Alex jumped over a broken piece of concrete and continued his lonesome jog through the crumbling city. Everywhere he could see the decay. The concrete monuments of human ingenuity, breaking and collapsing. A last few steps and the teenager stopped and righted his “armour”. Some leathern bikersuit he had found while foraging for food and other useful stuff in the apocalypse. The self made holster around his hips still held the old western revolver.

He would have loved to have a newer model, but right now, everything broke down quickly and the latest gadgets fell apart minutes after the implementation of the system.

He still remembered the fateful night, like it was yesterday. A gigantic shock went through and everything changed. It was like an enormous machine, working flawlessly and suddenly a cog stuttered and stopped. It may have been seconds or days, he couldn’t tell, but the cog was replaced, the machines functions were changed and it started again. But then, everyone around him could see this awful message and still, two weeks later, it was burned into his mind.

Congratulations Humanity, your greed and destruction of Nature has corrupted your worldcore.

While your parents fight at the front, you, the children are given a grace period, until you turn 20 years old. Then you have to join them and clean the corruption.

It can’t be cleaned through simple means, but fear not, we the most esteemed and paramount council have given you tools to grow in power.

Your world may crumble to ash and dust, but you will rise like a Phoenix or decay in timeless strife.

Rise, grow and conquer your foe.

Alex dismissed his dark thoughts and continued to check his gear. The revolver may be rusting, but it still worked. Next was his bowie knife, secured on the other hip. The blade had a few rust spots, but it didn’t break and should be usable for a few more weeks. Finally done, the teenager entered a shop by the street, drawing his gun.

During the last two weeks, he and the others of his group of orphans learned the hard way to be prepared. The tools to grow in power were essence seeds and if they were absorbed, you could earn essence and grow. Sadly the flora and fauna, meaning animals, insects and plants didn’t get the memo that they needed essence seeds to grow. They just grew.

The small neighbour's terrier, had grown from ankle to knee height and the neighbour's son soon fell victim to his rabid pet. But worse still, was the comeback of nature. Humanity had conquered and tamed it, but with the system in play, it came back with a vengeance. Someone of his group found out that a breed of plant, which shouldn’t even exist in the northern hemisphere, didn’t seem to be bothered by the inhostpitable climate here. Sadly, he didn’t have the time to properly take care of it and was stunned by its poisonous spores, digested to mush and absorbed. Alex shook his head in disgust. The aftermath hadn’t been nice to watch or smell.

The inside of the shop was gloomy, the afternoon sun plunging everything into shadow. Alex had been a regular here, however, and still remembered where everything stood. He danced around rotted and rusted shelves and pocketed the last few cans of tinned food. Although they showed traces of rust and decay, the food inside should still be good.

With him being sixteen years old, he was counted among the seniors of his group and had to take care of the younger ones. Jones, the only eighteen year old, was excused from looting to protect the camp. He already had an essence seed, and of course that made him their leader. His following grew, as he gave his cronies every seed the group found. It was an ironclad rule for the camp, as the most experienced, Jones and his “councillors” decided who got one. If you broke that rule, you were punished, sometimes severely.

Alex left the shop, stuffing six cans into his backpack. He momentarily thought of continuing, throwing an estimating glance at the sun. He would have two hours left, until it got too dark and dangerous. The nightly creatures, crawling out of their holes, trying to get a heedless wanderer.

Holstering his gun, he went westward from the camp. Alex and his peers had already looted most shops in the neighbourhood and it was dangerous to enter the high-risers, as they could crumble with the slightest misstep. So he had to walk longer and farther until he found food.

Sometimes he would stumble upon other small groups, inviting them to their camp, but more often than not he found the remains of children half eaten. He really hated this new reality.

Maybe it would get easier if he found an essence, but as always, the council decided “democratically” who would absorb the seed. Besides Jones, they had five others with an essence and Alex hoped he would be among the next to get one. They just had to find more…

As far as he had seen, seeds could be of everything. Jones for example had one of animal, found among their rabbit garden on the very first day. Andrej, Jones’ best friend and the second to gain one, had one of wood, found in the forest near the orphange. They soon left the building, as the danger of collapse was very real, but with their essences, the teenagers were able to build a provisional camp.

Alex continued his lonesome trot through the streets, carefully watching the sides and windowless frames of broken down suburb buildings. ‘I can’t be careful enough, otherwise I’ll end up like Sasha…’ Sasha had been the third to gain an essence seed. Hers was even an epic seed, more rare than Jones or Andrej's. But she grew complacent and didn’t watch her back during a night watch. Besides a few traces of blood, there was nothing left of her. So the teenager walked on, measuring every step. He knew the next shop should be just around the corner. A few minutes and a couple of alleys later, Alex finally stood in front of a small corner store.

‘I hope it isn’t looted yet, I can’t go back with six paltry conserves.’ He pulled out his knife, before briefly considering the gun, but realizing the shop was too small to get in a safe shot. Alex left the backpack just outside, so it wouldn’t hinder him if he got into a fight. Slowly he stepped into the store, tightly gripping his knife.

The most fearsome beasts weren’t dogs or cats the size of a german shepherd, but rats as high as your knee with a bite strong enough to easily snap your thigh bone. He had seen it already. A pack of rats, hunting a deer at least three meters tall. They brought it low and the fight ended before the deer even knew what was happening.

Alex was lucky as the shop had no other occupant and he quickly searched through the few aisles. Not only did he find two more conserves, but the owner seemed to have a napping area in the backroom and left Alex with an inflatable mattress. He briefly considered going up to the second floor, but relized that the longer he stayed inside, the greater the danger of collapse became.

Finally back in the dwindling light, he examined the two cans. ‘Of course it’s damn fruits, why else would they be left here…’. The teenager deliberated leaving them, but it was still food, so he put them away and began stuffing the mattress into his backpack.

RASP

‘Freaking hells…even the cloth rips that easily nowadays…’ Alex tried to save the backpack, but the tearing was its end, slowly the seams split and he quickly pulled the mattress out. ‘Well…guess I have to leave it here, hopefully I can tie the rest together, so we still get the food.’ Having had that thought, he carefully tied the straps around the backpack, securing the ripped seam. It was awkward to carry the backpack now, but at least the food was save. He quickly oriented himself, patted himself down to check his gear and began the way back to the orphan camp.

‘I shouldn’t have taken so long, it gets dark earlier than before. Or maybe it just feels that way without streetlamps and bright illuminated shopping windows’ Alex knew he was somewhere in the vicinity of their camp, but the shadows had gotten longer and longer as the sun went down behind the skyline. It was quite eerie, the crumbling city, trees growing here and there, sometimes even directly out of a building hundreds of meters in the air.

But the worst part were the sounds. During the day, the city was nearly silent. Besides the rumbling of a building breaking down or the cry of a wounded animal, one couldn’t hear anything. But at night, the city was waking up and you could hear a rustling, a hooting, a growling, a howling from every direction. Alex steps grew wider and faster. He didn’t want to end up stranded in the night, he had to make it back!

AAAAHH- Somewhere behind him, Alex heard a cry stopping abruptly. Another teenager or kid, taken by the night. He hoped it wasn’t someone he knew, but knew Jones sent out everyone he could so that the others could survive a day more in this Apocalypse. His heartbeat quickened, he knew the houses he passed a moment ago. One more kilometre and he should be back at camp. But his anticipation made him heedless, and Alex nearly missed the low growl coming from the front. A scratching of claws on tarmac made the teenager look up, just to see a giant muzzle flying towards him. Reflexively dropping down to evade the large dog, he saw its belly flying above his head. Alex quickly skittered to the side and tried to pull out his knife.

“FUCK!” he cried out. The knife was gone, frantically he searched for his knife on the ground, but he must have lost it while falling down. The dog turned and growled again. It slowly stepped towards the teenager, who finally pulled out his gun. With shivering hands, he tried to aim at the dog. Every step the animal took, Alex mirrored a step back, too. Until he felt something hard in his back. His back against a wall, Alex desperately looked left and right. On the right, the wall continued into the darkness and Alex knew it would do so for some hundred meters. He made to sprint to the left, a corner some dozen metres away promising an escape route, as a second dog stepped around it, snarling at the teenager.

‘There!’ A hole in the wall to his right. It was pretty small and the sharp ends of rebar poked out of it. Alex scampered to the whole, squeezing and pushing, trying to get through. ‘The straps!’ He was trapped, halfway through the hole, the straps of his backpack were caught on a steel rod. Sideways through the hole, he had a premium view at the two dogs, which were slowly advancing. He didn’t know why they hadn’t ended him yet. Probably to make the hunt more fun. Damned animals. Alex shimmied, trying to loosen his backpack while he raised the gun again. At least he was smart enough to keep the gun pointed at the dogs.

BOOM! The first shot went wide. It was dark and his hand was trembling. The second, smaller dog, was startled and stopped his advance. But the bigger, meaner looking dog didn’t care. It made two huge steps and jumped at the teenager. Time slowed down and the dogs outline became crystal clear. Alex could see every hair on its snout, the wet nose, the hot breath and the sharp teeth. He loosened another shot, strafing the dogs ear.

“YOOOWL!” He heard, when the giant dog hit him. It quickly bit down on his shoulder. As Alex cried out the added impact finally shoved him through the hole. The dog lost his prey, now trapped between the sharp points of steel. Alex held his shoulder, whimpering, while the rabid dog growled and yowled, trying to get to the wounded teenager. He skittered back, trying to get as far away as possible. But it was hopeless.

The dog was much stronger than Alex and was soon free. A mixture between a bark and a growl and it pounced again. Alex life flashed before his eyes, and he just held out his arms in an attempt to keep the dog away.

The added weight of the giant dog was enough for the crumbling building. The floor gave way and both, the dog and the teenager were falling down. The first impact a few meters down hurt, but after the second, everything went black.