Outside the British Museum a blizzard raged on, covering the great city of London in a thick shroud of ice and snow. Although it was winter, such hostile weather was extremely bizarre and excessive. [Perhaps it's someone's ability], thought Eddie.
"So, you can store up to two tonnes of stuff in your own personal pocket realm dimension thingy?" asked Vincent after Eddie poorly explained gis ability's mechanics for several minutes.
"Do you have any actual questions or can I go back to hunting Undead?" replied Eddie with a question of his own.
"Yes actually," began Vin "One, what happens if you try to store a person? And two, what happens if you try to store yourself?"
Edde turned to glare at Vin.
"I don't know, I've had this power for all of ten minutes and I've spent most of that time explaining it to you! I haven't had the time to experiment with it. Would you like to be my test subject? Mmm? Because if you keep asking questions I obviously don't know the answer to, I'll imprison you in my pocket dimension!" exclaimed Eddie, his voice rising with each word, "And let's not forget that we just discovered gods exist!"
"Relax, calm down Eddie." replied Vincent "Just use that young fellow trying to sneak up on us and steal our supplies instead."
Eddie whipped around to see a young man wearing a bloodstained hoodie clutching a machete tightly with one hand. He was crouched low, frozen with fear. [How did Vin spot the thief before me?], thought Eddie as he darted forwards and collided with the intruder. Muttering his ability's command phrase, Eddie sent the poor young man into his pocket shadow dimension.
Vincent and Eddie looked at each other awkwardly - waiting. After several seconds Vin broke the silence.
"This sure beats retirement" remarked the old man.
"It sure does," agreed Eddie, "reminds me a little of back when we used to work, except for all these fucking immortal Undead."
Vin laughed and grinned.
"Well we better let the wannabe thief free and question him," said Vincent, returning to a less excited tone.
"You're not wrong my good friend" responded Eddie before freeing the man from his pocket shadow dimension in a swirling visage of shadows that erupted from Eddie's hand.
The bandit collapsed, chest heaving and eyes screwed shut. hut. He curls into a ball, limbs shaking violently. Eddie sighed at the wrecked young man before kicking him in the ribs. He gasped, blue bloodshot eyes snapping open wide. The bandit then scrambled backwards away from Eddie only to be stopped by Vincent.
"What's your name, kid?" demanded Eddie, towering over the cowering student.
"Bran.. Brandon." responded the young man in a small voice "My name is Brandon Mathers."
"What did you see in there, Brandon?" asked Eddie softly.
Hands still trembling, Brandon managed to regain some of his composure.
"Nothing. There's nothing there. Just... just blackness and darkness that goes on forever. It was so dark. I couldn't see anything. I felt like I had been falling endlessly. It was the void itself." answered Brandon while avoiding eye contact with Eddie.
"Interesting…" replied Eddie, thinking about what the young man had said. It appeared that any object he stored would be stored separately in its own voidlike abyss.
"Please," begged Brandon, crying "please don't send me back there, please. I'll do anything!"
Eddie smiled at Vincent before turning to face Brandon again.
"Work for me. Leave whatever gang or group or whatever you're probably a part of. You clearly have experience with that machete, so you'll mostly be scavenging for supplies and doing anything I don't want to. If you run away, I will find you and leave you inside my pocket dimension until you die. Deal?" offered Eddie with a smile.
"Y… Yes, deal. Yes Sir." stuttered Brandon.
Eddie smiled, "Good, now go and wash yourself up in the bathroom down the hall."
Brandon nodded dumbly and scampered to his feet before rushing away.
"You've taken a subordinate before me, huh." began Vincent "Anyway, we still have more important matters at hand. What happens if you attempt to store yourself?"
Eddie sighed "Let's find out", before preparing himself for the next experiment. After one deep breath Eddie shouted the command phrase for his power - Shadow Pocket Dimension - and vanished from sight. Vincent promptly sat down in a lawn chair and continued reading Ascension Of The Shield Bearer. It was an excellent manga and despite having enjoyed it thus far he was sad to be almost at the book's end. The protagonist, a daring and ingenious girl, never failed to impress Vincent with her brilliant strategies. Regardless, he kept reading while he waited for Eddie to return. Occasionally Vincent would shoot down some undead lurking outside the Museum, but otherwise he enjoyed a peaceful hour of reading.
Finally, Eddie reappeared in the exact same spot he had been previously standing. However unlike before he was covered in blood and miscellaneous gore. Eddie sat down in a law chair opposite Vin's and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"So, how'd it go?" asked Vincent as he continued to read his manga.
"Almost exactly like Brandon said. There is an infinite void-like space and it does feel like you're falling forever. Every item seems to get its own personal void unless I choose otherwise. I can also move through the different 'rooms' freely." began Eddie, exasperated "Also this is such a broken ability, Vin! The fact I can store myself is ridiculous. If I'm dying or injured or losing a fight I can simply hide in my pocket dimension. I cannot be touched, literally! It's brilliant!" Eddie continued to rant as blood dripped down his forehead and onto his cheeks.
"That's great Ed, it really is." replied Vicent as he looked up from his manga and stared at his friend "But what I really wanted to know is why the hell you're covered in blood and assorted guts."
"Uhhh, yeah. We may have a small problem regarding the zombies." began Eddie, avoiding eye contact.
"A small problem?" asked Vincent inquisitively.
"Well, a rather large one." answered Eddie after sighing heavily, "As far as I've seen, they can regenerate from any injury if given enough time. I've been fighting all the supposedly dead zombies in the void of my pocket dimension. There were just so many of the bastards, Vin."
"Sounds like a skill issue." fired Vincent with a grin.
"A skill issue? You don't understand Vin! There were dozens of them and I only had a shitty pistol!" retorted Eddie in mock anger.
"Sounds like a skill issue." repeated Vincent.
"It's not, Vin. And that's my fucking line, you thief! I say that every time I crush you in a video game because you honestly suck." fired back Eddie, shaking his head.
"What about Aura 3?" asked Vincent as his grin spread even wider.
"That's the only game you can beat me in and it's only because the controls and mechanics make no sense. To throw a grenade you reload and when you jump you can basically fly." stated Eddie who was also now grinning. The two friends often bantered like this and both of them enjoyed the mock insults they gave each other.
"Sounds like a skill issue." repeated Vincent a final time.
"Shut the fuck up." replied Eddie.
Both the old men proceeded to laugh their heads off.
It was at this moment Brandon returned, no longer covered in blood and bearing a tray of food. On the tray sat three bowls of steaming Instant Noodles. Brandon reverently set the tray down on a table between the two old men before taking his bowl - the smallest.
Eddie nodded in approval "Thank you Brandon for making lunch - unasked to."
Brandoned smiled weakly "You're welcome, Sir."
"Come sit down with us." kindly ordered Eddie, pointing to a third chair placed nearby. Brandon complied and sat down, still tense. He played with his noodles nervously with a fork as he waited for them to cool.
"Why were you scavenging around earlier? It's barely been a couple hours since the apocalypse, not even a day." asked Vincent, already eating his noodles. The heat of the noodles and broth did not bother him.
"I… I was getting supplies for my school. There's.. There's this bully. He has powers like you, Sir." Brandon gestured to Eddie before continuing with more confidence "He can control the weather. We all follow his directions. He can control lightning and the wind and rain and more."
"Hmm… interesting." replied Eddie, stroking his goatee "Don't worry, we'll take that punk out."
Vin nodded "We may as well and also probably should if he's already trying to stockpile resources and supplies."
Eddie sighed, "You're right, however we'll cross that bridge once we get to it. When we need supplies we'll just go siege wherever they're hiding."
Brandon smiled with genuine surprise for the first time that day. "Thank you," he said, "all my friends are trapped there. It's a boarding school, we're all stuck without our families and all the teachers have run from Him. I promise we'll find some way to repay you."
Eddie opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Vincent. "We'll certainly take you up on that offer, Brandon. For now keep helping us, I'll make sure Eddie lets you go after it all blows over."
"Thank you, Vincent Sir!" exclaimed Brandon, tears building at his eyes.
"You're welcome, now please grab us each another bowl of Instant Noodles. One is simply not enough food for combat." asked Vincent.
Brandon nodded and rushed away to make more Instant Noodles.
"Why the fuck did you say you'd let him go?" asked Eddie, irritably "He could be so useful to us."
Now Vincent sighed. "He's a teenager. If you need a slave or whatever that badly at least get someone with professional skills like a police officer or soldier or something." he elaborated.
Eddie nodded, pleased.
"Great idea, Vincent. There's no point in dragging around dead weight forever. I'll have to test them first, see if they're to our standards."
Vincent smirked, "That's why you keep me around, buddy. For all my great ideas."
Eddie rolled his eyes, "I can't get rid of you, so I have to keep you around you annoying bastard."
Both the men began to laugh heartily as Brandon returned with more food, the trio continued to talk over lunch and between their various jobs. Only Vin and Eddie took watch that night, letting Brandon sleep properly.
And so the first day of the apocalypse ended.