《The Untamed beast》 The Ashes of Yesterday Have you ever wondered why we as a species, or even yourself feel so out of place? There are so many undercurrents of problems that it is even hard to build a complete picture. Between matters of the different genders, the declining morals of our existence, and policies of our representatives that only line the pockets of the elite few, we Humans are destroying the climate and wonderous life on earth with our greed, decision-making ability of our bodies, and many many more. Why has it become like this? Why haven''t we intervened? Will it just pass over our heads, or will the next generation have to clean up our mess? Should we, as people, not rise and defend our Human nature and our planet for ourselves? What has happened to our free will and the ability to think and act for ourselves? We as a species are currently running into a dystopian style life while smiling and just doing what we can to individually survive. Have you never dreamt or even just heard about the old stories? Knights defended the peasants against their Tyrant ruler and even went so far as to become King Slayers by breaking their oath of fealty. Masses of peasants rose against their ruler and besieged castles to achieve a better place for the next generation and themselves. Knights went on quests to save the princess from a mighty and ferocious beast. What we need of you is to think about why all of these stories happened. Was it the system that made these knights-errant and commeners rise up? Or maybe it was the injustice they could no longer stomach. How much abuse were they all subject to before they decided it was excessive? How much abuse before we in our Modern world thought it was excessive? Is there even something that we could do about any of this? What would it take for us individually to rebuild the system of our failing society? There are many answers to this but for David, our Main Character, and his world, the answer was simple. Chaos, Strife, Pandemonium, Sodom and Gomorrah The Apocalypse descended in the form of Divine intervention. A Divine being of the infinite Cosmos saw enough of us trying to destroy the world and has had enough. Little did this Divine being know that the quick intervention it brought forth would leave many survivors and awaken the latent potential for change. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ---------------------------------------------------- A being bathed in the Golden light of positive Karmic light of merit and acumen was hovering along the orbit of the Moon. It stared at the planet bathed in blue hues in front of it. Its eyes flickered rapidly along the surface of this planet seemingly capturing multiple scenes playing out before it. Sometimes it would frown other times it would smile faintly. Predominantly it frowned, as time passed this frown became deeper and deeper. Looking at this being one would start to feel rage dripping off of it in waves. More and more deep feelings were added to the aura of this creature. Grief, resignation, and helplessness along with Anger were the main emotions put clearly on display. The divine being clenched and unclenched its hands multiple times. But still, it was hopeful. It had choices to make. There was a reason this Divine messenger was hovering about this planet. Should it use the proverbial Damocles sword on this seemingly peaceful blue ball of light, or should it wait for the Karma to reach a flux point? While the task given to it was clear to itself, still it hesitated. Was there nothing left to salvage of the Planet it was watching? But as it was a being of almost infinite Karmic virtue and Merit it hesitated. Would it steep itself in sin to rectify this wrong and later on accumulate even more Karmic merit and virtue after the reckoning has ended and this little blue ball gave birth to a better society? It resolved itself by lifting its arm and pointing a finger directly into the biggest metropolis it saw. Runes and Symbols emerged from their surroundings. A heavenly hymn rose in a cacophony of high notes surrounding it in a feeling of even purer holiness. " You have been judged, and the verdict is you are lacking." It said in a female voice. A tiny ball of green light emerged from the tip of her finger. Slowly this little ball traveled through the void. The divine messenger lowered its arm. She began to weep. There was nothing as painful for it as to destroy an emerging society. She threw her arms around herself as her whole body began to shake and quiver with the raw and unbridled emotion of pain that emerged from her. This happened as the little green ball was slowly making its way to the blue planet. The divine messenger couldn''t take her eyes off this magic of reckoning she cast towards the planet. Slowly the blue Planet turned and after a complete cycle of it turning around the sun of its solar system the little green ball connected with the planet. At this moment the Divine messenger stopped weeping sighed once more and disappeared as if she was never there to begin with. Ch2 The ashes of yesterday- 2 For months, scientists and the military tried to analyze the two unidentified objects in our orbit. They sent rockets into moon orbit, but they could not get close to the golden glimmering person. While the golden one remained stationary, the green one was the worrying one. Ever so slowly it began its descent into the core of earth. Conspiracy theories, Propaganda, and even religious beliefs swarmed all media outlets with explanations and doomsday scenarios. Even the space probes Humanity launched hadn''t provided insights into what it was. The world turned on its head the moment it was discovered. Hardly anyone showed up to work anymore. While the Governments of the world told anyone to remain calm and continue as usual, no one believed it. -------------------------- Days until the green-7 David a literal average man felt the same. While he didn''t belive any of the conspiracy theories he let his mind wander. David was an avid reader of fiction, so his mind always went to his special place, Magic. While he didn''t wish for an apocalypse, he wished this little green ball that was traveling closer to Earth promised the scent of magic. He truly believed that 2 objects suddenly appearing in space had a certain magical flavor to them. He truly felt as if things were going to change even his gut made it clear this feeling wasn''t going anywhere. With every passing day, the feelings of butterflies in his stomach grew. There was something about the mystery of it all. The last week before the green balls'' arrival past the same way the months before did. David worked at a local Grocery or Super Market chain. His way to work had been a 30-minute drive before the appearance of the entities but ever since it only took him 20. Hardly anyone was driving anymore. Almost no one showed up to work so traffic was reduced to almost nothing. David walked into his workplace, punched in, and took a look around. After he scanned the whole place he let out a big sigh. Mentally David started organizing his work day and he was lost deep in thought. " Sure looks like were back during the big pandemic, huh?" His Boss Craig shocked him out of his mental gymnastics. " Yeah man, the shelves are almost empty. Are we getting any deliveries in today bossman?" David replied as he slowly turned towards his boss. His boss, as per usual, wore a nicer then he should button-down shirt with a slim-cut tie. Dress shoes with an almost mirror-like shine and a pressed line in his dress pants screamed that he was here to look good and not work. Craig was around 5 foot 10 inches and David was just a few inches taller than him. " Who knows, with all this craziness going around?" Craig said as he walked off. Naturally, Craig was right. David had experienced it all during the last months with him. Between the 70% of people being so frightened by the media that everyone bunkered down in their homes or shelters his country''s resources had become sparse. Prices of course had increased significantly just before the green ball showed up due to corporate greed or the great depression as they called it. But they took on another high as delivery drivers and producers had problems even delivering anything to the many stores across the Nation. David''s inner thoughts turned as he set out to his particular work area. While this wasn''t anyone''s dream job, it gave him enough money to scrape by. Currently he did it because he was always one of the first people in line to keep his fridge and pantry full. While David wasn''t a '' we are all doomed '' kind of guy, he had stockpiled some nonperishables at home. ''Better to have a gun and not need it than needing it and not having one'' was a saying his Grandpa indoctrinated into him from an early age. The work itself was mindless, so David''s inner thoughts turned to the books he was currently reading. With money tight, he turned his inner ramblings to his favorite website. A home of pure delight and artistry. Did you want to experience stories of intrigue and cunning, or might and power there was always something to find. As David was lost in thoughts about magic, knights, beauties, and monsters, he saw a girl had walked up to him. " Do y''all still have any gauze and witch hazel?" the girl said with a slightly southern tilt. David turned his head towards her and took stock of her. Instantly he got annoyed. The girl barely was in her 20s, but wore makeup so thick the only way to describe it was excessive. Even her attire rang alarm bells in David''s mind. Booty shorts that exposed half of her cheeks, a sports bra that had absolutely no coverage. Not to mention long colored nails, most likely acrylic that kept drumming on her phone, and her long blond hair looked unblemished. Belly button pierced and many many tattoos. " Let me go check Ma''am. " David replied lazily not even giving the Girl another glance. '' I just don''t get the fashion sense of today. '' David thought as he rummaged through the limited product they had in their back room storing area. Luckily for the Girl David had found a whole box worth of gauze and some bottles of the witch hazel. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He brought them out for her and put them in her Cart, smiling a business-like smile. " There ya go, that''s all we had in the back" David said. " Neat, my name is Nessa by the way" Nessa replied while fidgeting with her phone. David felt as if he recognized what this was about. Not the first person to ask him for his phone number to get a leg up on any deliveries they had in the store. " Names David" He said in an offhanded tone already turning around to continue his work. David didn''t like giving out his number anymore. While he was raised polite, he had experienced giving out his number during all this craziness. The numerous calls about the product and if he could reserve it for them were insanity. So a month into this madness he accepted any contact details were just for this purpose. " Uhhh, well David I''ll better get goin then" Nessa said awkwardly clearly catching the rejection. To David, it almost felt like the girl was fleeing as he chuckled at the weird interraction. David knew where he stood. Average was the only way to describe him. He wasn''t fit, but not fat either. His dark blond hair was kept short so maintenance on it wouldn''t take up too much time. While he was tall at 6 foot 2 and did go to the gym to help with his mental health, he never was the most athletic or the biggest at his local gym. His face was almost lost in a crowd, except for his piercing ice-blue eyes. The frown on his face never helped either. He kept his beard short, and his clothes clean, and he always smelled nice due to some cologne he put on himself every day. Mindlessly David toiled away the rest of his shift and clocked out on time. There wasn''t much to do as no deliveries arrived that day. After he got to his car he sped off to the local gym and started as he called it quality time. Lifting weights helped him focus, his brain usually spun all over the place going from one exciting thing to the next. This usually meant Stories or books, but rarely even events that happened in the world around him. He gently placed his weights down and took a swig of his water bottle. In front of him was a mirror, as most Gyms had adopted this mirror style in the free weights section, and he checked his arms. Sweat was glistening on his skin after his biceps curls. People were close to him but David ignored them. That was the polite thing to do, and he''d rather be caught dead than staring at the girls working out. David saw a glint of blond out of the corner of his eyes while looking at himself. Nessa the girl that asked him for something at work. She was using a machine that was further in the back of the gym but David thought she was looking in his direction. He put his headphones back on and picked his weights back up. His arms were shivering already which was a good sign. David loved going to failure on his sets, it just gave him that little bit of adrenaline rush at the end that sweetened the deal. While he was working out he changed from free weights to other areas of the gym but there was always the presence of a head of blond hair near him. At all cost David wanted to avoid any interaction at the gym, he never lingered long in any area and as soon as he finished his workout of the day raced to the locker room. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, he leisurely walked to his car. He had his headphones in while doing so but felt as if someone called out to him in the parking lot. David just shrugged it off and drove home. His home was nothing special a two-bedroom apartment with the bare necessary decor and all the furniture he would need. He dropped his gym bag at the door and headed into the bedroom. David almost threw himself on his bed and pulled out his iPad. '' Some stories updated, lucky me.'' He mused while proceeding to read. The rest of the day went by uneventfully. ----------------------------- Days until the green-1 The arrival of the Green, as it would later be called by the leading cults of churches and scientists alike, was set to happen in a short couple of hours. David had just finished his shift at work and was at the gym. While he couldn''t believe that the world was coming to an end, he was still wary of what might happen. The government tried to make it a secret, but the stationed military personnel in major cities told a story of riots, looting, and plundering. While David truly believed such things to happen they were crimes of people scared beyond belief. No one was truly evil in his eyes. As David was heading out of the locker rooms he peeked outside the window front of the gym. Green. The cars outside were green. Houses, windows, and even doors were all green. Streets as well as any signs and posts were green. " Emergency Broadcast, Emergency Broadcast," The TVs set inside the gym started blaring. " The Unidentified Object heading towards Earth has expanded in size. Seek immediate Shelter and await further Notice." The robotic voice intoned. David ran to the windows and looked up. " What is this?" David shouted in resignation. " It''s like we have two suns ...." While it looked as such for just a second the ''sun'' that was green began to rapidly expand in size. Closer and closer it grew as it approached earth''s crust. " Impact in 5,4,3....." The robotic voice of the emergency broadcast kicked back to life. David had to shield his eyes from the ever more blinding light, but just two short seconds later he felt it. A slight tremor as if something massive shifted to rapidly close to him. The green light had disappeared and the shaking had stopped immediately after. Numerous conversations sprung up around David as he was looking for any unusual sounds outside. " Are we still alive?" also " Nothing happened...." and many many more. " Well, that was anticlimactic .... " David began, just as he uttered those words something changed. His heart started beating uncontrollably, and he felt heat rising within him. David shook his head trying to dispel the unpleasant feeling, but instead, an ache suffused his entire being. It was like an insidious toothache had suddenly gripped his entire being. He collapsed to the floor just barely keeping himself from putting his face to the floor with his arms. Even through the incredible pain David managed to take a look around him. Everyone had collapsed, only a very few kneeled or kept their upper bodies upright. The air around them seemed to cool, but he was still able to see all the flushed faces of everyone around him. His temperature kept climbing as well. David''s body kept shooting more and more information to his brain about the wrongness of his internals. He could hear his blood pumping at extreme rates, and his muscles still fatigued from working out started constricting. His fingers started digging into the hard tiled floor and ripped his fingernails out. But between the intense feeling of pain he was suffering over his complete body and the suddenly enormous awareness of his own body he wasn''t able to perceive anything else. Cries and howls filled the gym but he barely registered them for what they were. Now all David could do was stare ahead at his own hands his head lowered down. Just before the utter darkness of unconsciousness claimed him a gray-colored dot roughly the size of a quarter appeared on his fingers where the nails had been ripped out. Ch3 The ashes of yesterday- 3 David awoke startled. He shut his eyes tight as the pressure behind them only very slowly subsided. He used his fingers to pinch the top of his nose. While he kept his eyes shut he released his nose and shook his head rapidly. His memories were still hazy. He felt around himself and realized he was on a cold stone-like floor. " What is going on" he barely managed to croak out. The feelings of his body were off. His brain told him something incredibly wrong was going on but he couldn''t point out exactly where it was coming from. Slowly he took a deep breath. This wasn''t enough to gather himself so he took another. He sat on this unfamiliar cold floor for a short few minutes, breathing and collecting himself. With resolve, David opened his eyes. He saw a massive window front. A cloud of smoke drifted into his view from beyond the window as well as some red light of a fire. David rose from his seated position and pressed his face against the glass scanning the surroundings. He saw many cars orderly parked within white lines. Further there was a street and many colorful signs. Past those he saw the cause of the smoke. A wreck. A red and yellow car had managed to avoid a full-on frontal collision, and there was minimal damage to the front of both cars. He scanned further and saw a power line bending dangerously close to the ground. Even some of the wires were loose causing sparks to fly in its vicinity. The yellow car looked as if it was stuck inside the base of the power pole. Immediately David took stock of the building he was in. " Right the Gym" he muttered to himself. A mass of people were lying on the floor. He focused in on the staff of the gym which was the person closest to him. After a few seconds of focus, he saw the rising and falling of their ribcage. Relieved David sighed and pushed open the clear Gym doors rather forcefully. He sprinted towards the street to get to the wreck as fast as he could. From afar he looked through the windshield of the red car. A female, with some blood on her temple parked in the green closest to the gym. Her arms were slightly moving. While she was not okay by any stretch of the imagination, her stirring from unconsciousness was a good sign, David thought to himself. Next, his attention went over to the yellow car. Sparks were flying but David could easily reach the yellow car without being in mortal danger. He ran up to the drivers side and attempted to open the door. Due to the frontal collision the front part of the car was deformed but after giving it a hard tuck the door flung open. While David didn''t rip the door off its hinges it recoiled and slammed back into David as he was trying to get the driver out. He grunted in pain, but he had been through worse in his life. Another woman was in the driver''s seat. She had more blood around her and there was even a big splash of it on her steering wheel. '' Probably hit her head severely. Conclusion and other factors to consider.'' these thoughts barely registered in his mind. David unbuckled her while pushing her upper body back into the seat. While some might have battled with the dilemma of leaving the woman in her seat, to not further aggravate the wound, David''s focus was solely on the power lines that kept whipping across the ground close by. As gently as he could, David slid his arms beneath the woman''s neck and her legs and lifted her out of her seat. It seemed effortless to David but he chalked it up to the adrenaline of being in a dangerous situation. He carried her across the street and gently placed her on the ground. " I feel like I''m going to throw up any second now," David said almost wordlessly under his breath. He sat down himself and pain assaulted him all across his body. A deeply ingrained pain as if he had been a chronic pain patient for his entire life. Not to mention his head that kept pulsing as someone was driving in a hot screwdriver every 2 seconds. " My son!" The woman beside him awoke while yelling. David''s head whipped around to her, then focused back on the yellow car. The power lines had gotten closer and closer to the car throughout a mere couple of breaths, and the interval of sparks had intensified. David''s body contracted upon hearing this, and his fight-or-flight response was triggered. Even though David was weary and felt as if his body was on fire and ice cold at the same time, he roused himself. With another short sprint, he got to the car. The back side of the car was luckily undamaged, so David easily opened the door. " Kids on the other side," David muttered. He gave the power lines another suspicious look and climbed into the car. There he was, a little boy barely more than 2 years old in his rear-facing car seat. Looking at the child''s chest the rhythmic motion of life brought a genuine smile to Davids face. Swiftly, as if David had practiced, he unbuckled the child and cradled him against his chest. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. While it was difficult to climb out of the car with the extra package on his chest, David could barely feel any weight. Quite the opposite, he felt as if a weight had lifted off his shoulders. Shortly, he studied the pattern of dancing power lines closely. As he saw an opportunity, David took off. But luck was not on his side. One of the powerlines snapped viciously due to its high electrical charge and changed directions mid-flight. As if it were preordained the new direction was David''s center of mass. It would arrive in less than a breath of time, as best as David could he turned around to shield the infant in his arms. All of his muscles constricted waiting for the impending strike he even held his breath. While this was illogical watching from an outsider''s perspective, what other options did David have? This was his body''s natural response to the impending threat. As if in slow motion David shut his eyes tight and shortly after he felt something striking his back. The force felt enormous to David, as it flung him a couple of feet into the middle of the street. He landed hard on the paved asphalt but luckily the infant hadn''t taken any of the impact. David was confused. Why was he not electrocuted he thought to himself as he glanced at the power lines. The copper wires had gone inert as if no power was running through them anymore. He sighed a heavy sigh of relief upon discovering this. David stood and jogged the short way to the mother. " Thank you, thank you, thank you," She howled in relief as David handed her the infant. David smiled a genuine smile as the woman cradled her infant son tightly and began rocking him back and forth. At first it was under his breath but soon even the woman and her infant were able to hear humming coming from close by. David had sat down and was humming. The woman recognized the lullaby every parent knew and shed tears while rocking her son back and forth as if he were the most precious treasure in the world. After a minute of David being zoned out and resting his battered and whipped body and thought hit his mind. The other woman in the red car had completely escaped his mind. Regardless of the ache of the newly acquired pain as well as the feeling of wrongness in his body he roused himself and began to jog towards the red car. More movement was visible from the car window now, so David lightly knocked on it. " Ma''am you''ve been in an accident. Please remain still you could have a concussion and internal injuries." David stated with a calm and professional tone. The woman in the red car had a cacophony of blond hair and wore an excess of make-up. David knew her and tried to recall her name, but between his headache and the pain all over his body, it took him a couple of seconds. " Nessa, it''s David. Stay there I''ll call EMS and get you some help alright?" David said with more a warm inflection. Nessa gave him a thumbs-up while resting herself against the headrest. David dug through his pocket until he caught the corner of his cell phone. He tapped the screen but it was all black and nothing happened. Almost furiously he tapped the screen multiple times before sighing. " My phone died, I''ll ask someone for theirs really quick," David said to Nessa, not wanting to frighten her with being alone. He walked back over the the mother and child duo. " Ma''am, do you have your phone on you by chance?" With a polite tone, David asked her. The woman nodded and handed him her phone quickly. Once again he tapped the screen but it too remained black. " What in the world," muttered David as he felt something was incredibly wrong. A claminess overtook his hands, as a cold shiver ran down his spine. His gut made him look just a short distance down the street towards some street lights. They were off too, not too surprising considering the power line was out. Next, his eyes went towards the big neon sign of his gym. Also off. " Wait right here, I''ll be back in a second." He managed to shout while already taking off to his car. David had a power bank in his car and he had charged it just last night. Quickly he opened the car doors, and he franticly began rummaging through the glove box where he usually kept the power bank. " Found ya," he exclaimed and pressed the side of the device while expectantly looking at the display. He expected to see the device light up as usual with a 100% charged line, but even this device remained dark. Now fear took over his body as his gut feeling intensified. David started to shiver. He fished the keys out of his pocket and slammed them into the ignition. With a deep breath, he turned the keys, but the only thing that greeted him was utter silence. His mind was racing at 100 miles per hour. So many possibilities blinked in and out of existence quickly within the confines of his brain. All the conspiracy theories, news reports, and even scientific data passed by his figurative mind''s eye. David slammed his fist into his steering wheel once with close to all the force he could muster. The leather and plastic deformed easily under this but he hadn''t noticed. David''s mind was still disturbed but he shoved it to the back of his mind. He gathered himself and ran back to Nessa''s car. In these cases usually a neck brace was important, among other tools that David was familiar with, but he had none. " Can I open the door, Nessa?" Another thumbs up is all that greeted him. David gently opened the door and grabbed her hand. " Everything will be okay, let me see that scrape on your forehead. Please let me know if anything hurts, alright?" All this was said as he gently examined her eyes first to deeply look at her pupils for deformities. Next both his hands touched her forehead with both hands. While his eyes scanned the blood there, his hands carefully rolled her head in a circular pattern. No significant signs of pain, he thought to himself and breathed out a sigh of relief. " Nessa, let''s get you over there to the nice lady with the kid, alright?" He said with the voice of someone who was adept at handling children. David slowly helped Nessa walk over to the duo still waiting in the grass. After Nessa had gotten comfortable, he sat down. His bodily aches came crashing down with vengeance as the adrenaline subsided. The tension his body felt from stress next left his body with a heavy sigh. Immediately the tension returned when his thoughts drifted back to the phone and car. He remembered an exercise his therapist had taught him long ago to handle excess amounts of stress. Clenching and unclenching his hands with a stress toy. While he had no such thing he mimicked the motions of it right in front of his face. " What in all...." he managed to breathe out as he discovered his whole hand had turned gray and his fingertips had elongated into claws. This drew Nessa''s and the other crash victim''s attention. They both screamed with utter horror in their voices. Ch4 The Ashes of yesterday- 4 David couldn''t even acknowledge the screams around him. He was so shocked by his own hands that his brain went offline. After a short breath, he released all the mounting stress and moved on. Only one singular thought remained in his head. Without only this one thought, he scanned his immediate surroundings. He saw narrow alleyways with multiple bends, a gas station behind him, and a nature park with a large line of trees. He picked himself up with all the empty bravado he could muster and fled towards the park. If you are in a difficult situation and can''t assess your next course of action, flee my boy flee as if the Devil himself is chasing you; David remembered his Grandpa''s words to him. Neither did David look back toward the women, the wreck, or even towards the infant. His only thought was to flee, learn more about what was happening to his hands, and then reevaluate his next course of action. So he fled with speed that if he had paid any attention to it was exceedingly faster than any treadmill sprints he had ever done. He jumped over benches, bushes, and even newly planted saplings. David felt as if his only way out was to run further and further. As his heart beat louder and louder, his mind calmed down further and further. Heaving in exhaustion, he leaned against a tree at least a mile away from the gym to organize his thoughts. So many impossible things were happening all at once that he only picked them up subconsciously. Now, with the distance between him and any other person, David felt comfortable unpacking the things he was concerned with. Mentally he went through a checklist of sorts in matters of importance. David tackle one thing at a time, there ain''t no need to overload yourself with anything more than you can control; his thoughts drifted to another of his Grandpa''s sayings. The power is out, which might mean an EMP went off and fried all electronics or worse the green ball of light changed the way Physics worked. His hands turned into something else. Almost as if he could use his eyes as a microscope the deep ice blue eyes of his zeroed in on his hands. An ashy kind of gray covered his palms halfway to his wrists. He turned his hands around forming them into claws. Nails longer, sharper, and most likely more durable; David mused to himself. He brought two of his fingers together and was actively trying to pinch his fingernail off with no success. He steadily increased the pressure while trying to break the fingernail, but to no avail. Something clicked in his brain and he circled back to point 1. Without electricity, there is no power. Without power, all fridges and freezers will be out. Meaning he had to act on this fast. Either acquire more food that has long shelf lives, Canned goods, Ramen, and all the nutritional powder he could find or he could go deeper into the woods and start back on his old hunting trails. David was torn as he argued within his mind of the merits of either option hunker down or option hunter''s life. Once again he glanced at his hands as fear started to take hold of him, how would this affect his dexterity, could he even shoot guns, would guns even still work, were all thoughts filtering through his mind at a quick pace. He shook his head dispelling those thoughts and releasing the fear. Your thoughts don''t control you, you control your thoughts Daniel spoke within his mind. He repeated this sequence over and over again as if it were a truth of the Universe. Another trick he had learned through the sessions with his therapist. As David finished his mantra a determined look crossed his face. Get to his work and grab as many cans as he can. Get home and hunker down. Test as many things as possible. With his priorities set and a new conviction acquired, David retraced his steps. He had things to do and a possible Apocalypse to survive. David chuckled at the thought of an apocalypse. In some corner of his mind, he hoped that he was being an idiot. Preparing all these things, making assumptions about his shifted worldview through all the books he had read. Or maybe even his fears of the unknown were playing tricks on him, blowing everything out of proportion. But David had a short-term goal right now. Get non-perishables and then hunker down. His mind was set, and as per David''s usual pattern focused on single-minded pursuit. He arrived at the edge of the park. The yellow car was still burning, but not a soul in sight. With relief, David ran to the parking lot and peeked into the gym windows. No one in here either, David muttered to himself. Cautiously David approached the doors and took a detailed sweep of the insides. Still no one in sight. " Is anyone in here?" he shouted into the gym. Some echoes of his words drifted back to him but nothing else. With relief, David walked in and headed for the locker rooms. First, he checked the water and after opening one of the taps nothing came out. Then he opened as many lockers as he could. In total, he found 6 abandoned duffel bags and 2 backpacks as well as some toiletries and an abandoned shirt. He shoved most of the duffels into a singular one and left the 2nd backpack behind. The toiletries went into the backpack he took. The shirt was ripped in 2 and tied around his hands. He was in no mood to have to explain his hands to anyone or get shot, if guns still worked, on sight. With enough carrying capacity, he left the gym. Another sweep told him of his immediate vicinity. It was only a quarter mile to his job, and then a 2 mile track back to his apartment. With nothing else pressing in his surroundings, David took off. Stolen story; please report. As he approached closer to his job, he noticed some people running towards the store as well. The doors were shut. David chastised himself as he recalled they were automatic so of course they would be shut. David saw the throng of people and was barely able to make out the figure of Craig over their heads. Craig was positioned behind the glass and was furiously yelling at the potential customers. " I think there''s an open door with a Magnetic lock on the other side. The magnet doesn''t work anymore y''all." David shouted towards the masses gathered close to the doors. As one everyone headed towards the side of the building. David gently knocked on the glass and Craig immediately recognized him. With a swift turn of his key, Craig unlocked the door and ushered David inside. David was barely through the doors when he heard the mechanical click of the deadbolt fall back into place. " Good thinking with your lie there David we both know there is no side door. I am so glad you are here." His boss rambled off clearly in fear of this whole ordeal " Everyone outside keeps coming in, and the power is out. What will we do with all the meat, produce, and dairy? There isn''t even anything in the disaster handbook about green balls of energy. Like what am I supposed to do here?" Craig continuously wrung his hands and occasionally stopped to scratch his neck. The sweat stains on his shirts told David many things but the pupils on him gave David pause. Craig had blue eyes but currently, they were pitch black. He was under the influence of something. David had to be careful of this situation now. Two clear paths were laid before David. Paranoia or good-natured. " Hey Craig, yeah I''ve seen that. How long have we got before this all spoils bossman?" David started in a light tone. " Maybe another hour or so. I was out for a while there, and then the banging started. I haven''t let anyone in, but all the other employees went home. They wanted to check in on their families. I want to do that too you know. But I can''t let anyone in, you know. What are we gonna do about this, there is nothing in the manual about this, you know. " " So we got to come up with something Bossman. Remember a while ago you told me if anything ever spoils cover it in a tarp or empty boxes and use duct tape to cover the cracks. That was a brilliant idea of you. I was impressed. " Flattery always worked wonders with his boss, high or not so David wanted to work this angle. " Why don''t you head home, check on the kids and the Missus, and come right back? You know I got this. I''ll cover everything for you and won''t let anyone in. You''ve always said I''m the most reliable one right Bossman?" " Of course, I almost forgot about that. You''re right that was a great idea of me. We''ll do just that. I''ll go home and bring the Family here, that way we can all work together, that''s a brilliant idea of mine." His boss said and repeated similar phrases twice more. " Oh yeah Bossman, you might even get a Promotion for handling all this so well." " Yeah, and I deserve it too, you know? They''ve been letting me rot in this crappy town for years now, you know? Lock the doors tight behind me and don''t forget; No one comes in, alright?" With a determined nod, David did just that. He watched as Craig took off and sighed loudly. To make sure he wouldn''t be coming back anytime soon, David waited a short while at the doors. While he hated to make use of a high man''s ability to clearly assess situations, this was for the benefit of the whole town; David tried to console himself with these thoughts. Some of the people had returned and were banging on the door, but David turned around and strode down the aisles with purpose. He went to the charcoal and took one of the long lighters out of the box. He pressed down on the electrical igniter and nothing happened. Irritated David flung the lighter away. He reached over and grabbed as many wood or block-type firestarters as he could. The liquid ones were excessively bulky for his limited space. Next, he strode to the backroom. As many cans as he could carry in 2 of the duffel bags disappeared efficiently. Peas, corn, carrots and peas, but also many spam and chicken as well as tuna cans were his priority target. The other two duffels he carried were filled with as much Jerky as he could scrounge up. He took everything from the backroom and had to walk back to the sales floor and emptied the rest of the shelves. High-calorie-dense foods, with enough protein in them to sustain him for the short term was his goal and he had accomplished that in short order. He glanced at the meat department in his store and battled with himself for a split second. ''A cooking fire would attract unwanted attention, especially as he was trying to hide himself from outside influences for now, but would be passing up more food be worth it'' David argued. With confidence, he strode down the short walk, and all the steaks disappeared into his backpack. As he passed the water aisles he shook his head, for now, there was no need for that. He had to grill the steaks, plus there was a stream close to his apartment. With already having to prepare the steaks he could boil water. The last duffel was filled with as much of the nutritional powders as he could find. Not Protein powders as they were low in calories. There was a small amount of room left so he shoved some twinkies in for good measure. These were his one weak spot and they always would be. With all the duffles tightly secured and the backpack slung across his shoulders, David looked like he was ready for war. While he wished he could confidently stride up to the entrance, a feeling of guilt and fear assaulted him. Fearful of the repercussions his essential stealing might have, but also guilt as he would be robbing someone else of the opportunity to supply themselves or potentially their families with much-needed food. David warred with himself and shoved those emotions deep down as he confidently strode towards the exit. '' Fake it till you make it'' was David''s motto in the current situation. He saw the dozens of people gathered as they tried to open the doors. But with the deadbolt in place and bullet proof glass, they wouldn''t be getting anywhere. As he approached all activity ceased outside and people begun to beg to let them in. David continued his stride with masked confidence and simply unlocked the doors. " No fighting over Food, there''s enough for everyone but don''t be greedy." David intoned in a stern voice, " Don''t take too many perishables and leave some for others. The stuff will go bad quickly. The same goes for Frozen food." While he said this he had already moved to the side. Everyone pushed in at once and the first few got stuck on each other. They took off running and disappeared quickly. After the door was clear of any stragglers David walked out. He rounded a few corners and then heaved a sigh of relief. He shook out his shoulders already weighed down from all the food he carried. A new look of determination flashed across his eyes and he set out back to his home, already planning his next steps.