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"-itizens are advised--- --ndoors until-- --- ngerous--" Vernon sighed, exsasperated, and turned the radio off. It was the same thing, every time. Almost all the stations were dead at this point, and the few that werent all broadcast the same warning message on repeat. most of them were probably empty, by this point. He couldnt imagine anyone surviving in those places that long. All the stations would probably go dead, eventually. Still, he had to keep checking, on the offchance that someone, anyone else came through. Some part of him hoped, and dreaded in equal measure, that he might turn it one day and hear Avery or the twins. They'd been out of state the last hed spoken to them, but with communications down he had no way of knowing where they were now. He could only hope it wasnt here.
A soft, steady beeping broke the relative silence. He dug into his coat pocket flicked his phone alarm off and checked the time. 5am.

He glanced towards the store front. He'd boarded it up as best he could, but the windows took up almost the entire wallspace, and he'd only been able to do so much. Outside, the fog shifted lazily, like a thick, dark ocean. Occasionally, a faint light flickered somewhere in the darkness. A streetlight from across the road, perhaps.
He stood slowly, stretched, and made his way cautiously towards the aisles near the back, preparing to do one last once-ovrer of the place. This little convenience store had already been emptied out, for the most part, but he'd found a few useful things, here and there.
Every little thing counted.

Axel was wandering aimlessly through the mist, arm grazed against the side of a building, peering into windows whenever he happened to feel his fingertips slide across them. Mostly human, though his teeth were sharp and ears more pointed, and though a long tail cascaded, he seemed almost unhuman as he wandered, trying to find shelter. He was lucky to be alive, truly, despite the deep gashes covering his body. At least he was still alive, yes, at least he was still alive.

Finally, he felt more glass, and peered in, seeing the retreating figure of somebody...a living person! Giving an excited gasp and then looking around, he knocked his fist on the glass, hoping to catch this figure's attention. Safety. He could get safety. No longer would he have to battle the creatures hidden in the mist around him.

The sobbing child sat in her arms as she cradled him close to herself. Eden and her young son still somehow survived through this living hell. The two stayed in the apartments above the small shop and Eden gathered supplies then it when needed. She feared that they would run out soon and have to find more places to hide for the time being. Looking out the widow Tyler saw something and cried more into his mother's chest. She shushed him to be quiet before placing him gently down on to the floor and looked out the window, seeing a mysterious shape. Turning back into the room she grabbed a shotgun she had found the other day and held it in her arms before walking out the apartment and locked the door so that her son would be safe from all harm... hopefully.

Going down the stairs she steadied herself against the wall as she walked down. Eden pointed the gun shakily at the door that leads into the little convenience store, one she got down the stairs she looked around in one spot, she saw a man "Don't move," She said, her voice shaken up.
Before she could do anything she heard knocking on glass. She snapped her stance and the point of the gun towards the front glass door.

As expected, he wasn't finding much. A small pack of batteries. A bottle of soda and some chips. A can of deodorant. He took it all, stuffing it unceremoniously into his backpack.
"Don't move."
Vernon froze as a voice came from behind him. He turned, slowly, to find a young woman pointing a gun at him. She looked shaken, but otherwise, largely unscathed. Had she been living here this entire time?
His own weapon - an old crowbar he'd found a few shops ago, was still resting by the counter. He'd been too careless.
He moved to raise his hands, to speak, when something knocked against the class behind him. He looked back, relaxing just slightly as he noted the shape behind the glass was, at the very least, human sized.

Out of the guns sight for now, Vernon took a moment to take stock of this new situation. The woman, he guessed, must have been living upstairs somewhere - probably just trying to defend herself then. The thing outside... it was, at the least, human shaped. If it was a monster, they could probably take it. If not..
She'd have time to escape, at least.
He started moving, slowly towards the entrance. "I'm going to open the door." he told the woman quietly. "Most of the things out there will attack outright, so if its hostile we'll know pretty soon." He reached slowly for his crowbar, with one hand, and for the door handle with the other, watching the woman out of the corner of his eye as he did so.
Crowbar at the ready, he opened the door.
It was a man. Injured, by the look of him, and something about him looked off. At the very least, he didn't seem hostile. For the time being, at least. "Haven't seen another human in two months," he muttered "was starting to think I might never." Vernon stepped back slightly, allowing him room to enter, but keeping his weapon at the ready in case he tried anything.

"Has it been that long?" She asked, lowering the gun as the new man stumbled in. Her heart was in her throat when she saw him, seeing that he wasn't fully human, the first thing saw was a tail and then pointed ears. She looked on curiously, what happened to him... 'it must have been the effect of being outside for too long' she thought to herself.
She stepped forward-looking at the two men trying to process everything that was happening.

"Who is that mommy...?" A weak voice called out from behind. Eden turned around and saw Tyler standing in the doorway. She rushed over to him and knelt holding his cheeks looking confused.

"How did you get out," She whispered to him, he looked down and held a key in his small hands. She remembered to now, Eden had given him a key to get out just in case of emergencies, she put down the gun and picked him up. They both watched the men on the other side of the shop.

Axel wandered in, breathing heavily, and looked at the other humans. "Thank you. Thank you." He croaked gratefully, throat sore and voice only a soft, barely audible rasp. "I was beginning to think that I was the last one left." He shook his head, knowing that honesty, they probably couldn't hear him. Not when he could no longer hear himself. Axel fell weakly to his knees, plainly exhausted, malnourished, and very much so dehydrated. Sure, he had been able to survive outside, but his luck didn't come without an extremely hefty price.

Eyes cast downward, he stared down at the floor, blinking, a bit disoriented by the bright colors of the store, something extremely abnormal compared to the stifling white mist outside, which blotted out all color as if somebody had photoshopped away the entire earth, or as if it simply just did not exist. Even the ground seemed nonexistent beneath his feet, and to be honest, it felt as if it wasn't there either. It was if he was only floating above the ground.

But now he felt that he was on steady turf again, and boy, what a surprise it was to be able to see his feet, especially since he had grown so used to just hoping they were still there, though the fire of pain that burned constantly through his entire body made it extremely difficult to tell.

After managing to pull himself together once again, he slowly stood up, leaning against the wall for support and looking at the others, odd eyes dark and lacking any luster, hair matted and skin coated with blood and grime. But hey, at least he was safe.

"probably longer." Vernon replied grimly, closing the door now that the man was inside, and giving him a look over, frowning at his bloody, malnourished state. "christ," he muttered "how long have you been without food? you look like shit." hooking his crowbar into his belt, he dug into his pack to search for whatever he might still have. "there used to be four of us," he said, glancing back at the woman as he searched "when things first started getting bad, we did much the same as you. locked ourselves up on the only floor the mist hadn't seeped into, hoarded up our supplies and tried to wait it out. Weren't as close to anything like this though, so our supplies ran out pretty fast. Then we didn't have any choice but to leave."

Eventually, he pulled out two crumpled looking protein bars. He handed them absently to the man and returned to his bag, this time withdrawing a large plastic bottle, half full of water. "they're gone now. Last one just up and walked away one night. Don't know why." he sighed, handing the bottle over to the man "that was two months ago. Couldn't tell you how long its actually been, I didn't start keeping track til I was alone." he straightened at last, giving the man another look over. "Cant do much about those injuries," he said matter of factly. "Used up all my medical supplies. There's a clinic a few blocks down we could try, if you think you can make it."

He looked back at the woman and her newly arrived child with hesitation. He couldn't blame her for keeping her distance, he supposed. Still, she couldn't stay here. Not now that the food was gone.
"You know you cant stay here," he said at last, quietly. "None of us can."

Axel took the food and water gratefully, listening to the others, smiling gently at the child who had walked downstairs. "About a week, honestly, though if you count since I ate anything other than snacks, Christ, I don't even know. But don't worry, I never intended to stay long. I'm hoping this mist isn't affecting everywhere, so the goal is to find the edge and escape. But I had to stop forging forwards when things started getting too bad, had to instead go and find shelter. But just give me time to rest, get back on my feet. And then I'll try to get out of your hair."

The man sighed heavily, looking around, noticing the lack of supplies in the store. "I was trying to find one of the mega-markets, to be honest. Surprisingly, most of them lack humans. Mostly because that's where the monsters like to hide out most. But at least even the bare building are rather well-sheltered. Mark my words, sir, if you leave this place, don't stay outside long. The mist, it does stuff to you. Warps your mind, and your senses, and everything you are, until it finally finds a hold in your body. Keep inside buildings as much as possible, walk under a tarp if you have to. I had another with me, believe it or not. My younger sister, Alice. I lost her about two weeks ago when she went absolutely mad and just...disappeared into the smog. I tried to find her, but I couldn't find a single trace. Couldn't even hear her scream. But it was the mist that did it to her, messed her mind up until she didn't know up from down or left to right. It'll kill you just as bad as the monsters taking refuge in it if you give it a chance, though I wonder how many of those monsters were human just like us?" He turned, looking unhappily at his odd tail.

"The mist it infects you. A few weeks ago, we were finding shelter and there was this man... " Eden spoke up since she didn't say anything for a little while. Tyler looked up to his mom and realised what she was about to say and covered his ears, he didn't want to relive the thing he saw a couple of weeks ago. The woman gulped "His eyes were melting off, he was screaming in agony crying out to us to help him but we couldn't... we just had to stand there and watch him die. There was smoke coming off from him and blisters starting to appear all over his skin and they popped. Blood and his insides blasted out from them..." She took a deep breath, trying to not let it playback in her mind "But I think there is somewhere safe that we can go. The man was mumbling something about a bunker?" She states, looking at Tyler and signalled that he could take his hands off from his ears.

"Also that clinic... it's empty. There was a monster there and it destroyed everything. We can't go there anymore..." She clarified "I do have some bandages upstairs though if you need them," She offered pointing back up the stairs.

((hey, so sorry about being gone so long, rl got really intense for a bit, i'm back now!))

"Yeah," Vernon sighed "god knows how long its been since I've eaten anything that didn't come in a package." he stepped back, leaned himself against the wall, a grim look passing over his face as he listened both to the man and the womans accounts of the things they'd seen. He thought of his neighbor, wandering off into the darkness. Perhaps he was a monster now too, or wandering mindlessly, waiting for the mist or some creature to claim him. "and all that on top of apparently cutting off all outside communication and bringing those... things," he murmured. "who knows what else this mist is capable of." He was silent a moment, mulling over what he'd heard, but he looked up sharply when the woman spoke of a bunker. "did he say where?" he asked. "probably not a permanent solution... likely still need to scavenge for food," he'd pushed himself away from the wall now, and was pacing thoughtfully "but if it was properly secure it'd be a good start."
His gaze followed the womans hand as she pointed, and he nodded "It'll be safer at least" he said "better he can be patched up here while its still safe."

He glanced between the two of them a moment. "I understand if you'd both prefer to head our seperate ways," he said at last, speaking slowly "not always easy to trust strangers in circumstances like this, and we dont even know each others names yet - I'm Vernon, by the way" he looked between them again tentively "there's safety in numbers. We'll likely survive much longer if we stick together. I was headed towards the city centre myself - heard thats where the mist first started appearing, hoped I might find some kind of answers there," he glanced at the small child "but if this bunker exists, if its secure, then that's more important."

((Oof, that's okay. I am glad you're back, though!))

Axel nodded, shaking his head. "A bunker...I've heard of it. But it seems all who know of its existence have died. But I do have a miniscule amount of information on it, if that would be of any help to our cause. Apparently, this bunker is situated on top of some sort of mountain. I believe a good bit of it is housed in a system of underground caves, and that it should be entirely self-sustaining. I'm unsure of whether or not anybody is still living in there, or what the situation may be for them, but from what I'm seeing, those who we've met who know appear to have been, well, kicked out. I wasn't able to tell why, though, or where they were even coming from. But yes, I do agree that finding this bunker would be our best bet. Though I think my first priority is, well, finding sufficient medical supplies before I die, though I would think it unwise that I really move around too much at the moment, not until I rest and recover." The man sighed weakly, looking at the cuts that scarred his skin.

"But yes, the mist, it is quite dangerous. While I would also like to strike out for answers on what this mist is, I think it would be a wise decision to band together. Like you said, groups mean more mouths to feed, more hides to protect but...it also means more to help defend eachother, more eyes to see in this smog and more intelligent brains to find our way to safety. So, greetings, Vernon. You can call me Axel. I'd be glad to join with you as we try to figure out this mess, so please, don't backstab me." He grinned, his tone slightly joking. At least he could make some weak humor in times like this.

"I'm Tyler!" The small child cried out happily. Eden smiled at him as he introduced himself, she often wondered why he was so optimistic "I am six years old!" He smiled and wiggled around in his mother's arms to say that he wanted to be let down. She puts him down and he held six fingers out towards the two men before going to stand in the middle of them.

"So if we are doing introductions then I'm Eden. I agree with both of you, staying together would be for the best. If you need some rest we can go upstairs Axel and th-" She stops abruptly as she spots something outside the window "Everybody, don't move a muclse..."She whispered. Her eyes locked on the thing outside that she saw "It's one of those monsters. I've encountered this one before, it acts on movement, basiclly it attacks anything that moves..."
She stared it down taking in for the second time on want it looked like. It was a huge beast, at least 7 foot, it's skin slightly scaley and grey. Its shoulders were massive, carrying elongated arms that dragged along the floor as spikes travelled down it's back onto its thick tail that was half the size of its self, similar to an alligator. Its feet and hands had four toes/fingers each with claws the size of ahead. It barely had a head, as it consisted of largemouth that multiple rows of sharp teeth like a shark. Above its mouth, it had a glowing red light like it was trying to lure human to it so they could be killed.

"When it looks away, we will slowly make our way up the stairs, we're lucky that it can't hear," The ex-model says, intucting the men "I have seen it before... Me and Tyler were at a hospital and that thing chased us around, we were in a group of twelve... only 5 made it out of that hospital,"

"Almost sounds too good to be true," Vernon hummed thoughtfully "and if its as you say, getting in might not be easy. Even so, it's definitely still our best bet." he paused, lips twitching in the hint of a grin as he added "and I wont, if you promise not to do the same."
his face shifted into a softer expression as he watched Tyler smiling and coming to stand with them. He looked up when Eden trailed off, following her gaze and freezing in place as he spotted the thing outside the window.
"jesus." he breathed softly, one hand hovering near his crowbar. It wasn't his first time encountering such a beast, but seeing them always shook him. God, the size of it.

He nodded silently at Edens words, keeping his gaze fixed on the creature. Its red light glowed brightly in the fog, warm and inviting.
"lights like those are dangerous," he said quietly "saw a creature with a similar thing, one from my group looked at it too long and lost his mind in it. Walked right out the door following it," he grit his teeth, hands tensing "died before he even realized what'd happened." He kept still, kept his eyes trained on the beast. Even so, he grimaced sympathetically as he spoke. "Wouldn't be surprised it that's how it got your group."
Vernon tensed slightly, readying himself to move, hand still hovering near his weapon in case he needed it. It wouldn't do him that much good, but it was better than nothing.

Axel kept his face away from the beast, but still stayed completely frozen, arms resting against the floor. He hated those things, yes, hated them quite a bit. Especially because they certainly were far from the rarest beasts wondering the fog in search of human meals. They were such tricky things to beat, but at least he did know how to get rid of them.

Knowledge of these beasts, yes, that was one advantage of spending so much time in the fog, posing as one of them. But really, he was surprised that the woman knew that much on them. Perhaps she had been unfortunate enough to lose friends to the monster, but he wasn't one to pry, only question anything he did not know. But her past wasn't the forefront right now, not at all. Think, Axel, think! How had he more or less taken down one of these last time? Aha, the neck, yes. Small vents hidden on its scaly skin, soft places that would take it down if you could only just get to them. "You don't want to look it in the face." He commented softly. "But lock your eyes on its neck. If you've got something long enough, some of those scales are more than what they look like. They're some sort of gill-like port, and if you can pierce them, you can at least bring it down and weaken it enough to dispatch it." He stared at the ground. "But keep your eyes away from the face, it'll drive you nuts if you look too long. Focus anywhere but the face. Preferably, focus on the ground in front of it. Or the feet." The mutated man advised, slowly, very slowly standing, breaths shallow. "They're not the most common monster around, but there's still a pretty fair amount in the smog. Its easier to avoid them when they can't see you but here...we risk having to try to take it down if it goes at us for some reason.