New Haven
The orb pulsated between Jack's fingers. It was the size of a large marble and was hot to touch. The heat didnt burn Jack, but instead the warmth felt comforting.
Jack stared into the eyes of the Boar inside the orb. The red eyes felt familiar to him. He recognised those eyes from the giant creature from the night before. He looked around at the destoyed city and exhaled.
"What is happening?" he exclaimed.
Suddenly the pulsation increased and the orb started to disintegrate. Wisps of black smoke circled around the orb as it melted inbetween his fingers, the wisps then absorbed into Jack's flesh.
The veins in his hand turned black and caused excruciating pain to run through his body.
He collapsed onto his knees again, the pain disappearing and being replaced by numbness. He lay there for a while until his vision went black.
Jack found himself floating in an endless black void, in the distance he could see the orb, but it was no longer the size of a marble, but more like a 10 storey building. Inside the orb was a spinning mist, he felt it calling to him.
...
Time passed as Steve, Alice and Clem left the city and travelled across the country. Their first step was to find a vehicle they could use, but every road they came across was damaged beyond any recognition.
They eventually found a trailer attached to the back of a flipped car which contained the bikes from a family. The car was smeared with blood, with red handprints on the windows. The car was empty of any bodies though, which led the group to having terrible thoughts. There were howls in the distance from an unknown entity so the group took the bikes and followed the direction of the road to the nearest town. Alice still struggled with her leg, but there was a massive improvement.
The days will still raining hard, with lightning strikes frequent. In the evenings the group would try and find shelter in anything that had a roof, Including partially destroyed houses and caravans. They struggled for warmth and had to share space at night to keep each other warm. Due to the lack of food and constant movement Steve gradually lost some of his excess weight. A beard started to grow on his bald face.
During their travels they picked up a few new members to the group. These were Sandra and her young son Robert, Sandra was an engineer and had been camping with her son when the earthquake and metoers hit. Another member was George, a firefighter from the city who was covered in heavy burns down one side of his body and his colleague Rahul.
They had bumped into some other small bands of people during their travels, with most of these people being friendly and willing to trade anything they had scavenged.
...
Several weeks after leaving the city they had finally found a place to settle down. They had walked through many destroyed towns and survived several close calls with different strange and terrifying monsters.
At one stage they were attacked by another group of people, who were struggling to survive themselves. If not for some instant reactions from Clem and Rahul, they would be dead.
After many close calls they had come across a secluded small village, if you could call it that. It was by a river that was on a long road connecting cities. There was only around 6 houses, a petrol station and a few fishing shacks.
Other small groups found the village, and their community slowly raised to 30 people. Steve was voted as the temporary leader.
The group split into teams to gather food and materials, whilst also having people guarding the village in case of any monster attacks.
...
Through word of mouth they heard rumours that the world was over as they knew it, governments were toppled with unknown numbers of people dead. Alice explained that it must be in the billions.
After a period of time, the monsters stopped coming and the community grew even more, naming itself New Haven.
The weather also improved, with more sunshine and less rain.
A wall was slowly built as were shacks for housing. There was farmland nearby that wasn't totally ruined and food then steadily started to flow into New Haven.
....
Winter came and brought fresh problems. With no electric and no heating, people struggled with the heat. People started to get sick, and with limited medical experience or supplies, people started to die.
The first to go was an older man called Luca who just didn't wake up one day.
The community got together to help each other through the harsh season. Creating communal fire pits for heat and doing everything they could to help those that were ill.
....
Soon winter passed and more people joined the community. They brought news that a strange man with a silver line in his hair, was riding a giant tortoise with a boars face and fighting back against the monsters.
The first child was born in the following spring, Alice and Steve had built up a strong relationship over the past year, and from that blossomed love for one another. They named their child Dawn to reflect the new start they were having.
Time passed, and this new world became their own.
...
Jack looked around at the world surrounding him. Many years had passed since the end of the old world. He'd spent most of his adult life battling through different trials and tribulations.
The Tortoise beneath him started to move slowly towards the ocean. He had named him Titan, due to his size and ability for destruction.
"Where to next?" asked Jack.
"Let's cross the water and find out" replied Titan in a deep ancient voice.
Jack sighed as he looked back, he was old now. He thought of his old friends and family, WhiteFairyQueen, Peter, Sarah. He even thought of Clem in the gym, and his brief escape with Steve and Alice.
"I hope some of them survived," He said to himself. His eyes shined red as he looked down at his many battle scars.
Titan shook his head giant boar head.
"You've still got some fight left in you Jack." added Titan.
...
End of Prologue....