Chapter 1

One year earlier

I'm tired, so very tired

The sun peeked through the curtains burning into my eyes.

"Fuck it, I'm going back to sleep"

I turn away from the light and throw my pillow over my head.

"Wake up! You got work lazy ass!"

A banshee screeches into my room, piercing my ears with it's high pitched wailing. I feel the onset of a headache that accompanies me everyday.

Stomping over, the banshee, my best friend Teresa, tears the blanket off me revealing my boxer brief clad body.

"Groan . . . Leave me alone, I don't wanna go to work"

"Well too bad! I need you to pay the other half of the rent. Now come on, get your lazy ass up before I kick it up."

Proceeding to take the road of lesser abuse, I slither off the bed onto the floor where I drag myself to my laundry hamper.

"Breakfast is on the counter, day old mac an' cheese"

"Thanks Lucifer . . ."

"Haha, very funny, see you at Tom's "

She leaves the room as I reach the hamper. I pull out a gray v-neck T and a pair of khakis. I grab a pair of socks from my dresser and proceed to the washroom with my clothes tucked under my arm.

"Wo! Dude! Pants, man!"

Exclaimed Teresa’s boyfriend who seemed to be eating egg on toast.

Great, now I want egg on toast . . . Maybe mac and cheese on toast.

I grunt and walk into the washroom to appear acceptable to the rest of the world.

As I freshen up Teresa’s boyfriend Mark? Mac? Morry? Whatever it was knocks on the door.

"Hey, Tere told me to remind that we're having dinner at Tom's tonight."

I grunt loudly in affirmation with a toothbrush in my mouth. Definitely will try mac and cheese on toast.

"Alright, I'm taking off. Oh yeah you guys are out of bread."

Curse you Morry, Mac, Marc!!

After eating my mac and cheese with NO toast I left for work.

The elevator jitters and stops as it reaches the ground floor of my apartment complex. The door opens and everyone piles out like baby turtles freshly hatched. That's some allegory if I ever saw one. Baby turtles racing towards the open sea, their goal. Only to be impeded by predators waiting to devour them.

I nod at the security guard Hakim like I do everyday and he ignores me like everyday. Reaching the front door I push it open and head for the bus stop. The weather was rather hot for a fall morning, people were dressed rather lightly.

I take off my backpack and my windbreaker. I tie the windbreaker around my waist and walk off as I throw my pack back on. Streets weren't crowded yet since it was still early so I got to enjoy the sights in the concrete jungle. Why concrete jungle though? With how much glass we have now you'd think we'd adopt a new name, like quartz forest or glass maze.

I arrive at the stop and stand under the shelter. The usual people are here as well; Old lady Margery, the piercings asian girl, Bob, and tattoo face man. The bus arrives and we all get on.

"Good morning folks! Beautiful morning isn't it?"

The driver is cheerful as always, I smile and nod at him. Finding a seat I pull out my earbuds and plug in for the trip. Good ol' rock, it's the soundtrack to my soul. Drifting off into my little world I wait for my stop.

The bus stops short after a while and I take a look outside to see a police barricade. Huh, did something happen? I stand to take a better look when suddenly I'm sent flying.

*Crash*

I get thrown straight into the pole head first and everything goes black.

“I’M ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL!”

I wake up to the sound of my playlist and a world of flickering lights within inky blackness. The floor was cold and my neck felt like a kangaroo decided to use it as a trampoline. Where am I? Why is it so dark? Shit my head hurts. I push myself and pull my earbuds out, looking around I realized I was in a turned over bus. What the hell?

I look around the bus and remember that I was on my way to work like every morning when we got stopped by the police. Something hit us and I was knocked out. I look around to find bags and strewn all over the place. Walking towards the rear of the bus I see the damage.

The back half of the bus was crushed in like an accordion. If I didn't stand up I probably would have been crushed in my seat. Cold sweat starts to run down my back. Deep breathes Isaac, deep breathes. I calm down and go looking for my bag in the wreckage. I find it and carefully crawl out from one of the broken windows.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

A scene from every apocalypse movie appears before me; things were on fire, car crashes everywhere, blood and ravaged bodies. Shit, fuck, shit, what the fuck. I didn't dare breathe, the atmosphere was crushing.

*AWOOOOO*

A wolf's howl pierces my senses forcing me back to reality. I look around and find the cop from this morning on the floor. I run towards him to find that he was missing his whole lower body. Dead. It looked like he was eaten half way before whatever it was decided to leave him to die from blood loss. The scariest part was that I didn't recognize any of the bite marks, they were from creatures I have never researched before.

A new animal? The canines are similar to wolves but the jaw line is far too wide, the teeth marks look like they were chewed out not ripped out. It's as if a tiger grew wolf teeth with serrated edges.

I was getting distracted, pulling myself together I started checking the cops body. It was a disgusting mess and I felt my stomach churn fiercely as I picked through the cops uniform. I found a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, an empty holster and the S&W two inch snub nosed revolver in the cops hands. I check the revolver over, there was four shots left.

It had been a lifetime ago since I last held a gun in my hands. The sun beat down on my skin as bullets whistled across the streets. Men and children screamed and wailed as the sand congealed with blood. The sound of magazines clattering against my belt as I ran with my AK-47. The acrid scent of iron so thick it threatened to take all of my senses.

Enough! That was a long time ago, I’m not at war, not anymore.

I stand back up and take in my surroundings. I didn’t see any movement around me so I decided to head back to my apartment, I start walking. Taking out my phone the time was 20:13 and a whole lot of missed calls. I dialed my voicemail and started listening through. The first call was from my boss asking where I was so I promptly deleted that, the next one was far more important.

“It’s Tere. My building just went into lockdown, I’m not sure why but I just overheard one of other workers saying the police are being deployed city wide to stop something. Apparently the Military is going to be deployed too. Call me back soon, and hide somewhere safe.”

*Beep*

“End of messages.”

I hang up and move to check my texts when I noticed something move in the corner of my eye. Putting my phone away I turn and widen my stance while pulling my gun sights up and secure the revolver with both hands.

“Don’t shoot! don’t shoot! I’m human!”

A chubby black man in a tattered business suit limps out of the alley. I lower my gun and walk over to him as I look around. Coming closer I noticed the man's eyes are bloodshot, and that he was clearly scratched up and scared.

“Cmon, let’s head back into the alley, there must be a good reason why you’re so scared”

I half carry the black man back into the alley. Reaching.the alley I settle the man down and check his leg.

"What happened to the city?"

I ask as I ripped his pant leg open.the ankle was swollen, most likely a serious sprain.

"What happened to the city? Where were you the whole time? The cities gone to hell is what happened."

"I got caught in a car crash this morning, only woke up a few minutes ago."

*Snort* "Guess that makes you a lucky one. Or not really, you'd have to see them eventually."

I dig through my bag and take out my medkit. I pull out the bandage wrap and some painkillers. I hand two tablets and my water bottle to him as I start remove his dress shoes.

"I didn't catch your name, I'm Isaac."

"Dave"

"Nice to meet you Dave, now what were saying about seeing 'them'?"

Dave shivered and started to sweat, his eyes darting around erratically. Paling slightly he started to whisper.

"Beasts straight from hell itself, damnable creatures. They came out of nowhere and started to destroy everything. I saw one up close, it fell from the sky onto the car in front of me. Ripped the roof right off it and laughed as it ripped the man inside apart. I ran man, I got out of the car and just ran."

I finished bandaging his ankle just as he finished his story. He sounds like he's gone from fear, but if it's true. . .

"Could you describe this beast?"

"I-I wouldn't even know where to begin. That beast, I can't, I'm sorry, I can't."

He's clearly beyond shaken

"It's alright, you're safe with me. Do you know where it's safe? Did any of the authorities broadcast some sort of shelter?"

"No, I mean I don't know, I was just running and running"

"It's okay I think I might know a place nearby. Cmon, let's move."

I'm not far off from my apartment, I know this area well enough to find a good hiding spot for now.

I pick up Dave and we start heading towards my neighbourhood. I walk past Tom's pub and dining and turn into the alley. I get to the door and pull, it opened smoothly.

Thank god Tom never remembers to lock his back room.

I check over my shoulder one last time before Dave and I step in.

~~~~~~~~~~

Opinions? I'll have Chapter 2 out sometime this week, unless you guys can convince me otherwise

PEACE! Kilsikon7