Dexter struggled to raise the shelf, and Zain, who was dizzy for a few seconds, quickly regained his senses and helped Dexter lift the shelf.
Zain suddenly gasped. "Dexter, your hand."
Dexter looked at his hand, which was pushing the shelf, to see two holes at the back of his palm, which was already clothed with blood, and black claws on his fingers.
Before Zain could say anything, he heard a very pained groan and looked sideways to see Rina on the floor with a pained expression.
"Rina." Zain rushed towards the girl who was on the floor and immediately helped her up.
Dexter left the shelf and hid his hand back in his coat.
"Are you alright?" Dexter asked as he saw her ankle bent weirdly.
"I'm fine. Trust me," Rina smiled at him.
"I'll take her back to the truck. Help Leo and the others," Zain said, lifting Rina up like a princess and carrying her away.
Dexter picked up his spear, which he had dropped when he lifted the shelf, and ran towards the tentacle holding Leo. Reaching it, he slashed at the many tentacles with his spear, using both of his hands to generate maximum force, forgetting that he was supposed to hide a hand.
Leo was battered all over his body as the bee used its tentacles to grab him and thrash him around, but it wasn't too severe.
He looked sideways to see a black shine flash by, and the next thing he knew, he wasn't being thrown around anymore. He looked to see Dexter waving his spear with the correct angle of the blade, slashing the tentacles and blocking them from reaching him.
Leo immediately furrowed his brows as he regained his senses. He stood up and clutched his sword before heading towards the tentacles, immediately beginning to slice while shooting out white beams of light from his hand to freeze the tentacles.
"It's now or never, Johnny!" Laurence ordered as he noticed the time for loading the skill was up.
The black man, Johnny, suddenly opened his eyes and pointed his hand towards the two boys, who were also in the direction of the monster bee.
In that moment, he stretched his two hands forward, and then faint blue wisps of energy began to seep out from his palm and condense between both of his hands. The blue light continously condensed, forming an bright orange ball of energy which began emitting heat, making the air vibrate due to the temperature.
"Get out of the way!" Johnny's deep voice reached their ears, and Leo and Dexter were quick to react and jumped sideways, leaving Johnny with a clear path to the bee.
"Haaaa...!" The small, tennis-sized ball of condensed heat shot towards the bee with a low boom.
As it traveled through the air, the tiled floor below it cracked immediately, due to the heat generated. The tentacles that were heading towards Johnny were all lit on fire as they came close to the ball.
"Get out of the way!" Laurence shouted, and he, Beatrice, and Chapman immediately jumped away, leaving the giant bee there, looking around at them.
For some reason, it didn't want to move from its position. It shrieked loudly as it waved its tentacles around, trying to grab one of the humans, but it couldn't and could only watch the ball coming closer and closer.
*BOOM!*
A large explosion shook the building, flames burst out in massive waves, and Dexter hid behind a shelf to avoid being blown away.
...
Outside the supermarket, Zain helped Rina into the back of the truck to sit. She still had a subtle smile despite the pain she felt from her ankle.
"Just wait here for a bit. We'll be out soon," Zain said and came out from the truck. But a loud explosion suddenly shook the ground, and he looked up to see a mushroom cloud of flames coming out from the building's roof, with a lot of debris already reduced to ashes.
"Zain, what happened?" Rina's voice reached his ears from within the truck.
"Don't worry about it, Rina!" Zain ran into the building.
Rina had a sad, pained expression as she tried to set her leg on the floor, but she couldn't. It hurt too much.
"Please, I can't lose you guys too," she mumbled sadly as she remembered an explosion like this.
What she always dreamed about: screaming, explosions, her friends dying, bleeding, and then giant red eyes within a smoke cloud looking down at her. This dream haunted her since the day they narrowly escaped death at the orphanage, and she could only hope that they would be fine.
...
After the explosion settled, the others came outside from where they hid and looked in the direction of where the bee was. Currently, a smoke cloud had gathered at that area.
Laurence fell to his knees, and Chapman came from behind him, putting a hand on his captain's shoulder.
Cole was gone... they remembered his smiling face. No matter what, Cole always smiled. Even after losing his newly married wife in the apocalypse, he didn't get frustrated or commit suicide but smiled at life the way it was.
He was a brave man.
Dexter and Leo didn't say anything and left the captain to mourn his friend. Dexter hid his left hand back inside his coat, and Leo looked at him with a raised brow before turning his attention to the front again.
Footsteps began to resound, and Zain reached their side in no time.
"What happened?"
"SHHHHH...!" Dexter put a hand to his lips, and Zain immediately understood.
Dexter looked to see Beatrice resting against a shelf with an emotionless face, and he furrowed his brows.
'She's so weird,' he thought before waiting in silence.
The explosion before had burst a lot of bulbs, but the hole in the ceiling made way for sunlight to come in.
Laurence finally stood up and began walking towards the creature while clutching his gun in his hand. No one followed him and just let him do what he wanted, so they stayed back.
*Grrrrr...*
Dexter's eyes widened as he heard low growling sounds that nobody else could hear except him. His heightened senses kicked in!
"Don't go closer!" Dexter charged towards Laurence with his full vamp speed with his spear in his hand.