Chapter 530

The cold bit through Ivan's threadbare jacket as he walked. Moscow's streets were emptier than he remembered them being.

A bad sign in a city that never slept. His boots crunched on the thin layer of early winter snow.

The biting wind whipped his hair across his face, a familiar, unwelcome companion. "Where is everyone?" he muttered.

He shivered in the cold, feeling like someone was watching him. The streetlights sputtered, casting long, unnatural shapes that danced along the buildings.

They made the buildings seem to twitch, which they were. He checked his watch. 2:30 AM.

He was behind. Work didn't stop in these situations. Work is always. Work.

"Blyat," he said, walking quicker now, his pace quicker, and heading for the alley next to the old bar. Ivan's breath puffed out in white clouds as he sped up.

The narrow passage was barely visible. His entry was almost immediate. No turning back, not now, not never.

"You're late," a man said, his accent harsh and unforgiving. He emerged from the recesses, almost a part of them, barely human.

But then again, when were any of them really human? "There were issues on the road," Ivan responded, keeping his tone even.

Lies. He got lost. So many places now, all the same.

So many lost places now, too many lost places now, he realized. The man grunted, tossing a small, worn sack to him.

He caught it, its heft solid, reliable. This was his burden now. His everything.

Ivan nodded, his fingers closing around the cold metal. Another job, another night. Work is always. Work.

He turned to go, but the man's question stopped him. His boss had never asked any questions before, that much was certain.

This is not him, not him. "Did you hear about London? All gone, man," he said, his face unreadable.

Something shifted in the cold air between the two men, both of them realizing they are lost, very much lost. "Gone?" Ivan asked, his voice barely a whisper.

So much now had the same response. That place, gone. This one too, now it's gone. Everything.

Everything going now. "Kaput. Not even ruins. Just gone," the man answered, shaking his head.

There was an unknown thing happening around them, for both of them. But still work.

Ivan stared, the words refusing to settle. London, really gone, was it true?

They were all told these were lies to confuse them. No way, not London, or Paris, they told them these were lies, all just lies.

But maybe, it was true after all, Ivan realized with a gut-wrenching feeling. The world he knew, or thought he knew, was crumbling.

But what else could be new? People dying and losing was now a normal occurrence around these parts of the world.

Everything he knew or once knew is over. Done, he was realizing. He hurried away, the image of a vanished London, all its history, all its might.

A giant hole now in his already fractured perception. It is done, then. It's really all going. Going now, he understood finally.

Days blurred into one another, marked only by the exchange of the small, cold sacks. That was his entire meaning of life now.

To be that one guy to move things from one point to the other. What else could he ask for? That was it.

He didn't deserve better, none of them did, this was always how it was supposed to be, for everyone. News from other cities filtered in – or the lack of it.

Paris, New York, Tokyo. Names that used to represent, symbolize power, now nothing, nowhere, gone.

The whole world was just like the hole inside him, that was growing each passing day. Ivan found himself drawn to the old cathedral more often.

Its broken stained glass still beautiful. Churches became packed again, just as when he was younger.

More people went missing each day, never to be seen again. Ivan went back to praying when all seemed lost.

Was it all true, maybe? God and his heaven and all that other shit, was it all real?

But even he knew. He didn't feel any God, not even his warm hands now in the churches.

Not even around people, who tried desperately to pray in the hope that someone would hear. No one would, it seemed.

God left a while back. But there was also one fact now: everything was not as bad when God was around.

When he had not yet left the premises, he guessed, there was still something to be thankful for. Now, everything was nothing, nothing meant anything at all.

He watched, silent, as people prayed. They begged. He also prayed for a while, and nothing changed.

Ivan realized one thing. It was too late. They were desperate, they looked to the heavens, for something.

But even Ivan knew no one was up there to listen anymore. The earth started to shake in regular intervals.

Buildings swayed, objects on tables and desks would start to slide, no one seemed to know what was happening. Everyone acted, trying to escape the terror that was always in the air.

At first small shakes, almost like a distant, angry heartbeat, nothing that could be dangerous. People didn't really get bothered or scared at first.

Thinking nothing could ever touch or hurt them, after everything else, no more, it was too much. This world has already hurt enough.

But this new, and weird change was now starting to bother most. Then it was starting to destroy people, things, houses, towns.

Ivan saw everything, and he was also getting nervous. But why? Death would probably feel like sleep.

And now, there are much, much worse ways to go, at least than his death that will feel like sleep. And no matter how he feels about anything.

At least he will have that sweet sleep when the day will come, after all, death is but just a well-deserved rest after a long work shift. He didn't have long left now, he assumed.

The intervals grew shorter, the shaking more violent. Moscow was tearing itself apart.

They said there was nothing to be scared of, nothing but the dark was dangerous. That turned out to be a lie, but one he accepted.

Now, he knew there were a lot of worse things out there, maybe under his feet as well, waiting. People panicked, running in the streets.

Others stood frozen, their faces masks of utter terror. Nothing could move; transport was down. Ivan couldn't even work now if he wanted to.

Ivan watched them, a detached observer in this unfolding nightmare. Even his dealer disappeared now.

What was the point of being on the street when all is lost? Who is gonna use, sell or even make use of any drug now?

No one had any money or need anymore. But, still, in some way or another, Ivan didn't blame him.

Ivan wasn't even angry with the guy, after all, what was the point? He walked towards the river, drawn by an unknown thing.

It called him to witness the ending. Or, what he thought was the ending at first, maybe this was just a start, not an end, he understood all at once.

The Moskva River was unnaturally still. Too still to be the river he had come to know so well.

Even in cold seasons, when it froze over, it still didn't feel like this. The river usually, always had some life in it, now there was nothing.

Just like with everything else around. Its surface mirrored the sky, but not this sky, but rather another place or time.

Some far distant place he was looking at, and he saw things moving in there, just not now, or not yet. This river used to smell terrible.

It had its own scent that went well with the rest of the rotting city. Not now. There was a chemical smell around it now, maybe acid.

Then, it began. It started with small things crawling, but things you couldn't see well, at first it just seemed like tiny ants all over your legs.

At first, it was something that looked more like black water coming out of cracks in the streets, very slow and dark water just moving.

Like a snake over your skin. Then it started to get out of these dark, small pools and get close to any life source and consume them whole.

Nothing could move quick enough not to get eaten alive, and not slowly, they did this as fast as they could. From beneath the earth, from its very core, they emerged.

Small, but as big as any car, dark, their bodies looked as if they were formed from the shadows themselves, like liquid coal. No features, no anything to let one know it was any normal thing one would see, none at all.

Nothing made any noise; everything moved very slowly and silently, which was, without a doubt, one of the most terrifying things about all this. They seemed like creatures that crawled out from a place humans have yet to see.

Like things we've heard of but are all very different, bigger, smaller, scarier than expected, that was not something unknown. Or, as someone who just wants to tell us this, Ivan assumed.

That the thing itself, is something that has never seen humans before either. Something that crawled, out, of, somewhere. It's coming, in, this, space. Here.

They moved with an unsettling, uneven grace. Gliding over the ground, they started consuming.

Consuming the whole city whole; people didn't see them at first, just dark spots around. And once they saw, people just couldn't escape in time to react.

And as such, no one did. Consuming the streets, homes, trees, everything, then consuming it again.

In some cases consuming things 4 or 5 times until there was nothing left to eat again, that way just to make sure it was all eaten, maybe. Then there were things just lying on the street.

Now they came to get those things as well. People cried, there was just an unnerving sound of screams from all over the city.

And things started to catch fire and fall down slowly. Ivan watched this play out in front of him. What did it matter, what could he or anyone do about anything at all?

So much like with life in general. All is lost, already lost, had always been lost, he now knew.

They ate through metal and stone as easily as flesh. They devoured anything that had a pulse; anything and everyone ended up on the menu, today.

Everything in their path was simply erased, becoming fuel to construct the new empires. Ivan didn't think much, after all, what can a human do?

They'd get him last. All of them were now all praying on their knees in front of Ivan, like they think he might be the only hope they'd get.

Looking at him like he knew what was happening. But he couldn't even get up. No escape this way.

No matter what was about to happen, he felt, for the first time in years, a calm, and some peace around him.

A very brief sense of safety. But all is gone now. Everyone got eaten alive and digested. Nothing left now, just him, finally.

He watched them come, the tiny gods of a forgotten age. Small but as fast as any car, things never seen by any men on earth.

Probably not made for human eyes, or to see any humans, ever. He wondered what this could all mean, all this ending of things.

If there was one to ask them, then one question. He still wondered. If he could know why.

They consumed Moscow as they had consumed so much more. Now Ivan felt like he was getting very sleepy, feeling very warm now.

Ivan stood, a solitary figure, as the tiny horrors approached him, the last man, alone, finally. Was this supposed to happen, always supposed to happen this way?

Maybe if someone were there to ask, this was supposed to be it, always supposed to be like this, with everything ending this way. Or it would never be.

There are no questions now, after all. He could almost hear it now, almost like sleep, and it is as someone somewhere is gently telling him something now.

Sleep now, now, to sleep. There was one more truth. The truth that someone must survive, in order to see.

The whole earth would be theirs again; they are taking everything back from us. They are getting it back now.

Nothing anyone could do to stop this, even if they wanted to try. They came to him slowly at first, surrounding him like old friends.

Just waiting for that last moment. He could almost start to see their small, red eyes, looking right at him, now.

A tiny creature crawled onto his arm, just watching him. Almost waiting for something, him to be first, or last?

But who would really know now? Ivan raised his head; everything around him was over.

He did not resist as they crawled upon him, eating slowly at his legs, his hands, then his face. He is getting very tired.

Consuming him, but, as a favor, consuming his body, starting at his legs, then feet, keeping him alive until the end.

His mind. What a trip, as Americans say. What a fucking trip. To watch as he got consumed until there is nothing left for him.

So tired, but, Ivan did not make any noise as he got erased from this earth. Then finally nothing. Sleep.