Dropping back down into that house in Queens, I found it thankfully devoid of anything that used to be human.
With two hands, I removed the sofa I used to block the entrance to the basement. Placing it aside, I then slowly stepped down to alert the girl that I was approaching should she be awake.
Better not give her another scare. As I was thinking of the little girl, I realized how I had left her clothing on. The clothing she had peed it because flying here was so scary.
I winced at how bad that looked. Once I was fully on the floor of the basement, I could clearly see how the girl didn't leave the spot I carefully placed her in. Laying out on the sofa, heads facing up to the ceiling, I how her clothing was all wet from being submerged in that lake, and how there was a smell of pee emanating from her.
Glancing at her face, I saw how peaceful the girl looked. She was sleeping just like any other night.
Small mercies for those who most needed it.
Gravity released its hold on me as I floated a bit above the ground. There, I fly up the stairs and onto the second floor of this house in search of any clothing that maybe the girl could wear.
There were three bedrooms on the second floor, with two bathrooms shared between them all. I entered one of the rooms where the doors weren't fully closed.
Without any windows, the room was dark. So I flicked on the light and found shelf after shelf full of completed Lego structures. And there weren't just small Lego sets either. I could see multiple Collector's Editions like a meter-long Super Star Destroyer on the very top of the shelf, right there beside a Millennium Falcon, and below that is the Death Star.
Whoever this house belonged to must've loved Lego. There are thousands of dollars worth of them in here in this room alone.
I flicked off the light and closed the door, not disturbing anything within this tomb of valuables.
Standing right outside of the closed door to what the owner of this house thought of as 'precious', I felt the urge to bow in respect. It was that same feeling as when you walked up next to the statue of a man who accomplished something great, something worthy to be recorded eternally within the history books.
And so I did. I gave a curt bow to the owner of this place.
"Though you may not be able to hear me, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for this house. I shall use this place as a shelter to save as many people as I can before I move on to a larger one."
I know 34 people would be too much for this place. That's why I'm planning to bust open the walls between different basements to create an altogether larger basement to house everyone until I can secure a better place.
What that is yet I don't know. I think over the next week, I should head toward Yellowstone and check to see if SCP-2000 is still functional. Maybe make contact with the Foundation that way.
I... don't really trust them to be frank. The Foundation will definitely see me as an anomaly and an ally of convenience. Should Day Break be solved, the primary reason they'd have for me being uncontained will be gone, and with it, they'll try their damnedest to contain me.
Secure. Contain. Protect.
Ah... still, I'm willing to do such a thing. If this alliance will lead to more people being saved, I'll risk it.
With that, I turned and checked the other rooms. The other room was a master bedroom with a King-size bed. I didn't need to turn on the light as the curtained windows let sunlight in.
There's another door to a walk-in closet alongside a private bathroom large enough to house a tub. Inside the bathroom, I stopped in the mirror's reflection of two towels hung up on bars with the words 'For Him' in one and another 'For Her' on the other.
I approached the nightstand beside the bed where a framed photo stood. It depicted a family of four, smiling. A father, a mother, and two brothers with one being older. All of Middle Eastern descent. In the background was the beautiful scenery of red maple trees and the caption written near the bottom of the framed photograph reading;
'Canada's beautiful in the autumn, Dad'.
Quickly, I placed the framed photo face down on the nightstand.
"..."
I found my hands shaking as I leaned on the nightstand.
There's just something so tragic about this photograph. Was it because of how brightly the people in them were smiling? Was it because they are now all flesh creatures? Was it because that beautiful scenery of maple leaves no longer exists?
I felt a desire to cry build up within me.
Blinking several times and taking even more deep breaths, I calmed myself down and mentally repeated how I should find some clothing for the girl who was still wallowing in her pee.
I head towards the final unchecked room in this house.
It belonged to the brothers. There was a bunk bed and a smaller walk-in closet.
I opened the closet and found multiple children's clothing. Picking up a small pair of jeans, I found it to be still too large.
It's good enough.
I then picked out a few more clothes before flying down to the basement.
Steadily approaching the still-unconscious girl, I carefully stripped her of her wet clothing.
God this feels so wrong.
I looked away towards anywhere but the naked girl lying on the sofa underneath me.
This feels just so utterly wrong.
Because of my aversion to looking, I struggled with actually putting the clothing onto the girl. I had to use my hands to feel around for where her arms and legs were but eventually, I succeeded. The girl was finally dressed in dry clothing.
I sighed, wondering just how I was going to explain to the girl when she woke up before pushing that worry to the future. Now's the time to release those stored inside my pocket space.
I took out the Smart Device. Scrolling through it, I could see clearly at the top of the screen I only have two credits. Not enough to do anything.
So I pressed another button and deposited the three who were inside my pocket space.
"Oh lord almighty!"
"Woah... it really was instant."
The girl who I met at the Subway, Alice, continued crying uncontrollably.
Stuart looked around, asking, "Where are we?"
"We're in Queens. The basement of a house whose owner was turned by the sun."
The druggie began praying quieter as Stuart nodded slowly. Everything was filled by the background noise of the teenager crying.
"Since this is a townhouse, I'm planning on merging the basements of multiple townhouses together to create a large shelter by knocking down parts of the walls. Stuart, I require you to keep the peace here. Ensure no one tries to escape. Or any fight to break out. Or any of those things from coming in. Use appropriate force. I'm going back to collect more people from the studio on the top floors."
Seeing as how Stuart was the only one who was coherent, I gave him a job. However, because of his sleazy-looking appearance, I added, "Don't abuse your power. I'll be back really soon and it would disappoint me terribly if you abused your power."
"Yes, Goddess!"
With that, I walked up the stairs and closed the door. Then, I placed the sofa in front of the door to the basement.
Completing all that, I took off once more towards the BBC building.
Not having anyone meant I could accelerate as fast as I wanted. But even so, unless I desire all the windows inside New York to shatter from the sonic boom I cause my wake, I can't move at near the upper limits of speed I know I'm capable of.
Still, I crossed a distance of multiple kilometers in seconds. Appearing as a green streak across a crimson canvas, I slowed down as I neared the same window I fell out of.
Only a few minutes had passed, and the majority of that time was me trying to get the clothing onto the girl.
Landing, I quickly strolled up to the barricaded door and knocked on it a few times.
"Are you all ready to go?"
There was shuffling. People still talked amongst themselves before that authoritative voice replied, "Yes, most of us are ready to go."
"Most?"
"I will not join you heathens! I will stay here, waiting for Jesus to take me into His arms!" 'Bethany' said loudly. "God is just. God is the only God. You blasphemer! You will scream bloody in the circles of hell for impersonating God, you devil!"
Sheesh.
I recoiled at how venomous Bethany's tone was. The sheer poison in her voice.
"I'm going to push this door open now, alright?"
And so I did. The door had little resistance as I pushed it open.
Inside, I saw how the lights from the stage were really the only light in the room. There were multiple people crowded around the edge of the room as I had instructed, with a woman in her late 40s, or early 50s, hiding behind the news desk. A cross in hand, I saw hate in presumably Bethany's eyes.
My gaze turned away from Bethany and toward the other people grouped at the wall. it was definitely a colorful cast of people comprising 7 women counting Bethany and 27 men of varying ethnicity. A few of the men wore suits while two of the women wore a dress. They were visibly better dressed than the others who I presume to be stage and camera staff.
Then those who were better dressed must be the news anchor and the people they're going to interview.
Off to the side, I saw several chairs and other heavy furniture near the door. That's... probably what they used to barricade themselves in.
"Alright, I can probably fit four people per run. Who's going to go first?"
"You're all damning your souls!" Bethany screeched like a banshee.
No one listened to her as eight people stepped forward.
"You eight?"
An old bearded man then stepped forward. Around his arms coiled a pair of hands belonging to an equally old blonde lady. Both of them had blue eyes.
"We actually have a question. Was our son one of those you rescued?"
"Your son?"
The man nodded, "Yes. Both Melania and I are physicists. Nobel prize laureates. We were supposed to do an interview with Mr. Stephens about the potential application of our discovery within nuclear physics. Our son drove us here in New York and right before everything had gone to hell, he'd gone downstairs to grab a bite to eat."
I stared at the husband and wife's face. A sinking feeling opened up in my stomach as I recognized some facial similarities between them and the young man that I mercy-killed.
A chill ran down my spine. There's still a chance. It's not confirmed.
I didn't want to face it. I didn't want to face the parents of the man I gave mercy to.
So, passively fiddling around with a braid of hair, I asked trying to keep an even tone, "What does your son look like?"
The old lady chuckled, "Oh he's a handsome boy. He has my eyes and my husband's mouth. Always trying to please his parents. Every week he'd call us at least once to ask about our health and to remind us how we shouldn't work too late. Selfless, isn't he?"
"Uh-huh."
"He had the palest of blue eyes, like ice sheets. Oh wait, let me just show you the photo I took at his graduation from Harvard."
Oh dear.
The woman took out her phone and tapped on it twice—
"Ahem," One of the men cleared his throat, "Maybe we should get a move on? The barricade has been removed and those things could come here at any moment!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. If this Goddess did rescue my son then he'll be there in the safe house."
Though it was fleeting, I caught a glimpse of a smiling man with a graduation cap on his head on the woman's lock screen.
Those pale blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. Those eyes were full of life and hope for the future.
I gulped.
In a higher pitch tone than I intended, I quickly moved on before the guilt could get too much.
"Let's uh, let's go."
I took out my Smart Device and placed my hand on one of the people who stepped forward. A caucasian man dressed in a simple blue T-shirt and jeans. Many people gasped in shock when he disappeared without a trace.
"She killed him!" Bethany accused.
"He's still there," I urgently stated, "just inside my pocket dimension."
I gave her the stink eye. Then, with the press of another button, I deposited the guy right beside me, confused, but unharmed.
"There, you all see it? Do you all need any more proof?"
The guy with the authoritative voice spoke up, "I'm sold. Let's go."
He stepped forward. His posture spoke of authority as his eyes were cold as steel. I could totally see this guy on the front cover of a magazine with the caption, 'Hottest CEOs of 2012'.
This guy must be the leader since everyone else seems to also step forward.
"No! What are you all doing?! You're damning yourself! You're damning yourself from Jesus' love!"
"Oh shut up Bethany." One of the younger guys groaned out.
Quickly depositing four people into my pocket space, I was about to go out the same way I came in before I heard more of those flesh monsters crawling up. They were moments away from reaching the top floor via the emergency exit stairs.
Even when I destroyed it, these things were persistent.
"We got company."
Before anyone could say anything, I burst forward, legs off the ground as I charged into the emergency stairwell. The moment I entered, I made sure the door behind me was closed.
Energy gathered all around me as a core of plasma the size of a tennis ball formed right in front of my body. The paint on the nearby walls peeled off from the intense heat radiating from the plasma.
Then, I released most of my hold on that plasma and it went wild.
Realistic plasma weapons won't really behave like those found in Halo games. For one, plasma is lighter than air, meaning that your plasma shot will float upward as it gets diluted harmlessly into the atmosphere similar to how if you stand far away from a kitchen flame you wouldn't feel any heat.
But because the plasma I just made was in the hundreds of thousands of degrees, it'll take a while before it'll get diluted. And since plasma is formless like gas, the amount I just conjured up tried to fill every nook and cranny of this emergency stairwell.
Dozens upon dozens of these fleshy creatures instantly carbonized into blackened chunks from the intense heat as the plasma washed over them.
I retained some control over that plasma as I made sure none escaped. To contain the thing into only the emergency stairwell.
Everything turned white-hot. The stairs above and below me started to slag and drip like it was a wax structure inside an oven.
The door of the emergency exit was a half-melted mess. A single half-hearted push and that was all it took for the door to come off its hinges and clank loudly onto the ground.
I stepped out. Those inside the studio had expressions of stunned shock on their faces, and dare I say, fear behind their eyes.
"Stay away from the light. I'll be back in less than two minutes."
I snapped my fingers before heading off.
As I flew above the New York skyline, I had a sudden desire to not go back.
I... I don't want to face that young man's parents. I don't want to give them the news that their son is dead and I'm the one who killed him.
Even if I explained that it was a mercy kill, that it was he who begged me to kill him... the grief of a parent who lost their child is all-encompassing.
Before signing the contract, I heard of many real-life stories where families got broken apart over whether or not the plug should be pulled on a terminally ill family member. Some would advocate for not pulling the plug at all and seeing how long the relative lives, while others who are less close to that relative would say to pull it already.
'They're already dead, and it costs a ridiculous amount of money to keep them alive'.
Such a decision destroys families.
If my absence caused Alice to blame me for her father's death, just imagine how would the parents feel. How much they would hate me.
As I dropped to the front porch of the safe house, I couldn't help but squat down and brush my hands through my incredibly smooth hair.
God damn it.
I thought it was going to be glorious you know.
I thought I was going to be the big damn hero and save everybody like in those action movies like Rambo or The Terminator. Perhaps World War Z would be a more adept metaphor, where the zombies are mindless, the problems are simple, and the major plotline within the film ultimately revolves around how to kill all the zombies.
Before the tears could come, I marched forward and removed the sofa in front of the door.
I can't stop now. I can't let the others see me crying.
If I do cry, I think I won't stop for several more minutes. Precious time that could be used to save more people.
I'm a Goddess, I can grieve later.
Stepping down the stairs into the basement, I found a jacket covering Alice as she sat on the ground, the druggie sitting by a chair in a corner of the room consuming a granola bar with more wrappers around him, the kid sleeping on a dry part of the couch, and Stuart apparently writing notes in a little booklet.
The three all stopped talking the moment they heard the sofa on the ground floor move. All of them except for the kid turned to look at me.
"Is the kid still out?"
Stuart dissuaded my concern with a shake of his hands, "Ah, the girl is just asleep. We were just talking about our lives before everything had gone to hell."
I nodded. Taking out my Smart Device, I released all the people I'd placed inside all at once.
Four people manifested around me. One of them, a woman with a ponytail cried out, "Stuart?"
"Katherine? You're still alive?"
Stuart got up and hugged the woman, who promptly returned it. "Oh my god, you're alive! I thought you got turned into those things!"
I turned around to head out, feeling a bit out of place in this touchy-feely environment.
Just as I was about to leave, I heard Katherine call out to me, "Thank you, Goddess Kukulkan."
That was a sincere thanks.
I paused for a moment and turned around, giving them a small smile before flying out and placing the sofa back.
Despite the frigid guilt inside me, a seed of warmth was blossoming into a flower.
At least it was... not all for nothing.