The Cities

It has been ten years since the collapse of society in western nations as we know it. Ten years since the Pales took over and ravaged cities and local wildlife in their lusting hunger. Cities lay barren and falling apart, cars left lying and decaying, with towns also deserted. In the beginning the Pales had large numbers of them banded together to feed and ravage cities. They have since separated into packs around the country. They were hurt by UV light so many survivors of western society had adapted to live in high places or behind large walls with UV lights to protect them at night or travel during the day.

The Pales were frightening, the biggest stood ten feet tall and was a formidable entity. They had claws to tear their prey apart like a lioness tearing into their own meal. A Pale’s arms hung very long and their legs were lengthy as well. Their heads were big and narrow filled with razor sharp teeth, about 3 inches long they jutted out of their mouths with long tongues. They stood tall but when running the Pales could catch very high speeds like a cheetah. Pales weren’t agile and that was their biggest weakness. Pales had hind legs like wolves but mostly stood on two feet.

These creatures had pale skin hence their name Pales, thin but very durable in any weather. Most stood about 8 feet tall at full growth, they breed and have packs like wolves close to ten a pack centered around a few females. They are nocturnal, at night they hunt their prey, their eyes are narrow but large, they can see very well and are suited to darkness.

The Pales suddenly appeared out of nowhere one day and could not be stopped. There were signs something was wrong, people would go missing, missing person posters were everywhere. Posters for pets were around as well. Yet no one could suspect it was a country killing cause, one that would suddenly show up and devour cities and towns. When they finally did show up and they did, they showed up in armies as an unstoppable force ravaging neighborhoods at night.

House to house they went, feeding on entire neighborhoods in a night. In the beginning the cities were helpless and it took awhile before the military would join the civilian’s fight against these monsters. They too, were devastated by the Pales as a food source. Before the military collapsed it evacuated as many civilians as they could out of cities and towns. Many died of starvation as food was no longer abundant. Grocery stores were closed as an option due to the Pales denning inside them. Most who went inside did not come out during the day.      

My name is Zane and living through this apocalypse has been hell. I traveled alone mostly, at the start I traveled in groups of survivors of twenty to thirty people but they all succumbed to becoming food of the Pales. So I manage on my own. I’m about 5’7 with long blonde hair, a sturdy build, blue eyes with a narrow face. I wore a thin trench coat to stay warm and have a backpack of supplies.

I use a silver edged katana and a military combat blade, it does better than a gun but I also carry a sidearm with magazines. I managed to scavenge the gun and ammunition from military men that were ravaged. I never found their bodies as the Pales take them to their den. The sidearm seems to slow Pales down and my katana to cut their head clean off or I could enter the blade through their chest. That did the trick.

The military was still around and operated somewhat to try and cleanse the country of the Pales but I don't know whether i’m in Canada or USA at the moment, the borders between countries are blurred to me and it’s just chaos. The military weren’t very successful, most units got their asses kicked before they could get rid of a den of Pales, they used flamethrowers which were effective and armor piercing rounds but still had casualties from every operation.

It’s about noon and I'm walking down a highway littered with decaying cars. As I approached a nearby city, most of the cars had cracked or broken windshields. Sometimes I saw the odd humvee or a tank. They made great shelters for nighttime. Pales couldn’t get into them, but they could ram a humvee until a door fell off so tanks made a better shelter. 

The reason I'm walking into a city is to scavenge food. I have to be quick and find it before nightfall as the Pales tend to compete with each other in the cities because food is scarce. Being careful was a necessity because of bands of people who still survive in the city and also the Pales, as city packs could get to be thirty to forty large.

Upon entering the city I walk past the towering skyscrapers of former business and apartments. The Pales often slept in the sewer systems so I couldn’t enter those areas. But the odd pack would sleep in an abandoned building that was dark enough. I found  one, it was between a corner store and a Starbucks and with the lack of Tim Hortons, it meant I must be somewhere in America.

I reached around my backpack and got my torch. I would need batteries and canned goods from this store. I flicked the torch on and entered the building. It was a Costco so it would have what I needed, stopping at the entrance to listen. It was dark inside. I listened for a few moments for heavy breathing or snarling. Nothing. so I felt it was safe to go inside the abandoned building.

It wasn’t relatively empty, in fact I was surprised it wasn’t picked clean. I began searching for food and batteries as well as water. I was running low on that. I came up to an aisle and found beans and peaches on the shelves. Took my backpack and dropped the cans which were 4 cans of each.

Then I made my way to the electronics aisle. Once there I found the batteries I needed, double A, I found four packs. I packed them up, and made my way towards the refrigerator aisles hoping to find water. But on my way there I heard something, I froze and Listened. Then I was sure. It was heavy breathing. 

Fuck, I thought to myself, If only this was that easy. Knowing I was gonna have to kill them, hopefully silently, I put my backpack on the ground next to a rack. I pulled my combat blade out and turned to the aisle. I shined down the aisle, there were four of them sleeping about a meter apart from each other.

They were on the small side about 4 feet tall so they were inexperienced, probably just pups as I called them. I crept over to the nearest one, bent over it and jammed my blade into its throat near its vocal cords, so it wouldn’t make a sound. Its eyes shot open and it gurgled, I held it down, it struggled for a moment and went limp.

My heart was racing as I looked over at the other three. Still asleep, I breathed quietly to slow my heartbeat down. I approached the next closest one. I jammed my blade in the same spot. It gurgled as well and I held it down. Then my heart froze. The heavy breathing stopped. I heard a snarl from one of the two remaining and they both woke up. Fuck, fuck, fuck  I thought.

I sheathed my blade and pulled out my katana, it came out with a Schwing! The two remaining pups got up. I readied myself, they snarled and one lashed out at me with their claws, I dodged and took a swing and took the hand clean off. It shrieked, then I Shoved my blade into its chest, the other one started moving towards me and I removed the blade from the first pup’s chest as it crumpled to the ground.

The second pup took a lounge at me, it tackled me to the ground and I held up my katana into its mouth blade forward sideways, snarling as it struggled to reach me with it’s teeth. I moved my right hand into the center of the blade and reached for my dagger. The blade cut into my fingers and made them bleed. The pup struggled and raised an arm, it’s hand and claws high ready to come bearing down on me.

I grasped my dagger and shoved it into the side of it’s head, the dagger entering the brain. It’s arm went motionless and it’s body collapsed on top of me. Struggling, I pushed it off. I breathed a sigh of relief and slowed my heartbeat. I shook the blood off my weapons and sheathed my blades and  looked around. I saw two bottles of water on the shelf. I grabbed the bottles, packed them and hastily made my exit.

Knowing that shriek would have been heard by the other members of it’s pack, It  wouldn’t be safe in an apartment tonight so I fled the city and by nightfall made it to the tank I saw on the highway. I turned my flashlight on and entered the tank and shut the hatch just in time as I heard Shrieks and howls ringing out in the city behind me.

I’m pretty sure Pales are smart enough to feel complex emotions but I'm not one-hundred percent. It seemed that way. I settled down in the tank and there was a thermal blanket inside, I turned my flashlight off and inserted it into the pocket in my trench coat. As I laid down to shut my eyes, I pulled the thermal blanket over and settled to sleep.