<\/p>\n
We stagger into the thick bush, pushing aside branches and debris. I can’t see clearly; the sun is too bright, and it\u2019s right in my eyes. It blinds me. But dusk is only two hours from now, and we can’t afford any delay. Jack is a few meters ahead \u2013 she prefers scouting the territory, to make sure we don’t fall straight into a trap. Unintentional as it might be, given the nature of the danger. But deadly nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n I detect movement into the woods, but she’s too busy avoiding the twigs to pay attention. I slow down, waiting for the hidden shape to emerge. I\u2019m not disappointed. A whoosh – a low, snapping sound, followed by a squelching noise of trashed leaves. She turns her head, alarmed, whilst my arrow hisses and darts just a few inches away from her left ear.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNorman, what the-\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A body falls to the ground at her feet, and she jumps back in a hysteric jolt. \u201cChrist!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d better be careful, my friend.\u201d I come forward, collecting the tiny bolt from the corpse\u2019s head, dipping it in an iodine-arsenic solution and putting it back into the quiver. \u201cBirmingham is known to be one of the most infested areas in the whole country. I wonder why this one was all by himself. Poor chap. He just wanted a taste of your sweet blood.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, he can taste this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She shoots him twice in the mush of its exposed meninges that scatter further on the ground. As if we needed additional infectious stuff. But Jack always goes for the overkill. It eases her tension. And she prefers bullets, whilst I\u2019m more confident with my silver, recurve crossbow and my wooden darts, which I personally make. They\u2019re cheap, fast and mortal, and good wood is the only thing I need. I also carry mini-frag hand grenades though, for fast-paced action. My victim lies there, lifeless as the dead forest that surrounds us. We call them Raptors, and that\u2019s somehow a misnomer. But they don\u2019t get offended, I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n Jack looks back at me. She\u2019ll never admit it, but she has been scared shitless by the ambush. \u201cAmericans were just right. Let’s leave this shithole.\u201d She says eventually, putting her gun back in the holster.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhere for? Space, maybe?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re so funny.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd you\u2019re so smart. Me, I\u2019m European. I\u2019m not leaving my country to hordes of famished Raptors. They\u2019ll have to kill us before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey will.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey won’t. We\u2019re not as soft as you whiny North-Americans \u2013 yes, Canadians included.\u201d I say with a smile on my face. I like provoking her – hurt national pride always reacts on cue. As if this bullshit made sense any longer. Who cares about who you are, provided you\u2019re not one of Them? And fuck nationality too. But Jack never disappoints me. \u201cYou French faggot!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Should I remind her the whole story? At the beginning, we gave this weird plague a fancy name \u2013the Andromeda virus. Because it happened as in an old novel of the late XX century. One day a satellite came back carrying a nasty bug from outer space, escaping all decontamination procedures. After a while, we didn’t call it anything any longer. We were too busy dealing with the disaster. The world witnessed humans turning into monsters impossible to define, even less to contain. Their ghastly look and their predatory behaviour did resemble zombies of the best movie tradition. But they weren\u2019t zombies. They didn\u2019t eat flesh; they feasted on blood, without being vampires either. Not that luck – they didn\u2019t turn victims into something like them, just into tiny lifeless shreds. And they were blind, with oddly bluish corneas. The plague that created them shattered the planet like a thousand cataclysms. The ones that escaped being infected started running and hiding, before deciding to fight back. For us, the Children of the Apocalypse, running has never been an option. We\u2019re the second generation after Andromeda. Not only do we not remember a world without the Raptors; we\u2019re not even able to imagine one. For us it\u2019s as far away in time as the fucking Roman Empire. Our amazing progress of the last fifty years has given us clean fusion energy and blossoming space colony projects, but not a goddamn way to deal with this virus. Not yet – not anytime soon. Our only option is to chase and kill them, as many as we possibly can. \u201cI\u2019m Scottish French. And wait at least to try me before calling me names. Tonight?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn a parallel universe.\u201d She sneers in defiance. \u201cYou can have all your blood sucked first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I probably will.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re too noisy, both of you.\u201d Ethan comes forward, put his gloves on and quietly starts examining the corpse. He turns it on its back, concentrating on its vitreous eyes. Good for him: they\u2019re still there. <\/span><\/p>\n And he’s right of course. You don’t go hunting this way, even less on a high-risk mission. Ethan has been with our group since year one or so, but we don’t know jackshit about him. He\u2019s older than us, this much I can tell; he looks in his mid-twenties \u2013 long dark hair, tattoos and a handful of earrings and bracelets. But he\u2019s built like a special forces operative, and the precision of his sniper rifle is likewise.<\/span><\/p>\n From the accent it’s impossible to tell where he come from, no matter if his English is flawless. His complexion is darker than ours, and yet his eyes are the clearest I\u2019ve ever seen. Almond-shaped ice blue. The girls like him \u2013 all of them, Jack included – but grudgingly: he doesn’t pay attention to them. Or to anybody. He shows affection just to the little ones \u2013 and once he admitted he had two baby brothers. And hell no, I didn’t dare to ask what happened to them. Ignorance is bliss, in our age.<\/span><\/p>\n Jack observes him with an impatient regard. \u201cWhat are you checking the bastard for, exactly? A passport?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Her sarcasm is obviously misplaced. Ethan ignores her.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHappy with your findings? Maybe you haven’t realised it yet, Einstein, but they\u2019re all the same, ugly and nasty and famished.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cQuiet.\u201d I interrupt her with a gesture. Another muffled noise. A far away screech, carried by the wind, and a not so far away sound of broken twigs.<\/span><\/p>\n Ethan stands up. \u201cLet’s clear the area. We\u2019re not in for a fight today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s right again. An annoying trait of his, this one – no wonder Jack always gets so pesky. But today we do hunt for something else, and as he has succinctly stated, it\u2019s time to fucking leave.<\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s almost night when we finally reach Solihull. Birmingham looms in the distance. I look at the city \u2013 at what remains of it. My mom worked here as a History lecturer in the University. But she, as many others, had been obliged to abandon it and go North during the second Escape. In retrospect, that came as a surprise. Yes, because after ten years or so of complete disarray since Andromeda, the world had reorganised. Asians \u2013 Indians and Chinese – had cleared up their premises and shown the rest of the world how to deal with a threat you can\u2019t get away from. First, selecting an area conveniently remote and then luring over as many Raptors as possible. Then, blasting them with high-yield neutron nukes. Success. Replicated ever since whenever possible. The US government chose instead to quarantine entire states, leaving them to the ghouls. Hoping them to die sooner or later for lack of nourishment. Some of them did, according to estimates. And what about Europe? In Europe, now as before, we were structurally incapable to come out with a coherent strategy. While politicians discussed in their underground bunkers, people on the surface had taken interesting initiatives. Like survival, for example, and restless hunting expeditions. For twenty years furious fights ravaged the whole continent. And just when things seemed going into the right direction, a new wave of Raptors came out of nowhere. Giving origin to what has been called the Second Escape, six years ago. In the UK, all cities have been abandoned, apart from London and Glasgow. Small communities represent, now and since the beginning, the best bet for survival. But whenever packs of Raptors are famished enough to attack en masse, things can still go horribly wrong. This is what happened in Tweedmouth, near Berwick, two years ago. Myself, Jacklyn, Kiera, Aidan and Marie are the only ones left from a community of more than 10,000. We took away all the children we could carry and we settled down in the outskirts of Newark. And Raptors apart, life isn\u2019t smooth. Diseases exist nonetheless, and the long-forgotten smallpox now threatens our small community. Kiera is the only one with medical training. She has put all sick children in isolation, but that\u2019s not enough. With no doctors and no facilities, we need medical supplies. We have to go to a big city, into one of the old hospitals, and pillage their storage.<\/span><\/p>\n It was a simple decision to head South hunting, this time for medicines – as dangerous as it might sound. Less simple was to decide who had the best chances to get the job done and make it back to camp alive. We\u2019re roughly the same age, with the sole exception of Kiera, Jacklyn’s sister. But she\u2019s barely nineteen nonetheless. The two are the foreigners in our group: their parents moved to Scotland ten years ago. Both dead in the siege of Tweedmouth \u2013 together with the other adults. We drew straws. Chance kept us alive, chance had to select the hunters. Kiera was excluded from the ballot and Jack and I won the lucky draw. Ethan joined us. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDo we know if anybody still lives here?\u201d Jack sounds uneasy as we walk through the deserted streets.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cApart from the Raptors, you mean.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She doesn’t reply. She looks worried, but I\u2019m not. It has been a while since the last time I\u2019ve fought, and I\u2019m right in the mood now. Truth is, I\u2019m after a good hunt today \u2013 and they are my prey. I\u2019ll worry about medical supplies later. <\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t have to wait a lot. A compact screeching group emerges from a gutted building, waving rather enthusiastically at us.<\/span><\/p>\n Jack swears and starts firing. Ethan and I take position at her side. The Raptors fall with impressive regularity, one shot, one down, and while the two of us advance to make it quicker, Jack remains behind. Too bad, because another group comes out from a lateral street, few meters from her. She screams and stumbles, falling down. What comes after is just too fast: Ethan drops rolling on the ground and hauls Jack away, while he keeps shooting at the nearest ones. I reach for my pouch and throw a hand grenade to finish up what Ethan has started.<\/span><\/p>\n Screeches stop. There\u2019s a moment of eerie silence. We\u2019re look around – nobody else is coming. We\u2019re safe for now. Ethan collects Jack\u2019s weapons, while I get her into my arms, still trembling. <\/span><\/p>\n * * * <\/span><\/p>\n We decide to stop for the night \u2013 an abandoned house in the suburbs. It\u2019s not safe for us to be there – no need to make things any worse by wandering after sunset. The Raptors are more aggressive at night, and diminished light makes us vulnerable. Ethan checks the place and decides it\u2019s reasonably ok for us to stay. And stay we do.<\/span><\/p>\n Jack is shaken, and she\u2019s right. What if Ethan had not been there? And talking about him\u2026 he looks concerned too. Somehow I feel it\u2019s not the Raptors he\u2019s worried about.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCan’t you sleep, mate?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He shrugs. \u201cYou know why so many people died in the beginning? Because they could not believe what they were seeing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, how to blame them? At the beginning, people even believed the Raptors were rising from their graves. Like zombies, you know, or ghosts. Not exactly common sense, you\u2019d give it to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIs it so? In your religion, that\u2019s a given. The God you worship came back from the dead on the third day in an aura of immortality. He promised the resurrection of the flesh, and that\u2019s why you stopped cremating the bodies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, but \u2026He said nothing about a penchant for blood. Without mentioning an alien virus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAlien? I rather think Andromeda was caused by an Earth-born bacterium, whose RNA was altered by cosmic rays. It won’t be impossible, you see. Not even unlikely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I nod. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ve read something of the kind. But it was sci-fi.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cReality is stranger than fiction, and on top of that it has not to make sense. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve read this too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ethan remains in silence for a while. \u201cWe\u2019re going to die, all of us.\u201d He says eventually. \u201cOur species, Norman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou mean the Europeans? Our generation \u2013 the Children of the Apocalypse?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He shakes his head. \u201cThe Homo Sapiens Sapiens has dominated this planet for how long -60.000, 70.000 years? Maybe we\u2019re at the end of the road.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ah. It\u2019s not just us he\u2019s talking about. \u201cC\u2019mon, mate. They\u2019re humans too, the Raptors – even if they don’t remember it. Name apart, they’re not fucking dinosaurs. Or aliens.\u201d I wave at the stars. \u201cOK, they\u2019re as dangerous. We\u2019re not sure even now how Andromeda spreads. But the Raptors still belong to our species. And we\u2019ll find a way to fight them down.\u201d I\u2019m suddenly annoyed. I believe what I\u2019m saying. \u201cThey\u2019re not dinosaurs, and they\u2019re not smart either. You mentioned the Homo Sapiens. Right, we\u2019ve inherited this planet with our brain, the same this sort of monsters seems devoid of. And it will be the key to our survival, as it has always been.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ethan’s stare makes me shudder. There\u2019s something in his cold eyes that scares me silly. \u201cWhat if this is not the whole story, Norman?\u201d He never blinks. Maybe that\u2019s the reason why he makes people nervous, me included. \u201cWhat if they are the new species and we\u2019re like the old Neanderthal – stronger, maybe smarter and yet condemned to extinction?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo – species reproduce and have a sort of primitive organisation.\u201d I say. \u201cNot just mammals, even insects. Guess what? They\u2019ve none.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n He doesn’t reply. He’s asleep in minutes, leaving me wondering about that strange discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n The sun is high in the sky, but weather is so bad that we can\u2019t see shit ten meters ahead. There\u2019s fog, too, as if we needed any more excitement. We cross the city centre, quietly walking into that ramshackle area near the canal once known as Brindley Place \u2013 with its fancy bars and its glimmering lights. Nothing has survived. Gee – I expected desolate, but this is a notch up.<\/span><\/p>\n We advance in formation, covering all sides. We want to avoid yesterday\u2019s incident. <\/span><\/p>\n I hear a click, like the safety of a rifle going off. I turn at once – I can\u2019t see anything. But I know I\u2019m right – somebody\u2019s there. Ethan looks at me and put his hand on the gun. Before he\u2019s able to take it out, an acute voice makes us stop.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFreeze.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Three people, armed like ninjas, appear. I attempt a step forward, but one of them aims straight at my head – her gun loaded and ready.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWho are you?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNorman. Scottish. Hunter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHunter of what?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGenerally Raptors, but not today. I\u2019m more into medical supplies at the moment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd you search for them in Birmingham?\u201d Her sneer conveys her surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy, London or Manchester are any better?\u201d Being sassy is perhaps not the smartest thing I can do right now, but hey, it\u2019s not as if I\u2019m not in danger already. I\u2019m in danger since I was in my mother\u2019s womb. \u201cAnd you are\u2026?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe own this place. Nobody goes in and out without checking out with me first. Not even those fucking Raptors.\u201d The girl\u2019s eyes squint a little. She observes me for a couple of seconds, and then she lowers her gun. \u201cShelby, lead them to the old hospital in Edgbaston. Let our guests get all they can pack and escort them out.\u201d She says with a wicked grin. \u201cI\u2019ll tell the others to hold fire until they clear off.\u201d She\u2019s dazzlingly pretty, now that I look better. Leggy and willowy, with gleaming amber eyes. She catches my stare, and smiles. \u201cWant to come over to our place? You can rejoin your party on the way back.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n I consider the tempting offer. I\u2019m used to the Raptors, not to street hoodlums with stunning bodies. Jack says nothing, but something wary in Ethan’s eyes makes me think again. \u201cNo, thanks. We prefer staying all together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou don’t know what you’re missing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I sure get a fair picture. I\u2019d better leave before I change my mind.<\/span><\/p>\n The girl and the other boy walk away, while the one named Shelby remains with us. He\u2019s our age or younger, and, from Jack\u2019s admired stare, I can see she finds him sort of cute. I wonder the hell why. That waxen-faced dickhead with pale green eyes doesn\u2019t look appealing to me. But girl I\u2019m not. Thinking better, maybe that\u2019s why she has not objected when the hot babe wanted to snatch me away. Great. I decide to pay them no attention. <\/span><\/p>\n We walk for a fair while, and finally reach the hospital, deserted and derelict as the rest of the town. We\u2019re damn lucky it\u2019s in working conditions. Facilities of the old days. Civilisation here may well be a memory of the past, but electricity still works.<\/span><\/p>\n We check the area and prepare for the night. Shelby boy is quiet, speaking exclusively to Jack, who seems appreciating his conversation. A tad too much for my own taste. But I\u2019m tired, and when they go outside to smoke after dinner, I don\u2019t object.<\/span><\/p>\n When I get up in the morning everybody seems busy with a purpose. Ethan is listing supplies, while the boy and Jack are fixing breakfast. I sit nearby, taking a cup of coffee. \u201cHello guys \u2013 you had good night?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Shelby nods and drinks his tea, while Jack smiles. \u201cHi, Norman. Everything\u2019s fine here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Her eyes however suggest otherwise. And the way he touches her arm makes me think something happened last night. But it\u2019s only a fleeting moment. Maybe I\u2019m just jealous.<\/span><\/p>\n Shelby stands up. \u201cI\u2019m done here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d Ethan says, looking at him with an unreadable expression.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes. Tomorrow I\u2019ll come and walk you out.\u201d His backpack on his shoulders and his rifle in his hand he leaves quickly, while Jack follows him with a disturbingly wistful stare.<\/span><\/p>\n ***** <\/span><\/p>\n We spend the day packing what we can. I observe Jack. She\u2019s weird, but maybe it\u2019s just my impression. However, when at night she comes on to me, I decide it\u2019s not just an impression. She undresses and remains stark naked – her pale skin shining in the moonlight. \u201cWhat are you doing, Jack?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She takes my hand and put it on her breast. \u201cI\u2019m ready, Norman \u2013 let\u2019s do it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Uh-oh. \u201cWhat’s up? Raptors haven\u2019t drunk me dry yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m serious.\u201d She hugs me and takes out my shirt. I should be excited, but I\u2019m not. There\u2019s something that makes my hackles spike up like a frightened cat. <\/span><\/p>\n A sudden noise disrupts this intimate moment, making her jump.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNorman, you need to come with me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We turn toward the entrance. Ethan is there, rifle ready to shoot. We both look at him amazed. Jack reacts first, covering her body best as she can. \u201cYou wanker -go away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNow, Norman.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s urgency in his eyes and a concern I have never seen before. I step back.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d Jack looks alarmed, her eyes wide-open. \u201cI was right, you\u2019re a damn faggot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I don’t reply. I follow Ethan outside.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe’re going to sleep here in the lobby.\u201d He says, handing me a sleeping bag. \u201cNobody can access the storage room from here without hitting us first.\u201d He says slowly, reading my thoughts. Jack is going to be safe there, alone or not. I could ask for explanations, but I\u2019m not sure I want to know. And something tells me the night won\u2019t be boring. <\/span><\/p>\n I hate to be right. Only a couple of hours have passed, when we hear noises. Actually, footsteps. Ethan loads his rifle. After a few moments, we see Shelby heading toward us, while I hear Jack coming out from the storage room and slowly walking into our direction.<\/span><\/p>\n He looks at us, and then looks at her, smiling. \u201cGames are over.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat the hell are you talking about?\u201d I don\u2019t like his grin, that strange light in his eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShe didn\u2019t she tell you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTell me what?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAbout us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAbout\u2026the two of you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo. About all of us. Including you.\u201d He says, and I notice his eyes are dangerously bluish in the low light of the lobby. \u201cHave you ever wondered how the Raptors could possibly be in control of such extensive territories after all these years? How they could keep going on and on and on after generations? They\u2019ve been almost hunted down in Europe after the first wave, and exterminated; yet, they have managed to provoke the Second Escape. What do you think they are, fucking immortals? I\u2019ll tell you how.\u201d He takes a step in my direction. \u201cThey\u2019ve learnt, asshole. They might have forgotten how to speak, but they still communicate, and exchange information. And in this evolutionary process, they learnt how to reproduce. How? They use us for it. Infected people but still humans, able to breed and transmit the virus. Spreading Andromeda to as many other humans as they can. Until, one day, we fully convert too. The Raptors are creating a new species, stronger than any human, or animal, can ever be. Like viruses can’t survive without their hosts and learn how to keep them alive, they hunt and capture us to spread their DNA, produce new specimen and keep going. The new Master Race, the one that will eventually inherit this world. Here, in Europe. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe centre of world renaissance.\u201d Ethan says coldly. \u201cOnce again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes – an entire new world.\u201d Shelby laughs. \u201cHumans don\u2019t stand a chance, and you should be grateful for the membership ticket. You\u2019re part of the elite now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jack starts crying, but Ethan has his own way to thank him for the offer. He shoots him right in his head. We look at the body on the ground. Yes, he had blue shades in his eyes. But human he was. He spoke, too. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t seem one of them. Maybe he was just high.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe.\u201d Ethan starts checking him out. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNorman I\u2019m so sorry, so sorry….\u201d Jack is on her knees, crying. \u201cYou may think this is why I\u2019ve approached you last night. But I had no idea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI believe you.\u201d I do, really. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t believe his story. Andromeda turns people into monsters in a matter of hours. And was never sexually transmitted anyway. This boy was not infected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWrong.\u201d Ethan loses no time in volunteering details. He starts rummaging into his backpack. Out there, in the countryside, the only way to tell if you\u2019re infected is by using leeches. They react with disgust to the virus, and this is why everybody grows them as pets. But here we\u2019re in a hospital and more sophisticated methods are available.<\/span><\/p>\n He tosses Jack a testing kit. \u201cDo it yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd then what? You will kill me if I test positive?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDo it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnswer me, you Chinese half-blood. You think I don’t know where you come from? You bastards have killed your own people in thousands.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He smiles to her. A suave smile. Then he raises his gun and points it at her face. \u201cGood. I haven\u2019t to explain you how I deal with Andromeda. Now give me a reason to keep you alive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She turns to me, her eyes brimming with tears. \u201cHow can you let him threatening me like that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s right, Jack. If you\u2019re infected we can’t bring you back to the children. Test yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Resigned, she does it. She inserts the testing unit on her forearm while she winces in pain, and she closes her eyes. There are a few seconds of silence. She looks at it – an allergic reaction\u2019s already there – and starts crying again. Then she turns toward Ethan in anger. I see his eyes squinting and I know he\u2019s going to fire. No. If somebody has to kill Jack, it has to be me. I raise my crossbow and I shoot straight into her heart. <\/span><\/p>\n Silence. Doom. Fucking white moon shining outside, nowhere as white as my girl\u2019s sleek skin.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m still observing her in a sort of reverie when we hear a familiar noise. They\u2019re coming. Hunting time.<\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n The sun is rising. We walk into the desert road that takes us away from Birmingham. We have not spoken since the carnage at the hospital. Because carnage is what it has been.<\/span><\/p>\n They were there, blocking our way out of the building. Most of them not older than twenty, and humans. Only their corneas were too bluish and their movements too feverish. But they didn\u2019t screech \u2013 they swore like Jack and I in our most inspired days. I keep telling myself they were Raptors like the others, in another form but even more dangerous, if possible. I can close my eyes and see again, as in a nightmare too vivid, my parents ripped apart by those who have announced themselves as the new master species: and I hate them. But the truth is, what I\u2019ve just killed were not famished monsters. They were boys like me, children of the same Apocalypse, but not as lucky: no Ethan around to save their ass. And I\u2019ve butchered them.<\/span><\/p>\n My throat feels dry \u2013 those images are dancing in front of my eyes like transparent butterflies.<\/span><\/p>\n The blood flowing away from their wounds, their screams and my rage. Ethan shoots them down with the precision of a sniper. His eyes are cold, and his hand never waves. I shiver, and need to adjust my target more than once – and yet, my crossbow is as deadly. I slaughter the hot babe, when she attacks me; I jab a wooden arrow in one of her pretty eyes, that will never be pretty again. And even when I start having enough of all that blood, and tears run down my cheeks, I keep going, slashing their necks, looking at their bluish corneas and repeating myself – hunting is my life, this is what I have to do. Killing, killing, killing.<\/span><\/p>\n The howl of a dog gets me back to the present moment.<\/span><\/p>\n Ethan is looking at his compass, he doesn\u2019t trust anything else, and certainly not GPS. Things look not that good. We\u2019re covered in blood. We can only hope we don\u2019t have scratches. We make a stop into the first canal we encounter on the way out. We strip down naked and we wash ourselves in the water with bleach and iodine. Then we test ourselves, just to make sure not to carry any infection back to camp. I give Ethan a sidelong glance. He’s even quieter since we have left, looking tired and worn out. I suddenly remember our conversation the first night we arrived in Birmingham. \u201cEthan, did you know it? I mean \u2026 Shelby\u2019s story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes. I heard rumours. But I wasn’t sure. Not until tonight.\u201d He stares at me with his almond-shaped eyes. \u201cHong Kong, three years ago. We had an outbreak \u2013 one of the many. One of my baby brothers got left behind, and survived. We believed he had got away. But he had not. He kept a human shape for one year, without showing any symptom. I guess this is how they started mutating, the Raptors. It hasn\u2019t happened in a day, and what we see yesterday are the results of that evolution.\u201d He lowers his voice. \u201cMy brother\u2026he infected our mother, his twin and my little sister too. I had to take them out.\u201d He finishes suiting up. \u201cWe could not understand. It was nothing we had ever seen before. I was a biochemistry student at the time, volunteering in a crisis unit. After that, I decided to travel to Europe and search for evidence that ours was not an isolated case and we were indeed facing something new.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don’t understand. The Raptors \u2013 they\u2019re not even able to talk.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDo bees or termites talk? This doesn’t prevent them to build huge structures and develop complex societies. I guess we are witnessing an admirable example of swarm intelligence applied to a new human species. They adapt and evolve, learning what once made us a winning species.\u201d He smiles, a dark hue in his eyes. \u201cMaybe this is mother nature protecting herself. This new version is certainly less harmful for the rest of the species of this planet, considering that it only consumes the previous one. It doesn\u2019t need to slaughter anything else on its path to supremacy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAlert homebase. Send my report over. Prepare for counterattack. Go hunting them, before it is too late.\u201d He loads his rifle, smiling at me. \u201cAnd taking these supplies back to camp.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n