Sullei, known only to himself as the Grey Wanderer, crouched atop the skeletal remains of an office building, his massive frame outlined against the endless storm-dark sky. Wind screamed between the broken concrete pillars and rusted beams around him, carrying needles of snow that scratched against his scarred skin.
He narrowed his crimson eye against the perpetual gloom and scanned the frozen horizon.
The world had become a thing of black and white.
Ice entombed the ruins of the old age beneath endless layers of snow, preserving civilization like a corpse trapped beneath glass. Buildings jutted from the earth like broken teeth. Roads vanished beneath frost. Dead vehicles sat frozen in place, buried halfway into drifts older than memory itself.
Far in the distance, the white earth met a sky poisoned black by radioactive clouds that churned endlessly overhead. Sometimes lightning flashed inside them—silent, pale veins spreading through darkness.
Sullei inhaled slowly.
Even the air hurt.
He was enormous, a towering wall of muscle and survival wrapped in layered white furs stitched together from beasts long extinct. Dark chocolate skin stretched over a body built by hardship rather than vanity. Black dreadlocks spilled across his shoulders, dusted with frost, and Fulani markings cut across his face like faded war paint.
Scars covered nearly every visible inch of him.
One eye was ruined entirely—a jagged line carving through the lid and brow—yet the remaining red eye remained sharp and alert.
Beside him rested Doomsday.
The mutant wolf looked almost mythical against the snow. Larger than any natural wolf, her thick silver-white fur rippled in the wind while her black nose twitched constantly, sampling the air. One ear was torn. Her teeth protruded slightly even with her mouth closed.
Sullei clicked his teeth softly.
Doomsday's ears perked immediately.
Then he saw it.
Movement.
Tiny.
Barely noticeable.
A disturbance against the horizon.
Sullei's expression hardened.
He rose from the rooftop edge and stepped forward without hesitation. The drop below was nearly fifty feet. Wind roared past him as gravity dragged his massive body downward.
He hit the slope hard.
Snow exploded upward around him, but he absorbed the impact with practiced ease, sliding down the icy incline in a controlled avalanche of white powder. Beneath his boots, the frozen ground groaned from the force of his weight.
Doomsday darted ahead effortlessly.
Sullei followed, slower but relentless.
The wind grew louder the farther they descended into the dead streets below. Around them stood the ruins of ancient towers, their windows hollow and black like empty eye sockets. Snow had swallowed the lower floors entirely.
Doomsday suddenly froze.
Her posture shifted instantly from playful movement to predatory focus.
Sullei dropped into a crouch beside a collapsed transport vehicle, every muscle in his massive body tightening. His fingers curled around the grip of the long-barreled harpoon gun strapped across his back.
The snow ahead trembled.
Once.
Twice.
Then it erupted.
A monstrous white creature burst from beneath the surface in an explosion of ice and powder. The Ice Badger snarled violently, its body the size of a couch, thick with slabs of muscle beneath matted fur. Frost clung to its whiskers. Massive claws carved trenches into the ground as it sniffed the air.
The smell of meat.
The smell of predators.
Sullei raised two fingers and rotated them in a slow semicircle.
Doomsday obeyed instantly, vanishing into the drifting snow to flank the creature from behind.
The Ice Badger continued lumbering forward for several seconds before suddenly freezing.
Its nostrils flared.
Then it shrieked.
The sound tore through the silent wasteland.
Doomsday exploded from the side with a thunderous bark, drawing the creature's attention. Snow sprayed beneath the wolf's paws as she danced just beyond the creature's reach.
Sullei rose slowly from cover.
Calm.
Measured.
He lifted the harpoon gun to his shoulder.
The weapon creaked softly beneath his grip. Old. Heavy. Unreliable.
He exhaled.
Pulled the trigger.
THUNK.
The harpoon launched forward—
—and missed.
The metal spike buried itself harmlessly into the snow several feet away.
Sullei cursed internally.
The Ice Badger immediately turned toward him.
Its tiny eyes locked onto the larger threat.
Then it charged.
The ground shook beneath the beast's weight as it barreled forward with terrifying speed, claws tearing through snow and ice. Frost sprayed from its jaws as it opened its maw wide enough to crush a man's torso whole.
Doomsday barked furiously behind it, but the creature ignored her now.
Sullei did not move.
The world seemed to slow.
Wind.
Snow.
Breath.
The Ice Badger lunged.
At the last possible second, Sullei stepped aside and swung his axe downward with brutal force.
CRACK.
The ice-hardened blade split through bone, flesh, and skull in one monstrous arc.
The creature's upper jaw separated from its body completely.
Blood erupted across the pristine snow in steaming scarlet streaks.
The corpse crashed and skidded past him.
Silence returned.
Only the wind remained.
Sullei stood still for a moment, staring at the body.
Then Doomsday trotted over proudly, tail swaying.
Sullei knelt beside her first.
Always her first.
He checked her legs, muzzle, and sides for injuries before giving a small approving grunt. Doomsday huffed happily and nudged against his shoulder.
Together, they dragged the carcass back toward shelter.
The familiar path wound through frozen streets and collapsed buildings buried beneath decades of snow. Sullei walked it almost automatically now. Fifteen years of repetition had carved the route permanently into his memory.
His thoughts drifted.
He remembered running through these same streets as a child.
Back when the world still had warmth.
Back when laughter existed.
Mohammed had always run ahead of everyone else.
Sullei could almost hear him now.
The memory struck like a knife.
Pain twisted inside his chest. He opened his mouth instinctively, trying to scream into the freezing air—
—but only silence escaped.
His ruined throat burned.
The scars there pulsed faintly beneath the cold.
Nothing came out.
No voice.
No cry.
No rage.
Just silence.
As always.
Ahead of him, Doomsday pounced wildly at blowing snowflakes, snapping at them like an excited pup. Sullei watched her for a moment and felt the corner of his mouth twitch upward.
The wolf was the only thing tethering him to sanity.
Without her...
His expression darkened.
He had tried to die before.
Many times.
Blades. Starvation. The radioactive storms. Even the abyss beneath the Potholes.
Nothing worked.
He always woke up again.
Broken bones healed. Torn flesh closed. Death rejected him every single time.
His mother once called it a blessing from God.
Now it felt more like punishment.
An eternity of cold.
An eternity of loneliness.
Then Doomsday stopped.
Instantly.
Her ears rose high.
Her body stiffened.
Sullei's smile vanished.
The wolf stared toward the distant Potholes.
His stomach tightened immediately.
The Potholes.
Even thinking about them made his skin crawl.
Massive wounds in the earth descending into endless darkness. Ancient excavations that broke into the abyssal cave systems below the world. Strange sounds sometimes emerged from them at night.
And things.
Things crawled out occasionally.
His village had learned that lesson too late.
Sullei's breathing slowed.
Memories surfaced.
Blood on snow.
Screaming.
One man.
One impossible monster of a man.
Doomsday suddenly bolted forward.
Sullei's eye widened.
He snapped his teeth sharply—a command to stop.
She ignored him.
Fear punched through his chest.
He sprinted after her, snow exploding beneath his heavy boots as they raced toward the largest Pothole.
The abyss yawned before them like the mouth of the world itself.
Doomsday stood at the edge in a low stalking posture, staring into the distance beyond it.
Sullei crouched beside her carefully.
Then he saw it.
A figure.
Human.
Staggering through the blizzard.
For a second, Sullei genuinely thought he was hallucinating again.
The figure stumbled forward, clutching one side of their body. Blood stained the snow behind them.
Sullei's mind erupted into chaos.
Joy.
Fear.
Disbelief.
Suspicion.
Anger.
Hope.
Hope hurt the most.
Fifteen years.
Fifteen years since he had seen another human face.
His pulse thundered in his ears.
The stranger collapsed briefly to one knee before forcing themselves back up again.
Alive.
Real.
Sullei looked down at Doomsday.
The wolf glanced back at him, waiting.
Waiting for his decision.
Slowly, cautiously, Sullei began walking toward the stranger.
He clicked his teeth once.
Doomsday followed beside him through the snow.