Dominant Species
Issue #1
by Tom Zjaba
Prequel
One day the world was normal. Everything was fine, with only the usual
problems that we have come to expect. Then something happened. Something that
did not make any sense. It started out slowly with the unbelievable recovery of
many endangered animals. Word came from Africa that the rhino population had
grown overnight! Not a few more rhinos but hundreds more of them were roaming
the plains of Africa. The once endangered, nearly extinct rhino had made a rapid
comeback. But the rhino wasn't the only animal in Africa that had its numbers
increase greatly. The elephant, the leopard, the gorilla and more were all of
sudden found in abundance.
But it didn't stop there. Reports of larger numbers of tigers from India to Siberia came in. Koalas in Australia were showing up in abundance as were the other animals. The same thing was happening everywhere. From the bison, grizzly bears and bald eagles of North America to the tapirs, macaws and jaguars of South America. The scientists, environmentalist and other so-called experts argued about how this happened and the impact it would have. Many theories circulated about the sudden existence of tens of thousands of animals. From poor record keeping to aliens, the stories went around. Before the scientific community could agree on a single theory, things got stranger, much stranger.
A report came out of Tasmania that shocked the world. A local man brought back a captured Tasmanian Wolf. This animal was thought to be extinct. It had been nearly a century since the last one died in a zoo. But soon after the story broke, more reports came in. Each one stranger than the last. On the island of Mauritius, the Dodo Bird was seen. Not one dodo bird, but hundreds of them. They were all over the island as if man had not killed them off. Then from the Carolina's in the United States came reports that the Carolina Parakeet was found again. A whole flock was seen by some local schoolchildren. They went and reported it and it was documented that they were indeed the extinct bird.
The reports kept coming in, one after another. In Ohio and much of the northern states, Passenger Pigeons were seen again. Huge flocks that numbered in the hundred thousands darkened the skies once again. From Africa, the quagga was said to have been seen. This made the entire world stand up and take notice. It was like nature was giving a second change to these animals. But the strangest findings were yet to come.
It had been two weeks since the strange occurrences first began and people were getting used to it. The once remarkable discoveries were becoming commonplace. The Great Auk was found as were some even more obscure animals. People weren't that fazed when the Moa Moa was found in New Zealand. But the next set of events really shook the scientific world up. A report came out of Siberia about some fresh tracks in the snow. As some scientists went up to check them out, it was soon discovered that they belonged to an very large, elephant like creature. As the tracks were followed, more and more were found in the snow. And the tracks were only a few days old. After a few day's journey, they came across a herd of Wooly Mammoths. Not a dead herd that were preserved in the ice, but a living, breathing herd. They counted twelve individuals in the herd. When word of this came back, it made everything else seem commonplace. Now the scientific community was stunned. They really had no answer for this. But once again, this was only the beginning.
In what many will refer to as Hell Week, the entire Earth seemed to turn on mankind. It was as if the Earth was taking revenge for all the damage the human race had inflicted on it. Unlike the past few weeks, the reports that began to circulate were anything but pleasant. First came the earthquakes. Not one, but dozens of them. The first cities to be hit were Mexico City and San Francisco. These were among the worst earthquakes on record. But they didn't stop there. Within hours, reports came of a devastating earthquake in Tokyo. It was the worst one yet. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the initial quake. The aftershocks were almost as bad and killed even more. Then the reports came in of hundreds, yes hundreds of tornadoes that ripped across the Midwestern USA. It seemed like all the big cities were targeted. Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, one by one they were hit by anywhere from a few to a few dozens tornadoes.
As the disasters seemed like they couldn't get worse, they did. Hurricanes of such magnitude that has never been seen were sweeping across islands. They also hit many South American cities. Within days, they were hitting all the way up through Texas, Louisiana and Florida. It was only three days into the week and the death toll was in the hundreds of millions and property damage was in the high billions and growing by the hour. Then the worst yet happened. What was thought inconceivable became reality. New York City was hit by the worst Earthquake ever recorded. In a single day, over 3 million people were killed or badly injured and the numbers were still coming in.
Slowly, the world seemed to be coming apart at the seams. Talk of the end of the world spread everywhere and every religious fanatic was coming out of the woodwork. People by the thousands were buying into their rhetoric. Then the bottom really fell out! In a two day period, the majority of the world's food supply was gone! Huge swarms of locusts and other insects came down and raided the crops. A terrible frost hit Florida and the rest of the southern states and killed the orange groves as well as the other fruit groves. Anthrax spread like wildfire through the cow populations and it was if a new strain was found as the cows were dropping fast. Similar diseases hit the pigs, the chickens, even the sheep were dropping like flies. Was there no end in sight to the madness that gripped the world like a vice and drained any life out of it?
The week came to an end in a blaze! It was the last of the great disasters during what will forever be called Hell Week. Over 5000 fires broke out all over the world. Not small little fires, but full blown blazes. Almost every big city and tons of smaller ones were engulfed in flames. From London to Paris to Beijing to Rio De Janeiro to Montreal to Washington DC, city after city erupted in flames. This blaze burned worldwide for more than a week as one fire after another was finally put out or burned out. But the effects of the disasters was devastating. Well over a billion people were killed and almost twice that many were injured with a majority of them, seriously hurt. But the death toll wasn't the only concern. There was a worldwide food shortage. But even worse than that, much of the Earth was without power as many of the power plants were destroyed in one way or another. Also, much of the transportation was devastated as millions of miles of roads and rails were ruined. Also, many of the largest airports were ruined beyond repair and thousands of ships were sunk or badly damaged in the hurricanes and other disasters. For the first time in the last century, the world was not connected. The telephones lines were cut off for much of the world. Without electricity in a good portion of the world, the world wide web was inaccessible. Not that it mattered as much of the internet was gone as many of the servers were destroyed between the fires, earthquakes or other problems.
While the human race was suffering, the animal kingdom was flourishing. The great discoveries of many extinct species only weeks ago, were largely overlooked with all the suffering of the past week. Too bad as things seemed to pick up where they left off with even more bizarre creatures showing up. This time, nature seemed to dip even deeper back in her archives to bring more and more extinct creatures back to life. The first known reports came out of Africa. Word of strange beasts on the plains spread throughout the communities that were not completely devastated. As people went to look, there were literally hundreds of dinosaurs, roaming the vast plains. Not only were they back, but the vegetation seemed to grow at a much more rapid rate and soon the grasslands were full of creatures from all different eras. There were triceratops grazing with rhinos, zebras and gazelles roaming with Elephant Birds. In the distant could be heard the roar of the lion and the bellow of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Soon these great beasts appeared all over the world. Herds of Stegosaurus were seen roaming through the streets of Peking and Saber-toothed Tigers were hunting in the hills of Montana. Pterodactyls were seen in the skies along with dozens of other birds. Everywhere you looked, the world was teeming with life. And it didn't take long for all these new creatures to notice the very vulnerable humans and soon attacks on people became commonplace.
The final insanity took place soon after. As the humans began to rebuild their world and try to heal their wounds, the world seemed to grow. Houses that were right next door to each other, now were miles apart. Cities were literally pulled apart. Surprisingly, there wasn't any disasters to accompany this bizarre behavior. One would think that earthquakes would follow such drastic actions, but they did not. But what did come was even more strange than anything that ever happened. Soon, the world was even more populated, but by creatures that never walked the Earth before. These were creatures right out of the imaginations of Earth's people. Creatures that were long considered myths, legends or merely hoaxes, all of sudden were alive. Among the dinosaurs and mammoths and Dodo Birds came other creatures. Great and powerful creatures like giants and dragons and lesser creatures like unicorns and satyrs. There were humanoid creatures like ogres, orcs and centaurs and there were horrible monsters like the griffons and hydras. From all myths and legends they came. The Japanese river demons to the mummies of Egypt came to life. The vampires of Europe to the Moth men of the New England states were all there. Leprechauns and pixies filled the forests and mermaids and sea serpents filled the seas. Rocs and winged horses filled the air and the caverns were filled with mole people and huge boring beetles. Every conceivable creature was alive and populating the Earth. The world had drastically changed and mankind went from the dominant species to prey for thousands of different beasts. The end of the world had not come, only the beginning of a darker and more dangerous age.
Chapter One
Thirty years later. A new world existed and had for the past thirty years.
The world where mankind ruled and they did what they pleased were a distant
memory. Many of the people who were alive during that era were now dead. The new
world was in full bloom and man had learned to be hard again. They learned to
become hunters and gatherers. While there were still weapons of great strength
like guns, they were hard to come by and highly sought after. Not only by the
humans, but by the many other intelligent races. The Centaurs were especially
fond of rifles and would attack any human settlement if it meant increasing
their supply of arms and bullets. While the orcs, goblins and other smaller
species have not relied so heavily on the rifle, they did find many other great
weapons of war. Many swords, daggers, axes and other classic weapons were found
in raids of museums and private collections from long dead humans. Some of these
creatures created small towns and brought back the lost arts of the blacksmiths.
One pocket of human resistance were a village of humans who thrived in the ruins of Cleveland. There were about 100 men, women and children who lived among the ruins, most of which were overgrown with plants. They had been living there and thriving for nearly twenty years. They learned to gather the cans of food and store them, along with the many berries and fruit that grew wild. They also learned to kill the many animals that lived here from the deer and wolves to the greater beasts like giant sloths and even the occasional dinosaur. They called themselves the Cavaliers after a long lost group of warriors from a long lost era. They were supposedly a small band that did battle in the NBA against such foes as bulls, raptors and timber wolves.
But finding out the origin of their name was the last of their worries. While they lived and thrived in Cleveland, they were by no means the rulers of the city. By day, it was ruled by a huge two headed ettin, a form of giant. He would wander the streets in search of things to eat and humans were among his favorites. He carried a fallen tree as a club, a mighty tree that was at least twenty feet long and very thick. He had carved a handle for it, from the trunk of the mighty tree and loved to smash things with it. The great ettin, who the Cavaliers merely called "The Thunderous One", was at least sixty feet in height and each of his two heads were hideous. Each one featured wild hair that was all knotted and dirty and dark, almost black eyes. He growled allot and it showed his decaying teeth, something that must have caused him great and constant pain. This may explain part of the reason for his nasty disposition. No matter what made him so ornery, the people knew to stay hidden during the daylight hours. They would remain in the buildings, especially the basements. They quickly learned not to stay within sight, because the ettin made a habit out of peering into windows and pulling out any who were visible and quickly disposing of them. So they learned to hide well in the building and remain hidden.
But at night, the ettin would sleep a very deep sleep. This was when the Cavaliers would come out of their hiding and search for food and artifacts that could improve their lives. While the ettin ruled the daytime, they ruled the night and made the most of it! They would go to different parts of the city, far from the ettin and start large bonfires and have glorious parties. The men would get together and go out hunting. The women would either forage for food around the city, from the canned foods left by some great civilization to picking the many wild berries and vegetable that grew all over the city. Over the past thirty years, they learned not only what was edible and what was not, but also picked up some rudimentary farming tips. Many of them created gardens either between the buildings or on top of the highest ones, far from the prying eye of the ettin. This gave them a steady diet of items like carrots, potatoes and grapes.
One evening a group of men decided to head out in a different direction, in search of deer or wild pig. They headed deep into what the old maps said were the Metro parks. It was a long journey and it would take them a few days to make it, but game was scarce in the city. The ettin scared much of it away and his simple snares captured much of what was available. But in the Metro parks, there was game aplenty. One thing about the new world, there was no shortage of food. Without mankind destroying all the land, nature was able to reclaim much of the earth and fill it with plants and animals.
This night, four men left the village for the Metro parks. The leader of the hunting expedition was Bearslayer, who took his name from a great bear he slew. All men upon reaching adulthood, would hunt a creature on their own and bring the dead animal back to the village. Then their leader would dub them a name based upon what they killed. Sometimes it was a simple name like Bearslayer, other times it was more elaborate. The others in the party were Spearfisher, Eightdigits and Howlingmad. Spearfisher was very adept with the spear and as his name suggested, he brought a great fish back on his initiation into manhood. Eightdigits was unfortunately named from an injury he incurred with his first hunt. He was able to slay a great wolf, but in the process, he lost two fingers to the beast. The last was Howlingmad who was named for his irrational behavior in battle. When he reached adulthood, he decided to go after the ettin, who had recently captured and ate his beloved. He charged the creature with a samurai sword and howling like a madman. He did not succeed in slaying the ettin, but the chief figured anyone who was crazy enough to attack it must be mad and so he soon gained the name.
This night they were searching for deer. While deer were fast and elusive, they also were quite tasty and much easier to kill than many creatures. A wounded deer would run away, unlike a mammoth who would turn and chase you down and trample you to death. Luckily, the mammoths only came on their migration route. They would head down in the winter and spring months to have their families. Then as the summer months came, they would head back north, away from the heated summers. It was during times like this that the ettin would leave the humans alone. He loved mammoth meat and would make a point of killing a few of them. While they were monstrous creatures and lived in groups, some would stray from the group and the ettin could easily take out a solitary mammoth. But even he was smart enough not to attack a herd of mammoths. That was suicide.
It took them hours to get out of the ruins of the city. First they had to get out of the Hall of Giants as they called the main city. Since the buildings were so large, they figured that they must have been the homes of giants. As they got further and further from the Hall of Giants, the size of the dwellings became smaller and smaller. They figured that giants always ruled the cities and these homes were for the humans who would do their bidding. They had found old manuscripts and relics that spoke of the old world. There was talk of the giants who would come and demand tribute from the poor humans. A league of giants named the IRS would sweep down upon the people once a year and demand tribute. All who would not pay would lose their possessions or be taken to prison to be fed to the monstrous appetite of the lord of the giants, Uncle Sam. They have even seen photos of the great Uncle Sam with his long flowing beard, piercing eyes and ever pointing finger. Tales of Uncle Sam were used to teach the children why they were not to roam out during the day.
As they left the Hall of Giants, they moved into what was once the suburbs of the city. Now it was mostly woods with a cluster of abandoned houses here and there. When the Earth grew, it pulled apart these towns and cities and now they did not look anything like they did in the past. But there was no rhyme or reason to how they were separated. Sometimes it looked like part of a city block was intact and other times it was only a few houses remaining. But they learned that you had to be careful when entering these dwellings. While they did provide shelter from the weather, they were also home to many creatures. Other humanoid creatures were especially fond of them. If you came too close to an occupied dwelling, you could be attacked by a family of orcs or goblins. These humanoids were especially fond of these dwellings as they were too lazy to build their own. It was much easier to squat into one of these abandoned buildings than to go through the effort of starting from scratch. This also led to many battles between the goblins, hobgoblins and orcs over these dwellings. They were petty creatures and if they thought another race had a better dwelling or one that had better amenities, they would abandon theirs and attempt to steal the one they coveted. As much as these were also coveted by humans, they found they made them easy targets and they would usually avoid them. It was much safer to build dwellings in the trees, where they were safe from the monsters that roamed the ground and the humanoids that would raid them. It could be said that human evolution had come full circle as they had returned to the trees where they originally came from.
Bearslayer was leading the pack and he carried a great bow and arrow. He hated guns and always preferred the bow and arrow. While he was young, only being 19 years old, he had lived more than half his expected life. The average human only lived to 35 years of age. Some would make it into their forties and occasionally you heard of a human live as long as their fifties, but for the most part, they died before then. Speed, strength and stamina were crucial to survival and once they got older and slowed down some, they would become easier prey. And in this world, it was every man for himself. Bearslayer stood nearly six feet tall and had a head full of long, black hair. He had deep brown eyes and a strong muscular frame. Most men were quite strong as they had to kill for their meals and fight for their lives. He wore pants made of deer skin and an old t-shirt he found in the ruins. The shirt was black and said "Cleveland Rocks." He did not know its meaning but the black shirt was good for camouflage. All of the men in the party wore black shirts. There was always an abundance of clothing around.
Spearfisher was second in the party both in where he was in the formation and in status. He carried his great spear as he always did. They would tease him that he probably slept with it, which was not far from the truth. He also had a long dagger hanging from a belt. It was always a good idea to have a second weapon as yours may break. His spear was decorated with paintings of different animals he had killed. There was a picture of a bison, a wolf, a deer and a wooly rhino on it. He still kept the tip of the rhino's horn with him. It was attached to a necklace he wore around his neck. He can still remember when he killed the great beast. It fed the people for a week and it raised his status in the tribe. While he was the tallest in the group, he was not the strongest. He was the quickest and it was his speed and skill with the spear that allowed him to beat the wooly rhino.
Eightdigit came third. While he was an accomplished hunter, he was still a bit too scared to lead the pack. Bearslayer was protective of him and let him stay in the middle of the group, where he was more protected. Eightdigit's weapon of choice was an axe he carried. It was actually a fireman's axe but he did not know its origin or why it was red. He kept it sharp and learned to use it in hand to hand combat as well as a projectile. He also carried the only gun in the hunting party. It was a rifle with a scope on it that he called a magic eye. The gun was given to him by his father, along with boxes of bullets. It was highly coveted by the members of the tribe and he had to fight for it on a few occasions. Being the smallest member of the hunting party, it gave him some status. He only stood about five foot five, so he was bullied quite often. But what he lacked in height, he made up for in strength. A few men who challenged him to a fight found his size deceiving and were soon overmatched. He found with the ferocity that was unmatched by anyone in the tribe. He also kept his hair very short. He found it was easier to win a battle if he did not have to worry about someone pulling on it.
The last member of the party and the one who always was at the rear of the party was Howlingmad. Most people feared being in the rear of the party as they were the most likely to be attacked. Many of the hunting animals would not attack a whole party but they knew if they followed the group long enough, the rear one would slowly become separated from the rest of the pack and they could move in and kill them and run off with the catch before the others would be able to react. It was also easier to get them from behind as they could get them when they were not looking. That was even more true of cowardly creatures like goblins, who would not take on an enemy face to face, unless the odds were greatly stacked in their favor. They preferred to kill off a party, one member at a time. But Howlingmad was not worried about this. Not really bothered him and it would take more than a few goblins to stop him. While he was not the biggest or the strongest in the party, he was the craziest. What he lacked in size or speed, he made up for in sheer ferocity. Having no worry about one's personal safety makes one very dangerous, both to the enemy and also to his party members. He would battle any creature they came across, no matter its size. And this made him very dangerous. But he could always be counted on to fight and his skills with the sword were unmatched. He always carried his trusty samurai sword that he found in what was once a mansion. He also wore the armor that he found there. It was a samurai armor that included the helmet. He did not know what a samurai was, but he did know that the weapon and armor were of the finest craftsmanship. He also liked to paint his face to look like a skeleton. While it was creepy, it did a good job of unnerving the enemy. With the armor and the face and bald head painted to resemble a skull, he won some battles by scaring away the enemy.
As the party made their way through the woods, they came across a hole in the ground. Unlike most holes that were usually homes to animals, this one had a sign up in front of it. They could not read it as it was written in goblin, but they guessed it was a warning. Howlingmad grabbed a rock and threw it down the hole. He wanted to know the depth of the hole and to see if it had water in it. Holes were often a good place to find water. But this time there was no water. Instead they heard the rock hit the bottom and bounce around. Then they heard someone yell "Leave me alone!" They all looked at each other in amazement. The voice was definitely human and it spoke their tongue. They did not know that they were speaking English, only that it was the human tongue as they called it. Having never left the area, they assumed all humans spoke this language. Bearslayer yelled down the hole "Who are you and what are you doing in the hole?" After a few seconds, a response came up "My name is Derrick and I am stuck down here." The hole was quite large and the men could easily climb down. After going down about twenty feet, they came to a small passageway. The passageway had about a foot of water in it and it looked to be blocked by a large stone. As they neared the large stone, they saw the person they talked to, pinned under the rock. "Is that you Derrick?" Bearslayer called out. "Yeah, I am stuck under this rock." All four men moved to the rock and used their torches to see Derrick. He was a boy, about sixteen years old. He looked awful as he was covered with dirt and smelled awful. The whole cavern stunk. "How long you been down here?" Eightdigit asked as he tried to fight back the smell. "I have been stuck down here for about thirty years." he said. They all laughed at him as they could tell by looking at him that he was nowhere near that age. "We will try to free you funny man" Bearslayer said as all four men grabbed the rock and lifted. They strained with the weight but after a few minutes of trying, they were able to lift it enough for Derrick to pull his leg out from under it. They then dropped the rock as the strain of it was great. Derrick slowly stood up and began to shake off the dirt that covered him. "Is you leg not broken?" Spearfisher asked as he looked at the boy. "No, I cannot be hurt." he said as he started climbing out of the hole. They all followed him as he made his way to the top. Once they were out of the hole, he began to shake the dirt and dust out of his hair. "What do you mean you cannot be hurt?" Bearslayer asked. "Just what I said, I am invincible. Shoot me with an arrow if you don't believe me." he said with a smile on his face. "If you are so invincible, why were you stuck in that hole?" Bearslayer asked. "Because the goblins overwhelmed me and threw me down there. They then rolled down a rock and it pinned me. I have been down there ever since. That was approximately thirty years ago." he said. "I will see if you are invincible" Howlingmad said as he tried to cut off his head with his samurai sword. Before anyone could stop him, he hit Derrick square in the neck. But instead of beheading him, the blade just bounced off him. He stared in disbelief and then tried to stab him with the sword. It hit him, but did not pierce his skin. "I told you I was invincible." he said with a smile. "What manner of sorcery is this?" Bearslayer asked as he could not understand what he just saw. "Let me find some water to wash off with and I will tell you the whole story. With that, he began walking away. They all followed him as they made their way towards a stream.
Dominant Species
© Tom Zjaba 2006-2008