The town of Frigateville isn't known for much. Its western neighbor Brighton might be, but who cares. Its only real saving grace is its location, far enough from civilization to be quaint but close enough to the west coast hub city of Kadia to at least be a cheap vacation spot. With a year round population of around fifty thousand it's sustainable for how little it offers. Most everyone knows each other, and almost no incidents have occurred, not even residually, but… “This pamphlet is really honest... but sparse.”

Six weeks had passed since the Ark fell, Seth had scrounged up every piece of dry goods and canned food he could from what was left of his the town. His mattress fort was extensive, boasting two whole stories, and the water system still worked despite the weeks’ worth of negligence. The voices for their part had helped ration and plan out every move he made, as well as expand his abilities. Before, only one voice could be heard at a time, like a narrow spotlight on a stage. Now that spotlight could encompass a few individuals, and no conflicting noise would result. ‘I never really knew the town was that big, but then again I never really bothered exploring before.’

In these six weeks of waiting Seth had learned little of what had happened, or who the voices were beyond their names. Speaker kept saying it was to prevent him from getting distracted, but it didn’t stop him from creating better names for the voices than just poorly translated titles. “You’d at least expect to see something on the town’s history, maybe what the town even has in it.” Threat, the first voice, had taken over direct contact again and was focused on being Seth’s go-to for these weeks of physical isolation. He always sounded guilty, like he was doing this with a broader purpose rather than just companionship. But in the end Seth didn’t care much for that, it was just nice to fill the silence he was perpetually living with. ‘I guess they just wanted to keep the bulk of the tourists at bay.’

For the entire time since the event, there hadn’t been anything living making noise. No birds, no insects, even the thunder in the distance had gone away completely. In a lot of ways the silence was deafening, and wearing down at Seth’s resolve. No rescue, no signals from TV or radio, even the internet was down. Though blowing the entire town’s electrical system didn’t help. The only saving grace to Seth’s boredom was his powers. The voices taught him to control the flow of electricity slowly, but surely. By now he could light up any room he entered, literally, and keep any electronics working without batteries or wires, but this had limits. The most obvious being there was no more outside power to harness, so the only electricity they had on hand was the buildup from the first day. The voices were curating and rationing it so there was always a supply, but used it as well for their own reasons most of the time. Their situation wasn’t dire, but rescue was looking to be a long way off. “Looks like there realky is only one road in and out, unless you want to walk through the forest for a few days?” ‘No! ...I never liked going in there. Let’s just stick to the road, okay?’ “Okay, okay… just… don’t expect much better from the roads.”

Seth had finally convinced Speaker to allow him to start moving on, to at least look for help. Brighton wasn’t far, at least a couple of miles. If they couldn’t find anything they could come straight back. But really he wanted something actually cooked for once, decrying his lack of cooking skill, the lack of proper facilities, and the unfortunate glut of canned ingredients. Only so much you could do with canned peas and pineapples.

Speaker finally interjected himself into the conversation. “Countermeasures should be at acceptable levels and, from what amount of the horizon we can see, the fires in town have gone out.” ‘If only it hadn’t spread and blotted out the sun in every other direction since then.’ “Despite that, keep quiet and keep your eyes open. We can only see what you see remember. Though once we have some more power to utilize we can put this new sensor array to good use.” ‘That still sounds weird.’ “Yeah, it is kinda weird.” Threat reinjected himself into the conversation. “Alright! Let us get this expedition started already.” Seth was prepared to travel for a few days, loaded down with easy dry foods and water bottles. He even scrounged up some survivalist tools and had stuffed them into his jacket pockets. His mother’s red scarf was still stacked up around his neck, providing some cover from the soot laden wind. Also had a small bed roll, but hoped to not use it much, it had been sitting in a garage a little too long, even before this all started. And so he set off early in the morning, what little bit of the sun that could be seen at his back and a hopeful resurgence welling up.

For the first mile or so the road was clear, save for the knocked down road signs. The road to Brighton was a mostly straight shot, but had a few gentle curves that created separated stretches. The forest on either side was like a natural fence, blocking views of everything, but the few gaps present allowed glimpses into even more densely packed forests. These gaps though looked traveled, in fact a lot of the trees along the road looked like they had been scratched up, but… only in one direction. The scratches were somewhat intermittent, but at the gaps the trees looked practically ground down, some almost toppling over. Seth looked back toward town, but saw none of the scratches. It was as if something was rushing away from town, the exact way he was headed. But he had been warned of the danger, he trusted the voices had this covered, so he pressed on.

The first obstacle came in as he rounded the first lazy corner, a rolled over truck. Which way it had been going didn’t seem to matter as it lay broken, sideways in the middle of the road. As he drew closer he could see the windows were shattered… as was the whole driver side door. Closer now he could see the door was smashed inward, most of the side of the cab was. Finally upon it he could smell it, motor oil, salt, and mild death. He knew what death smelled like, having encountered plenty of dead animals in his backyard over the years. It’s part of the reason he didn’t like going into the forest, plenty of death comes out of it, no telling what’s still in it. But this… this was different.

There was no body, only dried stains… everywhere. The inside of the truck, the outside of the truck, the ground all around the gaping hole in the side. Speaker chimed in before he could linger. “We need to keep moving.” Seth accepted this and returned to the road ahead, but kept that picture in his head as he passed his town’s welcome sign. He didn’t need to keep it long though, the next curve in the road revealed more vehicles in the same state as the truck. Some tossed to the side of the road, some smashed down right where they were stopped, he even passed one dashed against a tree… ten feet up. The smell was the same, gas and motor oil, a salty tinge, and death, lots of death. And the blood stains were everywhere. Most still around the cars, but some were in the middle of the road, one wasn’t around any of the cars and seemed different, a deer maybe. Despite all the obvious death though, he heard or saw no flies, no vultures or buzzards, no coyotes. This just made it all the more unsettling, a permanently silent graveyard, soaked in long dried blood. Seth was having second thoughts, fear rising to fight his resolve, but he stifled it and pressed on. Choosing to focus on the road ahead rather than the death around him.

These scenes continued all the way to Brighton. At least the traffic hadn’t been bad. But once the town came into view, any bright side was wholly obliterated. Despite the darkened red lighting, Seth could see there weren’t any buildings still standing on the river side of town. Though sparse he could still see smoke billowing from the far side, but this was only the last dregs of the inferno that had scorched the horizon weeks ago. The rubble that was left of the river side was burned beyond recognition, spilling into the wide Terrace River and staining it black with ash and debris. The bridge over the river at least survived, but the trusses were gone from one side, so he had to hurry across.

Inside the town the devastation was more perceptible. Ash choked much of the air, but the ground was only lightly dusted as the wind kept it all moving. The fires had scorched and decimated every home and wooden structure, but the concrete of the center of town seemed to have withstood the inferno. What it hadn’t withstood were the holes smashed into almost every structure. A small grocery store had its entire façade caving in, the shoe store on the corner of their main street had an entire wall reduced to a few cinder blocks just barely keeping the roof up. The roads were more of the same, smashed or dashed vehicles permeated downtown, some now stuck out of the rubble, some were almost unrecognizable as cars. Some of the piles of rubble though were widespread, but not as if blown apart. The tops of these piles looked… dug, and Seth could smell what was at their bottoms.

The blood stains had persisted despite any caked ash, staining almost every corner of the town that wasn’t burned. But… some of it was fresh, or at least not as dry and desiccated as the rest. Seth shakily contemplated all of this, listening to the cracking and falling of rubble, the popping of cinders, the jolting of downed powerlines- ‘Wait, we need that.’ He snapped out of his spiraling fear and looked around. The jolting was somewhat distant, toward a less obliterated part of downtown, but it was there. He headed on toward it, passing more blood stains, more still fresh. The salty tinge he smelled was strong through the ashy odor. There was death all around him. He instantly shook that thought away, but he couldn’t stop from… He stopped.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, heard foot falls. He turned to his left. In an alleyway hiding at the side of a dumpster was a man, he was scruffy as if he hadn’t shaved or even had a shower this whole time. He was wearing just a plain blue dress shirt and jeans, but they were torn and frayed at the edges. And his eyes were wide, as if he was looking at a ghost. He stepped out slightly and rapidly looked down both ways of the road, scanned the remaining roof tops, before finally forcefully waving Seth to come to him. Seth for his part was relieved to see another person, but the state he was in and his torrential caution washed this relief away. He mirrored the man’s scanning and stepped toward him. In range, the man snatched him by the hand and pulled him into the alley, behind the dumpster, behind stacked boxes, and finally behind walling mattresses. He let go long enough to move the mattress back as quietly as possible, but he wasn't doing his best. He seemed weak, like he hadn’t eaten in some time. They continued on, coming to a double basement door that opened before they reached it. A woman, wearing a waitress uniform in a similar tattered state to the man’s clothes, lifted the door up and hurriedly waved them in, closing the door behind them, but leaving a conspicuous block of foam between the doors.

Seth was forced down into the basement proper, almost tripping as he turned back to look at the couple. Both of them starred at him from half way up the stairs, the red hued light illuminating them through the ajar door. They looked with disbelief, fear, the man with regret, the woman with anger. She turned away first, scolding the man in hushed tones. “What the hell Derrick, where did you find him!?” “He was just in the road, walking like it was nothing!” The man seemed more scared now, Seth understood why, but… wait.

As the two argued Seth could just make out Threat trying to say something, but the arguing drowned it out too much to be understood. He pulled back into the basement and covered an ear to listen more closely, but it only spared a few words. “countermeasures… too loud…” He covered both ears and pressed to seal out the now less hushed arguing. “SETH!!! THE COUNTERMEASURES ARE DOWN!! YOU NEED TO GET THEM TO BE QUIET RIGHT NOW!!!”

Seth snapped back, looked up to the couple and tried to call them down, but no words came out. His voice was still on loan, or he had completely forgotten how to speak after all this time. He waved and grunted instead, succeeding in drawing their gaze… too late.

Seth’s eyes went wide as he saw the door open behind them… and a massive scaled claw reached in. Time slowed, that grim adrenaline fueled perception that he’d hope to never experience again. He watched as the claw swallowed the man’s shoulder, digging claws into his chest and back before he even had time to know what was happening. Time rebounded as the man was dragged at unimaginable speed upward and through the door. He screamed as the door was obliterated by his forceful exit. The woman recoiled, but was grabbed in the arm by another claw from the other side. She tried to pull away down the stairs, but only succeeded in having her arm dislocate as the rest of her was dragged out the door. Both screamed, pleaded, there was sounds like ineffective punches, but it meant little. Roaring, growling… followed by snapping, squelching. The couple’s screams continued, more snapping and smacking… and more footfalls. Loud smashing steps, roaring, fighting, dying out screams. One scream suddenly crescendoed and- *SNAP*

Seth was left with nothing but the sounds of ripping and tearing, of bones snapping, of hungry fighting over scraps, of… He blacked out, not losing consciousness or even his footing. He just shut down right then and there, without ever making a sound.

Seth opened his eyes, or at least started seeing again. They were dry, as if they had remained unblinking for hours, so he closed them, never wanting to open them ever again. He was on the ground, curled up in a ball. He didn’t know how he got this way, but he didn’t care. He was crying, or at least trying to. Dried up eyes soaked away any tears he tried to form, but inside he was sobbing. An hour passed, two, the voices didn't dare rouse him, not till he was ready. But they knew now what had happened, and their guilt was stymying them. Seth finally roused himself after three hours, his resolve finally returned, though caked in fear and resentment. The screams, the sounds, they all played again and again in his head, burning deep and dying down with every repeat. At least allowing him a chance to feel anything else.

He got up and scanned the basement he’d been sheltered in. There wasn’t any food, it was mostly camping supplies along with several generators, batteries, and radio equipment. He walked over to the batteries, he still knew he had a mission to complete. Clutching a few in his hand, he felt their charge, but it wasn’t enough. He grabbed a car battery on the shelf, there was a little juice still in it, but he needed more. He ran his hand over every battery, every power stack, but it was still not enough… not enough to call this worth it. He fought back more pain and tears and kept looking.

He eyed the generator. It was gas so it would get noisy, so he asked Speaker and broke the silence they’d been locked in. ‘Are the countermeasures back?’ “…yes… We-” Seth stopped listening, pain lashing out the only way it knew how. He grabbed the starter pull yanked it nearly off, sputtering the generator to life. He put a hand to the socket and waited. The charge was weak at first, but it started flowing. He could feel it pass through his skin and soak away into wherever the voices sequestered it. After half an hour he cut the power, he didn’t know if it was enough, but he didn’t care anymore. He was hungry. He grabbed a bag of cereal from his backpack and sat on a sleeping bag the couple had rolled out against the far wall. He eyed a few of their things and started pitifully scooping handfuls of cereal into his mouth, loudly crunching to fill the void he was left in. Finally he couldn’t take it, he dropped the bag at his side, curled his knees in and simply asked the question he had been dreading the answer to.

‘Why?’ “…The… power drain became too much… We tried to start up the sensors before… but they ended up draining more than we thought they would.” A beat passed in horrid tension. ‘What were those things?’ “...The culmination of our sins. We could only speculate before, we’d been only speculating this whole time! We knew what we brought with us, but… its effects on your people were…” Seth went wide eyed. ‘Those things…’ “Are the people from your town.” ‘Mom…? Dad…?’ “Yes… they are more than likely among them.” Seth stopped, he didn’t try to cry. He knew he couldn’t. He just curled up tighter on the sleeping bag and just blocked the world out.

The next morning came with little improvement. Seth left the basement, not whole, he will never be getting those memories out of his head, but resolved enough to just want to get the FUCK out of this nightmare. He’d scrounged the basement again, trying the radio but its circuits were fried for some reason. He didn’t bother with the generator, he just wanted out of here. Climbing the stairs he was unworried of what was up there, knowing full well the countermeasures were never going to be dropped… ever… again...!

Sure enough the alleyway was empty… save for the fresh coating of blood splattered on every surface. Seth didn’t stop to take it in, just continued on, out of the alley, past the dumpster, and back onto the street. He could still hear the powerlines jolting, so he pushed toward them. Nothing had changed, the streets were just as bad as yesterday, but he paid no mind to them, just stepped around rubble and over the dry blood.

The line finally came into view, it was the end of a chain of high yield towers that stretched into the forest, following a path of least resistance or shortest distance. Without hesitation Seth stached it, putting a foot down to stop it from bucking wildly. He grabbed at the exposed wiring, but the line jolten and bucked in defiance, swiping at his hand and cutting it. He recoiled, but the fresh pain didn’t stop him. He tackled the end of the line like it was an alligator, putting both hands over the end. He was fed up with this, fed up with everything.

The charge in the line became apparent to him now, there’s no more than a few jolts left in it, so he slammed his bleeding hand down on the wiring. The result was instantaneous, electricity flowed straight into him, just like the lightning from the first day. But this time he felt it clearly, the jolt of energy being disseminated throughout his body despite the voices drain. A few seconds later the line was dead, siphoned of power, though Seth could feel down the line as it drained away. Switches, transformers, high yield lines. He was siphoning a substation. But it wasn’t destroyed like he would have expected. Something was cutting it off, isolating this whole area from the rest of the grid. He didn’t know what, but something about it was a good sign. He chalked it up to the voices speculations mixing up his thoughts.

He took a breath, he couldn’t help feel an unimaginable amount of resentment for his new… ‘friends’, for the world that left him in this hell. But… knew he didn’t want to keep all of that, knew they were victims just as much as he was… as everyone else here had been. His resolve pulled him down, and told him to give them a chance. ‘Was that enough?’ He addressed Speaker with an unfortunate hint of disdain tainting his mental tone. “Yes, we have enough to run the countermeasures for another month.” ‘No more sensors?’ “No more sensors.” Seth let out a sigh of relief, letting that disdain and resentment go as best he could. His hand panged from its cut, but healed quickly with the extra power. Fully charged, riding his resolve as much as he could, and tired of all of this, he returned to the main street of Brighton.

Nothing had changed of the beaten and burned road, nothing but him. Seth stopped and turned to look back down the road to Frigateville, he knew it was safe there, that all he had to do was stay put and someone would come eventually. But… he couldn’t stop remembering that couple’s apprehension, couldn’t stop seeing the fear in their eyes as they looked at him. He knew that anyone who found him would ask the same questions. How did this kid survive? Everyone else is a monster, is he a monster? Is he hiding something? He knew he couldn’t stay there. He knew he couldn't handle bearing blame like that.

He turned to the road out of Brighton, into more than likely more devastation, more death. But a sure escape from this hell and all its consequences. He felt the voices try to rise and dissuade him, but they stopped themselves, he was right. So... he walked on, passing the rubble, the smoldering fires, the death his town had caused, that his new friends had caused… that he had caused. They were all a part of him now. Their sins were his now. But he wasn’t going to be beholden to the whims of whoever found him, he was going to survive. His resolve found its way back up as he found his drive. He was going to find a way to make things right, make all this pain and suffering matter. He didn’t know how yet, but he had to do something other than live with all this guilt pulling him into the dirt. So he walked on, head kept high despite the weight pressing down upon it.

On his way out of town he passed a tourist shop. It was in tatters, and its wares were scattered everywhere. Looking down he spotted a Brighton Blinders baseball cap and picked it up. He needed a way to make it a hard sell that he was from Frigateville, from the center of this hellscape. So he put the hat on over his shaggy brown hair, hair that had begun to lose its color and turn white. And so he walked on, into the doubtless miles of ruin and horror that awaited him, but with hardened resolve to survive... and atone.