Drake headed towards the center of town, hoping to hide among the numerous large buildings there. But unfortunately, the monsters were headed there also. Drake stopped somewhere the creatures wouldn’t be able to see him—in an alley behind a dumpster—to catch his breath. He could feel his heart pounding and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He couldn’t stay here long. He had to move to safety. But where was safety?
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of an animal sniffing nearby. They can’t smell me, can they?! He couldn’t take his chances. Animals did have a strong sense of smell. Peeking, he could see that the animal was a not-so-red fox the height of a one-storey house. It looked at him, its eyes full of unwarranted hate. Oh, no.
He ran out of his hiding place; it would have been easy to corner him in there. The fox gave chase. Drake had to think of a plan, fast. It was closing the distance with enormous leaps. He thought of an idea and prayed for it to work. He led the animal onto a street, where he was now fully exposed for all his enemies to see, not that it made a difference, since he now knew they could smell him, apart from psychological discomfort.
The fox, not knowing what it was running into, hit a power line running along the side of the street. The electric current shocked it for a few seconds. It stayed still while the current passed through it and into the earth through its body, unable to move. Drake knew that electricity had such an effect. The nervous system, which communicated information through small electrical pulses, was now overloaded with it. Drake’s plan had actually worked. The poor thing collapsed onto the ground in front of Drake eventually. It couldn’t move, but still looked at Drake fearsomely and growled. Drake shuddered at its motiveless persistence.
He then turned and continued to run. He now had an idea about where to go to: The woods. These mutated animals for some reason wanted to eat humans, and could find them through sight and smell, so the solution was clearly to go to where there weren’t any humans. This made the woods the best bet, being far away from society. He couldn’t go in the direction of the source of the mutants, however, since there could be more over there. So he had to go to the opposite side of town.
A large boom disrupted his thoughts.
What now? He thought.
He looked up and saw an expanding blue ring in the sky. That was the only way he could describe it. It was a blue circle of sparkling liquid that seemed to originate from the direction of his home. It was fast, and left a curtain of mist trailing behind it. This blue mist gently fell upon Drake and his surroundings. He couldn’t waste time thinking about what it was, however. He moved on.
In his journey, Drake saw all sorts of terrible things. The
town was overridden with chaos. People were being eaten everywhere. The power
went out at one point, and Drake knew it wasn’t coming back. He was just glad it had been there when he was being chased by the fox. Despite the
darkness of night, where he couldn't properly see his foes, and his lack of weapons for self-defense, he continued. He had to. Staying there wasn't an option.
Something he noticed was that the creatures were somehow getting bigger every time he saw them. That made it a huge problem. The things will continue to grow, so they have to kill them as soon as possible, or else the size of the problem would, quite literally, get too big.
A man nervously drove his convertible car on the road, frequently checking the rearview mirror. He went as fast as possible without hitting any obstacles on the road. Drake wondered if he should call him out and ask him if he could ride too. He didn’t see any of the creatures nearby. Before he had the chance to, a mutant cat jumped out of a nearby building onto the road. The man, understandably surprised, turned the wheel to pass around it. It jumped onto his car and sank its teeth into the upper half of his body. It then walked away, as if the limp body dangling out of its mouth was a toy doll. Drake couldn’t have done anything in the situation, but he still felt bad for the victim. He felt bad for everyone who died. He felt bad for himself and everyone experiencing this nightmare. What had the townspeople done to deserve this situation?
Drake took the still operational car and drove it in the direction of the woods. He kept the lights off, but couldn’t do anything about the noise of the engine. At one point, a combination of the engine being too loud, and the road being too blocked by debris made him ditch his vehicle. But now, he was closer to his destination. Some people hiding nearby ran for the car as soon as he left it. A few minutes later, he heard an explosion behind him. He thought it best not to think about it.
Eventually, Drake reached the woods on the other side of town. He traveled a hundred feet in and then collapsed on the ground. There was no noise here—no sound of screams and destruction of buildings. There were no mutants either, as far as he could see. Only a man and a child, who seemed to have had the same idea as him.
“Alright,” Drake thought as he sat on the ground, exhausted
and distressed. “Time to think. What the heck just happened, and what the heck
am I going to do now…”
* * *
In the early 2150's, many knowledgeable people argued about an incoming Apocalypse and when it would take place. Yes, it felt like a far-off, almost daydream, of a future to everyone, as if they wouldn't live to see it. But none had even remotely considered that "that day" could be today, May 5th, 2151. This day would mark the beginning of an apocalypse that would destroy all that had been built by humanity over thousands of years, in just a few days.
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