Clearly everything exists in a nature that you cannot explain. Sure, science may be able to answer the factual, yet an area of the objective is unexplainable when using science. It has texture, most definite; it has sense, surely; yet, it doesn't seem to have words. There are no words to describe these atmospheres that surround our perception. What we perceive, not what, but how we perceive is unanswered. Perception can only ever reach the description of: the clinging of glasses, so rich and vibrant, and the plop of a water drop colliding with a still pool; the clear ruffle of the sheets in the morning and the sorrow of a single tear lashing out your eyes. These moments, significantly obtainable, are everything. The words I have just rolled out previously have been able to give you a small window to what I mean, but you can never understand fully the essence of my thoughts. You can never completely comprehend my actions and decipher my motives. It's impossible for another person to know what makes me myself; especially, given the fact, that I barely know myself, as all humans do. What makes a person human is what makes them weak. We falter, we mash, we die, we are frail, we pollute, we hurt, we betray, deceit, we are malice, horrible, sickly, arrogant, and we are nothing within the universe, yet we think so much of ourselves. Despite our feebleness, we strive in a way that no other thing can. We reason so little yet we dream so grand. We cannot satisfy our quench, nor can we minimize our constant hunger for knowledge. Frail, yes! But we are brute strength, waiting to envelope ourselves in spirit. Polluting, we always shall! But we grow and grow and nothing can hold us back. Humanity isn't a thing to measure and calculate. Being that our kindness, a speck of clear water in an ocean of muck, is unreachable to all others. We have various measures that cannot be measured. Ludicrous to assume that one is all and all is one. We are different, yet very well the same. We are a contradiction in which no like has ever seen. We don't die, but we falter-in spirit! Our valiant doleful selves cannot be squashed under any foot between any so possible sizes. Even if we were to be annihilated, we will live upon bacteria to form once more; for we are unique and unmistaken. We are fools in the making a grand opaque tradition. We are once, and always more, humanity. We are imporable and rotten, yet so pure not a speck of filth may reach us. Humanity is the equality of contradiction and nothing more or less of the nature. We have a proud shame that is our own, always modestly brash and egotistically virtuous; we are saccharinely honest and lost but sure. We are the living embodiment of an oxymoron. That is our quintessence. We are humanity.
And although humanity is once more fleeting, there still lays an echoed succinct amount of that once known virtuous curse. Here beneath all rumble and scarlet waters, below all that is destruction and disease, wretched and sinful, lays a small portion of what is left in humanity. Across this now turned malevolent world, lays a military base of what is only named to be a Safe House for the faltered share of humanity. In this Safe House a meeting is being conjured in Sector Nine of the building, regarding drafts and volunteers. Two long, pressing, years has passed since the loss of our dead comrade in the explosion, killing not only him, but a handful of the beasts. Rations are being stamped among the crowd and a small shabby man with thin aging hair and a lop-sided mustache reads out the names being drafted.
"And of this month, the names picked from the draft for the Scavenger Teams are ready to be called out." He stands amongst the midst of the crowd, elevated by a stage behind a podium. His eyes are looped and tired; his once over dramatic and energetic character is now in shambles with age and this never ceasing war, along with the loss of a son two years prior. "Remember that we are now giving five merits in the ration books for each survivor of the Scavenger Teams. All drafters have been trained since they turned sixteen and are sufficient for this task. The names being drafted are: Lars Benedict, Harry Trump, Kyle Broflovski, Jarred Martinez, Token Black, Rebecca Smith, Kenny McCormick, and Tweek Tweak. All who are drafted please form an orderly line to receive your merits and follow Jimbo into Sector Nine's facility room to be assigned Teams."
"They should really know who the volunteers before the drafting are." commented Kyle Broflovski to his friend, Kenny McCormick. "I could have gotten seven merits."
"All volunteers who decide to take part in this Scavenger Hunt please line up in an orderly line next to the drafted to receive your seven merits." The aged man cleared his groveled throat and scrabbled something in his clip board before saying, "Finally, those wanting to purchase supplies and drugs along with scraps may lay wait till tomorrow. Prepare your merits along with trades of portions for extra items. That will be all."
Kyle and Kenny walked to the formed line, behind Token Black and in front of Lars Benedict. They waited to see who would volunteer. They already knew for the most, but were still accustomed to lay wait for it.
Wendy Testaburger, naturally, was the very first to be in line for the volunteer row; then approached Craig Tucker, Eric Cartman, Jorge Harrison, Gregory Yardale, and Christophe De Lanore. They were the usual volunteers, minus Kyle and Kenny who were just drafted. After receiving their merits in their ration books, they were led to Sector Nine's facility room by Jimbo.
Upon entering, they all lined up in one row. Jimbo, an aged man with thick meat in his skin, stood straight across another aged man named Ned, who was a small built man with an artificial voice. "Being the numbers, there will be four teams of three and one team of two. Ya'll will not be allowed to pick, but we will assign you." He took out a clipboard and called out the teams and the names occupying the teams. He started speaking formally in a thick country accent. "Team One: Jorge Harrison, Lars Benedict, and Jarred Martinez. Team Two: Gregory Yardale, Craig Tucker, and Rebecca Smith. Team Three: Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Wendy Testaburger. Team Four: Christophe De Lanore, Tweek Tweak, and Kenny McCormick. Team Five: Token Black and Harry Trump. These names have been selected at random and cannot be switched. Ned here will supply ya'll and ya'll will proceed to the Outer Sector to be monitored and checked by Kevin."
Ned began to supply them with their chose of weapons, ammo, and precautions. Kyle was supplied with a Storm Rifle*, a small military machete, and a FN Model 1910* with a more than fair amount of ammo for it, along with a roll of elastic bandages. Wendy was supplied with a double barrel shotgun, a crowbar, and a Russian Kalashnikov AK-47. Eric was supplied with a sub-machine gun on single shot setting, a regular handgun, and a large bludgeon. Kenny was supplied with the Soviet AK-47, and a silencer. Christophe took a regular pistol and his shovel as his main weapon, figures.
Then the five teams proceeded to the Outer Sector of the Safe House and waited for Jimbo's regular instructions. "Okay, now you five are going to be heading out to different locations. Be back by sunrise, and if you're not back, we'll assume you're dead. Your guns and melee weapons will be your survival if and when you encounter the beasts. Try to be quiet when walking through the streets of South Park and most likely you can avoid them all together. Try and use your melee weapons the most, and only use your guns and rifles when necessary, because a gun can alert the other beasts where you are. Are there any newbs out here who has never been to a Scavenger Hunt?" Harry Trump slowly raised his hand as he held a sniper in his other hand. "Well then, rely on your teammates but don't slow them down. You've been trained for this since you turned 16, so don't be so nervous." Harry Trump nodded timidly as he tried not to tremble from fear.
They all scurried into the Outer Sector where Kevin awaited them, reading The Old Republic: Raven. He put his book away to continue for another time and rose to do the regular check-up before the others went along. After examining the entire five teams, he gave them the go ahead to continue the Scavenger Hunt. Jimbo checked outside the slot of the door and saw no beasts. He told them to separate in their groups and said, "Now decide a group leader within your team, one that has experience and good teamwork. Afterwards I will hand you your locations to search within that one area."
In Team One, Lars Benedict was the team leader, being that he had gone to the Scavenger Hunt the most out of the three of them and that he was well trained when it had to do with machine guns. They were assigned the houses on the left of the streets. In Team Two, Gregory Yardale was the team leader, being that Craig didn't care (although he had gone to the Scavenger Hunts the most) and Rebecca had only gone once before. They were assigned the houses on the right of the streets. In Team Three, Kyle Broflovski was the team leader, being that Wendy was against being the team leader and Cartman always lost to Kyle on Rock, Paper, Scissors. They were assigned Walmart. In Team Four, Christophe was assigned team leader for obvious reasons, and they were assigned to the upper side of downtown South Park (which isn't really that wide). Ultimately, in Team Five, Token Black was selected for team leader, being Harry Trump is a total wuss. They were assigned the bottom side of downtown South Park.
This finalized, Jimbo unlocked the large steel door and pushed it open. The Teams cocked their guns and shed out their blades and melee weapons and set off to their destinations. Now the tale focuses on Team Three as they head out to the nearby Walmart. They are swift, steady, and silent as they sprint along the way to their destination. Kyle notices a large beast and signals to the other two to slow down. They do so as they all hide behind an object of chance. Kyle ducks behind a torn automobile, Wendy tumbles behind a corner of a nearby wall, and Cartman bends behind Kyle, the torn vehicle shielding him. The beast stomps and shrieks as it slithers across the street. It has a large malformed body, broken and ripping apart. Its arms are enlarged and pus is dripping along its pores. Its entire posture was contorted and ghastly as it disappeared from the streets. Kyle signaled that it was secure to persist along the road. They started in the same pace as before and ran to the street they knew so well to lead to Walmart.
As they were three blocks from Walmart, a snarl was heard from behind Kyle. Kyle abruptly stopped and spun around, hauling out his machete and swung it to the air. He hit a beast and it tumbled to the floor, injured, but still had the juice to attack. The beast dislodged it's jaws as it was about to execute its trademark banshee scream—this was unwanted, seeing as when the beasts did this, any beast around the area would march along to that direction. At the moment he almost screamed, Eric swung his large bludgeon at its head, terminating it. Eric glanced up at Kyle with an arrogant smirk. Kyle rolled his eyes and pushed Eric out of the way. He signaled Wendy to come over. She, patiently and calmly witnessing everything walked over to Kyle. Kyle began to move his arms and hands in sign language. Wendy nodded her head and signaled an answer back. Kyle nodded and signaled for the both of them to continue. As they approached Walmart, they caught their breath and sipped a small portion of their water bottles. Kyle nodded and Wendy and him went in alone while Eric staying outside to keep watch. He hid behind in the shadows to conceal himself from any of the beasts.
As Kyle and Wendy went inside Walmart, they walked calmly into the aisles. They took out their large bags and began to pile things in silently.
"Remember when Walmart first opened?" Kyle whispered.
Wendy nodded and whispered back, "Stan told me about it. You four set off to destroy it and Cartman pretended to be on your side till you reached Walmart. Then he stayed behind and 'battled' Kenny."
"We burned down Walmart and we all sang Kumbaya. It was the most retarded shit." Kyle said, grabbing some canned goods and placing them in his bag.
"No, the worst thing was when Winkilinks made the website 'Eavesdropper' and posted up a ton of garbage." She smiled at the distant memory, pulling a strand of her long and tied hair behind her ears.
"No, the worst was Imaginationland." Kyle whispered as he shuddered at the memory of seeing himself suck Cartman's balls.
Wendy held back a laugh. "I heard about that too."
They then traveled to the medicine section to stock drugs in their sacks. They took Tylonal, Motrin, pain killers, bandages, and even allergy medicine. They broke into the pharmacy in Walmart and acquired Penicillin and asthma inhalers. Then as they reached the beverage section, they found three of the beasts rummaging the candy stocks. Kyle and Wendy glanced at each other. They looked at the beasts and distinguished them to be hard to kill and able to take various shots. They stepped back and turned around, not wanting to set them off. They walked near the exit to go to another aisle when they saw a giant beast darting with large and prominent stomps towards the Walmart. Their eyes widened and they whistled, alerting the other beasts. Eric went inside the store running and cocked his gun as he reached Kyle and Wendy. They positioned themselves behind each other and breathed in and out, awaiting the four beasts to come at them.
"Ready, men!" Wendy shouted, cocking her double barrel shotgun. "I'll go after the big one!"
The others nodded and they dispersed. Kyle and Cartman instinctively ran to the other three beasts who were already charging at them. The large beast broke the already ripped windows of the front exit and ripped apart the walls. She shot at it and it moved back slightly. She decided that it was too big, about nine feet, to continue to shoot and she'll waste more ammo, so her plan turned to leading it outside taking care of it then. She rushed pasted the beast and evaded its hits towards her. Meanwhile, Kyle started shooting a beast with his storm rifle. They spun their heads back as they were thrown behind them by the impact of the gun. Cartman used his melee weapon the most and started to repeatedly hit one again and again. Kyle kept shooting the two with his storm rifle.
"Cartman!" Kyle yelled.
"What!"
"Go help Wendy! I got everything taken care of here!" He shouted towards the rather robust man.
Eric nodded and left the three to Kyle to go assist Wendy with the larger beast.
"What's the plan, ho?" Eric asked as he rushed to Wendy's side.
"Steer the son of a bitch outside and blow him up!" She yelled cocking her rifle and shooting at it.
"Sounds doable, but more will come when they hear the explosion." Eric reasoned.
"Yeah, and then we run!" She yelled back.
He nodded and took out his sub- machine gun. He ran past it, towards the exit, and started to shoot its back. The beast turned around and bellowed a screeching roar to Eric. It clobbered its enlarged hands to the ground, pommelling it, and moved to charge at Eric. Eric ran to what was left of the exit and into the streets, and in the meantime, Wendy rushed to an aisle to get gasoline. When she came back, the beast had struck Eric a blow that sent him flying into the street. Wendy doused a part of the street away from Walmart with the gasoline. The giant beast was now charging at her as she finished. She ran back and lit a match and threw it to the ground where the gasoline was poured. As the beast ran into it, it started to scorch from the fire and it shrieked in a shrill cry of agony. Wendy cocked her double barrel rifle and shot it over and over until it died with a whimper, falling with a large boom to the ground. Kyle came out of the Walmart, his clothes seeped in blood and his sack in his hand, almost full.
"You okay?" Kyle asked Wendy as he came closer to her.
She nodded as she pointed to Eric. "Help him… I'm going to go get more shit." She walked inside the Walmart to grab more supplies and random objects that she could find as Kyle quickly aided Eric before more beasts came. Kyle ran to Eric's side and knelt to the ground.
"Fat ass!" He shouted as he shook Eric's body.
Eric moaned in anguish as he held his head with his hands. "Shut up… stupid… Jew…" He said.
Kyle sighed a breath of relief. "Do you have symptoms of a concussion?"
"I don't think so." Eric answered.
Kyle began to check Eric's body for any signs of broken bones or bleeding. "Your shoulder's busted."
"Oh really! I didn't notice that when I landed on it, stupid Jew!" Eric yelled.
"Fuck you, dipshit! I was trying to help you!" Kyle hissed, motioning Eric to be quiet.
"Well, if you want to be useful, help me up, kike." Eric spout.
"I should just leave you here to die." Kyle mumbled under his breath.
"Like you'd do that." Eric teased.
Kyle rolled his eyes and sat Eric down on the floor. He went to Eric's side, where the shoulder dislocated, and started to massage it. "When I count to three, I'll snap your shoulder back in place."
Eric nodded and flinched, knowing it's going to hurt like shit. "Ready? One…"
Kyle snapped Eric's shoulder bone back in place with a loud crack and Eric screamed in agony as the pain made him dizzy. "You fucking kike! You said three!"
"That's for calling me kike, chubby." Kyle smirked as he took out his elastic bandages. "Here stay still while I wrap it to keep it in place."
Eric muttered something about Jews being sneaky and vengeful as he gave his arm out to Kyle. After Kyle wrapped it around, making his arm bended to keep his shoulder in place, he helped Eric up from the ground. "I hate you, Kahl." Eric sneered.
"You're welcome." Kyle simply said back. "It was weird how that big motherfucker came charging at us from outside the store. Wendy and I didn't make any noise."
"Well… that's kind of my fault…" Eric admitted.
"What!" Kyle yelled at him.
"What? I didn't see it from a distance! I accidentally fell back into a bunch of Walmart carts and the bastard heard me." Eric defended himself.
Kyle groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Only you, fat ass."
Wendy came out of the Walmart with her sack full of supplies. She strutted to Kyle and Eric with a void face. "I heard some of those bastards coming, we should move back to the Safe House."
The other two nodded and started to run back at a swift pace before the other beasts came.
A/N:
There are certain references that I want to talk about.
The first is the storm rifle:
The original name for a storm rifle (besides assault rifle) is the StG 45 (M)—AKA the Sturmgewehr 45. It was used by the Germans in World War II and developed by the Nazis. You can clearly see why I gave this gun to Kyle… oh, I just couldn't resist it
The second is the FN Model 1910:
This specific hand pistol was the one used to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria! If you don't pay attention in American History class (or haven't had that class yet in high school) he was the very reason World War I even started! Without him being assassinated then there wouldn't have been a World War I! Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was the heir to the Austrian throne. He was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip—a member of the Black Hand (a secret military society)—on behalf of the Serbian government. Afterwards, German developed the Schlieffen Plan which was to invade Belgium, attacking Russia, and later invading Paris. Without this assassination by THIS gun, there would be no trench wars, no German gassing of the troops, no flame-throwers, no U-boats, no Daylight Savings Time (which was started in WW1), and no debt for Germany to carry? Do you know why Hitler hated the Jews so much, besides personal reasons? He asked the Jews to lend him money to pay off the debt and he was denied. The debt that was $33 billion! The number was finalized by the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. With this treaty, they made new fucking nations which took land away from the Germans! It created Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and others. The action igniting World War II was because Germany invaded Poland to take back land. Poland was a combination of German and Russian people living in the country. They obviously didn't get along, proof of the fact that Hitler's forces in WW2 were abolished in the winter of a battle in Russia, being the same exact way Napoleon lost his reign (in a battle in winter in Russian territory). I just HAD to give this specific gun to Kyle (despite the fact that it wouldn't ever be in a little military base in present times). This gun was the one that started WW1 which led to WW2 and the holocaust. Being that Kyle's a Jew… I couldn't resist!
Hope you all like it (… And my little rants about humanity …)! :D