I used to have a name...I used to have a family, I used to have a purpose, a reason to be...But that was before Earth fell... These thoughts rush through a cold dead mind that has lain unused for centuries, trapped inside a lifeless husk eaten away by the elements and time. The thoughts are mine. I can think! Does this mean I'm ali-... Before I can even think such a bold thought my eyes snap open and light floods into my vision. Light! Real light, and with the brightness other senses come flooding back like a barrier that has been broken they all rush in at once. I can feel the sweet trickle of air against my bare cheek, the feel of cold virgin snow against my palms and a warm tingly feeling across my chest. The blinding glare of light fades away into vision. I CAN see. I AM alive. That's when I notice the floating spherical blue eye watching me calmly as though studying me. It stares at me expectantly so I stare equally as hard back at it until it moves slightly and releases a sound which I swear could pass as a human sigh. 'You know for several seconds there I was hoping you would faint, or scream or at least give me some indication of a reaction, seeing as I have brought you back to life, which doesn't happen everyday'. I hear the words clear as a bell as though the voice was whispering it in my very ear, it was a pleasant sort of voice, feminine and heavy with an accent that could be Australian. My eyes dart frantically around searching for the voice, seeing no one else around me they fall back on the strange blue eye. Surely not...right? 'That's right hotshot I'm your very own Ghost only you can hear me'. Again the same soothing tones echo inside of my brain. Am I going insane? Is this some twisted dream? I can't be alive I remember the cruise ship leaving Earth, the explosion, the wail of sirens and the sea of flame that engulfed me. My eyes blink as a cold sweat trickles down my spine. I really am alive all that did happen, but how am I alive? I look to the "ghost" she called herself and decide to question my own sanity... 'What are you'? I say out loud, with a voice croaky with unuse and a strange accent that I've never heard before. 'I already told you before sweetheart I'm a ghost and yes I know you're about to say it, and to answer it preemptively no I'm not a spirit as such. Look I'll happily give you a running monologue as we go along because we need to shift. Now'. The amount of urgency the little ghost was portraying was not lost on me, although a million and one questions raced through my freshly re-awokened mind I lifted myself to my feet and started to jog toward what looked like a graveyard of cars. It felt good to move, to feel the blood rush through limbs that had lain stiff and lifeless for seceral lifetimes. I ran past corpses of cars, hundreds of them piled up and left like some mechanical skeletons. The paintwork long since rotted away until only the rusted metal skeketons remained like corpses picked clean by vultures. As I ran my ghost, who I had taken to calling "Natter" for obvious reasons was indeed true to her word..and freshly given namesake. She told me of someone called the Traveller and of other races and aliens and of something called the Darkness. Though she spoke so fast I could only really pick up a few words. I stopped for a quick breath next to a ruin of what could of been a bus shelter. Natter's voice pleaded with me to hurry up, warning me of something called the Fallen. I started to ready myself for another jog when I heard an awful sound. It was an ear piercing sort of growl. It was sharp enough to sting my ears but at the same time low enough to be from some feral beast like a bear. Either way it froze me in my tracks. 'Shit'. My ghost let out a curse which sounded strange coming from her perfect accent. Suddenly I saw shapes appear to my left just above a small snow encrusted hill four hunched over little figures started to snake their way down the hill toward me. They wasn't what caught my gaze though...instead my eye's were solely locked on the eight foot tall, four armed monstrosity staring straight back at me... (To be continued)...