I awoke the next day filled with purpose.

I knew I'd always been a person who thrived on challenge and perpetual goal-setting, but not to this extent. If I didn't have an immediate goal to work towards, I felt that I may have given up entirely. What if we'd never encountered the demon, and the only "strange" thing was the disappearance of most complex life on the planet?

This was another thing that had become abundantly clear in the last few days. Not only had most humans vanished, most other species did so as well. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, most wild animals, everything was gone. The only thing remaining seemed to be insects, as far as I could tell. microscopic life forms were also spared, judging from the ongoing spoilage of meat in the powerless fridges around town (which was really going to become a problem).

Because it was going to become an issue very soon, Raven and I spent the day combing over the town one more time to round up any meat and dairy that had been present in the various kitchens around town. If it stayed, the stench would become unbearable within a week. To do this, I commandeered a large trailer, loaded up all the admittedly already a little disgusting cargo into it, and drove into the wilderness outside of town.

I had to dodge the far edge of another crack in the earth to do it, but luckily, there was no ditch next to the street, or I'd have had to drive the long way round, which was really not all that great of an idea, since I was sure that the car would get stuck or the trailer would unhook, its cargo would spoil and the wind would carry the stench into our little town.

When I arrived at the edge of a field about fifteen kilometers out, I quickly unhooked the trailer and left it there. I'd seen many more in town, possibly because almost everyone had their own boat at one point, so what amounted to throwing one away wasn’t that big of a deal.

All in all, Operation "Veganosmia" took almost the entire day, and I went to bed a little more reassured that I'd not be killed by mold or salmonella resulting from the literal ton of slowly spoiling meat present in the town the day prior. I’m also getting pretty good at coming up with names for things at this point, in fact, considering the apparent disappearance of every other human, I probably am the best.

The second day was spent similarly, but this time, we rounded up actually edible food for transport to Fort Lakeview. Canned goods, potatoes, apples, mineral water, and more. All food that could comfortably be stored in the unrefrigerated, but still chilly, basement of the house we'd claimed as our base.

Raven was gone for most of the day, and if I understood her pictographs correctly, she was holding watch for any shadow demons approaching town. Before I was attacked back in the little town a few days ago, Raven saw more than a few lurking in the darkness of the town, so we knew that there was more than one. Admittedly, I was still on edge about the unexplained shadow monsters, expecting one to show up any moment; for now though, it seems they either weren’t interested in me, couldn’t find me or were busy doing whatever it is that shadow monsters do when they aren’t trying to steal my body heat or something.

This day ended much like the last had, albeit with an even more upbeat note, as we now had food reserves that would comfortably last the two of us for many months. When I asked her why she wanted human food instead of simply eating whatever it was ravens eat, she shook her head in disgust and scratched a few unrecognizable symbols into the floor.

I tried to find a reference point or common lines or dots or something, but after a few minutes of trying to decipher the jagged marks, I‘d made absolutely no progress, so I went to bed.

***

And so, we repeated this almost every day for the next week. Raven would fly out on patrol, watching for any approaching monsters or encroaching cracks in the earth, while I systematically looted the town of anything that could be of worth in the attack I was sure was coming.

I couldn't say why I was so sure, it was just a feeling, similar to the dread I'd felt the night of my attack, or the growing apprehension when peering into the crack in the earth, but I just knew.

It was during one such looting spree I had another one of those “Feelings”. I was in the coast guard building overlooking the small bay adjacent to our little town, rummaging through the storehouse for anything useful, when I experienced something rather strange.

I wasn't conscious of this feeling, at least not at first. If I had to describe it, I'd do so using visual metaphors, but it was so much more than that. It was as if something in the room was just ...not really important. my eyes kept being drawn away from it, to surrounding crates, the ceiling, a crack in the floor or a motivational poster on the wall.

It was only after I'd rummaged through the entire warehouse, and was looking back at it while leaving, that I felt like I'd missed something. I did another pass, mentally checking off every area I'd looked in, and once more felt like there was something there that was very important, but also ...not. Somehow.

Making true to my vow to trust strange feelings, I investigated again. I consciously directed my eyes onto everything in the room, taking in every detail, every little crease in the fabrics, every crate, every little wooden box ...I did an exhaustive search of the entire building - and found nothing surprising. Everything was exactly as it should be.

Still, I couldn't shake it. I took out my notebook and pen, and began to record everything on paper, with a checkmark to make sure I'd been through it. It was then, at the end of my list, and about two hours after I'd started looting the place, that I finally found what I was looking for.

In the furthest corner from the door, draped in a layer of blanket, stood something. I had a hard time focusing my eyes on it, it was as if they were constantly sliding off or blurring out the object when I lost razor-sharp focus on it for just a moment. Still, it seemed that knowing of its existence weakened the effect to a great deal, as I could still find it when I looked down at my notebook for a moment to confirm it was really the last thing I'd checked.

When I got to the ‘something’ in the corner, I saw that it was somewhat rectangular, and wrapped in a large canvas sheet. My eyes must have been tricking me, because wherever I focused on the sheet, tiny little shapes started to appear, which made my eyes slide off the section they’d appeared on with a stronger version of the canvas’ apparent cloaking ability.

After studying the canvas itself for a moment, I swiftly pulled it off, which proved to be an almost fatal mistake, as it was very dusty. When I pulled it off that rapidly, it billowed forth a cloud of dust that promised immediate coughing fits to anyone who dared enter. When the dust settled, I saw what the mysterious object was, which turned out to be a wooden shipping crate. I quickly stowed the mysterious canvas in the duffle bag I'd hung over my shoulder to carry any loot found while going through the warehouse, which was surprisingly little, and took a closer look at my uncovered prize.

The crate itself looked old. Definitely older than anything else I saw in the warehouse around me. It was made of hardwood, without any obvious markings, but some wood rot on the surface. The dust itself was an obvious indicator of its age, but apart from that, it gave off a strange vibe, like there was more to it than meets the eye.

When i tried to pry it open, I found that I couldn't. Seeing no obvious crowbar around, I instead lifted it up, which turned out to be surprisingly easy, and carried it out to the car instead. I'd examine it that evening while safely inside Fort Lakeview.

***

When evening came, I swiftly drove back to the Fort, passing by rows and rows of empty houses lit by the setting sun, and carried the crate inside, along with the three duffle bags filled with stuff from that day's looting spree.

Raven had apparently already come back for the night, as I found her dozing on one of the sofas of the living room, which we'd designated the "Control Center" of Fort Lakeview. I set down the crate loudly, which startled and woke her, and she looked at it suspiciously.

"I found this in one of the warehouses and couldn't get it open. Hang on, I'll go get a crowbar."

When I returned from the garage with one of our crowbars, Raven was stabbing her beak angrily at the box, which did not even show a single scratch mark from the concentrated assault on its wood.

Motioning for her to stand back, I instead grasped the crowbar, struggled a bit to find purchase, but eventually lodged it in one of the seams for what I assumed was its cover plate, and pulled.

At first, the crowbar didn't seem to budge at all, and the box itself started to flip over. Letting out a mildly annoyed sigh, I put a foot on it and tried again.

After a few seconds of struggle, I finally felt something give, heard an electric crackle coming from within the box, and the whole thing began to vibrate. I quickly jumped off and hid behind the nearby armchair, and felt my hair stand on end as the box crackled with static electricity. Then, everything seemed to culminate, a crack like thunder echoed through the house, and the entire box crumpled into faintly glowing ash.

I reached out with my crowbar, the armchair still a barrier between me and the potentially explosive pile of remains, and poked it. When the metal end of the crowbar touched the ash, I winced as I felt a spark of electricity jump into me, and it stopped glowing.

Raven joined me in sifting through the ashes after a few more minutes hiding behind the chair, but apart from a scrap of ancient paper, which was inscribed with a lot of symbols, we found nothing.

Feeling mildly disappointed at the lack of awesome loot, I flopped back into one of the armchairs, and let out a sigh that encapsulated what I thought about going through all this effort for nothing.

And then, my phone rang.

***

My phone was ringing, inside my pocket. I'd forgotten to turn it off earlier after checking the photo of the map, and now it was ringing.

This was, to say the least, very strange.

I felt a sense of dread coming on, and my anxiety spiked.

Apprehensively, I slowly slid the tiny device out of my pocket, holding it in two fingers, as if it'd suddenly animate and bite me.

The caller was listed as "unknown". Great.

I spent a full minute trying to willfully ignore it, trying to make it go away, but to no avail. it just kept ringing.

Eventually, I raised it up to my ear, and after a second or two of hope that it'd just stop, pressed the tiny green analog phone shown on the screen.

"Hello? Who's there?" I asked.

There was nothing at the other end. No deafening screams, or demonic chanting, or Rick Astley singing the song of his people, there was just nothing.

"Who is this? How did you get this number?" I tried again.

My query was once again met with silence. No, wait, not silence. I strained my ear and pressed it to the speaker, and finally heard something. Among the silence, there was a noise, so silent I almost mistook it for digital static.

"I'm not going to ask again, answer me, or I'm hanging up." I grew frustrated.

That seemed to get a response. The noise was slowly, but surely, picking up in volume, and I managed to discern what it was.

Whispering.

Whispering, which was so silent, I could almost mistake it for nothing. Just like...

At the realisation, I reflexively threw away the phone, which landed noisily somewhere in the adjacent kitchen. Not that I noticed, as I was currently on the floor, hands pressed to my ears, trying to stop the whispering, which had not ceased when I tossed the phone.

The voice had multiplied a great deal, and had also become louder. It was impossible to discern any of the words. Some of them had started to shout instead of whisper, one was chanting something vaguely demonic, and I was quickly getting overwhelmed. Thrashing on the floor, I was trying in vain to silence the voices.

After what felt like hours, the whispering voices fell silent one by one. When only one was left, I caught a fragment of the last sentence before it too ceased to speak.

"...emento, sine te sum nihil."

When it was over, I found myself lying on the ground, hands on my ears, staring at the ceiling. Then, I saw a beaked and feathered head and felt it poking at my nose. I winced, but was also ripped from my stupor.

I sat up, but quickly fell back down due to my head feeling like I'd drunk myself into a coma the night prior. I never had a great alcohol tolerance, give me two beers and I'm gone, but this felt like I'd indulged on some high-caliber moonshine.

After a while, I managed to drag myself up to the armchair once more, and waiting out the resulting dizziness, looked to where Raven was sitting on the floor. Then, my eyes were drawn to my phone, which was sitting next to her.

I frowned, and made a motion to grab it, when Raven did so for me and gently lifted it into my outstretched hand. I thankfully accepted, turned it over, and cursed.

Running diagonally down the screen, one corner to the other, was a massive crack. I tapped the "on" button, but was only met with silence. My phone was dead.

Fuck.