"Are you okay?!" Natalie asked, pulling the shorter woman into a tight hug. Adam could barely hear her over the gunfire-induced ringing in his ears. They stayed that way for a long moment, and he looked away, feeling slightly like an intruder as the two women embraced.

  “I will never, ever, complain about you spending Saturday mornings at the gun range again," said a muffled voice from over Natalie's shoulder. Natalie let out something between a laugh and a sob as she held the smaller woman tightly.

  "Somehow, I don't think that'll be a problem anymore," she answered.

  "Adam?" the dark-haired woman said, still mostly hidden behind Natalie's shoulder. Her voice sounded far away, muffled by the ringing in his ears. She wore a faded, red knitted cap, and her face was obscured. Adam stared up at her through the post-fight haze, his brain struggling to catch up. She leaned around Natalie's shoulder to get a better look at him, and something flickered in his memory.

  “Samantha?” he said slowly.

  She ran a hole-in-the-wall bookstore he'd been thinking about while driving Natalie home. The coffee was good, and he'd always loved the smell of old books. He made a point to stop in at least twice a week.

  Natalie glanced between them, her expression momentarily confused. "Would it be stupid to ask if you two know each other?" she said. "I mean, how you know each other?"

  "Adam stops into the Pagegrinder a few times a week for coffee," Samantha said.

  Natalie's look turned briefly suspicious, and Adam took note of the protective edge in her posture as he climbed back to his feet.

  "One cream, one sugar," Samantha added with a knowing tone, as if they weren't standing over the corpse of some eldritch abomination.

  “I’d ask what the chances were, but we all heard that voice today, and I was struck by lightning. So, I’d say they’re pretty damned good,” he replied. “Plus, that.” Adam pointed down at the thing oozing onto the floor.

  Samantha looked at him with an unreadable expression. “Struck by lightning?” she asked.

  “He was. I watched it happen,” Natalie confirmed, still keep an arm wrapped around Samantha.

  Adam held his hands up, showing the fractal burn marks trailing up his fingers and onto his forearms. The sight made him feel strangely detached. The pale pink lines already looked more faded than they had a short while ago. He flexed his fingers and almost no tingling or stiffness remained in them. It was as if a full day had passed instead of a few minutes.

  Samantha examined his hand more closely, then gave Natalie a quick glance. For the briefest moment, Adam had the strange sense that she knew more than she was letting on. He suddenly remembered the flashes of light from earlier, when the creature's arms kept recoiling as they reached for her.

  "Okay, so... I feel like there's a lot we could discuss here. However," Adam pointed down at the thing on the floor with the tip of his bat. "We probably should talk about a game plan before anything else."

  Natalie nodded. “I agree. I don’t think we can stay here, Sam. There’s a giant hole in our living room, and the wall didn’t seem to slow that thing down at all.” Natalie frowned. “What happened anyway?”

  “Later,” Samantha said, putting her hand on Natalie’s upper arm. “You’re right. We can’t stay here.” Natalie nodded again and looked at Adam.

  “Look, I don’t know why I’m even asking. We don’t know each other. Under normal circumstances, I would never even consider this.” Natalie swallowed hard.

  “You literally saved my life. I’d be a corpse right now if you hadn’t brought me back. You don’t even have to ask,” Adam said.

  Both Samantha and Natalie looked tense but relieved.

  “Plus, something, something safety in numbers.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “'Something, something is right,” Natalie said. “When we get back to your condo, we’ll need to treat your wounds too. There’s a lot of blood on your leg, and I want to check it out."

  Adam had completely forgotten the wound on his thigh. Silently, he tallied the abuse his body had endured over the day. Between the stabbing, biting, punching, shocking, and possible concussion, he had no idea how he was still standing. The universe promptly answered his question as his knees began to shake.

  Natalie caught him by the arms and helped him onto a small reading couch.

  “Yeah, I think that’s about enough activity for you,” she said, taking out a penlight and shining it into his eyes. “You may have a concussion, so you’re going to need to take it easy.”

  “I’ll get right on that, just as soon as the universe stops trying to kill us.”

  He chuckled, glancing up at the two women, both of their faces marked with surprising concern. “Okay, you’re right. I'll just sit here a sec.”

  “Are you good for a few minutes while Sam and I grab what we need?” Natalie asked.

  Adam nodded. “I don’t know how much food you have, but my place is pretty empty.”

  “Don’t worry about that yet. One thing at a time,” Natalie said, gently chiding him. “Why don’t you come to the living room? You can rest your eyes a minute and we’ll wake you up when we’re done.”

  “I thought you weren’t supposed to sleep with a concussion?” Adam asked.

  “Nah, that’s movie bullshit. As long as I check on you every few hours, it’s fine. It’s mostly to make sure you don’t start acting confused or slurring your words," she answered.

  “Okay," Adam said tiredly, but didn’t move. He glanced down at the monstrosity still oozing onto the floor. “On second thought, I should stay here and watch this thing. We can’t be sure it’s even dead.”

  Natalie followed his gaze and nodded. “You’re sure you won’t fall asleep?”

  “Yep. I’m good.”

  She nodded and the two women disappeared down the short hallway.

  He felt a strong urge to take the smallest of naps while his newly acquired friends ransacked their own home. The lights flickered off for a brief moment, then back on. If the utilities are going to start failing this quickly, things are going to go downhill fast, he thought, staring out the large bay window. Several lines of smoke plumed into the darkening sky. He looked at the clock on his phone. It was far too early for the sky to already be darkening.

  All but one of the text messages he had sent earlier went unanswered. His parents, however, had replied that they were okay. The message showed they had replied over an hour ago, but the message had just come through, so it was anyone’s guess if they were still alive. He thumbed through the menu and typed out a short check-in message before hitting send. The message immediately failed and he tried several more times before giving up.

  “Of course,” he said with exasperation.

  Samantha returned a few minutes later with a glass of water, two Tylenol, and a small cold pack. Adam accepted all three gratefully. He popped the pills, gulped down the water, and gingerly applied the pack to the side of his head.

  “I’ll never take refrigeration for granted again,” he said, sighing contentedly as the cold numbed his temple. Samantha smiled and took the glass back before disappearing back down the hallway.

  He had always liked the woman. She was quiet, but not meek, just a comfortable person to be around. Plus, he swore her coffee was addictive. Well, more addictive than usual.

  He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed…

  Adam was startled awake by Natalie gently shaking him.

  “Hey, Adam. You have to wake up.”

  He had fallen asleep, but he had no idea for how long.

  “You fell asleep,” she said, shooting a glance at the creature still taking up the middle of the room.

  Adam lurched to his feet and backed away.

  Fuck me. I passed out next to that thing.

  She took a moment to shine a penlight into his eyes and nodded. “You were only out for a few minutes, but you seem okay. We should go.”

  He nodded and handed her the keys to the car. “I’m just going to assume you’re driving.”

  “Good assumption,” she said. “It’s usually not a good idea to drive with head injuries.”

  Adam touched the side of his head in response and found it hurt far less than it did before his power nap.

  “You know what else isn’t a good idea?” he asked.

  “What’s that?” she replied.

  “Taking naps in rooms with freshly slain cosmic horrors," he said soberly.

  They took a moment to stare down at the thing that had very clearly wanted to kill and eat them, preferably in that order. Adam looked at Natalie, and they nodded in silent agreement. It was stupid, and mistakes like that would likely get one or more of them killed in the future.

  “Two fucking hours. We’ve had barely two hours to adjust to all of this. What is it going to be like in a day? In a week? A month?”

  She wiped at her eyes and nodded again. Adam hesitantly reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

  She didn’t flinch away.

  “All right, no more mistakes like that. From any of us,” she said.

  “Agreed,” Adam replied, feeling stupid but too tired to do much about it. He removed his hand.

  The trio cautiously piled into the car, taking advantage of the brief moment of quiet. Adam noticed the entire backseat and hatch area were piled high with bags. Normally, he’d have been annoyed at the haphazard packing, but they were potentially leaving their home behind for who knew how long.

  “Do you remember how to get back?” he asked, fastening himself into the seat as Samantha wedged herself into a spot in the back. A bag fell forward, and Adam sat it on his lap.

  “Yeah,” Natalie said, shifting the car into drive and pulling into the street.

  Samantha stared out the window at her home as it faded from view.