Prologue

    Not one living being truly knew what the downfall of humanity was. Whether it was pestilence, warfare, famine, prognostication, mother nature’s last retribution or a combination. All we know now is the struggle of survival. Our ally is resilience and our enemy is extinction.

Chapter One: Marooned 

    I awoke disoriented and my perception was lost. Hearing nothing besides the violent thrashing of waves against my raft. I pulled myself up partially from the yellow raft and looked up. The sky was a dark overcast seemingly devoid of all light. Further away I noticed a light that was shining through the clouds and onto a distant haven. I must make it there, but I have no control over this savage sea. The thunder was deafening and I was unable to hear anything else. I was hurled out of the raft as it flipped over. The current was pushing me down as if I was being dragged by the ocean itself, descending into the abyss. Air became more and more scarce and I began to lose consciousness. All the while the lulling lullaby of the ocean continued. At first I saw darkness, then I saw ruins littered with the remains of casualties. I saw a light as blinding as a thousand solar flares. Shrieks echoing in the distance into silence and nothing left besides ashes blowing through the wind. Was this a dream, a vision in my afterlife?  Either way it begins.

    I felt the sand caress my hair as I sheltered my eyes from the blinding sun. Where was I? I was so distracted by the thrashing of the waves and the commotion around me that I forgot to ask a question that shouldn’t have to be asked. Who am I? My memories have faded. Did I have any in the first place? I looked out to sea and I saw a lot of rocks poking out of the shore. All that matters for now is that I have finally found land and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. I tried to stand up; my knees almost buckled. I was weak from aching bones and hunger. The thirst was equally unbearable. I looked around and saw my raft beside me. I searched thoroughly inside and saw a hiking backpack. I opened it up and found a book, tarp, flask, other gear and a letter. The book was blank, with a leather cover, and now I see it’s blank because it’s a journal. My journal? The letter is titled restoration or ruination:

 “Eli, since the beginning mankind has made many mistakes everywhere from biting an apple to poisoning, crippling, and ultimately destroying mother earth. Destroying the only home we’ve ever known, yet we have the nerve to say we’re smarter and more superior than everything else. We wiped out each other by the billions, man and animals alike.  Earth will bear our scars for over a millenia. I’m unsure if we even deserve a second chance. Hell did we even deserve the first one? The desire to expand, rule, create, destroy, enslave, and conquer were both relentless and overwhelming. We were the creators of our own downfall war, pollution, genocide, greed, and corruption. Eli, can you save humanity single handedly? No, you can’t that ultimately falls onto everyone. Eli the only things people respond to would be charisma and action, both tools dangerous in the wrong hands. I wish I could say good luck but honestly that would be a lie.” 

Who wrote this? Was he a cynic or a realist. Am I Eli? Is there more like me? The more I learn, the less I understand. I took a swig of my flask of water. I looked around me and saw where I was, it appeared to be an eden, shimmering shells on the beach, an endless thriving pine forest behind, cloud-capped mountains in the distance. I found a sharp stone and wrapped leather around it to use as a grip. I can use the stone as a knife or dagger. I walked around the beach looking for any other supplies. After an hour of only shells and rocks I decided to move upwards towards the forest. I found some berries. I think it was blackberry and ate berries until I couldn’t continue any longer, and felt better immediately.

   I had a few hours until nightfall, I needed to find shelter fast. I was hearing strange sounds like buzzing, growling, hissing and howling. There was no doubt wildlife was here. I continued through the wild and found a she-wolf’s corpse and a few of her cubs. It seems they were attacked by something unnatural. It was troubling me beyond content that none of them survived. I had to move on for fear that I would end up with the same fate. There was a cave nearby. I was reluctant, but unfortunately it would have to do. I gathered leaves, twigs, and threw a tarp over it for a bed. I arranged logs and rocks to make a barrier at the mouth of the cave, and of course a fire to keep me strong. I heard a wolf cub whining, one of the cubs whining for his mother. I felt disturbed by the noise and this dream. The whine increased and I quickly discovered this is no dream. I was startled but did not show it. I realized this cub was the she-wolves and this was their den. They weren’t part of a pack and I could also tell that the cub could cause no harm. As certain as I would not hurt it. She was sniffing my pockets for my berries. What a clever girl, so that’s why she was so nice. She had light green eyes, light and dark gray fur. She seemed healthy, not enough to become alpha, but not weak enough to be omega. She had a playful look with a touch of curiosity and wisdom to it. 

    I wish I could say I had the strength to leave her and fend for herself, but she needed me almost as much as I needed her. She was still too young to hunt. I kept her in the cave for now. I found elk and berries the first few weeks, which worked hand and hand because I only ate the berries the animals ate for fear that I would poison myself. Barely avoided a bear once, close call. I wasn’t good at hunting at first, but I caught on real fast with natural instinct and adrenaline. My first hunt I hid in a tree and left a pile of berries. Making sure the wind is blowing towards me. I waited until he was eating, then leaped with a sharpened stone in my hand. I got a good strike right in the throat. That wasn’t the problem, the landing gave me a bruise and a sprained ankle. Barely made it back with the berries and elk. The pup’s eyes lit up. I gave her a leg and a couple berries as a treat. Then I had to take it easy for a few days luckily enough to last that long. I played with the pup, wrestled and chased her. I realized she was the one friend I had in this place. Every night I tried to make sense of the letter I’ve gone over it each night. I noticed my friend was growing and hasn’t had a name yet. I didn’t even know she was a she-wolf. I decided Natasha or Tasha for short, seemed to fit her well. She wagged her tail when I said it so I think we were both in agreement. 

    Time for a group hunt I taught her to be as stealthy as possible and if we split up to howl a signal and I would whistle for a signal. Unfortunately her first hunt she got too excited and was somewhat arrogant. She tracked the prey and we took it down together in almost perfect synchronization. Since she hunted with me I gave her half, fair is fair. I even found seasoning to add flavor to mine. Natasha found an elk and stalked it while I went behind it. She exposed herself causing the elk to charge right into my new spear. I killed it fast not wanting to inflict pain. We were on our way back when Tasha’s ears went up and growled. This wasn’t prey. She jumped in front of me at a bear. I hadn’t encountered a bear in combat. I threw my spear but it only grazed and enraged it. It hit me into a tree when the bear’s attention was on me, Natasha bit on its neck being thrashed violently. I came to my senses, took my sharpened rock and impaled its chest. The fight was over. I had a scar on my shoulder bleeding badly. I ignored it and looked at Natasha. She was ok, her neck hurt and her paw was injured somehow. She looked concerned and licked me. It was late and we can’t fight another bear. We arrived at home just in time, unfortunately lost our kill. I nursed my wound with a makeshift bandage, I managed to stop the bleeding. I looked at Tasha’s paw and with further inspection discovered it was a thorn. I took it out and she was better. We have to be more cautious if we want to survive. We were unable to hunt big prey for now, so we just took some rabbits and some berries. 

  Wounds finally healed back to normal. For hunting I’ve used my spear for fishing so it is easier to find food. I’ve decided to teach Natasha to hunt by herself in case anything happened to me. God a wolf is my heir. I still watch over in case she’s in danger. She’s improving keeping her impulses in check, learning when to strike. It’s the simple purpose that keeps me going. The desire to explore grows each day, but I wouldn’t be foolish enough to venture too far away from home. Visions of eruptions and mounds of corpses the murderer unknown occupy my mind.

   A wolf! A wolf is what’s keeping me sane! It’s been months and still no others like me. I think I’m starting to hallucinate. I thought I saw a shadow of a man from far away while we were hunting. Probably slowly losing my mind from this involuntary isolation. Its winter,  prey seems scarce. Me and Natasha are both suffering from mild fatigue as well as starvation. Today was a successful hunt that finally had us set since this dreaded season. We made it home with our kill I stored in a makeshift rucksack. I gave Natasha her share and hit the hay after a long day. 

I heard the sudden conflict of snarls and yelps causing me to leap out of bed. I looked at the source of the noise. A robed man was stealing my supplies. She gave him a slash against his arm and he kicked her in response. I charged at him with dagger in hand, he suffered a slash across the chest howling in pain. He disarmed me and backhanded me. I was on the floor, the world around me blurring. I awoke to Tasha’s nervous whine. I coughed uncontrollably and smoke was everywhere bastard was going to burn me alive. This fire isn’t natural. I see red cans spilled over with flammable liquid pouring out as I grab what’s left of my gear. Lazy bastard only wanted my food, idiot forgot about my backup stash of berries. He also generously decided to give a going away present or as I would say a shank in the back. I ultimately buckled and said “Leave Natasha! Leave!” No use in her dying senselessly because of my own rival. I drifted back into consciousness, most likely bleeding to death. Again I awoke to Natasha’s nervous whine, great the faceless culprit killed me and my dog now I’m in the afterlife with her. No! Unbelievable! Tasha dragged me out of there. This isn’t the end after all. Now I have two decisions to make whether or not to seek vengeance and track down and kill that thief or to forget it and move on. Either way I have to move on to the vital decision at hand where to go now. It’s not safe here now. The most terrifying thing isn’t that I almost died, or even Natasha almost died. It’s the fact there were people right under my nose, completely oblivious of them and it nearly cost us our lives.

Chapter 2: No Haven 

    We walked for God knows how long hours upon hours in the middle of the night in winter! We settled behind a nearby waterfall as I passed through it to the cliff inside it. I decided this is the perfect temporary shelter. An improvised sleeping bag would have to do no fires. We’ve seen enough fire today. I slept right next to my wolf. We both wanted today to just end. I awoke looking at the ceiling of the inside of the waterfall scribbled in it was “We became seduced by our own vision.” What the hell! I didn’t notice this before it was too dark. That scribble sounds like a regret, I wonder who wrote it. Is it a still present occupant I looked around. Nothing but a confused wolf, no sign of past residency. On further inspection I noticed what appeared to be a crescent moon, except it was teeth a smile of a sorts. It appeared to be a symbol for what?

   Despite my confidence we left that and began our nomadic migration east. As good of a direction as any, besides I don’t want to go west back to the beach. In a way that psychopath gave me exactly what I wanted a chance to explore and possibly find some friendly people. For months me and Natasha followed prey and we enjoyed it as our meat was heading uphill. A great place to set up camp high ground for vision and you have to go out of your way to even find us. A mountain top by a river is perfect. I can envision it already. We’re improving our hunting technique with each day. So good that we don’t go after the same prey as frequent as we used to. After yet another successful hunt we decided to make camp by the river. I saw something that filled me with dread. It was a snare and it had a rabbit trapped in it. We’re not alone, this isn’t safe. We hiked uphill fast and took refuge in a nearby cave. I haven’t forgotten what happened last time I was in a cave. 

    I awoke feeling pretty sick to a dead rabbit. I assume it’s my share of the hunt Natasha must have hunted while I was asleep. She also must have sensed I wasn’t at my best. Suddenly I felt a little bit of pride for her. I saw her looking pretty pleased with herself. We had to power through and continue traveling uphill despite the difficulty we faced. 

    Tasha and I were on our daily hunt when I spotted our target. A burly male elk that seemed to have a limp. I snuck up behind it with my dagger in hand, while Natasha started running for it. As it turned to run towards me I reflected on how I underestimated it. It threw me back with its horns as I plunged my dagger into its chest. I missed all fatal areas causing a minor wound. I ,however, was flat on my ass still recovering from the hit. I saw the elk flee further into the woodland with Natasha pursuing deeper into the woods. I eventually recovered and started tracking the chase. I just followed the trail of blood. I of course have the utmost confidence in Natasha, but still I worry. I worry even more what trouble her primal instinct will get her into because of it. It kept getting steeper and exhausting. 

    After ten minutes I made it through the woods and reached a cabin. Crashed in the bush was the elk with Natasha getting her share early. I got her alert and focused after she was done eating. Warning her to stand guard and stay put. I slowly approached the cabin and went up the porch. Stealth was of the essence so I crawled up to the door. I would have peeked through the window, but the crimson curtains were drawn. I decided to enter through the upstairs window. I managed to climb up a tree and balance on a branch leaping silently towards the rooftop. Clutching the roof I started hauling myself up. I peered through the second story window and inside was the bedroom of this house. The bedroom was clearly uninhabited for quite some time, whether this is a good or bad indication is still to be determined. 

   The window luckily was unlocked. I crept in trying to avoid making too much noise on the old creaky wooden floor. Unfortunately, only so much can be done to avoid making noise. I was in a dusty room. It was a mess. Books and empty liquor that was undoubtedly older than me were scattered over the floor. No supplies and nothing else useful time to move on to the rest of the cabin. I checked the upper part of the floor both the bedrooms and the bathroom. Nothing but expired medication and more empty alcohol. Why do I have the feeling the previous tenant was a depressed alcoholic. I heard some rustling coming from the downstairs kitchen. Shit, I guess it wasn’t as unoccupied as I previously thought. I held my knives tight while I slid down the railing ready for a fight. It was Natasha “Are you kidding me? The back door was wide open the whole time.” I whispered loudly to myself. I cleaned her bloody muzzle from the prey she brought down earlier. Pots, pans, broken dishes and more liquor surrounded the kitchen floor. The wooden floor was stained with bloody paw prints. I wonder who did that? 

   I continued through the house back against the wall and a rope smacked my face. It seems I uncovered the attic. I gave the rope a cautious tug. The rope snapped instantly, but fortunately the ladder descended. I urge Natasha to stay put as I cautiously ascend to the attic. I peered my head to observe the room and saw plastic bottles and fishing line. Don’t mind if I do. I continued searching the attic for supplies. Then I came across a wine rack. There were some unopened ones! The drunk that lived here even organized them by year. Good to know for later.

  After I was thoroughly convinced this house has been uninhabited for many years perhaps several decades. I think this will make a fine home. I organized my gear in a closet upstairs. As I was resting in my new bedroom I peered outside and saw a well. A water supply is great luck. The original tenant must have been a doomsday prepper. I think I’ll go for a drink right now. I head over leisurely towards the well. The stone well stood a little under waist high. The ragged rope still stood swaying in the wind. As I stood staring down the void I saw shadows flickering. There was no water in the well.What the hell is going on down there? As terrible as this idea sounds, I have to explore what is down there. I dropped a stone and heard the impact shortly after. Which means the well isn’t as deep as it may appear. I tug the rope connected to the well. Sturdy enough I thought to myself. “I’m going to regret this.” I leapt down the well holding the rope. It snapped immediately I spread out my limbs as wide as I could to slow down the traction to lessen my descent. Eventually the well grew wider and some of the stones stuck out more than the others perhaps meant for climbing out? I couldn’t grasp any of them though my wrist unexpectedly hit a stone sending me tumbling down the remaining depth. Luckily the worst of it I was able to slide down. I landed on my side covering my head; a dull lingering pain followed. Eventually I picked myself up with a mild limp. The floor was a cold metal, apparently a drain. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a well? Beyond what was directly in front of me I wasn’t able to see. I listened to the room in an attempt to make sure I’m not rushing into a threat. Nothing but the occasional drip or splash of water. I slowly crouched towards a wall and felt around it for a switch or any kind of light source. Eventually I felt a bulky object on the wall made with what appears to be ceramic and glass. I felt around and found what I was searching for. I found a valve. I turned left then heard a click then a series of bubbling and removed the cap. I lit a match and threw it; quickly tightening the cap back on. A flame erupted and created an ever expanding light filling the room. 

   What I saw I almost couldn’t comprehend. I saw rows upon rows of shelves above my height by several feet filled with books. The room was shaped like a dome it appears made of stone but it was likely filling a natural-

Looks like I stopped there. This was heavily inspired by a young adult series by Michelle Paver called “Wolf Brother”. I think I was still learning the difference between inspiration and conceptual plagiarism

Estimated date of this work: 2013

I have some images stored in my original google doc that influenced my story as well:

This is the earliest work I’m somewhat proud of so I’m going to let some of the unoriginality and formatting slide. Since I can’t bring myself to delete it.