Kropocalypse

Kro Aronson

Ms. Tobin

English 10

February 9, 2024

Kropocalypse

Chapter 1: The Aftermath of World War IV

After World War IV, we all thought the world would end. First, Russia launched nukes, then the US did, then Japan, Mexico, and finally Iraq—every capital from every global superpower sent out a bomb and then got hit themselves. The parts of the world that hadn't been blown up by one another started gunning each other down. It is a miracle anyone survived, but life finds a way. 

All that remains of the world is underground bunkers. As much as we'd like to live in what's left of the surface, the radioactivity from the nukes has caused the air to be unbreathable. The people who breathe it in go insane and eventually morph into monsters that, until recently, only lived in fiction. People have morphed into beasts that look like Bigfoot, Slender Man, and Mothman. Animals have combined to form creatures that look like Pokemon if it took a dark turn.

The bunkers keep us safe from the radioactive air and dangerous beasts, but on occasion, crews must leave the bunkers to scour for materials and substances to bring back to base. Some days, we look for water to purify to the point of drinkability. On other days, we retrieve scrap metal to turn it into base equipment. Most days, we look for anything edible. We have essential crop farms in the base, like carrots, potatoes, and wheat, but we have no access to meat. That's where I come in.

Chapter 2: The Butcher's Duty

I am a butcher, which means it's my job to protect the rest of the crew from any morphing trying to attack us. I've only been a butcher for four months, so I only have twenty-three patches. Most of the beasts I killed were smaller like pigedogs or catarats, so I had a lot of small green patches, but five of them were enormous. Ones that you could tell were once human. Those were the hardest to kill. It felt immoral to kill something that came from the same roots as me, but I knew it had to be done. These patches look like cartoon skulls to remind us that there is humanity in those we kill. 

Most of the time, when I kill these beasts, I have to bring their meat back to base to be turned into something edible, but recently, we've had a shortage of food. We've killed off most of the smaller beasts in our area, and we try to refrain from eating anything that may have once been human, so now we have to travel to farther regions to get food. Today, we would have to travel to Gaman. 

Chapter 3: Mission to Gaman

Gaman is three sectors away, and its terrain is highly treacherous. We have Krostang model 5 cars, big enough to fit 15 people, that hover above the ground, so getting there will be easy, but being there will be extremely difficult. Gaman is densely wooded and infested with beasts that mutate from wolves and bears. It was full of lush berries and fruit but also one of the most dangerous sectors. Worse, we won't be able to rely on Krostang model 5s for anything but reaching the sector. There are too many trees to drive through the region safely.

My crew and I entered the exit room, prepared with our equipment and ready to face what lies ahead. My equipment consisted of many weapons: Daggers, pistols, a shotgun, and a big ammo bag. People with different roles had different things. Navigators brought compasses and tracking tablets. Field doctors brought first aid equipment. Auditors had scanners to check the quality of whatever we found. Toters and crew leaders didn't have any equipment because toters only carried what we saw, and crew leaders were too busy ensuring we were doing our jobs in the first place. Besides this equipment, we wore high-grade hazmat suits to protect us from the toxic smoke on the surface.

Our crew leader walked up to the front of the room and stood in front of the exit door. "Today, we must acquire 30 lbs of meat, at least three jugs of water, and 20 lbs of scrap metal. If we don't meet this quota, the base supreme has threatened to clean out our rooms and lock us inside, with no beds, desks, or entertainment. I suggest we not let that happen." 

Once done with this briefing, she turned and walked to the button that would open the door to the outside. A loud beeping started to alert the rest of the base that today's crew was leaving. The large, heavy door creaked as it slowly opened. It was annoying how long it took to open the doors, but it added an air of suspense. 

Our crew of about twenty filed out of the room and into the dangerous outside world. We all got into a large, bus-like Krostang model 5 and buckled our seat belts. It was scorching hot outside today, so the Krostang model 5's AC was cranked way up. I was grateful for this last cool moment before we spent all day in the hot Gananian sun.

After about half an hour of driving, we finally reached our destination. It was times like these when I was grateful for the modern innovation of the Krostang Model 5. In any old 21st-century car, it might have taken upward of three hours, but we are no longer in the 21st century. We're lucky we have our incredible 23rd-century technology.

Finally, the crew filed out, row by row, and touched down on the mossy earth that covered this region. It would've been beautiful without fallen power lines and ruined houses littering this landscape. The houses were painted in desaturated colors, which must've once been a beautiful rainbow display. The doors were off the doorframes and had been strewn about, broken windows were more common than unbroken, and many of their rooves had caved in.

The crew walked over to the nearest fallen line, and the auditors began to see what parts the toters could return to the Krostang model 5. As they did that, the five butchers surrounded them and stood guard against any monster that may want to attack us. The woods seemed oddly peaceful. I couldn't hear monsters other than the faraway chirping of robots, robins with leathery wings and fangs. 

Once the crew collected scraps from the fallen power line, we started walking again. We walked, occasionally stopping to pick some edible berries or fill a jug with water. It was uneventful until we came across a house that was, surprisingly, still standing. It had been months since we last found a building that wasn't in ruin. 

Our crew leader instructed the butchers to go in first if any monsters had taken this place as their home. Cautiously, I opened the door. Inside was nothing but darkness. I asked one of the navigators for a flashlight so I could get a better understanding of our surroundings. There was little in the house but the occasional leaf on the floor and a single coffee table in the middle of the room. To the left was a faded blue door, and to the right, a slightly ajar, worn-down red door with scratch marks running down it. The scratch mark sent an uneasy feeling down my spine. They were large. Something dangerous had to have made them. As we walked further in, I prayed whatever had been here before was gone.

Chapter 4: The Discovery

The team split into two groups. Half of us would check inside, and the other half would look outside. My group was stuck inside. I veered to the right, deciding to investigate the scratch marks on the red door. Looking closer at them, I could tell they were the scratch marks of a vampeople. Vampeople were humans that had grown sharp claws, wrinkled faces, and sharp teeth. They were essentially real-life vampires, hence their name. These creatures had an insatiable lust for blood and the sonic hearing of a bat. It would've heard us back at that first fallen wire if one was here. 

I was terrified that the vamperson could be near, but more than I was scared, I was curious. Despite better judgment, I slowly opened the red door and looked inside the room. As I looked inside, I saw a small crib in the back left corner of the room and some drawers on the right. The walls had been painted like fields of cows, and the carpet seemed to have once been a bright pink. This room used to be a nursery. I went further inside. I walked towards the drawers, wondering what might be inside them. I noticed the ground was covered in pine needles from the surrounding trees. It looked like the vamperson that was here may have made a nest. 

I opened the first drawer and saw some bottles of likely expired baby formula. These bottles might be helpful for something, so I grabbed them and stuffed them in the backpack that held my smaller weapons. In the second drawer were some lightly used teething toys, and in the third, a small cat night light rested. I bent down and picked it up. I examined it and smiled. Whatever kid had lived in this house must've lived a good life.

Next, I walked over to the crib. I knew the metal poles used to make it would help us reach our scrap quota. I peered inside and noticed a small lump resting under the baby-sized blankets that lay inside. I gently lifted the blankets to see what was underneath. I saw a tiny baby, no larger than an average house cat, and I placed my finger on the baby's neck to see if it was still alive. I felt the gentle pulse of the baby's heartbeat. I thought there was a way to save the child and bring it back to base, so I picked it up. When I did this, I noticed the face it had. It was wrinkly and had large fangs. This baby wasn't normal. It was a vamperson. I was suddenly filled with dread. If this baby was here, mama must be nearby. 

I gently placed the vamperson child back in the crib, praying its mother didn't know we were here. As I turned to leave and warn my crewmates, I heard a crash behind me. I turned around to see a fully grown vamperson that had just burst through the window. Broken glass covered the floor, and the monster in front of me let out a low growl. 

I slowly reached for the dagger in my belt, trying not to startle the beast. The monster launched at me as soon as my hand reached the blade. I let out a high-pitched scream and stabbed wildly as the beast snapped at my hazmat suit's helmet. Luckily, the glass used for our helmets is bulletproof, making it extremely difficult for any monster to puncture it. 

I heard the door behind me slam open as one of my crewmates entered. They gasped loudly and grabbed a long dagger out of their boot. They walked up behind the monster and stabbed it in the back of the neck. The beast howled in pain and reared back onto its hind legs. I took the dagger that was still in my hand and stabbed it in the chest. The monster screeched again and fell back into the crib.

"Are you ok?" my crewmate, Haunter, asked. I nodded slightly as I fell to the floor, exhausted. 

"I'm fine, but I don't know what to do about the baby one."

"We kill it, obviously," they said, with some annoyance in their voice.

"I know we should," I said. "But it feels wrong killing a child." 

Haunter sighed and nodded. They knew how I felt about killing anything vaguely cute.

"I tell you what," they said. "Why don't we bring it back to the Shaya and see what she thinks." Shaya is our crew leader. I knew she would want to kill it as well, but then, at least, it wouldn't be by my hands. I picked up the child and started to head back into the main room. As we walked to the entryway, Haunter stopped and grabbed my shoulder. 

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You've got a huge tear in the arm of your hazmat suit." My eyes widened. How had I not noticed? This meant that some of the smoke from the outside was now in my system. 

"I'll go get Astra." Haunter left and went to get one of the doctors. 

Chapter 5: Struggles and Secrets

One of the doctors' responsibilities is to fix any tears in hazmat suits. I sat on the coffee table in the center of the main room, waiting for Astra to help with my situation. I tried to limit how much air I breathed in but could only hold my breath for so long. The air felt as thick as molasses. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever felt. 

Finally, Haunter returned to the house with Astra and Shaya at their side. Aster walked over to me and began to stitch my suit back up. Shaya looked at the baby vamperson I held in my arms. She took it from me and examined it like an artifact. 

"They can have children now," she said, most likely to herself. As far as we were aware, anything affected by the smoke would be too violent to give birth. They would be too busy killing each other to reproduce. I quickly realized this baby was a horrible sign. Shaya slit the baby's throat. This line of vampeople would end here. I was grateful that the baby was asleep during all this. How it hadn't woken up was beyond me. 

Finally, Astra finished stitching up my hazmat suit. I thanked her and went back into the nursery to grab the body of the vamperson we'd killed. We would need to bring it back to use its meat. I threw it across my shoulders and brought it outside for the toters to deal with. Once I exited the house, I saw everyone packing up. Everyone had been busy taking pipes and panels from the house to bring back to base. Based on what we saw, it seemed like we'd already made scrap quota, and with the vamperson I'd slain, we probably had enough meat to meet quota as well. All we had to do now was get water. Luckily, we knew where a nearby lake was. 

We walked for a few minutes and reached the lake. We filled our jugs with water and headed back to the Krostang Model 5. We packed everything up and began to drive back to base. As we drove, anxiety crept into my mind like a bedbug crawling into an ear. I had ingested some of the smoke from the outside. I knew there was a chance I would become one of the monsters that I spent my life killing. 

Finally, we reached the base, and I walked to the cafeteria. I grabbed enough food for a few days and walked to my room. I unpacked my gear and placed the food I'd grabbed in my fridge. I locked my door and sat on my bed. I figured if I were stuck in my room, the side effects of the smoke wouldn't make me do anything I didn't want to do. 

It only took a few hours for me to start feeling it. Suddenly, I felt a sort of rage. I was never an angry person, but all of a sudden, I wanted to punch the wall. I paced around the room, hoping that it would help me let off some steam. The more I paced, the more stressed I became, and the more stressed I became, the more angry I got. After noticing this, I decided to have something to eat. I hoped that might calm me down. I snacked on some jerky. I thought of the many creatures of this world and was curious about which one had turned into this meat stick. I shook my head. I typically avoided thinking about these things but had trouble controlling my thoughts. 

Once I finished my snack, I lay in bed and tried to fall asleep. Maybe today's stress had just made me feel funny. Perhaps I'd wake up and be ok. It took me several hours to fall asleep. My mind was racing. Finally, my mind drifted away, and I fell asleep.

Chapter 6: The Descent

I dreamt of the fight I'd had with the vamperson, but I wasn't myself. I was the vamperson. I saw myself screaming and flailing, and I could think of nothing but my insatiable hunger. I heard a voice in my head saying, "FEED." At this point, the dream deviated from the actual events. Instead of being stabbed by Haunter, I bit down on this other me's neck. My teeth seeped into the flesh of the dream me's throat.

In the front of my mind, I knew what I was doing was against my morals—against anything I would ever do normally—but in the back of my mind, I liked it. The human blood was thick and warm in my throat, like creamy hot chocolate. It was sweet and delicious with a metallic tang, and I wanted more. I needed more. 

Then I woke up. I lay, shaken by my dream, but part of me wanted to return. Part of me liked how it felt to kill a human and feed on its blood. I shook the thought away and got up from bed. I yawned and realized that my mouth tasted funny. I figured it was because I hadn't brushed my teeth, so I walked into my bathroom. When I looked in the mirror, I screamed. My face was no longer my own. I had large fangs and a wrinkly face. I had become what I had slain only yesterday. I sauntered backward and slid down the wall. I wrapped my arms around my knees and shook. My breaths became quick and hoarse, and tears slid down my cheeks. 

I shook my head violently, trying to get this voice out. I grabbed my head and screamed again when I realized my hands had become claws and my arms were turning from human skin to leathery bat skin. 

"Are you ok?" said a voice from outside my room's door.

"I'm fine! I just fell!" I replied, my voice shaking.

"If you say so." said the voice from outside. I left the bathroom and grabbed some of the food from my fridge. I thought eating food would stop the hunger and the voice berating me. 

 In the back of my mind, something felt off. Something felt wrong. This jerky wasn't what I needed. I looked up from my food and looked at the door. In a flash, my vision went red. I wasn't just hungry; I was thirsty. I needed something this trashy cafeteria food could never give me. I wanted to feel how I'd felt in that dream.

Chapter 7: The Beast Within

I ran towards my door and knocked it off its hinges. I looked around and saw a man frozen in fear. I sprinted towards him and tackled him to the ground. I smashed his walkie-talkie before he could warn anyone of the danger. He began to scream, but before much sound came out, I covered his mouth with my clawed hand. 

I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Join me." I bit down on his neck, and suddenly, he started to grow claws, and his face became just like mine. He looked into my eyes, and I nodded. He knew what he needed to do. Soon, his instincts would kick in like they had for me.

We sprinted around the halls and began to feed on everyone we saw. We made those who were worthy like us, and the rest we ate. The thick, warm blood felt incredible and tasted as unbelievable as it had in that dream. The base was in havoc. People were running and screaming in panic. 

A voice came down from the intercom: "CAUTION! CAUTION! BEASTS HAVE INVADED THE BASE. LOCK YOURSELVES IN YOUR ROOMS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!"

Of course, these protocols didn't work.