Lie in Ruin

Chapter One

Optic stared down the scopes of her sniper rifle, a beautiful black and sleek Dragunov. City Seventeen lay in waste and ruin through the glass scope of her sniper. A pungent stench of decay and rot clogged in her nostrils forever, but when you lived in one of the worst cities that were left in this apocalyptic world, you became used to the scent. Filthy, unnatural. The words still sang in her head like a choir song, but more insistent, more screaming. The year was 2028, and at the meager age of seventeen, Optic had witnessed the world fall. People sent into a frenzied panic, trying to figure out what had all gone so, so wrong.

Two years ago, a meteor struck the earth. It was nothing minute, and it wiped out two whole cities in the United States. She still remembered the panic that had followed. But, then a storm hit world. Flaming rocks slammed into the earth, radiating with new energy. They wiped out thousands alone. More cities were crushed, and the only rain was those glowing red rocks, filled with malice and promise. The combined force that lasted a whole week slaughtered the population until half of it remained. People's hopes never rose in the weeks of panic that followed. Families that survived were lucky, but few. Everyone lost someone, no one was safe. Especially not with what was to come. Hordes of ghoulish creatures ripped from the earth, screams tearing from throats that were soon missing. Optic's own brother was taken by those things at the small age of five. She was lucky to still have her team, a group of five others. The creatures were nicknamed Wanderers, with their pale skin and wickedly sharp teeth. They found any living being and decimated it, until chunks of flesh, bones, and pools of blood were all that was left. So much blood. They had distorted faces, and their spindly limbs were thin, the skin dripping off whatever bones were inside of it. They smelled of rotting apples, and their insistent growling rang off anything when they neared. More creatures followed, so many more. They made the earth their dominion.

A shudder rippled through Optic's whole body, but the scope of her sniper continued to survey the grounds, the roofs, the alleys, the walls, steadily. The shadows, where anything and everything lurked where it wouldn't be seen. And everything did that nowadays. After one last survey, Optic slowly sat up from her position on the ground. Her body barked in protest, as she'd been laying there for a few hours. She needed to get back to her team and offer a report before sending out Flint to go on his rounds. Flint was the muscle of the group, although they all had strong points in different areas. Optic brushed Flint off her mind, as soon as he had come, hefting her weapon as she stood. She stretched out her legs and looked up at the not-so-bright sun. Heavy grey clouds covered it, so it didn't sear her eyes like it had once done two years ago.

She made her way down the fire escape, the rusted metal creaking and whining beneath her slight weight. She wished she could silence it, she'd rather think without it screeching in her mind, next to those words that had already been singing there for the past two years. She dropped onto the cracked, uneven, tar-black asphalt of an alley, shouldered by two dirty brick walls. She glanced over her shoulder, and a soft scuttling sound piqued her senses. It was coming from a destroyed dumpster, and she slowly raised her sniper rifle. She took a slow, very slow, step towards it, then leaped back. A furry brown, soot-covered body squeaked and darted towards a hole in the opposite wall. She immediately relaxed, lowering her gun with a breath. Just a rat- the pesky creatures. One of the last surviving things on this earth, next to cockroaches.

As soon as Optic thought she was safe, for she really wished she never did, things always tend to happen then, a hissing noise came from behind her, towards the entrance to the alley. A bulbous black body with a smaller, but just as bulbous head, was the source of the noise. The head had two dirty looking canines poking out from seemingly nowhere, and what looked like blood crusted its teeth. It had beady red eyes that looked like sequins instead of eyes, and ten long, spindly limbs coming from its body. It was almost as tall as Optic. The thing hissed again, then speared the rat, which screeched in terror. The noise was short-lived, as another of the limbs speared into its head. Blood leaked onto the brown fur and then onto the asphalt. Then, the arachnid raised it to its mouth and swallowed it, causing Optic to shutter. The fangs dripped with blood, mixed with a pulsing, vibrant green substance. She knew the species immediately- what they called an Archei. It was one of the various types of arachnid to spawn from the meteor showers, not to mention the deadliest. Which is why Optic took a quick step back, giving herself some distance.