The sound of glass could be heard shattering as an alarm goes off on the eerily quiet streets of New York City.  “Anything?” Desaray asked as she poked her head through the now-open door of the Honda that Becky had just broken into. 

“I found a gun!” Becky cried out. She nervously held a gun in her hand that was still in its holster and passed it to Desaray. 

“Not bad. It’s small, so you should be able to handle it.” Desaray looked it over. Her father had a gun chest as well in his bedroom, so she knew how to check if it was empty or not. “Becky, hit this button here, then pull this back to eject any bullets in the chamber. Just make sure this is always down like this so that the safety is on when you are doing it, and never point it at anyone while doing this.”

Becky nodded her head like a good student and listened to Desaray’s instructions.  After checking the chamber and making sure it was unloaded, she was taught how to load a bullet and then load the gun again. “Now, one thing to make sure of is to always have your finger off the trigger when walking, only put it on the trigger when you are aiming at a monster. ”

“Understood. ” Becky nodded her head again. She felt like she had been doing that since the start.

“And lastly….” Desaray leaned in and whispered into Becky’s ear so that only the two of them could hear what was being said. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t hand it to anyone.” Becky knew that Desaray did not trust Jake. There was a chance if he got a weapon like this, that he might do something stupid in order to save his own life. 

“Desa, I found a bat!” Yu was next to find a weapon as she hopped out of the cab of a truck. 

“Alright, then we should be good. Jake is busy carrying Mike, so he can’t carry a weapon. It will be up to the three of us to be the main fighters when it comes down to it.” Desaray looked at Jake, who had a nasty look on his face. She wondered if he realized the kind of face he was making at this time.

“Desa, are you sure we can survive this?” Yu asked in a low voice. She was clutching the bat in her hand so tightly that the white of her knuckles was showing.

“I can’t answer that. I do not know what will happen next. I am just as nervous as you are, but I have no choice. I promised to try to help Mike, and the hospital is the only way. We may even get lucky, and only the Upper West Side is where the monsters are. We could cross the terrace to find out that they have a large army of soldiers standing there.” Desaray answered honestly. This was truly how she felt and thought at this time. She would not give out false promises since she did not know what the outcome would be.

The group slowly made their way across the street, which was now more like a scene out of an apocalyptic movie than anything else. The cars that were just left abandoned yet still locked up, the silence of no human traffic whatsoever. In a city this large, which is normally bustling with pedestrians. It was very strange to see it like this. 

“Why are there no other people? Did we get hit by truck-kun and did not know it?” Becky asked softly, which almost made Desaray, and Yu burst out laughing. Even Jake, who was in a bad move, had his lips twitch upwards at her comment.

“My guess is they are either hiding or dea…. Don’t look. Let’s go this way.” Desaray  stopped in her steps and changed directions. They were just joking, but not far from the car she had led her friends around was a dead body that looked like it had been torn apart by some kind of monster. Blood was everywhere. And the scent of iron was heavy in the air making Desaray’s nose wrinkle up.

Becky had caught a glimpse of it and backed up beofre quickly running to Desaray’s side, almost bumping into Yu in the process. Yu did not dare look when Desaray told her not to and just hurried along. Jake, on the other hand, got a good look as he passed by. His face grew pale, and the smell of iron was making him feel sick. So sick that he had to stop. “Urp!”

“I said not to look! Jake, puke all you want later. For now, let’s move! My nose is much more sensitive now than it was before, so the smell is affecting me ten times more, maybe even a hundred times more than it is you.” Desaray couldn’t understand how it was the girls could keep it together more than he could. She did not understand why he was so scared of everything.

Jake looked at Desaray’s retreating back and quickly adjusted Mike’s position on his back, and continued forward. He did not hold it against her for being tough on him. He had to admit she was much stronger than he could ever be at this time with how clam and collected she was. He also felt embarrassed that both girls kept their stomachs while he lost his.

Desaray lead the group to a side alley and stopped in front of the entrance. “We will need to do down this alley as it is quicker and probably safer than taking the main roads. But there is one thing. I can sense something down here. It doesn’t feel like the wolf I saw earlier or a goblin, but weaker. If this is the case, I want Becky and Yu to try to take it out while I hold it back. Becky, use a blunt weapon and save your bullets for emergencies. There is a pipe at the side, so use that. When I say to attack, attack.”