The town of Frigateville isn't known for much. Its western neighbor Brighton might be, but who cares.

  Bigger isn’t always better.

  And being situated far enough from civilization to be quaint but close enough to Kadia to at least be a cheap vacation spot, Frigateville thrives in the middle ground.

  With a year round population of around fifty thousand, it is sustainable for how little it may seem to offer. Enough shops to keep a stable variety, plenty of forests to hike and see, and all the quiet comforts of a home away from it all.

  As for the people, most everyone knows each other and help is just a fact of life. And for the safety conscious, almost no incidents have occurred in its decades long history. Not even residually.

  But still, it…

  “Are ‘pamphlets’ always this honest... And sparse.”

  ‘I think? I never bothered reading them.’

  Six weeks. Six weeks had passed since the Ark fell. Six week of almost surreal existence. Six weeks of silence, red hued darkness, scrounging, and living with nothing but yourself and all you carry. But at least Seth had the mattress fort to rival all mattress forts. Boasting two whole stories and even a pillow moat. He had named it Castle Puff and could not but feel pride every time he returned to it after raiding a new home for food and supplies. Whittling away hours with not much else to do but ensure it stood the tests of this time. As well as actually getting to know who all was living in his head.

  He’d just about translated every voices’ title that had sought to make themselves known to him, running a gamut that only a bored eleven year old could come up with. Such insightful things like Concoctor, Matterist, Weaver and Searer. Because being direct was all he had when they described their professions in details that threatened to leak his brain out of his skull. Joining them more mundanely were musicians for instruments too hard to pronounce, metallurgists categorized by specific grades of steel they were specialized in. A hoard of assistants and random passersby that seemed willing to let him name them anything really. Even the occasional lordly claim. A noble title was still a title after all. They were usually left to keep what they had in their tongue though, less they become insulted by the limited vocabulary of a fucking eleven year old boy.

  But, things weren’t going too bad.

  In between the stretches of ceremony and rough lessons on laws of physics that he couldn’t rightly understand, Seth had gathered up every bit of dry goods and canned food he could from what was left of his town. The water system still worked despite the weeks’ worth of negligence, but it was clear it was stagnating and losing pressure. And the power was more of a suggestion than a utility.

  The voices, for their part, had helped ration and plan out every move he made. Not many survivalists were in there, wherever they were in his head. But one Ranger was titled as such. As well as plenty of chefs and a… Gastrologist? That one took Seth by surprise because he didn’t know what that was. But they had all set meal plan up for him, by content and caloric requirement rather than taste. While Ranger had planned out routes to scavenge as efficiently as possible. Seth had to burn through the perishables before they got too warm and molded after all.

  Outside of surviving, they also helped him focus and understand his abilities little by little. As well as focus better on what was slowly becoming his ‘internal spotlight’. Before, only one voice could be heard at a time, like just a narrow spotlight on a stage. Now it could encompass a few individuals, and no conflicting noise would result. They nearly had a full on control room in there as well, and were… wiring thing into his senses. They agreed a little that it was better for his brain to leave the subtleties for later. When he could pronounce them.

  ‘I never really knew the town was that big, but then again I… I don’t think I ever explored much.’

  “Not much to see anyway.”

  In these six weeks of waiting, Seth was told a little of what had happened. The parts he could handle at least. What they knew at least. The voices, the Garkah as they called themselves eventually, had fled their world because of some horrible force. Or tried to. They couldn’t bring their bodies along, so they took their minds and digitized them. Or something. A scientist kind of voice tried to explain it in detail, but half of it was words with more syllables than meaning and a lot of the rest was hissing and growls. Seth only knew so many words, they still had a lot of translation to do on their end, and their language was apparently stubborn compared to English. The fast he was able to give them names in the end should be considered a miracle.

  Whatever they had done to escape though was interrupted, the thing they were running from catching up and following them into their Ark. That… was apparently how Threat came to join them. The way they explained it, it was like seeing a meteor approaching you. Dreading every second watching it grow larger and larger in the sky. Watching it tear that sky away, decimate the ground, come straight toward you with all the intent to destroy everything you were. But instead of hitting, it turned into a pillow and smacked you in the face. While all the death and destruction that followed in its wake still came along with it.

  It was why the world almost went black for him. The Ark was broken by what had happened, and had spread all that death and destruction through everything it touched. Doing something to… to everyone he’d known. They didn’t know yet what that meant, but they acted as if it was all that mattered. All there was to care about. And told Seth that it was better not for him to ever face it. Ever.

  But they couldn’t ensure he won’t have to eventually.

  “You’d expect to see something on the town’s history maybe. Like a little more about why there was a town out here.”

  ‘Maybe it’s just not old enough to bother. It says decades.’

  Threat, despite what Speaker had said of him, had taken back his responsibility. Had focused on being Seth’s go-to for these weeks of isolation. The guilt in his voice making more sense, but his actions speaking louder. Helping him understand and handle whatever it was that had happened. Helping him grieve for everything that was gone. Everyone that was gone. Like he had experienced something just like this, but so much worse. Leaving him feel like he had to help fill in the silence. Not that Seth was complaining.

  ‘Or they just want to keep the bulk of the tourists at bay.’

  “Yeah. This place is too small for a real festival. Does it even snow here?”

  ‘Humph. No.’

  Because for the whole of those six weeks, there hadn’t been anything living making noise. No returning birds, no insects calling in the night, even the thunder in the distance had never returned. And it was wearing down on Seth’s resolve. A deafening silence that desperately needed filling. No rescue, no internet, and worse of all even the TV signals were down. Though blowing the entire town’s electrical system didn’t help. But that emptiness was more amenable, given the power that had caused it.

  The Garkah and by extension he, could control the flow of electricity. Usually heating things or powering small appliances. The taught him slowly, but surely. How to move electricity across open air. How to tap into its sources, without burning them. How to feel along the lines as if they were extensions of himself. But all this had limits. The most obvious being there was no more outside power to harness, so the only electricity they had on hand was the buildup from the first day. The stuff he’d somehow siphoned into himself in a fit of… he didn’t really know what. The voices were curating and rationing that build up though, just so there was always a supply and so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed. But it was clear they used it as well for their own reasons most of the time. Their situation wasn’t dire, but rescue was looking to be a long way off.

  “Well it at least confirmed it. There really is only one road in and out, unless you want to walk through the forest for a few days?”

  ‘No! No... I- I don’t like going in there. Let’s just stick to the road, okay?’

  “Okay, okay. Just… don’t expect much better from the roads.”

  So time and circumstance demand a change. Seth had finally convinced Speaker to allow him to start moving on, to at least look for help. Brighton wasn’t very far, at least a couple of miles. If they couldn’t find anything they could come straight back and keep waiting. But, really, he wanted something actually complex for once. He still couldn’t cook worth a damn, the lack of proper facilities adding to the issue, and the glut of canned ingredients was making his stomach ache just looking at them. And you can only eat so many crackers and cereal before you feel like you are actively drying yourself out.

  Speaker finally interjected himself into the offhand conversation as it seemed his own preparations were done.

  “The countermeasures are complete and at acceptable levels. This signal should keep back any creatures that happen to get in our way. It was a common defense installation on our world, so should be universally viable. Though I doubt it is strong enough to keep back a *Chohkrrr*, it would seem your wildlife aren’t as attuned as ours. A boon… A hopeful one at least. Speaking of boon, from what amount of the horizon we can see, the fires in the next town have gone out.”

  ‘If only it hadn’t spread and blotted out the sun in every other direction.’

  “Despite that… Keep quiet and keep your eyes open. We can only see what you see, remember. All we have is this signal and hope. Though maybe, if the need arises, the new sensor array Concoctor has… concocted… will be of real use.”

  ‘I still say that thing sounds really weird.’

  “Yeah, it’s kinda weird.”

  Threat reinjected himself into the conversation.

  “Alright! Let us get this expedition started already.”

  Seth was prepared to travel for a few days, loaded down with easy dry foods and water bottles. He even scrounged up some survivalist tools and had stuffed them into his jacket pockets. His mother’s red scarf was still stacked up around his neck, providing some cover from the soot gritted the air. He even found a small bed roll, but hoped to not use it much. It had been sitting in a garage a little too long, even before this all started. And so he was set loose early in the morning, what little bit of the sun that could be seen at his back and little bit of hope in his heart. As the silence of his life was broken at last by small shoes crunching asphalt.

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  For the first mile or so the road was clear, save for some knocked down road signs. The road to Brighton was a mostly straight shot, but had a few gentle curves that created separated stretches. The forest on either side acted like a natural fence, blocking views of everything within. Like a dark forests from a fairytale. But what few gaps that were present allowed glimpses into even more densely packed forests. Gaps that Seth tried his best not to look into… but failed.

  Many of them looking more like breaches than natural holes. Scratches and torn away bark from something carelessly rushing through them on either side. In fact a lot of the trees along the road looked like they had been scratched up. But… only in one direction. They were intermittent, but clearly kept going ahead of him. Yet when Seth looked back toward town, he saw nothing but untouched trees. It was as if something was rushing away from town, the exact way he was headed. But he had been warned of the danger, he trusted the Garkah had this covered. So he pressed on despite the pounding in his chest.

  The first obstacle came into view as he rounded a lazy corner. A rolled over truck. If it could even still be called that. Which way it had been going didn’t seem to matter as it lay broken and sideways in the middle of the road. As he drew closer he could see the windows were shattered, the body crunched and torn. And the whole driver side door ripped away, with most of the cab along with it.

  Finally upon reaching the wreck though… He could smell it. Motor oil like the stuff his mom used, something metallic and kinda salty he couldn’t place, and death. He knew what death smelled like, it was why he didn’t like going into the forest. Plenty of dead animals had come out of the patch that hugged his backyard, been dragged out into it by coyotes and buzzards. But there was no telling what was still in there. This though… This was different.

  Because at least he could see what that smell was coming from. There was no body here, no bones, no sagging rotting skin. Only dried stains.

  Everywhere.

  The inside of the truck, the outside of the truck, the ground all around the gaping hole in the side. As if the person inside had been…

  “We need to keep moving.”

  Speaker chimed in before he could linger on that thought. And Seth accepted whole heartedly. Shaking it away as best he could and returning to the road ahead. But that picture in his head still remaining as he passed his town’s welcome sign. He’d seen monstrous villains on TV that scared him, things with teeth and claws. They never showed them in battle, but one time they’d showed a wolf like man shackled and being led away. With red staining them from head to toe.

  He tried to fight that stubborn memory away, one of few but one he wished he didn’t have. But he didn’t need to fight it for long, for the next curve in the road revealed more of the same. But multiplied and worse. Cars tossed to the side of the road, some smashed down right where they were stopped. One even dashed against a tree… Ten feet up.

  The smell was the same. Gas and motor oil like his mom’s scarf used to reek with after working on their car, a metallic tinge he couldn’t escape, and death. Lots of death. Because the blood stains were everywhere. Most still around their cars, but some were in the middle of the road. One wasn’t around anything and seemed different, wider. A deer probably.

  Despite all this obvious death though, he heard or saw no flies, no vultures or buzzards, no coyotes even. And they always made a racket of his fears. This just made it all the more unsettling with their absence. A permanently silent graveyard, soaked in long dried blood. Seth was having second thoughts, compounding fear rising to fight his resolve. But he stifled it and pressed on. Choosing to focus on the road ahead rather than the death around him. He had to keep going.

  These scenes continued all the way to Brighton, but at least the traffic hadn’t been bad. Yet once the town came into view, any bright side was wholly obliterated. Despite the mildly darkened red lighting, Seth could see there weren’t any buildings still standing on the river side of town. Though sparse, he could still see smoke billowing from the far end, but this was only the last dregs of the inferno that had scorched the horizon weeks ago. The rubble that was left of the river side was burned beyond recognition, spilling into the narrow Terrace River and staining it black with ash and debris. The bridge over the river at least surviving, but the trusses were gone from one side. So he had to hurry across like it was a steel groaning tightrope.

  Inside the town, the devastation was more perceptible. Ash choked much of the air, but the ground was only lightly dusted as the wind kept it all moving. The fires had scorched and decimated every home and wooden structure, but the concrete of the center of town seemed to have withstood the inferno.

  What it hadn’t withstood were the holes smashed into almost every structure. A small grocery store had its entire fa?ade caving in, the shoe store on the corner of their main street had an entire wall reduced to a few cinder blocks just barely keeping the roof up. The roads were more of the same, smashed or dashed vehicles permeating much of downtown. Some sticking out of the rubble, some almost unrecognizable as cars. More like melted rusty skeletons. Some of the piles of rubble that used to be building though were widespread, but not as if blown apart. The tops of these piles looking like they were dug out. Like something was searching for what was buried in them.

  The blood stains had persisted despite any caked ash, staining almost every corner of the town that wasn’t burned. But some of it was fresh, or at least not as dry and desiccated as the rest. Meaning…

  Seth shakily contemplated all of this, as he fought to keep his resolve. Shutting his eyes to the horror surrounding. Yet only forcing himself to listening to the cracking and falling of rubble, the popping of cinders, the jolting of downed powerlines-

  ‘Wait, we need that!’

  He snapped out of his spiraling fear and looked around. The jolting was somewhat distant, toward a less obliterated part of downtown, but it was there. He headed on toward it, passing more blood stains, more still fresh. The tinge he smelled was strong through the ashy odor. There was death all around him. But he shook it away. He couldn’t stop, not here. Not this close to-

  He stopped. Stopped not at a sight. Not at a smell. But at a feeling drenched in unimaginable fear. A feeling… that wasn’t his own. It wasn’t his fear, it knew nothing of what he dreaded and yet dreaded something worse. It… was afraid of him.

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Frozen by this sudden terrible new sense just forcing its way on to him, he turned. In an alleyway hiding at the side of a dumpster was… was a man. He was scruffy as if he hadn’t shaved or even had a shower this whole time. A plain blue dress shirt and jeans, torn and frayed and hanging over him. And his eyes were wide, as if he was looking at a ghost. As if his fear was beaming into Seth with no way to stop. He stepped out slightly and rapidly looked down both ways of the road, scanned the remaining roof tops. Cutting that feeling with every redirected gaze. Before finally forcefully waving Seth to come to him.

  Something like relief broke the ice of his own terror, but the state the man was in and his torrential caution washed this relief away in the thaw. He mirrored the man’s scanning and stepped toward him, knowing now what that sense was. The sensors were online and just confirmed the weirdness he’d felt about them. Emotions weren’t meant to be felt like this, not when you couldn’t see who was looking at you. But a small relief regrew, it was another power maybe. Another thing to say he was special.

  In range though, the man knew no such relief. Snatching Seth by the hand and pulling him into the alley, behind the dumpster, behind stacked boxes, and finally behind walling mattresses. He let go long enough to move a mattress back as quietly as possible, but he wasn't doing his best. He seemed weak, his grip thin like he hadn’t eaten in some time.

  They continued on, coming to a double basement door that opened before they reached it. A woman, wearing a waitress uniform in a similar tattered state to the man’s clothes, lifting the door up and hurriedly waved them in. Another pang of that sense washing over from her direction, the same sudden fear but also something like anger. And desperation. She closed the door behind them but left a conspicuous block of foam between the doors stopping it from clacking closed.

  She forced Seth down into the basement proper, almost tripping him as he turned back to look at the couple. Both of them staring now with over mixed emotions. Down and judging from halfway up the stairs, the red hued light illuminating them through the ajar door. There was disbelief, fear, the man held regret, the woman held anger. She turned away first, hushed tones of scolding fury directed at her fellow survivor.

  “What the hell Derrick, where did you find him!?”

  “He- he was just in the road, walking like it was nothing!”

  The man seemed more scared now and Seth couldn’t understand why. But… wait.

  As the two argued Seth could feeling something else. Like the emotions from the Garkah but more frantic and pleading. He could only just make out Threat trying to say something, but the arguing kept drowning it out too much to be understood. He pulled back into the basement and covered an ear to listen more closely, but it only spared a few words.

  “countermeasures… too loud…”

  The arguing rose in tempo so he covered both ears and pressed to seal out the-

  “SETH!!! THE SIGNAL WENT DOWN!! YOU NEED TO GET THEM TO BE QUIET RIGHT NOW!!!”

  Seth snapped back in shock, looked up wide eyed to the couple and tried to call them down.

  But no words came out.

  His voice was still on loan, or he had completely forgotten how to speak after all this time! Or whatever it didn’t matter right now!!

  He franticly waved and grunted, trying everything to get their attention, succeeding only just in drawing them away…

  Too late.

  The world sank with his heart as the light of the hell outside grew brighter. As he saw the door open behind them. Red light bleeding the color away.

  And a massive scaled claw reaching in.

  Time slow, that grim adrenaline fueled perception that he’d hope to never experience again. He could only watch, he was forced to watch, as that claw swallowed the man’s shoulder whole. Digging claws into his chest and back before he even had time to know what was happening. But this slowness couldn’t hold, couldn’t stand, couldn’t remain. As the man was dragged back at speed exceeding it. And his screams broke it all back down to reality.

  The door was obliterated by his forceful exit. The woman recoiled, but was grabbed by the arm by another claw from the other side. She tried to pull away down the stairs, but only succeeded in having her arm dislocate as the rest of her was dragged out the door.

  Both screaming, pleading, sounds like punches against brick walls, desperate fighting against… Against-

  Roaring! Growling! Snapping and squelching. Screams too high not to be heard. Warbling and being thrown every which way. More snapping! More smacking! And more footfalls like stone being cracked apart. Smashing! Roaring! Fighting! Dying out sobs. One scream suddenly crescendoing to an unholy-

  *SNAP*

  The world, the basement, the light in his eyes. Seth was left with nothing but the sounds of ripping and tearing flesh, of bones snapping in jaws, of hungry fighting over scraps, of…

  He blacked out, right then and there. Everything falling away in its entirely. Trapped standing as his mind refused to stop working. Psyche just shutting down right then and there. Without ever making a sound. Without anything left of his hope. With nothing…

  But the drone of…

  The metal dimmed drone of jet engines.

  The emptiness of his mind not so empty as he wished. Back on the VTOL and headed home, but knowing full well what his real home was. He tried to blink the world into focus, but his eyelids felt heavier than ever. Tried to get himself away from that place, but only succeeded in a slow uneven sway. Forced to scan around, seeing the other trainees in similar states of exhaustion. Nowhere near as beaten down. His suit laying in the center of the hold. And Para standing over him with-

  “RRhmph”

  With his gauntlets formally hung over then unceremoniously dropped into his lap. The pain and shock sobering him up and raising his ire as little as it could go.

  “If you’re going to pass out so easily, you’re going to need to get your shit together. We’ve all been through the meat grinder in one way or another.”

  Seth was still too exhausted to retaliate, but understood the sentiment. Who couldn’t after a fieldtrip like this? He put his head back against the hull, the din of the engines turned to a soothing vibration. Letting him nod off better, until the VTOL could land back at The Hill.

  When it did though, trainees dragged themselves out like the dead. Headed more out of instinct than purpose back to the arena. No fanfare left for their competition or their accomplishment. Seth lugged his suit behind him like a ball and chain, metal scraping against tiled floor in screeching increments as everyone else trudged and swayed. Aegis met them in the arena with that stupid sphere back in place, congratulatory smile melting away as they shambled in. Ohm, being the winner of this contest, moved up to it with a shaky stance powering through whatever now ailed all of them.

  Before passing out himself.

  “What the hell kind of mountain did you make them climb Para!?”

  He didn’t answer, he just walked over to Ohm and hoisted him over his shoulder.

  “You’re all dismissed. We’ll do this tomorrow… And you all did well today.”

  The trainees that could actually comprehend that they were just complimented by fucking Parasonic were agape. They just couldn’t voice their surprise. They all just funneled out again to their rooms, Para hauling Ohm to his.

  Seth made it into his room just barely conscious, leaving the suit by the door and stumbling into the shower. Without bothering to take his training clothes off. He turned the hot knob, crumpled onto the tiles as the water showered over him. Black dust washed off into the drain like dried blood as he curled up with his head in his knees.

  He thought he’d been done with that hell, with these memories. He thought he’d made progress and left them in the past. But they were always there. Hidden in the dark corners of his mind. Like that abyss. They’d faded away with time but always found some stupid placard or commercial or passing bus ad to clasp on to and be dragged up with. And now his mind refused to just leave them be, just let them fall back away. Flashing the blood and screams and eyes again and again with no mercy.

  He stayed there, scalding water washing over him to get the dust off. Too tired to eat and too hollow to move. Regretting ever making that promise to himself. To atone for all of this. Till his own tears gave away and the drift won out. Falling asleep then and there on the tiled floor as everything washed away.

  As memories became dreams that he would never know.

  I HAVE A PATREON NOW!!!