Post by pat673 on Apr 28, 2008 1:08:24 GMT
Authors Note: This is completely non-TES related and is somewhat inspired by both Resident Evil and Gears of War. Have fun reading
The dunes of sand sighed wistfully in the wind, the landscape barren bar a few withered trees. The sky shone a pale white, barely outlining the dark Mountains to the North. A heavy silence had fallen over the place, as if even a bird was afraid to break it. A body lay in the cold sand, it's unrecognisable cold dead face making it impossible to tell it's cause of death.
A sudden high pitched humming hung in the air, breaking the oppressive silence of the Dunes. It grew louder and louder, the hum now accompanied by a deep rumble.
With a sudden burst of sand and cough of black fumes, a quad-bike burst from over the sand dune, gliding for a moment in the air before slamming back down to Earth, rocking the driver side to side. He wore no helmet, only a stained red bandana to keep back a mass of dirty and in some measure, random assortment of dreadlocks from a roughly hewn but somewhat, hansom face. His grey combat jacket flapped in the wind as he righted his course on the Quad, his dull black boots hard on the accelerator, his khaki cargo pants were ripped and torn from a long hard journey.
The Quad continued to race forward, bouncing and leaping over the grey sands, some threatening to swallow his bike whole. Suddenly a high pitched screech filled the air, rising in its note before passing out of human hearing. The man on the bike swore, covering his ears with one hand and shoulder while the other remained on the Bike's wheel. The sand around him exploded in a cacophony of screeches and wails, a hideous face and fat wormlike body came roaring out of the ground, it's huge gaping jaws dripping with ooze ready to devour the comparatively small rider.
The rider slammed his foot down on the accelerator, wheeling the Quad to the left, barely avoiding a snap of huge jaws. The man unholstered a pistol at his side, firing over his shoulder at the Worm as it dived into the sand, only to rise up again nearer to him. The bullets slowed it but did not stop the horrible monster. The Quad jumped over another Dune and the man was finally in sight of the Stronghold. He reached into his jacket pocket, activating a black device which now beeped softly with a green light.
On and on the chase went, the Quad diving over dunes and mounds of sand and the Worm exploding out beneath, beside and behind the driver. The Stronghold was drawing closer, he could now see individual figures, busy with the defense of the Stronghold now that the Driver had activated the alarm system. A burst of bullets from the Stronghold pierced the soft grey skin of the Worm, showering thick red blood over the Quad bike and it's driver. As he drew closer, more and more bullets answered the Worm's appearance quickly followed by an explosion.
A roar came from above, a jet fighter wheeled over head, taking the Worm in it's sites and firing. With an explosion of grey flesh and screams, the Worm collapsed to the sand, wailing pitifully. The Quad bike pulled to a halt, the driver getting off and aiming his pistol at the Worm's bleeding and bulbous head. He fired, three shots straight into it's brain. It stopped moving.
Another man came running forward, pieces of Kevlar armour attached to his arms and chest, "You always know how to bring a party with you, don't you Cameron?" the man said, putting up his gun.
The man named Cameron grimaced as he wiped off the thick oozy blood of the worm off his jacket, "I made it didn't I, Williams?"
"And about time, too. We're about to begin."
The Dark Age of Humanity, Chapter One: The Marshalling Yard
Our world is dead. The once clear blue sky is now a dull grey, the grass and plants are withered and dead and our great cities lie forgotten. The sun hangs above our heads, like a lifeless orb, offering no warmth against the cold and no light against the coming darkness.
Humanity stands on the brink of extinction.
It began two years ago in 2012, when a freak asteroid collided with the sun, sending a solar flare millions of light years away. It obliterated Mercury and Venus and left the Earth scarred. Billions of people died that day, only thousands survived. From the fringes of Asia to the edges of the Pacific, corpses littered the streetsThat's when the dying began in earnest: from the deep recesses of the Earth came an Enemy unforeseen by all, with the sun dying they were freed from their prison deep within the Earth. The Enemy, only known as Lurkers, have taken the world as their own, killing and destroying at whim, leaving none alive.
Our military lies scattered and all but destroyed, but there is one final hope to restore peace and save the Human race, that hope lies with us. We are the Aukos. We are few but we are powerful. Bases and Strongholds dot the Barren Lands, as the land is now known, the continents not having any discernible shape or form with much of the Great Oceans dried out and evaporated. We survive and we fight, constantly on the move for fear of drawing the Lurkers presence to us.
But we are still human, and so the Lurkers are not our only problem. With no substantial government, others have walked different paths than us of the Aukos, seeing Humanity's weak and fragile state, they seek to exploit it. We call these people the Bandits.
And then there are the greatest traitors of all, the Herders, as we call them. Men and Women who revere the Lurkers as gods or something akin to it. They worship them in order to survive, and often enough have tried to infiltrate our ranks.
Now in the wastelands of Asia we set our story, a man named Cameron West travels to the Stronghold of Beijing, where a great marshalling of the Aukos is being undertaken...
Humanity stands on the brink of extinction.
It began two years ago in 2012, when a freak asteroid collided with the sun, sending a solar flare millions of light years away. It obliterated Mercury and Venus and left the Earth scarred. Billions of people died that day, only thousands survived. From the fringes of Asia to the edges of the Pacific, corpses littered the streetsThat's when the dying began in earnest: from the deep recesses of the Earth came an Enemy unforeseen by all, with the sun dying they were freed from their prison deep within the Earth. The Enemy, only known as Lurkers, have taken the world as their own, killing and destroying at whim, leaving none alive.
Our military lies scattered and all but destroyed, but there is one final hope to restore peace and save the Human race, that hope lies with us. We are the Aukos. We are few but we are powerful. Bases and Strongholds dot the Barren Lands, as the land is now known, the continents not having any discernible shape or form with much of the Great Oceans dried out and evaporated. We survive and we fight, constantly on the move for fear of drawing the Lurkers presence to us.
But we are still human, and so the Lurkers are not our only problem. With no substantial government, others have walked different paths than us of the Aukos, seeing Humanity's weak and fragile state, they seek to exploit it. We call these people the Bandits.
And then there are the greatest traitors of all, the Herders, as we call them. Men and Women who revere the Lurkers as gods or something akin to it. They worship them in order to survive, and often enough have tried to infiltrate our ranks.
Now in the wastelands of Asia we set our story, a man named Cameron West travels to the Stronghold of Beijing, where a great marshalling of the Aukos is being undertaken...
The dunes of sand sighed wistfully in the wind, the landscape barren bar a few withered trees. The sky shone a pale white, barely outlining the dark Mountains to the North. A heavy silence had fallen over the place, as if even a bird was afraid to break it. A body lay in the cold sand, it's unrecognisable cold dead face making it impossible to tell it's cause of death.
A sudden high pitched humming hung in the air, breaking the oppressive silence of the Dunes. It grew louder and louder, the hum now accompanied by a deep rumble.
With a sudden burst of sand and cough of black fumes, a quad-bike burst from over the sand dune, gliding for a moment in the air before slamming back down to Earth, rocking the driver side to side. He wore no helmet, only a stained red bandana to keep back a mass of dirty and in some measure, random assortment of dreadlocks from a roughly hewn but somewhat, hansom face. His grey combat jacket flapped in the wind as he righted his course on the Quad, his dull black boots hard on the accelerator, his khaki cargo pants were ripped and torn from a long hard journey.
The Quad continued to race forward, bouncing and leaping over the grey sands, some threatening to swallow his bike whole. Suddenly a high pitched screech filled the air, rising in its note before passing out of human hearing. The man on the bike swore, covering his ears with one hand and shoulder while the other remained on the Bike's wheel. The sand around him exploded in a cacophony of screeches and wails, a hideous face and fat wormlike body came roaring out of the ground, it's huge gaping jaws dripping with ooze ready to devour the comparatively small rider.
The rider slammed his foot down on the accelerator, wheeling the Quad to the left, barely avoiding a snap of huge jaws. The man unholstered a pistol at his side, firing over his shoulder at the Worm as it dived into the sand, only to rise up again nearer to him. The bullets slowed it but did not stop the horrible monster. The Quad jumped over another Dune and the man was finally in sight of the Stronghold. He reached into his jacket pocket, activating a black device which now beeped softly with a green light.
On and on the chase went, the Quad diving over dunes and mounds of sand and the Worm exploding out beneath, beside and behind the driver. The Stronghold was drawing closer, he could now see individual figures, busy with the defense of the Stronghold now that the Driver had activated the alarm system. A burst of bullets from the Stronghold pierced the soft grey skin of the Worm, showering thick red blood over the Quad bike and it's driver. As he drew closer, more and more bullets answered the Worm's appearance quickly followed by an explosion.
A roar came from above, a jet fighter wheeled over head, taking the Worm in it's sites and firing. With an explosion of grey flesh and screams, the Worm collapsed to the sand, wailing pitifully. The Quad bike pulled to a halt, the driver getting off and aiming his pistol at the Worm's bleeding and bulbous head. He fired, three shots straight into it's brain. It stopped moving.
Another man came running forward, pieces of Kevlar armour attached to his arms and chest, "You always know how to bring a party with you, don't you Cameron?" the man said, putting up his gun.
The man named Cameron grimaced as he wiped off the thick oozy blood of the worm off his jacket, "I made it didn't I, Williams?"
"And about time, too. We're about to begin."