0.1 Percent

The screams… all I heard were the screams of my people, suffocating and dying right in front of me. Death surrounded me like it was part of the air. The horrible winds that blew directly at us had a haunting sound to them that made me uneasy. The screams of my people that accompanied it made it all the more disturbing as I had a feeling this was the end. I wanted to shield my eyes from the horrors I saw but I knew if I wanted to stay alive, I had to keep fighting.

Chaos erupted on what everyone thought was a normal day. In almost a blink, all of us were fighting for our lives, hoping to stay alive long enough to even know what was going on. All the men grabbed their weapons as I grabbed my ax and held it tight. All around people were fighting and slashing and throwing their weapons to survive. I could hardly hear my thoughts let alone put together what was happening. The women grabbed their children, some even carried them, and tried to run out of there before destruction hit. Most were too late.

None of us knew what it was that was attacking us. It didn’t have a face, hardly even a body. It came with the air like a bad storm, ripping its way into our little community. It came fast and came with a vengeance. You could hardly see it. The flat surface we lived on made it easier for it to travel as it spread everywhere like light. Some said it was angry with us, looking to destroy our kind for our sins. I didn’t believe it had a goal. It just seemed like an obstacle without a conscience that my people suffered through until we were all wiped out. It destroyed everything it touched, and it touched everything.

Ignoring all the chaos, I looked beyond the storm and saw the hand of God pointed right at us. It held the storm in its hands like a weapon. It aimed it at everyone, hovering side to side to make sure it got each and every last one of us. No one seemed to notice this but me as my people were too busy trying to withstand the mayhem.

With the terrible winds came the white Blobs; grotesque, horrid, faceless white spheres the size of us that was the embodiment of death. They tackled my people, looking to smother and suffocate them. They had a toxin on them that made it hard to breathe. Fighting off the Blobs was hard enough but barely being able to take your next breath made it all the more agonizing. Everyone around me was choking, coughing up a green substance. I looked to my right and saw Mrs. Jenkins, a nice old lady who was my neighbor. Three different white Blobs came and smothered her from all sides. She had nowhere to run and before I could even take a step to save her, she was gone. The Blobs reduced her to nothing. She vanished as if she ceased to exist anymore. After the Blobs left to terrorize another poor soul, I ran to where her body should have been and knelt. There was nothing left of her but a stain on the ground we stood on. The horror of what happened to her almost overtook me but I stopped myself from thinking too much.

As a I heard another scream, I ran and saw my friend Judy trying to shield her son from the abominable Blobs. I reached them in time, moving passed the dozens of fights happening and the wheezing of the dying. I grabbed one from behind and wrestled it until it disappeared into the thin air. I couldn’t tell what happened to it but holding one so close nearly killed me. I couldn’t breathe, struggling to find air. I didn’t realize it but I fell to my knees and grabbed my chest. Judy touched my arm and told me to run with the rest of them but I could hardly stand.

“Go Judy just go!” I yelled right before I nearly coughed my soul out. “Get out with the others!” Judy wouldn’t leave until I stood and she grabbed me by my arm and pulled me up.

“JEREMY! YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE! GET OUT NOW!” She yelled at me. “YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE!” I don’t know why but those words rung in my head over and over.

Her and her son took off but as I watched them run with the dozens of other survivors, another gust of wind came in their direction and all of them were reduced to nothing, their essence staining the ground that used to be our home. Tears packed my eyes so bad I could barely see. I was panicking. Everyone around me was getting demolished. Death consumed my home as the people fighting began losing one by one. Every direction I turned another neighbor and friend was reduced to nothing as all I heard now was the devastating coughing. Hundreds of those Blobs came and destroyed everyone they encountered. I almost couldn’t take it.

Before my grief swallowed me, I was surrounded by those Blobs who were looking for violence. I clutched my ax tight and thought about what they did to Judy and her son. I didn’t wait for them to attack me. I jumped to them and slung my ax in all directions, killing each one that stood in front of me. I sliced one of them right in the middle of it, breaking it apart as it disintegrated into the air. I tried to beam one on its head but without a face, I could hardly tell if I did. One grabbed my arm and wrestled me to the ground. The toxins it was spewing out burned my nose to the point I started leaking. I kicked it off of me and jumped in the air. I took all my frustrations out on the Blob as I brought my ax down with all the force I could. With that swing I tried to get revenge for what they did to my people. But no matter how hard I swung, it couldn’t bring back the dead.

I looked up and only saw a few of us still fighting. I hoped the others had made it out but something horrible in my stomach told me to stop dreaming. I coughed again and it was even more devastating this time as I nearly coughed the life out of me. I saw my friend Hobbs still fighting and yelled for him to come on. A dark cough came out from me. Hobbs never looked at me, he was locked in. I looked around him and could tell the winds had taken his family.

“HOBBS! HOBBS!”

He stayed there, almost like he couldn’t hear me, and I backed up. He swung and swung his ax at each Blob that came trampling towards him. It wasn’t long before they overtook him too. He died where the remains of his family stood and I could hardly watch. I ran away as the Blobs turned their attention towards me. I sprinted as fast as a could, my heart had never felt adrenaline like this before. When I put some distance between them, I looked back one last time at the broken community that was once my place of peace. I saw the last of my people get obliterated into nothing as the winds that brought the Blobs overwhelmed everything. As I took that last look, I tried to look beyond the winds again but the hand of God was gone. I asked myself why would this happen but before I could answer I knew I had to move again. I ran for as long as I could and somehow, I knew, I was the last of my people.

The morning had turned to night. I had long left my home and took refuge in a square cave. It was cave on top of cave stacked up to three. I took the highest one as I felt it was the safest. All of them were brown and smooth. I went deep to the back as I did not like having my back exposed anymore. I was warmest there, but without the comfort of my people, I was still cold.

It took me long to realize it, but my left arm was burnt from when one of those Blobs touched me. I grabbed something white and soft I saw in the cave and used to it wrap up my wound. I grabbed my left arm tight though as the pain was starting to get to me. I hadn’t had anything to eat for several hours. I rubbed my head and sighed as I thought about what happened.

It blew my mind that this morning was so normal. I had just woken up and was getting ready to eat breakfast. It wasn’t even that great a day, everything was so ordinary. And now my home was gone, my people destroyed and I was nowhere near anywhere familiar.

“Why? Why is this happening?... Why am I the only one to survive?” I asked out loud to no one as I looked up. I coughed again, sending a pain through my chest.

I thought about what happened to my friends and tears were slipping down my cheeks. I felt no need in stopping them now. The way all my people just turned into nothing, as if they didn’t even exist or their lives had no meaning. All those children who died first from the winds… I had to stop myself from thinking too much as I knew no good could come from it. I knew I had to forget about death if I wanted to survive, I had seen too much of it.

“Did you hear that?” I heard a voice say from outside. I wiped the tears away from my eyes and grabbed my ax quick. I stood up to see who was coming and waited to hear more.

“I think it was coming from in here,” I heard another voice say. As I got ready to fight again and held my ax in my right hand, a couple of people poked their heads in and looked right at me. Immediately, I lowered my arm and sighed in relief. They were of my kind, like me, and I couldn’t be gladder to see them.

As each one made their way inside the cave, slowly and cautiously, I gently put my ax down and told them not to worry and that they had nothing to fear from me. I looked at who all was coming in. It was five of them. A man who looked like he was trying to put on a brave face, two women who looked angry and spurned, with two small, frightened children. They all were damaged, injured and broken, with the same burns I had on my left arm. I tried to see if I recognized them but none of them were from my community.

As the man was in front of them, he timidly made his way towards me and asked who I was. They all looked scared, each of them with their guards up, even the children. I slowly put my hands in the air, “My name is Jeremy,” each of them only stared at me, inching closer and closer, “Did the storms reach you too?”

The moment I said that, each of them dropped their guards as they realized we had all been through the same thing. “Yes,” one of the girls said, seeming surprised.

“Hey… I am tired, hungry and hurt… just like you. I have just lost everyone I’ve ever known. There is no need for us to fight. Please, come and join me, I could really use the company.” Each of them looked at each other and seemed to agree.

It was a little while later and all of us were huddled in the corner of the cave, silent. I could tell each of them were scarred, hell I was too. I had learned all of their names and they knew mines but that was all we knew of each other at this point. With all I had seen though, I knew I couldn’t get close to them, it was no point. Rebecca, a fierce and strong looking girl, looked over at me and asked me if the Blobs killed all of my people. I slowly nodded my head yes as I was still trying to process it all.

“What about you?” I asked.

“The same,” Sharice said, the girl next to her. “We were the only ones to make it out.”

“This is incredible, I had no idea there were other communities here.” I said, still shocked.

“Of course,” said Aaron, “We had run into a couple of them before. After our home was destroyed, we tried to seek refuge with them but they were gone as well.” Aaron had gotten the worst of the injuries as his leg was mangled and left eye missing.

I thought it was interesting, that we were the only survivors. Everyone in my home perished almost immediately from the Blobs but I had touched them a good few times and still lived.

“What could have done this?” I asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

“It was the Giants,” Rebecca warned me, sure of herself. “Tell me you’ve seen the Giants.”

“All the time,” I told her. “But why would the Giants do this? They’ve hardly ever acknowledged my peoples before.”

“Who knows why the Giants do anything. They are an enigma,” Rebecca said with hatred in her voice.

“I’ve spent much time with the Giants, studied them almost,” I said, “I’ve heard them speak so much I can even read some of those symbols they love to draw.”

“Really?”

“Yes, our community was near one, though we never dared to get close to it.”

“Don’t worry, I hear there is a community of beings like us who are untouched by the Giants and their winds,” Sharice said, feeling hopeful.

“Where?” I was interested to know of this place.

“Others we’ve met before the destruction said it is in the corner of world. It is a dangerous journey to get there but once you’re there, you’ll be safe.”

“Well, we need to go there. Sitting around here like stragglers isn’t going to do us any good,” I said.

“Hold on Jeremy. Like Sharice said this isn’t a simple journey. We have young kids, all of us are wounded and the Giants are still out there,” Rebecca told me.

“We cant just sit here and waste away, we have to keep surviving.” I looked at each one of them and hoped to spread some of my will. “Come with me, please.”

Suddenly, loud and ground quaking thumps distracted all of us. The entirety of the cave was shaking in a rhythm. At that moment, a Giant, almost seeming in slow motion, walked passed the entrance of the cave. We couldn’t even see the full size of it, only a part of its leg was visible it was so big. Each of us sat there, silent, trying to remain undetected. Once it passed, I looked at each of them again and whispered we had to survive. All of them knew we had to find that sanctuary. We had to find our peace again.

The next day, all of us were on the ground, travelling across it. In my home we had spent all of our time high, away from the ground, towards the top of our world. It seemed surreal to be travelling like this. Aaron was limping but he kept up enough for us to make good time. We still had nothing to eat and the children were getting hungrier.

“When will we reach the community?” I asked.

“It’ll take another half day. We are crossing the world,” Rebecca shouted from behind me.

I sighed at how far we had to go but soon, more thumps came from nowhere, shaking the ground beneath us, making us lose balance. The children cried out scared, immediately giving me flashbacks of when the storms came. We all looked back and saw a Giant strolling through. My heart sank when I saw one coming towards us. I yelled for everyone to run and we took off, moving our little legs on the hard and slick ground. The Giant behind us, not even seeing us, was catching up to us so easily I almost gave up. I ran into one of the kids who I was faster than and picked her up so we could move quicker. Rebecca did the same with the boy and we tried to get to safety.

It had only been a few seconds but it felt like we had ran for years. We were almost to safety as we reached a tall mountain that shot straight up to the top of the world. We had almost made it when Aaron had tripped as his injured legs gave out on him. I yelled for him to come on but he didn’t have the strength. When the rest of us reached the mountain, I put the girl down and tried to run back for him but the moment I turned around, the Giant was right on top of us and its foot squashed Aaron into liquid. I gasped at the site of him while Sharice and Rebecca shielded the children’s eyes. I couldn’t of save him if I tried. I looked up and saw the Giant moving passed us, not even noticing, and couldn’t believe that it had just killed someone and couldn’t care less. “What type of monsters are we dealing with?” I thought to myself. I looked back at Rebecca and Sharice and told them we had to move on and that we didn’t have time to think about it. The two tucked their empathy away as they knew dwelling on it would only stop us, and we had to survive.

We kept travelling, trying our best to move through the world that was unknown to us. I had no idea our world was so deadly. We trekked for an eternity, maneuvering through slobbering beasts and the offspring of the Giants who stomped all over without a care. Each time a Giant passed, we had to hide for we had no clue what atrocities they were going to commit. It wasn’t long before one of the children was taken from us. It was the boy. At one point while we were walking, he just fell over and died right before us. I hardly even knew his name, he never talked he was so traumatized. It bothered me how little time I had to care for his death.

Finally, we reached the final obstacle. Rebecca had led us to another vertical mountain. At the top of it, near the top of the world, was an entrance to the inside of it. She told us that if we could climb up and make it into there, we would find peace again.

All of us began our climb. I had never tried it before but with our hands, we were surprisingly able to stick to the mountain and climb up. We climbed and climbed, making sure each hand and foot was steady before we moved the next one. I kept telling all of them that we had to make it and that we would be alright. We were halfway up the mountain when the little girl fell. She fell all the way to the ground as I heard her splatter and turn into liquid. The horror of it was unbearable and I nearly teared up but once I saw Sharice start to lose it, I forgot about my pain. "Don't think about it," I yelled as we started to climb again, repressing our pain.

We climbed up, making it three quarters of the way up when the thumping returned. All of our hearts began to beat out of our chest, matching the thumping that shook the mountain. When we turned around, we saw another Giant, up close and right in front of us. It did not seem to see us but I knew we were in trouble because that’s when I saw it again, the hand of God. Finally, I was able to get a look at the weapon it was holding and I stared at it, confused. Hearing the Giants speak before, I was able to make out the symbols on the weapon. As I tilted my head, I whispered to myself, “Disinfectant?” Before I knew it, the pale Giant sprayed the weapon at us and the winds returned.

We climbed as fast as we could, trying our best to reach the safety of heaven before it could take us. The Blobs were back and were in pursuit. Luckily, they couldn’t climb as fast as we could. One of the Blobs snagged Sharice as it grabbed her ankle and dragged her down with her screaming. It was just me and Rebecca and we hustled our way upwards, moving like we were the last of our kind.

One of those Blobs grabbed Rebecca’s ankle but she kicked it away and it fell to the ground. One grabbed mine as I was distracted. I chopped off its hand with my ax but my ankle began to sting like my arm did. We climbed harder, nearing the top but the winds were making us choke so much. I struggled to say it but I looked over at Rebecca and told her that we were almost there and the two of us raced until we had nothing left to give. There were only a handful more Blobs after us as most had slipped and fell away. I chopped one in its middle and its essence blew into my face and things grew blurry. I saw Rebecca kick one away from her but another was about to rip her off the mountain. With what little energy I had left, I threw my ax at it, watching it die and disappear as it seemed me and Rebecca were in the clear.

Finally, the two of us reached the entrance to the mountain at the top of the world. It was glorious. A brown and striped entrance we slithered our way through. I sighed and heard one of the Giants yell, “Its all clean, we wont worry about the vents.” I smiled at Rebecca and she smiled back but expectantly, one of the Blobs came through the entrance and stole her. It sent it and her flying down to the ground again, taking one last soul in its mission to destroy us. In a moment, I was all alone, again. I dropped down to my knees as this was the last straw.

“Why? Why is this happening? We don’t deserve this, what is the point. All we do is live and try to find our peace and we just cant seem to attain it. I tried to be brave and forget about death but I cant do this anymore. Why am I always the only one to survive?”

I fell down and lied on my side. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how to go on. I lied there for hours, wondering what was the purpose of it all. I closed my eyes, hoping I would just put it all behind me. Moments later, as I heard footsteps coming towards me, I looked up and saw something. I almost wished it were the Blobs, I wouldn’t have minded it now. But as they came closer, I saw that they were my kind. Small, round and green… just like me. As one stepped the closest to me and knelt, he extended a hand. “You’re safe now friend.”