Sprinting through the small store I tried desperately to reach the front, and warn Cooper. The strange bugs were everywhere, crawling all over the shelves and ceiling, and moving much faster than I ever could.

  I slid around the last corner just in time to see Cooper slam his broom ineffectively into the face of one of the sickly insects while another one jumped him from the side. The monster’s extended mandibles slipped around the man’s lower leg and snapped shut with frightening force. His leg severed, the old man went down screaming.

  I watched in horror as the scarabs swarmed forward, ripping out his throat and tearing into his body. With so many creatures swarming through the portal, there just wasn’t enough of Cooper to go around. Many of the beetles skittered towards the open door, heading into the street.

  More than a few headed towards me.

  Hairy skidded to a stop between me and the advancing horde, blocking my view of Cooper. “Not this way,” he growled.

  “The emergency exit,” Tyberius hissed. “Run to the back!”

  I didn’t argue. I sprinted away, heading back towards the canned goods aisle. Thankfully it didn’t look like any of the insects had decided to wander in this direction, so I had a clear path to the door. I didn’t bother slowing down, instead I just lowered my shoulder and slammed into the metal bar in the middle at a dead run, smashing it open.

  At least that was the plan.

  The door did open, but only a few inches before coming to an abrupt stop. I bounced off it, hard, and tumbled to the ground, cradling my shoulder. Security alarm blaring above my head I stared through the gap at the heavy lock and chain wrapped around the exterior handle.

  “What the fuck Cooper? I thought you trusted people,” I cried with tears of pain and frustration in my eyes.

  “Come on Tam Tam, back on your feet! They’re coming!” Hairy hollered.

  Scrambling to my feet I stared down a pair of the huge beetles scuttling down the aisle towards me. With no apparent weapon around, I grabbed the nearest display and pulled it with all my strength. The heavy metal installation teetered for a moment, raining cans down upon the intruders, before finally giving in to gravity and slamming down upon the scarabs.

  It bought me a couple seconds, if that.

  The unit crashed down, spilling dry goods everywhere, and I grabbed one of the heavy metal shelves that had bounced loose. With nowhere else to go, and the oversized insects closing in, I smashed it into the nearest window, trying desperately to find a way to escape.

  The glass cracked, spider webbing outward, but didn’t break. I wound up, and smashed it again, with the same result. As I rested my impromptu weapon on the floor, breathing heavily, I stared at the window. I could just make out a faint grid like pattern in it. Security glass.

  “I’m fucked…” I moaned, doing my best to not completely break down. “I’m never getting out of here.”

  That’s when a wave of scarabs erupted around the end of the aisle, probably attracted by the security alarm.

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  Seeing no other choice, I gripped the shelf and raised it over my head.

  “Don’t worry Tamera,” Tyberius growled. “We’ll protect you.”

  “While I appreciate the thought, I don’t think you can really help me here,” I blubbered. “Thanks for staying with me until the end though.”

  As the first scarab charged forward, closing in at a frightening speed, I raised my weapon, closed my eyes and swung. I expected to feel a heavy impact, followed by mandibles closing around my extremities, but instead I flailed around and smashed the shelf into the side of the collapsed display.

  My eyes shot open and I looked around, frantically trying to figure out what had happened.

  Between the scarabs and I, not even two feet away, was Hairy. Swinging his massive fists like clubs down at the scarabs, and connecting. A couple of iridescent pests had grabbed his legs in their mandibles, but couldn’t seem to do any damage.

  Floating beside him was Angelica, stabbing down into the mass with her tendrils. The scarabs around her screeched, sizzled and smoked with every electrically charged strike.

  I was so surprised by the scene, I nearly dropped my weapon.

  “Don’t lose heart, young one. We just need to hold out a few minutes, until reinforcements arrive,” Tyberius declared from the roof above me.

  Nodding numbly, I raised my shelf and waited. It didn’t take long for one of the bugs to sneak through, despite my friend's best efforts. The sneaky bastard had climbed up on top of the displays between the aisles and charged past while they were occupied with the masses on the floor.

  It tensed up, preparing to pounce, but before it could I smashed the creature in the face with my metal shelf. It felt like I’d struck a stone statue, the impact causing the shelf to vibrate wildly. Gripping the self tighter, until the sharp metal edges cut into my hands I reared back and smashed again.

  It didn’t feel any better the second time, but thankfully it was enough force to dislodge the decaying insect and send it tumbling into the next aisle.

  As I backed away, I felt something change. Like clearing skies after a massive storm this pressure, which I had barely registered as being there, dissipated.

  The remaining scarabs scrambled away, making a mad dash for the rupture, which was now oscillating wildly. Most made it back through, but a couple were caught on this side when the portal slammed closed. These remaining specimens immediately went into a frenzy, running in circles or hammering themselves into the walls. It wasn’t hard to see why.

  They were melting. Within the first five seconds, most of them had lost a limb or feeler. Within ten most of their shells had a noticeable concave droop in them, and with thirty most of them were un-unrecognizable piles of ooze.

  Even after they’d all dissolved, I stood trembling in the corner for another minute, my shelf raised. “Are they gone? Like actually fucking gone?” I asked.

  “It looks like it,” Angelica confirmed. “You did well Tam.”

  I nodded, lowered my shelf, and sank to my knees. “What the hell was that back there?”

  “A rupture, a tear in the veil between their world and yours. They happen around Empowered that leak too much power,” Tyberius patiently explained.

  “No, not that! That fight! I saw Hairy and Angelica actually fight those things, keep them away from me. That shouldn’t be possible, you’re just my imaginary friends!”

  “Maybe they were imaginary too then?” Hairy suggested, scratching his head.

  I shot the cow with my best unimpressed look. “Pretty sure that’s not the case,” I huffed before gesturing to all the damage around us.

  “Not unless my imagination somehow learned how to manipulate reality, became violent, and suddenly decided it wanted to kill me.”

  Hairy’s eyebrows raised, raising the hair over his face almost to the point where I could see his eyes. “Can it do that?”

  “No, it can’t do that,” I snapped. I knew Hairy was a little derpy sometimes, but right now I couldn’t tell if he was being his regular old self, or messing with me.

  Taking a deep breath, I struggled to my feet, hands still clenched around the shelf. “Well, whatever that was, thank you. You all saved my life.”

  “Anytime sweetie,” Angelica whispered.

  Slowly and cautiously I made my way around the store. I knew most of those things were gone, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

  When I finally got up to the front, and saw the pool of drying blood and scattered bone fragments that used to be Cooper I finally lost my nerve. Sprinting for the door I burst outside, only to be confronted by a couple dozen police officers, guns all trained on me.

  “Drop the weapon! Now!” someone barked.

  That’s when I finally released my deathgrip on the shelf. My hands screamed in pain as the cramped muscles finally loosened, and the cuts from gripping the sharp metal edges were finally exposed to the air.

  I was only vaguely aware when the majority of the officers rushed past me, charging into the now wrecked market. With the adrenaline and terror now gone, my other emotions were finally given a chance to work their way to the forefront.

  Walking slowly, cautiously, a single female police officer approached me from the front. She was crouched down, so we were at the same eye level and talking quietly. “Hey kid, you alright?”

  The dam finally burst. “I wanna go home!”

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