Black Friday: Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Feeding

Phase 1 is complete. Krumerixan will begin the second phase shortly. He must deal with the logjam in the parking lot. People are abandoning their vehicles, and the line of cars trying to get in have backed up traffic to the light at the end of the street. He wades through the frustrated energy being expelled by those below. Anger and lust mix in the pond that Krumerixan delights in. He drinks from the energy until his belly fills similar to how these silly humans did hours ago. The mix is missing the despair and death, but that will soon be remedied.

Another spell opens more portals that Krumerixan sprinkles throughout the parking lot. The portals open underneath the immobile vehicles. Fire, ash, and lava blast the metal underbellies of these machines. None of the vehicles explode as you would expect from the motion pictures, but oh how they burn. Krumerixan puts a paralysis hex on a man's lower extremities. Lava seeps out from underneath the car he is next to. It swallows the man's feet and legs up to mid-calf. He can only scream out in pain. Krumerixan fills himself until he can drink no more. The excess energy is directed toward the Merry Mart.

Krumerixan begins a longer incantation. One that will awaken his master. The one who demanded this sacrifice tonight. Krumerixan dare not even think the deity's name. Being forced to speak it once is taxing enough.

Within the Merry Mart a customer opens a door. It is dark and cold behind that door, but the female with brown hair walks inside anyway. She searches for a light switch along the wall. A sound like chattering teeth begins and ends then something flies toward her. She dodges it. It is a turkey that has been frozen.

"Hey! Who is there?" Cold glowing eyes turn to her. "I have a... a weapon. Who is there?" The only answer is chattering teeth. The glowing eyes rise from the floor as if the person were crouched. "Come here so I can see you." The glowing eyes comply. A humanoid form lurches toward her. "Are you OK? Are you hurt?" Chattering teeth. "Can you say something?" Chattering teeth. When she realizes the crystalline beast is not human it is too late. The beast's "hand" grasps her shoulder and instantly she is frozen in place. Her heart stops, but her brain lives a moment longer to relinquish one last drop of fear to the soup.

Other doors open with similar results. The human that opened the door dies and the beast within escapes into the greater Merry Mart. The warg being the fastest of the beasts is also the first to find the sporting goods section. It is also the first to die, but not without taking out a dozen other humans along the way.

The spell is ready. Krumerixan opens a portal above the Merry Mart large enough to swallow it whole. Krumerixan mentally projects, "Come forth Marduk". Purple tentacles probe the edges of the portal before reaching down through the roof. Krumerixan can feel the energy being sucked out of the Merry Mart in gulps large enough to fill him for months.

Chapter 5