Chapter 1
Are these all that’s left of a civilization? I woke up with a migraine headache. Boom! Thunder shook the sky, so deafening i couldn’t hear my own deep breath. The wind was a wolf pack, howling continuously all night long. My heart was pounding like a hammer. What had happened? Suddenly a horrible thought occurred to me, I could picture the gigantic meteor that perished all humankind with a single hard punch on the Earth’s crust. It had engulfed the whole place in fire; flames danced as it destroyed civilization patiently. The cruelty of nature made me furious, it was vacuuming millions of lives for pleasure. No doubt the rain had subsided the flames and watered down the inferno, which leaves the city with no electricity. So now the whole place is covered by a blanket as dark as coal unwillingly: grim.
I scanned through the area briefly. A moment of excitement came to me as i spotted a grocery store not far away. Injured, I staggered towards it. It was quite shadowy; i could almost imagine ghosts haunting the place. I took a deep breath and steeled my nerves. I’ve came so far; I’ve survived this catastrophe miraculously when no others had. I told myself I had to be brave, and i went in. The place was un-illuminated without lights but I could make out the supplies i needed. I was about to leave when I tripped over something. Took a quick look at it, it… it… was a trapdoor. I felt the urge to explore: excited and terrified.
I wanted to just leave but curiosity overwhelmed me. I opened the trap door and climbed downwards. It seemed to lead towards a basement of some sort. Just as i got deeper, a disgusting stench washed over me. For a moment I couldn't breath, I reached out my hand to climb out. But just then, a hand grabbed my leg. I couldn’t see whose hand was it, all i could see was five fingers tightening around my leg. I tried to shrug it off, but it was a magnet stuck to my leg. I just can’t seem to make it loosen its grip. For every second that has passed, my leg felt more and more excruciating. Suddenly the hand just dropped. A flashlight shone into my eyes as i instinctively raised my hands for cover. Then the light dropped as it traced the ground until it landed onto person that grabbed me… no...a creature? Although it had human feature, but its flesh were rotten.
I raised my view and saw a girl. At the sight of her, my heart thundered. It was beating so hard I was afraid I might explode. The girl looked glamorous. Her eyes were sapphires: blue, bright and intelligent. She was a fighter, a Stygian-black dagger hung from her backpack. It seemed she was also a survivor of this demonic disaster like me, unlike the undead creature from before. “Quick, follow me!” The girl looked at me in the eyes, hers gave out a warning. “The creature is going to regain conscious soon, now it’s the time to leave or we’d NEVER escape.” I nodded, her orders seemed unquestionable. After all, she saved my life. Groan… The undead creature growled. Not needing another order, we ran as fast as leopards.
I’ve came to know that the girl’s family too has left the mortal realm. She (Emily) was the only survivor from the meteor disaster: just like me. Many would get traumatized and lose hope, but Emily had a strong will. She believed that if she stay alive all these problems would finally subside; all those pain we endured would finally fade away.
As time passed by, Emily and I slowly learned to trust one another. As time continued its race, we became really good friends. Our relationship got closer and closer until a point where i wasn’t conscious of my true feelings towards her until the it became unbearable whenever she wasn’t around that i realized it. Throughout the years since we’ve met, Emily and I had a lot of adventures together. As always, trouble finds its way to us, hoping to send us to the Underworld. We got each other’s back, and that’s how we managed to stay alive along this backstabbing journey of life. Back then life was okay, but then for once our defense shattered and Emily was poisoned physically and mentally.
We were an abandoned car factory, rummaging for supplies, hoping to find something beneficial. The floor was buried under waves of waves of vines. It was as slippery as soap, you had to focus to not slip. Out of a sudden, we heard a loud growl. In a blink of an eye, a group of undead creatures appeared and surrounded us. They trapped us like birds in a cage. I knew we were doomed but we just wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Emily reached her pitch-black blade and thrust it deep into the rotten flesh of our enemy, it howled as pain engulfed it like inextinguishable flames. I gripped my iron sword and slashed a wide arc. Many fell, I felt a brief moment of hope until the harmed creatures merged together. The scene burned into my mind so deep, I was almost traumatized. The undead creatures tore and consumed each other’s flesh so gruesome I was tempted to cover my eyes despite the danger. They then began to merge in one big lump of flesh. Despite its size, it could move in the speed of light.
We screamed in horror and ran. There was no way we could overcome it. It was literally even impossible to follow its actions. As i ran full speed towards the exit, I was fairly positive Emily was beside me. Years of experience together told me not to doubt Emily; she was as good as I am, or even better. But this time it was different. As i almost reached the exit, I turned to see where Emily was. She was running towards me, but I could see that her eyes radiated fear. For once, Emily was afraid. I reached out my hand, trying to help her. But it was no use. The creature easily caught up with Emily. It gripped her tightly and sank its fangs into her neck.
At that moment, my world collapsed, along with any hope of me being able to spend the rest of my life with her. Everything seemed to freeze in time. I was petrified in shock. Emily glimpsed at me. Tears were dripping from her face. She mouthed: I’m sorry I love you. With that, the creature devoured her.
It took me a split second to finally get her meaning. She had loved me too. We could’ve been lovers, spending the rest of our life together, not giving a damn about this cursed world. My shock turned into anger. This anger fueled me with new bravery and energy. The creature zoomed towards me with both its claws unsheathed. I dashed forwards and met it with my sword gleaming as i withstood its first strike. The creature struck again and i ducked, rolling between both its legs then turned towards it. This is the end. I swung my sword and it cut through the creature’s head as if it was made of paper.
With Emily gone, although i managed to defeat such a monster, i felt as if i lost everything. I lost Emily; I lost all my hopes; I lost the meaning of continue living. I was drowning in misery. I became bitter about the world and roamed around despite the danger; I was drunk in my own bitterness. One day, an undead creature appeared and had me sent through death’s door. A tragic story. Goodbye, cruel world.
