Memory transcription subject: Governor Maulo of the Venlil Republic

Date [Standardized human time]: August 22nd, 2148

[Day 14]

I received very worrying news from Servaen. While I was attending the summit, we completely lost contact with Captain Reivaan. The entire exterminator’s guild was impossible to get ahold of.

“We can’t easily tap into local security cameras to see what’s happening up close, but satellite imagery shows Ransu is in total anarchy still. Beiton is likely soon to follow, and the infection has spread to nearly every major city on that half of the planet, only blocked by the poles. It’s really only a matter of time before we start to get cases out here,” Servaen explained grimly.

“Stars…” I grumbled, “Does funding the guild even make any difference anymore?”

Servaen shook his head, “They’re more vigilantes now. Videos are popping up all over the internet showing them marching the streets with flamethrowers to keep people in check, I don’t think we can do anything about them.”

“I thought Captain Reivaan had the exterminators under control,” I growled.

“Well, he did,” Servaen began, “in his last report, he noted even they were starting to get sick. I think- well…” he trailed off.

“He’s dead too,” I said.

“Other nearby captains have their hands full in their respective cities, and those on our side of the planet wouldn’t touch Ransu with a 50-foot pole,” he said. “It’s out of our paws now.”

I sighed heavily, “Is there any good news?”

“Well, the research on Leirn got started. The one that’ll get us thrown out of the Coalition,” he glared.

I waved a paw dismissively, “We’ll be just fine,” I said.

“Maybe it’s for the greater good, but it jeopardizes our peace!” Servaen exclaimed, throwing his paws up in frustration.

“So does this virus! You’ve seen the streets outside! You’ve seen how many people are slaughtered, trampled, or succumbed to the virus! The Coalition resigned us to extinction,” I spat, “I am not going to stand idle while my species marches to the grave!” I caught my breath, I was leaning over my desk staring Servaen down. The stress was getting to me, I don’t usually blow up like this.

I pawed my snout and sat back down with a thud. “I’m sorry. But you have to understand where I’m coming from. I couldn’t just refuse the offer!”

Servaen nodded finally, “I understand, I do. Whatever is best for Skalga,” he said.

~~~

Memory transcription subject: Lewis Blake, human refugee

Date [Standardized human time]: August 22nd, 2148

[Day 14]

“We’re out of food and we need to move,” Ivan said sternly. Charlotte was cleaning out a can of pickled mur root with her tongue, watching us intently.

“We could run out for food and come back! There’s no reason to leave the only safe place in the city,” I said.

Ivan shook his head, “This shelter won’t be safe long. What do we do if they come in while we sleep? See two predators harboring a lone pup? They’d kill us, infect her with the disease, and then that’s it!” He spat.

I looked down at the pup, she clinked the can against the metal table and giggled at the sounds it made. “You’re right, but she’s infected if we leave too,” I said.

“Maybe not,” Ivan replied with a smirk. “Give me one sec,” he departed into the store room. I heard him shuffling around through boxes. I sat down in front of Charlotte, “You makin’ some music?”

She tapped the side of the can with her utensil, creating a beat, “Yeah!” I swayed with the rhythm, she had good timing for a child, then started to whistle tunelessly.

“Wow! You sound like a bird,” she giggled. I whistled my thanks as she switched the pace to a faster, thrasher beat.

Ivan returned from the storeroom carrying something floppy and silver while Charlotte and I rocked out. “I don’t mean to interrupt the music, but look here,” he held up the object. It was an exterminator’s suit, complete with a mask. “These recycle the air, no virus will get to her,” he said.

“Will it even fit on her?” I asked as he lifted up the pup and began slipping the suit over her. It was clearly intended for an adult. “Eh, not really, but we can carry her,” he answered.

He put the helmet over her little head. The sleeves went limp at the elbows, and her feet were roughly where the lower thighs would be. Giggles crackled over the helmet’s radio. Ivan set her on the ground, “Can you walk, little lady?”

She took a step… tried to take a step, and fell forward. Ivan caught her luckily. “No!” she giggled.

“Where do you suppose we go?” I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders, “Just up. Let’s try and find a store that isn’t looted, then to the border. If we can get to peacekeepers, we could get flown out of here,” he explained.

“Okay, that makes sense, yeah. Let me go grab something first,” I retreated to the barracks and reclaimed my knife. I was too lousy with a firearm. I returned, Ivan had Charlotte in his arms and motioned toward the door.

I gripped the wheel and twisted, it creaked open loudly and we ventured up the stairs. Another door and we were back in the little entry room. I looked back one last time into the shelter, our home for the last few days, as Ivan pushed the door closed with his body. I steeled myself, then pulled open the exit.

The dusty corridor was somehow in greater disarray than when we got here. I instantly realized the two bodies we’d left, the venlil and Logan, were incinerated.

“Stars…” Ivan muttered incredulously. Charlotte craned her helmeted head to get a peak at the carnage. He covered her visor and muttered, “Pl’gh tu m’tya, Co?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Ho-kai,” she replied, her best attempt at English. It was sickening seeing him desecrated like that, but a part of me was relieved I didn’t have to see him rotting. Ivan passed the corpses quickly, to keep Charlotte’s eyes off them, but I lingered a moment.

“I’m glad I knew you,” I muttered, fighting to keep tears from my eyes, “I love you, bro.” I carried on.

Outside, the chain link fence was melted open. That was a worrying sign. Suddenly, my holopad blared to life. I quickly silenced the ringing, and read the message.

All humans within Ransu City are required to retreat to the northernmost border immediately to prevent the further spread of the Skalgan Flu. All shuttles will be gone by August 17th, SHT. Anyone who doesn’t report to the border will be left. The UN is not responsible for injury or death following this announcement.

Ivan glared at the holopad.

“Fuck!” I cried.

Charlotte’s voice crackled from the suit, “That’s a bad word!”

I collected myself, “Sorry, Char,” I apologized. “It’s okay!” I patted her helmet.

“Let’s get a move on before we encounter whoever burned those bodies,” Ivan said gruffly. We ran out into the alley and turned toward the street. We were following the reverse path Logan and I took to get here.

“I don’t think we’re gonna find peacekeepers here,” I muttered as we scanned the streets from cover.

“Not likely. We’ll have to escape the old-fashioned way.”

I spotted a black husk on a far street corner. It was contorted in a writhing position, very clearly human. “Ivan… look over there,” I pointed at the corpse.

“Stars- that’s-” A shimmer near the body caught both our eyes. Down the sidewalk marched a venlil, decked out in a suit identical to the one we put on Charlotte. They carried a massive flamethrower attached to a bright red tank on their back. It inspected the corpse, then smashed a foot through the skull, which crumpled in a puff of ash. We ducked back into the alley before it spotted us peaking.

“We can’t go that way unless we wanna end up like that guy,” Ivan said. I nodded, “How about the opposite direction?” I asked.

“You want to go downtown? Really?” He answered.

“I didn’t think about that… shit…” Charlotte wagged a paw at me. I couldn’t help but smile at her. I looked around the alley, we were nestled between two pretty big buildings. One looked to be apartments, the other was the shelter. “What’s this building here?” I asked.

“I’m not sure actually. But it extends a long way down, maybe we can find a way in.”

Charlotte pointed at the domed roof, the wall was straight for about 10 feet before it started curving. “That’s glass! We could break it,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah! Alright, Char!” I spotted a dumpster up against the wall. One side of the lid was open so I climbed on top. “Yeah, I’m able to climb-” Looking down toward Ivan, I noticed the contents of the dumpster and almost lost my footing.

Charred corpses. Human, venlil, all of them frozen in screams of agony and hastily dumped, their limbs seemed to grasp up at me like they wanted to drag me down with them. I resisted the urge to vomit and closed the lid, careful not to make too much noise.

“What is it, Lewis?” Ivan asked.

I shook my head, “More reason to get the hell out of here,” I answered. I got a grip on a gutter running along the building and lifted myself up onto the roof. There was just a little footroom before the dome. I peered inside, it was not apartments like I thought, but a huge office complete with ruined cubicles and trashed computers. I drew my knife and jammed it into the glass as hard as I could. Nothing on the first hit, a crack on the second, then-

Smash! My hand went straight through. One of the shards cut up my arm, but I shrugged it off. I kicked in more of the glass, it clattered loudly on the floor. Once I deemed it safe enough, I called out, “Ivan, hand me Char. Let’s get going.”

He passed me the pup. “Hi!” she waved.

“Hold on tight, okay?” she wrapped her paws around my neck as I leaped into the gap. It was a pretty big fall. Glass crunched beneath my feet where I landed. “Oof!”

We got out of the way as Ivan leaped down with an even louder thud. He clicked off the safety on his rifle and aimed it into the darkness. My eyes adjusted quickly, the building seemed about as old as the shelter, and everything was coated in thick dust that plumed with every step. A faintly purple light filtered through the grimy glass.

I ran a hand across one of the keyboards, my fingers came back gray. “This place was abandoned ages ago,” I observed. “Maybe it’s safe here?”

“Maybe. Let’s keep moving, we still need food and water,” Ivan replied. He led the way forward.

“It’s scary in here,” Charlotte said shivering. I held her tighter, “Don’t worry, Char. I got you,”

We passed by the boarded-up front door, venlil architecture tended to have fewer windy corridors in workspaces like this, so getting a lay of the land was pretty easy. Ivan carefully stood up on a desk that creaked beneath his weight and scanned around the room. He hopped back down, proclaiming “It’s safe.”

“Nothin’ but cubicles,” I said to Charlotte. I set her down and she hiked up the suit’s legs to waddle around a bit. “Most buildings around have glass domes, we could break through to the other alleyway, and keep moving like this until we hit the street. I don’t really know what to do after, though,” Ivan explained and pointed up at the roof opposite where we entered.

I nodded and began stacking desks to reach the glass. I hopped up on top of the somewhat stable pile and covered my eyes to chip away at the glass. It broke easier on this side, and I worked on clearing a big enough hole to crawl through without cutting us up. I could make out another dome, but lucky us the building had windows facing the alley. They were pretty small though.

“Okay,” I said finally, “Pass her up to me.”

Ivan handed me the pup and I set her on the narrow bit of flat ground just outside, then heaved myself through.

“Lewie, you’re bleeding,” she observed. The cut I’d gotten earlier from the dome was still oozing crimson. “Ah, don’t worry about it. I’ll be just fine,” I said reassuringly.

I hopped up to join her, now I had a much better view of the outside world. Buildings in the distance were still smoking. The streets looked almost deserted, but the occasional exterminator marched by. I kept myself low so they wouldn’t notice us.

“Stay here,” I told the pup, then carefully lowered myself down to the ground. Ivan popped his head out of the dome and looked around, then smiled at Charlotte, who gave him a happy wave. He crawled out and perched on the ledge.

“Pass her to me,” I said, reaching up toward them. He carefully picked her up and hovered her just over my arms. “Ready Char?” I asked.

“Yes!”

Ivan let go, she fell just a couple of feet straight into my arms. “Wheee!”

“Gotcha!” I exclaimed as Ivan hopped down.

I got a good look at those windows from earlier. I could probably squeeze through them, but Ivan couldn’t. I noticed a side door, locked from the inside, and figured I could let us in. “I’m gonna get through that window there and open up that door,” I explained the plan.

“Sounds good. We’ll keep low,” Ivan said, shrinking behind a dumpster. I peered into the window, the lights inside were off, but it looked significantly less abandoned. I took the knife and started chipping at the glass. It shattered, shards clattered on the floor. I prayed nobody was home, then hopped inside.

It was brighter in here compared to the other building, but not by much. I felt around for a light switch and flicked it. It was a store room similar to the one in the shelter, with boxes of food stacked on shelves. I clicked the lock on the door and let Ivan and Charlotte inside.

“Keep that gun handy, there’s food here,” I said, “Could be people through there,” I pointed to a metal door. He handed me the pup and held the rifle out with one hand, pushing open the door carefully.

It didn’t creak, thankfully, but we immediately heard voices on the other side. The door was attached to a kitchen, this was some sort of restaurant, and we entered through the pantry. Me and Charlotte stayed behind Ivan as he led the way forward, carefully peering behind every corner and keeping the rifle trained forward.

The voices were becoming more distinct, they were situated in the dining room, with the windows boarded and sealed. I peeked over a countertop that separated us from them and saw humans.

I turned to Ivan and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and went pale.

“What?” I mouthed, and then I heard a shotgun rack directly behind me.