ALONE.

He is alone. Standing on a rocky cliff face, the whole world at his feet, he is the supreme being. As the warm breeze picks up into a gale, he stares out at the tree-lined canyon before him. He watches the sun rise and journey through the day with interest. Yet, as he continues to stare out into the expanse of land before him, he is alone. It started out so nicely. How was he to know about the virus that came so suddenly, destroying the internal structure of all who stood in its path. Almost all of the population of the world, all six billion of them, were transformed into quivering blobs. He was the sole survivor. All he knew was that he had the antidote for the epidemic in his body. The antidote was the one thing that singled him out from all the other people. He didn’t know what it was. Only IT knew. IT was the virus. He closed his eyes and thought to that afternoon two days ago.

The clanging of the school bells woke him from his weary slumber. He copied down the homework as fast as he could and ducked out of the room, to his locker. As he collected his bag, he was alarmed to see his friends leaning against the wall, with a twitching bag behind them. As he watched in mute horror, they released the contents of the bag, which happened to be the Headmaster, and shot him. This was not an everyday occurrence for the school in the sleepy town of Angels Leap, but everyone somehow managed to avoid seeing the brightly burning blood as it slowly crept down the tiled footpath. As he stared at the blood, a horrible screeching filled the air behind him and he whirled around. His eyes almost popped out as he saw all his friends, teachers and schoolmates flopping down to the floor and slowly, ever so slowly, begin to lose their shape. It was a horror movie on super slow to him. He saw the pain and confusion in their eyes as their insides melted and they became quivering blobs. There was a dulled ringing in his ears as a banshee wail of suffering overcame his body. He felt something behind him. He spun on his heel to find himself staring into the slowly imploding face of one of his friends. The face imploded on him, sending blood scattering across his face. He scattered backwards and screamed. His friends face mutated into a hideous being with a sick and twisted fact, with the mouth set in a sneer. This being claimed itself to be the virus, and told him that he would be coming for him. He ran. He whirled around and ran. Once he was outside, he could see the horrible things the Virus was doing. As he ran around, he soon discovered that everyone around him was either dead, or dying. He felt sick to his stomach, and hid in an abandoned building. But it would not be over so soon. He quickly learnt that he had to always stay one step ahead of the thing that had him running for his life. But that was two days ago. He was through running, and prepared to become the Hunter… not the Hunted.

In a small block of land, outside the city, something clicked together and its first thought was processed. Who am I? What is my purpose in life? I know about the Boy, and how I am supposed to destroy him, but how can I? He holds the key to ensuring my destruction. That cannot happen! Only, I cannot find him. I am not alarmed, though. He will find me or I will find him. Then I will crush him, and ALL of mankind can rot.

He stole through the icy streets in what was the easygoing town of Angels Leap. Now, it was a ghost town. Wind whistled through the now deserted streets, and rusting husks of cars sat on the street like the homeless of not that long ago. None of this was all that familiar to him. His only thought: Survival. It was a necessity to him that he found out what the seemingly invulnerable Virus was weak to. All day and all night, he searched the remains of his town. On the third day of searching, he found an old, abandoned building and he knew that it would make an excellent HQ for him. He kicked down the locked door, and stepped inside to the eerie silence. In his new HQ, he was starting to stockpile weapons, in the vain hope that the guns could destroy the menace. Later that night, he quietly placed a new door on the space where the door had been. Silence reigned all over the town that night, but in one human and one Viruses mind, thoughts were jumbled.

In one small corner of the city, something stirred inside a soup of chemicals. If I only knew what draws me to the Boy. Only he knows what fate will befall me. I only wish I found out what it was.

Somewhere else, an overworked brain awakened. I need to get a reality check. There is no way that I am getting chased by Monster Virus, in my home town. No way. But what if it’s all true? It can’t be. I have to find my inner strength and defeat Killer Stuff or whatever.

The next day, both organisms awakened from a dreamless slumber, ready to face and fight for their lives. nothing could compare to the horror that they would face during the course of the next couple of days. He thought back to that fateful day a couple of days ago. He thought that it was just going to be another day at school, he didn’t think that he would be running for his life from a giant blob of sick. After shaking the cobwebs from his skull, he thought that he might need to cleanse himself, but he thought against it. He knew, as soon as he stepped out of the shower, the cleanliness of him would give off a sort of homing beacon, and therefore attract the killer thing to him. He looked around at his HQ. He would have to go on another supply run. He had nothing to eat, because he had discovered that his building housed an army of rats. He stealthily crept out of the HQ and ran to the abandoned store across the road. Once inside, he quietly grabbed all the food that he needed and went back to his HQ. When he reached the front door, he was shocked to find there was a bubbling hole where the door had once stood. He was on the verge of running away, when a thin green tentacle oozed out of the hole and pulled him into the inky blackness. Then, for the first time, man and beast stood together.

The virus looked at him, and was thinking of a way to destroy the being before him. I wonder how I can penetrate his skin, and crush him. I will probably enter through a wound. One that he has to make for himself. I wonder how I can destroy him without being destroyed myself. I wonder how…

Face to face, he was thinking the same thing. How am I supposed to deal with this living tub of snot? Am I supposed to disintegrate it? And if I am, how am I going to do it? I wish I knew why this creature is following my every move. I wish I could kill it. Maybe I can…

For what seemed to be an eternity, the hideous slime blob slithered across the room to face him. The thing seemed to be studying him for some alien purpose. He could see inside the Virus, and saw that the virus was adapting to everything around it. Finally, the Thing finished inspecting him and then disappeared into thin air. He searched frantically for where the beast might have vanished. Then, in a voice raspy and broken, he screamed,

“WHERE ARE YOU? COME OUT! FACE ME!”

Oh, he would hate himself, because he didn’t look down, at the quickly disappearing slime creeping out the back door. As he screamed out into the night, the only other human being in existence woke up from a deep sleep, and slowly trudged to the spot.

In the dark reaches of another building, the other human slowly awakened to see her surroundings. She knew that she had not been affected by the virus that had destroyed her other friends and family. Her vision was fogged and her mind was clouded with thoughts of revenge. Then, as she listened to the wind, a shrill scream rang out into the night.

“WHERE ARE YOU? COME OUT! FACE ME!”

At the sound of that voice, she knew who it was, and the fog that obscured her vision lifted, and the haze of revenge dissipated. Slowly, her thoughts came back to her and her under-worked brain worked.

How did I get here? Who knows where here even is? I am probably supposed to help an unfortunate person. Why am I alive? Everyone else died, so what’s the logic that I’m alive? Why didn’t I pay more attention in class? I know that voice, but from where?

It heard her. It knew about her. It saw her before she saw It. He saw It ooze to get her. He ran, feet flying off the ground. It saw him run. It laughed to Itself. She fell over and screamed. He reached back and drew a small knife from his boot. He slashed at It. The structure of It broke down and It disappeared into a small fissure. He looked down on her.

“Thought everyone was whacked by the beast.”

“No. I didn’t get ‘whacked’, as you call it.”

The conversations carried on until the night, and they settled down on opposite sides of a small electric heater. In another part of town, something was stirring. Like the humans, it was flesh and blood, but there was a distinct difference in where the flesh and blood was. It slowly uncurled itself from eight hairy legs, and scuttled towards the hole in its burrow.

Early the next morning, he was getting up around the same time she was. They exchanged morning greetings and went off on their own little journeys. He was about to go on another food trip, when he heard a small sound, like tiny footsteps on a glass pane, but there was no glass. He whirled around, and his breath caught in his throat. On the ground was the corpse of an animal. He didn’t know what had happened on that day, but somehow the animals hadn’t been affected by the deadly wave. He heard a muffled shriek behind him and turned to find her staring at the wall. She lifted her hand and pointed. He turned to face the wall again, and found, written in the animal’s blood,

“I’M GOING TO GET YOU”

He knew then, that the virus wasn’t going to come out and face him. He knew that the tables had turned. This wasn’t just a harmless little game anymore. His face hardened at the thought of it. He knew that nothing could stop it. He knew It. It was unstoppable. He thought about it when he was on his supply runs, thinking it was just a little game. But he had been so wrong. So, so wrong. It wasn’t a little game anymore. It was something a little more than a game, but slightly less than Armageddon. this was WAR.

That night, three minds were working. One was thinking of what would happen in the future, one was scheming how to got him, and in His mind, he was going over the events of the last twenty-four hours over, and over in his head.

In His mind, rage was boiling over the edge. I knew it was more than a game. Why didn’t I know that it was WAR!? All of this planning about how to win the game, sucked down the drainage ditch. Now I, no, rather WE have to start planning on how to stay alive. Every last one of us. This is where all that sports should pay off, eh?

In a chemical slop, matter smashed the sides to become consciousness. It thought with great wisdom, and skill. Ha. They got the message I sent them. They’ll never know why I sent it. But I think he is beginning to know why I spared one extra life. He is starting to learn how I think. Soon, we will be the new rulers of the WORLD! In the dark of the night, maniacal laughter chilled the spines of the living inhabitants of the city.

In her mind, she was looking towards the future. There is an expanse of future conditions out there, but I can’t look past this bleak event! How boring my life will be now. Why was I spared from the wave of sick? How do I fit in the grand expanse of life? She felt chilled as she heard the deep, laughter. There’s that laughing again. I know it’s from the  beast, but I just don’t know if I can go on without my friends. I have to be strong. If not for my sake, then for theirs.

The next day, there was some hope for the two survivors of mankind. That hope shone through their sorrow, to let a ray of joy into their otherwise dull life. That hope, was hope for the future. Hope that they could defeat this mutant blob, and restart the world’s population. When that hope was shining down, all the inhabitants felt something come over them, change their minds, so they could see. He felt his feelings of WAR disappear, if only briefly. She felt her worry vanish, to be replace by power. The virus felt, well, it didn’t feel anything, but it had worked out how to vanquish the filthy humans. Now, when the hope had gone, the humans felt themselves ready to take on the world. Then all the inhabitants were really, truly alone. They were two beings in a million lonely souls. They felt themselves strengthen with every passing moment. It sensed the change in their temperament. For the first time in Its life, It was afraid.