The world ended three weeks ago today. I, Ben Hanely, a scientist working in environmental study, have waited this long to begin my official records of the event in hopes that humankind could somehow turn this around. I have now ruled out this possibility and thus begin my log. This will be saved as a computer file on the server as well as a hard copy, which will be filed away in a fireproof safe. Not knowing who or what might read this in the future, I have tried to keep it simple.

Three weeks ago, Dan Hall and myself, the two with the least seniority, had to man the shop over the holiday weekend. By shop, I mean a small lab about a mile underground in an isolated area in the hills of Montana. Our daily grind was to monitor and record the effects on the depletion of the rain forests and their surroundings. However, this weekend had something extra involved. A comet would pass near Jupiter's orbit, and we were to use our satellite feed to record images of its passing, more for hobby interest than for scientific reasons. This, and the fact that Dan and I were being paid double time, seemed to make working the holiday worthwhile for us both.

The day began like all others. We did our daily paper work in silence as usual, then sat together for lunch. After lunch, we prepared the satellite for the afternoon's event by redirecting its feed from the forest into space. This took some time doing. Neither Dan nor I had ever steered the powerful lenses in any direction except downward towards earth. This was the first time management had actually allowed us, or anyone for that matter, to use this multi-million-dollar instrument for personal use. After finally getting a fix on Jupiter, we adjusted the clarity and sharpness and waited for the event to unfold.

It happened just like clockwork. We watched as the comet steadily approached Jupiter. That's when it happened. For some unknown reason, even to my knowledge today, it veered off course. We watched in awe as the comet made its way towards earth. We both quickly began calculating its course the best we could with the limited instruments at our disposal. According to our figures, it would miss the earth, but pass extremely close.

Turning on every monitor now, we began to check the several stations broadcasting the world news. Of course, they had all been interrupted with this shocking news. NASA dominated the stations for the most part. They had been monitoring the comet's progress as well. Their equipment was far superior to ours, and we were actually able to see images much closer than before.

Having little to no time to react, NASA had no answers for the problem. They hadn't prepared for this; they had planned only to do what we had done: watch the comet's passing and record the event. Now, they were issuing safety alerts worldwide. They had estimated catastrophic events on the earth's land surfaces as well as below the ocean. They began instructing people to seek shelter… but it was too late. People had no time to react.

This comet was traveling at lightning speed. As it passed by earth, its tail, apparently less dense than its pulling mass, got caught up in the earth's gravitational field. This pulled a small section off the comet's tail and into earth's orbit. The comet continued to pass by, making its way back out into space. To NASA's amazement, there were little to no sizable climate or weather changes. They later reported that this was due to how easily the tail had torn apart. By doing this, there was little to no struggle between the gravitational pulls of either earth or the comet. However, this quickly became the least of earth's and our worries.

The tail hovered in the earth's outer atmosphere for a short time, gradually spreading itself around the globe's circumference. After it had all but engulfed the small rock known as earth, it began to rain debris over every inch of the earth's surface. What we considered to be mineral fragments showered the earth. The average size of each fragment was about the size of a grapefruit. They pummeled the ground with extreme force. They no sooner hit than they seemed to uncoil into what I now call "CRAWLERS" for lack of a better name.

Dan and I quickly checked the phones and found no signal. The crawlers, with the force of their downfall, must've felled utility lines in the area, disabling our land lines. Seeing how cell phones weren't permitted at work, Dan and I were suddenly unable to communicate with the outside world. We only had our one-way video feeds, which were all incoming. After realizing there was little to nothing that could be done to remedy this problem, we began again to take note of what was happening outside.

The average crawler was anywhere between one and two feet in length. They were about as big around as an average broom handle. They walked on hundreds of tiny legs, which straddled both sides of their multi-hinged bodies. If I had to guess, I would say that they would be very closely akin to the giant millipedes, which have lived in selected regions on this planet for hundreds if not thousands of years. However, there were differences between them.

For starters, the crawlers were highly aggressive in nature. They no sooner uncoiled then they began to attack. Being underground, Dan and I were limited with what we could observe. We also had no audio feed from the cameras on the satellite for which we were both thankful for, considering the circumstances which unfolded. Judging by the way the sunlight reflected off the crawlers, it appeared they had some kind of metallic armor plating running down their backs, hinged at the joints. Their heads were around the size of a baseball, and held a large pincher of sorts. We sat helplessly by while they began the extermination of all living flesh on the earth's surface.

The first casualties were those unfortunate enough to have been outside during the downpour. They were quickly attacked by the masses. Judging by what we witnessed, the crawlers must have some sort of lethal venom.

Seconds after a person is bitten they begin to bleed from all open orifices.

The blood appears to be combined with other bodily fluids as well. After consideration, Dan and I assume that the venom must break down flesh tissue at a rapid rate, turning it into a liquid and forcing it to leak from the body. This makes sense if you compare it to the venom of a spider, which does the same thing to their prey. We were able to come to this conclusion with what we witnessed next. The crawlers began to feed on this fluid. Some would go as far as to pry their bodies deep into the flesh while other would cling to the surface of the skin. No matter the choice, they were feeding.

In the moments that followed, we were torn. While neither of us wanted to watch the screens, neither were we able to turn away. Eight monitors showed the action. We were able to relocate the views to anywhere we wished on the earth's surface. Of course, we weren't able to see through obstacles such as trees, walls, or any form of solid structures, so we were unable to see the actions of those indoors. I'm afraid this has limited our studies somewhat, but it's beyond our control.

We quickly noticed that humans weren't the sole targets of the crawlers. As I mentioned before, all that was made of flesh became food. With one camera, we panned to the ocean where we began to see empty carcasses of whales and other forms of larger marine life starting to surface on top of the waves. However, the cities were the worst, at least in the beginning, anyway.

The streets became slaughterhouses. The crawlers made fast work of anyone or anything not quick enough to find shelter.

Surprisingly, there was almost no mess. The crawlers weren't only quick, they were efficient as well. They left very little waste in their wake. All that seemed to remain was an empty limp shell of skin, which held what bones the human or animal had possessed.

Judging by the facial expressions on the victims, even after taking into account the fear factor, the bites, combined with the toxic venom, appears to be very painful. Again, we have no audio feed on the satellite's cameras, so we were unable to hear any of what was unfolding on the surface.

Considering the crawler's numbers--they had to be well into the billions from our estimates--the outdoors were cleared very quickly, with the minor exception of some of the wildlife. They then wasted no time hunting down anyone who had taken shelter, starting with those trapped in automobiles and other forms of transportation.

I would like to note here that I have had to stop recording these files several times thus far, as I'm sure I'll have to do many more times in the near future. Being a human myself, it's a very trying thing to watch your species being removed from existence in such a manner. I know this might sound either unscientific or even unprofessional but I would just like to inform anyone or anything reading these records in the future that the human race had feelings and emotions. Not all of our feelings or emotions are a benefit to our kind but many were. For the most part, I would like to think that we cared for one another. If anything, we cared enough to not wish extinction on our own kind.

Getting back to the formal type records, as I mentioned, they then began attacking those that were trapped in all forms of transportation. This is when Dan and I first saw the true power of that large pincher that rested at the front of their heads. Like a can opener, it could slowly rip, tear, or gnaw through just about anything, given enough time.

We watched as they slowly ripped holes into the roofs of automobiles, exposing their prey inside. They tore through the sides of subway cars and busses. They eventually made their way through all forms of transit. Some commuters refused to stop their vehicles. This resulted either in accidents or, eventually, the vehicle running out of fuel. Either way, the crawlers had their feast. Some tried to run for it on foot, but most never made it more than a few steps before being bitten. Dan and I even watched as a family drove their car into a swimming pool in an effort to shake them. This, however, did no good. As we learned later, the crawlers appear not to need oxygen. They merely latched onto the sinking car, riding it to the bottom where they eventually ate their meal.

We had left several of the monitors tuned to broadcasting stations as an attempt to stay informed. The government had taken over the airwaves. Along with constant alerts and warnings to stay indoors, they flashed scenes of what was happening all over the globe.

By now, most of the visuals broadcast by the news were all the same--they showed emptiness. The world appeared a dead shell. If it weren't for the isolated fires that burned out of control in some areas, there would be little to no movement.

Occasionally, the news would pan in on the side of a large city office structure. In the windows, you could see hundreds if not thousands of faces plastered to the panes.

Their eyes all looked the same, empty and in shock. Even hunting manually with our cameras using our satellite feed, we found little to no movement outdoors.

Dan and I slept in shifts of two hours apiece. Neither of us wanted to miss anything that might prove important to our own survival. To this point, I have neglected to mention the fact that our resources in the research lab were limited at best. There was clean air with plenty of flowing water.

However, we lacked food and were steadily growing hungrier by the day.

At first, we did have the remains of our lunches and the remains of what other employees had left in the fridge. But even with rationing, little remained. This is when Dan made his proposal.

I had argued with him for over a day on the issue until finally hunger made me give in. He proposed going to the surface for a very short time to grab supplies. Then he promised he would quickly return without straying.

There was only one way in or out of the underground lab, an elevator that led to the surface directly above. It opened into a small cubical-type structure of a building. It was intentionally built this way to throw off suspicion of any passersby.

This building was set back about five hundred yards into a thick forest with only one path leading in or out. Where the woods ended was a small convenience store and its parking lot. Research employees would park their vehicles in this lot around back of the store and walk the short path unnoticed to work. We never scheduled more than four workers a shift, so thisworked out fine.

Dan proposed going to the surface, down the path, and into the store. They always kept plenty of food stocked. It seemed like a plausible plan that would take little effort or time with a large reward at the end.

I wish now that I would've looked a little more closely with the cameras before letting Dan go. He didn't make it more than a hundred yards down the path before they dropped from the trees onto him. It's like they were waiting for him. There had to be about twenty of them or more. They made quick work of his flesh, then crawled off back into the cover of the thick woods. At least I didn't have to worry about my hunger at this point. After witnessing what they had done to Dan, I lost my appetite for two days.

I wish I could say that Dan had fought the good fight. The truth of the matter is that Dan went down in mere seconds. He never even saw them coming. I had watched the whole thing on the monitors from the safety of the research lab far below. Dan was a good friend, and he'll be dearly missed. At this point I was alone, frightened, and hungry. I sat in silence without any answers. The world had quickly fallen apart outside, and there was nothing I could do to help. I couldn't even think of anything I could do to help myself.

After sitting alone for about two hours thinking about Dan and feeling sorry for myself, I've decided to start back with these notes. You have to try to understand. These are very trying times for my kind and me. As much as I would like to stay to the point, due to my emotions, I tend to stray occasionally.

I should make mention of the world's military powers. At the beginning, they were very much disorganized as a whole. All efforts seemed unplanned and undermanned and failed quickly. As time went on, things didn't seem to improve much.

All land-driven military vehicles and ground forces proved useless. As for the ships, well, they could only patrol the waterways, having little to no effect. The only ships that were of any real use were the aircraft carriers.

They used their choppers to land on the roofs to rescue trapped people inside. However, this quickly stopped due to two reasons. First was the fact of the lack of actual room on the ships to house the rescued people. Secondly, it didn't take the crawlers long to realize what was going on. They began waiting on the rooftops for the choppers.

The only truly effective military machine was the plane. In the beginning, they attempted to launch the planes from hangers, only to find that the crawlers would rapidly fill the hanger once the doors opened. This, of course, would shut down that hanger and the launching of any more planes from it. Launching planes from aircraft carriers seemed to be the most effective.

They equipped the planes with a form of napalm-type bomb. It was a large bomb loaded with a gel that would stick to anything it touched. It was highly flammable and would burn at a very high heat for an extended period. There was an explosive warhead attached to the end that would detonate on impact, not only scattering the napalm, but also igniting it at the same time. The military had found out early that fire was the best weapon against the crawlers. Due to their size and speed, combined with the body armor on their backs, they were very hard to kill. When the crawlers sensed danger, they would curl up into an indestructible ball until it passed. However, fire seemed to work well, especially napalm because of the longer period of time that it burned.

I watched themonitors as the planes firebombed the major cities such as New York, Tokyo, and London. The planes would line up on a long street and drop their load.

Upon impact, several blocks would light up and stay lit, burning all in its wake. The problem was that the explosions shattered the windows on the first several floors of the buildings, not only giving the crawlers escape but sacrificing the people in the structures. Before this point the crawlers had slowly been working their way into the buildings to the people. Now they were given free access. Another drawback was the fact that some of the fires burned out of control. I watched in horror as San Francisco burned to the ground. According to my records, it was the first city to fall. Many others followed for one reason or another.

It didn't take long before all the major militaries crumbled internally. Although the men and women of the armed forces were well trained and disciplined, the fact remained that everyone has their limits.

I watched as the world fell apart. All its leaders had run and hid days ago and now the world's armies were disbanding. To step outside was a sure death sentence, while to wait inside only prolonged death. The crawlers worked night and day on the structures until finally gaining entrance. Afterwards, they would feed on everything alive inside. Then they would join another group and its efforts to get into another building.

Building after building, it was always the same. No one ever escaped completely. I watched as a few people from time to time would make a run for it, only to be brought down after a few steps into the street.

The broadcasts were now falling off the air one by one. They would either turn to static or sign off but, either way, they never came back. I honestly doubt that we killed more than five percent of the crawlers. In less than a month there was few to no one left. Eventually, the last channel shut down its feed. Now the only contact I had with the outside world was my research satellite feed. Not being able to see inside other structures, for all I know, I could be one of the last humans left alive. I imagine that there are others holed up in military and/or research structures such as mine. But I would have to guess that this is all that probably remain or will remain shortly.

I'm beginning to lose my power of human reasoning. I've now been without food for over a week. I have over the past couple of days resorted to eating office supplies such as the erasers off the pencils and most of the paper supplies. I have no choice but to make the same attempt that Dan made. If anything, maybe the crawlers have moved on. There is little to no residential or business stuctures in this area. Maybe they have cleared everyone out around here and have left.

Directing the satellite camera feeds onto the path I searched feverishly for hours; seeing nothing. I scanned the surrounding area for at least a square mile, finding nothing. I do know that if I stay down here I will die shortly of hunger. I'm afraid, very afraid. I don't want to go topside. I don't want to die.

But I also realize that going topside and grabbing food supplies, then rushing back down here isn't the answer either. No matter how much I grab, it will still run out again eventually. Then I'll have to make the run again and again. Eventually the food will run out in the convenience store. Then I'll have to venture farther and farther out. I might get lucky the first few times, but my luck will run out some day.

 

I have to find and capture one of the crawlers and bring it back with me and study it under a controlled atmosphere. I don't know what I'll find, if anything, but I do know if I or someone like myself doesn't at least try, then there is no hope for the human race.

If anything good has come from all this, it would be the fact that the plant life seems to be unharmed. Man didn't use chemical warfare in an effort to exterminate the crawlers. Maybe some day man or another form of intelligent life can inhabit the planet.

I plan to do my best to make sure it's man.

I've spent the last couple of hours preparing a safe and contained research area for the crawler once I get it back down here. I'll have to construct a capturing device from the supplies I find in the store topside. They have to have a weakness. I just have to find it and exploit it. The camera is still looking clear as well.

I'm now prepared to the point that I can't prepare anymore, at least not with the limited supplies I have here. In about two hours, the sun will be up and I will be making my run. Before I leave, I will print a copy of these notes and place them into the fire safe. Then I'll save the files on the server. Should these files end here, you'll know that my attempt failed and that I died trying.

 

THE END

 

On June 14, 1996, Paul Campbell became an honor grad from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Beginning his career, he quickly became the art director/manager for a weekly newspaper called The Review, which produced four separate weekly print editions. After gaining the experience needed he moved on to start his own publishing company, The News Journal Magazine. Starting the company with only 2k and 2 old beat up computers, he made a profit on the first month and never looked back. The News Journal Magazine produced 3 monthly tabloid type print magazines for over 5 years, in which time boasted advertisers such as but not limited to: Cedar Point, Six Flags, Sea World, Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Akron Zoos' to name only a few. Due to the decline in the economy, he was eventually forced to shut down however; but not before gaining even more experience. After contemplating his next move for a year or so, Paul decided to begin writing again. He now has published works in both stories and illustrations in e-zines, print magazines and books Paul recently added a published book of stories titled “Inside the Insane” to his credits. The book can be purchased on Amazon.com and at other book stores including select Borders Bookstores. He is also currently planning the release of his second horror book titled “40 Bullets to the Head” sometime in 2006. His illustrations are beginning to make an impact in the industry, due to his unique old school style of working in oils. He's currently illustrating for over a dozen companies.

 

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