Cataclysm: Kyosuki

Story by Mike Devrinski on SoFurry

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#1 of Cataclysm

Based off a playthrough of Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, a poor husky is stuck, with only his clothes and his karate training. Outside, the world is in chaos.


Sleep was considered by some to relax the mind, to recharge and be ready to take on whatever day brought. Some weren't expecting what Kyosuki Barnes had to face. He found himself awakening at the crack of dawn, and remembering that it was an absolute disaster out there. Never mind the state of the world's economy, or climate change. He had fled his home and dived into the nearest emergency shelter. No one else had come, and he had fallen asleep waiting for someone to come. But no one had. Not even death.

The emergency terminal didn't tell him any more information than what he already knew. A biological attack had hit, and the place was in chaos. There were of course the generic instructions for an emergency, but he doubted that the last message, to wait for assistance would actually do anything. He had already waited all night, and no one came for him.

Kyosuki forced himself to exit the shelter. He didn't have much on him. Just the clothing he had at the time, a simple shirt and pants, socks and shoes. He also snagged a box of matches, and a pocket knife. "And my karate training," he mumbled to himself. Maybe it could be put to use now, though his hopes weren't high. He had seen the films of survivors doing impossible feats of insanity, saving the damsel and blasting away with weaponry so loud one would think bombs were going off. They'd all forgotten that zombies could hear.

The town of Tarren was a little way north-west from the shelter. It was the nearest, according to the map on the wall, though he had come from Littleboard, a little further to the east. Kyosuki knew what he had to do. As much as it was something that would more likely than not get him killed, he knew that he'd starve out if he just stayed.

Abandoned cars littered the roads and he passed them, thinking of what he would do. Survival was one thing, but what if there were others out there? What would he say? What would he even do? Times like these were unsettling, because trust was basically impossible in dire situations. Back-stabbing, whether literal or metaphorical would be deadly in these times.

Searching the cars, he swore as they had all been ravaged for supplies. Sure, the cars looked road-worthy, but there wasn't any fuel in any of them. Giving up and continuing on, the town came into sight. He spotted a figure moving in the town, and Kyosuki froze as he saw it. Its moving was erratic, but definitely very quick. It was definitely a zombie, no doubt about it. Tense moments felt like an age, until it crept out of sight, and was gone. He let out a silent sigh of relief, though he knew it would most likely be short-lived. He crept up to a house on the left, but couldn't find a way in, short of alerting all the zombies and then some. He moved onto the next building.

Scouring the perimeter, he found it to be a gun store, and that was a good thing, to a degree. As much as speeding lead could stop many zombies, the noise made would easily alert the rest, and chances are, the ammo was scarce.

A snarl stopped him in his tracks, and he knew he had been seen. The thought of getting a firearm foolishly made him careless. More zombies had seen him now, and he knew there would be more. To make things worse, a feral dog, zombified was scampering towards him at high speed. It scraped past his right arm, and Kyosuki swung around, delivering a blow to the back of its head. It scampered off, but he knew all too well that it would eventually come in for another attack. Ready, he dodged around its attack, and delivered two sharp blows to its skull. The zombies were still swarming, and he ran, not sure if he had finished off the zombie dog or not. He could hear smashing and clawing all around him, and the husky knew that if the horde wasn't woken before, it certainly was now.

He could hear running, and he recognised it as another feral zombie dog. Kyosuki couldn't avoid the lunge as it hit him in the torso. Pain surged through his chest as it bit deep, and he screamed as he grabbed onto the undead body and forced it off him. He tried to run, but as his breath became short, he knew he was slowing. Blood began to stain his shirt, but there was no time to tend to his wounds.

Kyosuki dragged himself onwards, but stopped when he saw them. More zombies in front, behind... he was surrounded. A loud hiss bellowed to his left, and a splash of acid hit the road. There was too much to go around, so he ended up charging through it. The puddle splashed his legs and though they stung, he breathed in deep and ran for it, ignoring the zombies approaching him from all sides, the sound rattling his ears.

The effects of the adrenaline from his system were beginning to fade, and his legs struggled to keep on running. The clawing and hits from the zombies were beginning to add up, the pain almost completely unbearable. He knew he was running too slow now. He couldn't outrun them.

Kyosuki went down when several of the undead attacked. The wounds to his torso were too much for him, and he fell face first into the asphalt. It would not become his grave he knew, but he could only hope he did not become another like them.

For the husky, the odds had been against him. A lone individual with no experience whatsoever, he died only hours into the first day.