As I look back on this path
Painted black
Left barren and charred

Shadows of my choices
Phantoms of my past

Deep bleeding scars
Marring the landscape

I can’t help but think
It all seems trivial

Compared to the bigger picture
Oh if they only knew

And I laugh
How easily they can be scattered
As ashes manipulated by the wind

Nothing will stop me
Nothing can stop me
Of this I am sure

Resistance will be wasted
Futile as ashes against the wind







The air was rank with the metallic tang of blood as the four figures crossed over into city limits. They crept slowly down the long-deserted alleyways, silently stalking among the shadows as they neared their destination point. The moon cast an eerie light down on the gruesome scene as the four figures approached and stood for a moment in silence as they surveyed the carnage.

The lead figure stepped forward and crouched beside the first carcass. He reached out, tilting the head so he could see the face more clearly, emitting a long sigh and closed his eyes. Averting his eyes from the gruesome mutation in front of him, he redirected his attention to the large wound in the victim’s back. The shot wound was like an open fissure, the torn and bloody clothing showing as a glossy patch of scarlet in the light of the half-moon. He touched the wet apparel, feeling the gaze of his comrades boring into the back of his skull as they waited for him to speak. His voice came softly, confirming their suspicions. “It’s dead.”

He stood slowly, rubbing the blood from the cloth around his fingertips. “They’re getting more efficient at disposing of their mistakes.”

A quick inspection of the remaining butchery victims verified that the other limp forms scattered haphazardly around the brick enclosure were dead as well. The leader beckoned one of his companions, a tall girl with extremely short black hair and an unmistakable glint of mischief burning bright in her dark eyes. She was dressed entirely in black, her face the only part of her body that was illuminated by the moon. “Bring the others to help us bury them.”

The girl nodded and retreated back the way they had come. The remaining men began toting the first body down the silent road in a grisly procession wreathed in death. They were passing beside an abandoned apartment building as the cloud-cover over the moon suddenly thinned out, unveiling the silver half-circle in a brilliant flash of silver before it was smothered in yet another cloud. In that brief flash, each man’s sullen features were illuminated.

Malcolm Shard, their leader, was a man in his late twenties. His hair was dark brown, moderately short and unkempt. He was not of a considerable height, with accentuated cheekbones and dark eyes. Though he might have appeared to be in a state of relaxation, every muscle in his body was tensed in reaction to battle-honed instincts. He kept a wary finger near the trigger of his weapon, and glanced back at the two men bearing the carcass.

The first might have passed for a carefree young man fresh from his teens had the right side of his face not been warped and mutated by skin bombardment of radiation particles. The second had not gotten away as easily. The young teen’s upper face was shielded by a loose scrap of cloth, which was meant to conceal his sightless eyes. They had been maimed beyond repair during a careless surgery meant to improve the boy’s vision. Shard snarled under his breath, disgust coursing through him at the very idea.

Shard turned down the alley and led the way beneath a crumbling brick archway and onto a barren expanse of scrubland. They continued out into the wasteland, finally coming to a jerrybuilt cemetery, the graves of the deceased crudely marked with engraved rocks or slabs of wood. Using corroded shovels, the three men labored under the watch of the moon. They were joined by others bearing similar macabre cargo as the night wore on. When they had finished the morbid task of burying the dead, Shard leaned against his shovel and surveyed the thirteen young people around him. He felt a thrill of pride well up within him as he looked at the fruits of his efforts: Thirteen young people who had been subjects of brutal experiments, their memories erased and their bodies and minds twisted by countless techniques meant to deprive them of their lives. Thirteen human rejects, cast off by a well protected research lab because they hadn’t died. Lab rats who had failed because they were still alive, because they were strong enough to withstand the deadly experiments that had been conducted on them.

He had found each of them, nurtured them back to health, and given them a purpose to live again. They went by the name of Pariah, meaning outcast. Shard took in each of their faces as they gazed at him with expectancy. Being unable to remember the names they had once gone by, they had resorted to choosing names of their own. Though bizarre as they may have been, each name suited its holder beyond their realization, adding to their eerie instincts that had been whetted by Shard’s experience.

Shard beckoned to the young man with the mutated face, who had taken the name of Mange. The man peered at the warped face, speaking in a low voice. “Fetch Ghost and Spider. We’ll take a loop around town and finish the patrol.”

Mange nodded. He dodged in and out of the line of Pariahs as they continued back into the city limits, and returned accompanied by the blind boy and the tall girl who had gone to get help with moving the carcasses. Shard set off immediately, leaving the others to follow behind as he headed for the desolate city’s northern entrance. The four or them stepped with precision, their movements fluid and synchronized.

The city was silent as usual as they approached. Shard signaled to the girl as they passed through the gap between the city’s brick wall, glancing up at the curling spirals of barbed wire that lined the top. Spider nodded, and started away down the dark passage that had been formed between the wall and adjacent buildings. Shard gave Mange a signal to continue on with Ghost, and pressing a handgun into his hands, turned away and left in the opposite direction of Spider. Mange looked over at Ghost, feeling a sense of unease at being alone with the blind boy. Ghost glanced at him, facing his cohort with his unseeing eyes covered by the cloth. The boy had often been asked if it was difficult being blind. Ghost had always replied that it was easier than talking, due to the fact that he couldn’t remember being able to see colors or lights.

As they walked, Mange made an attempt at conversation. “Do you ever envy me and the others? I mean, by the fact that we can see, and you can’t?”

Ghost looked at him again. “No. In fact, I feel sorry that you can see.”

“Why is that?” Mange questioned, glancing down at the ground and scuffing the loose earth with the toe of his boot. He peered ahead into the darkened street as he waited for the younger boy to answer.

Ghost grinned. “Because I can notice things others can’t thanks to my ears, nose, and my ability to feel with my skin.”

“Like what?” Mange asked curiosly.

“Like the fact that something or someone has been following us since we entered the perimeter and split up with Shard and Spider.”

Mange made as if to spin around, but Ghost caught him by the arm, speaking in a low and urgent tone. “Don’t turn around. Try not to act conspicuous or do anything, just keep walking.”

“What is it?” Mange asked.

“I’m not sure.” The boy said. “It’s moving awkwardly, as if it’s injured or carrying a load. It might be human, or just an animal taking shelter in the city. Can’t you hear it?”

Mange shook his head. “No. Why, what is it d-?”

The blind teen slapped a hand over his companion’s deformed mouth, speaking in a hoarse whisper. “It’s coming this way. If it’s an animal it might have heard us or caught our scent. Get into the side-alley.”

They took cover in a dark space between two buildings. Ghost kept his hand over Mange’s mouth, hissing into the older boy’s ear. “Breathe quietly. Look around the wall so you have a view of the road and tell me if you see anything.”

The young man peered around the corner at the deserted street. He could audibly detect the presence of another creature, dragging itself across the cracking asphalt. Mange gagged in horror at what he saw. The shadowy figure was grotesquely deformed, with a hunched back and misshapen hind legs that were splayed out behind as the creature dragged itself along using it’s front legs. It was at least the size of a domestic cow. The skin of the thing’s back was stretched tight over the prominent vertebrae of the spinal column. Mange shuddered as the creature pulled itself closer to their position, sucking air into it’s lungs in a chilling death rattle.

“What is it?” Ghost murmured under his breath. The teen was pressed against the brick wall of the building, facing the direction of the road.”

“I don’t know.” Mange whispered back. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

He felt every muscle in Ghost’s body suddenly seize up tight. “Sshh!” The blind boy hissed between his teeth. “There’s something else.”

Mange watched as the crippled creature lifted its head and uttered a raspy ululating call. The two companions jumped as a harsh screech sounded from the far end of the alley where they had taken cover. A second creature identical to the first, apart from the fact that its hind legs were functioning properly, was illuminated by a shaft of moonlight.

Mange gripped the gun that Shard had pressed into his hands. “We’ll make for the road, towards the injured creature, and just go around it. Its wounds ought to delay it making any attempts at pursuit. That should detain the other but not for long, so we’ll head straight back for the compound.”

Ghost was nodding. The creature at the end of the alley screamed again and launched itself in their direction. Mange grabbed the blind boy by his arms and pulled him along as they ran into the road. Mange hesitated as they neared the crippled animal. “Go!” Ghost screamed at him. When he made no move, the blind boy snarled and grabbed Mange roughly by the wrist and yanked him along. “Keep an eye on that other one!” He yelled. “That’s the one we want to be worrying about.”

Glancing back at the way they had come, Mange could detect no trace of the creature. “I think we lost it.”

The blind boy snorted. “Huh! Fat chance of that!”

Mange was about to reply when another piercing screech rent the night air. “Where is it?” He yelled.

“Don’t know!” Ghost shouted back. “It’s out there though. Don’t think about it, just keep going!”

Another scream sounded from their left, and Mange groaned. “Don’t tell me there are more of those things!”

Their feet drummed out a frantic beat as they sprinted down the road. Mange paused to direct a few scattered bullets in the creature’s direction, before following his younger companion once more. Ghost suddenly pulled Mange into yet another side alley and wedged himself and the older boy into a smoke blackened shadowy crevice, all that was left of a crumbling chimney. They watched in horrified silence as the injured creature pulled itself even closer, calling out in desperate warbles to the other creature. Mange went rigid as the sound of claws scratching at the bricks on the roof sounded directly above them. Then the uninjured creature launched itself from the roof spaces and landed on the back of the cripple. There was a horrible scream from the wounded animal as the other creature drew it’s claws across the thing’s back, ripping through flesh and bone with each slash of it’s lethal claws and biting teeth. The creature made quick work of its prey, abandoning the dead animal as a new scent drifted down the alley toward it. The two hidden mutants stopped breathing entirely as the creature stalked closer to their position. Ghost growled like a caged beast, pulling Mange close so as to whisper in his ear.

“It’s going to find us. It’s got us trapped.” He hissed.

“So what are we going to do?” Mange whispered.

“Listen to me. Don’t argue with me, we both know that only one of us is getting out of this and it can’t be me.”

“What?”

“Listen! When I give the word, you run as fast as you can. Don’t look back just get out of here. Tell Shard what happened. Remember what he always says. ‘We are the remnants of a great civilization.’ I’m making sure you’re there to contribute to the next civilization when all of this is over.”

“No!” Mange protested. “I’ll do it!”

“Mange, listen to me! What sort of life do you expect me to have? I mean, I’m blind! You have so many years ahead of you, so don’t argue with me, just run when I say and trust me.”

Mange hesitated, and then nodded. “Right.” Ghost said. “And so the fun begins.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Ghost shoved his companion into the main alley, roaring as he ran out to stand in the creature’s way. “Run Mange! Get out of here!”

Mange closed his eyes and sprinted down the alley, trying to block out the gruesome sounds that echoed off of the bricks of the passageway. Then an eerie shriek rebounded down the alleyway and the world was smothered in silence. Mange squeezed his eyes shut and kept going, shuddering as the scream repeated in his mind. On the other side of the city, Shard paused, ceasing his patrol as the sound reached his ears. One down. He thought as he lifted his gun and sprinted down the alleyway. One to go.