The streets were empty, but for debris that tumbled in a dusty, dry wind. Not a soul in sight. The world had been like this for what seemed like… an eternity. It had been destroyed. There was no one left to rebuild. Those who had managed to survive had died in the tortured aftermath. The heavy, deafening silence. Some committed suicide, jumping from bridges or rooftops. Some hanged themselves, their decaying bodies forever swaying in the wind, leaving themselves as a message for the survivors. A message that rang out clear:
Give up.
Stark buildings left to crumble.
Food left to rot.
Roads cracked and broken, eerily frozen pile-ups of traffic left from those who tried-and failed- to escape the city, were now blockades that could never be moved.
A city left broken, yet even so the grass came up through the cement.
All had died… and even still… Life pressed on. A dead city. But not a dying world.
Animals, un-phased by the human devastation that had swept over the world, lived on, new ecosystems springing from the ashes. Were it possible that humans could be made again, then maybe life could have gone on.
But the last man alive had died by his own hands.
Though riddled with infection, he'd clung to life. He'd known before the rest of humanity what was coming. He had suffered so long. And seeing no way he could live with the virus, like so many others he had jumped. Off a bridge no less… He'd fallen to the raging water and rocks below.
The last man.
Dead.
And at the bridge stands that man's last gift to the world. A gift he created as an unbreakable promise. A promise that because of the power in his gift… maybe something could rise up. His gift to the world stood there… watching as his creator jumped…Wishing that it too could follow into the churning water below.
Chapter 1His hand hovered over the page. The faded words held down, preventing the pages from scattering. They would flutter about him like giant moths if he just moved his hand but, rather than be left with the taxing labor of re- ordering his papers, he held them down. Though only a draft it was strong enough to carry away his work. His charts and notes. Charcoal scrawled on the pages, undecipherable words except to him. Precious matches lit, only to write out words on the paper. He had wasted so many on his useless notes. It provided a hobby… it helped to break the empty feeling.
Break the empty, lifeless silence.
Picking up his book he moved to rise slowly and stood staring out at the world through vacant grey eyes. There was no heart behind those eyes anymore. There was nothing left to have a heart for. He walked to the edge of the roof and stared out at the city. Once that was so bustling and magnificent was now decayed and crumbling. He saw nothing but destruction.
The name of the town where he lived? No point to name it. Names were useless now. No one to call out to. No one to debate ideas with. He was forced to talk to his only companion, the nagging parasite that was the silence.
"Sky's extra dark today..." he muttered, "best make a quick trip up town…"
He moved from the ledge back to the stair well. He'd found himself a lookout on the top of an old hotel rooftop that remained sturdy enough even though a majority of it had crumbled. Thankfully the building brought in enough light that it wasn't infested with Ghouls.
Ghouls-or rather zombies. He didn't care to name them zombies but ghouls just… fit. Like ghosts of what they were. Human beings turned into monsters. How it happened… he didn't care to know. He just needed to focus on surviving. Surviving? What was the point…? He shook the thought away. He'd survive. Find others like him. There had to be others. Hopefully of a female variety… He paused and shook his head. He couldn't afford to be distracted with such thoughts. He had to survive and keep looking for others. That's what mattered. The rest would follow.
Ghouls lurked in the dark places… which made dark days like this dangerous. Still he would go down the stairs to the dark hotel he knew backwards and forwards without concern, knowing it was one of the few places that was safe. Once down to the ground floor he walked behind the desk to retrieve his backpack and put his note book inside. He had sketched out the route he'd taken the day before, written down some notes and added to the map he'd marked searched, scavengable or dangerous. Searched implied he'd found nothing of worth there, no point to go back as it was abandoned with no people or anything of value. The only advantage being that it was free from ghouls. Rarely the case though. Scavengable implied he could still go back and get more from the spot. Such things involved stores, markets with canned goods or other supplies he might require. He kept a list of all the stores he might need in the future.
Dangerous areas were simply too hazardous to ever go back. If anyone still lived in those parts… well God rest their souls. It was probably too late for them. Ghoul infested areas were probably the worst. Ghouls weren't slow. Unlike zombie stories where people could run from the slow hordes, ghouls were faster than most people and then super ghouls… well he chose to believe that they were just capable of greater feats because they were just gifted that way, like every human had once been. Some were fast… some were cunning… and others like himself were very strong.
He frowned and grabbed his coat before hoisting the heavy pack to his shoulder. The coat was a tad small on him but the soft fur around the hood made it great in cold weather and was warm at least up to his wrists. He didn't know how the approaching fall chill would affect the ghouls but he didn't much care. He'd never heard of a cure for them and assumed them beyond help. Best he survived. He who had been somehow immune to the Virus now found himself in a new war, fighting off the ghouls. Yes he'd encountered them. Wasn't like he sought them out. But he'd fought them.
And he'd won…. so far
He had the means to fight ghouls should the time come. But for right now he had a sword always buckled to his belt. The killer swing he practiced for hours could cleave almost any Ghoul down instantly. Until now it was all he'd needed.
Tsugaru.
That's what he'd named his sword. Tsugaru the defender. A weapon that killed… but only to protect its user. Before the chaos broke out he had spent hours of his time carefully forging this sword. And for that the sword was special. So the man took extra care of it. If the sword should break… repairing it wouldn't be easy.
As the man left the shelter of the hotel he paused beside the road to scope out any danger signs. Sure he was safe from attack, he headed into town. His home was further to the north. Right now he was more in the west of his square map. Once he'd verified that there was nothing left in this area but dangerous zones, he'd have to pack up and move on. Moving however might be more treacherous than he anticipated so he had planned many routes out and ventured as far as he could in a day to find better shelters.
Such attempts had proven difficult as he'd gauged his time poorly and on every account had been attacked by ghouls. Whether they found his attempts at shelter or he had gotten to shelter too late, they chased him till dawn every time. He needed to just be able to drive straight through the night. If he could do that… the next day wouldn't be so exhausting. All day and all night and half a day more… Would it be enough? He was afraid to test the theory just yet. So for now he was stuck raiding abandoned stores and stocking up uncontaminated supplies.
He kept low and out of sight. This side of town was dicey but less so in the daylight. Even still he wasn't risking it. His first stop was a supermarket where he'd found a generator and used to power up the lights. The generator worked on solar power and usually functioned adequately. He had a couple saved up days of sun on the generator to keep the lights on, for shadowy days like this. As expected, the lights were already on as he walked into the store and he began to go down the aisles he knew still had food he could assemble. The refrigerated food had long since rotted, but he had already gathered and stored away what he could salvage on his first visits. Now he pushed a cart down the aisle like a casual shopper, one wheel squeaking faintly at each turn, and gathered what remained of tin cans and packaged foods. Sometimes when he would find a store he'd find that ghouls had already run through eating everything and he'd leave the store with nothing, but this supermarket seemed to get no attention. He assumed it was because of the lights from the solar generator.
Pausing before a display of stacked canned soup that had somehow managed to not be toppled, the man hoisted his pack to judge how much more he could carry without being too weighed down. He did most of his trips on foot to avoid the wrong kind of attention, but on some days he would hotwire a stranded car if it still had any gasoline.
Shoving a dozen cans in his bag, he zipped it up and walked back to the counter.
"Hey, Saki," he waved to the feminine figure behind the service counter. He sighed, "Yeah I know the sky is dark but I still got to come here and get food. Once I take all your food I promise I won't be in your hair…"
He paused to browse some of the odd objects at the counter. He'd left them behind only because he took one each time he came over to talk to Saki. Just another excuse to talk to a girl right?
Well… it was what he would have done if she were alive. He'd been too much of a coward and a jerk when she was alive. The real Saki, that is. Now he practiced being a gentleman on a mannequin. A female dummy with some clothes still on it. Luckily it had a head which he'd drawn a face on.
When Saki had been alive, she was a remarkable lady. Not the sort of person he typically hung out with but he should have gotten to know her better, not to mention she was always so nice to him.
"Yeah a few more stops up town before I go home…" he nodded and looked away nonchalantly. "oh, ya heard? I'm probably leaving town in a few weeks… it's gotten pretty crowded up here for my tastes… I can't really expect to find much better but… can't stay here while it all goes downhill." He nodded, "yeah… that's life… ah well thank you Saki, and good luck!" he turned away hoisting his bag and exiting the main door.
His journey up the street was brief, but along the way he passed a mannequin standing outside the bookstore holding a broom. "Morning Simon, you missed a spot." And a pair of mannequins sitting at opposite sides of a chess board, one with a hand poised to move his Knight. "I'd re-think that move, if I were you, Kadota"
Entering another store the man wasted no time going over to a shelf and pulling off a DVD. He ignored the vandalism and wonton destruction of the store around him as he paused to read the title and the back of the case to find out more, eventually tossed it aside to a larger pile of DVD's that he'd previously discarded. He repeated this a few times before he had a few DVD's he liked and put them in his bag. Unlike in the streets and the marketplace there were no mannequins here. He hadn't bothered…or maybe he'd seen the store's trashed condition and felt the hopelessness of his whimsical actions in dressing and posing the mannequins in the street. Maybe it had mattered once that he wasn't alone. But here, in the debris left from scavenging ghouls, he knew better.
Once he'd chosen his DVD's the man went around and looked at stray items that remained on the shelves. It had been a media store with all sorts of entertainment and tech equipment. After sifting through a stack of CD's and discarding them he smiled grimly and put his collection into the pack.
"Well Tsugaru… time to go home…" he turned to leave.