Symbiosis: At World's End

From the Beginning Comes the End

People often expect some sort of magical answer to the really big problems that appear. A knight in shining armor, or a great army appearing to save the day. Perhaps it's a disease that is killing everyone and somehow, they discover the cure and save everyone and usher into a happy ending.

But often enough, that isn't the case. Sometimes we have to watch as everything and everyone we know and love burns around us, and feel the crushing despair of not being able to do anything about it. Or we accept that we can't do anything about it and move on. But some people just won't let go. And this can lead to very disastrous results. 'Who am I?' you may ask. I gave up the meaning of names a long time ago. Besides, in my world, you don't want anyone to know your name. I live my life on the run, because if you don't run, either they find you, or someone else does. And the results aren't good any which way. Because here, people will kill you and cannibalize you. Just to stay alive. My world is one ruled by fear and desperation. One where if you stop to save someone, you both die. One that no matter how hard you try, you can't wake up from the nightmare. And sometimes, you are the nightmare.

Cold, empty, soul sucking. Many words can be used to define space, but no one had expected this. At 3:27 AM, a research facility was observing a meteor hurtling towards Earth. Many simply expected it to burn up in the atmosphere, but to contrary belief, it actually crashed into a large sand dune in a desert. A recovery team was immediately dispatched to retrieve the meteorite before someone else did. The process was completed without a hitch and the team returned it to the facility. The lead scientist immediately began to examine it.

"First, we need to see if there is any sort of valuable mineral or element within the stone."

The scientist brought a large machine forward and flipped a few switches. A purple light shone forth and began to wash over the meteorite. A cable ran from the machine to a large computer, which automatically did the math and graphing to determine if there was anything of value within, and what it might be. The scientist walked over to the monitor and looked at the readings. However, they only proved to be more intriguing. The results showed completely random spikes at differing levels. The computer was indicating that this pattern was not behaving like any known element, or any inanimate object for that matter. So, what was inside that rock?

The answer came quickly and terrifyingly, as a cracking sound began to be heard from the meteorite. All the assistants and scientists began to back away from the lump of stone as it broke open, and a strange gelatinous substance spilled out onto the table. One of the assistants cautiously approached it with an examination tool and hesitantly prodded the goo. Immediately, it sprang to life, shooting up the tool, onto her hand, and proceeding to engulf her entire body. Her screams were drowned out by the many others who were running in terror, trying to escape the lab. As they ran down the hall, one of the scientists triggered the evacuation alarm, signaling everyone in the lab to bolt for it. Soon the entire building was empty. Save for one.

The former assistant was wrapped in an inky black cocoon that occasionally pulsated like a heartbeat. A few short seconds later, the cocoon was absorbed by the aforementioned assistant to reveal a humanoid creature with skin that was the same inky black as the cocoon, clawed hands, large muscles, strange white eyes shaped something like half of the ying-yang symbol, and a maw of razor-sharp teeth. It surveyed the room and took a step forward. It stopped. It raised its arms and tendrils of black goo shot out of its body, creating pod-like constructs along the walls. Once it was done in the examination room, it stepped out and began to spray the strange goo all over the facility. The construction of its hive had begun.

It had been over a year, and the world was in chaos. The hive has expanded. It now covers a quarter of a kilometer in diameter and was much taller. A sort of throne has been erected in the center, where the first creature, now dubbed the "Queen", spends its days. The world's armies have sent strike teams to destroy the hive, but they never came out. Instead, they became hosts and slaves to the offspring of the first one. Heavy artillery had no effect on the hive. Symbiotes, they have been dubbed. They find a host and take control of it. Mind, body, and soul. You can never escape it once it gets hold of you. However, they seem content to stay within their hive and wait. Whatever the reason, no one is complaining. But that all changed too.

Two years after the crash, the Symbiotes began attacking cities. Many of them bore a different insignia on their chest and sported different colors, but how this was done is unknown. What is known however, is that the symbiotes can absorb another of their species into their mass, and transport it from location to location. This allowed them to keep assimilating more hosts and make more hives. It was also plain to see that they were evolving as time went on. They had already built up an immunity to explosive projectiles and were apparently adapting to take local fauna as hosts. This may have explained the insignia on the chests of the host humans. A symbol to represent the first host the symbiote had. It was discovered though, that high frequencies caused them pain, but the problem was their sheer numbers. They never killed. Instead, they would pin their victims to the wall with some of their mass and wait for another symbiote to take the human as a host. Their numbers were growing steadily and steeply. Finally, the World governments decided that instead of fighting the threat, we should all retreat from it.

They all pooled their resources together and built a massive wall and a city behind. Afterwards, they constructed a sonic projector to create a bubble of sonics around the settlement, protecting everyone within the walls from the dangers they faced. But they now faced a grim reality. They could not save everyone. The world's remaining humans had three months to reach the walls before they were closed for all eternity. Anyone who didn't make it was worse than dead. The city was designed to accommodate upwards of ten million people. Only one million made it. And so, the gates were shut, never to open again. The remainder of the population outside was doomed to eventual assimilation.

However, some took the horse by the reins and figured out that they needed to get on the move. And these people are now known as world runners. They never look back and never stop running. They keep on the move and ahead of the flood. They were the first survivors.

Now, our story catapults forward hundreds of years. The amount of hosts are dwindling and the number of symbiotes are now fixed. Most of the host-less symbiotes roam the ruins of cities. Skyscrapers are covered in vines and ivy. Some even have large trees growing up through the middle of said skyscrapers. The world runners are still around and are more numerous than before. They have developed techniques to stay undetected by their hunters, but are still caught at about a 50/50 ratio. The remainder of those who didn't learn to stay ahead of the symbiotes formed packs and stalked the land in search of food. Their intelligence lowered to the level of a beast, with a single-minded goal of locating sustenance. They will kill anyone and anything in their way, but the sight of a symbiote sends these Rippers running in fear.

And this, my friends, is where our story begins. In this land ruled by fear and desperation to survive. In this ignorance of the inside towards the outside. The fact that they never bothered to look at the outside and see the tormented people who live in the ninth circle of Hell.