• Chapter 1 - The Frozen Wastes

    The cold tightens it's grip over it's icy domain,
    and the unlucky inhabitants of it's land
    But even under it's watchful eye,
    things still may go unplanned

    Earth, we all knew it was coming, but when? As it happened to be, the date
    was June 26th, 2123. The world plunged into a nuclear conflict, and in a
    few short hours, the world was changed forever. Instruments of mass
    destruction down rained from the sky, thousands snuffed out of existance in
    mere seconds, and the few that remained had little to look forward to,
    mutated wildlife, scarce amounts of food, and a huge amount of the nothern
    hemisphere becoming forced into an eternal winter. Actual non-mutated life
    is a hard thing to find, but in the frozen northern wastelands of the what
    was Canada on the 16th of March 2208, a scientist makes his dangerous
    journey through the frozen wastes in search of just that, pure life.

    The silence kept it's grip over the frozen valleys of the northland. The
    snow wrapping the land in a cold embrace, and the wind shaping it into
    wonderful sculptures nested in the blackened trees. The land that was
    once a place of beauty, now a deathy white and cold as the breath of the
    reaper. The land that was once a place of green grass, and thriving life,
    reduced to a wasteland. But life goes on, life adapts, life continues and
    jumps hurdles, and in the frozen wasteland, some life still stands defiant.

    It is hard to find one of said life forms, under a shadow of white, but it
    exists. But it is as futile as finding a needle in a haystack, a tear in
    the ocean or a voice lost in space. Sometimes it is better to wait for the
    voice to come to you. Written by Lucas Arptea as he voyaged across this
    land, the cold and hostile ground hissing at him underfoot with every step.
    And the stiff frail branches of the trees grabbing like long bony fingers
    with every passing. The tall mountains in the valley staring down at him,
    blotting out the setting sun. While Lucas began to set up camp, in a giant
    hollow tree.

    The darkness brought with it an eerie echo from the beasts of the forest.
    The night in the north can be a very dangerous thing, the hidden figures
    stalking slowly through the night. Many have entered and never returned.
    But Lucas was persistant, he had a goal and a purpose, and that was to be
    the first one to find life. Which isn't a smart thing to do, after the war
    many creatures are not as they were, mutated and vicious.

    His trek was rough and long, the snowy paths twisted and twined through
    the land. He wish silently he would not run into anything during the storm,
    He would not be so scared if he could see an arm's length in front of his
    own face. In the current temperature, if he was not wearing a sub-zero
    frozen environment suit. Making him look somewhat like an explorer of old,
    a furry jacket and hood-like cowl with goggles and a balaclava. And spiked
    hiking boots and leathery but temperate leggings tucked into his boots. He
    would have frozen to death days ago. Lucas wondered to himself if his
    efforts would be fruitless, he had spent days on end in the frozen wastes
    and had found nothing. Would he even make it back alive.

    Lucas sat cold and alone, as he began to light a fire, the warm glow of a
    fire is essential to keep predators at bay, for most have not yet seen
    flame and would be wary of it. Some creatures are smart enough to see past
    the illusion of danger and enter the light, and Lucas was more than happy
    for them to do that. And so it happens one such animal dared to enter the
    ring, and that single moment was the start of a new age, a new people and
    a new alliance.

    Lucas sat half asleep but listening intently for the slightest faintest of
    sounds, anything that could be hostile. But it was close to impossible to
    hear over the rushing of the blinding blizzard flowing through the valley.
    intent on surviving Lucas had a weapon, a simple stun stick, for he had no
    intention on killing, being so few animals left in the world as it is.
    Just to beat them back. He pulled it from his backpack and held it
    vigilantly, ready for anything big enough to enter the hole in the giant
    tree. But humans need their sleep, Lucas' vision became hazy, and his
    limbs heavy. He was intent on surviving the night, but drifted slowly off
    to sleep, he loosened his grip on the stun stick and it hit the ground
    with a blue sharp bolt like a bug zapper. By this time he was fast asleep.

    Chapter 2 - Man's Best Friend

    Man's best friend
    Or so it is said
    Has found this man
    Asleep in his bed

    The bright sun peeked over the mountain tops, flooding the valley in a
    shower of light. The dew glistening like a shattered mirror in the
    reflection of the sun. Still no animal was to be seen yet, in the bright
    pure snow. A slight breeze trailing the violent storm that had passed
    gently swayed the trees left and right while they protested, groaning like an
    old boat at sea.

    Lucas' eyes slowly opened as the light hit his face, the goggles
    magnifying the rays. The air now a little warmer he pulled back his coat
    hood and removed his goggles to prevent further eye damage. He tried to
    stand but found an odd object on his lap, nothing was there last night. He
    looked down to discover a black furry ball, with long pointy ears, fluffly
    tail, and four digitigrade legs, it was about the size of a timber wolf.
    But the thing that caught his attention about it, was the fact that it 'was'
    a timber wolf, not only that but a black one. And as he hoped to find, it
    didn't look mutated.

    As he moved his hand down to feel it and make sure he wasn't dreaming, the
    wolf jerked up and looked at his face, and his hand. Then quickly got to
    it's feet and bolted to the other side of the hollow tree, Lucas was
    sitting at the exit so it didn't make any attempt to go for the hole while
    he sat there. He looked up at it and inspected it , it didn't look mutated
    from the naked eye. It looked at him with light blue huge puppy dog eyes,
    with head hung down and whimpering because it thought he was going to harm
    him. Lucas took his right glove off and held out his hand, then moved a
    little closer to the wolf and smiled. The wolf just continued it's crying,
    it was scared, very scared, anything in the Northern Wastelands would be
    scary, mutated bears, deer and other wolves, but humans are what scares any
    animal the most, they look like savages wearing the skins of other animals,
    their sticks that shoot fire and kill without warning.

    Upon looking over the animal, Lucas noticed it's ribs showing against it's
    skin. The poor thing has clearly not been very well off out here he
    thought to himself. The wolf still scared out of it's mind, continued to
    whimper. Lucas reached into his bag and pulled out a tin and an opener.
    The wolf reacted to this by becoming more frantic thinking that this was
    going to be a weapon. But instead he opened the tin and put in on the
    snowy ground, then pushed it a few metres from himself and waited to see
    if the wolf would accept it.

    The wolf calmed down when it saw Lucas wasn't going to kill him and inched
    forwards towards the tin, the smell of food wafting towards him from the
    wind blowing in from the hole in the tree, drooling over it. The smell of
    food was overwhelming, and Lucas thought that the wolf wounldn't let go of
    a free feed. He was right, the wolf inched forwards towards the tin,
    without losing sight of Lucas. Lucas sat and watched it approach the tin,
    making no other movements as to try not to startle it.

    As the wolf finally reached the tin, and lowered it's head. Staring at
    Lucas incase he pulled something. The wolf without loosing eye contact
    licked the tin, tasting the beans and sausage. Upon contact it shivered and
    it's eyes rolled back into it's head a little, but not noticable. Then
    finally it gave in and start to gratefully and happily eat away at the meal
    so kindly given. Lucas smiled under his balaclava as he watched the animal
    gratefully gorge itself on the meal.

    Lucas slowly moved towards the wolf on his hands and knees, and it made no
    attempt to back pedal. When he reached a distance close enough to touch he
    stopped, and slowly put his hand out to pet it's head. The wolf stopped
    eating suddenly and looked up at him, traces of the meal around it's black
    mouth standing out like a sore thumb, watching him move closer to touch him.
    The wolf walked closer to Lucas and shut it's left eye as he patted his
    head. Lucas astounded as to how pure the animal was, it's fur silky, unlike
    the common wolf, the jet black colour was a rarity, also the ears
    being a lot longer than the common wolf, maybe 1.5 times regular length,
    but still keeping the wolf like point and shape, now a once in a lifetime
    thing since the man made apocalypse. Perhaps the un-mutated animals have
    evolved? Lucas thought to himself as he patted it.

    Chapter 3 - A Chilling Encounter

    In the northern wastelands,
    those frozen lands of ice
    There are many encounters to be had,
    and some are not so nice

    The wolf murred happily as he finished his meal, then rubbing his head
    against the man's hand as a gesture of thanks. Lucas casually looking over
    the animal further as it allowed him to get a bit closer. The animals that he
    had ran into so far had not been so friendly. The poor creature had obviously
    been through a lot of hardships in it's lifetime. Lucas quickly fished out a
    notepad from his pocket and began to document this visual examination on the
    animal, mostly to document it's rarity and possible traits of evolution.

    Being a rather caring man, Lucas started to press lightly along it's body,
    trying to find bruses or wounds. It seemed that about every second time force
    was applied to a different spot it would whimper and it's ears flatten
    against it's head or less commonly yelp in protest, but allowing him to
    continue each time. After counting eighteen bruses, five small cuts and two
    more serious slices, and discovering the male gender of the wolf he dove his
    hand once again into the bottomless hole which is his equipment bag.

    As Lucas searched through his bag many things went through his mind, such as
    his last encounter with an animal, a severly mutated polar bear. They are
    common in what was North America. Their flesh almost dripping off their skin,
    what is left of their fur matted with it's own blood and leaking bodily
    fluids.How they survive and reproduce is a complete mystery to the current
    civilized population so far. Lucas came across it completely by accident,
    walking along the side of a frozen river he found it clawing at the ice,
    trying to drink the fresh water below the layer of frozen water. He moved
    around it silently and sat in a nearby bush, then started to document the
    beast. But unluckilly for Lucas the bear sensed him and looked up, it didn't
    spot him at first and just glared from left to right. He did his best to stay
    still but suddenly he felt an urge to sneeze. The worst possible timing for
    something so simple.

    The bear's head snapped to a cowering man, Lucas shook in his boots, from the
    cold or fear is undecided. The bear grunted and walked slowly towards him,
    teeth barred. Lucas quickly got to his feet and turned to run, but his
    leggings were caught on the sturdy stem of the bush. He ducked down and drew
    a knife from his belt, then attempting to sever the clothing. The bear now at
    full sprint no less than twenty metres away from him, frothing jaws with
    hanging flesh swaying with every stride, making a gruesome sight, something
    like a zombie bear, should zombies actually exist. Lucas gave up hope with
    freeing himself and drew his stun stick, just as he held it out infront of
    himself and shut his eyes it began to light up like a bug zapper. Suddenly
    the weapon shot like a bullet out of him grip, and made a dull thud as it
    speared a nearby tree, going nearly half of it's length in. At the same
    moment the bear was flung back as well, about 3 full metres in distance. Then
    coming to a stop, the singed fur on it's face a charcoal black and smoking.
    Still kneeeling with his hands over his head, heart going a mile a minute
    waiting for that fatal blow. A tear escaping his eye he looks up, seeing the
    bear motionless he sighs, but then wonders what happened.

    What did happen is when he drew the weapon his finger switched the controls
    for the voltage. Going from a stun setting to a kill setting. The fact that
    the charge started flowing immediately as the bear touched it was merely and
    a coincidence. Lucas still only feeling the pounding in his chest, and the
    fear of what could have been racing through his mind, causing him to shiver
    uncontrollably. After a minute or so when he regained his senses, now that he
    wasn't in a panic he looked back down at his leggings and finding that it was
    a very simply fixed problem. He picked up the knife laying next to him once
    again and sheathed it at his side, after first pulling his leggings the other
    direction, freeing himself easily.

    Lucas felt a warm, moist and repetitive sensation on his wrist, realising
    that he had just let his mind run free he snapped back to reality.He turned
    his head towards the feeling to see the wolf licking along the join between
    the glove and sleeve. Smiling broadly as remembers what he phased out from.