Pain. A deep, bone-aching pain that stretched through my entire body.
I gasped as consciousness returned, my chest rising and falling in quick, uneven breaths. My fingers twitched against something rough—not concrete, not soil, something… scorched.
Slowly, I pushed myself up, groaning as my muscles protested. My head throbbed, a dull, relentless pounding, as if my skull had barely survived an explosion.
Then I opened my eyes.
And my breath hitched.
The world around me was a nightmare.
Twisted metal and shattered structures stretched as far as I could see, a graveyard of destruction. Towering ruins of buildings—some modern, others ancient—stood half-collapsed, barely clinging to existence. Smoke curled into the air from distant fires, a heavy stench of burnt flesh and decay filling my nostrils.
And the bodies…
Some were fresh, their faces frozen in expressions of terror. Others were skeletal remains, stripped of flesh, long forgotten. Old and new corpses, scattered across the land like discarded trash.
I staggered to my feet, heart pounding.
"Where the hell am I?"
I turned my gaze upward—and felt a cold dread settle into my bones.
The sky wasn't normal.
Instead of the endless blue I was used to, it was a twisted abyss of red and black, swirling like a bleeding wound. Vortexes—massive, gaping rifts—tore through the sky, constantly shifting, pulsating. And from them, debris rained down.
Chunks of collapsed buildings, shattered vehicles, even massive stone structures** tumbled from above, crashing into the wasteland below with earth-shaking impact.
A bus spiraled out of a vortex in the distance, smashing onto a pile of rubble, its metal frame crumpling like paper. A massive **stone pillar, ancient and weathered, tumbled from another tear.**
The world wasn't just destroyed.
It was still being built.
Or maybe… pieced together.
I swallowed hard, forcing my breathing to slow. Panic wouldn't help me.
Adapt. That was the only way to survive.
I needed to figure out what I still had.
---
I reached behind me and was relieved to find my backpack still strapped to me. At least I hadn't lost everything.
I crouched behind a large slab of broken concrete, taking a quick inventory of what I had left.
My phone. Cracked screen. No reception. Completely useless for calling anyone. Backpack. Sturdy, still in one piece that's good. Rations. Two protein bars. A half-filled water bottle. Not enough but I it's better than nothing. Flashlight & matches. Good if it got dark. No weapon. My hands curled into fists. That was going to be a problem.
I let out a slow breath, my mind working through the situation. At least I had something. It wasn't much, but I'd survived one disaster already.
I could survive this too.
---
I pulled the straps of my backpack tighter and moved cautiously, scanning my surroundings.
The ruins stretched endlessly, a patchwork of destruction. Some buildings looked like they were from Manila, but others…
I spotted a crumbling castle tower, its stone walls blackened with soot. Further ahead, a modern highway overpass lay in ruins, half-swallowed by the earth. And scattered throughout were structures I couldn't even begin to recognize—twisted spires, domed temples, metallic frameworks that looked alien.
This place wasn't just one city.
It was many.
There were probably some debris here that came from different worlds, smashed together.
A chill ran down my spine.
Was that what happened to Manila?
Was my city part of this graveyard now?
I shook my head. Focus, Dan. Survive first. Questions later.
I moved toward a collapsed street, stepping carefully over broken pavement. The silence was suffocating, the only sound being my own footsteps crunching against the debris.
A not long after I saw a signpost, half-buried in the rubble.
I wiped away the dust and read the barely visible letters.
"B—sto—"
The rest was missing.
I frowned. Not Manila. Not anywhere I recognized.
As I walk blindly from this endless piles of debris, I often hear howls of beasts of some kind and some crash debris falling from the sky in the distance.
I should watch my surroundings carefully and more importantly my head. You never know, one moment, a chunk of an eiffel tower might come crashing down on me from above.
I walked through the wreckage with careful, measured steps, my breath uneven. Every direction I turned, all I saw was destruction—collapsed structures, shattered streets, and torn remnants of a world that no longer made sense.
And the bodies.
They were everywhere.
I swallowed hard as I stepped over a corpse—a man, face down, half-buried under a slab of concrete. His arm stretched outward, as if he had been reaching for something, or someone. His skin was gray, lifeless. The blood pooling beneath him was dry, cracked from the heat.
I forced myself to keep moving.
Then I saw another body.
This one was different.
A woman—her torso twisted unnaturally, spine bent at an impossible angle. Her eyes wide open, frozen in terror, her mouth slightly parted. I hesitated, scanning her body.
No wounds. No burns.
She hadn't been crushed like the others. She had been killed by something else.
I felt my stomach tighten.
I took another step forward and nearly tripped.
A pile of bones.
Not just one set. Dozens.
Some were stripped clean—bleached white, as if picked apart by scavengers. Others still had rotting flesh clinging to them, the stench suffocating.
These people hadn't just died here.
Something had been feeding on them.
I took a sharp breath, forcing down the rising panic.
A faint noise—a wheezing breath.
I snapped my head toward the sound, heart hammering.
At first, I thought it was the wind, but then—a cough.
Someone was still alive.
I rushed forward, weaving between the wreckage, stepping over shattered debris and bodies. Then, I saw him.
A man—barely alive, lying on his side against a collapsed wall.
His clothes were tattered, his body thin—starved, dehydrated. Blood soaked his abdomen, pooling beneath him, staining the ground.
He looked at me.
His eyes—a dull, faded green, barely holding on to life.
I knelt beside him, my mind racing. I had no medical supplies. No way to help.
He tried to speak, his lips cracking as he struggled to form words.
But… I couldn't understand him.
His language was completely foreign.
The sounds were rough, guttural, nothing remotely close to any language I knew.
I shook my head. "I—I don't understand," I said, my voice hoarse.
His eyes flickered with pain and frustration.
Then, with the last of his strength, he grabbed my wrist.
I flinched.
His grip was weak, trembling.
He mumbled something again, his voice fading. His fingers tightened for a brief second—then went limp.
His chest stopped moving.
I stayed there for a moment, watching as the light left his eyes.
And then I gently pried his fingers off my wrist.
He was gone.
I clenched my fists. How many people had died like this? Lost, alone, in a world they didn't understand?
I stood up, my muscles tense.
I needed to keep moving.
Because if I stayed here any longer…
I was going to end up just like them.
---
Then, the silence broke.
A distant howl.
Low. Deep. Inhuman.
A predator's call.
I froze, my breath caught in my throat.
It echoed through the ruins, vibrating through the metal and stone like a distant war drum.
Then, another howl. Closer.
I wasn't alone.
I lowered myself against the ruins, scanning the area. The wreckage around me created plenty of places to hide, but if something was hunting me, I needed to stay ahead of it.
I moved cautiously, stepping lightly as I crept through the broken cityscape. My fingers brushed against the sharp edge of a twisted steel beam. I needed a weapon. Something—anything—to defend myself.
I looked around for something useful, but the only things scattered in the wreckage were shattered bones and broken metal.
A flicker of movement in the distance caught my eye.
I turned sharply, my heart hammering.
There, in the shadows of a crumbling building, something was watching me.
A pair of glowing eyes.
They locked onto mine, unblinking.
Then, the figure stepped forward, and I finally saw it.
A creature—tall, gaunt, its skin stretched tightly over an unnatural frame. It moved on all fours, its limbs too long, its fingers ending in razor-sharp claws.
My stomach churned.
That thing… was hunting me.
I took a slow step backward.
The creature tilted its head, sniffing the air. It's appears that this creature is nocturnal and can't properly see in the day.
It heavily relies on its sense of smell during the day.
But It for sure knew I was here.
Then—
It lunged.
I ran. As fast as I could.
The moment my feet hit the ground, the beast let out a guttural screech and bounded after me.
It was fast.
I sprinted through the ruins, dodging broken beams, leaping over rubble. My breath came in sharp, ragged gasps, my legs burning as I pushed forward.
Behind me, the creature closed the distance, its claws scraping against stone.
I couldn't outrun it.
I needed to lose it.
Up ahead, I spotted a collapsed building—a narrow gap between two massive slabs of concrete.
A tight squeeze.
I had no other choice.
I dove forward, twisting my body as I slid through the gap.
The rough concrete scraped against my arms, but I forced myself through, tumbling onto the other side.
The beast slammed into the gap, snarling as it clawed at the opening, but it was too large to fit.
For now…
I scrambled to my feet, sucking in sharp breaths. My hands trembled. My body ached.
But I was alive.
For now.
I pressed my back against the cold stone, listening.
More howls.
Not just one.
There were more of them.
And they knew I was here.