Fallout

Chapter 1

Enjoy ~

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Alex sat calmly on top of a crumbling rooftop and observed the situation. Below her lay the desolate remains of what used to be New York City, though it hardly resembled it now. It was now a dead place along with the rest of the world. Most of the tall skyscrapers had collapsed, littering the streets below with large slabs of debris.

The streets themselves were cracked and destroyed, with huge craters blasted away. Vines crawled up the sides of buildings, wrapping themselves around whatever they could grab, and creeping their way inside open windows. Storefront window were shattered, their insides picked clean of anything of value a long time ago.

You rarely saw humans out in the open anymore. The ones who had survived this long had to learn to keep themselves hidden. But if you knew what you were looking for, you could find the subtle hints of life. But she wasn’t paying attention to any of that now, for she was watching the scene below her unfold.

Cowering behind a dumpster, a small boy sniffled into his ratty, torn up sleeve. He watched in horror as a shadowy figure inched toward him. The shadow didn’t look like it belonged to a human. It moved on all fours and was contorted and twisted. As it moved, it hobbled and shuffled unsteadily. The boy’s eyes were bloodshot, and puffy with tears. He quickly swiped at them with trembling hands.  As the figure drew closer he could make out harsh, raspy breathing. It didn’t sound human, whatever it was. A small sob escaped the boy’s lips. The figures head snapped toward the noise. It let out an inhumane howl and charged at the dumpster, any trace of unsteadiness gone. The boy let out a piercing scream and covered his head with his arms, bracing for the inevitable. But it didn’t come.

He slowly uncovered his head and his jaw dropped. Standing in front of him was Alex. She was average in height, with long mid-back length wavy brown hair that tumbled out of an oversized black hood. The hood hid most of her face in shadows, but he could just make out a glimpse of cold, piercing green eyes. At her side was a gleaming sword attached to her belt, along with an assortment of other various weapons. But what caught his attention were her hands. They were covered by a soft flickering blue glow. When he looked closer, he could see small bursts of blue electricity jumping between her fingers. His jaw would have dropped even further, if that was possible. Catching him looking, she quickly flexed her fingers and the electricity stopped.

Terrified out of his wits, the boy scrambled back and pressed himself against the wall. Whoever this mysterious girl was, she certainly wasn’t human either. He glanced down at the ground, and screamed again in horror.

On the ground in front of the girl was what must have been straight out of a horror movie. It barely resembled a man, but it must have been one at one point. Its body was twisted horribly, so that its head was twisted upside down, and its back looked as though it was snapped in multiple places.  It didn’t wear a shirt, revealing its scarred and bloody chest, but it had on jeans dotted with gaping holes. Its nails were elongated into claws, its feet and hands bloody and raw. Its face was the worst. It had no lips, fully displaying its few remaining rotted teeth. The skin on its face looked like someone had stretched it as far as it could go, and then some. The little hair it had left on its head was sparse and patchy. All together, it was nauseating.

Alex didn’t look up at the boy, just kept her gaze directed at the entrance of the alley.

“Get out of here kid.” She muttered to the boy, her back to him. He scrambled to his feet and took off out of the alley, stumbling over his feet in his haste.

Alex glanced around nervously. The idiot boy just had to scream. Now more of them would be coming. Just then, she heard a chorus of snarling from the entrance of the alley.

“Damn crawlers.” She muttered.  That was her queue. She spun around and ran to a, luckily still intact fire escape ladder and hauled herself up. Taking the stairs two at a time, she quickly made her way up to the roof of the building.

Once on the roof, she noticed the sun was just about to sink below the horizon. She quickly jumped down a hole into the building. She didn’t want to be outside when the sun went down. Because when darkness comes, some very undesirable things came out of hiding.

The room she was now in must have been a nursery before the war. Tucked in the corner of the room lay a crib. Its paint was chipped and it had collapsed, tipping it on its side. The entire room was destroyed. The walls were covered in scorch marks, transforming the once light hearted paintings of animals on the walls into grotesque monsters. There were gaping holes in the floor, leading to a collapsed second level. Alex’s face briefly twisted in disgust at the sight of the room, before quickly reverting back to her emotionless mask.

“Pull yourself together Alex.” She muttered to herself quietly. She closed her eyes briefly and let out a soft sigh, then without a backward glance, exited the room and moved silently down a dark hallway.

Pictures of a smiling family lined the walls, but the shadows played tricks on their faces, making them appear to grin maliciously. Alex averted her gaze from the disturbing sight, to a slightly ajar door at the end of the hall.

Alex quickly made her way to the door. Pressing her back against it, she held her breath and listened. She could hear a soft raspy breathing from inside the room. On silent feet, she slipped through the doorway.

Crouched in the corner was another crawler, similar to the one from outside. It was facing the wall, rocking forward and back as it mumbled unintelligibly to itself. Alex shook her head in disgust. These things were not natural. Although, she was one to talk.

Shaking these thoughts from her mind she flexed her hand, and immediately electricity started to jump between her fingers. The soft blue light emanating from her hands caught the vile things attention. Its head whipped around and stared at her with dead, emotionless eyes. Alex shuddered involuntarily. Those eyes always bothered her. These things had lost all traces of humanity, and were now dried out husks of what they used to be. It snarled savagely and dropped to its hands and feet. There was a sickening crack, and its back broke in several places as it bent down.  It immediately started to race toward her, with surprising agility.

Alex calmly watched it grow closer, and at the last second she easily sidestepped it. It barreled past her, and as it passed she lightly touched its back. It collapsed on the ground and writhed in pain.  She kept her finger pressed against it, and soon its convulsing slowed to occasionally twitches, then stopped altogether.

Alex grimaced, glancing down at the now charred crawler.

“You brought this on yourself buddy.” She sighed. The world wasn’t what it used to be. Living now was like some kind of sick joke. Death was everywhere, and it seemed that the more you tried to avoid it, the closer it followed you. There wasn’t anything you could do about it.

Turning away from the grisly sight, she crossed the room and closed the door. Glancing out the window she saw the sun had just passed below the horizon, blanketing the city in darkness.