We crawled for what seemed like forever, even though it had to be less than ten minutes. In that time, we only had to double back once. Still, by the time we reached the roof grate, the tense nature of the experience was already fraying my nerves. I didn't know what sort of shape Micheal was in mentally, but I knew I was in bad shape. The terrible sights and sounds we were being exposed to constantly just made me want to curl into a corner and cry.
There will be time for that later, I told myself. I'll get home, and Ryan will protect me.
Micheal was able to turn around in the shaft so that he was able to get his feet facing the outside and kick out the vent cover there. That was the good news. The bad news was that their exit wasn't what we hoped it would be.
"This grate doesn't let out on the roof," Micheal sighed after investigating further, and it's forty feet straight down to the parking lot."
"I thought you said—" I protested.
"I was guessing, alright?" he interrupted testily. "I've broken into a few places, but never this one and things aren't always laid out the way you'd think. It should be okay, though. We can just double back to the outdoors store we saw a ways back and get some rope and a few other things, then rappel down the wall, and we're home free."
"Rappel?" I asked, my blood chilling at the word. I knew what it was. I'd seen rock climbing videos, but I never thought I'd have to do something like that. I wasn't that kind of girl. "Like down the wall Rappel?"
"Yeah," he laughed. "There's nothin' to it. I'll show you. Now, let's head back for the rope."
I shook my head but started moving just the same. This time, I backed up, though, until I reached a junction so he could pass me. Now that Micheal had reminded me about my skirt, I wasn't about to give him the chance to do any peeping. That thought, combined with the idea that we were going to rappel down the side of the building, gave me the most terrible, anxious thoughts. It was more than just the danger, too. I had no idea if my jacket around my waist would cover me well enough.
It wasn't like we had a lot of choices. We couldn't just stay here and hope to be rescued, not after the glimpse I saw of the outside world. I couldn't see much from my awkward viewpoint, but the city was burning. So, the police and fight fighters were likely a lot more interested in saving their own skins rather than saving anyone else right now.
I knew the store he meant from the first moment, and truthfully, I dreaded going back there. The place hadn't been filled with obvious violence like some of the other stores we'd glimpsed through the vents. Still, I was sure that something was moving in the darkness. The lights hadn't knocked themselves out, after all.
After we reached it and spent a minute maneuvering, we were both facing the vent, and looking down on the scene below. It was worse than I remembered. The red light of a dangling emergency exit sign was the only light left in the place. It spun slowly like a cursed lighthouse, letting them see the wreckage of the people and objects that the room had once held.
We both froze as he opened the vent latch, and the thing fell noisily to the ground as we waited for something to be alerted to their presence. Still, nothing reacted, and the tense moment passed, which was a good sign.
"How are you going to get back up?" I hissed. "That's like a ten-foot drop. If something comes, then—"
"Don't worry about it. It's fine," he whispered back with a cocky smirk. "Plenty of things I can use to get a boost. I'll just grab some rope, a knife or two, and whatever else looks interesting, and I'll be right back."
"I thought you said that you worked better with improvised weapons or something? Is all that other stuff even necessary?" I countered, trying to find something to make him see that this was a terrible idea.
"In a situation like this, I'm not sure if there's such a thing as having enough weapons," he laughed. "You need to relax, Anna. I'm light on my feet. We'll be okay."
Then, without any warning, he slipped forward, close enough that he could have kissed me before he slid down the hole and fell to the floor. Fortunately, he landed in a smooth somersault. After that, he was on his feet in the blink of an eye. I was too stunned by his brazenness to do anything but lay there stiffly and watch.
Even with my eyes fixed on him, though, he took a few steps and practically disappeared. I caught glimpses of him after that, but they were only ever of motion when the red light drifted by him. He is pretty light on his feet, though, I had to admit. Even as he moved through the near dark, he didn't make a sound.
He probably has stealth powers like I have healing powers, considering he has the Rogue class, I decided. That was good, too, because he'd been down there for less than a minute before I realized that something else was down there with him. It was just as quiet, but every once in a while, I saw something that was too big or that had too many limbs to be Micheal. I wanted to shout a warning, but between my own fear and the terrible knowledge about how easily that could backfire, I stayed quiet.
There has to be something I can do! I told myself, willing myself to do anything but stay frozen. That thing is almost as quiet as he is; he might not even know it's there! He'd almost blundered into those vines in the dark, so it was clear he had no special powers of sight.
With no other options, I reached out to the creature, willing my powers to cause pain and suffering. I did it in the same way I'd healed the lovers from a distance earlier. I knew that using my healing powers in the negative and using them at a distance both increased their cost and lessened the effect. It wasn't the best use of the magic I'd been given. Still, I was at a loss for what else I could do to tip the scales, and without Micheal, my odds of survival were pretty much nonexistent.
At first, nothing happened. My energy just drained into the void. Then, when I was at my limit and nearly spent, I saw the message, and at the same moment, I heard the strangled cry from somewhere in the darkness. You have inflicted Lesser Agony on the Hellbeast +10exp!
For a moment, I got the impression of what must have been the same sort of physiological readout that I'd seen when I'd healed a human. However, it was so strange I couldn't really make heads or tails of it, and it was gone before I knew what it was I was looking at as my essence ran dry.
Even as I struggled to cope with all of that, the sounds of combat started somewhere below me. A shout was followed by a roar of pain and the sound of repeated, vicious stabbing. Mixed in with that was the sound of shelves being knocked over and merchandise being broken or knocked aside. It was pure chaos, but I was only able to glimpse moments, like a freeze-frame in the flickering light.
Micheal stabbing both of his weapons in the giant's belly. Micheal leaping aside as its massive tail knocked everything out of the way. Micheal using a crossbow, or perhaps a speargun, to take out one of the creature's beady black eyes.
The nature of the fight was made all the more terrifying by the way I could barely follow what was happening. In fact, I only knew that it was over when I saw the alert. The Hellbeast has been slain. You receive 400 exp for your assistance.
"Assistance?" I whispered. "I didn't even do anything."
Those thoughts lasted only for a moment before I called out, "Psst - Micheal, are you okay?"
"Never better," he groaned softly.
The response, as much as the way that he sounded, worried me instantly. So, with a little struggle, I managed to scamper down, and after a few seconds, I found him leaning against the counter, covered in blood. Fortunately, a lot of it wasn't his own, but I still saw several major wounds on his arms and legs flowing freely. He was dying.
"You should see the other guy," Micheal joked with a nod of his head. "Makes this look like nothing."
I immediately tried to heal the worst of his wounds with my magic, but all that happened was the blood slowly oozed to a stop. I touched his leg and tried again, but all that happened was the normal interface came up. Blood pressure weak, heart rate high, laceration, puncture wound, and severe laceration seemed to be the main problems.
It was an ugly list, but there wasn't much I could do about it in my current state. So, I picked up the nearest ugly camo t-shirt I could find and started ripping it into strips I could use for bandages.
"Why can't you just heal me up like before?" he asked as he saw what I was doing.
"I can't," I sighed. "I'm all tapped out."
"Tapped out? Like out of essence or whatever?" he asked, gritting his teeth as I started wrapping the bandages around him.
"Exactly. I used it to make that… that thing react," I said defensively. "I didn't have a choice. You didn't see it sneaking up on you."
"Oh," he gasped, nodding slightly. "That makes sense. You know, you're actually kind of smart for a pretty girl."
"And somehow, despite being an arrogant asshole, you're still kind of a badass," I said, intentionally pulling the bandage I was tying around his arm wound tight enough that he winced.
"Owwww. I deserved that," he chuckled softly. "It's not like that was my first knife fight." As he spoke, he tried and failed to hide the fact that he was looking at my breasts a bit too obviously, but I decided not to smack him for it.
He almost died after all. I reminded myself. Still, I did zip up my now torn leather jacket, denying him further opportunities to peep on me.
"So what do we do now?" I asked, sweeping a lock of my blonde hair out of my face and behind my ear before I helped Micheal sit back up.
"Now we get our shit and get out of here," he said as he tried and failed to stand. His legs refused to cooperate, making it clear his injuries were worse than he was letting on. "But maybe we rest here for a minute or two longer first."