Demon's Den

"I appreciate the offer, I truly do, but I must decline. I don't know whether my brother is alive or dead, so I have to look for him." The thug replied with a serious expression.

"I see." Alexander said dryly. "And you?" He turned to the other survivor.

"I'll go with him."

Alexander could only nod. He didn't really know them in the first place, so it did not really matter to him whether they join him or not. As soon as he turned away to leave he heard the thug speak up.

"Wait." He quickly got up and walked closer to Billy's corpse. He picked up his bat and handed it over to Alexander.

"It is not much, but I think you should have it. It may save your life."

Alexander took the bat and nodded, "Thanks."

As thug and the other survivor were leaving he spoke.

"What are your names?" he asked.

"Jim." The thug answered. "And this is Ali."

"Alexander."

The thug nodded and turned away. Alexander didn't waste any time and also left.

He remembered this faint calling he felt before, and chose the direction based on that feeling. He didn't know exactly what was there, but he had this nagging feeling that it was that obelisk, and he will be relatively safe there. At least safer than here.

After running through the streets of the city for what felt like hours, avoiding fights and encounters with demons whenever possible, Alexander found himself standing in front of a tall building. The sign above the entrance read 'Lone Star Hotel'.

The reason he began avoiding fights was that as time passed, his fight or flight senses almost became like a broken alarm, constantly going off. Auras similar to one he felt when he just got out of the crashed bus were gradually popping up around the city.

He did his best trying to avoid those, after all, he was not a robot, and there were limits to his endurance. If he got into a fight and demons just kept coming, wouldn't it be like a death sentence? Of course, he wasn't able to evade 100% of the fights and had to dispatch several demons along the way.

Plus it was getting dark and it seemed that there was a rainstorm brewing over his head, so he had to look for shelter.

The hotel in front of him looked abandoned. However, Alexander did not have many options at hand.

He could choose either this hotel or a sewing shop that was nearby. Other buildings around were mostly office buildings so his chances to come across any kinds of supplies were higher if he chose this hotel.

And besides, this building was taller than most of the surrounding structures which gave him some sense of security. He could barricade the lower floors and spend the night relatively safely on one of the upper ones.

With that thought, Alexander approached the main entrance. There was no lock on the door; rather, it was locked with a simple chain lock from the inside. It did not take much effort for Alexander to break it and open the doors.

Inside, an empty lobby greeted him. As expected. the place looked as if it went through a riot. All kinds of things were strewn across the floor, from broken chairs and tables to what looked like someone's miscellaneous belongings. As if someone's purse was ripped apart and all the stuff inside just flew across the floor.

Surprisingly, there were no corpses. There were some blood stains though. A single elevator stood silently in one corner of the room. Alexander walked towards it.

'Hmm. No power.'

No matter which button he pressed, there was no response. It seems he would have to take the stairs.

'Maybe I should look through this floor first. The cafeteria should be on this floor.' This thought entered his mind as soon as he felt his stomach grumbling. He realized that other than a light breakfast, he didn't eat anything the whole day. And after being on the move for so many hours, his stomach felt like an endless pit.

Alexander started to walk through the halls. Soon enough he found a sign telling him the direction of the cafeteria. The dim lighting inside made it hard to read, but he still was able to discern it. He quickly followed the directions and found himself in front of double doors.

There was a sign over them. 'Cafeteria'. He finally found it, but for some reason, he had an uneasy feeling approaching it. He gathered himself and opened the doors. Behind them, he saw a relatively big hall with tables placed chaotically. However, what grabbed his attention was a pile of half-eaten corpses directly in the center of the hall.

Alexander realized that there were bloodstains leading to it from all sides, and even in the direction he came in, but apparently, he failed to notice due to bad lighting.

'I need to get out of here!'

At this moment, he felt a terrifying aura appear right behind him.