Sky Corruption (Past Tense)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The rays of light had emerged from the windows of the laundry store and fallen upon the faces of North and Jay. Jay's eyes reluctantly opened, a sharp pain grew at the back of his neck as he propped himself upward. North was still asleep beside him, hair tousled, drool emerged from the corner of his lip, and loud snores escaping them. 3

Jay turned his head to the window outside, the clouds had decorated the sky once more, giving the outdoors a drab and dull look as usual. He massaged tha back of his neck with a pained growl. "Fucking hell, worst place I've slept so far." He grumbled to himself.

He glanced down at North, "Hey, wake up."

North had yet to budge. The one thing Jay couldn't stand about North was the fact that he was always a heavy sleeper. It would normally take Winter's harsh hands shaking him awake or China squealing his name as loud as she could to wake the boy up. Worst case scenario: Faith would give his bed a heavy kick and North would be awoken with his face on the cold floor.

"North!" Jay growled. "Wake your ass up."

Again, no response.

Jay let a mischievous grin play on his face as he moved his hand over to North's face, he lowered his hand on his right cheek and North had snorted in response.

"Jesus...shit, your hands are as cold as death!" North hissed, his eyes fluttered open and a grouchy look played upon his face, he sat up, on for Jay to pat him on the back.

"Hate to do it to you." Jay responded in a non-apologetic tone.

North slowly gathered his belongings off the ground and glanced around. "Anything in here worth salvaging?" He asked. Jay slung his bag over his shoulder and had began to look around the rest of the store. "Detergent. Take some, but pack light, we don't need extra weight slowing us down."

North nodded and proceeded to saunter around the shop. Jay glanced down at the Golden locket that was in his hand. With a pained expression on his face, he closed the lid of it with his thumb.

Meanwhile, North had his backpack open and was shoving bottles of detergent into it. North made a grab toward the fourth bottle that rested on the shelf above him.

A loud sound had emerged from the front part of the store. The sound of shattering glass and a loud screech. Jay cursed and quickly raised his handgun toward the three silhouettes that circled outside the store.

"Shit!" Jay shouted as he ran a fair distance away from the outsiders. He  quickly began firing, though it was slowing them down, they were persistent. They climbed inside the now open windows using their tentacles that had emerged from their torsos, their heads vibrated and Jay quickly started aiming for their heads. He managed to take down two outsiders but quickly lost his ammo. North quickly tossed his bag over his shoulder and prepared his rifle, Jay glanced over his shoulder to see North making an aim.

"No! Save the ammo!" Jay yelled. The outsiders had their tentacles out and ready, five tentacles were aimed at Jay, who simply evaded them with a subtle duck, he used the time to turn around and run toward the back of the store with North. One of the outsiders had caught up with him in such a remarkable speed that Jay once more had to duck a swinging tentacle from behind. Jay had lost his footing in the process and had tumbled on the ground.

"Jay!!!!" North shrieked, his eyes were wide and he began to frantically fire at the creature that hovered above his friend, the bullets only made contact with the outsider's torso, causing the clear liquid to emerge from it's body. Jay held up his handgun and shot it in the head with absolute precision, he used his hand to protect his face from the incoming fluids, as the liquid was spilt everywhere, some of it made contact with the flesh of Jay's hand. Jay made a loud and pained scream as he felt his skin burn.

North had ran over toward Jay, who was clutching his left hand to his chest, his face held a agonized grimace as the smell of burning flesh filled the room. The skin of his hand was flayed almost all the way to his knuckles, the liquid had already reached several layers and was showing the tendons of his hands. The rest of the spots on his hands were covered in boils.

In horror, North grabbed Jay by his shoulder. "Jay, they made a signal, we have to-"

"I know. Fuck!" Jay growled as he tried to ignore the pain and stand up. North looped his arm underneath Jay's and gave him a stern look.

North glanced at the exit door and hoisted Jay up onto his feet, North held Jay's arm around his shoulders and had forced him to walk down toward the exit. North gave the door a hasty but violent kick.

Once they were both outside, they continued to sprint down the alleyway, even though Jay was weakened from the outsider's blood. There was a wired fence that had blocked off half of the alley, as Jay and North prepared to climb, they noticed several more outsiders shambling down the direction they're headed. They quickly leapt off the fence and turned around, only to meet several outsiders on the other end. They were trapped on both ends of the alley. North held up his rifle, aware that  saving ammunition wasn't important now that they were cornered.

Jay made a step backward, in a quick attempt to reload his handgun, he felt something shift beneath him. Jay glanced down to see a sewage lid beneath his foot. As the outsiders closed in on the two, Jay knelt down and made a loud yell from the pain he was putting his left hand through, trying to open the lid. It was the only thing he could think of, and he'll be damned if this was how they would go out.

North was already firing at several of the aliens ahead of him, he noticed what Jay was doing and his eyes had widened. "Are you out of your blood m-"

With great force, Jay had popped off the lid and gazed down to see a rustic ladder ascending downwards. "Not like we have many options!" Jay yelled. "Do it now!"

North's face contorted into disgust as he quickly dove down and started to climb, he let out a loud retch as the putrid smell of rotting eggs and dirty sewer water filled his nostrils. Jay wasn't too far behind North, the outsiders had groped alongside the walls for any trace of where their targets may be, which gave Jay time to place the sewage lid at its original spot.

Dammit! We'll need a change of plan! Jay thought to himself as the darkness of the sewer clouded his vision.