Henry turned back toward the crowd, raising his voice so everyone could hear him clearly.
"First thing to follow in this situation—no panic," he said firmly. "Panic is the last thing we need right now. Fear makes people stop thinking, and when that happens, mistakes follow."
People in the store slowly quieted, listening.
"I'm not imprisoning anyone here," he continued, his tone steady. "This is a public place, not a lockdown shelter."
He gestured toward the glass doors at the entrance, where the thick mist still pressed against the outside.
"I respect democracy," he said. "If anyone here wants to leave, the door is right there."
His finger pointed straight at it.
"You're free to walk out whenever you want."
The crowd followed his gesture and looked toward the entrance.
No one moved.
Henry watched them for a moment before giving a small nod.
"Good," he said, his voice steady now that the shouting had stopped.
He then turned toward the heavy-set man standing nearby.
"You're the store manager, right?" Henry asked while looking directly at Bud.
Bud nodded slowly, still trying to process everything that had happened in the last few minutes.
"Yeah… that's me."
"Then start organizing supplies," Henry said. "Food, bottled water, blankets, anything people might need. If we're staying here for a while, people will need something to eat and drink."
Bud glanced around the store at the crowded aisles and shelves, realizing the situation was no longer just a normal shopping day.
"Alright," he said quietly, already beginning to think about how to handle it.
Henry stepped back after that.
He had said what he needed to say. He could have kept quiet and watched everything unfold the way it originally did, but that didn't sit right with him. At least now people had some direction instead of panic spreading everywhere.
Madison approached him again, her voice lower this time.
"Henry… how bad is this situation?"
She glanced toward David.
David was kneeling slightly beside his son Bill, trying to calm the boy down. The child clung to his father's arm, clearly shaken by the noise and the strange atmosphere around them.
"I miss Mom," Bill said softly.
Madison's expression tightened.
"My sister-in-law is still at home," she added quietly.
Henry looked at them.
For a few seconds he didn't say anything.
Then he slowly shook his head.
The chances of her being alive were almost zero.
Madison covered her mouth with her hand as the realization sank in, shock and sadness spreading across her face while she looked toward David and the child standing beside him.
After some time, David walked over, leaving Billy with Madison. The boy had quieted down a little but still held tightly to her arm.
Henry was sitting on a stack of large food bags Bud had started organizing from the storage area.
David stopped beside him.
"So… Henry," he began cautiously. "Can I call you that?"
Henry glanced up and nodded.
"Yeah. In a situation like this, formalities aren't really important."
David shifted his weight slightly before speaking again.
"Then tell me the honest truth," he said. "What's actually happening outside?"
Henry leaned back slightly, considering the question for a moment.
"Even if I explained it right now," he said slowly, "it would probably sound ridiculous. But soon you'll see it for yourself. When that happens, you're going to need a strong heart because whatever you think the world is… it's about to change."
Before David could respond, a deep rumbling sound echoed from the back of the store.
The noise rolled through the building like something heavy being dragged across metal.
At that moment Ollie Weeks, one of the store employees, hurried toward them looking nervous.
"Uh… the back staff door was left open," he said quickly. "And there are strange noises coming from back there. I thought maybe someone should check it."
Henry stood up immediately.
"The door is open?" he asked.
Ollie nodded.
"Yes."
"That's not good."
Ollie looked confused. "Is it really that dangerous?"
Henry didn't answer directly. Instead he motioned toward the back.
"Let's close it before something decides to come inside."
The three of them walked toward the rear of the store and soon reached a narrow corridor that led deeper into the staff area.
The moment Henry stepped into the hallway, he noticed the mist.
It had already begun creeping inside.
The fog filled the corridor so densely that he couldn't see more than a meter ahead.
Henry frowned slightly while looking into the white haze.
"What's back here?" he asked.
Ollie pointed into the corridor with his flashlight.
"Staff changing rooms and a couple of equipment storage rooms. The back door is at the end."
As he spoke, another sound came from deeper inside the corridor.
Something scraped heavily across metal followed by a loud crash, as if something massive had slammed against the floor.
David stiffened immediately.
"What the heck is that sound?"
Henry calmly began pulling a pair of gloves from his pocket and slid them onto both hands.
He had a reason for doing that.
When he used Ether Mode, blue markings would appear across his hands, and the gloves helped hide that from anyone watching.
"Do you have a hammer, an axe, or anything heavy that can be used as a weapon?" Henry asked.
Ollie nodded quickly and hurried off into a nearby equipment room. The sounds of metal shifting and tools clattering came from inside before he rushed back out a moment later, gripping a fire axe.
"Th-this was in the maintenance rack," Ollie said, handing it over.
Henry took the axe and weighed it briefly in his hand.
He took a slow breath and turned his eyes back toward the corridor filled with mist.
Just as he took a step forward—
Something moved.
A long, pale tentacle suddenly shot out of the mist and hovered in the air above them.
For a split second nobody moved.
"What the hell is that?!" David blurted out, stumbling backward.
"Oh my God—what the hell—?!" Ollie shouted, nearly dropping the flashlight he was holding.
The thing twisted slowly in the air like it was searching, its slick surface glistening with a thin layer of mucus.
Then it snapped downward.
Henry didn't hesitate.
As the tentacle whipped toward him, he stepped forward and swung the axe with all his strength.
THWACK.
The blade cut clean through the appendage.
The severed piece dropped to the floor in front of David and Ollie, writhing violently like a dying snake. Thick dark fluid spilled from the cut end, hissing faintly against the tile.
The creature deeper in the mist let out a horrifying screech, a wet, alien sound that echoed down the corridor and sent a chill through the air.
David stared at the twitching tentacle on the floor.
Ollie looked like he might vomit.
Henry tightened his grip on the axe.
"Let's get this over with," he muttered.
A faint blue glow flickered beneath the gloves on his hands.
Then the glow spread.
Lines of ether markings lit up across his arms and neck like circuits of living energy. The patterns pulsed faintly beneath his skin, stopping just below his neck before reaching his face.
With a sudden burst of speed, he stepped forward and jumped straight into the mist.
The fog swallowed him instantly.
*****
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