Life After the Cataclysm - Chapter 1

The lion-man remained as still as stone, like a great pillar, his golden hair painted orange in the morning light. The smell of blood was strong and the sounds of hundreds of small creatures scurrying in the rocks were being drawn to the succulent scent.

He paid heed to the woman's introduction and her association to the swordsman, but was concerned more with approaching crats and the eyes of the stranger that remained upon them.

It was not long before, the cloaked man, that Sin had called Zack dispatched of his foes and made his way to her side. He watched the tender scene, but he himself leant no hand and they left him there in the ruins.

The great lion-man had no fear of the crats. Despite their numbers they would not attack such a healthy and formidable opponent but they may be so bold as to stalk the man behind him. Turning casually, Stasinus looked over his shoulder and acknowledged the presence of the silent Synthecan.



"You have keen ears, my friend." Pheyd commented.

"You're just loud." Replied Stasinus.

Pheyd laughed and skipped down next the giant humanoid's side, looking at the building where the she-wolf and her saviour had retreated.

"Have you found what you have been seeking?" Inquired the lion-man in his raspy tones.

The Synthecan remained focused on the building and a slight smile curled his lips. "Perhaps." Then he turns his head upward to look at the lion-man's face, "How are you at tracking lizards?"

Zack slowly awoke his eyes seeming bloodshot now he looked around at first not seeing Sin then his pupils which had a second ago been huge suddenly shrunk to a smaller size more suitable for a human. “Sorry had I disturbed you Sin?” He knew he must have looked terrible scars over him fresh cuts across most of his bared flesh and worse yet his right arm was useless at this moment with his skin probably a pale shade from the loss of blood. He gave a weak smile to Sin. “I think I will be okay.” Zack looks out the window seeing the bright sunlight “It’s gonna be a long day.”

The Lizard Hybrid, Clarence began to trot back to inform the doctor of his failure but self preservation slowed his pace and the creature decided to take some time to weigh all of his options before committing his life to Bainbridge's judgement. Slowly he makes his way to the lab and with every step closer the doctor and his wrath he begins to consider returning and taking his chance with Zack and that bitch, Sin.

Trailing behind but well out of sight, Stasinus followed the distinct scent of the lizard-man, while Pheyd kept pace and shadowed his every movement.


Pheyd had actually been glad to see the lion-man once more. When they had lost contact with one another only a day ago he believed that he would never see the creature again but then there he was. Stasinus on the other hand had a feeling that he and the strange man from the stars would cross paths again after the sand storm had driven him into a sink hole that not even the powerful synthetic person could pull him from. Fortunately, he had descended into a network of caverns through which he was able to emerge with only a few minor cuts and bruises. It seemed to him then that fate was not yet done with either of them and so he decided to assist his new companion; the only friend he had made since he banished himself from the only world he had ever known.

Stasinus stopped and fell to the ground and Pheyd mimicked his actions. The lizard hybrid, paused for a moment, although it did not seem as if he suspected he was being followed. The creature appeared as if he were debating which way to go and was rather frustrated with his choices, and little did they realize just how accurate their assumptions were.

Zack gave a last weak smile as he watched her get back on the bed with a great yawn he let his head fall forward falling asleep once again this time emerged in darkness waiting for the moonlight he sat playing a game of shogi. (Chess) He won against an unseen opposition repeatedly his mind thinking upon tactics he noticed how the person played was only on instinct. Zack looked ahead “Brother?” This time the demon side of him sat opposite him “Yo!” Zack smiled to the demon then he realised he was enjoying the company of this thing.

“There is nothing wrong with enjoying the company of your own being.” The demon set the next match up without a glance to the board. “We work together to stay alive it has always been that way so I came to ensure you didn’t block me otherwise we will end up dead!” Zack gave a slight smirk as the demon set his reasons of negotiations Zack decided on his side of the deal. “We must protect Sin at all times even if it is day time.” The demon gave a slight hiss of annoyance at hearing the proposition. “As long as I keep you alive I don’t care just make sure it’s you who can protect her during the day.” Zack nodded in acknowledgement “Fair enough we will keep with Sin just don’t do anything I would regret when you take over.” The demon gave an innocent smile. “What if she seduces me?” Zack gave a snarl losing his composure “No you simply say NO!” Zack calmed himself all his injuries hurt and he needed the demons help.

“Zack when did we become one?” Zack looked up to his demon half speculating over this question. “I think we have been in each other since birth but you protected me from the horrors it was you who was born first I am the parasite who was granted a chance to live.” The demon smiled holding out his hand. “Indeed you would have been too soft for the horrors which we have been through I covered your eyes for a lot of your time shame you remembered.” Zack gave a sigh “explains that nightmare I had then.” The demon nodded. “I wanted to tell you, someone had watched your fight and is being led to the doctor this could mean the doctor could hire him.” They had continued playing shogi during this conversation when suddenly Zack took checkmate. “We will devise a plan when we come to that situation.”

His conversation finished with the demon in his dream he pulled out of it finding to his great shock she had gone. He stood slowly he walked towards the door seeing it slightly ajar he began to walk out. He walked down the corridor he went in each room searching them for useful items. He stopped at what he thought to be a normal room but it had been raided he looked around noticing the toilet door open and the smell of…..blood.

Zack cautiously approached he had left his claymore in the other room getting to the door he took a peak in seeing Sin on the floor he carefully walked into the tiled interior of the bathroom wondering whether she was in another memory but then seeing the first aid kit strewn across the floor he gave a small sigh he should have removed the bullet but he remembered his eye sight had been dimming and it would have been impossible in his state. He collected the pieces of the kit zipping it up it could be useful for later. He went over to Sin’s side checking temperature and inspected the wound for signs of infection but she had carried the procedure correctly leaving no need for extra care from Zack but he knew they may have to move soon for fear of being inside another bugged house.

He kneeled down picking the bullet from the floor. “Nasty things these.” He sat down next to her thinking how he could pick her up when shaking her lightly finding no reaction he decided it would be best to leave her the dark rings round her eyes told him she was tired he would never have told her face to face but picking up the kit sticking it in a back pocket he devised a fireman’s lift for his one good arm he began to carry her back to the room being careful to not put any stess upon the leg.

Zack can only smile as he looks down to his right arm already knowing what had gone wrong inside of him. “It’s a snapped tendon and shattered joint I landed on it to heavily and it snapped backwards.” He sat down next to her looking to her leg. “You did a very good job of removing the bullet and cleaning the wound his mind being tantalized by the sight of her thigh he quickly took his eyes off her it was bad men were women deprived but discipline had to be used. He stood up giving a tender poke at his ribs as well grimacing.

Zack walked over to his coat rooting deep inside he pulled a photo from a pocket smiling as it was a photo of him actually smiling he walked back to Sin handing her the photo. “A present.” He gave a full smile feeling slightly better than his weak self he lay back on the bed staring up at the ceiling. “I wonder what he will send next?”

“Worse bah he it can’t get worse I was just ill prepared when Carl came and I had to think around the box.” Hearing they would leave in an hour he decided indeed it was time for a nap he could hear the demon chuckling as night approached. Zack wraps his arm around her resting his chin on her head his eyes closing he fell to sleep the most ironic thoughts of whether he snored stuck in his mind.

Zack’s nap was short lived he jolted awake when Sin moved he wasn’t used to being touched when sleeping so he decided it would be best to simply stay awake he found himself looking upon far wall of the box room wondering if they should search the house.

Zack smiled back to her to her surprise all the small cuts were gone he did not wince from the ribs and she realised he was holding her with his bad arm. “I am fine we overslept by an extra hour.” He looked into her eyes seeing at first happiness then sorrow of how she had talked about the comfort they were feeling but she was right.

“Come on up an at them!” quickly giving a small peck of a kiss on her cheek she blushed standing up he realising his actions might cause certain attitudes he gave a weak excuse of a smile to her as an apology if he had done wrong still holding her hand in his. “Milady would like to stand.” Zack took a comical bow for her ‘ladyship’ at her standing.

Bonnie and Clyde departed Perdition at the crack of dawn after fueling up the Humvee and traveled south east for an hour or so before they found their search for their quarry was fruitless. Right now, anyway. Besides, the further south east they drove, the more barren the landscape became telling them they were on the edge of the Great Nothing. A place so hot and dry no one dares try and cross it unless they never want to be seen again.

“Ah shit, Bon. Nothing here but tumble weeds and bones. Let’s head back west. We had better luck in that direction. Closer to the mountains. Seems more of those things like the cooler, shadier climates than this eternal litter box here.”

Bonnie turned the Humvee around started heading back the direction they had come from as Clyde pulled himself back into the vehicle and closed up the whole in the roof. It was clear that Bonnie hadn’t shaken what ever was bothering her from the night before as the scowl she wore looked to be never ending.

“I could have told you that, shit head. We never get lucky when we go this way.”

“We did that one time.”

“That’s only because it was just dusk and it was coming up from under the sand.”

“So. You can’t say NEVER when we got that one.”

“Fine, asshole, we only got lucky ONE time out of about a hundred times. Better?”

Clyde grinned and nodded.

“Yep…”

As they started making their way back towards Perdition, Bonnie’s mind was elsewhere as Clyde was just settling in to try and take a quick nap. What was it about that settlement last night that didn’t set well with her? The others were human, or if they weren’t, they did a good job of hiding it. And they didn’t seem to be trash sympathizers. So what the hell made her feel as though they were being watched by something?

Her scowl changed to a mixed look of astonishment and predatory as they came up on the area the crats had been congregating the night before. Slamming on the brakes of the Humvee, the vehicle skidded to a halt on the dirt covered road throwing Clyde partially onto the dashboard.

“What the F#%$, Bonnie!?”

As he peeled himself off the Humvee’s interior and got himself set back in the seat, he glared as he looked over at her.

“Are you trying to f#%*ing kill me? What the hell did you do that for?”

Bonnie was too busy to look over at Clyde as her hawk like eyes searched the area before them. Clyde turned his attention out the window and saw what Bonnie had seen.

“Holy shit. What the hell happened here?”

What was on the ground before them had nothing to do with the pack of crats they came across last night. At least the crats clean up after themselves instead of leaving this sort of mess behind.

Checking her side arms before grabbing her bow, Bonnie slowly exited the Humvee but kept it running and left the door open. Clyde quickly checked his weapons and exited the vehicle as well. Both moved with a stealth like presence making each step calculating as they approached closer to what caught Bonnie’s eye.

Blood was trailed all over the place. From what they could tell something got into a fight inside the doorway and it ended up outside. Looking at each other, they nodded then stepped into the hotel and began doing a check of the place. There was someone dead on the floor of the lobby and when Bonnie got closer, she nudged the body with the toe of her boot. When no noise came form the body, she used her booted foot to turn the body over so she and Clyde could see who it was. Imagine their surprise when they saw it was some sort of…..hyena hybrid that had been killed. Clyde looked down at the body them back at Bonnie with a frown.

“Someone trying muscle in on our profession?”

Bonnie stared at the strange looking face before she looked up at Clyde with an equally concerned frown.

“Not sure, but if they are, we need to find out what their game is.”

Moving further into the hotel, they soon found another victim. What they found inside Room 12 caught them both by surprise. Some sort of hybrid bear-man laid cut in half. Blood and entrails littered the floor and part of the walls and when Bonnie moved in for a closer look, she could see it was a clean cut, not something that had ripped him apart. But it was the blood and bite marks she could see around his genital area that caused her brow to arch. Moving back to Clyde who kept watch at the door, Bonnie quickly assessed the situation with what she saw before her.

“Looks like somebody didn’t care for the bear man. And I would say it was female, what ever it is.”

Clyde snapped his head around and saw why Bonnie suggested that and winced.

“Damn! That had to hurt.”

Once they were sure the place was secure and no threat existed, they made their way back out of the hotel and saw the direction the blood trail took. Looking over at Clyde, Bonnie nodded towards the vehicle.

“I’ll track them.”

Clyde nodded, took Bonnie’s bow as she handed it to him and rushed back to the Humvee and got behind the drivers wheel and started following Bonnie as she began tracking the blood and foot prints that lead away from the hotel.

As she moved along at a good pace, but not all that fast, she could tell something or someone had been dragged along the ground and later, two others rushed away. When she reached the rocky area she could see the blood in different places letting her know that what ever had been dragged away from the hotel was dragged along this area as well. But it was still bleeding from a wound as the blood was a deeper red then he other blood she saw. No doubt the thing was getting scraped and cut as it was dragged over the rocks.

When they reached the ridge over Perdition, Bonnie shielded her eyes from the sun and looked down at the settlement then looked over to see the body of a second hyena hybrid. Carefully approaching the body, she looked all around to make sure the killer wasn’t still in the area and when she saw the damage done to the hyena’s face, the fact the jaw was halfway ripped off by something with large claws, she knew what ever it was it was quite powerful.

Clyde pulled the Humvee to a stop and got out to join Bonnie where she stood over the mutilated body of the hyena hybrid.

“Damn. What ever did that has some muscle to back up their words.”

Bonnie nodded.

“Yeah…..and from the looks of it, they have razor sharp claws too. Not good. Anything with claws…”

Clyde finished the sentence for her.

“…. usually means they are hunters themselves.”

Bonnie started on the trail again and after a few minutes stopped to double check things again. Another set of foot prints joined in. Two sets headed north west while the other went due north. Clyde joined her again.

“They split up. One set goes this way, the other goes that direction. The set headed north west are injured. Might be easy quarry. But not much of a challenge for us. The other set appear to be uninjured. One of them is quite large and his stride is very wide and sunk in a little deeper than the other.”

Looking over at Clyde, Bonnie tilted her head slightly.

“So? Which direction do you wanna head in? Easy or not so easy?”

Clyde looked at the blood trail the one set was leaving and looked back to Bonnie.

“From the looks of it, by the time we reach these two, they’ll be dead. What fun is that? I’d rather take my chances with the healthier of the two sets. So….north it is. Besides, I wanna see what’s so friggin big it leaves foot prints this far apart.”

Bonnie nodded.

“Be careful what you wish for, Clyde.”

Clyde chuckled and headed back for the Humvee as Bonnie started tracking the trail headed north.

“I keep wishing for you to stop being so serious all the time and to stop thinking of me like your brother so much so I can find out if your parts all work right but none of that has happened….yet. All the same, that doesn’t stop me from wishing for them, sweet heart.”

Bonnie gave Clyde the one finger salute to his sweet heart comment and that caused Clyde to only laugh as they headed out again.

Zack thoughtfully looked up then gave smile at wondering where to travel indeed. “Well to be honest I thought you knew where you were going I was supposed to find these two.” He pulled a photo of two people sitting on a humvee (Bonnie and Clyde) handing the photo to Sin. “They killed a priest at one of the branches of the church.” Giving a thoughtful scratch at the corner of a scar as he wondered how he would find them.

“Sin do you know anyone outside here?” giving a small nod indicating the outside world. “I know a few people who may be able to help you if you have a certain objective.” To find his target he was going to go to a branch of his church but plans change when certain ‘elements’ collide with it. He stood walking to his coat giving it a shake he slipped the old thing on. His hand reached for his claymore he took it up with a spin he sheathed it fluidly with a practiced hand.

“Any idea where we going then?”

“hmm I don’t really remember sitting in the training simulators must have been with a separate trainer still we should both avoid them as we are both non-human and it would be dangerous to try and attack them.” He dropped his hand from the scars looking around then back to Sin “Go for a stroll till we decide what to do?” Zack had the idea of attacking the facility but to go back there may cause psychological harm to both of them.

Zack looked down to the hand it had been too long since a true caring hand held his they walked holding conversation then she mentioned a return to the lab. Zack stopped for a second at the stairs still thinking upon her first question. “I think it would be us jumping towards danger rather than avoiding.” He gives a moment thought thinking over whether I would be possible to save them. “It would be dangerous but we might be able to save them.” Zack also knew what the people went through as he had accompanied the Doctor for so many years.

Looking round when she mentioned the house he gave a nod. “Indeed it is funny that the building is standing a miracle or its just been restored by humans for living purposes.” They both came to the kitchen he stops here. “A bite to eat would be nice actually.” Thinking over how little they had eaten.

.
Looking to her with a frown as her stomach growls he watches her turn over all the cupboards no tins then the clucking he stifled a laugh as he knew it was going to be feeding time. The two discussed the plan on how they would get the meal she designated herself hunter and Zack as….. well the ‘fire boy’.

Zack shifts through his coat pulling a tinder box finding to his frustration no matches left he pulled the kindling from his box and a small block of what seemed to be flint. Zack pulling his claymore from his back began the old method of flint on metal for sparks to set alight kindling. After many attempts he finally got it going throwing the kindling into a nearby wood stood breathing life into the flame it starts to burn. “One complete fire.” As he watches the flames he sits down waiting for the ‘meal’ hoping Sin did not simply maul it to death.

.
Zack got up happy for chicken but it was Sin empty handed who entered a quick evil stare stopped him from asking any questions. He watched patiently as she edged out of the room again he looked around the cosy Kitchen when he heard a crunch of a neck breaking. “Guess she got one.” He began to walk to the door when suddenly Sin ran in like a live rocket that’s when he noticed the loud sound of clucking. Sin yelling for the door closed he put his shoulder to it the whole door closing with a slam he looked around for a way to stock it from moving deciding on using his claymore as a secondary wedge.

“So who’s gonna prep this ‘chicken’ for cooking wondering if they had taught her that at the facility.