It was halfway through the eerie night. A blood moon was strung high in the sky, the shadows looked a tad too mischievous and not a soul was out on the streets. But this was not a particularly unusual phenomenon. It was no longer the era of man or science, many strange things had started to appear in the world man was once familiar with.
Not giving a care about the oppressive outdoor atmosphere, a bespectacled fair skinned man, roughly in his mid-twenties sat on a premium leather gaming chair with a slight scowl on his face. A pack of doritos in one hand, a scrap metal mouse in the other. The only light source being the soft glow from his computer screen.
It wasn't an ideal setup, just some parts he had put together using antique tech from the local museum. There was not much choice, given how the main power infrastructure had long since ceased to function. His screen was an ancient macro led monitor that seemed scuffed around the edges from months of abuse. He wasn't exactly the friendly type, a few things had made their way flying towards it's broad face. At least it was durable, he had made it so - a thick transparent plastic layer covered the display to prevent him from breaking it or from too much light escaping his room drawing unneccessary attention. The borders protected with a metal casing to hold the 1 inch plastic layer in place.
He felt like a cave man using this old monitor, instead of the instant access chip that non-intrusively beamed information wirelessly to his brain. But he had no alternative now, he only had a couple of duracell cells that should be enough for 70 years or so in his propietary tube generator.
Humanity had progressed rapidly in the last 100 years, however human greed remained unchanged. Despite the ability to put fusion cells in each household, corporations patented them and held exclusive rights to their use, renting power to households instead at steep prices. Well, they were no longer around and those fusion cells were long since missing, either stolen by some raiders, some heros out to save the world or some survivors who got lucky.
Anyhow, that wasn't a problem his modest 5ft 9" figure could fit on his shoulders. Especially given his bordering malnourished state, food was a rare commodity and there wasn't much he had managed to grow. His rationing would keep him going to at least cross 100, after all he had nutrient shots and many types of medicine for emergencies. It sounded grand to live past a hundred, but he already looked not much different to a ghoul, with deeply set cheekbones, sunken eyes and a hunched over posture from staying on his chair too long. Although, the water supply was still fine - he had bought a mechanical filteration system that pumped extra water back to the grid for a bit of grease to his wallet using an underground water reservoire. It was paying off now, as he didn't need power to operate it. He still cared somewhat for appearances, with a side-swept top and taper haircut, a meticulously groomed beard, dressed in a soft robe having taken a fresh bath.
*Crunch* I'll take a dorito and just eat it, thought Roland to himself. He only consumed food as a luxury, it was an acquired taste, after all the shots would only keep him alive and they didn't offer that satisfaction of eating.
Drawn into the gentle hum of his computer screen, he browsed the web for some spicy webnovels. The benefit of technological advancement offered radio access to an archived version of the web, which was now the common platform for entertainment, communication and everything in between for the survivors.
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-> Time is elusive, for time flows neither forwards nor backwards, but time offers up itself, just when you need a drop of it, time and time again. For time will always be, just in time, to see time pass by time, unless you take hold of time and bend it to your will. That there, is the true Dao of time. - Some New Webnovel.
"How dare this author publish this bull! Did all the other talents in writing die for this guy to be so popular???" yelled Roland Grump at his computer in the middle of the night.
His neighbours were deep asleep, undisturbed by this particular existence's ramblings. Almost as if this eccentricity was the norm for him and had been witnessed too many a time to graze them. Some may wonder, for the love of all sane things alive, how could such a whimsical human survive half an apocalypse and still remain unperturbed enough to cuss so loud in the uncanny night.
However, time was the best testing platform and if there was anything out there responsible for the current state of the world, it cared not for how loud or abnoxious anyone was. Roland's very survival hinged solely upon this proven and tested fact. Yet it seemed no one was brave enough to reciprocate his behaviour or his neighbours may just be figments of his imagination to console himself he wasn't alone. Not that it was a good idea to knock on anyone's door in this environment to check if they were real or you yourself would cease to be.
What had happened someone may wonder? Well, it all started as an increase in the folklore and fairy tales people told each other. More and more tales about evil spirits started to spread, that seemed pretty harmless at first. Well, until people started dissappearing. It was a few people here and there, buried in the usual missing persons reports. It wasn't until all of a sudden entire towns and villages started to dissapear, when people took notice and that seemed to make things worse. Suddenly, on some nights, one could hear painful crises of men & women, almost as if they were being tortured on their last breath - yearning for someone to put them to rest rather than being forever anchored to life within a foot of hell. Then the governments suddenly dissapeared, entire states and countries seemingly ceased to exist and every man was for himself.
But that wasn't all that happened, how can man stand feeling defensless? Some "hero's" with their fear of all things unholy launched a crusade, crossing the humanity, oh the acclaimed humanity that was once the foundation of the American dream, nuking anywhere incidents got reported and anywhere close by to oblivion, all within a nights work. It would be just one line on a history book, covered in dust and hidden deep within an ever increasing forbidden library. For when man cannot escape fear of the unknown, man reverts to his beastial nature to adapt to a new world.
*Work in Progress - please return later - cue some futuristic elevator music.