In the Dark
1st Person Exposition:
My name is Cole Merrick. I am nineteen years old. This is my life now… Scavenging for food, clothes, whatever really. I thought I’d be used to this by now. After all, it’s been, like, two years since they dropped those bombs on us. Yes, bombs, as in more than one. Fifteen more besides the one that… God, why do I still remember everything…?
‘E-Bombs’ is what people called them, short for ‘Element Bombs.’ The bombs got that name cuz a few people were able to control the elements after being affected by the shock wave. I was one of those people. I control shadows, darkness, whatever the hell you wanna call it. There’s also fire, water, air, earth, metal, sound, poison, lava, light, wood, plants, ice, lightning, and even the power of the mind, telekinesis I guess. Just to clear things up, the world didn’t turn to shit right away. Some cities weren’t all too destroyed by the bombs… Not like mine was… While civilization was still a thing, the government informed people that they were calling people like me ‘Deviants’ because we deviated from what was natural for humans. Since they couldn’t control us, they decided to kill us… But… We weren’t the biggest threat to the government. Not even close.
Wraiths and Cryptids. If Deviants are the positive effect of an E-bomb, Wraiths and Cryptids are the negative effect. Nobody knows for sure what they are, but theories exist. A common one was that they’re supposedly Deviants that strayed a little too far from the norm. They got some of the benefits, the strength, the speed, enhanced senses, but they lost everything that made them human. Now, they’re like zombies. They only exist to kill, and they roam around mindlessly. I’ve seen what they can do. They literally drain your life out until you yourself become one of them, or you just drop dead. Funny thing about Wraiths, they’re like old, dried out humans, mummies essentially, but I’ve seen them take bullets to the chest, walk off tank blasts, and even level a well-sized building with a swipe of their claws. Cryptids are animals that were mutated by the bombs. In short, they’re the animal version of Wraiths… Although… humans are animals, so you can take that however the hell you want. I don’t care, really.
‘Course, humans are around, too. See, I think of this whole thing like some demented experiment. Deviants were the goal, Wraiths were the failures, and humans are the control group, I guess. If you didn’t Deviate, if you didn’t become a Wraith, and if your didn’t die, well, you were still an Average Joe, or Jane… Joan? Probably Joan. Whatever. Humans didn’t take too kindly to us Deviants, people hate different, and nobody likes a Wraith, so they formed their own groups. I see some groups every now and then when I leave. I suppose they found another way to kill Wraiths and Cryptids outside of decimating their heads since a bullet never did the trick. One way or the other, I couldn’t give a damn as long as they leave me out of it, and that goes for everybody.
Oh? I forgot to mention the elegant scenery? Well, allow me to explain. See, while Deviants, Wraiths, and humans were all going to war, something none of us could stop was happening. Ever heard of global warming and all that doomsday shit? Yeah, that happened, except the E-bombs sped it up. Climates shifted, oceans flooded into places or died out. Forests became deserts, a few cities even became deserts like Quinton City. Some deserts actually became forests. Oh, the ice caps melted. Instead, the equator got cold and the poles got warm. Yeah, basically everything got all flip flopped.
Ya wanna know what I think is the worst part though? It's the fact that everybody lost somebody that day. It didn't matter what your social status was, what color your skin was, what gender you were, or who you loved. We were always equal, it just took a couple of bombs and a lot of death for us to see it. I forgot to mention it, but nobody knows who dropped the bombs. The conspiracy theorists went wild though.
“It was the government!”
“No, it was aliens!”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Don't be absurd! They came from another dimension, maybe even another timeline!”
I don't care who or what it was. Guy, girl, anything in between, or out of this world, I'm gonna rip their heart out, just like they did with everybody else.
So, this is my life, the life of Cole Merrick, and that’s how things came to be. Pretty peachy, right?
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3rd Person:
A few hours after waking up, Cole was sitting on the edge of what was once a skyscraper. His right leg was dangling off the edge and his left leg was bent up close to his chest. His left arm was resting on its corresponding knee as he held a piece of chocolate in his hand. He was looking out into the horizon when he heard something on his left. Footsteps, lots of footsteps. He looked and saw a cloud of sand rushing toward him. Normally, he would’ve gotten inside to be safe, but something was different about this one. He looked toward the front of it and saw a girl with long, blonde hair sprinting as a horde of seven Wraiths chased her. He could also see what clothes she was wearing. The girl had on a denim jacket over white blouse. She also wore a pair of black shorts with white shoes. He could also see she was around his age.
‘Too fast to be a human. Guess she’s a Deviant. Why isn’t she just blasting them?’ he thought as he looked down at her. They started approaching the city while Cole continued to watch. ‘Welp. None of my business.’ he told himself before standing up. He began to walk away, but stopped only a few steps later. He sighed reluctantly with his eyes closed. Then, Cole turned and ran toward the edge of the building. Cole leapt over the edge and started plummeting toward the sand below. As he grew closer, the horde was soon positioned directly underneath him. With a loud boom, Cole came crashing down into the ground, scattering sand as a brown cloud rushed out.
The Wraiths all focused on the sudden outburst. From inside the cloud, a pipe zoomed through the air and drove right through closest Wraith’s head. Cole soon followed and used his hands, which had become more like shadowy claws, to slash through the remainder of its head. The Wraith’s body started to crumble into a pile of ash as Cole stood over it. Then, one Wraith screeched and the entire pack charged toward Cole. Rather than charging back at them, Cole reached his hands out toward them. Two, long, dark limbs stretched from his arms and grabbed the closest two by their heads. After that, he whipped them high into the air, their shrieks growing quieter as they went higher and higher. His shadow arms retracted back to their regular state, but Cole wasn’t finished. With a simple thought, shadows rushed from the shade casted by the building behind him. They pierced the two that were closest and lifted into the air. Once they were up a few feet, Cole snapped with his right hand, creating several sharp branches that ripped the two Wraiths to pieces and scattered their ashes to the wind.. Due to their lack of understanding and their drive for souls, the remaining Wraiths continued on their war path. Annoyed, Cole extended both of his arms toward them. His left arm stretched into its elongated shadow form again and clutched onto one Wraith. However, Cole used his right hand for something else. A sphere appeared around the other one, trapping it inside despite its best efforts to escape. Slowly, Cole started closing his right hand while his eyes narrowed into a sharp scowl. Finally, his hand formed a fist and there was a small, black orb floating where the Wraith once was. After Cole opened his hand, the ball vanished and released the remains of the Wraith. With only one last Wraith remaining, Cole’s arm pulled it back toward him until his actually hand was holding the monster by its face. Without any mercy, he slammed it into the sand as his hand let out a black energy.
In the distance, a large, black hemisphere could be seen erupting into existence with two dark rings circling around its body. A moment later, a forceful shock wave burst through the air, carrying sand with it.
Back at the site, Cole swiped his right arm through the air and disbursed the dust cloud. He heard the girl coughing a few feet to his right and looked over at her. Then, his attention was redirected toward the sky as he heard the screams of the falling Wraiths. Cole simply looked at the shadow of the building behind him and it turned pitch black. The final Wraiths fell into its darkness and were seemingly absorbed by the shade. Now that the fight was over, Cole turned his back to the girl and started walking away. He could hear the girl panting, but ignored it.
“Th-Thank you for saving me…” she called.
“Don’t mention it.” Cole replied.
“No… really, I-” she started.
“Don’t mention it.” Cole repeated as he turned back to her.
“My name… is Jessica O’Neal.” she identified.
“I don’t wanna know your name, lady.” he spoke as he started walking away again.
“Please… I need… wa-” Jessica tried. Then, Cole heard a thud in the sand. Just like on the roof, Cole stopped and closed his eyes with an unenthusiastic sigh. He turned and saw the girl he’d just met face-down in the sand, clearly unconscious.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Cole stated. Then, he opened his arms and looked at the open, blue sky above. “Why do you do this to me?” he asked. After that, he returned his gaze to Jessica. Cole really didn’t want to get involved, but with the situation right in front of him, he had no choice.