Colonel Robert Neville hit the brakes. It was nearly noon, and the air was fresh beneath the bright sunlight. He had a very regular routine: every day at noon, he made a trip to the South Street Seaport in New York.
He had to keep a routine. Only a regular life could keep him from going mad with loneliness. The KV Virus had erupted three years ago and destroyed all of New York in a very short time. By the time he stopped receiving signals from other humans on every channel, less than a month had passed.
He had become the only living person in the city. Before his last helper turned into a Night Demon, he had barely managed to work out how to survive the disaster. Since then, he had stayed in New York, using the blood of a naturally immune survivor like himself to conduct experiment after experiment, trying to create a cure for KV Virus infection.
After more than a thousand failures, he had finally glimpsed success today. A special serum formulation he had named Compound Six had proved highly effective in animal testing. The subjects were less aggressive, their abnormal tissue had decreased, and their blood pressure and body temperature were moving toward normal. By all appearances, it might be able to cure the KV Virus.
Human trials were now urgent. He knew he needed to capture a live Night Demon to use as a test subject. But before that, he couldn't let his regular daily routine get disrupted.
"Sam, how about fish for lunch today?"
Sam was a German shepherd, exactly three years old. He had been born just before the KV Virus outbreak and had stayed by Robert's side through those difficult three years.
The dog gave a cheerful growl and wagged his tail. He was clearly very interested in the suggestion.
"Good. Let's see what kind of fish we can catch."
Robert smiled happily, took his fishing gear from the car, and soon reached a suitable fishing spot. Humanity had been gone for three years, and the Night Demons weren't interested in going into the water. The fish in the ocean had long since multiplied into enormous numbers. Any place with water was a fisherman's paradise.
"Oh, there's one more thing I need to do."
He baited the hook and adjusted his rod. Before casting, he set the radio he'd brought in the car beside his fishing spot. As the hook splashed into the water, a prerecorded message began to play over the radio.
[My name is Robert Neville. I'm a survivor living in New York City...]
The float drifted on the surface as the colonel fell into thought. He never went out at night, so he didn't know where the nearby Night Demons had established a sizable nest.
[I broadcast on every frequency. Every day at noon, when the sun is brightest, I'll be at the South Street Seaport...]
Night Demons were pack animals. Sometimes, while exploring a detached house during the day, he would hear noises coming from the basement. But when he returned the next day, they'd be gone. Unless he found their main nest, capturing a live Night Demon was difficult.
[If anyone can hear me... if anyone can hear this. I can provide food and shelter...]
He knew where the Night Demons' nest was: underground, in New York City's subway system. But he didn't dare go anywhere near it. He had no idea how many Night Demons were hiding in New York's subway lines.
Five hundred thousand? A million? Two million? He wasn't sure, but he knew New York had had a population of eight million when the KV Virus broke out.
[I can also keep you safe... If anyone receives this message, please respond...]
The float bobbed, then suddenly plunged as a fish took the bait. Sam barked excitedly, and Robert immediately grabbed the fishing rod.
[...You are not alone.]
"It's a big one! Buddy! We're having fish for lunch—"
[This is Professor Si, Robert Neville. I heard your broadcast.]
The colonel froze, just like Sam when an unexpected meaty bone landed on his head. For a moment, he was stunned. Then he immediately dropped the rod.
He practically crawled over to the radio.
"I'm Colonel Robert Neville! I'm at the South Street Seaport right now! Oh God, oh God, can you respond again? Where are you? Be careful—stay away from subway entrances and heavily shadowed areas. Did you drive here?"
He shouted it all in one breath. As he waited for a reply, every second felt longer than a year. His hands and feet went cold, and his heart pounded violently. He was afraid it was all just his imagination.
One second. Two.
"I hear you, Colonel. My assistant and I are driving to the harbor district. We're on the main road now. It shouldn't take long."
He punched the air. He didn't even notice the wild deer that had appeared beneath the overpass in the distance—the one he'd failed to hunt yesterday. The dog at his side whimpered in confusion. Robert patted Sam's head with one hand, then suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Don't take the Manhattan Bridge! It's been blown up. Take the Brooklyn Bridge. It's the only one still passable."
When the KV Virus broke out, the Air Force had destroyed the Manhattan Bridge. Robert had been there, and had witnessed the crowd turning violent—and the deaths of his wife and child.
"I see it."
He saw it... what?
The roar of an engine suddenly came from far away. Flocks of uninfected birds took flight in alarm. The sound drew closer and closer to where Colonel Robert was standing. It didn't sound like a car, but some immense, imposing beast. He swallowed and straightened up.
"Come on, buddy. Look sharp. Don't embarrass yourself."
He tugged at his coat and spoke quietly to Sam, who sat obediently beside him. He hadn't seen another living person in so long that he felt he'd forgotten how to talk to people. He'd rehearsed his opening lines and self-introduction dozens of times in his head, then discarded them all.
Soon, he saw the vehicle.
It wasn't a car, but a motorcycle. It looked like some model of Harley. The rider was dressed in heavy gear. His fully enclosed motorcycle suit looked almost like a suit of alien armor, though that might just have been the professor's personal preference. A young girl with long black hair sat behind him, holding carefully onto the rear safety rail. She didn't dare lean against the rider at all.
How had they made it to New York on a vehicle with so little protection?
He wondered, but quickly forgot the unimportant question. The motorcycle stopped, and its two passengers dismounted one after the other.
"Welcome! You're very welcome! I'm Robert Neville. Oh God, I can't believe I'm seeing living people again!"
He stepped forward, seized the stranger's hand, and shook it vigorously. The stranger's fully enclosed helmet opened as if triggered by a switch, revealing a young face inside.
Black hair, black eyes, an East Asian face. His features looked clear and smooth, but there was none of the youthful innocence one would expect at his age. Instead, they bore the marks of years of hardship. There was no doubt he'd weathered countless crises on the road. The girl behind him, on the other hand, looked so young and innocent she could have just crawled out of a sterile nursery.
"The world is a big place." Professor Si smiled and nodded to him. "It's good to meet you, Colonel Robert. This is Shizuka Ishikawa. I found her not long ago. She's a survivor and my assistant now. Shizuka, say hello to the colonel."
"I-It's an honor to meet you, Colonel Robert! I'm Shizuka Ishikawa, Professor Si's assistant."
The fair-skinned girl bowed to him, looking shaken. It rather fit Colonel Robert's stereotypical image of Japanese people. He just hadn't expected anyone to still resemble that stereotype so perfectly after three years.
He politely returned her greeting, then immediately turned his attention to Professor Si. He noticed that the motorcycle behind the two of them had no luggage, and that they had only a few weapons.
No other vehicles could be heard in the distance.
"Is anyone else coming?" The colonel hadn't even seen a radio on Professor Si. "My house is pretty big. It could fit ten people, and I have plenty of supplies. I've got electricity, too."
But Professor Si only smiled and didn't answer.
Had he said something wrong? Or had everyone else who'd traveled with them already...
"Ahem." The colonel cleared his throat, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere. The young East Asian man before him did carry the weathered air of a long and difficult journey, but there was also an unmistakable scholarly quality about him. Still, at his age, how accomplished could he really be in academia...
"Ah... I haven't asked where you studied. I have some research that might need your help."
He got an immediate answer.
"Miskatonic University." Professor Si smiled and nodded. "I have a doctorate from there."
"Oh, Miskatonic University. I've heard of—" Colonel Robert's mouth twitched slightly. He wasn't some ancient relic completely cut off from the world. Of course he knew about the Dunwich Horror and Cthulhu. And this fictional university from the Cthulhu Mythos was familiar to him.
"...That's impressive. Yes, very impressive." He smiled awkwardly and politely. He was looking at Professor Si as if he were a madman. But when he thought about his own state of mind, he felt a sudden rush of sympathy. Who would want to live in such a desperate world? Sometimes, he too imagined himself becoming a superhero.
"I remember that university had done a lot of research on the Necronomicon. Ah... I hope that one day I'll be able to bring the dead back to life, too." He was referring to the passage in which the university first appeared in a Cthulhu Mythos story. It was about a forbidden book called the Necronomicon.
"Bringing the dead back to life in the absolute sense is very difficult. It's far beyond what I can reach. It may be a long time before I can get to true resurrection magic."
So Professor Si had someone he wanted to bring back to life, too? No wonder he'd become like this.
The colonel sighed silently and thought again of the moment his wife and daughter had crashed in the helicopter. A familiar sadness welled up in him, but he knew he had to stay strong. He still had to reassure his new friend, who was clearly not in a good state of mind—
"But I have already mastered simpler forms of necromancy."
The colonel's thoughts kept turning.
He watched as a pitch-black doorway opened beside Professor Si. A Bone Soldier, its eye sockets burning with eerie flames, strode out.
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