Anthony opened his eyes.
There was light.
Light... light could come from two sources. There was the artificial kind, all of which were off when he drifted to sleep, and there was...
Daylight.
He sat up, shivering. His coat, which had been covering his nude form at some point, was wrapped around Hannah. Her coat covered her legs. They were very nice legs, he now knew. They felt good, at least. Like the rest of her, his experience with them last night had been mostly one of touch, and taste. His eyes still hadn't really had a chance to enjoy her.
Anthony stood, stretching, one hand dropping to scratch his chest. He was, he had to admit, more scrawny than lean. Not a body that attracted the ladies at the beach. It was his wit, charm, and other qualities which more than made up for that.
Looking down at Hannah, he wasn't sure what had caused this.
Oh, yes, the desk over there now held four empty cans of Labbat Blue, as well as the rest of the six-pack. They were adults, though, and two beers weren't enough to excuse hooking up.
Well... next to her purse, on Lenny's desk, was her open wallet showing a photo of her one year old baby. If Hannah needed to blame last night on the beer, Anthony would let her.
He walked over to the window. There were no windows to the outside up here, naturally. Even if such an arrangement had been possible, through the large exterior "Bells" sign, second floor windows would have just looked strange to customers. They'd wonder who was living up there, if they were monsters, etc. So, instead, a long, three pane window stretching the length of the office looked down into the store. From here, managers could spy on cute cashiers and customers in safety.
Anthony wondered if any of his predecessors had hid binoculars in their desk.
Looking out, he saw the morning sun streaming into the front of the store. On the other side of the windows, snow still covered the... well, former parking lot. He sighed. No more excuses. Today, they had to find out what the hell was going on.
"Anything...yawn... down there?"
Half turning, he saw Hannah sitting up. One hand held his coat up over her front, then with a tired laugh she let it fall. Her largish breasts, hanging down a bit, said good morning to him. Anthony raised his eyes to hers.
"You doing OK?"
"Yeah... thanks." With a grunt, she pushed herself to her feet. In the daylight, with thoughts of seduction long gone, he still admired her grace of movement. Hannah hesitated for a moment, perhaps seeing him for the first time as well, then walked over to Anthony and put her hands on his bony hips. Her breasts lightly pressed against him.
"Thank you, Anthony... for, well, being there for me. I've... never been away from Mary for so long before."
"Anytime," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "Now, let's get dressed and see what daylight has brought us."
****
Opening the door to the hallway, they saw Justin sleeping a few feet away. He was curled up on the rug against the wall, grey winter jacket wrapped tight around him. Anthony chuckled.
"Girls kicked him out, I guess," he whispered. Hannah nodded, moving a couple feet to the right and opening the door to the conference room. In the darkness, they could see at least three forms on the floor. Leaving the door and the one to the office open to give the sleepers some light, the two carefully stepped over Justin and walked to the end of the hall, turned, and walked down the stairs. Anthony's flashlight came in handy, but as they opened the door at the bottom they were greeted once again with sunlight.
The two walked, not quite hand in hand, down past the bottle counter and office to the open space between the registers and the windows. As one they turned, looking at their new reality.
It was still just snow. Endless snow...
"Oh, you guys are awake!"
Pivoting around, they saw Chuck and Melinda coming up pushing a cart. Well, Chuck was pushing. Hannah would have expected it to be the other way around, but the winds of relationships blew in strange directions. On the cart were a couple boxes of cereal, a gallon of milk, bowls and an assortment of fruit. Anthony chuckled.
"Do you guys do breakfast in bed?"
"Only if you're on the first floor," Chuck replied, grinning. He stopped next to register one, and began unloading. "Help yourself."
****
The milk was still cold, which was something. Hannah dreaded what this place would start to smell like once stuff started going bad. Then again, she realized, looking out the window, keeping things cold was NOT going to be the problem soon...
She looked down at her cereal. Kix's, with sliced bananas. Little Mary liked bananas. Was Mark, right now, feeding her breakfast? Did they know she was gone? Were they looking for her? Did Mary miss her Mommy...
She closed her eyes. Stop it. Stop it right now. Panicking like some blonde, like Alicia, wasn't going to help. Her baby was fine. It was HER that was in deep trouble.
"I, um, have a theory."
Hannah opened her eyes and looked at Melinda. The mousey girl was sitting on the now empty cart next to Chuck, their thighs touching. That, she thought, was interesting. Had there been some comforting going on down here as well? Anthony, now dressed in blue jeans and (under his jacket) a Sabres t-shirt (his emergency "got laid" outfit, as he had called it), swallowed and cocked his head at Melinda.
"Is it bunnies?"
The poor girl's eyes must have doubled in size behind her glasses, followed by a laugh just exploding out of her. She rocked back, only saved from falling over onto her head by Chuck dropping his almost empty bowl onto the conveyor belt and grabbing her. Hannah raised an eyebrow at Anthony, who shrugged and grinned back.
"Hey, I have a way with women."
"So," Hannah asked, once the girl had herself under control again, "what's your idea?"
"Well... it's a STUPID idea, really, but then this is a stupid situation."
Chuck raised his glass of orange juice.
"To stupid situations!"
The four raised their glasses.
"How stupid?" Anthony inquired.
"Well... it's like... well, what if the entire store was just sort of... scooped up, and teleported somewhere else?"
"Yup, that's stupid," Chuck agreed, cheerfully. His expression, though, was of one who agreed with the girl.
"HOW? I mean," Hannah said, sweeping her arm towards the window, "it's obvious we're somewhere else, but how is the question!"
"But it's one that doesn't need an answer!" Melinda pushed her glasses up, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter why we're here, as it was probably something random. Maybe something quantum. Whenever there's some unexpected or unbelievable bit of science it always gets blamed on something quantum. If we accept that we're here, not worrying about the why, we can move on to trying to survive."
"Heat," Chuck said. "Power. It's gonna get cold. Plus, we have food for awhile, but much of it has to be cooked."
"And it won't last forever," Melinda added.
"How long," Hannah whispered, "do you two think we're going to be here?"
Melinda closed her eyes.
"It's too long already..."
****
Within the hour the rest of the employees were awake, and fed. The fact they could not shower, bathe, or even put on clean clothes, added to some of the girl's stress.
"You can use distilled water," Anthony told them, firmly, "to use with a wash cloth, but that's it for now and go easy on it. It's not like the faucets are working." There were some shirts and sweatshirts with Buffalo team logos, over in aisle 8, but sizes were limited and clean underwear would be hard to find.
As the others talked, and talked, Justin found himself standing at the window. The sun felt good. You could feel the temperature difference, even just walking from ten feet away to here. When night came again the last of the store's heat would probably be sucked out, but for now, whatever star that was (and it seemed a bit red to his eye), it was their only friend.
Probably his only friend, too.
The slight teen let his body lean forward, forehead coming to rest against the cold glass. He wasn't that sorry to be here. Unlike the others, it seemed, his home... had just been a place he slept. Nothing special. It's not that his parents were bad, really. They... just didn't understand him. And not in the normal way the previous generation never fully comprehends what the fruit of their loins is doing, despite it being no different than what they did. He was a loner. Geek. Nerd. Justin didn't have all that many friends, and the ones he did have tended to be as quiet and non-social as he had come to be. He wasn't sure they'd miss him, or that he'd miss them.
Work, he had found, was no different in that regard. He knew these people, had known many of them for years, so there was no escape from his past, no chance to reinvent himself. He envied Chuck, who had come in with the ability to start over. He was the only one who just talked to Justin, accepting what he saw without knowing or caring about how he had been in the past. Chuck was the only reason he hadn't quick this stupid job.
Well, him and Tammy.
And Alicia.
But, mostly Tammy.
He wasn't sure what it was about the plain white girl. There was just, well, something. Maybe it was the eyes, or her smile. He was a normal male, had loved from afar many times, but... he was eighteen now, despite his smaller size. A man. It was time to start acting on those feelings. Maybe, last night had given him a new life. A chance to start over somewhere new. With at least a few people he felt he could, someday, call friends. Or, in Tammy's case, more. Lifting his eyes to the horizon, Justin asked himself if this could be a new home...
There was a building.
"Chuck!"
"What?"
"Get over here! Quick!"
The heavier teen, a full head taller than him, ambled over. Melinda followed. For a brief moment, Justin regarded her with a feeling of... was it jealousy? No! Can't be! He wasn't gay! That wasn't it! No, no, no. Besides, he had always gotten along well with the girl, even if they weren't friends. It must have been nothing. His eyes quickly went back to Chuck. His friend was looking out the window, scanning the snow.
"What did you see... ah! That?"
"You see the black... whatever, too?"
"God, yes! Anthony! We have a building on the horizon!"
****
Anthony stared out at the small blob in the distance, not so much ignoring the excited conversations around him as pushing it to the back of his awareness. He had to think. Decide. Be leader. Not just, as he had been with this group up till last night, the fun adult who kinda suggested things to be done.
And his choices could save or kill them.
Wonderful.
A hand gently touched his shoulder. Hannah was looking at him, expectantly. Well, now. There was no way he was going to disappoint a woman with beautiful eyes like that. With a smile, he turned, back to the window, hands raised.
"OK, everyone, settle down!" They did, wonders of wonders. "OK, we have to start making some choices. The first one is, do we stay here, or do we go out and try to find out what the fuck is going on?"
"We go out," Tammy said, in her quiet voice. "I want to get home, and I can't do that staying here." There was general agreement. Anthony nodded at them.
"Agreed. Now, that being the case... I say we all go out and walk over to our mystery building there."
"ALL of us? Why?!?" Alicia, standing next to Nona, hugged herself tightly. "I don't want to go out there!" Her scar, which seemed to fade at times, almost glowed a deep red on her white skin.
"There're only eight of us," Anthony said, gently. "Splitting up just doesn't make sense, as neither half would be big enough to do much. Plus, I don't want to leave anyone here. Look, we'll go out, take a look, then come back. Simple. No risks." He forced a smile. "Don't worry. We'll be OK."
****
They packed for an excursion they hoped would need none of what they gathered. Tammy, who had done some work in the deli, made two meals worth of cold sandwiches. The bread and fresh produce would probably be among the first food they lost, along with the loose sliced lunchmeat, so she felt no need to skimp on the sandwich fixings. She even grabbed the best bread. Hannah put together some first aid kits, her former Girl Scout training coming in handy. The store had no actual pharmacy, so over the counter painkillers were the best she could do. They had lots of bandages, though.
At the front of the store, they packed it all into Anthony's duffel bag. A second bag, recovered from Hannah's minivan once she remembered her gym clothes were there, was filled with bottles of pop and water. Anthony looked at the space remaining, then told the others to start getting ready to go out while he got one more thing.
"Why do we need so much?" Alicia picked up Hannah's bag, grunting at the weight. "It's not that far!"
"We're just being prepared," Hannah told her lightly. "Better to have, than not have."
A few minutes later, the sound of the meat department door banging shut came to them, followed by Anthony walking up the canned good aisle. In his hands, along with a flashlight, were eight long knives.
"Why do you have those?" Nona asked, nervous. Chuck stepped up as Anthony put them on the register counter, picking up a rather large black handled knife. He turned to the light brown skinned girl.
"We don't know what's out there. Best to be safe."
"And if someone out there doesn't like us coming at them with knives?"
"I'd rather apologize than have to fight with a bottle of Pepsi," Anthony said. He looked down at his arsenal. "How do we carry them, that's the question." Chuck regarded his chosen weapon for a moment, then his face lit up.
"Got it!"
He raced towards the back room, returning with a large, empty box made of thick cardboard. Picking up the knife again, he shoved it down between the inner and outer layers of the cardboard. It stuck, blade safely contained. Melinda looked at him, eyes shining with approval.
"You may want to use smaller pieces!"
****
It was tough going.
The snow was deep. Not as deep as feared, thankfully, as the wind had caused lots of drifting. They were able to wind their way through the shallower parts, but it still was often almost to their knees. Four of the girls had boots, a benefit of being "weak" enough to have worn them to work before changing to sneakers for their shift. The three males and Tammy, however, just had their sneakers. All, apart from Anthony, had pants that did nothing to keep them either warm or dry.
Chuck looked up at the sky. It was clear, blue. The sun was high, bright, and reddish yellow. It was, unquestionably, not their sun. This was not their world. Lowering his gaze, he tried to see something out there besides their goal. Nothing. In every direction, just endless white. No trees. No mountains. The only landmarks were their store behind them, looking forlorn and out of place, and the strange structure ahead. He almost dreaded what they might find there.
A gloved hand took his. He looked over at Melinda, whose attention seemed to be focused on their intrepid leader Anthony. Last night had been... wonderful, confusing, and probably a half dozen other emotions. He didn't love her. He knew that. As one of his Mom's old Tori Amos songs said, "so you can make me cum, that doesn't make you Jesus." If she felt the same way, if it had only been about the comfort of companionship for Melinda, he could deal. Sex didn't have to be about love. But... he knew that wasn't the case. And, he couldn't push her away NOW! She needed him! He had woken with her crying on his chest, and they had made love again, slowly. The way she had clutched him, as if afraid even in the throes of orgasm that he'd leave her...
No. He'd be her friend, if nothing else. Be honest, promise nothing, but...
His hand squeezed hers.
****
After a half hour, they reached the structure.
"That's... interesting."
Anthony walked up to the building, the others staying ten or so feet away. It was a series of flattened domes of various sizes, attached to one another like soap bubbles. The tallest points seemed to be about seven feet tall. Anthony, at least, would have trouble standing inside near the edges. Construction seemed to consist of small grey tree trunks bent over to form an arch, then smaller arching trees and branches lashed under it to form a shell which that was re-enforced with woven sticks. A primitive, if well made design. Removing his glove, he reached out and touched one of the trees...
It was fake.
He ran his hand quickly over more. Plastic, or, something like plastic.
Stepping back, he considered. Well, humans put vinyl siding on homes designed to look like wood or brick, so why not the same thing here? He'd never seen a design like this before, but then, Anthony couldn't say he was all that into documentaries on natives. The question of whether they were still somewhere on Earth or, well, elsewhere was still open to debate.
Or so he wanted to believe.
They began to walk around it. All told, it was about as long as a human house. There were no windows, but maybe there were some on the roof. Melinda gave it a critical eye.
"I almost think it's sort of roundish, the building, but not quite. Maybe there's an inner courtyard, with windows. The snow on top would block any windows up there."
"Maybe the creatures who live in it don't have eyes," Tammy offered. Alicia shot her a glance.
"That's not helping."
Coming to a dome smaller and rounder than the others, they saw an entrance.
Originally, like the building itself, the door had been designed to resemble something from the builder's primitive past. A large curved opening, six feet tall, framed by another bent tree, with a woven grass door attached to the top of the arch and swinging open. It wasn't the construction that drew the human's eyes, though.
It was that the door had been smashed open.
"What the fuck." Chuck stepped up, glancing inside. "I see snowy footprints, some snow blown in. I think this happened last night." Melinda moved back to his side, hands going to his arm.
"Robbers?"
"We don't know if the bad guys were inside or outside." He looked at Anthony. "What do you want to do?"
The manager stared at the dark opening for a moment, then shifted his shoulders and let the duffle bag he had been wearing like a backpack fall to the snow. Bending down to unzip it, he took out a large cardboard sheathed knife and handed it to Chuck. Nodding, he took it.
"Why?" asked Nona, a look of disgust on her face.
"Because it makes me feel a lot better," replied Alicia, taking the smaller blade offered to her. She removed the cardboard, letting it fall to the snow as she held the knife before her. With a disgusted snort Nona reached down and grabbed the discarded sheath and handed it to Anthony. He nodded thanks, holding out the last knife. She looked at it, then with another sigh accepted the blade. She kept it covered, though.
"I'll go first," Anthony told them. He maneuvered the bag back onto his back, accepted the uncovered knife Hannah had been holding for him, then stepped up to the door.
The entryway was small, maybe eight feet across and a few feet longer. The ceiling, going by the minimal clearance over his head, was maybe six and a half feet high. Light came from long, thin clear windows set into the ceiling and upper walls, invisible from outside, casting an intricate pattern of shadows on the floor. The walls looked, again, like branches, small thin ones forming similar but more complex patterns. Anthony touched them, this time finding the wood real. Made sense. You put the more expensive stuff where you yourself could enjoy it. The floor was matted grass, half covered now by snow. Footprints, more melted than snowy, led through an arch in front of him. The prints were... human-ish. Motioning for the others to follow, he entered the next room.
The creature in the middle of the floor was dead. That, at least, was obvious. Anthony could hear various gasps from the girls behind him. His eyes swept the room. It was a house. A normal, civilized house. One from an obviously different culture, carved wood being the predominate theme, but nothing that would have looked out of place in some part of the Earth, or at least in its fiction. The thing on the floor, though...
It was man shaped, roughly. A primate, at least, somewhere between Melinda and Chuck in size. Brownish grey fur covered its body, which lay face down on the woven rug. Red blood, not yet fully dried, pooled around it.
"What is it," Alicia whispered. Looking back at them, Anthony could see her white knuckles around the knife handle, which she held up between her breasts. Hannah moved up next to him, her own knife lowered but in front of her all the same. With unspoken coordination, they dropped to one knee and examined the body.
It was not an animal. It wore clothing, consisting of a wide cord belt attached to loose shorts of woven black fabric. Twisted cord suspenders crisscrossed over its back, and front. Hannah, with only a brief hesitation, reached out and pushed the body over onto its back.
Four lifeless eyes stared back at them.
They were set two on each side of its long, thin flat nose, the outer two a bit higher on the face. A ring of white fur surrounded each eye, striking compared to the dull grey fur of the rest of the head. Its nose was black, lips pink, hands and feet black and leathery, with long fingers and toes. The fur on its chest was a lighter grey, almost white.
"I have to be dreaming..."
Anthony turned back to Nona. Her hands were raised to her face, expression one of... shock. He cocked her head at her.
"Did you not think you were dreaming before?"
"No, I mean... oh, God in heaven, it's a Spectacled Monkey!"
He blinked.
"A what?"
"A Dusky Leaf Monkey! I have a stuffed one at home! They live in Malaysia! I saw them when my parents took me there to visit relatives! They only have two eyes, of course, and are small, but that's one of them! What's going on!?!"
"Oh, NOW she asks that," Tammy muttered, dryly. Hannah shot the blonde girl a look, then turned to the panicked Malay.
"It's probably just coincidence. ANYTHING we see will, probably, look at a certain angle like something from home. Just... calm down. We have to stay calm."
"I... I know..."
The sound of something falling in some other room stopped all further conversation.
"Fuck," whispered Chuck. He quickly moved over to the far side of the room, and the doorway there, Melinda a step behind.. Looking out, he saw an oval shaped hallway. Out from the second doorway on the right, rolled a small wooden bead, and a sound that could be a door closing.
He looked back, eyebrows raised questioningly. Anthony rose, looking around. This was it. Stay or go. Flee, or make contact, for good or ill. Know, or never know.
Well, he had always liked the Planet of the Apes movies. Maybe he could get Hannah to dress as Nova...
Moving up to Chuck, the teen pointed to the source of the sound. Adjusting the grip on his knife, Anthony slowly moved into the hall and began to slide along the wall. His back passed over a closed door, which he knew was horrible tactics. For the first time in his life, the twenty five year old wished he had spent more time playing first person shooters and less time with naked females. Chuck, he saw, was hugging the opposite wall, trailing a bit behind him. Justin stood with the girls, knife still sheathed, a look of indecision on his face. That was fine with Anthony. No reason for them all to be out here doing stupid things.
His shoulder hit the door frame. Taking a deep breath, he poked his head around the corner.
It was a girl's bedroom.
The reeds covering the wall were a bright green, the color of spring. Flowers of yellow and orange and pink were woven into it, making swirls and swoops. An oval bed hung from the ceiling by four woven dark green vines, the bed itself covered by a tangle of multi colored blankets. There were furnishings, what might be a stool, a table...
And a large, light brown, wooden closet.
Anthony stepped inside. Looking around, he could see nowhere else someone could hide. Chuck came up behind him, nodding when Anthony looked at him questioningly. He moved to the opposite corner of the room, knife held ready. Melinda popped into the doorway and quickly ran over next to him. Shaking his head, Anthony slid over towards them as the others came in as well. The eight humans formed a semi-circle around the room, focused on the closet.
Hannah, next to him, touched Anthony's arm.
"Now what?" she whispered.
Damn good question, that.
It was Justin who took the initiative.
"Come on out. We won't hurt you."
His words hung in the air, as the others looked at him in disbelief. Alicia moved in front of her classmate, eyes shocked.
"EXCUSE me?"
He stayed put, not flinching from her closeness.
"I say we try and be friendly. Can't hurt."
"Yes it can," she muttered, squeezing her grip on the knife. She looked around, but to Anthony's surprise the others seemed to agree with the Justin. The boy reached out a brown hand and gently placed it over her trembling white one.
"Put the knife down... please." He swung his gaze around the room. "Everyone, put your knife down. Somewhere you can get to it easily, but empty your hands." He put his own down on the bed, then moved into the middle of the room. Holding his hands up, he addressed the closet.
"Please... come out. We're friends."
Nothing.
He repeated it. Still, there was silence.
"If that thing is empty," Hannah mumbled, "we could be here all day." Anthony chuckled, then with a shrug tried to draw on long forgotten French classes.
"N'ayez pas peur... um, nous sommes des amis!"
Hannah chuckled, then raised her voice.
"Que son tus amigos!"
Anthony met her grin with his own. He would have expected her to have tried Hebrew, but then he'd never bothered learning Latin either. On the other side of the room, Chuck gave his own try.
"Eway omecay inway eacepay!"
"Ha!" Melinda just barked it out. "You went there! Really?"
"You never know," he grinned.
Nona, grinning, gave a shrug and looked at the closet.
"Keluar lah....kami tidak akan mengapa-apa kan kamu."
She began to shrug again, at the pointlessness of it all, when...
"Kamu....Ada kah kamu boleh di anggap kawan?"
The muffled voice was high pitched, but soft. Nona's jaw dropped, every eye in the room going from the closet to her, then back. Anthony was quickly at her side, whispering.
"Tell her it's OK, tell her to come out."
"I... I was never good at Malay! I only use it when relatives visit!" She looked up at him, pleading. He put a hand on her shoulder.
"Do your best. It has to be better than my French."
Nona closed her eyes, shoulders slumping under his hand. A moment later, her back straightened as she stepped forward next to Justin, who backed up a step.
"Ya, kami adalah kawan. Kami orang asing, sesat. Kami perlu pertolongan dari kamu."
She paused, then added, "Nama saya Nona, apa nama kamu?"
The door swung open.
Standing there was a slightly smaller, slimmer version of the fallen creature. Her fur was blackish grey, except on her chest which was a dark white. A brown cord around her waist held up a light green skirt, covered with white flowers. Twisted cord suspenders crossed and became brown woven cups up where her breasts were, before going over her shoulders. Her four brown, white fur rimmed eyes were covered by glasses, four round lenses held in a thin wooden frame. From the top of her head, a string of multicolor wooden beads fell down past her left ear.
She stood there, looking out at them. One black finger raised, pushing the bridge of her glasses up.
"Saya Daium."