The Third

Chapter 1 // Incandescant

The air was hot and dry, the incandescent Phoenix sun was beating down on us, rendering us motionless. Like ants under a magnifying glass on a summer day, we sizzled and burned and let each other be.

I felt my skin crack with every slight move I made, trying to make myself comfortable on the hard, sandy desert ground. I looked up and used my hand to shield my eyes from the blazing ball of fire in the sky, and what I saw looked like a battleground.

Bodies spread out everywhere, in no orderly manner whatsoever. Some half alive, some less than that.

I was not alone, but I felt more than lonely. I felt empty and gone, although I was still very much existant.

I glanced through the rusty metal fence I was leaned against, and up at the barbs and electric chains sprawled across the top of it. What kind of an ugly place had this become? Only a year ago it was peaceful, and free. It was beautiful. We were all glad to be a part of it. The earth was God's best creation.

Until they came.

Who are 'they'? No one knows for sure. They came out of nowhere, without warning. We know them as The Third. The third everything. They come in threes...and they leave in threes. It never changes. They came third. Animal, human, them.

They were just a huge mistake. A simple lab incident. They said it was typical, nothing to worry about. A simple incident. It grew into much more than that.

They tampered with the genes and, putting it all together, created a monster. It overpowered technology, the human race...it overpowered everything.

Duplicating itself in threes...it took over all we knew. It happened so quickly- the takeover, I mean- that no one could prepare themselves. They panicked. Worst case scenario was reality. It was chaos.

Simply put, The Third overpowers everything.

They are unstoppable and they are aware; so they took action. The human race is not invincible by any means, therefore we are seen as inferior.

That is how they view it.

So they set out on a mission to exterminate the human race. It was nothing involving guns and explosions and extremities of violence. No atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Nothing like that. They wanted it to be slow. They wanted to antagonize us to the point of our breakdown. And that is exactly what it came down to.

They broke out of the foreign laboratories and flooded into our largest cities. Our most influential populations were the first to go.

The first we heard of was London.

They led their attack overseas to New York City, to Detroit, to Los Angeles, to Dallas.

They then made there way into Phoenix. To me.

They kept pushing on until every inch of every city, every state...every province, country, and continent was completely under their command.

It was sicker than the Holocaust, more cruel and discomforting. All blacks were killed. Every member of every 'inferior' people; meaning the entire world with the exception of Americans, Canadians, Brits, and Russians; were slaughtered. Gays and lesbians, Buddhists and Christians were slaughtered. If you had no religions or rights to stand up for, you lived on.

But barely.

They got rid of any former connections between us, made sure we all felt like strangers in this world. They picked out the stronger among us, and locked us up in these camps, called districts. The rest were cast into the ocean, deported to other worlds. No one really knew what happened to their loved ones. Just that they were here one day, gone the next.

No one had any friends or acquaintances to stick by. Or to stick by them. The world had becomes a spinning storm of loneliness. And just like The Third, this storm was unstoppable.

Their next step was to segregate sexes. Males were set apart from females so there was no way of reproduction. That way, humans would no longer live on. Extinction was their mission.

But not immediately.

Oh no, they wanted work first. They wanted to transform Earth into the world they dreamed of, and make it exactly how they want it. Could they do it themselves? Yes. Would they? Hell no.

They did nothing themselves but kill. It was all they were known for. So we were locked up. Kept in these huge districts, blocked by heavy metal barbed wire fences, electric wire embedded inside.

There was no means of escape. Even if there was, there'd be nowhere to go. It's all controlled. By them. After a few months I had gotten used to the harsh sunlight, the frequent deaths, the cruel conditions and the rare meals. As used to them as one could get, at least.

I never really got used to the loneliness. I tried talking to people, quietly, while we were supposed to be sleeping. But due to fear, due to strict conditions, I didn't get much for conversations.

Just dirty looks, slaps to the face and a couple of fuck you's.

I got to the point where I couldn't handle the wreckage anymore. I doubted what faith I had left...I doubted the strength of every feeling in my body...I doubted every last corner of humanity. It was then that I realized that there was no true future for us.

And if the God I prayed to ever existed...He is gone now