The Prey are Dancing

2012

October 5th 2012
The world has ended everything we know is gone. I have no idea if anyone will even be alive to read this, but one last print needed to be sent. Protect yourself not everyone else. Arm up, suit up whatever you must do to survive, humanity must survive.
For my last paper maybe ever, your favorite article writer Anne Snowland.




The sun shone like rays of blindness, penetrating deep into the white, white snow. No footprints, just, fresh snow, laying on the ground like a blanket of cold…
Ice.
That's all it dwindled down to. Temporary fulfillment, upon fleeting joy.
In ten minutes’ time, your feet will be cold, nose running as the frozen river once did so rapidly.


And then the sounds hit
Cars honking, police sirens radiating off the empty canvas of earth. People shouting, kids crying. One child screams of joy as a mother shouts for a jacket...a jacket.
Oh, temporary peace...where have you gone.
The people move the same, only nature changes.
People stayed the same.
Points of view, never could be changed, murder, homicide, suicide, mass killings. It all runs through their blood like the venom of a snake. Some withstand...others can not take the sickness and succumb, but it's in them all.
Oh, but the snow.
The snow, so beautiful and untouched.
Until you.
Until you decided to disturb it, showing them where you lay your head at night.
Them.
Oh, there aren't any children anymore, no emergency care systems, and soon..no you. For now, the Beasts know. Your fresh footprints in the snow.
You could make it TO the fence.
Well maybe.
The thing is you've never tried, but now you must.
No going back, you've left a trail. All because of nostalgia for a once-thriving population which lies desolate and covered
In snow.
The nostalgia for the early 2000’s is gone and now panic sets in. fear of what you've done rises as though lava, and rivets your bones...oh
You fool.
You gave into temptation now unless you climb that ridiculously tall fence topped with barbed wire…
They WILL find you.
Because when thirst is unquenchable you never stop trying to quench it.
It's frozen, cold metal, slick with ice.
That’s where we met.
You on one side
I the other.
You thought you were brave, smart, that you could handle it, but all I saw... a frightened child. Shivering in knee-deep snow panic in your eyes, creeping down in tears, you thought. You thought you could do it.
I knew you couldn't.
At 7 you stood tall.
At 6 you watched the world fall,
But at 7
At 7
The snow.
You can hear snow crunch...under the shoes of soulless creatures.
Mind numbing…
You don't have any
Climb.
No jacket, only a tee shirt
Climb!
No shoes, snow soaked socks
Child! Climb!
You weren't even dressed correctly. Your mother should have known better. But she's gone. And soon, so are you.
Am I looking at you in horror? Feeding your fears?
You’re almost up now, slipping with every movement. But…
They are closing in, predators to prey. Almost on your heels...should I help?
Fuck.
I should.
You watched as I dropped my items and took off my jacket, newspaper tumbling out of one pocket and a candy wrapper from the other.  You watched as I skillfully climbed to the top of the fence chewing my jacket over the barbed wire, throwing down a hand. Now you can cross. You placed your tired thin hand in mine, sighing as I pulled you over. 20 foot.
You managed to climb 20 feet.
I was astonished
Although
A second late.
They closed in oh so fast. On legs like deer, looping through the snow with ease, and desire. Everything was elongated on them, arms, fingers, teeth, ears, and hair fell right from their being and their skin turned bluish and here they are...gripping your ankle.
You shouted and you screamed. It had been a while since I heard another human's voice, much less a child. When the children couldn't outrun the beasts the parents just left them for distraction.
I couldn't let you die. Everything rang in my ears, my fido's barking blending in with their unspeakable moaning.
And then…
You did something. You closed those dark eyes and whispered words so softly.
So slowly
Flesh lit a flame.
Mutated screaming filled the earth's atmosphere like screeching sirens.
And again.
I was astonished.
I never imagined in the end
I'd be with a
A witch.



















“Thank you!” she shouted indifferently. “But why...why did you help me?” for that I had no answer, I wasn't prepared for questions, much less even words. I just stuttered as I pulled myself up, eventually managing.
“We aren't safe until we close that gate.. too many holes. They will be in shortly.” if our feet didn't get moving, they would have devoured us. The child still panting, started dragging her feet through the snow, trying her hardest to move fast. “Have you..ya know..have you been out the house, before..like b-b-before today.”
“No, I hadn't even been out of the attic, I think I was ready... I mean they left me, I was sick so they left me. I would slow them down”. She gripped at her thin throat. “ if only they had stayed with me.” she then pulled her lit hands to her face staring at them with such intent. “ they were gobbled up the first night, I felt it.”
I didn't know what to say, comfort or nothing, instead all that came was “hurry now child” I grabbed her hand dragging her a little faster as the moans grew behind us, the sound of breaking branches, limbs...echoing in the snow.
We don't remember why
Or how
But it happened. Sudden shouts of pain as people craved other’s flesh, sudden skin discoloration.
Media blamed science
Science blamed the food industry.
Arms and legs grew
Fingers grew
Teeth grew.
Until what was once your mother, was now twice the height and walking like broken dolls
Yet
It wasn't contagious. (in the beginning) this wasn't some zombie movie accidentally brought to life. Only certain people changed but those people ate everyone else. Then one day, weeks, maybe months later, it became contagious, the disease mutated as well as the bodies.
Vaccines
I blame vaccines, others blame their God, calling upon him for turning his back, for hating them. That somehow it was humanity's actions that began this plague. And it did. But not because God hates us but, yet because we tried oh so hard…
To become him.
Building society upon a false belief that with science we WERE gods. But we craved it too much. We rushed science, pushed them too fast. the studies could no longer be long enough to test side effects.
We wanted new.
And
We wanted it now.
Now.
Now.
All we want is to not be devoured by what we used to call family. To not fall prey to sleeping too long, or traveling too much. Keep awake, vision open, and always, always checking. If not…
Snow.
The peaceful, peaceful snow.
It would be red with what used to be, well you. The beasts were always hungry, always feeding, always feening. Like drug addicts, they NEEDED us.
But what about when there no longer is “us”. Will they self-destruct, disintegrate? Or will they become their former selves dying inside of memories of eating innocence? (WRITE ABOUT GIVING HER YOUR JACKET)
“Hey!” she shouted grabbing along my shirt sleeves, tears trailing down her face, pulling me fully from never finished thoughts. “Where...where were you? When it all, you know, started.”
Where was I? Such a simple question. I wish so badly I could say ‘at home, I saw nothing’, that I’d seen none of the carnage. But I had. Cars running over citizens on sidewalks, desperately trying to flee the apocalypse. Strange noises filling the city. A woman smashed between a shopping cart and a crashed car, nearly severed.
Streets dripping with blood.
Even birds fled…
Children being ripped in half by limbs that grew just minutes before, extra arms holding only halves of their bodies carelessly dropping them in their cavernous mouths, black holes. Crunched by teeth of vicious rock.
About a week in they pushed over the water tower in an attempt to drown them, flooding up to our second floor for some time.
Where was I?
Where was I?
“Shopping…”
“So you saw it? All of it?”
“yea...i, I saw ...IT” refers to the continuous feast. As I looked in her eyes she once again looked at her hands.
“I-I felt it..”


The cold no longer made our bones ache as every limb it had touched became numb long before it ever drifted from the peaceful clouds. The snow no longer gnawed endlessly at each muscle, each piece of flesh we managed to keep attached to our bodies. We closed the gate. Laying breathlessly on frozen concrete flooring of a building we weren't even sure was safe. In a building that once held humans every day for years without pension. In a building now holding our flesh and bones which caged our souls in their atoms. This. This was where our world had taken us.
“I’m 8...well not yet...my birthdays tomorrow.”
“Your birthday? You've been keeping up with the days?!?” she gained my curiosity as I barely kept up with my name.
“This all started 67 days ago..yes I've been keeping count.” she glanced at her hands.
“Six… sixty-seven? In sixty-seven days our whole world collapsed… it feels like years. Decades even.”
She fell silent at my realization chewing her nails which hardly existed in the first place. Looking deep into the distance as though something better was around the corner. Oh to have the optimism...to have the hope.
But all that was left in my body was the innate urge to survive. Not even live anymore. Just survive.
Poor child. Alone for 67 days. Hardly any food...for 67 days. No human contact...for 67..days.
But likely it was more than that, likely my small witchin little bean had been locked up her entire life. Amazing to believe she could even keep a conversation. With glowing hands and small features, the obviousness laid like a cardinal on summer grass. She was a picture-perfect baby witch. With a curiosity that spoke words of endangerment. Caged in her eyes as though her soul belonged to someone else. She was a need to live, not just survive. And now her life laid in my hands like reigns of a wild colt. She was the breath I forgot to take since the moment the earth collapsed.
The witches could have been our answer, but many of us would have blamed them instead of joining them. To many of us would have said fuck beasts, the witches we shall burn. We've done it countless times in history. And if not for the beasts, we would have done it countless more.
We as humans have always been flawed, but never more than we were at that time, on that day. We were so sophisticated and cultured in the most ridiculous ways we believed gods were just normal people and we were gods. And I couldn't help but feel the imaginary waves of power radiating off her purple aura. Showering me in a light of intelligence I've never quite believed. Her nose twitched as she slowly fell asleep. In the light of the fire, it seemed flames danced on her skin and told stories with her black locks. Scars adorned her pale arms, arms UV rays more than likely never touched. Never had the chance to meet this flame bearer.
Howls of pain echoed enviously against the bare factory walls. They could taste us on their tongues and wanted us with such vigor they could gnaw through these walls if given the time.
But they wouldn't. Fore I had a new reason to actually care what happened the next day. A child with such optimistic views for one who lived such a pessimistic life.
We are still here.
We
Humans
We are still here.
But for how long…..



The snow melted and turned to slush within the boots of a deadman as we walked carelessly through forgotten gated paths. No footprints before us, more than likely only ours behind us. A world silenced by such a soft pure
Snow
And somehow our subject once again becomes snow. The pure crystallization of h2o molecules when temperatures reach a low.
Would we crystallize?
No
We could never become something so complicated and pure and beautiful. We are chaotic.
Humanity at its most divine level was still set to crave the delicious addicting taste of power, and the high was never enough.
It would never be enough until every atom of every human soul dissipated, turned into stars, and then catalytically burned out.

I awoke the next morning to quiet scratching sounds echoing off the emptiness. Startled, I glanced at the child, and she wrote letters on the ground, in the dust and the dirt.
A-S-T-E-R-I-A
“What are you doing? You scared the hell out of me.” I shook my head
“You said yesterday that you barely remembered your name..i-i...wanted to make sure I remembered mine…” she dropped the stick and looked up. I felt a ping of guilt and a touch of sadness.
“Your name is Asteria?”
“Yea, after the stars. All my siblings were named after stars or constellations, my daddy works… I mean worked in space.” it seemed as though every sentence we shared trailed off with grief, sinking into the black holes her father probably studied. Moans began growing outside and with it the anxious twitching of her fingers. I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around how a child must feel in this chaos.

I wasn’t even quite sure how I felt in this chaos...


"Why don’t we check this place out, maybe we can make it a bit more comfortable for the time being." I looked at her, she nodded, I doubted we could make it comfier as all I saw down here were sheets of metal and old factory equipment. At least the sheet metal could be used to blockade windows if we could somehow figure out how to get it to stay up. Asteria's small feet hardly made any noise as we bounded up the stairs, mine, however, clinked around in my chunky boots.
The wind howled loudly against the shattered window panes. Bringing snow and bitter temperatures, even midday. What used to be a bustling coastal city laid barren and white. The only noise louder than the hurricane-strength storm was the obnoxious moaning of the desolate minded starving monsters. Wandering endlessly and howling maddeningly through empty streets. I glanced over my shoulder at Asteria as she warmed her frostbitten body on a dwindling fire, we were sure to move onto a higher, safer floor. Just after I finished inspecting its safety. It was mid-floor, as far away from windows and sight as possible. Dropping the metal sheeting I walked carefully, so as not to startle her, moving towards her. I laid a blanket I found in an open hallway moments before around her shoulders, she didn't even flinch. Her eyes ever focused on dancing flames. After I finished inspecting the rest of the first floor and finding makeshift weapons, I noticed she hadn't left the fireside. A stapler laid by her side along with the notebook and the set of pens I had found on a dusty barren desk.
I figured maybe she would write, to help make sense of what was happening. Or at least draw lines. But she just stared at the fire as I fumbled around like a drunken sailor in a storm. I just wanted to make a safe place, somewhere she isn't always thinking of death, somewhere we could actually sleep. And If I could just figure out how to secure the doors and windows, maybe knock down all stairs but two maybe even all but one. I could do it.
I have to do it.
























At least having another human around, a child even, made it a little easier on my mind. Before I had nothing to focus on but the chaos. I had no reason to go on, Earth was desolate. I may have just been another person, who jumped off another roof. Although the fear of going outside scared me, it was masked by the sheer bone-breaking pain of sleeping on freezing cold concrete every single night. God, we needed more blankets. I took one last look at Asteria before walking towards the exit. The metal doors were cold. The creatures I slowly opened it, trying hard to keep the sound to a minimum. As not to attract attention. Clouds passed in front of the moon. My breath froze as it propelled from my mouth with a sigh.
Even though going at night seemed counterproductive, the beasts seemed to lack typical predatory night vision and showed extra dexterity during the day. They seem to be less productive during the night. With my heart racing, I took my first steps toward the outside world snow crunched beneath me. I shuddered, trying to pray to the universe, God, or anything and everything really. I prayed that wouldn’t be heard. The night seemed alive with crickets and bullfrogs. A sign that nothing sinister was around or at least nothing sinister to them.
Another sigh as I blinked, trying to get adjusted to the night. It is funny, before everything happened, this was my favorite time of day. Just brisk enough that your bones felt stiff and silent enough that you could hear it. I guess now it's always silent of people. Though I am terrified, I mean, I hated people anyways. I hated society, I begged for an Apocalypse, for the lack of needing to pay just to breathe. No more taxes, no more fighting to get somewhere in the world, no need to have made something of myself, because in Apocalypse living is itself. I knew there would be constant fear. I knew it would be involved. Yet you could never anticipate the fear of being hunted constantly. The fears of being dropped from the top of the food chain. My steps sped up as my mind wandered and soon thinking of the fear and how immaculate it was, distracted me from the actual fear of this exact moment. Looming houses penetrated the darkness as I began to reach the on-site houses of the military base.
Wait
How am I going to even get into any of these buildings?
I reached the first house. The windows were broken, the door on the floor. Which was great for entry, but not for the thought that now anything can be in this house. I hesitated, carefully stepping over the broken glass that was shining in the moonlight. I grab my flashlight from the pocket. Yet thought twice before flicking it on.
But without light, I can't even see if there's anything in here to worry about anyways.
Yet with the light, I have a chance of attracting anything.
I flicked on the light anyways, realizing that the monsters had not caused this destruction, and vandals did. That allowed me to feel better, nothing too scary about the moment. But am I, at the moment, not a vandal myself? Quickly making my way up the stairs, I noticed that almost all the doors were ajar. A small light came from the room on the end.
I entered, it was a night light, probably had been on for weeks now. A cradle was visible but so was the dried blood, which now stained the side and the floor around it. I didn't step closer; the fear of what laid in the cradle was too much. My mind came up with too many scenarios. The door directly to the left was almost completely shut. I slowly opened it, hoping it was empty, praying the door wouldn't creek. My flashlight hit the figure on the bed first, my heart fluttered as I realized how small it was,
...was there another child.
Making my way to the bed I ignored all the signs, the stained sheets, the perfectly intact little girl's room.
I touched the child, but she didn't move.
Fear overtook me and I rolled her over a bullet hole laced with dried blood that penetrated her skull.
I jumped back, who would kill a child? Hastily, I made my way to the last bedroom. Unsure what I might find.
The feet were the first things I saw. Next was the calves, then the torsos the neck
The necks that were broken.
Heads hanging to the side of each body.
I jumped away running to the door.
But if I run away now, I will have accomplished nothing. I would have risked my life to come out here for nothing. Asteria needs this.
She is a child; she would only get sick and die if I don't do this.
I gathered my courage and searched the house. A note lay at the end of the feet of the two people hanging from the ceiling.
“We love them, we are so sorry. If anyone finds this note, please know. We did the best we could do. We couldn't allow them to be eaten. We are desperate, just know... we love them.”

My heart dropped even more than it previously had. I guess people who haven't struggled mentally their whole life are not adjusting as well as I am... and I am adjusting terribly.
These people freaked out so much, they shot both of their children. Just before hanging themselves.
Why didn’t they just shoot themselves?
Maybe they wanted to go together of 1, 2, 3 kind of deal or maybe they couldn't pull the trigger, or worse maybe they felt so horribly about murdering their own children that they thought they didn't deserve a peaceful death, they wanted to die painfully.
Maybe but, I'll never know. I started to grab a bag from the floor, maybe the drawers will have something useful.
I pulled them out quietly slowly grabbing warm clothes. The jackets were on the floor haphazardly. I grab the heaviest jacket and put it on. I went back to the child's room, hesitating. Yet as long as I didn't look over at the bed, I can do this.
Asteria needs this.
I grabbed her more than I did myself. Maybe it will help her. I grabbed underwear, pants, sweaters, even socks. This wasn't much on a comfort level but it's better than it's been.
I opened the hall closet. They had more blankets than I've ever seen. Yet this bag wasn’t big enough. I went back to the parent’s room to fumble around for another bag. Finding one even larger than what I had I started loading it up. But as I pulled it away, a safe came into view. It was slightly ajar; one could only think this was where they pulled the gun that killed their children. The children who still lie decaying in their beds. The same gun was half-heartedly tossed in.  A key laid in it, it had to be the key to the gun safe that was in the corner. I walked over, praying to nonexistent beings, that it was.
I missed,
the key slid across the metal safe scraping loudly.
I  jumped back. My hand covered my mouth, as I tried to hide the gasp.
everything got extremely silent for a moment. I held my breath; I think my heart even stopped. I turned off the flashlight as the moaning grew in the distance.
It closed in, then passed, then disappeared altogether.
I sighed trying once again but more carefully this time. The key finally slipped in the lock, turning it as it clicked loudly.
Fuck.
I turn the flashlight off again. But nothing happened; it creaked as it opened.
Two large military-type guns sat upright,  as well as four handguns. The bottom of the safe was filled with Ammunition. I loaded each gun as I slung the 2 larger guns over my shoulders with their straps, stuffing the pistols into the bag as well as the rest of the ammo.
I glanced at the door of the locker before closing it, there taped to the door was a folder. Tilting my head and squinting my eyes, I opened it.  Pictures of a bunker with reports and key codes. I flipped through, there was a picture of a coded message that was taped to the back.
Could this be the password to the military bunker?
A bunker would have better security, better provisions, military-type cots, more weapons, even a safer yet larger space.
Somewhere we could actually feel safe in an apocalyptic city. This could be a place for Asteria and me to get some actual sleep.

But if he had this information then why did he kill them?
What was the logic behind it, if he had this information, then why? A comfortable bunker on a secret military base.
Were there already too many people there?
Did someone change the codes?
Was there a more terrifying reason? Like did something stand between us and the bunker?
Lost in the thought I almost walked out the front door without grabbing any food. The open floor plan laid out almost too large in front of me. Reusable bags sat on the counter already filled to the brim. Shining the flashlight in I noticed some of it had already rotted. So, I switched rotted food out for more non-perishable items, which took longer than anticipated.
The Sun started to rise and soon it would be too dangerous to head back. I laid blankets over the tops of the bag to try to mask some of the noise that the cans would inevitably make. Only now, I must lug all of the supplies two miles back to Asteria.

The brisk morning was hazy, filled with dew that laid on the flowers that we’re able to push through the thick snow. Fog drifted like a dream near the ground and the Sun was the color of a male salmon in mating season, hanging just below the horizon.
As quiet as I was last night I would need to be even more so as light flooded in.

Cars were wrecked, strewn throughout the streets as though a toddler got tired of its hot wheels. Any fires that were in the cars were now long-gone leaving burnt remnants of civility. A breeze fluttered by cold and war-torn, pushing my hair across my face. Just as I was reaching for my mishappen bangs, a loud moan penetrated the silence.
A pained throaty sound that was followed by legs which were built like a deer, yet heavier than a semi-truck, slapping the ground with a ferocity that broke its own bones.
I jumped behind the car, fear welling up in my eyes. Fight or flight mode kicked in and my body couldn’t decide between freezing or moving.
The blue-grey Phantom passed by roughly Thirty feet away. I shuddered, tiny ants crawled across my skin, my breath froze in my throat. The bones in its wrist jutted out from the extra weight. Its skin was dried out and had caked on the bare sunburned back.
I barreled around the front of the car as it came around the side, stopping and raising its grey head to the sky almost mimicking a bird dog. My breath caught in my throat again, but he jolted on. Walking as though a starving lion with no direction to go.
I waited long past the time that he passed the horizon, yet still, a mile from the building.
A mile from Asteria.
The Sun was almost high in the sky, unsure if I was even able to make it, I started at a jog.
I would have run but the bags and guns were weighing me down and making too much noise, it would attract too much attention.
Another monster came around the corner to the left, I jumped hiding behind a building until he passed, luckily going the opposite direction.
Finally making it to the fence, I set the bags down slowly, crawling through the small hole of the fence. Dragging them and the guns slowly through one by one, as quietly as possible. Another monster dragged his body half-heartedly.
I had nowhere to hide.
I pulled one of the guns into position.
It had to be against the shoulder, right?
Yeah, that sounds right...
But the noise would attract everything in the base and around it…
I dropped the scope from my eyes, the strap clicking against the other guns.
He looked over,
moving closer, head moving as he tasted the air. Looking for whatever had made the sound.
As he got closer…
I noticed his eyes.
They were two hallow pits, a void of chaos,
There’s no way he could see me.

I just had to wait him out, crouched down, halfway beneath a fence…easy.
I took a can out of my bag. If I could throw it far enough then he would go after it…
I took a deep breath and threw it as hard as I could in an awkward position. It hit the top of a car, loudly bouncing off the roof to the hood then clanging on the ground.
His head turned sharply and he jolted into prance.
Two more feet until I was at the door, one more. But how could I open it without him hearing?
I would have to wait.

The sun hung low into the sky then finally disappeared altogether. As the stars lit the night in a way they never could before with the light pollution, the creature finally moved on.
I sighed and took a deep breath before opening the door.
Asteria sat silently beside a dying fire, it looked as though she hadn’t kept it up at all.
“Hey, I’m back”
“finally,” the word casually slipped from her lips as though the apocalypse didn’t happen. As though she was a sarcastic 10-year-old at a dinner table tired of waiting on their parent to come home from work. And I was late, as always, bitching about some form I had to fill out in the office before I could leave, or some papers the boss threw at me at the last minute.
The time before people ate their bosses.
“I’ve got clothes and food, something to stay warm.” She grabbed at the bags reaching for the food first.
“there’s no can opener in here how am I supposed to eat.”
I laughed. A sound I hadn’t heard in a while. “it’s a pop-top, you know? Turn it upside down.”
She sighed and turned it around. Popping the top before scooping spaghetti out with her fingers, a look of joy on her face.
Real joy.
“Asteria why don’t you pull out some blankets and I’ll get the fire started again.” I went off for wood. Or papers whichever came first. By the time I got back, she was asleep next to the fire. She hadn’t pulled out any blankets which was weird, so I did for her. Wrapping her in two or three and leaving just one for myself.
“goodnight”


The sun blanketed the windows and blinded me as I opened my eyes. A bundle of blankets lays by the fire, but Asteria was gone.
“Asteria?!?” I shouted hysterically.
“What?” she rolled over towards me, in a place a few moments ago I saw nothing but blankets, this girl is really tiny.
“sorry I, I thought you weren’t there.” She huffed at my answer and rolled back over, face glinting against the embers.