The man's face was all wrinkled; he had definitely seen better days. With a short height and a hunchback, he could barely hold his shotgun. His hair grew out of its prime, and now he was bald. The only hair on his head left was his circle beard, which was white. His voice was also shaky, like he was afraid for his life.
But his looks were irrelevant now because he was pointing a shotgun at us. Though he was shaking while holding the shotgun, I don't think he could even shoot it.
Putting both of my hands up in the air, "listen, sir, we don't want any trouble. we just need warmth." Looking back at Aqgim, "well, one of us does anyways.
"H-how can I t-trust you? Your k-kind are good at this type of trickery."
That was definitely a derogatory term. "with all due respect, do i look like one of them?"
"N-no. You look h-human one of you... at least."
"then why are you pointing a gun at us?"
He was still shaking while holding the shotgun at us. " N-now I know you're h-human, but what is that t-thing standing n-next to you? I-is it one of t-them? Do they also know how to t-transform?"
"that is a demon and i made a contract with him."
"And you think that makes it any better! That makes it worse than. That means that means that means that means."
And now he's not stuttering anymore? Whatever was here really broke him.
"That means h-he'll eat o-our souls a-a-a-and kill is all. Y-you d-doomed us all."
"relaxed I haven't even seen him kill a fly."
"I-I-I have to make sure just in case."
"Humans are such nuisances, always making assumptions. Gramps, put your damn shotgun down. I promise you that it won't work."
"S-s-shut u-u-up, you're lying."
"Put the goddamn shotgun down already!"
The man finally opened his palms, and then the shotgun fell to the ground. I didn't think that would; just what the hell is his power?
Now the old man is bowing with his head into the ground. "Please, please, please, please, please, please forgive me." And now he isn't stuttering.
"Please forgive me; please, I must save my daughter from them; then I can die. So, before then, please let me live, please, sir."
"I wasn't going to kill you anyway. Stop bowing and tell us what's going on."
The man got up and sat on the couch that was next to the fireplace.
"Well, it started when I was driving down to New York from New Hampshire."
"wait new hampshire to new york?"
"Yes, that's how I got here in the first place. Why? What's wrong?"
"We went from California to Nevada. That's how we got here."
"he's right, one minute we were in the desert heat, and then another minute we're in a cold, snowy place. and the worst part is our car isn't working."
"So, you too, huh? It's been happening to all the people who came here. But now most of them are dead."
"Wait, how many people were here originally?"
"There were over nine hundred of us at first, but now there's only one hundred of us."
"can you light up the fireplace; it's getting cold?"
"Sorry, but I can't. You can't light up a fire in this hellhole. I've tried it hundreds of times, but every time I've tried, the fire just automatically goes out. If you want to keep warm, you'll have to use a blanket, which I don't have unfortunately."
You have to be kidding me; now I wish I drove to Oregon instead.
"so, do you at least have food?"
"No, I just barely scrape by; if you try to grow crops, they'll die in a few days, and every animal is gone. There used to be animals, but now they're gone. Every one of them got eaten. The only things left of them are their bones."
"Wait, then how do you eat around here?"
"That's the bad part; you don't. You just have to wait and die of starvation."
"i have some beef jerky and chips in the car if you want?"
"R-really do you? I haven't eaten anything for ten days. Oh, sir, may our Lord God be with you."
"Tch, don't put such a disgusting name in your mouth."
"Sir demon, why are you so mad? He's our lord and savior... oh."
"didn't you also put his name in your mouth?"
"That's different."
"no, it's not; you're just being a hypocrite."
"Shut up! I'm the knowledgeable one here; you're not."
"Can you two please stop arguing and just show me to your car already?"
"Yes, yes, grandpa, follow us; we'll get you some food."
"Then you must hurry because it's going to nightfall soon or else they'll come out."
"who's they?"
"The monsters that'll attack you."
...
We reached the horizon of my car, and Goddamn it was cold. Can't there be at least some heat around here? But when I saw my car, it was destroyed. The four wheels were flattened, the entire roof was gone, and there were bite marks all around the car, and the food, the beef jerky—was eaten while the chips were all crushed on the snow.
WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY CAR AND THE FOOD TOO.
"No no no no no it can't be it's still day, so they shouldn't be attacking they shouldn't."