Survival Kit

Photo credit: Robsalot (that's me!)

I had gotten the hoodie from the lost and found at my work. I am aware it sounds kind of gross to put on a strangers unwashed jacket, but I couldn’t help myself, I had to wear it, I don’t know why. Anyway, that was six months ago, and I had hardly taken it off since. Now, we were deep into the Sacramento summer. Every day was 100 degrees, there wasn’t a lick of wind, and yet still I wore that sweatshirt. I swear I never even broke a sweat. It was like my security blanket. It had become a part of me. In hind sight I probably should have gone to talk to someone about that.

So I was at the mall, on a frantic search for some normal looking brown heels to match my dress for my cousin’s wedding. I was standing in the shoe department at Nordstrom’s when the whole building shuddered, like a chill had run up its spine. Everyone stopped mid-footwear appraisal, a thick silence settled in the air. Then it happened again, harder this time, like an earthquake, only we don’t have earthquakes in Sacramento. The lights went out, and it wasn’t quiet anymore.

I was a stone pillar amongst the chaos. People all around me were running, screaming, and writhing on the floor in agony (and pools of blood). Holy shit how could there be so much blood so quickly! What. Was. Happening.

I hugged myself tight, sliding my hands into my pockets, and whoa, there was something in there… I never keep stuff in my pockets. Tentatively I pulled it out. It looked like an over-sized ink pen, the kind someone would have gotten after 20 years of dedicated service on the force. I turned it over in my hands, where had it come from? Suddenly it began to glow green, it got brighter and brighter until it emitted a blinding pulse of light. When I opened my eyes again there was a pile of indistinguishable goo at my feet.

I didn’t think, I just ran has fast as I could towards the beckoning light of the mall exit. For some reason I was still clutching the pen thing in my hands and it continued to emit pulsing flashes of light like some sort of crazed glow stick. When I reached the door I turned around. Everything was quiet once more, people were picking themselves off the floor, dusting themselves off, and there were piles of goo everywhere.

I dropped the pen thing on the ground, took three steps back, and shoved my hands in my pockets. I felt it immediately, smooth, cylindrical, the pen was back in my pocket. I pulled it out again, and just before I hurled it across the parking lot I looked up, to the round disc in the sky that was blotting out the sun. Suddenly the pen flashed green and another smoldering pile of goo appeared at my feet.

“Huh” was all I could muster.