I don't remember how long I slept.
All I know is that when the last stream of liquid nitrogen finally ran dry, when my body began to thaw and sensed its first trace of warmth from the outside world, I was able to pry my heavy eyelids open and drag in a breath of air.
My chest burned with a sharp ache. I couldn't tell if it was because I'd stopped breathing for far too long, or because the air was so thick with fine dust it scraped my lungs raw as it poured in. Maybe it was both.
The first clear thought that surfaced once my brain started working properly again was simple. I've been saved.
Science had advanced. There had to be a cure now for the vicious cancer eating me alive. That was why they'd woken me from this endless cryosleep.
But what greeted me wasn't a group of scientists in white lab coats. There was no hum of advanced machinery either.
The laboratory was nothing but ruins.
Darkness pressed in from all sides. The machines around me were dead and silent. The only light slipping into this cramped, broken space came from a massive crack in the basement ceiling. Murky water seeped through it, dripping down onto the floor in slow, hollow taps that echoed coldly through a world gone mute.
Outside, the sky was a dull gray. A metallic stench of rust hung in the air, flooding my senses that had only just begun to function again. It made me frown, my nose wrinkling in discomfort.
Why was this place so desolate?
Had we been attacked?
This laboratory was located far beyond the city's outskirts, hidden deep underground. Before I went into cryosleep, we were researching a biological weapon for the government.
It wasn't impossible that hostile factions had been watching us.
First things first. I needed to get out of here.
My body was stiff as stone. I pushed myself upright and stepped out of the glass pod, my muscles trembling under my own weight. They hadn't atrophied thanks to the injections prepared beforehand, but they felt foreign, like they belonged to someone else.
My gaze slid to the deep scratch marks etched across the surface of the glass. I frowned slightly. They looked like they were made by wild animals. This pod was built from material tougher than bulletproof glass. That was the only reason I'd survived.
But these scratches were huge. Too big to be from a tiger or a wolf.
This place isn't safe anymore, I thought. I need to get back to the city as soon as possible.
With the power long gone, the elevator was useless. I had no choice but to drag my heavy steps up the emergency stairwell, clinging to cracked walls along the way. They were slick with moss and dampness, so slippery my palms nearly failed me several times, my body almost crashing to the ground.
Confusion gnawed at me.
Why had they left me here alone?
Even if the lab had been attacked, the government should've sent people back to investigate and retrieve important assets. And among all of them, I was the most valuable.
I was their genius scientist. It was their idea to preserve my brain through cryosleep when they discovered my cancer had reached stage three. They were supposed to wake me once medical science advanced enough to cure me, so I could continue serving their empire.
So why abandon me like this?
Had they forgotten about me?
Or had the world progressed so far that even my genius brain had been replaced by artificial intelligence?
Too many questions swirled through my foggy, half-awake mind. But the moment I pushed open the basement door and stepped outside, it felt like I'd found my answer.
It wasn't just the laboratory that had fallen into ruin.
Everything around me was destroyed.
Buildings had collapsed. Wrecked vehicles lay scattered across the roads, left to rot where they'd fallen. The wind howled, carrying sand and dust that screamed against my ears, leaving my nerves numb and buzzing.
The land was barren. There wasn't a single human figure in sight. Not even an animal.
The only life left was vegetation. Plants had overrun everything, crawling up fallen walls and shattered structures. Massive trees had burst through concrete, towering over the wreckage like the new rulers of this world.
Confusion tightened my brow until it ached.
What happened to my country? Was there a war?
No. Even war wouldn't leave things like this.
It was as if human civilization itself had been wiped out.
I needed to find someone. Anyone. I needed answers.
I bent down and picked up a thick branch, using it as a cane to support my still-sluggish body as I followed the highway. My eyes darted constantly, half watching for wild animals, half desperately hoping to spot another human.
Anyone, as long as they were human.
My bare feet began to bleed as I stepped over shattered debris on the asphalt. The pain sharpened my awareness, grounding me in the undeniable truth that I was alive.
Just not in the world I used to know.
Rustle.
Through the screaming wind, a strange sound reached my left ear.
Startled, I snapped my head toward it and caught sight of a shadow quickly retreating behind a collapsed wall.
My heart, which had been still for who knew how long, suddenly went into overdrive, pounding violently against my ribs. Anxiety twisted inside me, split between fear that it was a wild beast and hope that it was another person.
"W–who…"
My voice came out wrong. Hoarse. Unsteady. Like I'd forgotten how to speak. I cleared my throat several times, forcing sound past dry vocal cords.
"Who's there?" I asked, lifting the branch defensively, afraid that whatever was hiding might leap at me.
The shadow peeked out again from behind the wall. Under the harsh midday sun, I could finally make out half of its appearance.
It was a human.
Relief hit me so hard it felt like striking gold. I gathered my courage and stepped toward them. Good or bad didn't matter. I just needed to see another of my kind, proof that I wasn't the last survivor in this ruined world.
As I got closer, the figure seemed frightened and shrank back further into the shadows. I spoke quickly. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."
I stopped myself, let the branch fall from my hand, and raised both arms to show I meant no harm.
"I just wanna ask a few things." I said, keeping my voice as gentle as I could. "Can you come out here?"
Silence.
Dust drifted through the air, brushing against my nose. I waited patiently, not pushing, not daring to rush them.
After a while, perhaps sensing I wasn't a threat, the person slowly crawled out of hiding.
I couldn't help stepping forward, a smile breaking across my face.
"Do you know—"
The rest died in my throat.
Under the sunlight, the figure finally revealed himself completely. My feet moved back on instinct.
He was human. A man, maybe around thirty.
But he wore nothing. Completely naked.
His expression was dull as he stared at me, eyes filled with curiosity and something else. Something hungry.
He didn't stand or walk on two legs.
He crawled across the ground like an animal, inching closer to me. His gaze grew more intense with every movement, like he was stalking prey. A low growl rumbled in his throat, a sound that didn't resemble anything human at all.
What horrified me most, however, was the swollen, swaying length hanging between his legs.
Every instinct inside me screamed that something was terribly wrong with the world I'd just woken up to.
***