It was cold and unusually dark. The wind was howling through the side streets and slapping me as I passed each street. The city was eerily quiet - others were smart enough to stay home, beside their fires, where I now longed to be.

I picked up my pace as I approached my destination. Soon I would forget the cold - I had work to do.

I looked at my trembling hand with an obligatory smirk as it to say "Why the heck am I doing this?"....but in my own disbelief I could not imagine the deepest feeling of internal torture. The flashlight was waning and was on the verge of failure but yet, I kept encroaching on the corner with anticipated trepidation. My mouth was a desert and the slightest trace of moisture had all but left seconds before. I felt a slight trace of sweat trickle down the side of my face and then roll to the side of my chin....a chimeric 'DRIP' sound resonated as it fell into a small puddle to the right of my foot.

The man was standing ominously in the centre of the room, surrounded by a group of people clad in black robes. One of the men was wearing the decapitated head of a goat with two fearsome horns protruding from its head. Others were wearing an assortment of masks, some animal-like in appearance and others that were definitely not of this world. The room gave off an awful smell not unlike burning flesh.

Behind the group, torches were lit in a semi-circle and a series of unusual markings littered the floor. I looked past the group of disturbing eyes and noticed an altar behind the group....on the altar was a site that filled me with absolute terror.

"Come here!!" the man in the centre of the room bellowed. I couldn't move however - the site on the altar was too much to bear and felt as if I were suspended in time. At that point, I heard the crying of a baby, and what seemed like the ripping of meat when it is cut with a razor sharp knife.

I could see from the dark expression in the central man's eyes that he was terrified of the object in my hand. Gasps were uttered all around the room as I held it aloft. It was a glowing stone I had discovered many years ago in a junk shop in an obscure little town in the mid-West of the US. I always carried it with me as I seemed to be unable to let it out of my sight.

Orange in colour and with an eye painted across the front of it, the sight of the stone clearly made the room's inhabitants uneasy. It was the only potential weapon I had in my possession but my instinct told me that it was more than likely the best weapon of all.

"Where did you get that?" the man hissed at me....his eyes wider than before.

"What, scared of an old orange stone? Tell me what the fuck is going on here! Who are you deranged people?" I yelled.

The dark priests moved backward.. avoiding me. Then it dawned on me. It wasnt the stone they were afraid of, they were afraid for the stone. I brought it down from above my ahead and noticed a feint glow emanating from he stone. "Let me pass, or I will smash this into a million pieces!!!" I roared as I raised it above my head. The evil priests sneered and moved back hastily. With my eyes never leaving them I made my way to the back room and slowly stepped inside. It was hideous.

As I lifted her up, I felt my foot slip slightly on some of the spilled blood on the floor. I tried desperately not to fall, the combined weight of the woman and my own wavered. I felt myself losing balance and my worst fears were realised as my kneww gave way and both of us crashed to the floor.

The stone fell out my hand as I fell and cracked on the floor with a blistering tinkle - shards dispersing in all directions. A gasp left my lips and I heard the group also take a step backward in avoidance. At that point, a burst of light emitted from the broken stone - radiating out like the morning sun, blinding and yet also entrancing.

The light began to dwindle slightly and turn from a radiant white to a slowly pale yellow, then changed hues altogether through the spectrum of the rainbow until it grew darker and darker until it was so deep blue, it was almost black.

I heard a cracking sound and the room began to shake violently.

It didn't last very long. A moment later returned the creaking wail of twisting metal, and the floor began to slant dangerously towards the gaping rend in the floor. I tried to find a hold on anything - a wall, a table, a windowsill - but they were all out of my reach, and the woman seemed to have lost her consciousness. Every light in the building was out, and even with the wall split the room was mostly in darkness. I heard the steady hiss of something in the next room, but I didn't have time to wonder when the ceiling began collapsing on us.

I dragged my companion beside the desk and braced myself for the downfall of the ceiling. It began in a slow, ashy shower, followed by bricks and mortar and finally full darkness as I shielded my eyes from the clouds of debris. There was no escape; with each shudder of the earth's quaking the desk pushed us closer to the split in the floor.

From there it could be a very long ways down. But a very short trip.t

I was drowning.

Drowning... which was slightly better than being crushed on cement and left semiconscious for uncertain moments. Or, of course, I could be drowning in lava instead of cold water. That could be worse.

Sometimes my brain has bad timing. My life should be flashing before my eyes, but all I can think about is that this is it. Drowning. I can't believe how boring this is. There are many more dramatic deaths, but this was silent and secluded... except for the sound of pounding; waves crashing to my left.

Hm. Now there's a though - but no. My lungs gave no time for thought as they shrunk in the frigid water. Only instinct flailed me towards the noise. A sudden current dragged me deeper and the cold pressure made my head ache so badly, I gave up. My lungs burst and every last bubble of hope rose away into the foggy grey water.

Something hit me in the ribcage, and faster than the current was the force lifting me up, up...

I sobbed for air.

As my breathing slowed and my body accustomed to the temperature, my ears suddenly felt... odd. Slowly sounds began to trickle in, and then it finally registered with a clap of noise. Behind me, something was falling. I looked back, and all I could assume was that the sky was caving in. Darkness tumbled into the icy depths and thundered down. I was too shocked to be afraid, after all that had happened today. But the dolphin took a hint and swam faster than before, and it was all I could do to hold on as we raced the building tidal wave.

Life sucks. The last thing I remember thinking before the roar overcame my mind was I hope I wake up somewhere warm and dry...

Voices. I saw two people walking along the beach. I yelled and got to my feet, staggering towards them.

A gun butted against my collarbone. "Take it easy," Said the man behind the weapon, "Where you from?"

I swallowed, "I just woke up on the shore. Last thing I remember was falling from a building... it's not making much sense..."

"Hans!" Said the woman with him, "It's all right. I know him."

I was shocked, this was the woman I had rescued... well, almost. "Where are we?" I asked.

"Everything caved in; the world is... changed." She said, "Very few survived."

"Drowned," I said.

"Yes," She said, "Most of them."
I saw the other bodies. Instead of heading to the forest, they were heading towards the shore. Something had torn them to shreds.

"Down here, in the new world, we are not the only People."

"We need to move," Said Hans, pointing. A pack of rangey black dogs emerged from the trees. Their heads were lowered and they paced towards us quietly in a very undoglike way...

They weren't as stupid as we thought, after all. The sound of nails against volcanic rock alerted us. Hans aimed his gun towards the cave entrance.

The pack leader stepped into range, and quickly ducked back as the gun fired.

"Wait!" I yelled at Hans as he reloaded. "Watch this,"

The dog stepped forward again, and waited in the cave entrance.

"What's wrong with you?" Snarled Hans, "Those monsters are out for blood."

"No," Said Emilia, "I told you, they are like us."

"What in the name of-"

"They're People," I said, "We can reason with them."

The dog angled it's head when I said that. It's dark silhouette suddenly seemed less ominous.

"I think they understand us."

Hans relaxed a little. The dog stepped forward warily. 

The dog watched me curiously. He said, "We go to the Meeting Place." He pointed with his muzzle to the cliff above us. I nodded.

The rest of the pack followed cautiously behind as we climbed the slope. Around us, other creatures stirred. A mountain lion paced several yards away, and birds and other animals made their way towards the top. I saw many animals gathered, not all of them familiar. Deer, rats, birds and tall reptilian creatures.

"We will speak," Said Max, "Plan future. For us, for the world."

I looked down the steep slope to the massacre below. "If you aren't the predators," I said, "Then what killed them?" I indicated the slaughtered humans. Max stiffened.

"They would not reason with us. We had no choice, to protect ourselves we had to kill them. They were not like you."

Hans looked at the dog, and then at me. Emilia said, "You're right, not like us. We'll help you, we'll help plan a new civilization..."

The last thing I saw was blurred shadows, and then the ground dropped away beneath me. I shook myself awake.

"Dude, you okay?"

I blinked. "No. No I'm not." 

A gangly boy with greasy yellow hair sat next to me. "You were out for awhile," He said.

I found myself lying on a couch with a really ugly pug curled up at my feet. It gave me ugly eyes.

"Am I in Heaven?"

"Nah, man, you just drank a bit too much."

"Oh." I said. 

The pug chortled humerously.