Day 15b

Okay, this damned place may have become way more trouble than its worth. And if I find out that any of the townsfolk had any idea what was living inside this Mart, they'll be lucky if all I do is knock them on their ass. The raiders would have been bad enough, I sweat and bled to drive them off, took injuries and bullet wounds. But they were a breeze and a nap compared to what I found in the Mart.

I had gotten into the food area and walked down an aisle at random, looking over the boxes and cans all over the floor, shelves toppled or spilled. Most of the stuff was difficult to identify, too faded or too damaged, some even torn or broken open. I hadn't thought much about the damage, at least not consciously. I guess, in retrospect, I just assumed that it was the ravages of time combined with clumsy scavenging by the townsfolk and others. I explored, looking over the contents while I waited for the townsfolk to catch up with me. At the end of the aisle, there looked to be refrigeration units, silhouettes of a cow and a pig hung over them. I saw another sign, hung from the ceiling far down the way; it said “Produce”, but the only things I could make out being produced were tangles of wild lettuce, onions, and watermelons.

My attention was suddenly drawn to a pair of doors set in the wall in the middle of the unit, barely attached to their hinges right between the cow and the pig. There seemed to be movement, only briefly seen through the gaps in the askew doors, and I started to raise my rifle and take a step closer, tensing. I was still exhausted, but my heart began to pump faster, adrenaline flowing. And then the doors burst open, one flying completely free from the wall and crashing into one of the aisles.

Like I said, I hate and fear large places like this. All this space, just open enough to be roomy and yet just close enough to be comfortable, combined with all the food inside and whatever can be hunted up through whatever opening might be available and large enough. It makes a rather ideal dragon nest.

Don't get me wrong, they're not like the creatures in the story books, the size of the building with a gargantuan wingspread, able to fly overhead and breathe fiery destruction below. But they are still nothing to be trifled with. Mutated lizards, growing to a length often equal to ten times a man's height, with long, hooked claws and teeth. Thick hides, commensurate with their size. No fire-breathing that I've heard of, though I have heard a few rumors of some being able to regurgitate and spew their stomach acid in a blistering spray.

Luckily for me, they tend to be slow-moving beasts, so I was able to outrun it enough that it apparently didn't even see where I exited. Its been a little while since I came out, though I've been watching the place too closely to check the time. The danger is not only the door I entered through. There has to be another entrance somewhere, a hole big enough for the creatures to have entered in the first place, as well as to exit to hunt for fresh meat.

And yes, I am referring to multiple of the creatures. While I only saw one come after me, that was likely due more to the speed with which I fled. As it burst from that door, I could see behind it due to some illumination from deeper within. The one I saw, the one that pursued me, was definitely an adult. But there may have been another. And I saw behind it an egg, with the remains of at least one other shell, hatched.