The smell is the worst part. Every day it smells like body order and sulfur. Whenever you look anyone in the eyes, you see a dark emptiness, dirt on their faces, their collarbones protruding from the top of their chest. What once was the most intelligent species, has now seemed to move back to prehistoric times. Food is scarce, water is running low, the risk of death is always looming over our shoulders.
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Part 1:
“Shhh” I whispered as I knelt down behind some rubble. My back scraping against the sharp bricks, and metal rods. “what’s wrong?” Jason said as he dropped down next to me. Jason was a friend of mine since before the war. He was tall, red hair, and was naturally built even though he never worked out a day in his life. I picked up my pistole “There are raiders over by that building. They do not look friendly” After the attack on the mothership above the city, the city was left to rubble with the stronger buildings still standing. Just barley. Most of the city’s population was wiped out, including the surrounding towns. Since there is no more military or government, people have started to make their own laws. “Looks like they have plenty of weapons.” I said as I checked my gun for bullets. “We should wait till it gets darker though.” Jason looked at me with shock. “Wait till it gets darker? Those things will get to us before we even make it over there!” “Why don’t you shout a little louder? And I realize that. We just need to be quick about taking all these guys out.” I said, then something caught my eye. A flash of light that seemed to be reflecting off the roof of the adjacent building. Squinting I tried to figure out what it was. Then there was a flash. “Snipper!” I shouted as I pulled Jason down. Overhead gunfire started ringing out. "Shit, shit, shit!" Bullets started hitting the concrete next to them. "Jason where's my gun!?" I yelled as I felt the adrenaline running through my body. I must have dropped it when the snipper started firing. “Here!” Jason shouted as he tossed ben his pistole. "Fuck! looks like we are surrounded.” Pieces of brick started spraying everywhere as bullets were flying from every direction. “How the fuck do we fight our way out of this. Jason!? JASON?!” I Looked over at Jason. He seemed frozen. Then a blackish red started oozing out of his nose and mouth as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. “Jason!?” I felt the blood start to boil in my face, as Jason slowly fell I threw my gun up and started raining a hellfire of bullets. “You bastards!” I yelled shooting until my magazine went dry. I kept clicking the trigger, all that came out was the click of the gun. I dived back down, pulled Jason to me pulled him up in an embrace. His lifeless body laid limp in my arms. “God dammit Jason. For 2 years I told you to watch your head” I looked up as I saw men running up to me. I didn’t give a shit if they shot me in the head right then and there. Everything has been taken from me, and there isn’t anything else keeping me here. One man came up, and knelt down right in front of me. He had blond dirty hair, and a braided beard. His teeth were dirty, like he has been using chewing tobacco. “Oh sorry. We kill your little friend here?” He looked over my shoulder glances at the blood stained duffle bag next to Jason’s feet. "Got anything good?" the man said as he gestured towards one of his men to look through it. The man looking through my back looked up "looks like a few bullets, guns. Oh, look here, we got some cash!” I didn’t know he seemed so excited about it. Not like cash will go very far with no economy. "That money won't do you any good anymore dumbasses. Worlds ending if you can't tell." I looked over at the leader "All that money is good for is kindling for a fire." “Hey, you don’t know that! We can still win this war.” The man exclaimed. “Can’t win a war with no army” I said in a condescending tone. All the sudden we heard moaning behind us. A group of infected people where coming towards us. Noses in the air as if they were sniffing us out. Their eyes black as night. They are harmless for the most part but annoying as hell. We never found out why some people changed so quickly and others didn’t. “Better get inside, take this guy with us.” The leader said. I looked up to see the butt of a gun slam right into my face. _____ I opened my eyes to nothing. I couldn’t even tell if my eyes were open. My head throbbed, and my body felt like it was hit by a truck. Cringing, I pushed my body up, and laid my back against a gold brick wall. Looking around my eyes finally started to adjust to the darkness. I was in a storage room, next to me was a set of stairs and the door above let a small amount of light through. There was a sharp pain in my leg as I tried to get myself to stand up. Tension tugged at my ankle as I felt skin being scrapped away. They had me tied up with barbed wire around my ankles. “Why the hell didn’t they kill me?” I said to myself. I remembered they said something about me being taken care of tonight. I can only assume they want to watch me be torn apart by those aliens in some sick way to amuse themselves. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. My head still throbbing I rubbed my temples and let out a moan. I looked up at the door above the steps. Lights glowing between the cracks of the door I heard footsteps upstairs getting closer to the door. Shadows slowly formed, and I heard talking. Couldn’t make out what they were saying though. The door opened, and a burst of light burst through the door illuminated the storage room I was in. Almost blinded by the intense light I put up my arm to block the intense glow of light. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light two men were heading towards me, one with a machete. “Have fun down here?” The man with the machete said with a smirk on his face. “Oh ya, we had a blast," I said sarcastically. “Gave me time to take a nap” The man gave me an annoyed looked. “Well nap time is over then.” He spat next to me. Black spit dripped from his mouth. Must be chewing tobacco. Suddenly the man raised the machete, and I flinched expecting it to come down on me. Luckily he was aiming for the wire wrapped around my leg. “You’re coming up with me.” The man said grabbing my arm and forcefully lifting me up and pushing me to the steps. The let the barbed wire was wrapped around burned as the tension was still squeezing on my leg. I felt blood dripping into my shoe. As I started walking up the steps I tried to keep a straight face, I didn’t want these men to know I was in pain. And terrified of what may happen. As we made our way through what looked to be a lobby of a hotel, there were men sitting in old warn chairs drinking, some playing pool, and several cleaning a stock pile of guns. They all looked over at me, smiling and conversing with each other. They may have seemed confidant but I know the truth. They are all as scared as I am. Even the toughest man has nightmares about what is out there now. The men kept pushing me towards a metal door. Then the man kicked me behind the knees causing me to fall. I felt pain in my shine as I fell over wincing in pain, there was no point in hiding it now, I knew I was already dead. Two feet stepped in front of me, looking up I saw the beaded man holding a pistol at his side. “Good to see you again my friend, today is just not your day is it.” He laughed as he cocked his gun. Behind me I heard a loud thud. Turing around I saw two others bloodied and looking half dead. “Today we want to know that those aliens are not going to be creeping around our little piece of heaven. You guys are going to help us out with that.” I knew what he was going to do then. I looked up at him “So you are going to use us as bait to lure them away from you guys” The brerded man looked down at me and smiled exposing his rotten looking teeth. “Smart man you are” He looked puzzled “I never caught your name.” “Ben” I said “Well Ben you are correct. Now get up!” Two hands tighter around my triceps as they pulled me up. I felt the feeling of cold steel press against my temple. Behind me I heard one of the other prisoners curing, and crying. Then a loud smack. I assumed he got punched so that he would shut up. “Have fun out there” The breaded man said as he pushed open the metal doors. There was a heavy push against my back, then the cold silent darkness. _____ The fall air outside was bitter. I felt my face being burned by the wind as I laid prone on the ground. The only light came from the cracks in the boarded windows behind me. I looked around for the two that were thrown out behind me. I didn’t have to look long because one guy started cursing to himself like he did inside. “Shit, Shit, Shit! What are we going to do! We are going to die!” The man yelled. I Got up and rushed over to the man, limping on my leg that was still wrapped in the wire. I grabbed the man and put my hand over his mouth “Shhhh. We will die if you don’t shut up!” The man pushed me off. “Touch me again and I will clock you! You got that!” The crying man said defensively. “Hey Kev, hush up. The man’s right.” The second man whispered as he sat with his back against the wall of the building. I jumped, not realizing he was there. I looked over at the man “Who are you?” “Names not important right now. Getting to a safe place is.” The man stood up and looked around. He was a tall man, standing well over 6 foot. “See that building to the north” He pointed drawing my attention to a small amount of light escaping a window. “I know the man that lives there. Me and Kev left to get food, but these assholes caught us. If we make are way there we….” All the sudden the man froze like a statue. Almost like his soul left his body. It looked like he was about to say something. The small amount of light that was coming from the window next to him showed his eyes. I knew what he saw. Turning I saw a group of aliens in the distance, glowing yellow eyes bobby up and down as they crept down the street. I turned back to the tall man “Get down” I whispered as I fell to my knees. Both the man and Kev followed my lead. “Shit man, what do we do know!” Kev gave an urgent whine. “First we need to be quite.” I looked at Kev annoyed. “Secondly we need to stay low. They have good hearing, but as long as we stay out of sight we should be good.” I pointed to a bus that had the top blown off. Probably destroyed during the bombings. “Let’s make our way over there. Then just make out way down the street staying behind the cars.” “Screw that I am making a run for it!” Kev shouted. Somehow, I knew he would fuck us over. I heard the screech of an alien behind us. The yell made me grip my head as the sound ripped through my ear drums. I saw Kev sprinting down the street. “Kev! What the fuck are you doing!” The tall man yelled as he picked up what looked like a metal pole, and sprinted after him. All I could do was watch. Kev running as I saw the group of aliens running towards him. Out of nowhere one pounced on top of him. I dropped behind some rubble. All I heard was screaming, and the man calling out for Kev. I heard a loud ting, like the sound of metal hitting flesh. Then one last scream. After that all I could hear were the sounds of flesh being torn apart. All I could do was sit. Hoping they didn’t notice me. As I went to peer over the rubble my hands touched something soft, and cold. “Jason” I looked down and saw his lifeless body. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. His jaw looking like it was unhinged. I didn’t want to move. But I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before the aliens where done with Kev and the tall man. They would soon smell Jason. Remembering Jason had a gun on him I dug around his pockets. The bandits must have taken it, for it was nowhere to be found. I did find knife, which is better than nothing. I peered over the rubble again. The aliens where still working on Kev and the tall man. I then heard breathing. I slowly tuned my head. An alien stood not ten feet away from me, smelling the air. I could see the yellow eyes moving back and forth. Its black claws clicking against brick, its mouth slowly opening to revile sharpened teeth. It’s jaw line seemed to take up most of its face. Creepy looking thing. I slowly turned to crawl towards the bus. I looked behind me. The creature’s eyes seemed to be looking directly at me. The thing unmoving, as its body moved up and down with each breath. I reached over to grab a rock. Slowly I lifted my arm. Aimed it towards one of the windows of the bandit’s hideout. I chucked it, getting in-between the cracks of the plywood shattering the glass. The creature’s eyes shot towards the window as it let out a loud scream. I knew it was now or never. I ran towards the building with the lit room. I tried to move as fast as I could between the cars. I saw the aliens circling the building, so my distracting must have worked. “K, just a few more yards.” I tried to reassure myself. The likelihood of serving out here at night is small. Since the aliens lost all their tech, they have resorted to more primitive means to hunt us. Sometimes I miss when they had ships. Least then we could hide underground. I remember looking up and seeing their attack ships when they first left the mothership. It looked like bees leaving a beehive. It was after that the world went to complete shit. We were driven into underground bunkers, as the military tried to stop them. When we figured out how to break their tech, we thought we finally won. Now we just trapped them here with us permanently. We tried so hard to protect ourselves. We just ended up destroying ourselves. I finally made it to the building. It looked like it had been ransacked, all the windows where busted, and from what I could tell nothing was in the lobby. I tried the doors but they wouldn’t budge. I then tried the window right next to it, as I pulled myself through my leg caught a shard of glass right where I had the barbed wire. I had so much adrenalin rushing through me I almost forgot about the metal barbs pricing my skin. I fell with a thud on the ground. Pain was shooting up my leg and I wanted to scream, but knew if I did those aliens weren’t too far behind. I bit down on my hand. I tasted blood as I tried to fight through the burning, stinging pain in my leg. I took a few minutes but I was finally able to get myself off the ground. On my knees I looked around, it was so dark I couldn’t see anything. I tried to stand up, but the pain in my leg was too great. I almost fell over but caught myself on the window ledge. Shards of glass cutting into my forearm. I noticed a small green glow shinning off a puddle of water. I limped my way over to it. My leg dragging across rubble and glass. I noticed it was coming from a stair well. I went to the door and considered the long window stung with chicken wire. There where strings of green lights going all the way up. I started to open the door, but then something caught my attention. The sound of crunching glass behind me. I was being followed. _____ I was frozen. I felt my heart rate increase. There was only science now. I knew if I looked back there would be yellow eyes staring right at me. That feeling alone made me shutter. I couldn’t move. It was almost like I had been frozen. My hand on the door started to shake, as I felt its presence coming closer to me. I knew it was right on top of me. It wasn’t until I felt its breath behind me. A stench of rotting flesh filled my nose. It was then I finally broke free of my frozen state and rushed into the stairwell. I slammed the door behind me and pushed with as much force as I could against the door. The alien started slamming against the door and let of one it’s ear piercing yells. It echoed throughout the stairwell, I dug my hands around my ears to try to block out it’s call. I felt blood on my fingers as I dug my nails into my temples. Once the screaming stopped, I kept my back against the door. Breathing heavily, I put my hands on my chest, trying to calm my nerves. I waited for a few minutes, the alien must have left because I could no longer hear its claws scrapping against the metal door. Shaking I got to my feet. The pain in my leg seemed to vanish as the adrenalin kept pumping through my body. I figure the only way out of this was to make a run for it. The window was about five stories up. Taking a deep breath, I ran. I got to the second floor when I heard a loud slam under me. I didn’t have time to look back. I heard the scrapping of claws as the creature behind me pursued. I got to the third floor when I felt sharp needles pierce my shoulder. I fell on my stomach, and my head rebounded off the concrete steps. I wish it knocked me unconscious. I felt pressure on my back as the alien walked over me. I felt a saliva like substance on the back of my neck, and the smell of rotting flesh filled my nose every breath I took. My body shaking, the creature turned me over. I was met with yellow eyes, deep into the creature’s face. It’s eye sockets seemed hallow. It opened its mouth reveling sharp teeth, and a tough that was almost worm like. It opened its mouth so wide It was big enough to fit my head. All I could do was close my eyes and hope for a swift death. Bang! Out of nowhere blood splattered my face, and the alien lurched off me and fell down the steps. I felt my vision starting to blur and my head begin to throb. I turned to my side and tried to look up. All I saw was a light, and the shadow of a human rushing down the steps. I felt my vision fleeing, as my body went limp. Then just darkness. ____ I opened my eyes. There was a blurred-out fire in front of me in a fire pit. My head felt like a brick. I went to touch it and felt a cloth bandage around it, and wetness on the front. “Carful now. You’ve lost a lot of blood.” I jumped as a voice came from behind me. My vision still blurring I tried to see who it was, but all I saw was a silluett of a man. “who, who are you?” I said, stumbling on my words. “I’m Kade. Try to stay still, there is some water to your right, try to get some fluids in you. There is some stew cooking.” Kade said. It is weird to find someone still living in the city, especially someone not trying to kill me. For most people it is a death wish with all these bandits and aliens everywhere. I started to get my vision back. I saw the water next to me on the floor where I was sitting. I put it up to my mouth, hands shaking I tried to pour it in my mouth without getting it all over me. The water caused the blood and dirt in my mouth to liquify again, and I had to spit it out. Kade saw and just looked at me after I spit dirty bloody water on his floor. “Sorry.” It was all I could say. “Don’t worry about it.” Kade turned back around working on the stew. I looked around the apartment. It was dark and grungy. Most of the walls had holes, and the wall paper torn. I was in the living room. There was an old orange couch, brown recliner, and the fire in the middle. It was just a fire pit like one you would have in the yard. I looked up and saw a makeshift vent above. Must be how he keeps smoke from filling this place up. Kade was in the kitchen. It was small, just enough space for a sink and a small stove. Kade was wearing an old tattered coat. His beard was long, almost to his chest. He was bald though. He also had a curious scar on the side of his face. He must of saw me looking at it. He pointed to it and said, “Got it from a Nightstalker.” His voice was rough. Like he was a smoker. I looked at him confused. “Nightstalker?” “The things that destroyed out planet in less than a year.” He said sarcastically. I gave him a look. “Sorry. It was what we called them in the military.” Kade said as he walked over with a bowl of stew. Instantly I moved back. Still untrusting of him. “It’s just stew. Rations are running low, so it was all I got.” He set it on the floor next to me. He then sat down in the brown chair, and watched the fire as he ate. “You were in the military?” I said curiously. He looked over at me and nodded. Chewing a chunk of beef. “Yup. National Guard. I was stationed in this city. I was just down the road from here when they first attacked.” He took another bite. “What about you?” He asked. I shook my head. I picked up the stew. The smell made my stomach growl. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. “I was an accountant. Worked and lived in the city with my family. I was here when they attacked too.” I took a big bite of the stew. I whined as I burned my tough. I was so hungry though I didn’t even care. I looked back over at Kade. “So why did you stay here?” “I had a mission. Protect the city. Even after the bombings I stayed, killing every surviving night stalker I could. I am more curious as to why you are here? I figured most sane people would get as far away from the cities as possible.” Kade sat back, putting his arm over the arm rest of the chair. “I had nowhere to go.” I said staring at the fire. The flames seemed to dance, giving me a sense of calm. “Didn’t you have a family?” Kade asked “I did. A wife. Three beautiful kids. After the invasion started, we went to the closest safe zone. Then those Nightstalkers flew over in their ships blowing it to hell. I can still see my wife’s face looking at me as fire engulfed her. I can never forget the fear that was in her eyes.” I felt a tear coming down my face. “What happened to your kids?” “Same as my wife. No clue how I survived or why. Still with I hadn’t. A man named Jason saved me. We drove to one of those underground bunkers and stayed there.” I said, still lost in the fire. “Why did your leave?” Kade asked “There was no food, water or any reason to stay. After the bombs dropped I thought we won. I was wrong.” Kade looked over to the fire. “I thought that to. When I heard that we figured out how to destroy their motherships, I thought we were going to win. Turns out we made an even bigger mess to clean up.” For a while there was just silence. I looked over at a coffee table and saw a picture. I tried to get myself to stand up. My head still throbbing I had to lean against the wall to get to my feet. I slowly made my way to the coffee table, noticing there was no more pain on my leg. I looked down and saw the barbed wire was gone, and replaced by a bandage. “I would keep that clean if I where you. Looked pretty nasty after I took that barbed wire off.” Kade said as he leaned back into his chair. I just nodded and made my way to the table. On it were photos. One of the two men that were trapped with me. The three of them were dressed in military gear. The other was a woman, and a small child. I turned to Kade “These two. They were with me when I was captured by bandits.” Kade got up and walked over to me. “Kevin and Jack? Where are they now?” Kade sounded anxious. I just looked down at the picture. “They didn’t make it.” I said. Kade turned quickly and walked towards the window that was behind his chair. “Shit. Well, looks like I got to go find food.” “You fought with them?” I asked. “Ya. Even before these fuckers landed.” He said angerly pointed to the sky. I saw the picture of his family but figured I should ask about it. I picked it up and looked at it. “That was my family” Kade said as he looked at me from the window. “Lost them too.” “Pretty common now a days.” I said putting the picture down. Kade just let out a scoff. “Look, you can sleep on the couch. The doors are triple bolted, and the windows are shatter proof. You should be safe to sleep here.” Kade said as he walked back over to the kitchen to put his bowl away. “Thanks. My name is Ben by the way.” I said. “No problem Ben. Now get some rest. You need it.” Kade walked past me and walked into the bedroom behind the wall I was set against when I got here. He stopped before closing the door. “Oh and Ben. If anything does get in here. Under the couch is a shot gun. Should be loaded.” Kade said, he then closed the door. I heard springs bouncing, and a loud crash like a glass bottle hitting a wall. That was my cue to leave him along. I went to the orange couch and laid down. The warmth of the fire made me feel more comfortable then I have felt in a long time. Thoughts of my family started playing around in my head. Then ruined when I saw my wife’s face catching fire, and my kids screaming for me as fire rained from the sky. I felt so helpless as I stood there watching alien ships fly overhead. Screaming of people in pain, the sounds of guns and missiles being launch. The Nighstalkers killed my family. What turned to fear, started bubbling into anger. I turned onto my side and stared into the fire. The flames causing shadows to dance on the wall. I closed my eyes. It was time to sleep. |
AuthorHello all! I am a new writter that loves to write dark and weird stories. ArchivesCategories |