The wind howled outside the church. The building a deep red from the dust blown up by the wind.
"We'll hide with the bodies on the pews. We'll blend in with them." Michael stepped over the legs of dead people on the pews.
"Good idea." Said Gabriel.
They hid with the bodies of their friends, on opposite sides of the church. They waited for the remaining raiders to come back for the 'feast' they spoke of.
They stayed as silent as possible. In wait with their guns, like a snake in the grass ready to attack.
A distant noise caught their attention.
The crunch of boots on gravel.
"They're here" Michael smirked at Gabriel.
Gabriel's heart pounded as he acted dead, waiting for them to enter the church to spring their attack.
The footsteps grew closer.
Their footsteps on the stained glass outside.
They tried to open the door. They seemed confused by the door not being open.
"Colt? Jimmy? You in there?" The voice was coarse, deep, a hint of suspicion.
They kept trying to open the door.
BANG!
Something heavy slammed against it.
They started shouting, one of the raiders ran round to the back exit, following orders. The boss was here.
Gabriel's breathes were short, shallow. He glanced at Michael, his face unmoving in this mess.
Michael's face twisted into a dark smile, as if he wanted them to break through the door.
BANG!
Another slam, this one was heavier.
BANG!
The blockade slowly tilted backwards until it fell.
The door opened quietly, six raiders poured in. Their guns were raised.
Michael and Gabriel waited, they waited until the raiders walked down the aisle, to get the jump on them from behind.
The raiders walked down the aisle, guns raised, looking for anything suspicious.
All of them passed Michael and Gabriel.
They pounced.
Crack Crack Crack Crack
Four raiders dropped to the ground, the other 2 swung around quickly.
Crack
One raider shot, he missed in his hurriedness to turn around.
Crack Crack
The final two raiders dropped dead. Six bodies piled up on the floor, lying in a heap. Their guns clattering to the floor.
The church became silent once more. The stench of gunpowder and death made Gabriel's sick to his stomach.
Gabriel exhaled, his hands shaking as he lowered his pistol. He looked down at the bodies, he never thought he'd be a killer, but now it almost felt normal.
"They didn't stand a chance," Michael muttered.
Gabriel swallowed hard. "We should get out of here before more come looking."
Michael smirked, holding up a handful of ammo and a half-eaten protein bar. "Relax, we just wiped out their whole crew. No one's coming."
Gabriel didn't believe that. There was always someone coming.
He stepped away from the bodies, moving toward the shattered stained glass. The world was still. The wind was still howling.
And in the distance, beyond the ruins of the town, the monolith stood.
Pulsing.
Watching.
Gabriel hated looking at it. Every time he did, he felt like something was looking back.
Michael joined him at the broken window, chewing on the protein bar he took from the dead raider. "What now?" he asked through a mouthful.
Gabriel glanced at him. "We leave. We take whatever supplies we can find and get out of here before the next group comes."
Michael scoffed. "And go where? There's nothing left, Gabriel. No people, no towns, just-" He gestured to the outside. "This."
Gabriel clenched his jaw. He didn't know what to do. He just knew they couldn't stay here.
He looked back at the monolith. It loomed in the distance, an unnatural ruler of this world. He felt a shiver down his spine.
Michael followed his gaze. "We'll go to the Monolith."
Gabriel turned to him sharply. "What?"
Michael shrugged. "People said it was calling them. Maybe we should see what's inside."
Gabriel shook his head. "No. That's not happening."
Michael chuckled but didn't argue. He just gave Gabriel that same knowing smirk, the one that said, 'I'm going to do what I want anyway.'
Gabriel ignored him and started gathering supplies. They found a few cans of food in the back, more bullets, some knives.
The world was quiet, the sky a dull shade of grey. The sun barely shone through the thick clouds.
Gabriel adjusted his pack. "We head west."
"We're going to the monolith Gabriel. Everything else is dead, there's nothing else for us to do." Said Michael.
They walked in silence, leaving the bodies of their friends to rot.
And as they disappeared into the dust and the cold, the monolith pulsed again like a heartbeat.
The landscape stretched endlessly before them—dry, lifeless, coated in a fine layer of red dust.
Gabriel and Michael moved through the desolated fields, jumping over decrepit fencing. The ruined remains of what was once a town lay behind them, but neither looked back. There was nothing left for them there.
Ahead, the monolith loomed. The crimson veins pulsed faintly, like something alive. Like something breathing.
Gabriel tightened his grip on his pistol.
The air grew heavier the closer they got. A low hum vibrated through the ground, not loud, but constant.
Michael seemed unfazed. If anything, he looked excited.
He grinned, eyes locked on the monolith. "It's like it knows we're coming."
Gabriel ignored him, focusing on each step. His instincts screamed at him to turn around, to run. But there was nowhere else to go. Nowhere was safe anymore.
A road stretched toward the monolith, cracked and overtaken by dust. Alongside it, scattered remnants of vehicles lay abandoned—cars with their doors flung open, their owners long gone. The closer they got, the more frequent the signs of them.
The people who had come before.
Clothes littered the roadside, torn and left behind. Some were folded neatly. Others were scattered, trailed off into nothingness. There were no bones. No bodies. Just absence.
Gabriel stopped. "This isn't right."
Michael glanced at him but didn't stop walking. "Nothing's ever been right Gabriel, the world was always in disarray.
Gabriel hesitated. The monolith was massive now, stretching into the sky, its edges impossible to define. The pulsing in the air was louder.
Michael walked ahead without him. "You can turn back if you want," he called over his shoulder. "But I'm going."
Gabriel's hands clenched into fists.
Michael always did this. Always pushed forward without a second thought, without fear. But Gabriel wasn't like that. He had always been the careful one, the one who thought things through.
He took a step forward.
Then another.
The humming grew stronger. The world around them seemed to dim, the sky above darkening, as if the monolith itself was pulling the light away.
Then, they reached it.
They stood at its base, looking up. The surface was impossibly black, absorbing all light. The crimson veins within it pulsed in slow, rhythmic beats. It was warm.
Gabriel's breath caught in his throat.
Michael reached out.
Gabriel grabbed his wrist. "Don't."
Michael didn't pull away. He looked at Gabriel, annoyed.
"Why not?" he asked.
Gabriel's grip tightened. He didn't have an answer. He just knew - deep down in a place beyond logic, beyond reason - that if Michael touched it, something would happen.
Something irreversible.
But then, a voice.
Not from behind them. Not from the wind. Not from anywhere in the world they knew.
It came from inside the monolith.
A whisper.
Come inside.