Empty World: Oneshot

In the year 2123, an unexpected event caused the sun to fluctuate. Fierce solar flares ravaged the Earth and all electronics were destroyed. At the same time, an unexplainable phenomenon appeared. People all over the world started to lose the ability to reason and gained quasi-immortality. Death would only occur in the event of the brain getting destroyed. After the solar flares stopped, most of humanity had been reduced to a zombie-like state. The survivors grouped together in massive walled cities. In these cities, depravity grew until everyone was corrupted. Eventually, people in the cities stopped caring about the outside world and stayed firmly within the metal walls. Unspeakable acts were common, but as everyone retained quasi-immortality, populations didn't drop and instead only grew. The sun, weakened by previous fluctuations, started to decay much earlier than it normally would have. While the time before death was still far away, the remaining inhabitants of Earth never even cared.

Several years later, something unprecedented happened, a newcomer. A full moon illuminated the land outside the city. In the wastes, a man walked. Approaching the walls, he showed inhuman agility and leapt to the top. Briefly observing from atop the wall, the moonlight revealed the man. He wore a ragged black overcoat clashed with pale skin. His black hair complimented the overcoat and had grown to his waist. His features were sharp, with a slightly long nose. His eyes were possibly the strangest part. His irises had a faint red glow. A quick jump brought him to the ground below.

The section he landed in was the very outskirts of the slums and currently, had no one in sight. A brief scuffle brought his eyes to the nearest alleyway. A young child was fleeing from several people ranging from youths to men. Initially, they all ignored the man and chased the child. However, the child had seen him and ran towards him, hoping for the best.

“Please!” She begged, “Help me!”

“No one will help you in this city,” the leading pursuer laughed, “the leader wants you and no one will go against him.”

The child, a girl with almost luminescent blond hair and innocent features, ignored them and hid behind the dark man.

“Oi!” the pursuer yelled, “Hand her over before we go after you too.”

The man shifted his eyes from his surroundings to the group in front of him. As one, they took a collective gasp. His eyes, which originally seemed to have a slight red glow now changed to a deep red. The leading pursuer swallowed his fear attempted to intimidate the man.

“Do you even know who you’re dealing with!”

“I don’t,” the man spoke for the first time, “and I don’t care.”

In a smooth movement, the man’s hand slipped into his coat and emerged holding a massive magnum. Before the men had a chance to react, he had already fired. The closest had his head explode as blood and bone showered his surroundings. The others quickly started to follow suit, their headless corpses dropping to the ground. The last man had the presence of mind to grab a gun and shoot back. The bullet tore through the head, yet didn't seem to affect his target in the least. The pursuer dropped to his knees in horror as the bloodied person approached.

“You…” he groaned, “what are you?”

“I am Pale Death” was his brief answer before his brains decorated the wall behind him. The girl, still hiding in the shadows, took this opportunity to approach.

“Thank you!” She wailed tearfully, “Thank you so much!”

“Why are you thanking me?” Pale Death inquired.

“You saved me!”

“Did I?”

“Yes, you did!” the girl was, rightfully, quite confused.

“I see”

Overcoming her confusion, the girl decided to introduce herself.

“I’m Sophie,” she proclaimed happily, “What’s your name?”

“I already said. I am Pale Death,” the man reiterated.

“That isn't a name,” Sophie insisted, “You must have a name right?”

“I am Pale Death,” the man responded, slightly irked, “in any case, stay here for now. I have some other business to attend too. I’ll return later.”

“Okay!” Sophie smiled. She had clearly placed her trust already.

“You might as well get some sleep,” Pale Death remarked, looking at the moon. “It will be some time before I come back.”

After saying his piece, Pale Death turned and continued along the path to the main city as Sophie curled up to sleep behind him.

“Such innocence is rare in this world,” he thought to himself.

On the main roads of the city, he found what he expected. As humans could hardly die, many had been reduced to insanity and many tortured others for amusement. Seeing the paradise of depravity in front of him, Pale Death almost seemed to make a slight smile. Soon both hands were holding sub-machine guns. Gunfire sounded continuously as people fell with holes through the head. Many fired back, but the bullets that punctured Pale Death merely damaged his coat. They did not seem to affect him in the slightest. Corpses piled up in the streets as he continued towards the very center of the city. Soon, his clothes and the very floor he stepped on seemed to be painted with blood. The number of attackers dwindled quickly, with many of the people hiding from the bloodbath. However, Pale Death never walked straight towards the center, but rather spiraled towards it. Along the way, groups of survivors were revealed and mowed down. The pleas for help, screams of the dying and gunshots melded together into the melody of Hell. Strangely, the sounds did not reach the alley where Sophie slept, leaving her in perfect silence.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

In the great hall at the center of the city, the ruler of the city heard the commotion. Not bothering with those outside, he got his followers to group up with the most powerful weaponry on hand. Each member had bulletproof vests and a sturdy helmet. The ruler himself, an obese man, had been satisfying his own perverse desires and had to hurry to put on a full defense suit. The group waited, sweating and nervous, in the town hall for the intruder to show his face. After a long wait, the screams and gunshots finally quieted down. The tension rose until the doors to the hall creaked slowly open.

Before they had a chance to fully open, the rule screamed, “Open fire!” His followers weaponry was clearly much more powerful, as they had machine guns and assault rifles. Bullets flew through the hall and pulverized the door. After several minutes of firing, the steady stream of lead lessened until all guns stopped firing. The followers started slowly smiling as they realized the destruction they wrought. Their celebration lasted until the dust started clearing. Standing in the doorway was what could hardly even be described as a corpse. There, riddled with bullet holes and covered with blood, stood Pale Death. The impossibility of him still standing shocked those standing. A sizzling noise became audible as the wounds closed and mist fled from the closing wounds. The shocked silence lasted until the first gunshot. One at a time, each person had a magnum shot explode their head. Pale Death had switched to twin magnums for the town hall and once again, the melody started as bullets punctured helmets and skulls alike. Although they fought back, people were dying left and right. When the sound started to diminish again, only the town’s ruler still lived. The ruler tried to backpedal as Pale Death approached, only to slip and fall from a dismembered arm.

“What are you!?” the terrified shout rang out in the new silence.

Pale Death gave another slight smile.

“I am the one who has to clean this world.”

The previous towns ruler could only stare in fear and disbelief at the incarnation of death before him. In the ruined town hall, a last gunshot was heard before all returned to silence.

Pale Death returned to the alleyway to find Sophie awake again. Seeing the guns still in his hands, she was surprised and inquired,

“What was it you had to do?”

Hesitating slightly, he decided to answer, “Have you heard of reincarnation?”

“I have…” Sophie trailed off, unsure of why he had asked.

“This world starting to die years ago,” he continued, “these people were never meant to live for so long, or to continue increase the population.”

Sophie tilted her head, still confused to what he was saying.

“Souls are meant to travel to the next world after death,” he sighed, “here however, they stayed and even created new souls. In order to fix this problem, I was given true immortality, to hunt down the people remaining in this world and transfer them to the next.”

“If you have true immortality, then that means you can never die right?” Sophie inquired.

“That is corre-” Pale Death started to answer, but was cut off.

“But if there’s no one else, wouldn't that be really lonely?”

“That is the price I must pay,” he stated, “in any case, it’ll be a long night, you should get some sleep.”

Still skeptical, Sophie decided to comply and settled down to sleep. Within minutes her soft snoring could be heard. Pale Death felt some regret as he watched her, as there were several things he hadn't said. “This city is already the last,” he considered, “it’s already just us.” He stood. In the darkness, something clicked. “May you find happiness in the next world,” he prayed. The gunshot echoed forlornly through the remains of the city.

In the dawn, the weak rays the of the dying sun illuminated the wastelands, full of corpses, as a lone figure wandered for eternity.

Author's Note:

I don't actually like tragedy so it's surprising for me to write this. I've been writing a much more light hearted series and the idea for this oneshot was hovering in my mind. So i decided to write it in order to stop thinking about it. I'm planning on releasing the first few chapters of the lighter series soonish.