Chapter 42: Well Rested

The mechanic's shop was just down the block, and Karl approached as silently as possible, in case there were still goblins inside. Hawk said that he hadn't found any, but he was also under orders to either stay high in the air or out of sight so that he wouldn't get attacked before the real battle started. The building was an old cinder block building, darkened with years of soot all around the three bay doors, with a small office to one side. What he needed would likely be in the shop itself, but he also wanted to find a proper lighter and some food that wasn't just roast meat. There should be a vending machine inside, and if anyone came back to see it broken, they would just assume it was the Goblins, since they trashed everywhere else in town. But strangely, the glass doors were intact, the windows unbroken, and the shop itself seemed undamaged. That could be an issue if it was all locked up, but when Karl tried the side door to the actual shop, it opened smoothly, revealing a dimly lit set of three bays, each with a car parked in them. Karl went to the first, and found a cigarette lighter in the cupholder, which went to his pocket, then he noticed a grease barrel on a two - wheeled dolly. That was perfect. It would burn slowly, it stuck to the rags for torches if the power went out, and there was a whole drum of it here on wheels. Karl loaded a large bag full of rags on the grease barrel, then went through the door to the front of the shop, where the distinctive smell of a workshop faded, and a pungent odour of herbs prevailed. Maybe that had something to do with why this place wasn't trashed? It was worth a shot, and Karl quickly found the source of the smell, bags of herbs soaked in fuel, giving off a rather obnoxious odour. There were spares in the front office, ready to be assembled, so Karl grabbed two and a small can of fuel to activate them. Then he made his way to the vending machine, which was unlocked and open, seemingly prepared for the likelihood that someone would be here before they returned. So, he grabbed a few bags of snacks and stuffed them in his coat, just in case they were here all night. "Hey, is anyone here? We're elites from the Academy, here to deal with the monster issue." Karl called, just in case someone was hiding in this well protected shop. There was no answer, and the room was deathly silent, so Karl returned to his work. He needed at least a few long sticks for the torches, and those should be found in the parts department. Any long metal or wooden rod would do, and as luck had it, they stocked cargo bars for securing freight inside trucks. Two metres long, made of light metal and easy to disassemble to shorten them up a little. They would make great torch bases, so Karl grabbed four and brought them to the grease bin along with the scent buckets. There was a large length of chain nearby as well, so Karl added that to his pile of goodies and headed back out the way that he came in, carefully closing the side door so it didn't make a loud noise. Dana's fog was already spreading out from the government building, covering most of a city block and pouring down the streets. Given a few more hours of work, and she would certainly have the whole town covered, making Hawk's work easier this evening. "I've got what we need. Snacks, torch materials, and even a couple of bags of herbs that should get soaked in fuel to keep monsters away. The shop was completely untouched, so I'm pretty sure that they work. We can set them up in the entryway to the building and see if they keep the Goblins away for the night." Karl explained. "Perfect. Once I finish with the fog, I will need some sleep, so if you want to rest now, I will wait for Hawk's signal that something is coming. It's going to be a long night." Dana reminded him. "Good point. Hawk's warning should wake me up, but if it doesn't just poke me or something. I'll rest on the couch at the back of the lobby, out of sight of the doors, in case something passes by." He had left the door open a crack, the same as they had found it, and there were only a few lights on in the lobby, but there was still a chance that a monster passing by the door would notice them. "Wait, first put the herb bags where you think they need to be. It will be too late to mask our scent if we do it later in the evening." She reminded him with a grim look. Karl was still hoping for the best, that there wouldn't be anything coming back tonight, but Dana was prepared for the worst, and that was a full goblin tribe arriving to clean out the town tonight, and finding them holed up in this one stone building. The bags were quick to prepare, and the scent rapidly filled the lobby, making Dana's nose twitch in irritation at the pungent odour. But if it kept monsters away from their resting spot, it was a good thing, and they might actually be able to rest until Hawk gave them the signal that something was coming. He was resting in the Beast Space right now, preparing for his night of activities, but he would come out once Dana was finished with the fog, or the evening approached. Some foods could only be hunted at night, and the Windspeed Hawks, as a species, had a great sense of when the transitions would be, as that was the point when the nocturnal animals would be active, but groggy and not quite as alert as usual. But he didn't get to sleep that long. Dana woke them both up around six in the evening, an hour before sunset, to let them know that the fog was finished, and it extended out past the edge of town. Now, she was going to rest until the attack started, while Karl and Hawk could take over. [You know what to do. Head up into the sky and make sure that nothing is going to sneak up on us. Let me know if you see anything moving out there.]