1 The World is changing
Present Day
Year -2027
A strange phenomenon had embraced the Earth. None were given the liberty to question its source or the reason for its arrival. There was only one thing to do.
Run.
Run and never look back.
"Nikita, hold my hand tightly!" A young soldier shouted hysterically as he grabbed his beloved's hand.
Deathly cries and screams reverberated across the city where a roiling mass of destruction had descended.
Animals and humans alike had morphed into hideous creatures that were far more deadly than the extinct ones of the past.
Or perhaps those extinct ones had even...revived.
There was no mercy shown as these newly born creatures with malice itself in their bones had ravaged the City to ruin and ash.
And what few survivors remained had fled to the far ends of the City in hopes of safety, yet such hopes were crushed by the vicious creatures that devoured them whole in swift bites.
"Nikita! You need to keep up!" The soldier cautioned more sternly this time.
His grip on her hand had tightened painfully but she gritted her teeth to keep the tears at bay.
"I can't go on..." Nikita huffed and stumbled over a few of the fallen buildings' debris.
"Damn! What the hell is going on?" The soldier sped up his pace and barely managed to avoid a few of the newly mutated creatures in his path.
"Where... are we... going?" Nikita managed to question in between deep breaths. Her heart pounded rapidly from exertion but she did not dare to stop.
"The military base," The soldier replied sharply. "We should be safe there."
Or at least he had prayed that they would be safe. Considering the mass hysteria and panic that unraveled around them, the military base of his faction would be the best gamble.
All that mattered was that he needed to ensure Nikita's safety.
Although, he awoke that morning in hopes of their reunion after two years of his military service, his plans for the day had been ruined.
"Zak, what's going to happen to us?" Nikita took in another deep breath. Her legs struggled to match his pace.
Zak glanced briefly over his shoulder to look at the forlorn expression on Nikita's face. There was fear in her eyes from the way they watered, and her lips trembled ever so slightly.
"I won't abandon you," Zak said firmly and focused his attention on their path ahead. "I will get you to safety Niki. I promise."
"Us," Nikita emphasized. "We need to stick together."
Zak nodded briefly but there was an unknown fear that the destruction around them had instilled in him. He focused on the path ahead but he could not help but notice slight movements on the buildings they dashed past.
Occasionally, he brushed it off as a figment of his imagination, other times he had changed their course to avoid whatever it was that lurked above.
'Why is this happening now...' He thought to himself.
When he had returned home earlier that morning, there was a deafening sound of a white noise that reverberated across the entire City. And a thunderous boom followed soon after with a blast wave of blue energy.
The magnitude of the blast was bound to consume the City whole. Yet it was as if the wave harbored a will of its own and instead crafted monstrous beings.
And in that split second, Zak grabbed Nikita without a moment's hesitation at the first sight of their pet dog that turned feral and beastly after the blast wave.
He ran without thinking, or perhaps it was his soldier's instinct and senses that directed him to flee at the first sign of danger in a situation out of his control.
Zak's thoughts were disrupted when he heard hostile growls behind them.
"Fuck," He swore in rage as he sighted three wolves on their tail.
Wolves? The predators were twice the size of their usual growth and had razor saber fangs that were stained with blood and protruded from their mouths.
A black miasma enshrouded their fur coats that were now decorated with sharp spikes.
And it didn't help that with each passing second, their speed seemed to increase. Their eyes were a dark crimson that focused intensely on Zak and Nikita.
Zak glanced back at them and his gaze narrowed at the sight of their wild pursuit, after which he shifted his attention to Nikita who was completely out of breath and strength.
He stopped dead in his tracks which caused her to stumble but he caught her quickly, and shoved her forward.
"Run. And keep running to the base," Zak ordered strictly as he grabbed the glock pistol from the holster strapped to his thigh.
"I won't leave-" Nikita had begun to protest but Zak fired a shot on the ground near her feet.
She flinched at the sharp sound of the gunshot and closed her eyes tightly. Her heart clenched from the drastic change in Zak's demeanour but she understood that she had to obey him.
"Go," He said coldly and pivoted on his feet to confront the mutated wolves. "Find Commander Vane and explain the situation."
Nikita contained her tears, took a deep breath and continued to run further ahead.
"That's my brave girl," Zak smirked proudly and assumed a weaver stance.
His gaze narrowed slightly to perform a visual calculation of the distance as the three monstrous wolves drew closer.
He bladed his body, placed his right foot back and his left foot forward towards the targets. His firing arm was extended forward while his support arm's elbow was bent.
Zak inhaled a deep breath as he closed one eye to focus on the largest of the three wolves that rapidly approached.
He fired the first shot which penetrated the largest wolf's head directly. The creature let out a brief squeal before it dropped to the ground and a purplish fluid oozed from the bullet wound in its head.
"Bet you didn't see that coming, canine bastard," Zak grinned and fired another shot at the second wolf.
The bullet struck the beast in its chest and its growls waned into silence.
"Two down."
Zak observed the third one that sprinted towards him at full speed. Although it was smaller than the other two, the creature seemed to exude a much more fierce aura.
Its canines were bared as a show of predatory dominance and it snarled at the sight of its fallen kin.
"Crawl back to hell!" Zak fired the third shot that hit the creature's soft underbelly.
The third wolf stumbled over in a roll but it regained its balance and charged towards Zak faster than before.
"Damn!" Zak cursed and made a break in the opposite direction. "Persistent bastard."
The third wolf was further enraged by the injury but its ferocity and feral aura did not waver. It resumed its pursuit as if a bullet never pierced it.
"Well this couldn't get any worse, now could it?" Zak sighted another three monstrous wolves in the distance ahead.
The terrain had become difficult to navigate and traverse due to the rubble and debris from the destruction.
And not to mention the fact that the monstrous wolves were quite agile as they hurdled over any obstructions with ease.
"Curse my luck," Zak made a beeline for an alleyway on his right.
The narrow space made it difficult for the monstrous wolves to pursue him and they were forced to give chase in a single line.
However, his brief moment of having outsmarted the wolves was short-lived when one of them jumped down from the rooftops right in front of him.
Zak halted and fired a shot at the wolf in front. The attack distracted it for a few seconds before he slid under the creature and continued to run but his rotten luck had other plans.
The first wolf he had shot earlier in the head appeared infront of him. The bullet wound in its forehead sealed closed with no visible scar.
"How? You're still alive?"
Was this his end? Did Nikita at least make it to the base?
"What a day not to carry ammunition," Zak sighed as he clocked his gun.
Three bullets left. And six wolves. Where was he going to run?
Completely surrounded and outnumbered. Where would his rotten luck take him next?
