Short Stories and Poems

(Short)City of Haunts

The city was ruined, and while that would be widely considered to be an unfortunate circumstance, the only one for miles was me. So I would suppose that because of the singular person living here, me, that would be considered by the majority to be an unfortunate circumstance. I do have to scrape and crawl to survive the haunts of the ruins, and the food diminishes daily, However, I have found my greatest nemesis to be my solitude. Originally, all I needed was to jam a spike through the skull of a haunt, find a clean source of water, and find more food, now those all seem trivial next to the foe that is in my mind.

I crawl through the light gray concrete ruins of the grand city around me, traversing slowly what were once towering buildings and bustling streets empty. Empty, that is except for the flicker of an occasional haunt, nearly blind creatures sensitive to movement and sound. They used to be more aggressive, I don't know what changed. I shifted my spike, a rough piece of rebar slapped into a point, looking out to the ruins, waiting for their whispers. I made my way through a path I had marked to a supply I found the other week, climbing over spilled buildings and around sunk-in streets, as usual, the air is still. Eventually, I reach my destination, a still intact gas station, surrounded by collapsed ruins. I start grabbing the canned goods, checking to see if any of them are damaged. I started for a can that had fallen onto the ground before a hoarse breath sank through the air. A long bleached white skull pulled from around the shelf, a skull riddled with holes, and in those holes held blue flames, its jaw hung perpetually open out of which a dozen bone-white blades and incisors twitched as they felt the air. Its body was a pair of tattered black wings which resembled a cloak, and a shadowy mass out of which more blades appeared. I pulled back my hand, as slow as I could muster, the haunt's flaming blue eyes flickering about as it drifted towards me.

A fray blade nicked my finger, and all of its blades swam straight toward me. I jumped back and pulled my spike from my belt and threw it into the haunt's skull. Its open jaw gaped wider, more blades blossoming from it, and continued its flight towards me. I climbed up the shelf and threw myself towards my spike, which was still embedded in its skull. As I landed several blades sank into my torso, I took the spike and swirled it around, one by one each flame extinguished. As its thrashing stopped, I stood up and plunged my spike at the base of its skull. They used to be smarter too.

I hitched my pack up on my shoulders and started to make my leave when I saw a pink spray-painted X on the top of the door. That was not there previously, there was no X there. I highly doubt any sort of haunt would have the care to paint an X on a door frame. That means that someone else was here. But why paint an X on the inside of the door? Would it not make more sense to paint on the outside? That's beside the point, there is someone else out there.

I am not alone.

That's not necessarily true. I am technically still alone, I still have to find them. That is assuming that they're still alive. I highly doubt that they are dead by now. Haunts have gotten easier to evade recently, just keep quiet and slow.

I needed to get out of here, if this person was still out there and I lost them... I don't know what I would do. I stepped out into the street and looked around for any more markers, any sort of arrows, Xs, anything to signify another person's presence. I found an empty can off by a ruined intersection, the streetlamps pushed over. Either the person I am seeking dropped it to the side or it has always been there. From that point, I saw a pink arrow spray painted diagonally across the intersection, pointing to the left.

I followed these arrows turning at where they turned, following their crooked path along the ruined streets. Climbing slowly and quietly, pausing to let wandering haunts pass through. Eventually, I climbed a collapsed ruin, this one was on a higher ground than the rest giving me a sort of clear view of the streets below, the ruined buildings built up a small slope around the area, which was surprisingly green, an overgrown park. In the center was an empty fountain, filled with food supplies and bottles of water. I climbed down the slope and made my way to the edge of the park. Now that I was here, I couldn't help but look at my appearance, I shouldn't be too worried due to the several years of apocalypse, anyone would look as ratty as I did. But I could've at least tried to find something presentable, something without as much blood and holes, and now that I finally have reached this person, what do I do? Walking into camp feels much too forward and aggressive, but I also want to meet this person as soon as possible. I brought food as some sort of peace, but they don't know that. I'm not even sure if I am at the main entrance or not.

A small unused voice spoke out from behind me, "Hello?" I took out my spike, turned, and threw it towards the sound without thinking. Luckily it planted itself softly into some grass.

The source of the sound was a tall lady with thick curly hair shading her eyes, her skin was tan and she wore a bright puffy yellow jacket, and while it wasn't particularly warm, it wasn't jacket weather. I looked at her, and she looked at me. We looked at each other for what felt like a century, all in silence. My vision started to blur together, mixing the light and dark brown of her hair and skin with the bright yellow of her jacket. Tears fell into the ground and I slumped with a thud, wails of my solitude came free and flowing. I almost didn't notice the haunt swoop down upon me.

It took its many blades and shredded my arm, not yet reaching my face. I tried to roll over but the weight of its body pinned me down, I shifted my arms to cover my face and stomach, curling up as much as possible. Warm wetness tore down my arms, lances of pain jolted my soul. The arm covering my stomach blossomed in unseen pain, and then I no longer felt the weight of it on my stomach.

Why did I have to die now? I survived for so long, past the initial appearance. If anything my chances of survival should have gone up. They were supposed to be dumber and slower

Now I die.

I relaxed my body, letting my remaining arm fall to my side, I shut my eyes and accepted death, hardly noticing the attack falter and stop.