Another day another unproductive scavenging run as you head back with your 4-man unit back to your hideout. You gave your report to Natasha, she was angry of course and I could empathise with her, really. Such responsibility to burden was not an easy-going task.
“We got a few cans of cat food but it won’t last us for this week. We need to go further south before winter sets in”. Natasha gazed at you with her predator eyes, not sure if she was thinking or it was something you said that angered her.
“Look I know this place means the world to you but…” before you could even finish your sentence she said : “Out, now!”.
You nodded and turned towards the door. As your hand was about to reach the doorknob, you remembered : “Alexis did find something interesting though” you said as you reached for a tape wrapped with paper in your jacket.
You handed the tape to her. The words play me was written on it with blood.
“What in the fucking fuck can I do with this fucking tape you fucking retard useless piece of shit?”
“Hear me out, when we were looking for food in Ravenwall, a helicopter flew by us and…”
Natasha abruptly cut you off “A helicopter? We both fucking know they don’t exist anymore since The Singularity”.
“That’s the thing, we ran to see what the hell was going on. Alexis, being the runner, got there ahead of us. Said there were three soldiers, fully geared. They were battling a Bone. Two had limbs torn apart and the last pulled a grenade on himself when he got grabbed by the Bone. Luckily for us the Bone died with the explosion so Alexis was able to approach the soldiers. It turns out the soldier that pulled the pin on himself was still alive, barely breathing though, he gave Alexis this tape and with his last breath exhaled: “They must know”.
Bewildered, Natasha put the tape in her radio device.
I don’t have much time so I will try to explain as much as I can. My name is Douglas. I command sector 3 or Ravenwall City as you call it. For the last few days, we lost all means of contact with all of our outposts, Fort Pasteur, Dallbow, all of ’em. Me and a few survivors are boarding up near the community center for a few days since Tommy broke his leg. Poor bastard. Anyway…this may be the imminent end for humanity. If…somehow humanity survives…I hope what I’m about to say would be of great knowledge for the future generation. I was there…from the beginning.
The event that caused all this, we called it The Singularity. They came from space and they hunt for our flesh that fuels their species. We tried fighting back and for the first time in history all of us banded to fight a common enemy. We gave them everything we had but they outnumbered us. They figured out how to disable our machines : guns, vehicles, generators… For decades we were enslaved by these tyrants, hanging our feeble bodies around monuments, like a medal of glory, like something they are proud of to showcase. Some were abducted and kept alive for their twisted experiments, only to be killed when they felt bored or had enough.
We lived in hiding, mostly underground. Living conditions were tough, food, water and medical supplies were always scarce. So we conducted skirmishes, we sent our civilians to fight and we told them that it was to remind our enemies that the war was not over, that we were winning the war but the truth was to reduce the population that we once had sworn to protect. That is…until project Dawn was born.
Project Dawn was a trial experiment conducted by Dr. Yin to create enhanced humans that can understand the technology of the alien species. He envisioned that humans could be in symbiosis with the aliens. He was put in charge as the lead researcher against the aliens and after years of patience and trial-error, he managed to create the N-1 serum from the aliens’ cell body that was captured. The N-1 serum was injected to human volunteers whose only salvation was to avenge humanity.
We called these first-generation serum receivers Bones since they tend to develop some sort of exoskeleton. The N-1 serum worked perfectly; we could understand the aliens. Turns out they act similar to what we called swarm intelligence, like how ants and bees behave in their colonies. They act or behave by following a simple set of rules yet these rules are nonexistent because nobody creates, controls nor reinforces these rules. However, what does a human have that animals don’t? Consciousness. That was how we hacked their systems.
It was our holy grail. Every battle we had was victorious and without casualty. We understood their language and tactics and thus could foresee every battle outcome. Humanity was winning, always one step ahead and within months we managed to push these invaders out after what seemed to be a hopeless clause.
Humanity was rebuilding. We swore that we would hunt these creatures back till their total annihilation. We created systems, institutions similar like the old times but better. The world was divided into sectors and life was thriving. Resources were limited but enough. Humanity was one, we were going to be the future.
Despite all the positive outcomes, Bones was mutating at an unprecedented pace. They were becoming uncontrollably hostile to humanity, up to a point where they would feed on humans. Their mutations would infect other hosts and render them as mindless living corps that feed on non infected. In other words, a zombie. I’m sure you’ve seen it if you’re listening to this.
Listen, if you are a survivor, head to Dallbow as fast as you can and spread the message around. I know I said that we have lost contact with them but they may just have a signal problem. You need to regroup at Dallbow; it is the safest and furthest outpost from other mutated infected.
*Gunfire at background and sound of door bursting open*
“Sir, it is here, motherfucking thing is here we must go now!”
“Oh yeah, one last thing…there is this thing…it’s…heheh…it’s over 7 foot high, the floor moves as it walks, it appears out of nowhere and follows everywhere you go. It’s been 3 days for us and it seems to find us every damn time. It knows where you hide. We call it the Stalker. Motherfucker will not stay down, not even a scratch from all those gunshots. Listen, we believe it is patient zero to the N-1 serum. My theory is that this is the doing of aliens from event Singularity. I mean if they could hack past our technology, what makes it impossible to rewire the N-1 serum? It was part of their genes after all. Were they intentionally losing the war to infiltrate humanity by using our Bones? Did they know that we would eventually create the N-1 serum? *Sigh* Anyway…my fate is sealed and I am doomed. There is no escape”
The tape continued playing with Douglas laughing hysterically, the voices of screaming men and women, footsteps and statics got louder and louder to a point that you could feel your eardrums vibrating. You covered your ears, Natasha plugged the radio off but the volume seems to get louder. Then silence, total silence till the tape ceased to play. You felt chills running down your spine and goosebumps like you never had before.
“Dallbow, let’s get to Dallbow” Natasha said with an icy voice.
It’s the first time since The Singularity you felt her terrified. You gave a nod and you felt a bit off balance and almost fell, or was it the ground that was shaking?