The Escape

It's about noon and Zane is walking down a highway littered with decaying cars. As he approached a nearby city, most of the cars had cracked or broken windshields. Sometimes he saw the odd humvee or a tank, they made great shelters for nighttime. Pales couldn't get into them, but they could ram a humvee until a door fell off so tanks made a better shelter.

This is the western apocalypse and it has been hell. He is about 5'7 with long blonde hair blowing in the wind, a sturdy build, blue eyes with a narrow face, He wears a trench coat to stay warm and has a backpack of supplies. He travels alone mostly, at the start he traveled in groups of survivors of twenty to thirty people but they all succumbed to becoming food of the Pales.

It has been eight years since the collapse of society in western nations as we know it. Ten years

since the Pales appeared and ravaged cities and local wildlife in their lusting hunger. Cities lay barren and falling apart, cars left lying and decaying, with towns also deserted. The Pales suddenly appeared out of nowhere one day and could not be stopped. There were signs something was wrong, people would go missing, missing person posters were everywhere. Posters for pets were around as well.

He's walking into a city to scavenge food. He has to be quick and find it before nightfall. The Pales' city packs could get to be thirty to forty large, to his knowledge at least. Upon entering the city he walked past the towering skyscrapers of former business and apartments.

The Pales often slept in the sewer systems so he couldn't enter those areas. But the odd pack would sleep in an abandoned building that was dark enough. He found one, it was between a corner store and a Starbucks and, with the lack of Tim Hortons, it meant he must be somewhere in America. He reached around to his backpack and got his torch.

Zane flicked the torch on and entered the Costco, stopping at the entrance to listen. It was dark inside. He listened for a few moments for heavy breathing or snarling. Nothing. So he felt it was safe to go inside the abandoned building. He was surprised it wasn't picked clean. He began searching for food and batteries as well as water. He alway needed more water.

He came up to an aisle and found beans and peaches on the shelves. He took his backpack and dropped in 4 cans of each. Then he made his way to the electronics aisle. Once there he found the batteries he needed, double A, he found four packs. He packed them up, and made his way towards the refrigerator aisles hoping to find water.

On his way there he heard something, he froze and Listened. Then he was sure. It was heavy breathing. The Pales were frightening, the biggest stood eight feet tall and were a formidable entity. They had claws to tear their prey apart like a lioness tearing into a meal. A Pale's arms hung very long and their legs were lengthy as well.

Fuck, he thought to himself, If only this was that easy. Knowing he was gonna have to kill them, hopefully silently, he put his backpack on the ground next to a rack. He pulled his combat blade out and turned to the aisle. He shone the torch down the aisle, there were four of them sleeping about a meter apart from each other.

They were on the small side about 4 feet tall so they were inexperienced, probably just pups as he called them. He crept over to the nearest one, bent over it and jammed his blade into its throat near its vocal cords, so it wouldn't make a sound. Its eyes shot open and it gurgled, he held it down, it struggled for a moment and went limp.

His heart raced as he looked over at the other three, still asleep, he breathed quietly as possible to slow his racing heartbeat down, he approached the next closest one. He jammed his blade in the same spot as the first one. It gurgled as well and he held it down, then his heart froze. The heavy breathing had stopped. He heard a faint snarl from one of the two remaining, and they both awoke. Their big narrow heads swung around, teeth jutting out of their sneering mouths, 3 inches long and clearly visible.

Fuck, fuck, fuck He thought. he sheathed his blade and pulled out his katana, it came out with a Schwing! The two remaining pups got up. He readied himself, they snarled and one lashed out at him with their claws, he dodged and took a swing and took the beasts' hand clean off. It shrieked, then he shoved his blade into its chest, the other one started moving towards him and he removed the blade from the first pup's chest as it crumpled to the ground.

The second pup took a lunge at him, it tackled him to the ground and he held up his katana into its mouth blade forward sideways. It was snarling as it struggled to reach him with its teeth. He moved his right hand into the center of the blade and reached for his dagger. The blade cut into his fingers and made them bleed.

The pup struggled and raised an arm, its hand and claws high ready to come bearing down on him. He grasped the dagger and shoved it into the side of its head, the dagger entering the brain. It's arm went motionless and it's body collapsed on top of him. Struggling, he pushed it off. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowed his heartbeat. Zane shook the blood off his weapons and sheathed the blades and looked around. He then saw two bottles of water on the shelf. He grabbed the bottles, packed them and hastily made his exit.

Knowing that shriek would have been heard by the other members of its pack, It wouldn't be safe in an apartment tonight so Zane fled the city and by nightfall made it to the tank he saw on the highway. He turned his flashlight on and entered the tank and shut the hatch just in time as he heard Shrieks and howls ringing out in the city behind him.

Zane is pretty sure Pales are smart enough to feel complex emotions but not one-hundred percent. It seemed that way. He settled down in the tank and there was a thermal blanket inside, turning off the flashlight he inserted it into the pocket in his trench coat. As Zane laid down and shut his eyes, he pulled the thermal blanket over and settled to sleep.

The military was still around and operated somewhat to try and cleanse the country of the Pales but Zane doesn't know whether he's in Canada or USA at the moment, the borders between countries are blurred to him and it's just chaos. The military wasn't very successful in repelling the fall of society, most units got their asses kicked before they could get rid of a den of Pales, they would use flamethrowers which were effective and armor piercing rounds but still had casualties from every operation.

In the beginning Pales had large numbers of them swarming together to feed and ravage cities but they have since separated into packs around the country. They were hurt by UV light so many survivors of western society had adapted to live in high places or behind large walls with UV lights to protect them at night or they would travel during the day.

Pales weren't agile and that was their biggest weakness. Pales had hind legs like wolves but mostly stood on two feet. These creatures had pale skin hence their name Pales, thin but very durable in any weather.

Most stood about 8 feet tall at full growth, they breed and have packs like wolves close to thirty - forty large packs centered around a few females. They are nocturnal, at night they hunt their prey, their eyes are narrow but large and they can see very well and are suited to darkness.

The Pales suddenly appeared out of nowhere one day and could not be stopped. There were signs something was wrong, people would go missing, missing person posters were everywhere. Posters for pets were around as well.

Yet no one could suspect it was a country killing cause, one that would suddenly show up and devour cities and towns. When they finally did show up and they did, they showed up in armies as an unstoppable force ravaging neighborhoods at night.

House to house they went, feeding on entire neighborhoods in a night. In the beginning the cities were helpless and it took awhile before the military would join the civilian's fight against these monsters.

They, too, were devastated by the Pales as a food source. Before the military collapsed, it evacuated as many civilians as they could out of cities and towns. Many died of starvation as food was no longer abundant. Grocery stores were closed as an option due to the Pales denning inside them. Most who went inside did not come out during the day.