Yanking the sword free, I found a scrap of cloth nearby and wiped the foul blood from the blade, then sheathed it. Looking over the bloody scene, I realized that I had now been 'marked'. I had a first kill under my belt and surprisingly, I felt an elation I had certainly not expected from such an act. Perhaps it was merely the rush of adrenalin that caused me to feel this way, but I rather thought not. I had a feeling it was the act of killing another human being--if you could call the Unluckys such--the actual taking of another life that was making me feel so lightheaded. I wasn't at all sure I liked this feeling, but knew it was now a survival mechanism. It was either kill them or they would surely kill me and my family, and without any of the compunction I might have felt about such an act. I realized that I was now going to see to it that 'we' survived this ongoing disaster, not any of them.

Taking the shotgun once again in hand, I moved to the body the two Unlucky's had been worrying over when I first saw them, fearing to find the woman dead. I was immensely relived to discover not the body of a female, but of another Unlucky, who had apparently been 'unlucky' enough to become a victim of his own kind. This one was obviously dead--its neck had been torn out. I looked around, warily, remembering that my son had said he saw 'four' Unluckys chasing the girl into this building. That meant there was still another one, somewhere out there, as well as the woman who still needed to be found and possibly rescued, if she was still alive. Pumping a fresh shell into the chamber, I placed the gun in a shoulder ready position and resumed my search of the store, now with a new found caution and purpose.

I moved slowly through the complex, listening for any sign of life. I was nearly ready to quit my search, when I heard someone, crying weakly. Following the whimpering, I tracked the origin to a corner of the store where I could just see a lady huddled beneath a pile of trash and other clutter. She appeared to be human, although her clothes were in tatters and her body seemed bruised and rather thin. Since I was still unaware of where the other Unlucky might be, I remained concealed and called softly to the woman. When I attracted her attention, I told her to come to me, not wanting both of us to be exposed at the same time. I figured if the other creature was anywhere about, it would go after her, leaving me a, hopefully, clean shot. I hated using this poor woman as bait, but under the circumstances, it seemed the only way to handle the situation.