She had not eaten anything substantial for nearly two sunsets. Aside from the occasional insects and flora snacks, her body is running on its already depleted muscle and fat reserves.
In an all too recent life, she would not have had to forage for her own food. She was part of a small but functioning community. The woman was a cook. She used to use her skills to transform whatever the actual foragers returned with from the outside world into hearty meals. She could whip up momentary morsels of comfort in an otherwise harsh world. Fuel for survival.
This was how she liked to thing about her contribution to her little community. It was not a glamorous life compared to that of her pre-Crunch ancestors. However, it was her life and it worked for her. It gave her purpose and comfort.
That life was no gone. Extinguished when a pack of Searon arrived at the gates of her community looking to feed.
Her community was gone now. This woman was all that was left. A survivor for the grace of hiding within a hole whilst her people fought, screamed and ultimately died.
Now the woman wandered amongst and Earth that had long ago selected her kind for extinction. Without community, she was a dead woman walking. Easy prey for the myriad of predators that now ruled the Earth. A dead woman walking because she had no concept of a future.
The woman kept going. Kept surviving. The legacy of her species instinctual drives forbidding her from taking her own life.
Eventually, she came upon the ruins of group of pre-crunch era buildings on the other side of a road. The woman did not know why she went forth towards the ruins.
It was not unknown for some bands of humans to take shelter in the ruins of their ancestors past glories.
The woman crossed the road, stepping over ancient tarmac that was fighting a losing battle against encroaching plant life that split it apart to grow through.
As she got closer, the woman noticed a large sign in front of a wall of vines that encircled the ruins. Most of the lettering on the sign had faded with time. However, she could still make out the ghost of a word written in big letters.
SCHOOL
It dawned on her that she had stumbled upon the ruins of a pre-crunch area place of education. Of course, her old community also had a version of schooling for its younger members. However, this was essentially a series of classes and training covering survival skills, community rules and manual vocations. It was the system that taught her how to cook food for both taste and hygiene.
The woman had heard stories of pre-crunch humans maintaining large complexes for educating the young. Each day, parents would deliver their children from far away to these complexes. The children would then receive systemetised, industrial scale education from strangers.
She had listened in awe as she learned that most children in those days were not required to learn survival skills or civics. Most of them were, in fact, educated in more intangible and intellectual concepts.
Mathematics, literature, science. Realms of knowledge that had been lost to the majority of surviving humans but for the most basic practical applications.
A loud squawking sound ripped through the woman’s thoughts. With a startle, she realised that there was a murder of crows perched along the wall of vines slightly behind the sign.
“Oh no…” the woman choked. It was a lifetime of learned fear towards the worlds fauna that drove her instinctual reaction. Especially for animals that had snuck up on you without your knowledge.
The woman jerked backwards, momentarily preparing to sprint for safety. However, she did not dash away as her body screamed at her to do.
The crows had not perched themselves in an attacking position. In fact, the dozen or so crows looked serene and peaceful. They seemed to consider the woman with mild curiosity rather than menace.
In turn, the woman considered the crows. She remembered being told that the crows, as a species, could trace their history back to pre-crunch era Earth. They were one of the species that had successfully adapted to Earths new environment following the Great Crunch.
Of course, modern crows were far larger than their ancestors. It is likely that they had developed greater intelligence. Though it is believed that their ancestors themselves already highly intelligent to begin with.
There were also predator Bird species, such as the Ravenex and the Aubikon, that are believed to be evolutionary offshoot and cousins of the crows.
However, the crows persevered. Despite – or, perhaps, due to – the new environment of Earth, they continue to thrive.
They were one of natures warrior monks.
For a moment, the woman considered how tasty crow meat would be. Her rumbling stomach convinced her that it would taste heavenly.
As if the crows had read her mind, they flew away in unison. A thick back wave rising into the sky. Their caws saturated the air.
She was overcome by disappointment. Though she knew that she was unlikely to ever catch any of them. She was never a hunter in her former community.
The disappointment in her skill set had distracted her from the real reason for the murder’s sudden flight.
Fro beyond one of the vine covered concrete blocks, the behemoth had arisen.
The woman was frozen in fear as the sun was partially blocked form her face by the figure that stood up. The upper half of its body easily cleared the walls around the complex.
The creature, in many ways, looked not all too dissimilar to the woman. It stood on two limbs and possessed an arm on either side of its torso. A head sat atop its body on a muscular neck. It was almost humanoid.
This similarity had a simple explanation. This creature and its species had evolved from the very human race that the woman belonged to.
This was Homo Gargantua.
Despite the shared heritage, Homo Gargantua had some very striking differences from their Sapien cousins.
This creature was coated in thick, greyish black fur. Its torso and limbs looked like tree trunks. Its mouth jutted outward from its face, bearing rows of sharp jagged teeth.
The beast, standing like a leviathan, scanned the environment with its red eyes.
The woman was frozen in place. Partly due to paralysing fear. Partly due to the hope that such a large and powerful creature would not notice her a pitiful human such as her.She could feel beads of sweat trickle down her face. She tried her best to suppress her trembling. Her body felt like virgin land prior to an earthquake.
She stood still, steeling her nerves against any movement or sound that could alert the Gargantua to her presence.
She was aware of an ancient abandoned vehicle covered in vines to her left. The thought entered her mind that she could seek refuge behind that relic rather standing exposed out in the open as she was now.
The creatures red eyes scanned over the area she stood and stopped. For what felt like an eternity, the woman stood there as the Gargantua seemingly stared in her direction without any hint of recognition.
The Gargantua sniffed at the air, flaring its nostrils. It scratched the side of its muscular neck. It seemed to b blissfully unaware of the woman’s existence.
Despite her white knuckle terror, a few questions encroached on the woman’s mind. Was this abandoned school where the Gargantua slept? It must have awoken just as the woman stumbled upon the complex. A grand cruel joke played by Earth on one of its discarded species.
She also pondered whether there were other Gargantuas dwelling somewhere within the ruins. She knew that Gargantuas could not maintain large communities the way Sapiens could. However, they still often lived in small tribes of up to fifty.
She shifted her vision back and forth between the nonchalant beast to the decrepit car. Her heart pumped so hard that she was sure its reverberations would be felt by the gigntic creature.
The Gargantua opened its mouth wide and yawned as it continued surveying its surroundings. It did not immediately detect the woman due to the mental fog left over from its recent sleep.
However, the woman did not know that. She had no idea how much of her form had registered with the goliath.
She began inching sideways with painstaking caution in the direction of the car. Ash she shifted, she kept her eyes glued on the Gargantua.
As she moved, different angles of the Gargantua revealed themselves to her. The most notable element of the Gargantua’s physique was a series of spikes running along the length of its back.
She was now just a few feet away from the visual shield of the car. Her salvation was tantalisingly close.
In another cruel joke of nature, one of the crows from the departed murder had circled back to her position. It dived straight at her like a Kamakazi fighter from a bygone era.
She only saw the clutch of black feathers as they collided with her face. She let out a loud yelped and fell back, landing on her arse.
Its job done, the crow dutifully flew away. The woman stared at the black dot getting smaller in the sky, her face scrunched with fury. She momentarily forgot bout the Gargantua, only returning her vision in its direction after a few seconds.
The beast was now looking right at her. Where, previously, it had a casual and groggy demeanour, its body was now transformed with every impressive muscle tensed and its face emitting laser like focus.
Suddenly, the Gargantua smiled. Its face stretched back to expose its endless rows of razor like teeth. It was undoubtedly registering the form of the tiny human within its realm. Its grotesque grin was laced with almost playfully violent anticipation.
The woman’s mental levies broke. Screams lurched from her mouth like a tsunami.
In turn, the beast raised its humongous arms and roared in excitement.
The woman ran. She dashed across the road, now fully in mental and physical prey mode. Her past and future no longer existed. Her entire life now hinged on making it across the road and escaping.
She could hear and feel the vibrations of the Gargantua sprinting after her. Although it would have to get around the walls of the school, she knew that the Gargantua’s long stride would help it to make up ground.
There was a small forest on the other side of the road. She jut had to keep running until got under the protection of the trees.
The shaking of the Earth grew more and more thunderous.
She was now just a few step from the trees. Her heart worked to its absolute limit and her body burned like a raging fire.
The Gargantua roared. Then the wait of the world crashed down on top of the woman, pinning her down so that she lay spread eagle and flat on her belly. She tried to break free but it felt as if her entire body had been paralysed. The sheer intentional strength and weight brought down to bear on her were a force of nature.
She tried to flail her arms but the Gargantua clamped them in place with its massive hands. Its knees dug into her lower back. SHe felt as if her body might buckle and snap in to.
The Gargantua roared. Its animalistic sounds were only made more terrifying by the faint hints of human sound encoded within. She could feel the hot air of its breath blasting at the back of her neck like a furnace. Drops of saliva fell onto her skin and felt like acid eating away at her.
“Noooooo!” she screamed.
The Gargantua roared again. This time, it was a roar of triumph. The Gargantua was highly amused at the Sapien’s pathetic efforts.
The woman screamed again as the Gargantua dug its fingers into her back and began ripping out her spine the way ancient humans used to rip bones out of chicken wings. The screams stopped when the Gargantua dug its teeth into the back of the woman’s neck, ripping off her head.
Having seen her community being taken by Earth, the woman was now reclaimed by the Earth. Another remnant of the human tumour cleansed form the surface of the Earth.