Chapter 2- Big City Blues

Despite living on top of the tower for 14, going on 15 days, he'd never actually been inside of it.

At the edge of the top was the start of a staircase. A lot of the buildings in the city were strange, and this one was, too. The staircase wrapped around the sides of the building, starting from below the ground and ending where Jalen takes refuge now.

As he went down, he paid close attention to each of his steps. The stairs were made of crumbling concrete, reinforced with a metal that, after years of exposure to the elements, had started to rust. There was a rickety, not-so-safe safety rail on his right, the building at his left. Every other floor was a balcony with a set of metal doors. Some were closed. Others have been torn off their hinges. Jalen had yet to enter the rooms. He guessed them to be apartments or some other form of shared living but they were too dark for him to really find anything. That, and he wasn't sure they were empty. Although he'd never seen anything leave or enter, he'd heard the shuffling beneath him at night enough to know these rooms still had inhabitants.

At maybe half way down, he paused to look over the railing. The city sprawled around him. He squinted, staring towards the horizon. It didn't seem to end, a never ending grid of gray roads and gray towers, but that was normal enough for a city. Jalen lived twenty minutes away from Newyork. He toured a university in its center. Standing on top of its tallest building and looking out towards the rest of the city, it really did seem to stretch out forever.

Then again, that city at least had people in it. And maps. He could leave it at any moment. This place was slightly different.

He reached street level. The stairs continued into the underground, sinking into darkness, but Jalen decided he'd die out here, in the open air, long before he took as much as a step down there.

As usual, he surveyed the carnage of the previous night as he made his first stop.

Many of the creatures die as he sleeps.

The first carcass he came across was a familiar one-he sees them often. From the neck down, it was something like a dog, a german shepherd, maybe, with short, dark, sleek hair, and a short tail. Its flank was gashed terribly, a long, jagged angry cut stretching from its back to its underside, caking its fur with dark blood. The head, however, was alien. Starting at its neck were large, sharp, sets of mandible. It was like someone had ripped them off a giant ant and stapled them onto a dog. The tips were dark, the main body bright red. It was streaked with blood. As far as Jalen saw, it had no eyes, nose, or even a mouth.

He squatted over it, wondering how it even functioned. If it were standing, it would've been at his waist. On its two legs, it would've been just over six feet, a few inches taller than Jalen. He couldn't even determine what they would sound like, but he knew they traveled and fought in packs. He'd see groups of bodies at a time often on his trips. He didn't want to come across them while they were alive.

He stared some more, vaguely wondering what the thing would taste like...slowly roasted over a fire. He shook his head and continued on. He didn't need to do that. Not yet.

He continued down the empty streets. There was a clatter-empty cans in the wind. Smaller animals, active in the day. Something scurried into the shadows of an alley-a spider the size of a racoon, its long and spindly legs glistening. The roads were long and he stayed in their center, away from alleys and buildings he didn't plan to enter. Anything that would try and eat him was active only at night, but that didn't mean he was safe. He caught sight of a few of them during the day once before. It was only deep inside the darker buildings, but it confirmed what he guessed-not all of them were asleep during the day. If he wasn't careful, he could be dinner at any time.

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He sighed. The sound echoed around him. This place didn't scare him anymore. Well, that was a lie. It terrified him. He wanted to go home. But now that he understood how it worked-stay at the tower during the nights, scavenge if need be during the day- it wasn't so bad. If something looks suspect, it is. Stay away. Rinse and repeat. Terrifying, but manageable.

But if that's all he planned to do...why did he come here in the first place?

There was a turn he had to take up ahead. On this street there was more dead- something like a lion, but covered in multi-color, glittering scales. Its tail was the body of a snake, its eyes open but dim and lifeless. It lay in a dark pool of its own blood. Looking at it, Jalen saw that its side was perforated with a cluster of holes. Gunshots? No, guns were loud, and this looked recent. He would've heard it fire, even over the monsters. He considered poking it with the rebar but after a few seconds of thought, decided against it. Let the snake-lion hybrids sleep where they lay. He continued forward.

But as he passed it by, it twitched, scratching feebly at the ground with a claw.

Jalen froze where he stood. Before he could even elect to hold his own breath it caught itself in his chest. His fist held the rebar in a white knuckle grip. He stood stock still, listening. His pulse was already thundering in his head.

Then, silence.

He turned his head slightly.

The creature lifted its head to look at Jalen. He could see the life very quickly draining from its eyes. It opened its mouth, then collapsed. He stared at it for a second more, then turned.

Jalen quickened his pace.

~~~

A few blocks and thirty maybe minutes later, he reached his stop.

It was a tall, maybe 30 feet, wavy, chipped marble structure, with four short metal spouts protruding out of its square top. Water trickled through the spouts into a wide basin at its base, collecting in it in a scummy green circle. In the eerie silence, the trickle of the water was almost tranquil.

He walked forward to what he assumed to be a fountain. He filled his bottle, downed it, filled it again, then bagged it.

He came across the place on his first day.

He was covered in blood. If he could, he would've peeled off his own skin.

He had initially wandered past it, the gleam of the metal spouts catching his eye. He bathed himself the best he could, drank some, then bathed himself again.

Thinking about it though, he realized something. A lot of water systems, he learned in a history class once, don't last long if the people running usual maintenance aren't around.

If this fountain still had running water, then, maybe someone was around?

He thought about it, then frowned. That didn't make any sense. The city was in shambles. It was likely this way for years. Who would still be running the water, of all things, and why? What were the odds that the one person or small group of people still alive here would know how to run a water grid?

He thought some more, then placed his hand to the stream. The water, cold to the touch, trickled through his fingers. It made no sense, but he couldn't argue against what was before him now. He'd look more into it later.

Next was food. That was slightly farther... maybe 5 miles off. He turned to begin the next leg of his route.

And he saw he was no longer alone.

On the other side of the road was a creature. And it was staring directly at him. It snarled and began to approach.

Jalen didn't take a step. Instead, he quietly and slowly dropped the bag, using both hands to hold the rebar. He'd rarely used it as a weapon, only for moving debris and walking, so he could only hope it made a good one. Jalen decided that fighting the things here, in the long run, would complicate his situation and probably make it even worse.

But from the way the creature approached, advancing slowly with its head lowered and growling, Jalen knew a fight was unavoidable. The thing meant to hunt and eat him. It was four legged and covered in strange, pale, almost gray skin, like an elephant. 2 rows of 4, dark, holes in its face bored into him, sizing him up. Were they eyes? Ear holes, maybe? Sharp quills lined its spine, bristling its back. Claws, long and curved, tapped quietly across the cement. It hissed, revealing a mouth filled with bloodstained, needle like teeth. Jalen blinked, hit by a sudden realization. This was probably the thing that killed the scaled lion.

Small world.

The creature opened its mouth, hissing in earnest. It was an ear splitting sound that felt like someone was driving a red hot nail into his ears. He winced, stumbling back. Then, it lunged, its jaw hanging open.