FSE

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James stopped the car at a local gas station hoping that the remaining fuel wasn't all emptied. When he got out, to his shock, there was a swamp nearby populated by alligators with mutated heads that resembled those of sharks. Suddenly, he saw one of the mutant alligators emerge from the water and attack a snake. This snake was a large one; he guessed that it was once someone's pet, or came from a zoo. Suddenly, he saw the snake stand up and stick something in the alligator's chest with an arm. He then heard the snake hiss, in a feminine voice, " Try me, bitch!" He grabbed his sword and slowly approached the snake. It turned to face him revealing a spear in hand. " Who are you, mister?"

" Uh, James Scale. I just came to get gas, maybe something from the shop."

"Oh, I can help then."

" Really," said James as the snake slithered through a window in the shop. "Yessss. The place issss abandoned."

As she grabbed a thick stick to use as a club, he unsheathed his sword, an Anglo-Saxon blade which had once belonged to one of his ancestors, and was in surprisingly good condition. " Now let ussss take care of that glasss!" hissed the pale blue female snake with black markings and a pale, pinkish white belly. He nodded and used the bird shaped pommel to bash the glass window of the store. As soon as the pommel broke through, there came a ringing noise from inside the shop. The snake slithered up through the broken window and pulled a switch to disarm the alarm system. When the ringing subsided, he gave her a thumb up and began pulling the glass away. Once enough of the glass was gone, he took two wide steps into the shop. The snake slithered in between his legs towards a box and stood up straight. " They survived!"

" What survived?"

" The Twinkies, the Twinkies survived!"

" Nice."

" I always heard in those zombie movies that these always survive. Too bad I always hated these things."

" Yeah, they were always like crackers to me, but without the crunch."

" I only ate the cream, the cake was to heavy."

She grabbed one and peeled back the wrapper while continuing, " I really don't care right now, it just brings back memories."

She tossed another one to James and wiped a tear from her eye with the tip of her tail. He caught the Twinkie and looked down at it, then at her. " Well, eat up. That's a delicacy."

He tore the packaging open and took a bite of his twinkie. "Calm down man!"

" What?"

"You eat them like it's your last day."

" So, are you going somewhere in particular?"

The snake shrugged and replied, " Eh, not really, just lurking around if you can call it that."

" I'm heading to Fort Lewis."

" I see. I was headed probably to the mountain ranges."

" Olympic, Cascade or out of state?"

" Out of state."

" I see. What all have you seen out here? I just got out of the cellar yesterday."

" Oh. Mutants, beggars, murders, some messed up wild life."

" Zombies?"

" Sadly, none of those. Yet."

" Have you heard of them being around?"

" No, that I haven't. I've heard of vampires though."

" I knew a couple of them in my time."

" That you have? Well, there is said to be many of them around feasting off the dead bodies."

" Well, what if I told you that one of the ones I know prefers to eat plants?"

" What? A vampire eating plants?"

" I know, it sounds weird."

" Yeah, it really does. Then again, I eat full dead animals, so...."

" Well," he got up and said, " I'm going to pack some supplies."

" Well, I guess I will see you than."

" Until next time."

" Yes, where ever we shall meet," she said and slithered away. He wandered among the shelves searching for anything that didn't look rotten. There were mostly canned goods, and preservative packed foods. He gathered a load in his arms and headed back to the car. Halfway there, he stopped. A can fell out of his load, and rolled across the ground as it shook. He looked through the window, saw something heading towards the station and rushed to the car. He dumped his load in the car, then grabbed the hose to one of the gas reserves and tapped the trigger.

When the creature left, he gave the nozzle a harder squeeze. He squeezed the nozzle again, this time over his hand, only to find nothing coming out. He dropped it, grabbed the nozzle of the hose to the other reserve and squeezed the nozzle over the cement and sand. This time, the black liquid drizzled from the nozzle. He opened the lid to the gas tank on the car and stuck the nozzle in.

There was a fog in the swamp earlier, but it had cleared up over time, showing a bridge that the road connected to. James looked towards the other path, which led through a vast wasteland. It looked like the swamp was beginning to take over where sand was. 'At least the land's taking itself back,' he thought as he removed the nozzle from the gas tank.

As he opened the car door, he realized that they had forgotten to grab blankets. He looked at all three of his kids and noticed that they were awake, one occasionally rubbing their eyes. " We should have packed blankets."

Upon glancing outside, James thought he could see a tree coming to life and moving. Thinking he hadn't slept well enough, he shut his eyes, rubbed them and looked again. Emptiness. He turned the key and drove away from the gas station. Suddenly, they all felt a lurch, and the car ceased to keep moving. James got out and bent down to check. It had, apparently, sunk in some soft earth. With how deep it was, James would make a mountain before he could get the car out. He stood up, stuck his head through the window and said, " Alright, everyone out. This car's not moving." First, Astar opened the front passenger door, then Josh. Finally came Sasha. As she shut the door, they all distinctly heard clicking. There was something that somewhat resembled the creatures that killed their host gazing into the swamp water.

The Scales ducked down and crept further into the wasteland away from the beast. They watched as it stuck its head in and grabbed a fish with its jaws. The Scales ran along the road, which went around a hill. Once they found a dip in the hill, they sat down to catch their breath.

A cold breeze swept over them as they sat huddled together. James raised his head over the kids and huffed a gout of fire in an attempt to light the area in front of them. When they saw that the land was lifeless apart from themselves, they separated and laid around the dent.