When humanity faces extinction, what breaks first? our bodies, or our humanity?
How much of ourselves are we willing to lose to stay alive?

In 2104, The world has already ended, but its consequences haven’t. In the OctaCore: the last of humanity's shelters, resources are limited and the radiation is rising fast. Within two years, the surface will become unlivable. Long before that, the food will run out.

The monsters that destroyed the world are still out there, but they’re no longer the worst threat. With the shelters on the brink, the council faces an impossible choice: Cull 80% of the population to preserve the remaining 20%, or Launch a suicidal mission into the wasteland to retrieve a supply shipment that could sustain humanity long enough to rebuild.

A small team is chosen for the Hail Mary attempt. Memory-scarred survivors, soldiers who’ve already lost too much, and civilians carrying secrets they’d kill to protect—bound together by the thin hope that something out there might still be worth saving.

Outside, they will face the world that once was: a ruined city haunted by monsters, nazis and the aftermath of choices no one wants to admit they made.

What to Expect:

1. Morally questionable characters

2. No clear good or evil—only survival

3. Character-driven beginning → escalating high-stakes plot

4. Brutal worldbuilding

5. Mature themes (genocide, moral collapse, societal failure)

6. Gore, violent imagery, disturbing psychological content

DISCLAIMERS:

This story is officially published on multiple platforms under the pen name Zachelodeon. If you encounter it elsewhere under a different name, it has been stolen or reposted without authorization

No audio adaptations, translations, derivative works, or commercial uses are permitted without written permission from the author. For adaptation inquiries, please contact the author directly.

For professional or rights-related communication, please email: adrianmorganblake@gmail.com

Copyright: 2025 Zachelodeon. All rights reserved. This work is an original creation by the author. No part of it may be reproduced, reposted, mirrored, translated, or adapted without explicit written permission.

As they approached the water purification and distribution station, its imposing structure dominated the horizon. Its glass-paneled exterior caught the sunlight, making it stand out as a bright beacon in the gloomy landscape. Two massive pipes, each several meters in radius, emerged from the ground by the roadside, disappearing into the station's walls. The structure soared to a height of 48 meters, enclosing the central facilities and casting a long shadow over the barren ground. Its modern exterior stood in stark contrast to the lifeless gray houses and dead trees scattered around.


About a minute before reaching the station, the vehicle's system reported a steady drop in radiation levels and toxicity levels. The atmosphere was clean with almost no radiation. As they drew near the station's massive pipes, the gentle hum of machinery reached their ears.


They parked near the two pipelines. About 60 or 70 meters ahead. Egon's eyes caught sight of something strange. In front of the main gate of the water station, a thin layer of sand covered the road, and on it, traces of car wheel tracks.


"You think someone is here?" kastner asked.


"Maybe. Grab a gun and keep two steps behind me."


Egon and Professor Kastner got out to check the station's perimeter. The area was silent. Empty, except for the wind shifting the sand.


At the gate of the station, Egon used his control tablet to access the activity log. Last time the gate had been: three days before Day Zero. The station was deemed safe.


From the car, Abi and Professor Kastner got the equipment needed to make the repairs as well as one of it's radio transmitters. Then took the tablet from Egon and entered the water station.


Egon remained outside, placing palm-sized motion sensors to the station's exterior, ten meters apart. Their camouflaged casings could blend with the surface they were on, each one linked directly to his suit's operating system.


Then he went following the tracks, for additional caution.


"Never to leave the building," was the last thing he said.


Chapter 47 - 041: traces