SciFi and Fantasy Stories: Survival of the Fittest

The old man said the air smelled like snow was coming. His silhouette materialized out of the dusk at the edge of the ring of light beneath the lamppost. He stood as a statuesque figure; a living testament to the days when people grew to be his age. I had just come to the surface for some fresh air, and hadn’t quite noticed he was there yet. He never said much to me before this, especially when there were others around, so it came as a surprise to hear his weathered voice break the silence of the night. I watched him tilt his head back and close his eyes, as if he were waiting for the first flake to fall. His breath came out in ragged spurts of vapor, and I realized my own mortality as I hugged myself for warmth. See, we don’t have fur or thick hides like they do.It was dead middle of winter, and all we had left were the tattered rags of those who had died. Marla, my wife, was trying to stitch pieces together for a blanket for us.

Us.

We were some of the only ones left. The creatures had completely overcome us. They kept getting smarter. It's exactly like that philosopher Algoon said: "We never notice change until it's too late to fix it. It comes on almost undetectably. The day that we realize it, is when the full effects of it have already shaken our world." He was also the man everyone scoffed because he predicted cars would be the downfall of humanity. He said cars made it easier for humans to spread out, reproduce in secluded areas, get to hospitals quickly. More people meant more cars, and more cars meant more freeways, which meant wider dispersal, and more people. He said we would reproduce to the point of repercussion: extinction.

Curse the caddled fool, he was right! What he didn't know was how it would happen. Not even he could imagine this.

"Get down Ian!" the elder whispered. He crouched on one leg behind a pile of debris. I did an elegant spin into a nook around the corner. I didn't know what it was he saw, but boy I could hear it. It was that horribly familiar wheezing sound most of the lower animals made. From the rhythm of it, I'd say it was a rather large possum. They never evolved enough to speak, only grunt back and forth to each other. They also never developed the strategic skills of the fox or crow, but they were big, dumb, and ferocious. This combination made them all the more dangerous.

The breathing got closer. I could distinctly make out the scrapping noise of a tail dragging. I slowly risked a peek around the corner. The rodent was near the post sniffing the air. Elder Hamlin was nowhere to be seen. The possum's nose twitched back and forth as it picked up my scent trail and turned to face my direction. I pressed back into the nook. I searched my pocket for my knife, but it wasn't there. Marla must have removed it when she was fitting me for a winter coat. Fet! These possums were much slower than some of the other animals. I could easily outrun it, but if I got too far from base, I could be found by something far worse. I looked around for a way out. The rest of the wall jutted back about forty feet, clearly in the possum's view. Trapped! How the half was I going to get out of this one? I began cursing cars under my breath. If only they hadn't been invented, none of this would have happened! There would be no such thing as artificial natural selection, animals never would have become so intelligent, and two thirds of the world's population would still be alive. I remembered back to when the preliminary attacks occurred.

I was a ten year old boy at the time when the first documented attacks happened. There were a few reports of large dog-like creatures targeting children in "rural" areas. It was the year 2178, and the definition of the word rural had changed considerably over the past two-hundred years or so. It became the label for what people called suburbs in the early 21st century. Suburbs became the name for cities that looked like Seattle back then, and cities were huge structures towering up to a few thousand feet in the sky (pressurized of course). A matrix of junctions and overpasses soared with them, weaving their way among them, and often right through the buildings. We had great advancements in flying technology, but never could figure out how to create something large enough to contain a human being, that could stay stationary at high altitudes for a substantial amount of time. We also never developed flying cars like early visual entertainment suggested, but we did manage to develop a very effective solar/compost powered hybrid automobile. It greatly reduced the amount of pollution circulating in the air and had a significant correlation with the decrease of cancer rates. This eventually led to a huge boom in population in the late 2000's. I wasn't alive during that time, but I remember learning in History class about people called animal activists, and even portions of land that were protected by federal law. The ever growing population inevitably necessitated the extinction of these things. It's not that we didn't want forests, or value wildlife; they simply became less important than facilitating humanity. With new technological inventions on the rise, nature lost it's credibility as the source for essential provisions. Oxygen and water could easily be artificially generated by self-contained power converters. Numerous gadgets and electronics advanced to replace old fashioned means of entertainment and relaxation. Said devices then proceeded to take the rolls of domestic critters. After a while, only those who were wealthy or eccentric owned any exotic animals. Many middle class people owned cats, but by the turn of the 22nd century, no one owned dogs anymore. They required too many resources to maintain. There used to be a natural History museum where I grew up in Olympiada Min, that had on display a stuffed creature called a horse. People used to ride them. I tried to imagine what it would have been like, but decided to run into the virtual playroom to tink with my tectio infuser instead. People also used to eat them, along with a plethora of other animals! Just the thought of eating another living thing used to turn my stomach. Who knows what sorts of uncleanliness creatures carried. Too much zinc in one, pustuous malformations in others. Even if we had wanted to eat certain fauna, we couldn't. The governments started cultivating various keystone crops in bio-controlled areas long before I was born. All food sources were bought out by the authorities, to ensure quality control. Laboratories had government employed scientists extract the necessary nutrients, and meld it with semi-solid, different flavored fibrous bases to create food. I used to like the ambrosia flavor. The only edible that ever retained similarity to the plant from which it came, was coffee. There was not a person in my day that didn't drink it. It was an addiction, like most things. It kept us feeling satisfied. As for wild animals, nobody really cared. In fact, anyone who saw a wild creature, would net it and kill it. It wasn't safe for the children to be around, especially with all the parasites and diseases. It became a real slim chance to see one dead in a roadway. Kids used to tease you in school if your parents hit something with the car. They would yell and sing about being cursed. Luckily, animals weren't a problem when I was growing up. This was the case for ten years of my young life. Which brings me back to the dog-like creature attacks. No one had seen anything furry in years, but suddenly reports started coming in from all over the world about children being targeted in "rural" areas in 2187. The attacks were apparently random, occurring about a dozen times, then strangely, stopping completely. No one actually ever caught one of the perpetrators. The animals always vanished afterwards. Rumors circulated briefly about where they had gone in papers like the International Enquirer. No one took the news seriously. For the most part, the papers were right. There are still places to this day that are uninhabitably by humans. No one knows what strange going-ons occur there. Over time, people forgot about the incident. Things went back to normal. Then in 2201, when I was twenty four years old, the slaughter began.

I remember hydroing off in the lavatory before bed on a warm August night. I was such a paranoid little toe-headed twit who always had to lock the sliders so none of the other guys in my dorm would pull a prank on me. It was a good thing I did, because it's what saved my life. I was standing beneath the dryer when I heard a scratching at the slider door.

"Go blow a prisket, Gradly!" I yelled, perturbed. The scratching stopped. Then came a loud banging against the door.

"What the half, man!" I yanked my day suit off the hangers and threw it on. I was about to make a furious exit, when something hit the metal slider so hard, it dented it inward. I halted in my tracks. My immediate thought was that someone was trying to break in to steal the chargers to the lavatory equipment. Then I realized the likelihood of someone wanting to steal ten year old chargers.

"Who ever you are, you'd better leave now. I have a comm in here, and I will page the authorities." The banging stopped. I heard the faint sound of two sliders parting in the hallway. Then a muffled familiar voice rang out. It was Lawrence from my Chem class.

"Dude, can you keep it down out there? I'm trying to... WHAT THE?..... CRA...!!!!! There was a long series of screaming followed by a heavy thump. Then came thrashing and bumping, gurgling, and finally, silence.

I had to repress the flight or fight instinct to rush out and help. My hand was already over the door button, trembling. "Larry?" I called out, panicked. No answer. I pressed my ear to the metal to see if I could make out anything. I could hear heavy panting, and delicate slurping. There was a raking, and then the rhythmic thumps of something being dragged down the stairs. I carefully dialed the lock release, listening to the noise continue to drift down. The doors receded. The hallway was in shambles. The sliders to all the dorms were open, and there was blood spattered everywhere. A saturated trail of red led down the pathway to the stairs. My head started to feel light as I crossed into the scene.

Absolute stillness. I reached out to the receiver for one of the comms on the opposite wall. The line was dead. I set the comm quietly back down, and started to shuffle my feet, which protested to leave the spot.

I tried to control my extremities to keep them from shaking. Every extra movement felt like I was sending out sonar waves to alert whatever lurked of my presence. I walked the trail of blood to the top of the stairs. When I got there, I was taken back to hear what I thought were people talking. It sounded like a language I'd never heard before. The tone was dry and guttural, but I realized I could make out some words.

"....zere's ohn lore lup ter, ajersty. E git fra lu? It growled.

"No need. We ave oters to git." Came a reply in a more refined voice.

There was some rustling at the bottom of the stairwell that forced me to kneel to the side. I ducked low and watched as two large dog-like figures appeared in my line of vision. Through the bars of the banister I could tell that one was dark red in color with a sharp muzzle and black points. She was an animal I would later find out was at one point known as a fox. This girl was three times bigger than the early documented ones. I would have thought she was beautiful, if I hadn't been on the verge of wetting myself. The other dog that trailed behind her was a different, considerably larger animal, tan in color and covered in blood. It was about the length of a full grown man. This animal was a coyote. Content, he panted as he followed the red one to the exit. I was fixated on the horror of them. Then I saw something I never would have believed if I hadn't seen it for myself. The fox balanced its weight over its hindquarters and lifted itself into a perfect standing position. She then reached her front paw forward and placed it over the door button.

I waited a long time after the exit closed behind them. It felt like a bad horror enactment. How could it have been real? I sat leaned against the wall with my eyes shut, keeping aware of any incentive to retreat. Where was everyone else? What were those things, and how did they get up to the university? My chest felt tight and my head hurt. Obviously, the things were related to dogs, but those disappeared a long time ago. Marla would've...

Marla

Oh fet!

I jumped up and almost lost my balance from lack of blood to my legs.

Where was she? Was she safe?

I descended the stairs without even thinking. I was halfway through the lobby, tripping over bodies, before I stopped and realized the massacre. Blood and entrails were strewn across the white tiles. People I knew lied dead, faces contorted, and throats ripped out. I swallowed, trying to hold back a wave of vomit. It surfaced anyway. The gagging noise echoed in the great stark room.

"Ian...Ian...Get over here!" Emerged the voice of my best friend.

I looked around me, while wiping my mouth. Sandrid Kersh's head peaked out the door to the janitor's closet. I partially staggered my way over.

"Fet, man, I thought you were dead." I whispered, leaning on the jamb.

"Yeah, you too." He said. His wild hazel eyes frantically scanned the scene.

"How did you survive?"

"I don't know, man. People were running and screaming, and these huge... things, they were..." He trailed off. "...I ran in here and locked the slider. How did you...?"

"I was in the lavatory." I looked down at my blood rimmed shoes.

"Where's Gradly?" He asked after a moment.

"He's over there..." I pointed. "...or at least part of him."

"Holy fet! What the half is going on here?"

"I don't know, man." I began to shake again. "I need to find Marla. We've got to get help."

Sandrid's brown head was soaked in dripping sweat. "Yeah....Yeah." He uttered.

This doesn't make sense. I thought.

The dorm was a simple pod connected to only a few other pods of the university. We weren't elevated enough to need depressurization, but the only way to get up to our fraternity was by helicart. Sandrid must have been reading my mind.

"How did those monsters get up here?"

"Do you see that?" I directed."Is that....? It's a helicart! They can help us! HEY!" I waved.

Sandrid tackled me, grabbing my arms. "You idiot! That's no helicart!"

"How the fet do you know? It could be help!"

"Look at the way it's flying! What if it's those things? What if they...?"

Just then, we were cut off by a strange noise. It resembled something like air passing quickly over the wings of a flockbot, but louder. In front of us more black dots were ascending towards the library. The beats drew nearer. Suddenly two large dark wings rose above the lip of the landing. They lifted high gathering air, then plunged down sending gusts our way. We both dove to the cement. I cocked my head in time to witness a huge black bird climbing the air. In its talons it carried a blood covered, wriggling coyote. The sky filled with inky birds, all hoisting the dog-creatures. Sandrid and I watched in trepidation as more and more materialized from the ensuing twilight flying in the direction of the library. It became all too clear at that moment how the monsters had gotten up to our dorm.

That was the very first experience I had with the creatures. I'm sorry to say was not the last. Sandrid and I eventually found Marla. She was alright, but badly shaken up. She told me she had just gotten back from the gym, when she heard screams issuing from her dorm. Instead of running in like an idiot, she hid behind the building where she waited until she saw me coming for her. After finding her, we tried again to call for help. We couldn't get through to anyone. It was the most alone feeling I had ever experienced in my life. Entire cities had been abandoned. Streets were littered with bodies; gutters ran red with the carnage. We would later find out the ambush took place all over the world at one approximate moment. Humans had no time to escape the beasts or fight back. They took us by surprise. How can you defend against an enemy, if you had no idea they ever existed?

Everything the animals did suggested a high level of organization and strategy. They were able to break into high security buildings fairly quickly. They eventually cut off all power after realizing many places were secured by electric doors. They had access to all the tunnels of the city. The underground was the breeding area for many of the flightless creatures. It is, after all, where they had been forced. For them it was either learn to survive the sewers and dankness, or die. I guess now they had had enough of the dark.

This whole problem comes back to cars. The invention of them unwittingly, and simultaneously caused the creation of a new agent of evolution. We call it artificial natural selection. The meaning of it is quite simple: the car is the judge, jury, and executioner for the fate of all living things. From the late 21st century on, there was not a place in the world that didn't have a road through it. There would not be a single animal whose life was not impacted. They would all have to face the dilemma of crossing the street at some point. It eventuated that the animals who were the bravest and strongest, would be the ones who would survive the encounter. They learned how to adapt to the presence of people, and to gauge their surroundings. Those who could not handle it, were usually found as a pile of fur and mush in a highway lane. In a nut shell, artificial natural selection, brought on by cars, served to weed out every life form that could not adjust to the fast paced development of the human dominated world.

Another factor would develop along the way to change animals even more. It too was brought on by industrialization. Deformation and mutation started to take place in all animals that did not have the protection of a home. Even those who survived the roads could not be safe from the taint of human wastefulness. For many animals, it made them sick, and killed them off. This included animals that were once food sources for humans. Injections for food herds either made things worse, or simply did not work at all. Early tests to overly control ever little aspect to perfect what was already there, only made it slip out of our hands ever further. This action can be equated to when one overly analyzes something, picking it down to the particle, it somehow doesn't make sense anymore. For this reason, food animals did not make sense anymore. Other wild creatures that could endure the changes, managed to reproduce. In effect the offspring would grow to be bigger, smarter, more agile creatures than their parents. They would continue to do this, with much success, well after they were forced underground and into the humanly uninhabitable places of the world. There they waited and watched, learned to communicate, and band together. They wanted back what was rightfully theirs. When they were ready, they would simply take it. And they did.

We nomads that are left, do not know the details of how the monsters organized themselves, but we have some theories. We're pretty sure that the leaders of the packs are the problem solving animals such as the fox and crow. They're the ones who give the commands, and direct the others. As for the attacks that took place when I was ten years old, we figured those were preliminary trials. The point was to test us, check our reactions. But the problem was, we were oblivious. We had to have and control everything. In the process, we lost sight of what was really important. We never stopped to smell the air for snow anymore. It was such a simple action, and yet necessary. Now we have nothing left but the bitter night's air, and the remains of our gloriously fruitless lives.

The approaching scrapping and rasping of the giant possum woke me suddenly from my memories. I was back behind the wall of the old ruin I had been trapped in, awaiting my judgement. I was shivering in a corner nook, trying to figure out how to escape the giant, smelly possum. I was without my knife and Elder Hamlin was gone. I had gone through plenty since the initial attacks on the dorms three years ago, but I had always been armed thereafter. Had I gone slack? Complacency was something our kind could not afford if we had any hope of taking back the world. Even so, I could not help but think about my beautiful wife, Marla; of how strong and kind she was. We didn't always want to have children. There were just too many people in the world anyway. It's ironic how things change.

There was a sudden terrible high-pitched shrieking that made me clamor almost halfway up the wall. I whirled around the corner to see the old man kneeling on the rodent. His hand was on the hilt of a knife embedded into the back of its skull. He yanked out the blade, wiped it off, and placed it back on his belt. He gave me a look that scolded me for not having my weapon. Then he turned, and without a word I followed him back to the entrance of the hideout.