Annihilation

Chapter 1: Smoke

Shenzi's P.O.V

Smoke . . . it engulfs me and burns my lungs. It wisps around mockingly, surrounding me in a thick layer of grey nothingness, and the choking stench of rotting corpses, burning metals, and overall destruction. Fires flicker and dance in the distance, turning what is left of this world into ash and charcoal. I am lucky. I survived the flames, but I'm afraid. I haven't seen anyone, or anything else for days. The only living things I have come across are a few scarred trees, bushes, and types of horrifying bugs that I cannot identify, nor have I ever seen or heard of them before, but I ate them anyway.

I close my eyes and continue to shield my face from the smoke and the dry sand, as the wind seems to pick it up and throw it at me. My lungs feel like someone decided it would be a good idea to shove a sword down my throat, which might actually be better than what I'm feeling now.

Hot sand rises up briefly around my bare feet as I steadily continue to walk away from my village, or, what used to be my village. Groaning quietly, I lift up my burning foot and examine it. It's dark red and covered in cuts that are caked with bloody sand. It looks very painful, but my body feels numb. Footsteps very close to me catch my attention. Maybe it's another survivor? I turn around on my heel and search the horizon. I can't see anyone or anything. I swear I heard . . . something.

When I turn back around, my heart stops. About ten feet away, an unidentifiable creature of some sort stands looking at me with it's shifty grey eyes. Random patches of yellowish green scales look like they were grafted onto a human form, and it's feet has sharp talons, like a rather large bird. It's humanlike face was disfigured, half of it melting into another creature, similar to a cat. It hisses, crouches on all fours, and bounds towards me, kicking up sand as it goes.

Panicking, I leap out of it's path and skid onto the sand. Scrambling up off of the ground, I sprint away from the creature, but it's too fast. It catches me in the ankle with its sharp claws. The nails dig into my vulnerable dark skin, creating a long, bloody gash.

I kick the mutant as hard as I can in its cat like face, but it doesn't seem to affect it at all. The creature crawls menacingly over me, snarling and twitching its whiskers, as if daring me to make a move. Hastily, I glance over to the side and spot a mostly sand covered rock. My fingers brush the edge of the stone, and I carefully pull it towards me. Drool from the mutant's mouth drips a few inches from my face. Positioning the rock carefully in my hand, I smash it against the cat-human's head, and it jumps backwards in shock, whimpering. The impact doesn't last very long. The creature again pounces me, tearing at my skin with it's claws and teeth, but I bash the stone into it's head again and again and again. It continues to screech wickedly for a few moments, until I smash the rock on it's forehead one last time, and it falls silent, collapsing on top of me. I check for breathing or a heartbeat: nothing.

Gasping for air, I use what is left of my strength to push the creature off of me. For a few minutes, I just sit there, staring at the mutant. What is it? How does it even exist? My heart is beating like thunder with fear and adrenaline, yet I am also proud. Proud for being able to defend myself.

I pull myself off of the ground, but stumble and fall back onto my knees. A deep gash in my foot continues to bleed heavily, but I don't think it is fatal. My arms and legs are completely covered in cuts, but luckily not too many of them are very deep. I should be able to survive, I won't bleed to death. Shakily, I attempt to stand up again, but I feel very gawky as I continue to walk. Nausea is taking over me, but I can't allow myself to fall asleep out here in the middle of nowhere. What if there's a storm? What if I am attacked again?

My knees buckle out from underneath me, and I begin to crawl forward, unable to walk. As I continue forward, I feel something different beneath my hands and knees. Scraping the sand off to the side, I peer down at the ground. There appears to be some sort of trapdoor. A burst of hope runs through me, and my tiredness is replaced with strength. What if there are people down there?

Flipping open the trap door, I jump down inside, and close it behind me. Oil lamps line the perimeter of the small, hollowed out dirt room, making me feel like I have just jumped into some sort of sacrificial ceremony. Animal skin rugs are placed haphazardly on the floor, making my feet itch. It's hot and stuffy in here, and I find myself sweating. A single shelf is plastered onto the wall, but before I can examine what is on it, I trip over a fur skin and land on top of a human skeleton.

A sound, a cross between a yelp and a groan, escapes from my mouth as I jump backwards frantically. There isn't any flesh or blood left on it, which I find sort of strange. How long has it been down here?

I look down at my clothes. They are practically torn apart...and covered with blood. Hopefully not all of it is mine. The skeleton has a pair of goggles around it's head, the kind you used to see, that people who owned their own small planes wear. I slip them off of it's head, along with all of it's other clothes, and replace them for mine. This makes me feel very weird. but there's no other choice. The shirt is too big for me, a sort of sandy brown color. The front of it is stitched up very loosely with a large string. I have a feeling that whoever's clothes these used to be, they were not very rich.

I drag a fur rug to the farthest corner from the skeleton and try to sleep, but it's almost impossible. I keep finding myself staring at the empty skeleton, lying awkwardly on the dirt floor, and wondering who it was.