding. "You need to keep this outside."


    "True," Saleem looked around for somewhere to put the candle, "he can probably count to four."


    "Be careful," Elizabeth warned. "It doesn''t go out, but it might set something ablaze. Clearly whatever rules we thought we knew don''t mean anything. We don''t want it getting knocked over."


    She would forever be scarred by the fraught 90s parenting style where every rule came with an explanation. It was never just "no candles in the bathroom", it was "no candles in the bathroom because the tiles are in there and we don''t want you burning the house down, because you''ll kill us all." In a way, it probably kept her alive in the years before her brain stopped developing. However it kept her adulthood from having any kind of zest or vanilla-flavoured danger.


    Perhaps that was a good thing.


    Putting the candle anywhere nearby would alert the others waiting for them to return. Although the chance of them ever leaving seemed to get slimmer and slimmer. Nevertheless, the longer they left Donovan, Victor, and Matthew alone, the more of a chance one of them would come looking... Or Donovan would do something reckless.


    Elizabeth knew that the rates of Donovan doing something reckless wouldn''t fall if her and Gowan were the ones to dispose of the candle. As much as she would love to tell Emilio and Saleem to just go inside and wait. The tension in the air suggested none of them really wanted to return.


    There was no more community. The air smelled like death. Matthew screamed and there was no other way to help. It was just a bank of memories that nobody wanted to cash in.


    "We should get more supplies," she finally said. "We can stash the candle somewhere, get some supplies on the way, come back and boost morale."


    Saleem pointed to some text on the back of his shirt. "I collected trolleys for Gleesons. I know they only do food, but they''ll have wipes and shit. If we can bust down the door to the back I know how to get into the lockers. That screaming dude needs drugs and that''s your best shot."


    Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "And you know how to break into lockers because..."


    Saleem''s eyes said "How the fuck do you think?", but his voice said "Don''t look a gift horse in the mouth."


    She shrugged. "Fair." After a short moment of searching her mental outlay of the shopping center, she nodded. "It''s the closest too."


    After some discussion, they decided to go together under the assumption that Victor, Donovan, and Matthew being left alone in a room together couldn''t get worse. With two teams of two they''d be able to commandeer two trolleys and maintain a little bit of safety in pairs while covering more of the store. Gleesons tried to keep the same store layout across it''s vast Australian chains, so it was safe to assume the fresh fruits and vegetables started at one end of the store and the freezers would be at the other end. Not that the food in the freezer would be salvageable at that point.


    The store was fenced with large roller doors that needed large hooks to be open and shut each day. Elizabeth wasn''t so certain that Emilio would be able to simply barge his way through this time. Even with a heavy, metal chair.


    Luck was on their side.


    Saleem guided them to a small fire escape hallway to the side of the main entrance. Every piece of the faux-luxury aesthetic that made up the Southglen Shopping Center was immediately abandoned. The polished floors were traded for cement. Bricks replaced the clean, white walls. The hallway was cold and seemingly endless and each footstep echoed on the unwelcoming surfaces. Even with the light in front of them, Elizabeth was not able to see the other end of the hall. Even filled with four people, it seemed lonely and forgotten.


    Somewhere in the middle of the hallway, there were double doors that Elizabeth assumed were fire doors. She hoped they were fire doors. Otherwise, the architect really didn''t think the fire safety plan through.


    Saleem reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain that was accented with a glittery marijuana leaf.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "That doesn''t seem very work appropriate," Gowan quipped.


    After flicking through a few keys, Saleem found the key that would get them through the fire doors. "If you''re willing to do manual labour, you''ll be able to find a megacorp willing to give you a smidge of responsibility." He waved the marijuana leaf at Gowan and held the candle behind it. His voice warbled like he was telling a scary story to a child, "Eee-hee-heeeeven if you smoke weed sometimes." He made sure to accentuate the "weed" and the "sometimes" for effect.


    He held the candle to the keyhole and unlocked the door. He pointed to the darkness filtering through the other end of the hall. "There''s a trolley bay out there," he paused, "or, was? Who knows. It was easier to get them from there to here. Trying to navigate through swarms of people sucked, so they got me," he jingled the keys, "these bad boys."


    He wandered through like he was returning home. He leaned against the door to help the others through. The rest of the group hesitated.


    Not wanting to stay in the hallway, Saleem clicked his fingers. "Yallah!" Saleem paused. "Bloody hell, I''ve turned into my mother," he mumbled to himself as the group started moving past him.


    They made it to the trolley bays and took two of the biggest shopping carts available. It was not rocket science to guess how the groups would be split. Saleem knew how to get into lockers, and Emilio knew how to bust down the locked doors stopping them from getting to the lockers. Gowan had experience in shopping to feed large groups of people from many years of youth group camps, and Elizabeth was simply the last one left. She wasn''t complaining though.


    Elizabeth and Gowan begun toward the fruit and vegetable section. A lot of fruit would be soft by now. There was no point trying to gather fruit that would expire easily. Nonetheless, the whole group was craving something that wasn''t just beige and in cracker form. Apples and oranges were the obvious choices. The deli made the area smell like soured meat. It wasn''t at a state of decay, but it still made the space smell putrid.


    They moved through the shelves trying to find fruit cups, fruit snacks, and anything fortified with vitamins. Elizabeth had the idea to hit up the baking section. Not for the confectionery, but because the dried fruit and nuts were usually nearby.


    She pushed the trolley as Gowan held their candle.


    "If this date went well, this could have been us a few years down the line. In the light. Having an argument over what bread to get," she mused.


    "Multigrain, obviously." Gowan shot back as he scanned the shelves.


    She raised her eyebrows, "A man with taste."


    "How do you think it would get to that stage? How would you have wanted this fantastical life of ours to pan out?" he asked.


    Elizabeth stopped pushing the trolley to think. "Well, first the date would have gone super well. Obviously, we''d have gone on that drive. We''d have looked at the stars," her eyes darted to Gowan, "but you''re a gentleman, so obviously you''d still get me home at a respectable hour."


    "Should I wait 24 hours to text you?"


    She threw some packets of cashews in the trolley. "Nah, to hell with playing it cool. Text me the next day but at like 8am. Before you go to work. I want to be sure you''re keen."


    "Alright," he found a cache of apricots that he began loading into the trolley, "but only one text. I don''t want to come on too strong. Our next date would be dinner."


    "Do you like sushi?"


    "Of course. You already established that I''m a man with taste."


    "Excellent."


    Gowan stood up after searching the bottom shelves. "But let''s get down to the brass tacks. How many dates would we go on before you''d come to church with me."


    Elizabeth hesitated. "Are you just dating me to get me to come to church with you?"


    "No- but- I mean-" he stammered, before pulling at his cross necklace, "It''s a pretty big part of my life."


    "Would it be the church we get married in?"


    "So you won''t date me there, but you''d marry me there?! I haven''t even proposed yet!"


    Elizabeth laughed, shaking her fist jokingly. "Propose then, you coward!"


    Gowan took the candle and began looking around at the cake decorating ingredients. He picked up a box and took out some tin foil, fashioning it into a poorly-constructed ring shape. "Ok, pretend we''re on a beach at sunset," he told her. Getting down on one knee, he began his proposal, "Elizabeth, I don''t know your last name, ever since we met in that cinema 8 months ago-"


    "8 months?!"


    "I''m a Christian, we move fast."


    "Fair."


    "Now, before I was rudely interrupted ..." He resumed his faux-passionate speech, "Ever since we met in that cinema 8 months ago, I was enamored with you. I love how stuff bounces off your head, how we watch the stars together, and how you make tiny noises like a chihuahua in your sleep-"


    "Hey!"


    "Look, I don''t know much about you, just roll with it."


    She rolled her eyes, still smiling.


    Gowan held up the ring to her. "Elizabeth, whatever-your-last-name-is-"


    "It''s Alpin."


    "Elizabeth Alpin, will you marry me?"


    She took the ring and placed it on her finger, pretending to fend off tears. "Yes! One thousand times, yes! Now let''s save $500,000 so we can afford a basic wedding, my love!" She put her hand to the side of her mouth, "I''m pretty sure that''s what they cost these days."


    Gowan nodded his head. "Reasonable. So what''s the wedding plans?"


    Elizabeth''s smile faded a little. Her eyes zoned out into the darkness around them. "Can we skip past the part where we get married, fight over whose apartment we''re going to live in, and just ... do something normal?"


    "What did you have in mind?"


    Elizabeth wasn''t one to embarrass easily, but for a moment her heart was pounding. She was grateful that for once in this ordeal it wasn''t from a survival instinct. "Can we just do the shopping?"


    For a moment, they both stood motionless in the glow of the flame. Gowan made the first steps towards Elizabeth. She had both of her hands on the trolley bar, and he came from behind to place his free hand onto hers. The other hand, holding the candle, rested on the other side so that his arms were around Elizabeth. He brought his head forward and rested on her shoulder before he tilted it to the side and lightly tapped the side of her head with his.


    For a moment, their bodies became the only source of warmth in the world. Elizabeth closed her eyes to try and imagine a busy grocery store with buzzing lights and clacking trolley wheels. Her smile returned as she leant back into Gowan, a solid rock for her to lean.


    Without any thought, she turned around and buried her head in his chest. She placed her arms around him, snaking her arms underneath his jacket. All she could do was sob. It was a mourning for what could have been, and for all that she was losing.


    It should have only been three days. They should have been looking at the stars by now. There''s a dying kid waiting for them and she didn''t have any clue how they could survive long term, and they were at the whim of whatever had brought the darkness.


    It wasn''t the darkness that scared her, but rather, it the force was keeping it there.

 Just Guys Being Dudes

    Saleem and Emilio had to ditch their trolley at the base of the staff room stairs. Staff lockers, offices, and all the back-of-house areas for the grocery store were in a loft that overlooked the store. A big window let them see down the aisles that spanned the huge area.


    Saleem took a moment to watch Gowan and Elizabeth embracing in amongst the shelves. "What''s their deal?" He wandered towards Emilio who was rifling through some couch cushions.


    "Dating," Emilio grunted. His mind was focused on the job. It was no secret he wasn''t a fan of the kids in the cinema, but he wasn''t going to let someone die just because they had annoying friends.


    No luck.


    "Where are the lockers?"


    Saleem walked across the break room to another door. "This way."


    The locker room was more dingy than the larger break area. The decades old grey carpet was filled with mystery stains and it had lifted up in the corners of the room. There were large pots to try and hide some of the poorly maintained flooring, but even houseplants had given up. Posters lined the walls that reminded employees that they must clock out, or that their phones must be put away when employees were on shift.


    Of course, the manager had their own office in the area. It was easy to enforce a "no phones" rule when no one could see them using theirs. Saleem didn''t mind though. The trolley collectors had their own shed. It was dingy, but it was theirs and no one minded if they drank goon in it during late night shopping. It was their little slice of paradise away from all the drama and power trips that happened in the customer service side of things.


    "Alright, Copperfield," Emilio gestured to the lockers, "do your thing."


    "I can show you how. It''s really easy."


    Emilio simply shrugged. "Yeah, alright. Fuck it. Show me how to fleece some minimum wage teenagers."


    "Nah, the casual staff just get those." He gestured to some cubbies hidden away in a corner that were empty besides a few LCM bar wrappers. "This is for the people who have to do full day shifts."


    "I don''t know whether to feel worse about that."


    Saleem looked at Emilio like he was an idiot. "Dude, d''you really think they''re coming back?"


    Emilio thought for a moment and let his face show Saleem that he knew he was right.


    Saleem put down his yet-to-be-discarded, non-beeswax candle on the disgusting floor. He put one hand on the handle and the other underneath a small air vent that sat close to chest level. He tugged hard. A few screws from the hinges popped out. He yanked the door a few more times and with a final heave, the entire door was ripped off.


    "Tada!" he said, holding the flimsy locker door.


    "That can''t be a sustainable way to break in to people''s shit."


    "There''s another way. All locks have the same reset combination. I just remembered this from when- Ah, not the time. Let''s get grave robbing."


    "Jesus."


    The pair began to rifle through the personal belongings of random employees. There were things they could get downstairs like hairbrushes, bottles of water, or tampon boxes which got flung across the room as soon as Saleem realised what they were. Bags were emptied over the ground.


    They took one backpack, emptied it, and began to fill it with packs of any medication that they found. There were a lot of asthma inhalers, and Emilio demanded that they took them all too. Maybe they wouldn''t need them, but placing them in the bag helped him squash the regrets burning inside him from watching Masina wheeze on the floor and the sinking feeling of knowing he was too late.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The packets of medication rattled around in the backpack as they made their way through each locker like a whirlwind. When they were done it looked like a bomb had hit the place, as Emilio''s mother used to say. They then set their sites on the three office doors.


    Two had name plaques on them that neither bothered to read. They were both locked. They decided to head to the nameless room first.


    It was just a small kitchen. While filled with passive aggressive signs about cleaning up after yourself, there was nothing of use. At least, nothing they couldn''t get brand new from the shelves below on their way out.


    Emilio tried to shoulder-barge open one of the doors, but didn''t have any luck. Instead, he grabbed the kettle from the break room, stood back, and pegged it through the thin glass. For a moment, he smiled. He liked breaking things for the greater good. He wrapped his hand in a discarded jacket and opened the door from the other side.


    "Can I do the other one?" Saleem asked, bouncing like a little puppy.


    Emilio was already rifling through the drawers in the managers office. "Sure, Pinky," he said, noting Saleem''s hair.


    Saleem grabbed the toaster and heaved it at the other door with a satisfying smash. Just as he watched Emilio do, he wrapped his arm in a jacket and reached in to unlock the door.


    "Ah, fuck!" he exclaimed, pulling his arm out.


    Emilio came running to find blood on Saleem''s upper arm. He pointed to the blood. "You missed a spot," he said dryly before wandering back to the kitchen.


    "Yeah, gee, thanks."


    Emilio came back with a tea towel and a pair of kitchen scissors. He cut the arm off one of the other non-glass-covered jackets and used the tea towel as a bandage, and the jacket sleeve to tie it to Saleem''s arm. It was bulky and not very fashionable, but it would do the job.


    "Bloody amateur hour, mate," Emilio tutted to himself as he helped Saleem to stop bleeding everywhere. "It''s not deep. It''ll stop. Just keep the pressure on."


    "Fuck, you''re so cool. How''d you learn all this shit?"


    Emilio unlocked the final door. "Not as cool as you''d think, mate. Had to watch a lot of people die." He crossed his arms, looking Saleem in the eyes. "A lot of people who looked just like you."


    There was a tenseness in the air. Emilio''s eyes almost went straight through Saleem. He was looking straight at him, but there was also an odd blankness to his expression.


    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Saleem had only just been born when 9/11 happened, but fucked if somehow white people always wanted to blame him for it. As if he was personally responsible. His parents weren''t even from the same country as the guys that flew the planes, and he was born in Australia.


    "Sorry. Nothing. I didn''t mean it like-"


    "Yep, righto." Saleem let it pass. The guy had obviously been through some shit.


    While many of the filing cabinets and drawers were locked, Saleem had gotten pretty good at picking them. He only needed to use his skills on a few of them. Whatever idiot manager was here had a set of keys just sitting on the desk. The same ones needed to open said desk, and two of the filing cabinets.


    "Jackpot!" Emilio exclaimed, "Mummas got a pain problem!"


    He was crouched over the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet. Inside were the same boxes of pain medication that Violet had used. There were a few other bottles as well. Some were just paracetamol, but others Emilio recognised from when Amy had been prescribed them. He was no stranger to how useful diazepam could be. It wasn''t a pain medication, but it could help the kid calm the fuck down.


    All of it went into their backpack.


    Saleem put the pack on over the arm without the makeshift tourniquet, feeling all of the packets rattle around inside. "Just like the old days," he thought to himself.


    They left the offices to come back to their trolley that, thankfully, hadn''t been moved. With his free hand, Emilio began pushing it to the opposite end of the store from where Gowan and Elizabeth had started.


    Saleem and Emilio were tasked with picking up non-food items. Extra buckets for the bathroom, toilet paper, pads and tampons, paper towels, paper plates and cups, anything for general living. Neither of the men were super into shopping so Emilio thought he''d make some small talk to pass the time.


    "I gotta ask," he gestured to Saleem''s hair, "why pink?"


    Saleem shrugged. "My friend wanted to try and bleach textured hair. She didn''t get very far and it turned orange instead of white. I guess because my hair''s so dark."


    "Yeah, but why pink?"


    "The internet said if your hair is orange, you''re not exactly spoiled for choice on what to dye over it and pink doesn''t fade too quick. I''m lazy." Saleem threw some paper towels into the trolley like he was dunking a basketball. "Kobe!"


    Emilio grunted in acknowledgement.


    They continued in silence for a while.


    "What''s your deal?" Saleem asked Emilio. "I guess you were in the army?"


    "Yeah."


    "Why''d you join?"


    Emilio shrugged. "Gonna die anyway. May as well get paid and die in a war."


    Saleem let out a noise as if he was weighing up his death options. "Yeah, I get that. Pushing trolleys isn''t exactly fulfilling."


    "Looks like you have skills that weren''t exactly gonna lead you to trolley pushing your whole life."


    Saleem continued to scan the shelves. "I guess some young guys find purpose in being straight-laced and following the rules. I tried to find it outside of the boundaries."


    "And we both ended up right here."


    "Yeah. I guess we did."

 Oxy Content

    Full trolleys were a lot harder to push. Elizabeth was grateful they didn''t end up with one that had wonky wheels. Not that the end of the world could really get worse. Perhaps, she thought, that''s what purgatory was: Waiting for an end that never came, in a shopping center filled with trolleys that only had wonky wheels.


    Saleem lead them back out through the fire door. He looked the hallway up and down. As the trolleys filed out of the center, he closed the fire doors and set his candle''s base in the middle of the hallway floor.


    "Good thinking," Elizabeth approved.


    With their original beeswax candles, they made their way through the shops and back to the escalators. Just like the times before, there was no way that they could push or carry them all the way up. Obviously, the lifts weren''t working either.


    Once again, Saleem and fire safety came to the rescue.


    "What," Saleem said, with an attitude on his face, "do you think they''re just gonna tell people in wheelchairs that they''re on their own in case of a fire while they''re watching a movie? Of course there''s a ramp."


    Elizabeth had never noticed the doors off to the side of the cinema near the entrance to the projection booth. If she had, they just looked like another entrance to another cinema auditorium. The entrance was just under the cinema level, in one of the walls of the food court.


    She wondered why Donovan hadn''t mentioned it when they had their first trolley-load of items. Perhaps the stress, or perhaps it was quicker when they had far more people to help bring everything indoors. She supposed dark spaces were also much less desirable back when they didn''t know what was lurking. It was almost more scary that the longer they stayed, the more obvious it was that inside the building they were almost totally alone.


    The area with the ramp was just as unwelcoming as the fire hallway. Rough, grey cement bricks blended in with the gritty cement flooring. Pushing a trolley up the ramp was hard enough. She could only imagine someone who needed a wheelchair making their way up the steep ramp. Of course, working with men who had lost limbs, she understood that architecture for people with disabilities was often an afterthought, begrudgingly put in because the government said so. She understood that this doubled as a fire exit. "Still", she thought, "put in a potted plant or something. Damn."


    When they got to the double doors, they walked right in. They''d given up on announcing themselves anymore. If the end was coming, it was taking too long anyway.


    Emilio had control of the trolley while Saleem clutched the backpack and hustled his way down the ramped aisle to Matthew. The aisle was only big enough for one trolley at a time. Gowan and Elizabeth were both pulling on their trolley, simultaneously hoping nothing fell out the sides while also trying to make sure it didn''t roll forward too fast and crush Emilio between their trolley and his.


    Saleem glided to the ground and immediately began opening the backpack. He was throwing every packet on the floor around them, reading the names out loud. As soon as Donovan saw the familiar pain medication packet filled with codeine and paracetamol, he grabbed it directly from Saleem.


    "These might be better, man. Just to lift his spirits." Saleem handed Donovan a different packet.


    Donovan examined the pack with the light behind him. "Oxy-condone?"


    "Oxycodone," Saleem corrected, "like... Oxys? There was a full documentary on them. They''re real good. People in America got addicted to them and it was a whole thing."


    "So we run out and then it''s back to square one?" Donovan asked.


    "The world''s ending anyway. We run out, we switch back to the normal ones." Saleem shrugged. "Your choice, man. I just seen people get real happy on these, and I thought-"


    Matthew groaned in pain, and Donovan stopped his line of questioning. He immediately opened the package and put it in Matthew''s mouth before unscrewing the cap off a bottle of water and holding it to his lips. "Not long now, baby. Any second. The lights will come back on, ok? Just hold tight."


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    Elizabeth and Gowan were unpacking Emilio and Saleem''s trolley. They shot each other a glance. A bible snapped shut from a few rows of seats away, and Elizabeth put her head back down. She unpacked even faster, trying to look busy, hoping it would camouflage the guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach.


    "So did you find the source of the light?" Victor asked to nobody in particular.


    "Nah, mate." Emilio sniffed, wiping his nose with his hand obnoxiously. "Found out one of the Gleesons managers must have been waiting for some kind of apocalypse of his own by the amount of drugs he was hoarding."


    "Or she!" Elizabeth interjected.


    "Yeah, Em," Saleem rolled his eyes sassily, "women can be middle management with terrible drug habits too. God!"


    The joke didn''t land.


    "Yeah." Emilio said a little softer, "I''m aware."


    Victor was not distracted. He asked further, "You didn''t investigate the light?"


    "We did," Elizabeth interjected, her eyes looking around the room, "we couldn''t find anything."


    "Yeah, my mind must have been playing tricks." Emilio agreed.


    "Hm." Victor mumbled. He eyed each of the four but said nothing else.


    They continued to unpack. Storing toilet paper near the makeshift curtain Masina had put up days before. They changed out the toilet bucket and placed it in the projector hallway until they could think of how to dispose of it better. Thankfully, they''d brought lids.


    The bottles of water got stacked neatly and Elizabeth had begun a pantry system. All the dried fruits and fruit cups were placed together, then the savoury beige foods like crackers and chips, then the sweet beige foods like cookies and museli bars. She looked proudly at her work.


    Nobody was expecting Matthew to say anything but groan. After 20 minutes, he began to speak up. "Hey, Lizzy! Can I call you Lizzy? Liz?"


    Elizabeth hadn''t seen Matthew smile before. He had lovely teeth. Someone had clearly spent a lot of money on braces when he was a kid. His full cheeks made his glasses rise when he smiled.


    "Matthew!" she said, a little surprised, "What''s up?"


    "You''re really pretty. Dude, but it''s ok, I''m gay. I just mean you''re pretty. Sorry, I can''t feel anything and I feel great! I had another thing!" He pointed to the box of medication.


    At this point, everyone was just looking at Matthew, chattering away and touching his face with the arm that did not get slashed.


    "You''re the only girl now. We should call you Queen Liz, like the queen." He looked up at Donovan with big eyes. "Yo! We could call her Queen Liz but we''ll mean it like Lizard!"


    Donovan laughed nervously. "Ok, we''ve got to make sure you stay down. You''re still really hurt. I''m glad you feel better. You can talk, but you have to stay still."


    "It hurts to laugh!" Matthew said, still amused at the thought of Liz standing for Lizard. He turned to Donovan. "Do you think I should talk more gay?"


    "Babe, you talk plenty gay. Please just-"


    "Queen Lizard! Hey! No! I remember what I was going to ask you!"


    Elizabeth hesitated, "How can I help?"


    "If I''m not gonna die, and that''s fine, honestly, right now I could die. That would be fine. I think if I die that''d be cool. How cool was the smoke? Sorry, my mind is just like ..." Matthew made a noise imitating a laser.


    "Ok babe, ask the nice lady your question." Donovan mouthed "sorry" to Elizabeth.


    "Lizard. I call you Lizard coz I love you. Actually, everyone, babe, is everyone listening to me?"


    "Everyone is listening to you, just go ahead and ask Elizabeth the question." Donovan had a slight smirk that Matthew was doing more than groan on the floor, but still held his head in frustration.


    "No, she is Lizard. You have to call her Lizard. I need to make Lizard a thing. It''s really funny. Trust me."


    By this stage, Elizabeth had stopped stacking food away to stand near Matthew. She thought that if she was in his immediate eyeline it may help him stay on track. "Yes, it''s me, Lizard. What would you like to know?"


    "Lizard, why do you have so much food if we''re only here three days?"


    Matthew''s words hit the room like a truck.


    Elizabeth''s mouth opened but no words came out. Everyone''s heads snapped to Elizabeth. Even Victor, who had since gone back to a chair to read his bible in a small pool of light was leaning forward to look at her.


    "We need to set ourselves up for success." Gowan stepped forward. "We know by now we''re not great at counting." He looked at Donovan. "We know the light is going to come back on at any minute." His focus then shifted to Victor. "What we don''t know is what could be waiting for us outside, or who might want to come in when the world settles back down."


    "That''s right," Elizabeth joined in, "We have to get you to a hospital, but once we get you there, we have to have a place to come back to, right?" She took Gideon''s car keys out of her pocket and examined them. "Plus, I don''t even know what kind of car this is. It might only have two seats! It certainly wouldn''t fit," she counted the room, "six."


    "And you," Gowan corrected.


    "Yeah. Plus me. So we have to have a home base."


    Matthew squinted his eyes. "You''re a smart one, Lizard. I think I want to sleep now."


    Elizabeth looked at Donovan and nodded her head, "Yeah, that''s a good idea."

 More Than Survive

    "How many tattoos do you have?" Saleem asked, pointing to a blue splotch peeking out of Emilio''s shirt sleeve.


    Matthew was firmly asleep, and Donovan was soon to follow. A silence permeated the cinema that left Saleem in the discomfort with his thoughts. He was willing to talk about anything.


    "Five," Emilio mumbled back. He was scanning the paper products and toiletries. "You?"


    "Just one."


    Emilio continued to count rolls of toilet paper.


    He rolled up the sleeve on the arm that didn''t get cut. There was a heart with Arabic script inside. "It says Yamo. I thought it''d be funny to get the word my family uses for mum in a heart, you know, like those tattoos from movies?"


    Emilio looked unimpressed. "Did your mum find it funny?"


    "... She did not."


    Emilio exhaled a little air out of his nose. "Dickhead." He threw a roll of toilet paper at Saleem.


    Saleem lunged at Emilio and they began to playfight.


    "Oi, I got a war wound here!" Saleem said, as Emilio was clearly winning.


    "My ass!" he grabbed some plastic that the toilet paper had come packed in. "Eat it!"


    Saleem jerked his head around to avoid the plastic, laughing, "You want me to eat your ass? Ah!"


    Emilio finally got the plastic into Saleem''s mouth. He flung around wildly, before they tumbled into Elizabeth''s organised food storage, sending packets flying.


    Elizabeth and Gowan both jolted upright as they heard the noise.


    Saleem quickly took the plastic from his mouth. Both Saleem and Emilio held their lips together tightly trying not to laugh. They looked down sheepishly.


    "Sorry." Emilio mumbled.


    Elizabeth sighed, "It''s fine."


    For once she was just happy that people were getting along. She''d started praying whenever the silence took over. Recently she''d had a squeezing feeling deep inside that it would be over soon. At least re-organising the pantry was something to do. She got straight to work.


    Victor walked over to the trio. He moved his head towards Donovan and Matthew who were still in a deep sleep. He lowered his voice, shaking his head. "You wouldn''t have brought all this back for fun."


    Gowan let out a single snore before rolling back over.


    Victor was almost murmuring, "Tell me what you actually found."


    Emilio looked to Elizabeth and nodded.


    She sighed as she searched for the right words. "We think we''ve been here longer than 3 days."


    He looked worried. "Why do you think that?"


    Elizabeth opened her mouth, but Saleem interrupted, "We found an hour glass. An actual hour. Someone had been keeping track."


    "There''s someone else out there?" Victor asked.


    Emilio shrugged, "If there was, we didn''t find them."


    "I''m almost afraid to ask," Victor hesitated, "how long has it been?"


    "5 days. Maybe more." Emilio picked some stray plastic off the floor.


    Victor''s face twitched. His eyes darted around. "That can''t be right." His eyebrows furrowed as he looked down to Matthew. "Are you sure?"


    Elizabeth, Emilio, and Saleem nodded.


    "No. This can''t be." He took a deep breath. "That would mean ..." He looked down to Matthew. "I need to do more reading." He began to walk quickly up the ramp.


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    "You can''t go alone." Emilio whispered loudly.


    Victor walked back to Emilio. "You said it yourself. Whoever is out there is running away from us. The book store is the best bet for us to find out what to expect next." He gestured around them. "There''s been no earthquakes. There''s been no blood moon. We don''t know what''s dying outside. If it has been more than 3 days, there''s got to be a reason."


    "Do you really think it''s going to be in a retail bookstore?" Elizabeth asked.


    Victor looked down to Matthew. "It''s that or we just wait in here until the food runs out." He started walking up the ramp again. "I just need to be alone."


    As he walked to the double doors, he raised his voice a little, "Don''t wait up."


    Emilio looked to the others nervously. "Do we just let him go?"


    Elizabeth''s eyes darted to Donovan and Matthew to make sure they were still asleep. "Our friend managed herself this far. The book nook is nowhere near Moss & Fire. At worst, if he goes for a wander he''ll just find some fire, then get more evidence and a new theory."


    Saleem looked at Matthew. "And he''s probably learned his lesson on attacking strangers."


    Donovan stirred. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment, his eyes shot open and a look of concern crossed his face. "Did you say it''s been 5 days?"


    Elizabeth waved her hands and shushed him. "We think. We don''t know. The water clock was off. It could have been a crappy hourglass too."


    He ran his hand through his brunette hair, that had since lost it''s style from the first day. "Shit," he murmured under his breath. "What do we do?"


    "We don''t know," Elizabeth replied. She pointed a finger at him. "Do not tell Matthew."


    "No shit, Lizard."


    The ever-escalating whispers had woken up Gowan. It didn''t take long for him to deduce the information bomb that just dropped. He looked around for Victor.


    "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac went to the library," Emilio filled him in.


    "Jesus," Saleem said, impressed, "That''s a bloody niche reference."


    Emilio shrugged. "I''m a man of culture."


    "And you just let him go alone?!" Gowan''s eyes widened.


    "What did you want us to do? If something was out there it would have gotten us by now." Emilio gestured around. "The only thing that got any of us were ourselves."


    "We''ve also always gone everywhere in pairs or more." Gowan''s face was serious. He nodded to Elizabeth. "We should go with him."


    "That''d leave us with one candle," Emilio pointed out, "What if something happened and we needed to leave?"


    "The Book Nook isn''t that far away. We can help him bring books back here instead of reading them there. Once he''s back, we can all stop worrying," Gowan''s voice was soothing. It was sensible. It was that of a leader.


    Gowan didn''t want to show the others he was scared. He was worried. If there was one thing he''d always been good at, it was convincing others that he believed the words he was saying. He remembered only a few times as a child he tried to cry crocodile tears to try and manipulate his mother. Just little things like a later bed time or a dessert when he didn''t eat dinner.


    His mother would take a trip to the outdoor shoe rack to grab her left thong, then bring it back inside specifically to hit him in the back of the head. There were only so many times he needed to hear "I know what you''re doing, boy" to train manipulation out of him. It was a warning, knowing he was about to get the shoe. As he matured, relying on his words got easier. Integrity was always emphasised in his family.


    That made it easier in times where he needed to keep his chin up. Keep his chin up he did. He locked eyes with Emilio as if daring him to object.


    "Elizabeth, I think we should go now."


    "Lizard," a weak voice called from the floor.


    Donovan rolled his eyes and moved back to his partner. It was clear from the bags under his eyes that he was getting tired of having to play nurse. As he returned to the floor, he let out a groan of his own as his movements seemed to have gotten stiffer over the days.


    "Do you need anything?" Elizabeth asked him.


    "Only thing I can really take for cerebral palsy is pain meds." He gestured to Matthew. "Someone else needs them more than me right now. I saw there was diazepam, and I know some of my friends took that for theirs. It was in their spines though so I''m not sure." He took in a deep breath.


    She looked to Saleem and Emilio to make sure that they were aware of the new issue emerging. "Ok. Just look after yourself. Saleem and Emilio will help you out with anything you need, won''t you, boys?"


    They nodded slightly.


    "Won''t you boys?" she said more firmly.


    "Yeah, yeah." Emilio sauntered over to Gowan and grabbed his arm, pulling him aside. "Can you leave the knife? We only have one light source. The very least we can have is the knife."


    "There''s another knife unaccounted for. Either it''s lost, or those two have it, or Victor." Gowan turned his sites to Elizabeth kneeling down and rubbing Donovan''s back comfortingly. "Right now I don''t think those two are going to do much with anything."


    "What if someone comes in?"


    Gowan looked at Emilio like he was an idiot. "Well that would mean they''d have likely gone through us. You know. The people actually going outside? Last chance to change up who''s leaving."


    Emilio shook his head. "At this stage, we might be needing to handle two bodies."


    "You can carry more books than us," Gowan pointed out.


    "If worse comes to worse, take the trolley. I just think you''re wasting your time."


    Gowan''s lips moved to one side of his face as if to say "as you wish". He challenged Emilio with his eyes. "Since when did waiting around get us anywhere?"


    Emilio''s eyes narrowed. "Since when did following that kid get us anywhere?"


    They silently stared each other down until Elizabeth waved his hand in front of their faces. "Hello? Are you ready to go?"


    "Yeah." Gowan broke eye contact to look down at Elizabeth. His face softened. He smiled at her. "We''ll be back before you know it."


    Gowan took one of the candles and began up the aisle.


    Elizabeth moved past Saleem and squeezed his arm gently. "Make sure Matthew takes his meds." Her face turned to concern as she watched Donovan hover over Matthew once more. "Keep an eye on him too."


    Donovan reached out a hand to stroke Matthew''s fringe.


    She whispered softly, almost to herself. "Someone has to care about Donovan."

 Its Called Fashion, Look It Up!

    The darkness wasn''t so bad for Elizabeth when Gowan was beside her. The loneliness of the long corridors and dark ceilings had their own sort of comfort as they once again strolled down the center. It had become familiar. Home.


    Elizabeth turned her head and smelled the faint iron odour. "Oh yeah," she noted, "could we stop so I can change clothes? I kinda, you know," she didn''t want to say the words out loud and instead just finished the sentence with "blood."


    Gowan looked ahead of them, then back to Elizabeth. She was covered in a fair amount of blood. She''d already gone so far in putting up with wearing them while getting supplies for the group. The least he could do was make her feel comfortable while the storm raged around them.


    Gowan nodded. "Sure."


    "I mean, Victor stabbed a guy," she said, "he''ll be ok if we don''t follow up for just a little while, right?" She wasn''t sure if she was asking Gowan, or trying to convince herself that she wasn''t just being selfish.


    "We don''t know when the light is coming back anymore. There''s no point waiting around in bloodied clothes. The Home Store is near The Book Nook anyway. We can do a pitstop. You''re allowed small comforts, Elizabeth."


    She rolled her eyes. The amount of times she''d said that to others in her role at work. Telling veterans that they actually are allowed to put themselves first. Of course, not that she considered herself going through what they did. Hers was short. Temporary. The light was coming back.


    They made their way to The Home Store and the big, broken window leading inside. Elizabeth stopped before they entered.


    "Actually," she said sheepishly, "I was wondering if maybe I could try something else."


    Gowan wasn''t sure what she meant.


    Beside The Home Store was Woodland Fawn. The store was not made for Elizabeth, or anyone making under 6 figures a year for that matter. It''s signature style were gowns for formal occasions with a fairy-like, dreamy aesthetic. There was lots of tulle, capes, and bishop sleeves.


    Elizabeth wasn''t really clear how they made money. Surely space in Southglen Shopping Center was expensive, and there couldn''t be that many galas where the dress code was cottage core Pinterest boards. Somehow, they''d stuck around.


    One wall jutted out past The Home Store, the other made up part of the main facade in the hallway where the other stores lined up. Both walls were made of well maintained, large windows. The window dressing was always impeccable. The princess dresses with long, scalloped skirts were adorned with embroidery of mushrooms. The mannequins were seated on toadstools, and they had fairy wings on their backs. When they were lit up, they were delightful. There was something eerie about them when the lights were out.


    Elizabeth walked to the cafe in the center of the hallway that Emilio had borrowed some chairs from to break the big window for The Home Store. Her head moved from the metal chairs to Gowan. A gleeful smile spread across her face.


    "You''re not!" he gasped.


    She shrugged. "It looked fun when Emilio did it." She huffed as she picked up the metal chair.


    "What if you''re not strong enough and it bounces back?"


    "Well just make sure you stand back far enough!"


    She heaved the chair back in order to use the force of the chair swinging across her body for extra strength. She let go and it collided with the window. It made a large pattern of cracks in the window, but it didn''t break.


    She looked at Gowan. "Your turn," she huffed, after using all of her energy.


    He had a look on his face, like an old woman saying "I shouldn''t" right before taking a biscuit she''s offered. He shrugged casually and picked up a chair. He let out a "hup" noise as it glided across the air.


    This time, the window broke.


    "Ah," Elizabeth said, "I loosened it for you."


    Gowan took another chair and copied the way Emilio used it to clear jagged glass from their entry point. He looked to the rack in front of them. It was covered in glass. "Guess those ones are out of the question."


    Elizabeth took a moment to just let herself browse. For a moment, she pretended the lights weren''t off. She pretended that she''d swanned through, being welcomed by security, and would be greeted by staff any second. The security at the door always intimidated her, so she''d never been inside before. The shop often only had one or two shoppers inside at any time.


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    "We probably can''t take too long," Gowan said nervously.


    Elizabeth was gently running her fingers over all the different fabrics. She shook her head quickly to snap herself out of her daydreams. "Oh, of course."


    "Make sure you can move in it." Gowan said, picking up a purple gown that was taller than he was due to the long train. "You never know when we''ll need to run."


    "I''m looking for adequate sleeves too," she noted.


    After a while she found a gorgeous dress. It was a deep green colour. The bell sleeves draped downward but were not so dramatic that they looked like they''d get in the way of, say, holding a candle.  They appeared to come up to a sensible neckline. The top half of the dress was a light-weight velvet material, the skirt was made from tulle that was effortlessly layered ethereally. The whole dress had tiny embroidered stars and moons all over it in a gold thread.


    She held it up to the light. "What do you think?"


    Gowan nodded. "Try it on." His eyes widened and he spun around to face the opposite way faster than Elizabeth had seen him move before. "I won''t look."


    Elizabeth tried to hide her smile as she begun to get out of her date night clothes. There was a bitter sweet moment of removing them. They had once held so much hope. Now they just held sweat, and blood, and dirt. It felt nice to peel the stiff clothing off her skin. She took a moment to feel the cold air across her skin.


    Gowan clutched the candle in both hands, his eyes looking nervously around the store trying not to think about Elizabeth behind her. The bible said to run from temptation but he was holding the light source. He couldn''t exactly leave her undressed in the dark.


    As he tried to occupy his mind by looking at all the odd fashion choices in the store, the shattered glass caught his eye. One piece was quite large, and was angled in such a way that he could just see the sleeve of the dress glide up Elizabeth''s exposed shoulder. Her skin was pale and smooth. He could see the outline of her bones under her skin. He''d seen her kill someone, yet in this moment to herself, she looked so delicate.


    "Um, I hate to ask," she awkwardly interrupted, "but could you zip me up?"


    "Oh. Uh. Sure." He turned around, very purposely facing his head away from her so she wouldn''t think he was having a perv.


    She just laughed. "You will actually have to look at what you''re doing. Here. I''ll help." She reached behind her as best she could, keeping the fabric of the zipper together. "Now all you have to do is zip."


    "Sure." His hand was shaking.


    He''d never touched a woman like this before. Maybe it wasn''t anything super wild or freaky like the movies, but he couldn''t help but feel nervous. The way Elizabeth was holding her arms behind her allowed the muscles in her back to tense in such a way that showed off anatomy he''d never really considered about women before. As he zipped up the dress, his knuckles caressed over her back. It was even softer than the material of the dress.


    "Thanks." She twirled around. She pointed to the sensible shoe choice for the original date. "The shoes don''t really match, but what do you think?"


    The colour of the dress made her eyes sparkle. She looked like a princess. The sleeves ran down her arms. Her collar bones which peaked out from the neckline. The hemline of the skirt fell gently below her knees. Her smile would make any dress look perfect, but this took Gowan''s breath away. Gowan couldn''t find the words to describe how absolutely unreal she looked. It was as if she would disappear the moment he reached out to touch her.


    "Yeah," he managed to get out. "Looks good." He let out a nervous breath, cracking a small smile.


    "I feel better now." She stepped over the pile of clothes on the floor. "We should go find Victor."


    "Good idea." Gowan began to exit the store.


    "WAIT!" Elizabeth yelled suddenly.


    She ran over to a stand and took a small tiara that clipped into her hair. She quickly scanned the shelf nearby and took two small objects before returning to Gowan, holding out a carved, gold ring. "A placeholder, you know, until we have our small, intimate $500,000 wedding."


    Gowan placed the candle on a wooden bench in the store for a moment. "Hey, I got down on one knee for my proposal!"


    She slid another ring on her finger, beside the alfoil ring. "Yeah, but there''s glass everywhere. Plus, we have to be sensible with our money if we''re going to afford a honeymoon. Do you know how much this dress cost? I can''t be on the ground willy nilly!"


    Gowan gently tugged at the back of the dress, removing the safety pin that contained a small ribbon with the price attached. "Yeah, actually. You left the price on, tag dag!" His eyes widened at the $1,350 figure and immediately threw the tag on the ground.


    He picked up the candle and they continued to make their way to The Book Nook. They saw the initial damage that they assumed Donovan had made when he went on his small anger spree. When they entered, the store was dark and quiet.


    They called out to Victor and walked down every shelf to find him. Their back room was unlocked, but he wasn''t there. It was only about the size of a walk in wardrobe, so there was no way they could have missed him. They even checked the register. There was no sign of him.


    The base of her throat felt like it was sinking into her stomach. She felt dizzy. Sickness washed over her and she had to hold onto the front counter.


    Gowan put a comforting hand on her back. "It doesn''t mean something bad happened. He could have just taken the books and gone back himself. We don''t know how long we were."


    "You''re right," she gasped between short breaths. "He''s probably already on his way back."


    "Yeah, totally. Let''s take some deep breaths."


    Elizabeth had to sit down. She could feel her fight or flight kicking in, and it was starting to choose freeze again. "We should have seen him walk past."


    "He could have taken the long way. It''ll be fine. He knows his way in the dark."


    Elizabeth closed her eyes to focus on her breath, moving closer to Gowan an extra boost of oxytocin as his skin touched hers. "You''re right."


    A curdling, pain-filled scream ripped through the hallway.


    They were no longer so sure.

 The Game of Betchacant

    A piece of balled up paper bounced off the wall. It missed the bottle of water on the ground. Emilio and Saleem had taken a number of objects from around the room like peach cups, a toilet paper roll, and empty pill packets, and scattered them around the floor.


    "Damn!" Saleem clicked his fingers. "Bet you can''t hit the beans."


    Emilio began scrunching up a piece of paper.


    "What are you idiots doing?" Donovan asked blearily, as he began to sit up from his nap.


    Emilio held up his small paper ball. "This is a little game called Betchacant." He let out a disappointed sigh as he missed the tin of beans.


    "Betchachant?" Donovan narrowed his eyes.


    "Yeah, as in," he turned to Saleem, "Betchacant hit the bog roll." He had a slight smile. "Basic training was 80 days, then after that there was a lot of sitting in the desert waiting for action. Diggers have to get creative with limited stuff. There''s always rocks, and there''s always stuff to throw rocks at."


    "Dude, you really suck at marketing the army," Donovan remarked.


    "Well I don''t think they''re gonna be hiring any time soon," Emilio shot back dryly.


    Saleem let out a small cheer, raising his hands as his small ball of paper bounced off the toilet paper. "You''d think after the amount of times you lot have gone walkabout, you might have picked up a pack of cards or something."


    Donovan looked up towards the door. "It''s not like we thought we''d be here for this long."


    Matthew had begun to stir, so Donovan had prepared the next lot of pills with some water. Matthews wounds hadn''t been getting any better. They continued to smell and blacken. Donovan had been giving him paracetamol for his fevers, and the oxycodone for the pain.


    He wasn''t sure how long they could keep it up though, as Matthew had begun complaining about pain in his back and side. Saleem explained that pain like that could mean his body was having a difficult time processing all the medication he had been taking. They didn''t have any reliable way to tell how long had passed since his last dose.


    Donovan just wanted Matthew to be happy.


    "Are they back yet?" Matthew asked, through painful breaths. He took the medication and gulped it down with the water.


    "No." Donovan braced Matthew''s back as he sat up temporarily to avoid choking on the water.


    A tear ran down Matthew''s face. "What if they don''t come back?"


    "They''ll be back, mate. Don''t worry. Just wait for the fun stuff to kick in." Saleem knew that feeling well. Suicide Sundays. Aptly named from all of the various party substances wearing off from the weekend, making one''s brain crave all the happy chemicals. It left one feeling hopeless and sad. He didn''t miss it. He missed the bliss though.


    By the time the warmth had radiated through Matthew''s body and his brain was feeling fine again, he let out a cheer as the doors opened.


    Victor entered alone. He was somewhat out of breath. His expression looked shaken.


    He sprinted down the aisle, looking hastily through their supplies. He rifled through some spare blankets and ran back to the doors, tying the material as a sort of barricade.


    After he nodded, he came back down to the group. Silently, he simply sat down and stared at the space in front of him.


    "What''s wrong?" Emilio asked.


    Victor whispered, "The demons have won."


    Emilio had seen this expression before, in the guys that had seen some shit on the frontlines. "What do you mean?"


    "I read the books. There wasn''t much. I read through them. Only a third of people can pass. If the prophecy was fulfilled, then everyone else would be spared. Only three days should have passed. Our group started with 7 and 3 are dead, plus the returned soul. Saleem is the only one left from his group. The threshold is torn." Victor shook his head. "I believe we are trapped here now."


    Donovan whipped around. "No. There has to be a way. It''ll have to pass. We can''t just ... Be stuck here." He looked around hastily. "What if we pray? What if I pray more?" He yelled to the ceiling, "GOD, PLEASE HELP US!"


    Victor shook his head once more. "I fear that he may have stopped listening."


    Emilio squinted at Victor''s hands. "What''s that?" He closed his eyes and breathed out. "Please tell me you didn''t-" He jerked his head towards Matthew.


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    Victor closed his eyes. "I don''t know what happened. I can''t describe-" He frowned. "Gowan was not the same anymore."


    "You killed Gowan?" Emilio felt like the floor was sinking beneath him.


    "I was reading and I heard a noise. I took some nearby scissors and went to check it out." He wiped his hand on his pants. "Gowan''s eyes looked ..." he searched for the words, "bloodied? They were red. Not glowing, just ..." he shrugged, "red. He saw me and lunged, so I, you know," he made a single stabbing motion, "I stabbed and ran straight back here. We can''t let him back in. I don''t know what he is now, but he''s just not Gowan anymore."


    "Shit," Emilio said under his breath. "So now we just wait?"


    Victor just shook his head sadly, "I just don''t know anymore. I fear my God has left me."


    Emilio surveyed the sad scene around them. Their numbers were dwindling. The supplies would run out eventually. Every one of them was a drain on every other person.


    "I suppose that we can try to survive for who knows how long, or we can go out fast." Victor looked at Matthew, for once it looked like pity rather than the usual look of disgust.


    "But we still don''t know how the smoke works," Saleem noted, "What if it''s got to do with the cause of death."


    "Yeah, we don''t wanna Jonestown ourselves into black smoke territory," Donovan agreed, "If that was the case I''d rather take my chances melting outside."


    Emilio had spent many days of his life with the knowledge that it might be the day he died for a cause. Even within his marriage he was ready to lay down his life for Amy. There were now four kids in the room who had more time to enjoy life if there was a miracle and the skies were to clear. He could still make a difference for them.


    "Our two best guesses for the smoke is that suicide gives the purple smoke, or that anyone that''s killed someone gets black smoke," Emilio reasoned. "It''s no secret I''ve had to kill." He paused, looking around the room and waiting for any judgement.


    No judgement came. Everyone was listening intently.


    "If I kill myself, and someone watches, the colour of the smoke will get us more sure of the smoke."


    The room murmured in shock.


    "We can''t ask that of you," Saleem put his hand on Emilio''s shoulder.


    "You guys are young. Without Amy, it doesn''t matter if the sun comes back out. It will never shine for me again. Even if the lights come back on. I don''t want to die just to escape, if it can help in some way ..." He breathed deeply. "Just let me do this for you."


    Saleem shook his head, "I''m coming with you."


    "Good plan. No point scarring everyone for life. We can just go somewhere out in the foyer. I''ll-" He made a clicking noise while dragging his hand across his throat, "then you can come back and tell ''em."


    "No. I mean that I can''t let you go alone. If your smoke is dark, mine will be dark. I will have mine for doing some fucked up shit. You got yours from serving your country. I can''t let you go into the next life alone. You fought for mateship." Saleem''s boyish face was solemn. For once, he looked his age.


    Emilio frowned. "You don''t want to do that. I''ve told you before. The people that would cause my smoke to be dark looked a lot like you, mate. You don''t want to die for me. My wife wouldn''t even come back for me. I''ve lived a shit life worth jack."


    "I can''t forgive you on their behalf. I''m not even Afghan, dude. I know what''s right though, and right now? What''s right is not letting a man die thinking no one gives a shit, after his whole life was spent trying to stand for something. Right or not." He walked to a pile of stationery, grabbing a permanent marker.


    Emilio opened his mouth, but Saleem pointed at him decidedly.


    "If your smoke is dark, I''ll write it on the wall, then I''ll follow you. If it''s lavender, well," He shrugged, "I''ll write it on the wall and really hope you''ll come back for me."


    "For all of us," Victor added.


    Emilio took a moment and thought it over, "I can''t talk you out of it, can I?"


    "Nope." Saleem cracked a bitter-sweet smile.


    Emilio slapped his hand strongly on Saleem''s shoulder, "Son, you''re a man. This is your decision and it''s a god damn respectable one." He turned to Victor. "Give us a little time, then come find us. There''s a ramp in one of the doors near the one to the projector room. We''ll go in there." His voice lost it''s confidence, "It''s all concrete. If anything gets messy, it''d be easy to clean. The marker will be easy to see on the pale walls."


    "Are you sure?" Victor asked again. "After Gowan, I just ... If there''s knocking, we can''t let you back in. I don''t know what happened but I just don''t think we can trust that it won''t happen to anyone else."


    "What about Elizabeth?" Donovan asked.


    Victor''s mouth opened silently. He simply shook his head and shrugged.


    "Damn," Donovan whispered, hanging his head.


    Emilio picked up one of the candles. "Can I take this? It''ll just leave you with one, but you can pick it back up when you come to check."


    "Sure," said Victor.


    By this point, everyone''s voices were simply filled with defeat.


    "Where are they going?" Matthew asked groggily.


    "They''re just going to go get you more medication, baby." Donovan slowly stroked the back of Matthew''s hand.


    "Oh, ok. That''s good. Thank you Ememeh-" Matthew tried to say Emilio, but it simply didn''t work.


    "Yeah, mate." Emilio looked to Matthew with a small smile, trying to look comforting. "No worries, bud."


    He walked over to the pile of plastic they''d piled in the corner. He took the plastic bags that bulk toilet paper and paper towels came in. After this, he took a smaller blanket and some masking tape. He knew that suffocation was not a painless way to go, and his body would fight like hell. With luck, he could jolt into a wall as his body fought for air.


    He couldn''t take the medication from Matthew, and the only knife they had was with Gowan. He''d seen too many bedsheet nooses go wrong. The last thing they needed was another limp body. He was much heavier to move around than Matthew. He also secretly hoped that Saleem could get scared out of following his lead if his death looked painful enough.


    Once he''d gathered his materials, he nodded to Victor. "Alright, mate. Remember to tie the door back up behind us."


    As the door opened, Saleem took the lid off the marker. He drew a small heart on the large, silver handle of the door. "Thanks for taking me in, guys." As the door closed, he poked his head through the small gap. "See ya never."


    The pair walked towards the door to the room with the concrete ramp as the cinema doors rattled from Victor tying them together from the other side.


    "Are you sure this is what you want?" Emilio asked Saleem one last time.


    "My life amounted to nothing. At least in death I know I''m helping those guys in there."


    Emilio placed his hand on Saleem''s shoulder. "You''re a good man, mate. I hope I get to come back for you."

 Its About Sending a Message...

    Gowan grabbed Elizabeth tightly, making sure they were both concealed behind the payment desk. He didn''t need to worry, Elizabeth felt herself frozen again. She held her knees to her chest. The material from the emerald dress bunched around her legs to provide a soft cushion. It was the closest she could get to hugging a stuffed animal.


    They could hear a scuffle echoing in the hall. Elizabeth put her head on her knees, so her tears could soak into the skirt. Footsteps began to approach their direction. They grew louder.


    Gowan continued to hold Elizabeth tightly. He pressed his head on hers and felt the velvet of the bodice brush against his skin. They were foolish to let their guard down, but he would be happy if his last moments contained Elizabeth''s smile. Even if it was just over some silly dress.


    The footsteps continued. They were fast, and did not stop near the location of The Book Nook. Elizabeth and Gowan remained under the large, mahogany desk. The front panel and side drawers acted like a shield from whatever was outside of the bookstore.


    They remained huddled in silence, just trying to listen for any clue as to what had been outside and if it was still nearby. Elizabeth''s hands were icy and she had unknowingly began to shake. Gowan tried to put on a brave face as he prayed silently over them.


    He simply started whispering in Elizabeth''s ear, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. When I say the first part, I want you to breathe in, and when I say the second part, I want you to breathe out, ok?"


    She simply nodded.


    It was a trick that he had learned through a mentor of his. After the crash, after he returned to church, he had a lot of emotions and they all tried to come out all at once. Sometimes it was sadness, but mostly it was a twisted rage. It was aimed at himself and fueled by regrets, but it always appeared externally.


    Whenever he felt this way, he was told to breathe in while thinking "Be still and know that I am God," then breathe out even more slowly to cover the words "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Gowan enjoyed all the Psalms, but that one helped him the most.


    He knew that healing was never as easy as people in church wanted to make it out to be. The amount of stories that the people in his young adult programs had where the advice for depression or anxiety was "Just pray about it" made him pretty understanding of why church numbers dwindled in youth aged groups. Especially because it often followed an anxiety that if they did try to pray about it, and they still felt that way, they were sinning by not trusting in God.


    So, of course, Gowan made sure he took the time to give an ear over advice. He made sure to let the young people know he took them seriously. Then he''d make sure they knew that it was ok to not be ok. Only then, would he ask if they wanted advice or tricks that he used himself to get through the harder stuff.


    In this case, Elizabeth wasn''t one of the kids from his young adults groups. Nor was it the right time to create the space to share feelings in a structured way. Right now, he needed to get her calm. They needed to get back to the safety of the cinema.


    After sitting in the stillness, he began to usher Elizabeth back up.


    "We can''t stay here. We''ve got the only knife left." Gowan grasped around to find the knife in dark shadows of the book store.


    Elizabeth simply nodded.


    As they contorted their bodies to get through the entrance, another noise rang out that made them stop in their tracks. It was coming from the other end of the shopping center. The end where they had left the woman.


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    There was a gurgling. It sounded like someone was trying to scream again, but it wasn''t quite coming out correctly. Gowan knew they couldn''t just leave her if she needed help.


    Even though every fiber of Elizabeth''s body was crying out for her to stop, she held Gowan''s hand as they walked in the direction of Moss & Fire. She expected to eventually see the glow of the woman''s candles. Each step only lead them into more darkness. The only light was from their own candle.


    They continued to get closer to the gurgling. It was broken up by wheezing and sputtering. When they finally came to the store, it was totally dark inside.


    They made their way through the broken pane of glass in the main door, to walk to the center of the room. As the floorboards creaked to announce their arrival, the sounds became more frantic, but never closer to them unless the pair were the ones to move forward.


    Elizabeth scanned the room before letting out a pained exclamation.


    Far in the back of the store, the woman was hoisted to the wall. It was as if her body had been fused into the wall itself. Her hands were held up, almost like a crucifiction. The hourglass display had been broken around her and the shards of glass had been embedded into her skin methodically while the sands from the inside were scattered recklessly on the floor below.


    Her stomach had a strange symbol carved into it, which Elizabeth nor Gowan was familiar with. The woman''s mouth was bloody and she continued to struggle as the wall did not let up. Her body was covered in marks, as if something had tried to kill her.


    "Please," the woman whispered, "let me die."


    Her ribs were oddly shaped, as if they had been crushed by a large object. The lovely hair that once adorned her face was falling down limply as she struggled to keep her head up.


    Elizabeth ran to the woman, clawing at the wall. She tried desparately to find a way to dig the woman''s body out of it''s wooden prison. In frustration, she slammed her hand against the wall.


    "What happened?" Gowan asked, as he rushed to help Elizabeth.


    "He said he needed to teach me a lesson, about," the woman let out another pain-filled scream, "snitching on the time."


    Gowan''s eyes opened wide. "What did he look like? Was he tall, skinny, young looking?"


    "All the candles blew out. I couldn''t see," a bloodied tear fell down her cheek, "sorry."


    With a shallow gasp of air, the woman simply gave up. Within moments, lavender smoke consumed her body. The familiar smell of honey and vanilla filled the air.


    For a moment, relief washed over Elizabeth. The lavender smoke was calming. She didn''t understand it, but she knew it meant that poor woman was destined for a better place.


    The shards of glass remained embedded in the wall, as did the blood stains, and an odd impression from where the architecture had twisted and warped itself around the woman. Metal rods jutted out of the wall and Elizabeth realized they''d have been speared inside the woman too.


    Whatever had done this was not natural. It was clear that the demons were here. They knew their time of walking the halls in a silent comfort was over.


    Elizabeth fell to the ground in a squat, trying to avoid the glass from the shattered hourglass display. She grabbed her hair forcefully. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!"


    "We''ve got to get back to the group. They''re going to come for us now." He prayed that Victor got back safe.


    "But why?" Elizabeth asked, with tears in her eyes. "Why does it matter if we knew about the time? Don''t they want us to know our time is up?"


    Gowan pulled Elizabeth up excitedly, "You genius!"


    He placed down the candle, hugging her so tightly that he lifted her off the ground. After placing her down, he grasped her forearms.


    His voice had a spring in it that she''d not heard for what seemed like an eternity, "Lizzy, if we didn''t know the three days were up, we''d still be waiting around. We''d still be in the room going ''one more day, one more day'', until we withered away to nothing."


    "But now we know the time is up," she stated, trying to anticipate his train of thought.


    "Exactly. There''s only one reason that would matter." He bobbed his head, waiting for her to catch his drift.


    "That would only matter if there''s still a way to stop this."


    Gowan nodded and picked up the candle again. He held out is hand to Elizabeth, who grasped it with exhilaration.


    Elizabeth held the bunched up skirt in one hand as they ran through the corridors. Perhaps she shouldn''t have been smiling while there were demons lurking around, but she had been starting to feel like she''d never remember what hope felt like again. Her heart was pounding and she couldn''t stop the joy spreading over her face.


    Gowan squeezed Elizabeth''s hand as they ran towards the escalators. "We''re going to get Matthew to the hospital."


    Elizabeth''s face was flushed. She puffed, as they looked up to the cinema foyer above them. Step by step, she made her way closer to safety. "And we''re going to sit on your crappy car and look at those stars!"


    Elizabeth felt invincible. She was ready to finish this. These demons were working hard, but she was ready for her hope to work harder.

 Can We Skip to the Good Part?

    Donovan cleared his throat. He had nothing in common with Victor, even after all this time. Silence simply filled the air as the two men sat far apart in the dark room. Donovan did his best to keep Matthew asleep, so he wouldn''t need to hear his cries of agony any longer.


    "Do you think Saleem would be back by now?" he asked Victor awkwardly, trying to make conversation.


    "I think-"


    There was a knock. A rattle followed. Finally, sounds like hands slamming against the door began.


    Victor''s eyes widened. He hushed Matthew as he began to stir. "We can''t make any noise."


    "Hey! It''s us!" Gowan''s voice yelled from the other side, "We''re back!"


    Victor got close to the floor. "We can''t let them in." He moved toward Donovan and Matthew.


    "What do we do?" Donovan whispered back.


    The rattling on the doors got more frantic. "Hey!" Gowan''s voice yelled again.


    Elizabeth''s voice joined in too, "Anyone there? Hey!"


    "Whatever is out there wants to get in. We can''t let them," Victor said hastily.


    "But what do we do?" Donovan asked a second time.


    "Whatever that thing was," Victor said, keeping his eyes on the door, "we can fight against it but we won''t win." He looked to Matthew. "Even if we somehow managed to get past him, there''s no chance for Matthew anymore."


    Donovan was not expecting something so blunt. "What?"


    "What do we do? Get past the doors then drag him through armies of demons? To what? The outside where he melts and then we eventually die or starve to death?" Victor shook his head. "There''s no way out for us. Not anymore."


    "I know he''s right." Matthew''s voice was weak. "We can''t win. I can''t live like this just because you''re too scared to be alone."


    "No," Donovan held Matthew''s face in his hands, "I love you. I won''t let you die."


    "Sometimes," Matthew said, "love hurts us. Please."


    Donovan looked to the dwindling piles of medication. "I don''t know if there''s enough here for you to go like Violet did. I don''t know how else we could do it."


    Victor reached down, pulling up his long black pants and into his boot. He produced the missing knife. He pushed it into Donovan''s hand.


    "What the fuck?" Donovan questioned.


    "I''m not proud of it, but I took it when Elizabeth and Gowan had two. I just thought," he shrugged, "I thought one day I could use it to help."


    Donovan pushed the knife back. "No way! You started it, you finish it. I''m not fucking killing my boyfriend!"


    "Please babe," Matthew begged, "I want you to end it. I can''t. I''m not strong enough to push down. I''m just ..." his eyes began to close, "I''m just so tired."


    "I can''t kill you. I won''t. There''s got to be a way!" Donovan pointed to the doors. The pounding was getting stronger. "I will go up there and charge through any motherfucker and get you out myself!"


    "This is the end!" Victor exclaimed. "This is it! Are you going to let him just get taken? What if they take him like Gideon? You talk all this garbage about your love and then you want this boy to be sucked into the atmosphere through ashes and slime?"


    "No! I just want to fucking grow old together. Not this!"


    "Come on!" Matthew called from the ground, "Come on D. Think of your anger. Think of your dad. Your life could be different without me. Your dad could have loved you if you didn''t love me. Doesn''t that make you angry?"


    "I could never hate you!" Donovan yelled through frustrated tears, "My dad can go fuck himself! I fucking love you! I fucking love you!"


    "Don''t you remember," Matthew said through tears, "the time you got beat up in year 12? When they called you a homo? Getting your bag stolen so they could dump glitter in it? Just because I thought it''d be fine to hold your hand?" He began wheezing and coughing, he tried to lift himself up but he was too weak. "Get mad! Be mad at me, D! Just," the pain was excruciating, "Just end me!"


    "You know it''s the right thing," Victor said, pushing the knife back into Donovan''s hand.


    "No!" Donovan pushed back. "I don''t want anger! I just want to love him!"


    Matthew let out a guttural groan as he fell forward while trying to lift himself towards the two tousling men. He dragged himself closer as Victor and Donovan continued to argue. Victor was winning.


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    Donovan had been getting weaker over the previous days. He''d saved as much medication for Matthew, opting to take none to help with his own condition. It left him unsteady on his feet, and not as forceful as Victor.


    In a last ditch attempt, he closed his eyes and pushed himself into Victor in an attempt to move them away from Matthew. Victor stood his ground, pushing forward himself, it caused them both to tumble over Matthew''s body that was awkwardly trying to crawl over the floor.


    In a split moment, Matthew let out a gravelly yell.


    Gowan had forced the doors back and forward enough that the material had loosened enough to let him see the knife on the ground away from Matthew. That hadn''t stopped one of the two fighting to have stepped squarely on his windpipe.


    It was not clear who had caused the issue.


    "No!" Donovan yelled. It was painful. He ran to scoop up Matthew. "No! Baby, no. No! I love you." He started whispering to himself, "I can fix this. Oh god, oh god. No. I can fix this."


    Matthew was rapidly losing consciousness as the air could no longer travel through his system. He held up a limp arm to his lover''s mouth, letting out a noise similar to a "shhh". All he could do was look his world in they eyes and mouth "I love you" before his whole body went limp.


    Donovan could feel the prickles of tears force their way to the surface. The last time he cried was when he watched his father hug his younger brothers at Christmas time. He wasn''t invited to the photographs anymore. All of it, all of the bullshit the world had thrown at him had been worth it because of the man who hung limply in his arms.


    The man he''d decorate an apartment with. The man he''d make breakfast for. The man he''d walk down the aisle whether the fuck his dad would be there or not. Now he had no one.


    He clung to the body for as long as he could before the scent of honey and vanilla began to permeate around him. The tears fell harder and he tried to hold on a little tighter. He used all his concentration to remember the final moment. All he wanted was to remember what the man he loved felt like. Before his foot were to sever his airways forever.


    Of course it was his fault. Never in his life did he make anything better. Now he was trapped with a man who would tell him he was destined to hell anyway.


    He wasn''t going to wait around to wither away until the black smoke swept him away for his crimes. His eyes darted towards the knife. Amy didn''t make it look too hard.


    Victor followed Donovan''s eyes. He walked over to the knife and picked it up. He placed it in Donovan''s hand. "I don''t think you have it in you."


    "And what the fuck do you know?" Donovan snapped angrily, "This is your fault. He''s fucking dead because you couldn''t fucking let it go!"


    "What''ll you do?" Victor asked coldly, "Kill me too?"


    The words poured over Donovan like a bucket of ice. He knew it. He felt it, but now he knew it. It was his foot. He tried to say something back, but that reaction inside of him just snapped when faced with too much confrontation.


    He ran.


    He ran up the aisle, and cut through the sheets holding the door closed. He didn''t give a fuck anymore. They could come and get him. They could come and get Victor. There was no one left there worth saving.


    He opened the doors and, as fast as his uneven gait would let him, he simply began to move quickly away from the cinema. He went down the escalator and just moved anywhere, as long as he kept moving. It was like he was almost in a trance. His brain could just not process anything, and he did not care what would get him in the dark anymore.


    Elizabeth and Gowan were taken aback, they watched him power past and move towards the doors that Gideon had been swallowed up from days ago. Squinting in the limited light, they watched as he then turned towards the direction of Gleesons. They peered into the cinema to see Victor alone in the candlelight.


    "You take Victor, I''ll go follow Donovan," Gowan instructed Elizabeth.


    She nodded and made her way into the auditorium.


    Gowan kept the candle and ran towards the direction that Donovan had gone. It wasn''t long before Gowan''s candlelight was gaining on Donovan, which only made him move faster.


    Donovan''s only objective was an exit. He was ready to be swallowed up by the universe. Leaving no remains of ash and goo was the only worthwhile ending for himself, he thought, after what he had done.


    His eyes were drawn to the fire door that was softly illuminated by light behind it. It must have been a sign. He violently used his whole body to open the heavy, white doors to find a long, cement hallway. On the floor was a single, lit candle. It wasn''t like the ones that Victor had provided.


    He began to walk through the hall.


    Gowan stopped at the fire doors. "Hey!" he yelled out.


    Donovan didn''t stop.


    "Hey!" Gowan yelled a little louder.


    The sound of Gowan''s footsteps transitioning to the concrete floor let Donovan know he was getting closer. Donovan knew that Gowan had the strength to stop him.


    He turned slightly, to get a better idea of how much distance was between him and Gowan. Doing so caused his feet to stumble again, knocking the candle. His cheap, work uniform pants caught fire quickly. His immediate instinct was to reach down, causing the flames to jump to other parts of his clothing.


    The first thing he felt was not the heat of the flame, but the almost freezing burn of his clothes melting to his body.


    "STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!" Gowan yelled, taking off his own shirt to try and use it to hit some of the flames away. "Man! Get on the ground! Get on the ground!"


    The yelling just made the situation more overwhelming. Donovan fell to the ground, but it was too late. The smell of burning hair and flesh was already filling the hallway with plumes of grey smoke from the fire. The last feeling Donovan had was his eyes stinging from the fumes as his whole body felt like it was being bitten by ants.


    Gowan began to choke, and remained low to the floor as he tried to exit back through the end of the corridor he had entered from. As he reached the end, he turned around and saw the unexpected. Lavender smoke was making it''s way out of the body, and a glowing light at the other end of the hallway began to come closer.


    Matthew smiled and waved at Gowan in the distance. He crouched over Donovan''s charred, smouldering remains and sat him up to hug him, just as Donovan had been doing for him. The vanilla and honey smell had taken over the disgusting smell of burning and death. Donovan''s corpse began to return to a state of normalcy.


    Slowly, Donovan stood up and took Matthew''s hand.


    "I would always come back for you," Matthew said.


    "Wait," Donovan asked, smelling the air, "my smoke wasn''t-"


    "Nope."


    "So, it wasn''t-"


    Matthew shook his head again smiling, "Uh uh. Even if it was, I would always come back."


    They both turned around to smile at Gowan one last time before the lavender smoke beckoned them from the other end of the hallway. Gowan made his way out of the fire exit. He looked back one last time and saw the pair facing each other and holding hands.


    The happy lovers shared a gentle kiss before the exit doors gently closed themselves.

 Stargazing

    Gowan didn''t waste any time wandering through the halls. Whatever had killed the woman could still be lurking. He walked straight to the auditorium where Elizabeth was getting debriefed by Victor.


    They looked to Gowan, who shook his head. "Purple smoke. Both of them."


    Elizabeth spoke, "Emilio and Saleem are gone too."


    "So it''s just us now." Gowan was not asking a question.


    The cinema floor had become a mess. There were blankets and food scattered around. The floor where Matthew had been laying was covered in stains that smelled of blood, sweat, and vomit. Each empty bed was a reminder of their fallen friends.


    "What should we do?" Gowan asked.


    Elizabeth didn''t speak. She just began to walk around to the spare bedding and fold away pillows and blankets. They stacked neatly in a corner. The dirtied ones left from botched first aid attempts were placed in a separate pile.


    It''s what Elizabeth was good at her whole life. She waited until messes were made, and then she cleaned them up. She was not strong or brave, but you didn''t need to have any exceptional traits to simply be there after the fallout.


    "Sorry for the barricade, I just ..." said Victor, "We can''t leave anymore."


    Elizabeth nodded. "We saw what they can do. We''re just glad they didn''t get you."


    "So that''s it? We''re just stuck here?" Gowan asked.


    Victor gestured to Gowan''s knife. "That''s the only weapon we have left."


    Gowan searched helplessly, "What about prayer?"


    "It hasn''t helped us so far."


    "So that''s it? We just wait?" Gowan looked around. The auditorium was so empty.


    They had food supplies, and enough basic survival supplies to last a while. Yet what was survival if they were just huddled in the dark waiting to be hunted. Gowan wanted more from his life than dying in the dark, hungry and frightened.


    Victor picked up his bible. "I''m going to keep reading. The adrenaline is going to keep me awake." He smiled gently at Gowan. "Who knows, I might have missed something. Elizabeth filled me in on what you saw. Just leave the knife with me, and go on a date night while you still have time."


    Victor took the knife from Gowan and began to cut scraps of fabric to better secure the doors with. He made braids of fabric rope that he wove around the door.


    Gowan watched for a while before turning his attention back to Elizabeth. Even after all they''d seen recently, he couldn''t help but smile. He watched her in the pretty green dress, folding linens and tidying the space. For a moment he let his mind wander.


    He played with his silly little ring she had taken from the clothing store for him. He imagined coming home from a day at work, where she''d been working as a wife. Maybe she''d want to work a day job too. That''d be ok. Then they could both make the beds and do the dishes.


    He could cook her recipes his mother used to make. He''d want to surprise her with the nice things she wanted. Maybe they''d have children, and they could all go outside on quiet nights to look at the stars together.


    He took one of the least-soiled blankets and spread it out on the floor. He took some paper plates and arranged biscuits and some dried fruit in fancy patterns, placing the two remaining candles in the center. He took the remaining gold thumbtacks and placed them randomly in high places on the wall. Finally, he took pillows and placed them on his makeshift picnic rug.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "My dear," he called to Elizabeth, who was busy picking up the mess of random items with small paper balls scattered amongst them.


    She turned around to see the small picnic spread.


    He gestured grandly to the small meal on paper plates and mismatched bedding he had prepared. "Your feast awaits."


    She could feel the tears making her eyes blurry, but for once it wasn''t from fear. It wasn''t from sadness. No man had ever put such simple thoughts into making her life feel special.


    Gowan took her hand and lead her over to the picnic where they began munching on the makeshift, mostly-beige charcuterie board.


    He shook a small pack of raisins. "I think it''s time we break out the raisins. The fanciest of the dried fruits."


    "Really?"


    "They''re the closest thing to wine we''ve got."


    Elizabeth heaved a sigh, "I''d kill for a wine right now."


    Gowan clicked at Victor, playfully. "Gaston! Your finest wine, please!"


    Victor looked up from the bible and rolled his eyes. "I think we might have some of those electrolyte tablet things that make water fizzy if you want?"


    Elizabeth framed her face with her hands and batted her eyelids. "If it wouldn''t be too much trouble."


    Victor paused for a moment, putting his bible down. He shuffled out of the row he was sitting in. "You''re lucky we''re about to die and banking on good will and charity is a solid heaven strategy."


    "Thank you," Elizabeth said, in a playful, drawn out fashion as Victor made his way to the backpack where the medical supplies were kept.


    Gowan shrugged. "Probably a good thing to have anyway. I think the orange ones help fend off scurvy."


    "Mmm," Elizabeth exclaimed, "I love it when you talk sexy."


    "Sorry," he chuckled, "it''s been a while."


    "Nonsense! We''re married. We''ve been on plenty of dates. Remember the old accommodation share we rented out in Bundaberg? It was beautiful!"


    Gowan scrunched his face. "Bundy? Really? That''s the epitome of romance?"


    "It was a farm stay. We got to pat chickens and watch the sunset. I am but a simple woman, with simple tastes."


    Gowan laughed.


    Victor interrupted with a forceful cough. "Your drinks."


    "Ah, thank you." Elizabeth took the paper cup and sipped it with her pinky raised.


    Victor rolled his eyes and slunk back to reading his book.


    The fizz of the tablet softly disintegrating in the bottom of the cup gave Elizabeth a small burst of happiness. It had only been a week, and yet she missed all the conveniences of life. Coffee was a big one, but she never thought she''d miss getting lectured in the break room about how diet soda was bad because of the aspartame. Sweet, sweet aspartame.


    As they continued to eat, Elizabeth felt her body giving itself permission to relax. She placed her hands behind her so she could lean back.


    "Oh!" Gowan exclaimed, as he noticed, "I brought pillows!"


    There was a moment of silence, before he cut it short. He blushed and began to apologise profusely. "No! Not for- I didn''t mean- I wasn''t intending-"


    Elizabeth put her arm on his. "Chill out." She pointed at Victor, sitting half way up the auditorium, flicking through the bible profusely. "We''ve got a guardian."


    "No you don''t!" He called out. "The world is ending. Have premarital sex. Who cares. I won''t look," he said flatly. Elizabeth wasn''t expecting such cynicism from someone who had entered seven days ago with such gravitas.


    Gowan and Elizabeth exchanged a look.


    "Let''s ..." Elizabeth whispered, "We''ll deal with that later."


    "Oh honey," Gowan said in a playful tone, "you know teenage boys. They just go through phases."


    Elizabeth caught on immediately. "Ah, I knew we should have sent him to that boarding school to be set straight! Now, where were we?"


    Gowan had set up the pillows to allow them to sit up slightly while facing the wall with the thumb tacks. The candlelight glistened off them, making them sparkle. The pair lay down, with Gowan''s arm around Elizabeth as she put her hand on his chest.


    "I promised you stars," he said, "but this was the closest I could get."


    She noticed that some of the thumbtacks were in the shape of star patterns she knew.


    "Hey! I see the Southern Cross!" She pointed. "Also the saucepan one! There''s the handle."


    Gowan laughed, "That''s the big dipper. Although, sometimes it''s called the plough."


    They searched a little longer. Gowan pointed out all the different constellations he had set up for them. He could feel his arm go numb from Elizabeth leaning on it, but he didn''t want her to move. Her hair was oily from the week, and in any other situation maybe it wouldn''t be so charming, but it smelled like French fries to him.


    Eventually he looked over to see Elizabeth was asleep. He could feel his eyes getting heavy too. Smiling to himself, he allowed the feeling of a warm sleep to wash over him with a smile on his face.

 Do Dogs Have Teeth?

    Gowan was awoken by Elizabeth yelling and scrambling away from their picnic.


    Victor stood over them with the knife.


    "What are you doing?!" Gowan yelled.


    He turned to Gowan. "Every time you leave you come back. Every time you could have killed, someone else took it. Every time I try to get rid of you, you keep coming back. I thought at the very least if I could get you drowsy and horny enough, you''d be easy to break down."


    With his back turned, Elizabeth took a running start at Victor with the intent to grapple the knife from him. He held up one hand and she was pushed back across the room.


    "I don''t understand ..."


    Victor clicked his tongue. "But you do. Well, you understand God at least. Evil won this time though."


    "Are you," he lowered his voice, "Satan?"


    "Your books got it a little wrong. I''m just here to collect the souls. The darkness is winning, for sure. Even before the rain you didn''t need me to tell you that much. The navy blue smoke when those people died? That just means I''ve won."


    "What are the rules?" Gowan just wanted to keep Victor talking. If he was talking, he wasn''t harming them.


    "Ah, where''s the fun in telling you that?"


    "Why here? Why a shopping center in Queensland?"


    Victor shrugged. "I thought it would be fun. I mean, if everyone is dying, why not make it a game. After all, reality television is all the rage. I thought you humans would love it." He began walking towards Gowan slowly. "I thought it might give me a chance to score a few more points. Then I saw you." He held up his hands mockingly. "The selfless man of God, trying to get out the best in others. I''m surprised you didn''t see through me."


    "You spent all your time reading The Bible?"


    "That old thing? Ugh. It was so boring, I mean, come on. After a while get some more material, you know?" Victor waived his finger. "My real genius was the beeswax candle thing. I thought I had you with the candle trick ... But you just had to go and find that woman. Do you know how hard it was to find a loophole to get her to shut up? People will do almost anything to themselves if you show them something scary and give them the small promise of life." He made a jokey hugging movement. "Just couldn''t risk her running afterwards though, and blowing the cover too soon!"


    Gowan looked to Elizabeth to make sure that she was still safe.


    Victor was under an arms length away from Gowan.


    "I had to teach her a lesson, but really, her blood is on your hands. You and this bitch," he gestured to Elizabeth, "blabbing about the three days being done."


    "Watch it."


    "I could have kept you here forever until you simply withered away. In fact, I still might." He put the knife in Gowan''s hand. "Or you can kill yourself and your little girlfriend to end the pain a little more quickly. It''s really up to you."


    Gowan snatched the knife.


    Victor''s eyes got wider. He smirked. "Oh no, mister," he said sarcastically.


    He guided Gowan''s hand to his own pale cheek, pushing in the knife blade and slowly slashing his own flesh. He looked Gowan in the eyes as he took his hand to the wound, taking some blood on his fingers and licking it like a kitten. "I''m from the underworld, baby." He winked at Gowan. "You''ll need something bigger than a knife to hurt me."


    The slash faded instantly from Victor''s face.


    Victor took one of the candles and walked to the double doors calmly. He turned to face the pair. "I think it''s just a little more fun if I turn this into a DIY couple''s project. I''ll let you decide how the adventure ends."


    He untangled his frayed rope from the doors then turned around to face them.


    "Do me a favour, will you? I''ll give you one last chance to look at each other. You''ve been so cute together. I don''t want your last memories of each other''s faces have been fun after you stole so many potential souls from me. I could have used them, you know! Torment gets boring when it''s the same old faces for all of eternity!"


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    They both continued to look at Victor, stunned.


    "Look at each other!" he demanded more loudly.


    They complied.


    "I want you to look at each other, with those watery eyes. Those snotty noses. Knowing you''re going to die. Slowly or at each other''s hands. All you can do is die now. In the dark. After wasting your lives." He clicked his fingers, causing the remaining candle to go out. "The best part is that one of you will have to face the end alone. That''s a nice consolation for me."


    The door clicked behind him as they were left in the room alone.


    "I''m not going to kill you," Gowan whispered.


    "I''m not going to kill you either," Elizabeth whispered back.


    They whispered to each other, using their voices to locate each other until they were reunited in the darkness.


    "Why didn''t he kill us?" Elizabeth asked.


    "Maybe he''s not allowed to?" Gowan guessed.


    "But Victor said there was a fight, and Donovan stood on Matthew."


    "I saw it through the door. It was an accident, but it was definitely Donovan who fell over him. Maybe it''s to do with intent."


    "Whatever it is," Elizabeth said, "we can''t stay here. We don''t know what he is, if he can see in the dark, what he''s capable of. We can''t just die. What if he''s in the projection booth?"


    Gowan breathed deeply, "but what if he''s waiting out there?"


    "We don''t have a choice. We need light again and a better spot until we think of something else. You saw my dress, Gowan. I''m ready to go out, let''s go out pretty."


    He found her forehead in the dark and gave her a kiss. They fumbled around in the dark for the candle Victor had left with them. Eventually, they were able to track one down amongst the rattle of the plates that were still on their makeshift picnic blanket. He left the knife, there was no longer any point of using it against something so ungodly.


    The couple made their way to the door. After a deep breath they pushed it open and quickly made their way down the escalator.


    Elizabeth''s heart dropped as she saw the light from the candle round the corner of the food court under the cinema level. The pair began to run in the dark as Victor''s candle followed.


    "Hey!" he yelled out. "Hey! That wasn''t an option! Get back in there and die already!"


    They tried to run lightly on their feet, but their footsteps betrayed them. Every time they used a side-alley to change corridor, it was as if Victor could always keep up. Elizabeth could feel herself slowing down, her lungs were burning, but she just kept going to keep up as best she could with Gowan. He was taller, so he could cover more distance, but he was not going to leave Elizabeth behind.


    "We can''t go to The Home Store," he panted, "he knows that''s where we got light from the first time."


    As they slipped down another corridor, and for a brief moment, there was full darkness. Elizabeth yanked Gowan''s hand and they felt for the contorted entrance of The Book Nook. Relying on muscle memory, once again they slipped under the safe, solid, checkout desk.


    They tried to catch their breath, while simultaneously not allowing the noise they were making to betray them if Victor were to slip down this corridor.


    The walkway outside the contorted door begun to light up. He was nearby.


    "Come on, now," Victor taunted, "this is just fun for me. How''s it going to play out for you? Be logical now."


    The pair gathered together as tight as they could. Elizabeth jammed her eyes shut to avoid any sobs escaping as he walked past. She prayed that he would have the foresight to look for them in here.


    He did.


    "Are you in here?" he asked, as he took his candle and walked up and down the shelves filled with books.


    He stood in front of the check out desk, and did a 360¡ã pan of the room before sighing and leaving.


    They continued to wait in silence as the light got dimmer and dimmer until they were back under the cloak of complete darkness.


    "I don''t think we can win this one," Elizabeth finally said shakily. "You saw what he can do to entire walls."


    "So why didn''t he do that to you? To me? He said he can''t kill us, but what if he just fused us to a wall and left us to starve?"


    Gowan shrugged. "I don''t know demon logic," he said, somewhat dismissively. "Holy moly!" He begun tapping her excitedly. "I don''t know demon logic."


    Elizabeth said nothing.


    "My mum used to say ''If a dog bites you, and you don''t bite him back, he''ll say you have no teeth'' - Victor hasn''t hurt me, and maybe it''s because I''ve got something he doesn''t."


    Gowan let go of Elizabeth and held the candle in both hands. He closed his eyes tightly, really deeply trying to feel certainty in his chest. "Lord, I give this situation to you. It''s gotten dark Lord. I want to be a soldier for you, Lord. I need you. I need you. I need you. I ask in your son''s name for light."


    Elizabeth joined in softly, "Please, Lord. I don''t pray, but Gowan has been faithful to you. Please, Lord."


    Gowan didn''t command anything. He wasn''t loud. There was no exciting yelling like those loud American pastors on television. He simply asked for light with all his heart.


    When his eyes were opened, he realised he could see the underside of the desk again with all of it''s marking and scratches. The age and wear of the mahogany was the second most beautiful thing to see in the light. The first was the glimpse of Elizabeth, with her eyes closed in humble prayer.


    Elizabeth let out a mix between a sigh and a laugh. "Oh my God."


    "He can be your God," Gowan had a cute smirk on his face, "if you want to accept him."


    She gestured, stunned, at the candle, "Well I kinda feel like I have to at this point."


    They shared a moment of relief.


    "But what now?" she asked.


    "I mean," Gowan floundered, "there''s not really a manual for a demon uprising, but I guess they cast out demons in the bible." He shrugged, "Should we try that?"


    "In a second," she said. She looked in his eyes. "Do you mind if we just ..." Her eyes wandered down to his full lips.


    He placed the candle on top of the desk and embraced her. He held his hand under his chin and for one moment the world stopped spinning as their lips touched. All the darkness melted away and for one moment, the journey had been worth it.


    If Gowan could just leave a world for Elizabeth, he would have lived for something.

 The Part Where Someone Has to Triumph (The End)

    They walked out of the hallway. Gowan was still holding the candle. They had started to slowly turn down one of the alleys when the flicker of another candle caught theirs.


    "Oh! Cute! You managed the gum wrapper prison lighter trick again! Yay!" Victor said, patronisingly. "Well," Victor said, "that''s a very neat trick you managed, but I said you were staying in the cinema."


    Gowan squared up his shoulders. "You gonna make us?"


    Victor looked Gowan up and down and laughed. "I can be persuasive."


    He turned to Elizabeth, and slowly lifted his lanky fingers upwards.


    Shooting pain coursed through Elizabeth''s arm. forearm began rotating by itself until it felt like it was going to snap. She felt that familiar freezing response coming back. She let out a yelp, then a whimper. Her eyes were welling with water again, as she looked at Gowan with a shame in her eyes.


    Gowan gasped. "No. No, no. No." He looked at Victor, "stop!" He held out a hand to Elizabeth, "It''s not your fault."


    "This is just the beginning," Victor bragged, "I can keep going. It''s your choice really."


    "We''ll go!" Gowan yelled, angrily.


    Rapidly, Elizabeth''s arm untwisted, springing back into the correct placement. She yelled again, as tears streamed down her face.


    She couldn''t place it. To watch her body be contorted in a way that was not controlled by herself. It took her back to memories she didn''t want to relive. She felt nauseous. The shame that coursed through her body brought her back to feeling like she was fresh at university again, getting told to not drink as much and maybe she''d be safer.


    They trudged through the hallway, the two candles still lit.


    Victor ushered them back into the cinema. He walked them one last time down the aisle to the home that they had settled into days prior. Victor''s gaze drifted over the cardboard boxes of beige food they had been sustaining themselves on.


    "Oh! You know what could be fun, you know, to help you make up your minds quicker?" He gestured to the cardboard. "We could test if this is flammable! Wouldn''t that be fun! Then you could have three choices! Well, I suppose starving to death would be off the table if you both burned to a crisp," he shrugged nonchalantly, "but I''d get to leave this shithole sooner."


    "Why?" Gowan yelled at Victor, "Just why? Why did you do this to us? To the town? Why take away the light? The electricity? Just to torment a handful of people and kill everyone else?"


    Victor''s cheekbones were exaggerated by his smile. "Because it''s fun."


    Gowan said nothing.


    "What?" Victor asked flatly, "Are you waiting for a lesson here?" He closed his eyes in glee. "It''s simply fun." He laughed. "You''re both going to die because I am bored and your souls are fun to play with."


    "Not ours." Gowan shook his head. "Not anymore."


    Victor cocked an eyebrow. "What''re you going to do? Run away again?"


    "Nah." He walked over to Victor more menacingly. "I figured it out. I figured out why you kept volunteering me for the dangerous stuff. I figured out why you wanted me to stay away."


    "Did you?" Victor remained unmoved.


    Gowan took a deep breath, and first moved to Elizabeth. He nodded his head slightly. "Lizzy, I love you. I would have given the world for you to be Mrs. Elizabeth Daniel, but I don''t know what will happen after this."


    They kissed softly.


    "I love you too," she whispered.


    "Fucking hell, I had to sit through this already." Victor yawned. "Do your little show so I can hurry up and set you on fire."


    "I''m already on fire, bro. For the Lord. And I am calling on him now," Gowan spoke with power and authority. "I call on you Lord to fill me with your spirit. Use me as a vessel Lord to get rid of this demon and reclaim your earth."


    Victor tapped his foot, "It won''t work, I''m telling you."


    Gowan ignored him. "Use me, Lord. Use me to win these battles against darkness as your faithful servant. I want to be filled with your light, Lord. I want to be used by you."


    "I''m going to set the garbage on fire now," Victor began walking over to the pile of boxes.


    Elizabeth began calling out too, "Use him Lord. Use him as a vessel. Fill him with your light. Fill him with your love."


    The two remained pleading to the Lord as Victor simply remained amused, mocking them and their attempts. He stopped in his tracks when the sound of a great trumpet call rocked the building. It was loud, and caused the trio to cover their ears. Gowan and Elizabeth kept going.


    The knife they had left earlier on the floor began to glow a purple colour. Elizabeth was the first to notice and dived for the weapon. Victor called out in alarm, but she was able to dodge him just in time to get the knife to Gowan.


    "The Lord is on my side, Victor. Who do you have? The darkness? You''re not going to take the world out like that. There are only two of us, but we are under one mighty Lord."


    In an act of desperation, Victor lunged at the cardboard boxes with his candle to set all three of them ablaze in the cinema room.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Gowan knew he had to charge. He took the knife, pulsating with the glowing purple light, and took it to Victor''s side. As he plunged it in, the demon let out the roar of pain he had caused so many others. The roar evolved into what sounded like the shrieking of bats. Black flakes peeled from the wound and soon disappeared into the air above.


    A powerful light sprung from the wound that was so strong Elizabeth had to cover her eyes. Gowan yelled what Elizabeth could only describe a righteous battle cry as he held the knife inside the evil that had tormented those inside Southglen Shopping Center for an entire week. Suddenly, the room went quiet and dark as both flames went out.


    Elizabeth froze as the entire world stopped around her.


    The cinema screen became softly illuminated with the faint glow of the standby screen. The cinema looked different with the dim lights in the room. It looked bigger. It didn''t look like home anymore.


    Her heart sank as she looked to the middle of the room. Gowan''s body lay lifeless on the ground. He was fused into the charred remains of Victor, whose body had half changed to ooze that was pooling on the floor. She knelt beside Gowan and touched his face, knowing it would be the last time.


    "Thank you," she whispered softly to him.


    She took his arm one last time and lay down beside him. The arm that was not fused to Victor''s remains was heavy, but she wrapped it over herself. She placed her head on his chest one last time. There was no heartbeat. There was no breath. So she just lay there, in silence, looking at the ring she''d picked out from the fancy clothing store beside the foil ring.


    She closed her eyes, just so she could take in his smell one last time. Even though it wasn''t the same, mixed with the smell of ash and burning skin. "Mrs. Elizabeth Daniel," she said to herself as she closed her eyes.


    It took all of her strength to finally remove his arm from her. She took one final look at her love, and the room she had spent the last week or so inside of, and made her way out the doors. She could see the light behind them. As she opened them, she saw that the skylight was working again, as were the regular fluorescent lights.


    It was day time, and the natural light flooded into the mall.


    She saw the escalator working again, but for curiosity''s sake, she decided she''d see what the fire exit looked like with working lights. After all, she had the time. Not to mention, there was no one to tell her she couldn''t. She could always come back up and glide down the escalator whenever she felt like it.


    As she entered the ramp, she noticed the plastic wrappers littered on the ground amongst pieces of fabric. One of the pieces was fashioned into a noose. The third beeswax candle lay on the cement nearby, above it were words scrawled crudely in marker on the rough, cement wall. "Black smoke for murder."


    She stopped in her tracks. Through everything that had happened, she had forgotten that she had killed a man. Yes, she could walk outside, but to who? Was the world still going to be spinning? If she did live a full life, would she end up in the black smoke anyway?


    In a daze, she continued down the exit to come out at the now well-lit food court. She turned the corner to walk past the escalator. For a moment, she stopped to remember Amy''s fall.


    One foot after the other, she could do this.


    She wandered the corridors one last time, stopping by Woodland Fawn to collect Gideon''s car keys from her previously discarded pants. It was no longer necessary to get Matthew from the hospital, but it could at least get her away from the mall.


    She knew it was time.


    She continued to the large foyer entrance with the main sliding doors. They loomed in front of her, with newspaper still over the windows. She looked up at the frosted skylight, just to make sure she was not imagining the sun coming in.


    With a deep breath, she walked into the sensor line of the double doors.


    They opened for her.


    Outside the air smelled crisp. She never considered that trees had a scent before. The sky was a vibrant blue, and the wind kissed her skin. However, the world appeared empty.


    There were cars in the parking lot, but none on the road. Not a single person walked on the footpath nearby. There was no one else in the world. It was just Elizabeth.


    What was the point of being alive when there was no one to share it with? Gowan had sacrificed himself for her, but what could she live for if there was no one left to love? He died for her, but she would one day just devolve into a pile of black smoke. The man she had killed sure didn''t seem like the forgiving type.


    She played with the car keys in her hand. They were heavy and cold. It felt different to walk on the concrete footpath after spending so long in carpeted areas and polished flooring.


    She took her shoes off and flexed her toes as she placed them in the grass on the nature strip. In the distance, some birds were chirping. A small smile spread on her face as she let this small moment sink in.


    Eventually, Elizabeth put her shoes back on and continued across the road and to the mechanic. Even without a soul in sight, she habitually looked both ways as she crossed the street. The store was doubtlessly deserted.


    Elizabeth didn''t need to play coy anymore. She found the nearest brick and listened to the glass shatter. After gently tapping the remaining glass out from around where she was going to be reaching inside, she unlocked the door.


    The floor had a large, vinyl checkerboard pattern. She hadn''t been to a mechanic for many years, and yet it was as if they never really changed. It''s not like business ever stopped booming for them, she supposed.


    There was a waiting area and a few different doors off to various parts of the store. She took an educated guess that the one to the part of the store that did detailing was closest to the register. Mostly, due to the intricately painted sign that said as much.


    Luckily, this door was unlocked. She shut it behind her. The garage was small.


    Unsurprisingly, Gideon''s car was sleek. It was a silver colour, and unlocked when you pressed a single button on the key fob. She had to admit, the detailer had done a fantastic job. The car was spotless.


    Elizabeth sat in the driver''s seat. She held her hands to the steering wheel to feel the smooth leather. The car had that new car smell. She took a moment to appreciate it. Her shoulders sunk as she reflected on what her life would be from here on out.


    Lonely. Loveless. Pointless.


    There would be no large car to take her kids to some silly soccer game that she''d complain was wasting her Saturday. She''d never get to use the speakerphone to remind Gowan to pick up more milk. As she looked at the back seat, she lamented that she would never have to clean Matthew''s blood off them.


    Even if Matthew was in a better place now.


    Even if Matthew was in a better place that she would never be able to go due to the blood on her hands. It was Gowan who had made the sacrifice, not her. She couldn''t imagine how one kind act could cancel out taking a life like that. She''d assumed it was Emilio and Saleem who had taken their lives in the hall. If so, Emilio wouldn''t have had black smoke if self defense was forgiven. Surely.


    In a split second decision, she turned on the ignition and sat in the car. She looked straight ahead, as tears rolled down her face. She was sad, she was angry, and she wished it was her melted to the floor in that cinema.


    There was nothing else to live for and she wasn''t ready for the slow, lonely march to the black smoke designated for the murderers.


    So she just breathed in deeply and waited. She waited until it got harder to breathe. She waited until her eyes got heavy. She waited until the very last thing she felt in her short, unlived life, was the feeling of falling forward onto the steering wheel.


    The last sound Elizabeth left in the world was the honking horn as the carbon monoxide took over. There was no dark smoke for Elizabeth. Nor was there purple smoke. All that surrounded her was the colourless gas that shot from the exhaust and into her lungs.


    The honking of the horn could not be heard outside of the garage. For as it has been noted, there was no one around to hear it. The closest inhabited house was a few suburbs over.


    Inside, a father and mother had spent the entire time with covered doors and windows, fasting and praying over a candle. The entire time, they had only prayed for two things:


    Mercy from the Lord, and for their daughter to come home safely.