It's not like this is a complete stranger, this is someone you do have feelings for and what the hell, it's not like you aren't going to be doing this again with him eventually. Still, there is the matter of decorum.

You manage to twist your body around so that you're face to face to him; he barely stops when you tell him.

"Bobby, look we can do this, but like I said, we're NOT doing this in the middle of the living room. Let's at least go down to the basement and we can fuck on my couch."
"Okay, okay, whatever, let's just get down their quickly." Bobby agrees continuing to kiss on you.

The pair of you head down into the basement and one of Bobby's hands is practically glued to your ass the entire time.

When you get to your room, you see that Bobby has somehow managed to strip off most of his clothing by this point (amazing considering he had one hand on your ass the entire time). He helpfully starts stripping your clothing off.

"Well seeing as you're obviously taking the alpha male approach to this, after you're done tearing off my clothes, you can carry me over to the sofa and start doing me like a conquering warrior. I want to see your face stare into mine as you thrust into me, let me know who exactly is in charge and teach me a lesson." You say licking your index finger and then running your finger down Bobby's chest.

(Never let it be said that you can't tap into your dirty side when necessary)

The next half hour is fun, if a little rougher than you're used to with Bobby.

It starts off with him just really ramming it into you and telling you in various ways to "Take it." while staring directly into your eyes which are more piercing than usual. His hands are also mostly holding down your wrists at this point.

Despite all this, you aren't scared. You just wrap your legs around him tightly like a boa constrictor and enjoy the ride.

A little later he put his hands around your neck and even squeezes a little while continuing to stare into your eyes. You can certainly still breathe, but he is definitely establishing his dominance and that he is firmly in control of things.

Despite all this, you still aren't really scared, you even add to the "experience" by squeaking out a "No." "Please don't." "Stop hurting me." every now and then.

Eventually Bobby chants something in a language you've never heard before and then orgasms. Again, not really scary since he's always doing that. It was weird the first few times you had sex with him but now it acts as a nice little alarm letting you know that things will be over soon.

Completely spent after orgasm, Bobby collapses on top of you and begins hugging you tightly, and then whispers...

"I love you so much Suzy, I want us to be joined forever. I want our bodies as well as our souls to be married."

NOW you get scared and suddenly push him off of you in alarm at this declaration.

"What?! Married?" You exclaim recoiling to one corner of the couch.

Bobby's a little surprised by your reaction.

"I want us to be married. I mean we're obviously soul mates and its the next logical step for us."
"Step? What step? We were just having fun a moment ago and now you spring life long commitment?"
"Are you saying you never saw us eventually getting married? I mean in all that time since we've been together?"
"No, and especially not when all the trouble with your sister came about."
"But on several occasions you asked me to run away with you! You didn't think we'd get married if we ever did that even?"
"Not really."
"I'm guessing you didn't ever think about having children either then."
"Children?! What the hell, you think I'm some sort of brood mother?

Now Bobby is downright confused.

"Suzy... I really don't understand your... well view of things..." Bobby says.
"That pretty rich coming from the cultist." You say.
"Okay, I'm going to ignore that because I love you. But if it makes any difference, at least I still behave in a consistent way which you do not."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"(Sigh) I really don't want us to fight again..."
"Bobby I just let you simulate what could be considered a rape fantasy on me, the least you can do is explain yourself."
"Okay then THAT right there is what I'm talking about. You have no problem with having kinky sex with me, you have no major problems with my religion and what it entails, you're even willing to move in with me and my family even though you're concerned about my sister and probably the rest of them, but somehow marriage is what is freaking you out? I mean I'm trying to do the right thing here and it's because I genuinely love you. Why are you so resistant?"

It's actually a good question. You're pretty tolerant of a lot of stuff most would've recoiled in horror from and something like marriage and (shudder) kids is scaring you off. There's probably a good psychological reason for your reluctance, involving your observations of other married couples such as your own mother (overly compliant) and father (distant) or your brother Ben (paranoid psychotic) and his wife (utterly clueless) but there are a few other concerns.

"Bobby...you've never brought up marriage before either, why all of a sudden?" You ask.
"Well, I just think it's time. I mean we've been together awhile. We've stuck together through ups and downs. We're going to be living together. I obviously love you and I assume you love me right?"
"Well...yeah...but... I dunno...I mean kids? Come on do you really think I'm mother material? I can barely take care of myself...in fact I can't at all, otherwise I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."

At this point Bobby takes your hand into his and gets closer to you.
"Suzy, don't you see, you don't need to worry about any of that anymore. When you marry me you won't have to worry about taking care of yourself ever again. And as far as being mother material, I can't imagine a better mother to my children. Even if you do have trouble, I'm sure my sisters will help out...well okay Helen will help out, but you know what I'm saying. The main thing is you won't have any more worries when you're in the family...MY family. We'll look after you. I'll look after you."

And there it is. Your future. A "housewife" popping out a whole mess of little cultists like a Pez dispenser. While it might not be quite that extreme, the writing is on the wall. While Bobby is probably sincere in his love and desire to care for you, he's still the head of a human sacrificing cult and as such he's going to be somewhat controlling and manipulative.

How long before you become brainwashed into believing in the same shit he believes in? How long before you passively accept other sudden changes over time? Hell, how long before some organization like the FBI or the ATF comes charging in to lay siege to the place?

Though on the other hand what are you really doing with your life right now and what prospects do you really have? You could do worse than have a man who obviously loves you a lot and is willing to take care of the stuff you don't want to bother worrying about.

You've got a major life changing decision to make, because you get the impression that if you get into that compound of his, changing you mind isn't going to be an option.
> You decline his proposal
You love Bobby…well at least you think you do. He’s been your only boyfriend so you don’t have any other real comparison.

But even if you do love him, you still don’t think you’re ready to marry him at least not on the terms he wants.

“Can’t we just…I dunno…runaway together?” you ask.
“What? I don’t understand, I thought you loved me.” Bobby says.
“I do, but marriage…that’s a really big step…and all my other concerns aside I still don’t feel comfortable living with your sister. I mean maybe it would be different if it were just us and no other ties. I might even feel comfortable starting a family with you with a clean slate as it were.”
“Suzy…that’s just not possible. First of all I already have a perfectly good home that’s fully stocked with necessities, why the hell would I just abandon it? That would be dumb just from a logical standpoint and just because you don’t want anything to do with your worthless family, I still love mine and I’m not going to just abandon them.”
“Worthless? Yeah, I don’t think highly of them either, but don’t you dare come in and start claiming superiority! At least my family isn’t a bunch of inbred brainwashed murderers. And fuck you Bobby, if you REALLY wanted to, we could fucking run away together. You’re a resourceful guy.”
“Oh I’m a resourceful guy huh? Well maybe I am, but what are YOU going to be doing?”
“What do you mean what am I going to be doing? I’m going to be with you! Isn’t that enough?”
“Suzy, you’re sitting here asking me to give up EVERYTHING that’s important to my life and I’m asking why should I? I mean yes, I get you don’t like Diana, but I already told you that she isn’t going to be a problem…” Bobby says before you interrupt.
“And excuse me if I’m not completely fucking convinced. She’s your fucking ex, she hates my guts AND you expect me to live under the same roof with her even when we’re fucking married? No, not fucking happening and I’m also not being a goddamn brood sow just waiting around for you to fuck me.” You interject.
“Don’t see how that’s much different from your life now…” Bobby says dismissively.

You’re speechless for a second.

“Excuse me?” you say.
“I said I don’t see how sitting around waiting for me to fuck you would be that big of a change in your life because you practically do that now. I mean what the hell do YOU do except hide out down here from the rest of the world and then every now and then we meet up to fuck. If we got married, the only difference would be you’d be living in a better home and actually have to do something with your time like maybe look after our kids…but of course you don’t want any because at your core you’re completely self centered and only care about what YOU want. You know, you got a lot more in common with Diana than you realize in that department.”

With as much power as you can, you slap Bobby across his face. He doesn’t flinch, and it seems he was even expecting it. He just gives you the stone face stare.

“Get the fuck out. Go back to your fucked up religion and sister fucking. We’re through, for good this time.” You say.

Bobby doesn’t say anything he just gathers his clothing and gets dressed as fast as possible. He doesn’t look at you the entire time until he starts to walk away.

“I love you Suzy, but I suppose this is easier for the both of us. I hope your life works out.” He says and then turns away.

You hear his footsteps going up the basement stairs and then eventually you hear the front door slam.

And he’s gone. That’s it. Bobby’s out of your life forever and you immediately feel a mixture of sadness and sickness.

You’re sad of course because despite all the problems you had towards the end of your relationship (And the incredibly shitty thing he said to you which caused the final split anyway), he was your first and you do believe he did love you and you loved him.

You thought you both had so much in common at one time, but it turned out your differences were greater than you thought and some people just aren’t meant to be together.

You also feel sick due to the fact that he was potentially your “savior” in getting out of your current predicament with your older sister. Now that he’s gone, you don’t know what the hell you’re going to do. You spend a little time wondering if you should’ve just went along with Bobby’s proposal. Would it have really been all that bad?

It’s too late now though, you can’t call him now even if you really wanted to…and you do really want to, but you just can’t ignore his own faults in what caused the final straw to be broken in the relationship.

Somewhere in between the crying and moping, you realize that what you’re doing right now isn’t any different from any other day; namely, you’re hiding out from the world in your basement. The only major difference is you happen to be extremely upset right now.

Bobby was right about that on some level. You do just sit around down here doing nothing waiting for…what exactly? Maybe you were waiting for Bobby to “save you” somehow, but obviously you didn’t really want that or at least you didn’t want it on the terms he was demanding.

What DO you want in life Suzy? What can you do to change your status?

Well, you aren’t sure what you want in life, but you know the only potential way to change your status now is to either get a job or find some new place to live. Seeing as you’re already depressed, you open up your laptop and proceed to engage in the soul-crushing task of looking for a job.

As day turns to night, you spend hours looking for a job…well actually you spend AN hour looking and the rest of the time being distracted with your depression. The problem is there is just nothing out there for the likes of you unless you want to be stripper at one of the many strip clubs. You sometimes wish you were more like Donna because if you had less hangs up about being slutty, you’d jump at the chance.

However, you were cursed with an odd concept of self-respect so no stripping for you. You look into waitressing since it seems like that’s another job that’s always available. You find a few places hiring…at the strip clubs…great.

The further descent of desperation causes you to look for jobs involving house keeping or janitorial work. You are already dreading the idea of doing such labor, but you still have to look. You find one that’s open…at an adult bookstore. You can only imagine what you’d be primarily cleaning up.

“What the fuck is wrong with this town? Isn’t there even a goddamn fast food place in need of a hapless burger flipper?” you cry out in frustration.

You’re about to give up and resign yourself to being depressed and doing nothing until you fall asleep when you find something that looks slightly more promising.

There is not one but TWO jobs open at a comic shop, imaginatively called “Jake’s Comic Shop” who you assume is the owner. One is moving a bunch of boxes around and the other is working a register. Not exactly the most desirable of jobs, but it beats the idea of dressing in skimpy clothing, getting ogled and possibly groped. (Let alone cleaning up jizz for a living)

As far as you’re concerned that’s your task for tomorrow. You’re heading over to Jake’s Comic Shop and you’re not leaving until you have employment. You feel slightly positive about this, well not really, but you do at least feel like you’ve accomplished something this dark day.

With that out of the way, you allow yourself to go back to being depressed over today’s unfortunate event until you set your alarm for tomorrow (Which you never usually do) and eventually fall asleep.
> Next day...
TUESDAY

Your alarm goes off and you groggily wake up.

Way earlier than you’re used to actually. It’s morning and you haven’t been up this early in a long time. You’re surprised you didn’t just sleep through the alarm considering how emotionally drained you were yesterday. Even now, you still feel tired.

You’re also still pretty damn depressed. Depression combined with your type of ingrained apathy would normally make for a really bad combination of motivation, but against all odds, you actually get up out of bed to go wash up.

You spend an extra long time in the shower trying to motivate yourself for the first phase of your goals today which is heading over to Jake’s comic shop and getting a job.

Eventually you finish up and head back to your room where you start to get dressed, thinking about one of your other possible goals which is finding a new place to live because if this comic shop thing doesn’t work out, you doubt if you’re going to find anything else you’d be willing to do before the week is over.

Always one to seek the way of least resistance, you reluctantly call your sister Donna since she did say you could live with her and Julie. You didn’t really want to go live with her and Julie though because you know it’s going to be party central non-stop, but you don’t have many other options.

You ring up Donna several times and get no answer. You ring up Julie and also get no answer. They’re probably both passed out from whatever they were doing the night before. You give up attempting to contact them today, deciding that you’ll just show up on their doorstep with all your shit if you don’t get this job. It’s not much of a plan, but you do feel slightly better believing you have a safety net. Well you like to THINK you have a safety net anyway.

With that fear partially quelled, you absent-mindedly check to see if Bobby called…then you stop…

“Christ, that was stupid. Get your head straight Suzy…” you say to yourself, starting to feel bad again. You then remind yourself that you’ll have to break that habit.

You nearly delete his number entirely, but you can’t quite bring yourself to do it just yet.

Pushing through it all, you now move on to your next step of trying to convince your brother Peter to let you borrow his car so you drive over to the comic shop.

You head upstairs and bang on the door to the garage.

“Hey Peter, open up I need a favor!” you shout and after a few seconds the door opens up.
“What the fuck Suzy? Why the hell are you banging on my door like you’re the police?” Peter exclaims peeking his head out the door. He’s probably naked.
“Yeah, sorry to bother you with whatever currently doing at the moment, but I need to borrow your car. I’m trying to get a job.” You say.
“A job? I thought you were too much of a prude to be a stripper.”
“Ha ha, very funny. I’m not going to be a stripper, I’m going to try to get a job at a Jake’s comic shop.” You reply.
“A comic shop? Doing what? Getting all the virgin nerds excited?”
“I’m going to be moving boxes or working a register…look I don’t fucking know exactly, I haven’t gotten the job yet. I just know I NEED to get this fucking job or else Kelly’s gonna throw me out on my ass!” you reply getting increasingly exasperated.
“Alright, fine. Don’t fucking bite my goddamn head off because you got problems. I’ve got problems of my own. (Sigh) Wait a minute.”

Peter closes the door and then a few seconds later opens it up and then tosses some keys at you.

“Here. Don’t fuck it up, and I fully expect you to put gas in it.” He says and then slams the door shut.

Well that was easier than you expected, but then he probably just wanted you out of the way for whatever client he has coming over.

With that out of the way, you get in Peter’s car and pull out of the driveway.

A few minutes of driving to your destination and you now learn first hand what Bobby was talking about yesterday. The roads are a mess and the town is in fucking chaos. There are cops everywhere, as well as ambulances and fire trucks racing to their various destinations too. You’re also seeing small groups of people rioting. It’s like the whole town has lost its damn mind and you nearly get into an accident more than a few times. Fortunately Jake’s comic shop isn’t too far away, but given the town’s situation you’re hoping that everything there isn’t going to be as bad as what you’ve been seeing so far.

Eventually you do get to the shop and so far the place doesn’t look too bad, though given that you see a police barricade a few blocks up the street, you wonder if that could all change. Pulling into the parking lot, you exit the car and enter the building.

As soon as you walk in, you briefly scan the shop and find it completely empty save for a bearded middle-aged man with a ponytail at a counter staring at you. He couldn’t be more of a stereotype of a “comic book guy.”

“Well…hello. You lost or something? The beauty salon is down the street…though I believe there was a shooting or something there earlier.” He says.
“Um, no. I’m here about the job. Are you Jake?” you ask.
“That’s me. Now what job are you talking about exactly?” Jake asks while looking at you up and down. The guy is already probably thinking several dirty thoughts about you and at this point you’re really hoping this guy doesn’t turn the whole job thing into some stupid line about giving him a blowjob.

“The job openings I found on the internet for this place. It said you needed someone to move boxes or work the register.” You say.
“Oh yeah, I’m not even sure why I posted that. In this current economy I can barely afford to hire one employee and lately I’m wondering if I can even do that.” Jake says.
“Shit, does this mean you’re not hiring?”
“Well…considering you’re easy on the eyes, I’m not going to say I’m NOT hiring. Besides you’re the only one that’s even applied so far. You’d think with all the fanboy nerds that practically live at this place one of them would’ve offered to fucking help me out. (Sigh) Whatever, you got your resume?”
“Resume?” you ask.
“Yeah, when people tend to apply for jobs they usually have one. I mean not that any of the tasks here are brain surgery, but it’s nice to have some basic information.” Jake says.
“Oh. Well I don’t have one.” You reply.
“Seriously? You came in here for a job without a resume?”
“I didn’t think I’d need one.”
“You didn’t…alright can you give me any references then?”
“Um, no.”
“You can’t or you won’t?”
“I can’t because I don’t have any.”
“Jesus Christ…do you have ANY job experience whatsoever?”
“No.”
“Do you even want a fucking job here?” Jake asks getting exasperated.
“Not really, but I want to run around half naked swinging on a pole getting ogled, slobbered over and groped by horny guys for a living even less, so this place is currently my only option for my desperate situation.” You say.

Jake laughs at your comment.

“Well at least your honest, but if you think you’re not going to get ogled and slobbered over by guys here, you’re sadly mistaken. You do realize this is a comic shop right?”
“Oh come on, there has to be female customers that come in here.” You say.
“Sure, but they don’t look like you and you’ll probably get a couple of them awkwardly hitting on you as well. On the bright side, none of the nerds here are probably going to try to grope you. They’ll be far too shy to try that. No pole swinging either, but feel free to run around half naked. I guarantee something like that would really help out business.” Jake says with a smirk.
“Yeah, not happening.” You reply.
“Didn’t think I’d be that lucky. Well despite your total lack of skill, I suppose I’ll hire you, I do have to ask one thing first though…”

And here it comes; he’s going to ask you to do something sexual and you’ll be heading out the door…

“Do you even read comics?”

Well that was unexpected.

“Well, I used to when I was little, but my older sister Kelly just kept taking them from me and either hitting me with them or tearing them up, so I didn’t see the point anymore.” You reply.
“Jeez, that’s not fucking right. You should’ve kicked her ass.” Jake says.
“Yeah well that wasn’t possible, she’s ten times bigger than me. In fact that’s why I applied to this job, she’s threatening to kick me out of the house.” You say.
“Hmm, sounds like a similar situation that I had with my last assistant. His mom was threatening to kick him out of the house and he begged me to hire him. He was a pathetic little worm addicted to all that anime shit. Really he was a lousy helper, but given that the one I had before him just died in my bathroom, I figured I’d give the fat little anime addict a shot.”
“Wait someone died in the bathroom here?” you ask.
“Yeah my retarded assistant strangled himself in my bathroom while jacking off. Spent the damn day cleaning the bathroom because of it.”
“Uh, the other assistant didn’t die in the bathroom too did he?”
“Nah, he ended up marrying his crazy cousin and lives in the trailer park outside of town I think. Dunno what he does now since he never comes in anymore which is a shame since the pervert used to spend a fortune in this place.”

“That’s…interesting. So about the job.” You say steering the conversation back on track.
“Yeah, about the job. I’m guessing you’ll want to be working the register…what is your name anyway blondie?”
“Suzy, and why are you assuming I want to be working the register?”
“Because I doubt a little thing like you really wants to be lugging boxes around, I mean unless you’re trying to tell me you can’t do basic math.”
“Of course I know how to do basic fucking math!” you snap.
“Okay, sheesh. Calm down I didn’t mean to imply anything. So you’re working the register…”

Jake has still already made the decision for you about what job you’re going to be doing and while lugging boxes around really doesn’t appeal to you, you’re still a little insulted that the option has just been taken away from you.

Besides the sexist implications that you aren’t strong enough to do the other job because you’re female, you get the strong impression that Jake also just wants you at the register so you’ll be more visible to all the horny virgin nerds that come in this place.

And the more you’re thinking about the fact that you’ll have to interact with the public in general if you’re working the register you’re finding it about as appealing as lifting a bunch of heavy boxes around.

Then again if you antagonize Jake over this, he might just throw you out of the shop and then you’ll have no job.
> You stick with the register
Considering you’d rather just sit on your ass and work the register than lift boxes anyway, there doesn’t seem to be much point in engaging in an argument that will lose you this job opportunity. Honestly you’re just lucky that Jake is willing to hire you and isn’t making advances on you (yet).

Jake proceeds to show you how to work the register and the credit card machine. After a few trial runs and examples, you think you got it. The funny thing is, nobody has actually come into the comic shop yet.

“See, not very difficult. So, you think you’re ready to officially take the responsibility of the register?” Jake asks.
“Yeah, I guess, but is it always this empty?” you ask.
“No, not usually. It’s about…what a little after noon now? Yesterday was slow as well, but I’m chalking it up to all the craziness going on in town, which I’m really hoping dies down soon. There is a group of regulars that should be arriving in few moments though. They usually just hang out here all fucking day, but they tend to buy a lot when they actually do decide to part with their money and not drive me up a fucking wall with their banter. However since you’re working the register, you’ll get to put up with them this time.”
“Great, can’t wait.” You say and sit at the register unenthusiastically.

Jake proceeds to tell you that if you need anything he’ll be in his office catching up on going over his financial books. He also warns you not to steal anything, which seems weird since if you were going to steal something, it’s not like you’d listen to his warning.

Without many more words Jake disappears into his office and you sit at the register waiting for customers to come in. While you wait you start looking at the various items near the counter and start reading through some of the comics.

As time passes you continue to hear the sounds of sirens and such in the distance. Through the windows you see a couple of police officers running in the direction where you saw those barricades.

A little more time passes and a short man who looks to be in his mid thirties enters. He’s dressed in casual clothing and just nods at you when he sees you at the register. In an attempt to be a friendly, you smile and wave hi before he goes off to look at comics.

Well either Jake was exaggerating about his customers being sex crazed assholes or this guy isn’t one of the “regulars” he was talking about. You watch him for a moment as he browses and takes various comics off the shelves. He looks like he’s really into comics with as many as he’s taking. Eventually he comes up to the counter with a stack of comic books.

“Can I just sit these here for now? I’m not really done looking yet, but I don’t want to lug around a bunch of comics and possibly dropping them all over the place.” The man asks.
“Oh yeah sure. I guess you really like comics huh?” you say.
“Heh, I suppose I look a little obsessed. I don’t really come in here that much since normally I tend to buy stuff online, but this is one of those times where I don’t have the luxury of waiting for stuff to arrive in the mail. So I’m loading up now that I’m here. Never seen you here before though.” The man says.
“I’m new. Just started today actually and you’re sort of my first customer. Nobody else has come in.” you reply.
“Oh. Well, this is sort of an interesting day to start a new job given what’s been going on in town lately. I’m betting that’s why there hasn’t been anyone else in here today.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I wouldn’t have left the house if I had the choice.”
“Yeah, I hear you, I don’t like going out too much myself, but I’ve been getting better about it lately.”
“Same here and it still sucks, but bills aren’t going to pay themselves.”
“I sort of got around that by being able to work at home. I used to sell and buy shit on the Internet a lot.”
“What, like Ebay or something?”
“Yeah something like that. Buy low, sell high, that sort of thing.”
“I wish I could do something like that.”
“You can, it’s not really difficult.”
“Eh, I’m not really a wheeler and dealer type. Besides, if I had a job involving a computer, especially one involving self employment, I’d probably just goof off and never get any work accomplished.”
“Well that’s the beauty of working at home. You can sort of be as lazy as you want!” The man says with slight grin.
“Oh I don’t think you know exactly how lazy I can be.” You say returning the smile.
“You can’t be that lazy, you’re working here.”
“Well like I said, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be. (Sigh) Events however have conspired against me and here I am.”
“Yeah, always sucks when things out of your control put you in a bad situation. For what it’s worth, sorry you’re in such a bind.”

You didn’t expect sympathy for your minor “pity party” but you’ll definitely accept it. You usually aren’t one to hold long conversations with random strangers, but then it’s been a bit of an unusual week for you.

“Thanks, so selling and buying shit on the Internet works for you huh? I suppose maybe I could do it. There’s certainly already enough crap around the house that surely someone would be interested in. Obviously with as many comics as you intend on buying you’re making a good living at it.” You say.
“Well I probably would be if I wasn’t a bit of a hoarder and kept most of the shit I did buy. However, I made enough that I pulled my weight so my mom didn’t kick me out of the basement of the house. Yeah, I know I’m a walking stereotype, basement dweller in a comic shop. Big surprise right?” the man remarks.

You don’t reply immediately, you just briefly think about how odd it is you’ve got so much in common with a complete stranger.

“Oh, I dunno. I don’t tend to judge people.” You reply.
“Well that’s a rare trait these days. Though I suppose I’m more of a hermit than a basement dweller nowadays anyway. My mother died a few years ago and I’m not even going to be living here anymore soon. Hence another reason why I’m loading up on books now.”
“So wait you’re moving out of town?” you say a bit surprised.
“Yeah…I guess you could say that. I mean under normal circumstances I wouldn’t bother, but it’s getting really bad out there and it’s only going to get worse.”
“Worse? How do you know? You don’t think things will get back to normal in a few days?”

The man starts like he’s about to say more, but stops. Then he stumbles over some words a bit before continuing.

“Um…it’s just…well these things…you never can tell right? I guess I don’t really know. I think I’m just rambling at this point and not making any sense. I didn’t mean to talk your ear off. I guess I should get back to it and let you get back to doing your job.” The man says and then briskly walks to the back of the comic shop.

You nearly tell him to come back to talk to clarify what he meant and that he wasn’t really bothering you, but then you think that would be a bit strange and also you don’t really know this guy.

He’s probably a weirdo anyway; he just said he lived in his mom’s basement until she died after all. You don’t even know why you’re even still thinking about it or him.

“Christ Suzy, you’re taking the break up harder than you thought. You’re starting to latch on to minor conversations with complete fucking strangers. Get a grip already.” You say to yourself.

A sudden brick through one of the shop windows breaks up your introspective moment.

You duck down behind the counter and then Jake comes out running out of his office.

“What the fuck is going on out here?!” he exclaims.
“I don’t know! Someone just threw a brick through…”

Before you can complete that sentence you hear a bunch of laughter and the shop door opening up. You continue to stay hidden behind the counter.

“Did you see that shit? Told ya I could land the brick right in the middle of the O on the window!” a young male voice exclaims.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s just see what we got in here…” another remarks.
“What the fuck do you little shits think you’re doing? You just broke my fucking window! I hope you fuckers got some money to pay for that RIGHT NOW or else I’m going to be kicking all of your asses THEN I’m going to your parents’ houses and kicking their asses for not aborting you.” Jake exclaims.
“Oh fuck off Jake, with as much as you’ve ripped us off by overcharging, I’d say that more than covers the cost of your goddamn window. We’re going to be taking some free comics too.” You hear a voice shout back.
“Look, I dunno what the fuck has compelled you social rejects even THINK you can get away with this, but if you don’t fucking get out of my shop right fucking now, there are going to be consequences you aren’t going to walk away from.”
“Ohhh, so fucking scared Jake.” You hear one say who from the sound of the voice sounds like he’s getting closer.
“HEY! Step back from the counter!”

You hear someone hit the counter and then you look up to see a pimply teenager staring over at you.

“Holy shit guys! Jake’s got a fucking bitch hiding over here! She looks hot too, no wonder he’s fucking pissed! She was probably blowing him before we came in!” he exclaims and then tries to grab your hair at which point you slap his hand away and stand up and away from the counter so you can’t be molested.

It’s at this point you finally see the motley lot. Four teenage boys of all varying shapes and sizes. You don’t know who these guys are, but if they’re the “regulars” Jake mentioned, they’re certainly not acting like what you expected.

“Goddamn Jake how the hell you manage to pull this off? She looks way too fucking hot for you. She a whore or something?” The tallest boy asks.
“Hey, you know who she looks like? She looks like that cute zombie chick.” The fattest one says.
“Nah, she looks more like that chick who controls all the dragons.” The pimply one remarks.
“For fuck’s sake she’s blonde not a goddamn albino, she doesn’t look like either of them, the pair of you are idiots. She obviously looks like the blonde chick that fucks vampires.” The tallest one remarks.
“Which one, Trent?” the fat one asks.
“The one that’s mainly killing them too.” Trent says.
“I dunno guys, I thought she looked like that chick that was a private investigator…” another one begins to say before Jake interrupts their temporary distraction of comparing you to various female nerd culture figures.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SHOP! I’M NOT WARNING YOU AGAIN!” Jake shouts.

At which point Trent pulls a pistol out of his hoodie pocket. He doesn’t actually point it at Jake, but he’s definitely warning him by just showing it. Jake steps back a bit, but doesn’t lose his cool. You on the other hand are really worried, especially considering you got four hormone addled teenage guys staring at you.

“And I’m telling YOU we’re not fucking leaving without getting our comics! Don’t you know what today is? It’s fucking free comic book day Jake!”
“This is how you want to play this Trent?” Jake asks.

Now Trent points the pistol at Jake and gives a look of less playfulness and more deadly seriousness.

“I’m not fucking playing Jake, just like I wasn’t fucking playing with my mom when she told me to clean my room two days ago, just like I wasn’t playing with those assholes yesterday that used to give me wedgies back in sixth grade or that bitch who wouldn’t go out with me even though I did a whole bunch of nice shit for her. Things are changing around this town and if you ain’t changing with it, you’re gonna get rolled over.”

Trent looks over at his fellows and waves as if he’s telling them to take whatever they want. He continues to point the gun at Jake though he keeps an eye on you as well.

While you’re a little busy worrying about Trent and the rest, you realize you haven’t seen that guy you were talking to before. You can’t imagine he managed to slip out without anyone noticing. He might be hiding, but if he is, he’s doing a really good job, because with the way Trent’s pals are going through the store, it seems like they would have stumbled upon him by now.

While they do that, Trent gets closer to Jake still holding the gun to him.

“So what is the story with the blonde bitch anyway Jake? I know she can’t be your girlfriend. A fat old loser like you wouldn’t have one.” Trent sneers, but Jake is still keeping composure.

“I hired her to work the register today.” Jake remarks.
“Hm. I’d rather see her mouth work my dick.” Trent says looking you up and down. Jake starts laughing.

“What’s so fucking funny?”
“YOU! You’re fucking funny Trent. You’re calling me a loser and apparently you can’t even GET a woman without holding her at gunpoint. Pfft. I don’t give a shit what little emo angsty shooting spree trip you’re on, but I’m not playing. I still remember when you were in here as a little kid and your ugly ass mama beat the hell out of you for shitting your pants. How you cried and cried.” Jake chuckles.

Trent of course is not amused and points the gun closer to Jake.

“Shut the fuck up fat ass!” he exclaims.
“Make me lanky bitch!” Jake says and suddenly grabs Trent’s hand now that it’s close enough. The pair of them struggle with the weapon and Trent begins calling for his fellows to help.

While you’re certainly close enough to help Jake before Trent’s buddies get to him, you see the front door and wonder if you shouldn’t just jump over the counter and get the hell out of here.
> You run for the front door
It’s not exactly the bravest thing to do, but then your own life is at risk and if there is a chance at getting out of this mess now then you’re going to take it.

You jump over the counter and rush towards the door; two of Trent’s friends try to intercept you until Trent demands that they help him and forget about you. His third friend however ignores him and continues after you.

You manage to make it half way out the door before pimple boy grabs your arm.

“You’re not going anywhere blondie, except on my dick!” pimple boy shouts and follows that up with a really creepy annoying giggle.

You pull away and get out of the store, but he’s a persistent bastard and manages to grab you around the waist from behind.

“Come on baby, I like an older woman like you!” he exclaims in his attempt to grope your breasts while dry humping you.
“Older woman like me? Motherfucker…” you exclaim and elbow the scrawny fucker in the face. It gets him off of you and then you spin around to give him a swift kick to the balls. Twice.

He falls to the ground crying and holding his crotch. He tries to mumble some curses at you, but it’s hard to do in between the tears. As much as you want to get out of here, you’re so pissed you kick him in his acne-ridden face for good measure, before running off. Just in time too, since you hear two gunshots coming from the store.

You turn the corner to the parking lot and rush to your car to open the door, then suddenly hear footsteps closing in quickly behind you.

“Gimme that car bitch! I gotta get the fuck outta here!” you hear a voice shout. You don’t even turn your head since you already can tell it’s the voice of one of the teenagers from the store.

You get in the car and start it up. You pull out and are already in the process of driving off until the same teenager gets in front of the car and throws a brick at your driver window

“SHIT!” you shout before the brick smashes through the window and hits you in the side of the head.

You lose complete control of the car and promptly crash into a nearby telephone pole. Thanks to shitty air bags not working properly you hit your already injured head against the driver’s wheel. Somehow you’re still conscious, but you’re incredibly dazed and woozy. You’re also not exactly feeling like moving too far, however your feelings are not in consideration here.

“Get outta the car bitch!” the teen who threw the brick exclaims and opens the door to get you out of it.

He starts to drag you out and despite your less than stellar state you still make an effort to fight. Eventually with some effort he drags you out and then you fell a kick to your ribs while on the street pavement.

Bleeding, bruised, and dizzy you attempt to get up, only to not quite make it. Just when it looks like the teen is going to land another kick to you, a shot rings out and the teen falls to the ground nearly on top of you.

“ARGH! SHIT! FUCK! I CAN’T FEEL MY LEGS! NO!” the teen screams.

You crawl away from the teen and through your blurry vision you see a figure coming towards you. It’s the stranger from the comic shop. The fact that he has a pistol in hand isn’t exactly encouraging despite the fact that he just shot your assailant.

“You alright? You okay?” he asks running over to you.
“Yeah, I just…I need some…help up…” you remark.

Using him and the car as leverage you manage to get back on your feet. The teen is still screaming at you and the strange from his prone position.

“Can you stand on your own?” the stranger asks.
“Yeah, I think…” you reply.
“Okay then.” The stranger says and then kicks the teen in the face a couple times shutting him up.

“Last thing we need is that dickhead bringing the attention of the cops that are a few blocks up.”
“I dunno, the gunshots might have already done that or maybe they don’t give a shit just like everyone else in this town…fuck…” you say holding the side of your head.
“You might be right, but we need to get out of the area I think, it doesn’t look like your car is going too far, my car is still in the parking lot. I can take you to get that head injury looked at.”

Between everything that’s happened, you’re not exactly thinking straight or at all except about the pain you’re in.

“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever, let’s go.” You remark feeling wobbly.
“Okay, I’ll help you along the way. My name is Jack by the way.” The stranger says.
“Suzy.” You say.

Jack helps you back to the parking lot as quick as you’re able to move. You don’t see any signs of the cops coming, though you’re hearing other gunshots in the distance so maybe bigger things are happening elsewhere.

Eventually you get back to the lot and approach a small blue car.

“Okay, let me open the door and you can just lay in the backseat.”
“Sure…” you say and lean against the car, while he opens up the driver’s door and then unlocks the door to the backseat.

“Hey…where were you? You…you kill those guys?” you ask.
“Hiding within a small back niche where all the old comics were, in the hope of ambushing one of them. I might have done so, had your boss not riled them up enough to rush him. I came out and you were already gone. I smashed the fat one in the back of the head with a metal comic character statue. After he went down I tried to help the owner. He got shot before I could grab the gun from the tall one and then it was reflex response that I shot him.” Jack replies.

Jack opens the back door for you and you get in and lay down while Jack closes the door and then gets in the driver’s seat.

“That one I know is dead since I shot him right in the head. I was sort of in shock for a moment since I’ve never killed another person before. The other teen had already run by the time I snapped out of it. I came out and I saw what was going on with you and I just reacted again. I dunno if I killed the others. I mean maybe I just knocked the fat one out and the other one when I kicked him in the face. Although I guess I paralyzed him for sure.” Jack says.

Jack pulls out of the parking lot and your lids are starting to get heavy.

“You kill pimple boy? I left that asshole in a heap outside the shop.” You ask.
“Um, no. I didn’t see him when I came out. Guess he ran off?” Jack answers.
“Wish I’d killed him. Little fucker…ah, shit…”
“Hey, I’ll help like I said so just hang in there okay?”
“Yeah…okay…” you start to say.

Within the next five minutes all you hear is Jack swearing and making exclamations of how everyone is driving like an asshole or acting crazy. You can feel the car swerving back and forth when you guess that Jack must be avoiding various things on the wrong.

At some point as you’re drifting in and out of consciousness. You hear Jack swear some more about how he can’t get to the hospital because the entire area is barricaded and part of the hospital is even on fire.

“Fuck! Suzy! You still with me?!” he asks.
“Huh? Yeah…” you answer groggily.
“I can’t take you to the hospital, but I can still get you help. You trust me?”
“Well I’m not really in any condition to not trust you I suppose.”
“I’m not a serial killer or anything I swear.” Jack says.

You start chuckling at that proclamation. For one thing his name is Jack, which is a bit on the nose for a serial killer. For another if this guy actually did turn out to be one; it pretty much would be in line of your run of luck lately. Hell, if you’re REALLY lucky, he’ll probably be your next boyfriend because you’re certainly fucked up enough to fall for someone like that.

“Bet you say that to all the girls.” You say while still chuckling.
“Is there any way I can convince you? I mean…if you don’t trust me, I understand. I suppose I could try to take you home if you told me how to get there, but given how fucked up this town is getting, I’m not sure if…” Jack start to say until you interrupt him.

“Jack… just take me to wherever it is you’re going to take me. I truly don’t care at this point because I don’t even really have a home to go back to now. I’ve been having a shitty week, I just lost the only job I ever had, I got groped by some fucking asshole, my fucking head is bleeding, I think I got glass embedded in my face, my body aches, and I’m this close to just falling unconscious. So like I said, if you got anything sinister in mind for me, I’m not exactly in any position to stop you. Just drive.” You say as the sleep is starting to take you.

Jack doesn’t say anything and just begins reversing the car and swinging it around. You hear something hit the back windshield, not enough to break it though. Sirens and the general sounds of chaos can be heard throughout the drive.

You have no idea where Jack is going to take you or even if he’s going to make it wherever he has in mind. All that encompasses your mind is the slumber that eventually wins you over.
> Next day…
WEDNESDAY

You wake up and find yourself on a small bed in a gray concrete room. There isn’t much else in the room except a dresser and a lamp which is currently turned on. It almost feels like a cell except there is no door, just an entryway, which looks like it leads into a corridor.

You sit up and find that you’re still fully clothed, so either Jack isn’t a serial killing rapist or he was enough of a gentleman to put your clothes back on exactly right after he was done and is now playing mind games with you. Your girl parts and ass don’t feel sore and you don’t have a bad taste in your mouth so you’re guessing that you weren’t violated in any way. (You hope)

However the rest of your body certainly still aches from the kicks and physical abuse you took yesterday, but when you go to touch your head, you don’t feel any bandages like you were expecting. In fact, you aren’t even feeling any open wound that you’re sure that you probably had. The side of your face doesn’t feel to be scratched up either. Is Jack some sort of doctor?

You check your phone which was still in your pocket to see if anyone tried to call you, but nobody has. You thought maybe Peter would have at least tried calling considering you had his car last. If you ever get back home, you can only imagine how pissed he’s going to be when he finds out what happened to it.

You sit in the bed for a while just wondering what exactly is going on and what you should do next. Honestly, you’re drawing a blank. You had a plan, you tried to follow it and you thought you were succeeding and then it all went to shit yesterday. You’re starting wonder if you’re jinxed.

While you could spend your whole time being introspective like you have so many times before, the fact remains that you don’t know where the hell you are and where your “white knight” is. Jack seems like an okay guy, but you really don’t know anything about him except that he’s helped you out quite a bit which would probably make the average person feel grateful, instead it makes you a bit suspicious and this prison like interior isn’t exactly helping.

Still, you don’t seem like you’re being held captive either, so you take the opportunity to get up and leave your room.

When you enter the corridor you see several other open entryways leading to more small rooms. Since the left part of the corridor looks like it ends at a solid wall, you go right. You peer into a few of these rooms as you pass by to find that they aren’t really furnished, but rather hold several boxes and containers. Some of them do contain furniture; none of it is arranged in a useable way. In general everything is stacked or positioned to resemble a warehouse more than anything else.

Maybe you are in some sort of warehouse, because so far the color of every walls you’ve seen is gray and they’re concrete along with the floor and ceiling. Lights embedded in the ceiling provide illumination, but this whole place doesn’t seem like a normal house of any kind, which you assumed Jack lived in, you guess not though.

You pass a set of stairs leading up, so you’re guessing you’re on the ground floor, the way you’re currently heading it looks like a large open room ahead.

As you approach the large room, you start to hear noise. Sounds like it’s coming from one the rooms ahead and to your right causing you to cautiously approach.

You peek around the corner and see Jack occupied and messing about with some sort of large radio system along with a few monitors set up. You hear garbled transmissions, but some of it you’re making out sounds military related, something about marshal law.

“Well you don’t need to spy on me, you’re welcome to come in.” Jack says without immediately looking in your direction. Apparently you’re not as stealthy as you thought and Jack is very aware of his surroundings.

“Didn’t mean to spy, just wasn’t sure who or what I’d be possibly bumping into after finding myself in a strange place.” You say standing in the entryway.
“Understandable. So I trust you’re doing okay?” Jack asks while still messing about with his radio.
“Yeah, I mean I still ache a bit, but I’m more or less fine. Hey you’re not medically trained are you? Because I thought I’d have some bandages or something what with getting smacked with a brick and glass shattering on the side on my head.”
“Not professionally, but I used some medical gel on your wounds. Glad to see it worked well.” Jack says finally turning to look at you.
“Worked well? I’m practically fully healed, is it magical or something?” you joke.
“No, just highly advanced…um…well if you really need to know, I shouldn’t even have the stuff, but you can acquire a lot of stuff you shouldn’t over the deep web.” Jack says.
“I see. So I take it, this is where you live?
“Yeah, more or less now.”
“Wait, so this is where your mom lived too?”
“What? Oh no. When I lived with mom, it was a regular house in town. In fact after she died, I still lived there, but when shit started getting hectic in town, I decided I better move somewhere less vulnerable so here I am at this gray building I bought years ago online. As you might have already seen, I got tons of shit stacked in rooms, told you I was a big of a hoarder.”
“Well it certainly is very gray, must cost a lot to upkeep it.”
“Not really, place sort of takes care of itself. Just never made a permanent living arrangement out of this place because…well it’s a long story.”

There’s a bit of a pause in the conversation since Jack just abruptly stops talking and starts twisting knobs and then eventually waves his hands at the radio altogether and the garbled transmissions stop altogether when he turns it off.

“What are you trying to do?” you ask.
“I’m trying to listen in on a military frequency. Normally I can get clear messages from Fort Timons near Security City, but I’m not having much luck. All I know is marshal law has been declared in major cities across the country. Well that and apparently Ground Zero is still offering their shelters at low low prices. Those ads are fucking everywhere.” Jack replies.
“Marshall law…that sounds pretty serious.” You remark.
“Yeah, but I can’t say I’m surprised with the way things have been going in the world lately. Anyway…so what are your plans?” Jack asks.
“I dunno. I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. I’m not having much luck either.”
“Well, considering how fucked up things are in town, you’re welcome to stay here. Got plenty of space, food and such.”

It’s a tempting offer. Really tempting, mainly because you don’t have any idea what you’re going to go, but you exhale and try to gather your thoughts.

“(Sigh) Look, I’m not ungrateful for probably saving my life yesterday. I didn’t mind speaking with you before all that shit went down in the comic shop. Hell, you’re even not bad looking and you’re obviously got your shit together enough that you own your own damn building. I’m also fairly certain you were telling the truth about not being a serial killer.”
“But?” Jack says predicting your lead in.

“But all of this…well my gut is telling me that something weird is going on with you. I don’t know what exactly, but I imagine it’s complicated. The funny thing is that it probably wouldn’t even necessarily bother me, but you sort of caught me at an unusual point in my life. While I don’t want to bore you with my life story, but I just recently went through an upsetting break up with my first and currently only boyfriend to date a couple days ago and I’m still trying to mentally deal with that along with all the other shit that’s gone on in my life.”

Jack continues to listen as you go on.

“You think YOU were a basement dweller? At least you seemed to be doing something productive, my whole life was just coasting by and living off of other people and the most recent one was my ex. I’m fairly certain he would have done anything to take care of me had I complied, but even basement dwellers have their limits I suppose and I just couldn’t make that step. All of which left me up shit’s creek without a boat, let along a paddle. I’m trying to make a real effort of being self-sufficient and I sort of feel like if I stayed here I’d just be falling back into my old routine of sponging off some guy.”
“You wouldn’t exactly be sponging off me…” Jack starts to say before you interrupt.
“Jack, I think you better stop right there, if you’re about to imply what I think you’re going to imply. I’m not a damn whore.”
“What? No! I wasn’t going to suggest that! I just meant I have so much that it’s not like I’d mind if you stuck around. It’s obviously dangerous out there and I’d be quite the asshole if I just threw you out.”

You just hang your head down at this remark.

“Well that makes you better than my older sister, but it also makes this harder for me, because it would have been easier if you had been looking for some sort of cynical sex exchange like that.”
“Wait…so you WANT me to treat you like a whore?” Jack asks confused.
“No! Fuck. I just…shit…I dunno what the hell I want…” you say putting your head in your hands.

At this point Jack tries to interpret your complete mess of explaining things.

“Okay, I think I know what you’re getting at. You just got out of a relationship and you aren’t really in the mood for another guy to be sniffing around you right now. You also want to be by yourself and try to make it on your own without help since you’ve never been truly independent your whole life. Am I right so far?” Jack asks.
“Yes.” You reply.
“And while you aren’t exactly thinking the worst of me right now, you’re still wisely suspicious enough to wonder why the hell I helped you out if I didn’t want something. Obviously there must be something odd about me, for all you know I’ve been stalking you or something.”
“Well, basically.”
“Okay, good. Now just let me explain my side of things.”

You lean again the side of the entryway before Jack goes into his own speech.

“First, yes, I do think you’re attractive and from what I know of you, I WOULD like to get to know you a lot better. I thought maybe there was something there during our nice conversation at the comic shop, but I dunno…I sort of…well let’s just say I’m not exactly great at the whole asking someone out thing, so I lost my nerve and had to gather it again by leaving, and of course that’s when those guys showed up. Not to mention I wasn’t really planning on doing that anyway since I didn’t expect to see anyone other than Jake at the register. Which brings me to the second point, I helped you, for the same reason I helped Jake yesterday, it was the right thing to do. I just wasn’t so lucky with him as I was with you. I’m not saying I’m some hero, but I’ve always liked to believe I’m not a bad guy. So when I saw the opportunity to get you help, I did it. I assure you there was no ulterior motive.”

At this point Jack fishes something out of his pocket. It’s keys and a wad of money in a roll. He tosses them to you and you catch them.

“Do I want you to stay here because I like you? Yes, of course I would, but I can’t just keep you here, if you don’t want to be. You sound like you have very strong feelings about trying to make it on your own and being by yourself and I understand that. So since your car was trashed, I’m giving you mine. I’m not going to need it much longer…and no that doesn’t mean I’m going to commit suicide. I just won’t be needing it. As for the cash, well you’ll need it more than I will too. You take them both and go live your life and hopefully it will be a good one.”

You’re pretty speechless. You’ve so rarely had anyone be this cool with you and this doesn’t seem to be a “nice guy” act. If it were, he would’ve been calling you a complete cunt the moment you told him you weren’t interested.

“I dunno what to say except thanks.” You say
“Don’t mention it. Come on I’ll walk you out.” Jack responds

Jack and you leave the radio room and enter the large open room which has a lot of boxes stacked in it’s four corners. On one of the walls is a door, which Jack says, leads to the outside.

“Car is parked right outside, and is in good working condition. Um, just to let you know though we’re several miles east outside of town. It will be quite the drive, but you should get back to town by nightfall. Remember, I want you to know you can come back here if it looks like the town is in just complete anarchy. I…I still worry about your safety. Anyway, just knock three times on the door and I’ll know it is you.”
“I’ll certainly keep that in mind Jack.”
“Okay, well…good luck Suzy.” Jack says opening the door, which lets in a blinding brightness.

You look at Jack and then you suddenly hug him and then kiss him on the cheek. You figure it’s the least you can do. Jack wasn’t expecting it though; he returns the hug until you pull away.

You and he don’t exchange any more words; you just turn around and leave as the door shuts behind you.

You get in the car, and count up the money to find that Jack has given you a thousand dollars in hundreds. Not much in the long term, but it would at least sustain you awhile.

You wonder if you should head back to town or just keep driving east and try to start over somewhere else.
> You head back to town
Maybe if he’d given you ten or even five thousand you’d feel more comfortable making the risk of “starting over” but with just a thousand, you’re not that confident even with your new found self sufficient approach to life.

Besides, you’re not even sure where the hell eastward even takes you. For all you know it ends in wilderness, you’ve never been out of your own town before. Better to take your chances with the devil you know.

As you drive down the empty road, you pass long stretches of trees and wilderness. You never realized until just now how rural in an area you lived in before.

You briefly check your phone again to see if anyone has called, but as usual nobody has. Nobody cares.

You continue driving thinking about probably having to deal with the near state of anarchy the town is in. Assuming you even get home in one piece you’ll have to deal with Peter and his car. You figure you’ll have to at least give him this one.

All of which isn’t going to help you with Kelly who is still intent on throwing you out by the end of the week. Chances are if you attempted to “pay rent” with some of your money she’d just punch you in the face and take ALL of your money and let you stay another month at best which means being on a time limit and scrambling for a job again. You got very lucky once with the job situation as fast as you did, and you don’t think you’ll manage it that quickly again even if the town wasn’t all fucked up.

That leaves your plan “B” choice of living with your sister Donna and your so called best friend Julie which isn’t much of a plan at all so much as it’s just a free living arrangement. What a joy that’s going to be, dealing with their partying every night. You might as well be living out in the chaos filled streets given how they carry on. Hell, you might even be safer. You’ll definitely have to make sure to keep your newly acquired loot well hidden.

You try to take you mind off of all this by turning on the radio…Ground Zero ads.

“Ground Zero…how fucking original.” You say and turn the radio off, shaking your head.

You continue driving and driving and driving; your thoughts continuing to go back and forth about why you’re even going back to town.

It really would be so much easier to just stay with Jack.
> You keep driving to town
As much as it might be tempting to go stay with Jack, you need to keep to your plan of self-sufficiency or at least an attempt at it. Staying with Jack is just a bad idea in the long term.

While he might say he isn’t expecting anything, the longer you stay the more likely he’s going to get resentful and the more likely you’re just going to revert to your old ways. It’s a recipe for disaster. Jack and his Gray Building were pretty weird anyway, better you just put all of that out of your head right now.

Living with your sister and friend won’t be fun, but at least it will motivate you to get a means of employment to get the hell out of there quicker. It probably won’t even be as bad as you think it will be either.

So that’s it. You’ve made up your mind, set a goal and you’re going to stick to it. You actually feel a little good about that.

“And fuck Peter, I’m keeping this damn car. Peter’s stolen enough of my clothing over the years that I already paid for his damn vehicle.” You mumble to yourself.

Now you feel even better. So much so you’re smiling.

With your thoughts getting comfortable with risk and leaving behind thoughts of doing the “safe” thing you continue back to town.

You must drive for hours and never see another car on the road. It’s sort of eerie, especially as it starts to get dark. At least you don’t have to worry about traffic though.

As you get within the distance of the town, you wonder just how fucked up it’s gotten since you left, or if order has been restored. You remember Jake mentioned marshal law being enforced in cities across the country. Makes you sort of wonder if the whole damn world is going mad or something.

Just as you get within the town’s limits, you think you notice a large vehicle up head and even people. Then suddenly several spotlights shine in the direction of your vehicle and one right ahead of you. You nearly lose control of your vehicle due to the blinding light and slam on your breaks.

“HALT! BY THE ORDER OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT THIS TOWN IS UNDER MARSHAL LAW! ALL ENTRY AND IN AND OUT IS FORBIDDEN! STOP YOUR VEHICLE FOR INSPECTION!” a loud speaker echoes.

The government has apparently decided to place your shithole town under marshal law as well, you can’t imagine why, but you aren’t even really thinking about that, all you’re thinking about is getting the hell out of here before you get shot, rounded up into a camp or both.

“Christ, Suzy, you ARE fucking jinxed.” You say and then with a deft maneuver you reverse the car and spin it around. You then slam on the gas.

Gunshots ring out and your back window is shot out. Soon the sounds of a jeep can be heard followed by more gunfire.

Your attempt to outrun the National Guard prove to be a failure as your back tires are shot and blown out causing your car to spin out of control, flip a few times and then slam into a row of tree along the side of the road.

Unlike the last accident you got into, you aren’t quite as lucky and you are severely injured due to low hanging branches going right through the windshield and impaling you through the chest. By the time the guardsmen reach you, all they find is a bloody mangled corpse.


Maybe if he’d given you ten or even five thousand you’d feel more comfortable making the risk of “starting over” but with just a thousand, you’re not that confident even with your new found self sufficient approach to life.

Besides, you’re not even sure where the hell eastward even takes you. For all you know it ends in wilderness, you’ve never been out of your own town before. Better to take your chances with the devil you know.

As you drive down the empty road, you pass long stretches of trees and wilderness. You never realized until just now how rural in an area you lived in before.

You briefly check your phone again to see if anyone has called, but as usual nobody has. Nobody cares.

You continue driving thinking about probably having to deal with the near state of anarchy the town is in. Assuming you even get home in one piece you’ll have to deal with Peter and his car. You figure you’ll have to at least give him this one.

All of which isn’t going to help you with Kelly who is still intent on throwing you out by the end of the week. Chances are if you attempted to “pay rent” with some of your money she’d just punch you in the face and take ALL of your money and let you stay another month at best which means being on a time limit and scrambling for a job again. You got very lucky once with the job situation as fast as you did, and you don’t think you’ll manage it that quickly again even if the town wasn’t all fucked up.

That leaves your plan “B” choice of living with your sister Donna and your so called best friend Julie which isn’t much of a plan at all so much as it’s just a free living arrangement. What a joy that’s going to be, dealing with their partying every night. You might as well be living out in the chaos filled streets given how they carry on. Hell, you might even be safer. You’ll definitely have to make sure to keep your newly acquired loot well hidden.

You try to take you mind off of all this by turning on the radio…Ground Zero ads.

“Ground Zero…how fucking original.” You say and turn the radio off, shaking your head.

You continue driving and driving and driving; your thoughts continuing to go back and forth about why you’re even going back to town.

It really would be so much easier to just stay with Jack.
> You turn around
You suddenly slam on the breaks.

“What the fuck am I doing? I don’t really want to go back to that shithole town! I don’t want to deal with shit on my own! Fuck this!” you exclaim and then spin the car around.

You drive back justifying everything in your mind that this isn’t really abandoning your goal of being self sufficient, it’s just a minor set back.

“You’re not going back to your old ways Suzy, you just need to some help. Jack wants to help so why shouldn’t you let him help? There’s no shame in it. Besides, you’re not going to whore yourself out and he’s not expecting you to. Everything is going to be fine.” You say to yourself.

After several times of thinking this, you have probably managed to convince yourself of it to a minor degree.

Eventually as day turns to night you see the Gray Building looming in the distance.

“Besides, it’s very dangerous in town right now. It’s probably safer to stay here anyway. Yeah, it will be safer…” you say ignoring the fact that you’ll be completely alone with a perfect stranger in the middle of nowhere. Well actually you aren’t really ignoring it, so much as you’re trying to mentally block it out.

You park near the building, get out of the car and head to the door. Remembering that Jack told you to knock three times, you do so and the door opens. Jack isn’t at the door, but you assume he’s probably got it on some sort of automatic system.

You enter the large front room and shortly after the door closes, you see Jack exiting one of those rooms in the back and quickly walking towards you.

“Suzy! Are you alright?! You’re not hurt are you?” He asks.
“Um, I’m fine Jack. I just decided that you might be right about how dangerous the town is right now and I should stay here awhile just to play it safe. No point in being proud for no reason.” You say.
“So you never actually got back to town?” Jack asks.
“No, why?”
“Because the town is currently under marshal law as well. After fucking around with the radio a bit more, I managed to get a little more info on that military frequency. My heart sank when I heard it knowing you were probably heading back that way. To be honest, I really worried.”

If Jack’s playing up his concern, he’s doing a really good job because you’re fairly convinced he’s being genuine.

“Well…I guess its good I decided to come back then.” You say realizing that this happy coincidence is only going to reinforce your more slothful tendencies. Still, you ARE glad you avoided potentially getting shot by the National Guard or something.

Attempting to avoid awkward silence you move on to a topic of immediate need.

“So, you got a shower I can use? I think I’m about due.”
“Sure, you know that room you woke up at? Well there’s a bathroom on that same side of the corridor towards the end of it, can’t miss it mainly because it actually has a door on it. Plenty of unused towels too…um, I don’t really have any spare women’s clothing lying around though. Not that I remember anyway. I suppose anything’s possible with all the shit I have laying around.”
“Well I’ll just wear these and figure that out later. I also just realized I haven’t eaten anything since Monday.”
“Oh, there’s a kitchen area across from the bathroom conveniently enough. Help yourself to whatever in the cupboards or refrigerators. Got plenty of stuff. I can even try to cook for you if you tell me what you like.”
“You can cook?”
“Well, I’m not an expert, but I can get by. I’m mostly lazy though and just pop in a frozen dinner.”
“Same here and that’s what I’ll probably do. No need to trouble yourself.” You answer.
“Okay, well I guess I’ll leave you to it. Oh, and you’re welcome to use that room to sleep in again. I think that’s it, if you need me I’ll be messing about with my radio as usual.”

At this point Jack raises his arm in a gesture to invite you back to his home.

“Thanks Jack.” You say as you walk by.
“I’m just glad you’re safe.” Jack says.

You head to the bathroom, which is a fairly mundane one with all the usual amenities. Plenty of towels like Jack said. You lock the door and take a much-needed shower. You get a half paranoid thought that Jack is going to suddenly burst in on you, but that doesn’t happen. So far Jack is still staying true to his gentleman form.

You get dressed and then head to the kitchen where you find Jack wasn’t kidding about having a well stocked one. You grab a drink and find the frozen dinner that takes the least amount of time to heat up in the microwave and then eat. Once again you think Jack is going to come in to check on you, but he doesn’t.

After eating you sort of just sit in the kitchen looking around for a moment. That of course becomes boring fairly fast and you go back to your assigned bedroom, which looks about the same as it did before.

It isn’t any more interesting in there either. Normally, you would’ve had your laptop to keep you occupied, but it’s sadly back home and you’re unlikely to see it anytime soon. Even your phone has recently gone dead. You almost want to go through the dresser in the room, but you sort of think that would be a bit intrusive since it’s probably just filled with Jack’s things.

Lacking any other ideas, you try to go to sleep, but you’re just not tired yet. Not to mention you’re still too anxious about sleeping here. Your usual method of “easing” yourself to sleep, isn’t an option since for one thing your battery powered boyfriend is also at home. However, even if you wanted to take matters into your own hands, you’d rather not be in the middle of spittin’ the kitten if Jack does decide to walk in to check on you.

So you do the very thing that’s you’ve been expecting Jack to do to you, you go seek him out to see what he’s doing. (The irony isn’t lost on you)

He mentioned he would be in that radio room so that’s where you initially head to, but then you hear a few noises in another one of the side rooms. Sounds like a video game.

You take a look and see a proper living room like area. Odd that you didn’t notice it the first time you were here, but then you weren’t really paying excessive attention to every room you were passing last time.

There sitting on a sofa is Jack playing a video game on a sizable screen.

“Well I guess you got sick of listening in on the military huh?” you ask causing Jack to look in your direction.
“Oh hey, I thought you’d be asleep or something.” Jack says pausing his game.
“Can’t sleep and I left any sort of stimulus to keep myself entertained at home unfortunately. This looks promising though.” You say.
“Got another controller, you can join right in if you want.” Jack says and points to some controllers on his coffee table.
“Nah, that’s okay. I’ll just watch for now.” You say and just as you’re about to sit on the sofa, Jack starts to get up.

“How come you’re getting up?” you ask when you sit down.
“Well I can sit in that seat over there.” Jack says.
“Jack it’s your home, no need to move on my account. I’m fully comfortable sitting next to you. I need to get over my paranoid scenarios about you anyway.”
“Scenarios?” Jack asks while sitting back down.
“Yeah, I kept thinking you were going to come rape me in the shower.”
“Yikes. I thought you said you didn’t think I was a serial killing rapist anymore.” Jack says not taking offense and going back to his game.
“Yeah, but…well I can’t help thinking the worst of people.”
“Well I get that.”
“If it helps, I’m about ninety nine percent sure that you aren’t a serial killing rapists anymore and I just think there is something weird about you.”
“Well looks like I’m doing better then.” Jack says with a smile.

You watch Jack kill something on screen before he speaks again.

“Well Suzy, I’m not sure if this is going to disappoint you, but I’m going to admit something to you that I’ve never told anyone before.” Jack says.
“Uh oh.” You say.
“I’m completely boring. Seriously, there is nothing remarkable about me at all. Like I said, I mainly kept to myself and lived in my mom’s basement until she tragically died, then I lived alone in her house…and now I live here. The end. Oh and collected a bunch of shit along the way.”
“Wow, way to sell yourself to me there Jack.” You say.
“Well I figure if saving your life a couple times and being honest isn’t going to get you to like me, nothing will.” Jack chuckles, causing you to snicker a bit too.
“Hah, I knew that’s why you saved me.” You say.
“Oh well, I guess the secret’s out.” Jack replies.

You have to admit, you’re starting to become more at ease with Jack, the guy is very laid back and you’re certainly not used to dealing with that sort of personality. The closest was your older brother Ben’s hippy wife Moonshadow and she was an annoying flake. (She did have pretty eyes though)

“So am I actually going to learn anything more about you?” Jack asks.
“You know what Jack? I think you will, what the hell…” you say.

You open up to Jack, and begin telling him of your life. The funny thing is while you find it pretty dull Jack finds it pretty fascinating. You imagine that’s probably due to your “colorful” family members who probably would be a lot more amusing to someone else not having the burden of dealing with them.

Jack stops playing his game altogether when you start going into your Uncle Ed and Bobby. He hangs on every word, asking you for clarification at times which you provide.

You don’t know why you’re telling him all this stuff, you suppose it’s because you feel very comfortable with him, not to mention telling him all this stuff almost feel like a weight has been lifted off of you, since it isn’t like you talk to anyone normally.

“Holy shit Suzy. Your life wasn’t all that boring what with all the psycho family members and your cultist ex. Wow. Maybe I should be scared of you given how you managed to survive it all.” Jack says after hearing everything.
“Eh, seems like someone’s always saved me or I’ve been lucky. I mean Bobby saved me from my uncle. That’s probably why I fell in love with him…(Sigh) Sort of fucked up right?”
“Well I think I understand it. I dunno, never been in that position myself, so I’m not really one to judge. Obviously it was love while it lasted. I mean he didn’t try to kill you when you broke up.”
“True. So how about you?” you ask though you’re starting to get sleepy.
“How about me what?” Jack says.
“Any long lost loves in your life?”
“Not really any love whatsoever really…it’s a rather depressing tale. I’d rather keep the conversation upbeat.”
“Mm. Shit, wave of sleep is starting to hit me.” You say and then yawn.

“Are you going to bed?” Jack asks.
“You mind if I just sleep on this sofa? I think I mentioned how I’m used to sleeping on one.” You reply.
“Sure. Sure. I’ll move and you just stretch out and be comfortable.” Jack says and gets up so you can lie down fully.

Jack turns off his console and as you settle in to sleep you continue to speak a bit.

“I like you Jack.” You say.
“I like you too Suzy…um…I feel I should tell you something though since you were so open with me.”
“What, you’re a serial killer rapist after all? Well, if I’m still alive tomorrow, I think I’ll be able to look past the raping if you at least still respect me.” You darkly joke as sleep continues to creep up on you.
“No, I just was going to say, while I wasn’t lying about not being a remarkable person, I suppose I’ve acquired some remarkable things in my dealings.”
“Oh, well you can tell me all about your rare antiques tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll find it interesting.”
“Well, I suppose I do have some of those, but I was referring to this building actually…um…I guess I’ll tell you tomorrow since it’s really important you know and I think you’ll want to be attentive when you hear it.” Jack says in a serious tone.
“Sure…whatever (Yawn)…” you say.

With those last words Jack leaves you to sleep and you drift off…
> Next day…
THURSDAY

You wake up to the sound of…well you can’t quite place it. White noise might be the closest thing you can think of, but that wouldn’t be correct. It’s like an annoying hum or buzz going straight to your head. You get up and see that the TV is off from yesterday, so it isn’t that.

“Jack? You hear that noise?” you call out in a groggy tone.

There isn’t any answer, just that increasingly annoying noise.

You attempt to get up and it takes you a couple tries, not because you’re naturally lazy, but more because you’re starting to feel nauseous. The noise you’re hearing isn’t helping matters.

You get up on your feet and stagger to the door way which when you get to, you lean up against and feel like you’re going to puke.

“Jack…” you just barely manage to shout, before you have to stop to keep from vomiting.

You look up and down the corridor and find that the lights are flickering. Some are out completely. You have no idea what the hell is going on, but you’d probably be more scared if you didn’t feel so sick.

Mustering up all your willpower, you head to the bedroom thinking Jack might be asleep in there. Nobody there, but you can’t fight the sickness any longer and you run as fast as you can to the bathroom nearly falling over in the process.

You just barely manage to make it to throw up in the toilet. The lights are going nuts at this point and you notice the bathtub and sink are both on. After recovering a bit, you notice the stuff coming out of the sink isn’t exactly water. It’s black and tarry looking. You don’t risk touching it, you just get the hell out of the bathroom.

No sooner have you done this, when a sudden loud noise hits you so hard you actually stumble and fall to the floor. You wouldn’t even be able to describe the sound, it’s just really horrible and even though you’ve just puked, you still feel pretty damn nauseous.

Picking yourself back up and leaning against the wall, you slowly try to make your way to the room where Jack was messing about with his radio stuff. You don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere though, in fact the more you walk, the more you feel like you’re on a treadmill in an endless corridor.

You continue on, but as you pass by rooms you can swear you’re seeing weird things out the corner of your eye. You then start thinking you’re seeing shit in front of you as well. Shadowy humanoid figures blink in and out existence along with the lighting.

At this point the feeling of terror is becoming stronger than your feeling of sickness. The white noise is still drilling into your head, but now it’s accompanied by an insane laugh, which varies in pitch and tone. When you pass the flight of stairs, you hear whispery voices beckoning you go in that direction. You’re hardly enticed to do so.

As you get closer to the radio room, the shadowy figures can be seen running about in the large room up ahead. As you get closer, these figures are becoming less shadowy and more “solid.” These figures are starting to no longer look humanoid either.

It is around this time that you notice your surroundings are becoming… warped. Walls are melting around you and you’re seeing those shadowy figures in the next room starting to move in slow motion one moment and then other times you see them rapidly moving back and forth in a repetitious manner. You nearly jump out of your skin when several of these beings appear right in front of you and you get a good look at them now that they aren’t so shadowy anymore.

They’re a mass of tentacles, teeth and misshaped features that would make any horror movie demon jealous, unfortunately this is no movie. The screeching, wailing, and gibbering are bad enough, the visual is bad enough, but the fetid smell is what puts it over the top in just vile nastiness.

You see one particularly disgusting one with a mutilated face like raw meat and a the scent of a rotten corpse on a hot day, transform into something even worse looking before it opens three of its mouths to reveal its tongues which not only look infested with disease, but have ugly little faces on them.

When it attempts to lick you, you turn and run only to find yourself in a wide open space where everything now looks like it’s been put through a multicolored filter. You feel like you’re in a rainbow void. When you look behind you however all you see is darkness save for the creatures now moving towards you.

You don’t run far when all of a sudden the rainbow filter disappears and is replaced by a flickering affect that you’re actually back in a “real” location. It isn’t the corridor though, it resembles more of a large college auditorium and in the center is a single figure sitting in a lotus position.

He’s bald and not dressed in modern clothing and in fact looks like he’s from some sort of nerd cosplay convention. He appears human however.

One thing that’s about him that doesn’t look human though is his eyes are completely white and not just normal “blind eyes” sort either. They’re glowing pure white light.

You become very disorientated as the flickering of this reality disappears and slowly just becomes a blank gray open space with more gray as far as you can see despite there not being any more walls. You see that the creatures behind you aren’t following, but they definitely want to get closer. It would seem this man’s presence is at least holding them back somehow. At this point you you’re completely lost to as what is going on, but you approach the man if it means keeping the monsters at bay.

The man suddenly speaks as you get close to him. He’s not really looking at you though, more like looking through you.

“You…I…don’t belong here…everything changes…so many changes…been here…before…somewhere else…so much to do…bring balance…the future is beautiful…the past is beautiful…everything is ugly…corrupted…it’s beautiful…” the man utters in a fragmented way and you have no idea what the hell he’s talking about.
“Where is Jack?! What’s going on? Who are you?!” you ask trying to figure out this situation.

To your horror you notice your hands and arms become weathered and wrinkled. From what you can tell, your hair has gone completely white as well. With some hesitation, you feel your face and it definitely doesn’t feel smooth anymore.

“Oh my god…” you utter.

“…time is short…fleeting life…the others do not like this place…disrupts balance…” the man says still not moving from his spot.

You then notice your hands and everything else have gone back to normal. This entire situation is very fucked up, and you don’t have the faintest idea what’s going on, but you hope that “Mr. Lotus” has some answers with all the cryptic shit he’s spouting.

“Look! I need answers! What is going on here and who are you?!” you ask again while still looking back to make sure those creatures are still staying away from you.

“A footnote…forgotten… traveller…cursed…blessed…nobody… you must choose… Suzy…” the man utters.
“How did you know my…” you start to ask before you’re interrupted.
“You must choose…the others…they come…”

You turn your head and see that the monsters and the darkness are indeed starting to move towards you once again.

“Choose? Choose what?! What are you talking about?!” you ask again.
“You must choose…” the man says again with less of an air of indifference and more of one of authority.
“What am I choosing?”

The area surrounding you and the man begins to darken and now you’re getting creatures starting surround you as well.

“You must choose or die…” the man says again.
“Alright! Alright! I choose! But what the fuck am I choosing!?!” you shout with a mixture of fear and frustration.
“You’ll know when the time comes…” the man says.

For a brief moment your surroundings change from that of the large classroom auditorium again with the man still in front of you. The blackness has disappeared, but the monsters have not as you see several floating tentacle creatures in the room with you. They aren’t quite as disgusting, but they’re still dangerous and giving off that aura that’s making you feel nauseous again.

Just as you think you see a more humanoid figure enter the room there is suddenly a blinding flash all around you causing you to shield your eyes. Everything goes completely white, to completely black and then when you open your eyes again, you find yourself in the large front room of the building. Items are no longer neatly stack and are instead scattered about all over the place, some of them probably broken.

Still completely baffled by what the fuck is going on, you look around for something to protect yourself with amongst the junk all over the floor. You eventually see a sturdy looking bat and pick it up. Upon inspection you notice the words “RUTH” on it, no doubt one of Jack’s valuable purchases.

Speaking of Jack you still haven’t seen him, but you soon hear him.

“Suzy?! Suzy? Are you here? Where are you?” you hear him call out. Sounds like it’s coming from the corridor, but you don’t see anyone. Maybe he’s upstairs? You haven’t been up there yet, but given what you just experienced, you’re a little reluctant to go deeper into this place.

You remember Jack said he was going to tell you something about this building before you fell asleep, well whatever that was, it’s apparent that you were right that something about him was weird. Not just weird, but dangerous.

You don’t think you’re ever going to quite get some of the images out of your head, you even feel a little different. Maybe the sensory overload has made you a bit numb rather than reducing you to a gibbering wreck.

Numb or not, you still have a good mind to just walk out the front door and get the hell out of here.

Maybe this was the “choice” that strange guy was talking about.
> You leave the building
You like Jack and all, but obviously you need to break this habit of going for guys that save you and have really complicated baggage.

You head towards the door, open it revealing that it’s almost night already and get out of the building. Your car is still parked in the same location and you waste no time in starting it up and driving away.

You almost don’t want to look back at the building, but you’re compelled to do so anyway. However when you do, you see absolutely nothing in your rear view mirror.

“What the fuck?” you say and then briefly turn your head to look directly and it’s confirmed, the Gray Building is gone. You didn’t see it disappear, but it obviously has. Where, you have no idea, but you feel a little bad for leaving Jack now. You can only imagine what might have happened to him.

“He already knew what that building was, Suzy. He’ll be fine and if he isn’t…well YOU had to get out of there right? In fact HE’S an asshole for not telling you what the hell that damn building was about in the first place…yeah…goddamn it…” you say to yourself.

In your haste to forget about some of the stuff you saw, you absent-mindedly turn the radio on.

“Fuck, it’s going to just be ads for Ground…what the hell?” you say as you hear something you didn’t expect.

“…and talks today were very successful between the President and several other world leaders. It would seem that despite previous disagreements, tensions in the world are lower than they have been in quite some time. In other news, financial experts say things are looking up for the economy ever since…”

You change the station and find actual music on; in fact you do this several times and find no annoying Ground Zero ads at all! Just the normal annoying ones in between the music, but the fact that anything else is on is very surprising to you. No doom and gloom as far the news goes too or at least not as bad as it was when you remember.

What the hell is going on?

You also remember that Jack told you he heard on the radio that your town is under marshal law; maybe that’s no longer the case too? You certainly hope so, because you have no idea where else to go.

As you drive you wonder about the Gray Building and what it might have done. You start forming weird theories, but given what you just went through, maybe they aren’t so weird.

You first wonder if maybe you went through time somehow. Maybe the passage of time goes slower in there or something. You do remember that frightening bit when you aged and then reverted back briefly. (You look in your mirror again to make sure you are indeed still young and of course you are) Maybe all the troubles in the world subsided and things are back to normal? If so, you can’t imagine that it’s just been a couple days and everything would be okay again. You would have had to been gone a long time.

It also occurs to you that maybe you went back in time and maybe this is before the whole world started going to shit (as well as your town).

The immediate hole in either of these theories is the fact that the music playing on the radio stations is current. Of course you could just be listening to the “oldies” station and perhaps a shitload more time has passed than you thought.

Wouldn’t support the going back in time theory though if that’s the case and unless every station is an “oldies” station you quickly start dismissing the idea that you might’ve travelled through time.

You dismiss it altogether when you hear a newsperson on the radio announce today’s date.

So you haven’t travelled through time…maybe you went to a different dimension? You certainly don’t think those things or that bald guy were from your world. Then there was that flickering effect that you experience where you were in a halfway normal location that looked to be an auditorium.

If this is a different dimension though, so far a lot of shit is the same. Same famous musicians on the radio at least. Same world leaders mentioned, same celebrities mentioned that you know of.

Of course things seem to be a lot better as far as the world not nearly being on the verge of blowing itself up. You suppose you won’t really know until you get back to town.

The drive is a long one, and it’s nightfall by the time you reach your town. You aren’t seeing any military trucks or any blockades, so that’s a good sign. As you drive into town, you notice that it isn’t an anarchic mess that it was when you left. It doesn’t even look like there was any riots or disasters at all. Just normal traffic and there isn’t even much of that going on right now.

It is at this time you know this can’t be your reality and while you’re certain glad you aren’t in immediate danger anymore, you can’t help but feel a bit lost.

What are you going to do? Do you still go home? What is home going to be like now? Will you still have the same crappy life? How much is different?

Once again, about the only thing you can do is find out, hell it isn’t like you have much better to do now.

You drive home which is a lot easier to do when there aren’t assholes throwing bricks at your windshield or general chaos in the streets.

When you arrive at what you presume is still home you park on the street and you notice it’s slightly different. The house doesn’t look like it’s in a state of disrepair mainly. It doesn’t look like the lights are on either, which isn’t excessively unusual since Kelly is usually working at this time, Peter’s in the garage and you’re in the basement so there isn’t exactly anyone in the front living room or even upstairs where you might see a light.

Peter’s car isn’t in the driveway either, maybe he’s out or maybe he doesn’t live here, you can’t know. You aren’t even sure if this is your house. Who knows, maybe you don’t even live in this town.

Surprisingly even after all the mess you’ve gone through, you still have your house key so after taking it out of your pocket, you get out of the car an head towards the house.

You walk up to the front door and you’re about to try your key, but then you wonder if maybe you shouldn’t just ring the bell or knock first.
> You try your key
You might as well try your key, if it doesn’t fit then you can ring the bell.

You try your key. It works! Maybe you live here after all.

It’s pitch dark inside and you fumble around for a light switch on the wall, but apparently it doesn’t work which already seems like something that would happen in your own house. Unable to achieve illumination that way, you see the silhouette of a lamp in the darkness and you head to it. Unfortunately you end up tripping over a bunch of shit in the dark, because apparently the furniture is arranged differently in this house.

You end up breaking the lamp in the process of trying to turn it on. You curse and just sit in the dark for a moment holding on to your bruised shin and knee. You then attempt to carefully get up since the last thing you want is broken shards of the lamp in your hand or anywhere else in your body.

Just as you’re about to carefully make your way to the kitchen and turn the light on there, you hear a creaking noise. Sounds like it’s coming from upstairs.

You go in that direction just in time to see a figure at the top of the stairs followed by the muzzle blast of a double-barreled shotgun. The impact throws you against the wall and you wheeze for breath and cough up blood.

“Got that fucking burglar!” you hear a vaguely familiar voice shout as you bleed out.
“George?! Is it safe?” another voice calls out. Sounds female and you can’t believe you’re hearing it after all these years…either of the voices actually. But especially hers…

Suddenly the upstairs light comes on which provides just enough illumination to shine down on you and the voice of who you now know belongs to your father becomes very panicked.

“OH SHIT! OH FUCK! BERTHA! BERTHA! CALL 911!” your father shouts and runs down the stairs nearly tripping the process.

He drops the shotgun and goes over to you, but you’re already well on your way to death.

“Suzy! Oh my fucking god! I didn’t mean to…what are you even doing here?! I thought you were visiting Saturday! I didn’t even know you still had a key to the house! Oh shit! No! Hang on!”

While your dad attempts to hold you, your mother who apparently is also very much alive in this reality still doesn’t quite know what’s going on until she sees the carnage.

“SUZY! NO! GEORGE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” your mom screams and runs down the stairs.
“I didn’t know! I didn’t know!” your father exclaims.

You can’t talk or do anything except gurgle and choke on blood right now, but as the light begins to fade from your eyes and the life starts leaving your body, you watch your mother approach and tearfully embrace your bloody body.

And somehow seeing your mother one last time before you die doesn’t make it quite so bad.

You just wish it had been under better conditions.