When I awoke from my improvised backseat bed, the sun had already risen, and my back was stiff as a board. Getting out of the stolen vehicle, I shook myself free of the night-frost that was still prevalent and coating the car, and had seemingly settled inside my bones overnight.

I didn’t look about the countryside before, being too preoccupied by eating, sleeping and driving, but now, with the sun lifting itself above the horizon, I noted its beauty. There were endless fields stretching far into the distance, only cut short by a temperate forest that seemingly spread itself all around me.

I saw a couple of huge boulders, simply sitting there in the fields; seemingly enjoying the sunlight just as I was. It looked almost… peaceful. If you only looked here, and nowhere else, you wouldn’t even know that something happened to the apex species of the planet. It was an interesting thought that nature wouldn’t be bothered at all by our mass disappearance - if anything, mother nature was probably rejoicing right now.

Shaking the thought from my head I turned myself towards the rising sun, feeling it warm my face. Not having the time to spare, I didn't bother to light a fire to heat the ravioli I was going to be eating. I just shoved half the tin into my face, sealed it back up with some duct tape, and bade my farewells to the faithful companion that had carried me so far from home.

Then, I grabbed the staff, shouldered my pack, and began walking North-West, in the direction of the closest great body of water that wasn't salty as all hell.

You see, I didn't actually choose the great lakes willy-nilly, I put some uncharacteristic thought behind it. I could have gone three general directions:

1. Along the coast, which would have led me to some other big cities that were probably destroyed by fire just like New York was.

2. Straight west, which would eventually lead me toward Tornado country, and dubious amounts of drinking water.

3. Lakeward, which would lead me to the biggest reservoir of water which can be reasonably purified.

Not only would the lakes give me essentially unlimited water, they would also shield me from the "burnout" of civilisation as I would come to call it.

Also, the only map I had on me was my phone, which was as of that morning at 37%. I figured that the Great Lakes weren't called that for nothing, and decided on them as my destination.

***

I'd been walking for close to six hours when I finally spotted a town on the horizon. There were only two columns of faint smoke, and as I got closer, I saw that they were caused by the smoldering ruins of two houses, not open fire.

The town was tiny, containing only about two dozen small houses of varying shapes and sizes. It had two roads crossing in a T, with a small chapel occupying the space on the other side of the terminating road.

I was reminded once more of the unnatural silence while walking into the town. Outside, in the near-wilderness, there was wind and vegetation, but here, there was nothing once more. It unnerved me even more so than before.

I was idly wondering if bigger animals had disappeared as well, or perhaps only mammals, as I had seen insects buzzing about, when I saw a flicker of motion out the corner of my eye, something twitching in a shadowy doorway.

I spun around, fixing it with my eyes, the staff in both hands ready to strike, and bated my breath as I slowly inched closer.

However, it was nothing. I eventually got a good look into the entryway, and there was only empty air.

I was getting jumpy, and paranoid. I knew the effects of isolation well, they were after all one of the things studied in behavioral psychology, which was an elective I had been taking up to about three days ago. However, I couldn’t believe I was already at that point.

Shaking my head, I continued walking down the main road, and eventually broke into some homes via open doors and windows, recharged my phone, and nabbed a bit of preserved food. Then, I filled my canteens in one of the kitchens, and returned to the street.

I did eventually check out the tiny chapel, finding it lacking in much of anything. Apparently, the good reverend had lived quite the spartan life.

***

I decided to stay in the town for the night, not too keen on sleeping out in the open. Sadly, none of the cars that weren’t driven into walls or hadn’t crashed into each other had keys anywhere to be found. Not wanting a repeat of last nights experience, I barred myself in one of the houses, stacking tables and closets in front of the door.

Before I went to bed, I stood on the porch of my one-night home, which I designated "Fort Ghostbuster" in defiance of the wraiths and spirits and banshees and whatever the hell kind of monsters go bump in the night, and reflected. I was never the kind of person to believe in the supernatural, but something was going on.

During my burglary spree, I kept having feelings of being watched, twitches in my peripheral vision, but it always turned out to be nothing. I'd startle and look around, only seeing empty windows and dusty street. I'd ready my staff and inch forward, only seeing shadowed crevices and hollow doorways.

However, I couldn't shake this feeling of dread. The kind of feeling that screams at you from the deepest, darkest corner of your mind, The kind of feeling that shouts "Run! Hide! Something's out there!". I was afraid of making noise, being sure not to step on anything plastic, or yelp in pain when I bumped into something, as if something would hear me.

But that was ridiculous. There was noone there. Everyone was gone. Why couldn't I shake that feeling?

***

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I awoke once during the night. Ripped from my apparently recurring nightmares of smoke and ash by a short scream. The kind of scream one makes when startled by something terrible, or seeing something grotesque. I wasn't sure whether the scream had come from within my dream or from the outside - or if it was perhaps my own, but it didn't repeat.

Alone and in the dark, with no light apart from the weak glow from my phone held in one shaking hand, I tried to still my breathing. I kept as still as possible, listening for anything that sounded like the strange shriek I thought I’d heard.

The worst thing about it though - It wasn't human. It sounded vaguely human, but deep in my soul, I knew it wasn't. It took all my willpower not to panic; I laid there for about two hours, crying silent tears of terror, before I fell asleep from exhaustion.

***

When I awoke, It was a sliver past dawn. A glance at the bedroom clock revealed the time, which was 9 am flat, and I got out of bed, the previous night mostly repressed with the nightmares preceding and following it. I thought about the strange incident in the night briefly, now that I was thinking rationally about what had made that sound, I figured it must have either been a weird part of my dream, or perhaps a fox or something? I vaguely remember something about how they make weird human-like screaming sounds.

Regardless, I steeled my resolve and stepped outside, into the waiting day, and ate the other half of the ravioli I’d opened the day prior. My diet was really beginning to suffer, I couldn't live on ravioli alone, which was partly why I raided this town like a viking.

I checked most of the cars in the village, and all save one had the keys nowhere in sight. They had most likely vanished alongside their owners. That was another interesting thing to think about; everyone had disappeared with everything they were wearing as well, I hadn’t seen piles of clothing strewn everywhere to indicate the people who used to live in the places I’d been through. At this rate I would need to start making a notebook of all the strange questions I needed answers to, right now I had more important problems though.

Namely, the only car I was able to commandeer didn't have much gas left.

Figuring it was the best I’d find, and not wanting to waste any more time in this ‘squalid hamlet’ that had been giving me the creeps, I turned the key in the ignition and listened as it turned over a few times before starting. Shunting into into gear, I pulled away from the sidewalk, and the silent village quickly receded back into the distance, the near wilderness almost a welcome respite at this point. With its bees and flies, and the green flora adorning everything around me, I could almost pretend that nothing bad happened at all.

It turned out the fuel gauge was right when it said “less than 12 miles remaining”, because after about ten miles, the car died just as its cousin had. Stepping out of the car, I gave the pile of scrap a solid kick, as if that would teach it a lesson for running out of fuel or something. Unfortunately all this gave me was a sore foot and I cursed myself for letting myself lose my level head like that. Closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths to calm myself I set out on foot once again.

Using my now fully charged phone, I chanced a look at the map, to check if I was still on track, and spotted the next settlement - a small city fit for 11,000 people, apparently - on the route.

I really didn't want to waste any more time and risk a sleepless night in the utter darkness of night, so I set a brisk pace for myself, that would hopefully get me there in time to find a suitable place to sleep before dusk.

With my shoes hitting the dusty ground below, and the staff's studded cap dinging into the asphalt, I was on my way.

***

Many hours later, I figured that I had slightly miscalculated either my speed or the distance, because I arrived at the outskirts of town just as the sun began touching the horizon, carrying with it the promise of darkness, shadows, and more night terrors.

Luckily, this town had streetlights, so I wouldn't be left in total darkness. A small consolation, not exactly enough to make me sleep out in the open, but better than being stranded in the middle of nowhere with the sun going down.

It was only when I entered the town that I realized my error. I'd been building a steady fear of shadows, darkness, and silence, and with the sun halfway across the horizon, every single doorway was a potential source of dread. Every dark window was a gaping maw in the dimming twilight.

So what did I do? I'd like to tell you that I stood bravely in the face of fear, a shining beacon of bravery, but that wouldn't be the truth. I just stood in the middle of the road, the staff clutched in both hands like the railing on a cruiser during a storm, and walked - very slowly - into the town.

The silence greeted me once more, as it had so many times, but this time, it seemed not just deafening, but malevolent. My eyes darting to every dark corner, every empty doorway, always in search of those flickers of motion I kept seeing out the corner of my eyes.

At one point, I heard almost imperceptible taps behind me, which were so close to non-existence as something could be and still be audible, and whirled around - only finding empty street, illuminated by the cold streetlights. At this point I couldn’t help but start taking light, panicked breaths - there must be something near me, if there wasn’t then I was going crazy.

The night promised not only darkness, but coldness as well. I felt an icy frost set in my bones, penetrating down into my flesh, robbing me of fluid motion and inducing a numbness in my fingers and toes. I felt my skin grow cold, so cold I could almost feel the frost forming on it.

All the while, my paranoia kept increasing. I was mostly robbed of common sense at this point, the very places that I should be seeking shelter in becoming the object of my fears.

A flickering light, causing shadowy forms to recede into the darkness.

An empty doorway, seeming deeper and darker than the rest.

Shadows boiling just outside the radius of light cast by the streetlights.

My skin had grown so cold it was almost as if I had frozen not only through fear, but through the sheer void of temperature around me.

It was then that something brushed past my back and the surrounding streetlights began flickering intensely, before the cold neon glow was replaced by complete darkness

It was the last straw that could have broken, the last piece of bravery evaporated in that moment.

I whirled around, releasing a scream I'd been holding in just for this occasion, and was faced with IT.

***

IT was unexplainable, inconceivable. IT was terrible. A roiling mass of shadows, somehow of an even deeper shade than those surrounding it. No head, eyes, or anything of the sort, just a mass of nothing, deeper than the darkness of space, bleeding into the surrounding shadows.

I stumbled backwards, some part of my hindbrain screeching at me to get away, to cower, to cry until it left, and fell to the ground, pushing myself further using my legs and arms.

Then, it began to move. Or perhaps that isn't the right word, it began to motion itself toward me, a smooth, almost gliding movement, too slick and graceful for something as terrible as this.

I tried to stand up, to do something, but my limbs wouldn't obey me.

Then it was upon me.