Waiting to Die

*Eve and Tirea run towards Astarte, careful to not run out in front of any cars*

Tirea:<Holy shit...is it dead?!>

*It answers that in the form of starting to stand up.*

Astarte turned and continued flight, still looking for a way indoors.

*Eve and Tirea dash away from the monster in the same direction as Astarte*

*As mentioned previously, the street is filled with apartment complexes, also people don't just leave their doors hanging open, so the only choices are to try to go into 1, keep running up or down the road, or try to disappear inside of an alley.*

*Tirea gestures towards the alley, making sure Eve and Astarte can see her gesture, then runs off towards it. Eve follows*

Astarte went to the alley.

*As they flee, they hear a honking of a horn, more tire screeching, & some kind of loud shriek. It is not clear if the thing is following them. What is clear is that the alley contains a dumpster sitting opposite of a fire escape, & at the far end leads to a street full of convenience stores & fast food places, & therefore much better lit as some of them are open 24/7.*

Knowing that the creature can climb better than a human can- and not wanting to be stranded- Astarte passed the fire escape but hesitated before entering the following street. She glanced back into the alley, hoping she might not have to run out into the street as a wanted woman in her underwear.

*Eve and Tirea stop to allow Astarte to catch up, Tirea taking off her jacket and passing it to her*

Tirea:<Here, you need this more than I do. We'll find a place to wait while Eve can get us shit.>

*Eve looks out into the street to see if there is another alley nearby that they can hide in, or somewhere to get some dry clothes*

*Astarte does not see it in the narrow slice of street that can be seen between the buildings of the alley. By that token, they have no idea where it is. It looks like there might be a general store that may sell clothes a block or so down. It's a street, so yeah, there are more alleys. Alleys everywhere. Alleys for days.*

Astarte accepted the jacket with a quiet 'thank you', tugging it tight over her shoulders.

*Eve looks up and down the street, then looks up at the roof tops right above them. If it's safe, she quietly steps out into the street and heads down to the store that might sell clothing. Tirea waits for the coast to be clear before following, presuming Astarte will follow. She heads for the closest alley to the shop Eve's going to*

*They enter the Pforzheim General Store to find a single, short-and-shorter-haired brunette girl working at 1 of the registers, wearing baggy jeans & a hoody. After hastily removing her headphones, she watches them, smiling. Behind her is a bunch of clothing racks, with a doorway marked "Groceries" to the left.*
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*The alley in question leads to some kind of parking lot that's not very well-lit.*

*Eve heads over to the clothing, and starts picking out three thick winter jackets, then goes on to get enough scarves, gloves, socks, and winter hats for the three of them. She gets waterproof stuff if she can. Eve glances at the cashier about once every minute. She mumbles loud enough for the cashier to hear her*

Eve:<...Of course our luggage goes missing when it's snowing...just wonderful...>
---
*Tirea stays near the entrance of the alley, however she remains in the shadows to prevent being easily seen*

Astarte did follow, constantly looking around for the monster.

*The cashier mostly just stands around, drumming her fingers on the register, only looking at them quizzically once they start making noise. It's a small store, so the selection is limited to pretty basic winter gear in the light blue & white coloration of the Pforzheim Wilddogs. The coats & boots will probably hold up pretty well against water.*

*Once Eve is done getting all of that stuff, she grabs a long sleeve shirt and a pair of pants that she hopes is about Astarte's size, then heads over and grabs several bags of stuff like beef jerky and trail mix*
---
*Tirea crosses her arms, waiting for Eve to return*

Astarte squatted down next to Tirea, rubbing her arms and chattering her teeth.

*On the way, they pass a refrigerated section full of drinks & TV dinners, as well as backpacks & some cheap ass electronics. Really old models of cell phones, wrist watches, head phones, etc. Though at this point, judging by the price tags, their bill is already estimated to be hovering around $500. The cashier just continues to wait until they're done, looking at some crashing noise outside.*
==========================
*There's a loud, metallic crashing noise from some unclear direction. It sounds relatively close, but nothing that they can see.*

Astarte seemed to stop shivering and started staring around with saucer-wide eyes.

*Eve hurries up to the counter, dropping everything down to be scanned before reaching for her wallet. She grimaces, then takes out a credit card*

Eve:<On this, please.>
---
*Tirea starts, looking around for the cause of the noise*

*Aside from "sign here, please" & "thank you," the cashier is silent while running the payment.*
===============================
*I just said they can't see anything there.*

*Eve does all that stuff, then thanks the clerk and gathers up the stuff. With great effort, she exits, walks out of sight of the clerk, then dashes back to the alley. When Eve gets back, Tirea jumps up and starts helping Eve get everything separated into three indentical piles, except for Astarte's, which also includes pants and a shirt*

Eve:<We need to hurry.>

*Both Eve and Tirea start pulling on their new clothes, Eve putting the old ones in her backpack, along with her acquired food*

Astarte said 'thank you' a few times, barely audible, and put on her new clothes as fast as possible.