"[b]It doesn't matter who I am![/b]" Paul barked, gripping her arm tightly and tugging her in the direction he was running, "[b]We have to get out of the dark![/b]" Night time was no time to be traveling and even worse of a time to be traveling alone. The streets, rubble strewn and difficult to navigate were dangerous in the dark. 

   He sprinted, holding the girl by the arm and leading her through the path of least resistance, he didn't want to be slowed down. Turning around as he ran, he extended his arm behind him and disengaged the safety on his flare gun, letting off a ball of bright red light. The darkness erupted into a loud, shrill orchestra of whines and screams.

   Scurrying away from the light were humanoid shapes of varying sizes, but they weren't people. The darklings were  made of shadows so dense that they collect into collected into creeping dark forms. 

   No one is certain when they came but all they knew was that it coincided with a comic passing close to the earth, showering the atmosphere with ancient dust that scientists hypothesized made the shadows dense enough to form. As for why they were humanoid, that's left to the conspiracy theorists.

   The darklings scurried away, their skin boiling in the light and cracking, peaking wisps of shadows from their wounds. 

   Paul dragged her under a lamppost and shrugged his bag from his shoulders. Around the lamppost was a circle of white chalk, bright against the black Tarmac. Producing a battered car battery from the bottom of the ruck sack, he tore off the wonky access panel from the podium of the lamp and dragged out two stripped wires. As he did the sounds in the darkness nearered and he panicked, quickly touching the wires to the battery terminals and switching the light on. 

   He collapsed, panting, the Amber light cast within the chalk circle keeping them safe. 


//I shall take you up on your offer, here ma'am is a reply that I hope you will like.//