He woke up to the sounds of creaking metal, his vision blurry as he had been knocked out. His memory was foggy and he couldn't figure out what happened to him. His eyes adjusted to the scene around him and then he felt the breeze of the outside world. He was inside a subway that was tipping slowly over a hole in the tunnel. The hole revealed a thousand foot drop into the city below, but falling to his death was the least of his worries right now. Something was lurking in the shadows outside the half destroyed sub-car. He looked for possible escape routes as a strange but familiar fear filled his body. For some reason he knew if the things lurking in the shadows got to him, that he would be killed for sure. The rush of adrenaline and sheer terror jogged his memory and then he remembered what had happened. He started to trace back his footsteps to figure out how he ended up on the sub in this particular situation.

- Before the Chaos-

The man was sitting at a cafe reading the paper. On the table he had a cappuccino that had been just served to him. It had been around this time that the chaos had began as well. After his coffee he had transitioned over to the bus stop where he got on board. He hated taking the bus, but he needed to be somewhere very soon and he was running a bit late today. A few blocks later the bus came to a screeching halt. There was rubble in the street with some fire going on. Just inches away, bodies were lying about. They seemed to be fatally injured. When it had registered inside the passengers' heads as to what happened, they had rushed out to help. Most were only a tad bit curious to see the damage. The man from earlier was one of the few to actually try and assist the wounded. He was in charge of finding something that could be used as a bandage. Before he could even finish his given task an earth shattering scream pierced his ear-drums. The bodies of the people that looked to have been beyond help had suddenly became animated again.

Their frames resembling decaying corpses, the forearms of theirs mutated into sharp sickles. Their eyes were pure black with lines of blood that poured out of their empty sockets. The shukakusha, as they were called, had even made it to the mortal realm. At once the screams were silenced with a few quick slices of these long and sharp sickle arms. Their unhinged jaws latched on to the shoulder of one nearby passenger, tearing flesh from him with so much ease. Panic started to settle in quickly and the people then scattered for their lives. The man made his escape down a set of stairs nearby. It led down into the subway station. The crowd of people down here were still unaware of the danger that brewed over their heads. Sure enough they would find out in the next few seconds as a shukakusha jumped down the stairs and gave out a horrifying moan.

It lunged slowly towards the now terrified people. Shoving and pushing occurred as many people just went absolutely crazy. This made easy prey for the harvester who jumped at the first human it could get its claws on and devoured it. A chain reaction of infectious disease then occurred, spreading from the creature. As soon as one human was eaten and killed, it returned as one of them seconds later. The man had entered into the train that was there and headed for the back of the subway train. He watched as chaos ensued among the unlucky people who had remained back at the station. He thought that he had made it away from those horrid things. However he was far from through with them. The train suddenly came to a halt, or more like a crash that is.

"I remember now... Those beasts, those things... What are they? My name... what is my name?..." He said as his memories fused with his present situation. "Its Gregory Mandel.. Yes, Gregory Mandel from New York... Born in 2013 …"

He carefully made his way onto the precariously laid on steel beam that created a bridge between the sub-car and the other side of the hole. It was shaky and didn't seem like it would hold him for very long. Behind he could hear glass breaking as shukakusha were crawling into the wreck of a subway train. He began to panic again and hustled across the beam. His balance almost gave out on him as he fumbled halfway across, regaining his balance miraculously. Their hungering moans grew closer and closer as they crept slowly towards his frame. The face of one creature came into view and was the closest out of them all to Gregory. He leaped the rest of the way and proceeded to run deeper into the tunnel. He was being followed constantly. The fetid corpses being very relentless in their chase. Gregory slipped into the shadows, side-stepping along one of the walls until he found a small door.

He opened it up by the valve handle and jumped inside quickly, closing the door behind him. The shukakusha passed by the door way and ran further into the tunnel. His vision was faint so he had a hard time seeing anything. Lucky for him he had matches on him. Taking one out he lit it up and looked around. He was in an abandoned sewer tunnel with water up to his ankles. He listened to the sounds of the pipes steaming as his body regained composure. A leak in the sewer passage flooded the area and was the reason for why his feet were submerged in water. He had to press on through, as he had no idea when those things would return and burst through the metal door he came from. His foot steps splashed lightly in the water as he progressed deeper into the passage way. Further down the tunnel there were some candle lights lit up but not enough to eliminate the darkness that resided in the crooks and crannies.

He had made it about half the way down the hallway when the very foundation of the hall shook ferociously. He fumbled a bit before his bearing returned to him. Making great haste, he turned a corner and was greeted with a wave of pitch black shadows. His speed went down a lot as now his body shifted into a sneaking stance. He slowly crept against the wall until he felt the bars of a gate door. His hands looked for a handle and then upon finding one he pulled it open and stepped into the room fast. A growl pierced his ears along with the sound of water splashing around.

A creature was on it's way and panic began to set in once more. His frame instinctively darted off behind some crates to hide. His eyes adjusted to the darkness just then and betwixt some cracks of the crates, he could see the monstrous creature roaming about in the shadows outside of the room. The shukakusha's sickle like arms dragged across the metal bars of the door. It's tormented wails permeated the room with it's horrid sounds. The male's heart was pounding rapidly. Fear was encroaching his mind and his sanity was swiftly dropping. A sense of relief was felt, as the thing began to walk away.

"I really should try to avoid those things at all cost" He whispered to himself slowly when the coast was clear.

He then made his way out of the room. When he returned to the hallway he noticed upon looking up that there was a hole in the ceiling far above his head. That hole concerned him very much, and he knew that it would be most unwise to stick around. Walking down the hall and into the darkness, he soon came across a small set of steps that the water had not yet enveloped. His feet stepped on to the first step and then he traversed up to the new level that the stairs ended at. Two paths had opened up for him. One path went straight and was connected to a room with a couple of torches, the other path turned to the left and went deeper into the sewer system. He could hear running water further down the path, but he decided on going into the room.

The lights piqued his interest and he pushed open the iron door, proceeding into the new location. He was greeted with the reeking smell of freshly maimed cadavers and a horrid mess of blood everywhere. In the center of the room there was a summoning circle that could partially be seen under the pools of blood smeared about. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he came to a realization about the professions of these dead men. They appeared to be cultists. This claim was backed up even more so by the robe like garments the men wore, and a book of black magical chants found in a corner. Near the book on the floor were pages torn out, one in particular was very interesting and caught sight of his eyes instantly. Gregory moved over to it and picked it up.

It was partly blood-stained but still was legible for the most part. On the paper was a familiar diagram. It was a sketching of one of the monstrous things that he had been encountering lately. His face contorted in disbelief upon the fact that this was no mere disease, even more so when he realized that this wasn't just a strange natural occurrence. He knew someone was behind this, and wasn't about to let some scumbag ruin the world with these things. His decision was real sudden of course, but something in his head just compelled him and angered him enough to seek out justice. His first action was to safely escape the sewers alive though. When he was finished investigating the room and he cautiously made his way out. His next destination took him down the other path that he had not yet explored.

When he got down the end of the tunnel he had entered into a larger room. It was a vast canal of different sewage ways that merged into one big collection of water and waste. He noticed that a small set of stairs led to the ground level of the room. The floor was covered, of course, in ankle deep water yet again, but this was intended and was indicated so by the pipes attached at different ends of the room. These pipes had water flowing from them at a moderate rate. On the other side of the room was a half-way open metal door that was controlled by a wheel-like lever. Just as he had noticed this way out, Something shuffled far behind him and then let out a horrid roar. It had to be one of those creatures from before.

Whatever it was, was coming after him now, and it was coming fast! He immediately took off in a run, His frame jumping from the ledge and on to the flooded floor as he bolted across the room. Sneaking a peak over his shoulders at what was following him he saw from out of the hall he had just left, a shukakusha leaping into the large room. Anxiety and fear added to his physical stress as he moved quicker than he had ever moved in his entire life. The sounds of his footsteps in the water were outmatched by the haunting wails of the gaining monster and it's sloshing movement.

The male quickly clambered up the stairs that led to the ledge the iron door was on. He turned the lever round and round and opened the door just more than enough for him to slip inside the new hall. The creature was just at the foot of the steps when he began to move into the passage way. As soon as he got in he located the other lever and spun it around, watching as the iron door began to descend from the slot it had ascended to earlier.

The door finally slammed down right in front of the creature, just as it had swung it's sickles into the metal frame of the entrance. The thing roared in rage and tried to slice into the door. Crouching down, he buried his face into his hands and began to let his sanity return to normal levels. He was safe for now, He knew the door would hold, and he could breath easier for the moment.