There is no pain.

  That is how I wake up after I watched the world burn down. Despite being able to see the stone block trapping my legs, I don’t feel its pressure.

  For minutes, I just lay there staring at the scampering animals. There’s not much to do there, and that’s what bothers me. However, there’s one more thing: the way I got under this stone block.

  They abandoned me; they didn’t try at all to get the block off. They ran off, the people who’d always told me about the value of family. There wasn’t a single pause, not even when I screamed out to them.

  I know they heard me. I saw my sister turn, and yet she continued to run.

  What kind of family would do that?

  I don’t know. Did I misinterpret what they defined as family?

  Was I wrong to assume that meant to help one another? Where had I gone wrong?

  Did I do something wrong?

  Mother, what caring eyes she’d had all of my childhood. My memories are filled with joy because she cared. What happened to all that care?

  Does it matter now?

  It must. I need to find them. I refuse to let them get away with being hypocrites.

  I cannot move to curl into a ball, but I desire it. I desire it more than anything to become small and insignificant.

  As I lay there, something shakes the ground in the distance. Whatever it is, it sends the rats keeping me company packing.

  Then I see it, at a broken stoplight. A scorpion-like beast, with two heads trying to share one neck. I gasp out of shock and immediately cover my mouth.

  Fuck.

  It turns its head. Fear runs down half of my spine, stopping where I cannot feel a thing. I’m going to die.

  Not a soul will remember who I am. I’m going to die unimportant, and worst of all, my revenge will never see the light of day.

  The beast steps forward, swaying its heads like the end of a meteor hammer at rest. There’s not a single tool lying by; I have no way out of this. So I try to move the rubble off of me, but remember it turned by hearing me.

  So I leave it be. I should have moved it earlier, but it’s too late for that. I shouldn’t have been just sitting here the entire time.

  One of the rats, brave enough to stay near me, scampers towards me, sniffing the air. With the sun in the sky, I can see its shadow, and with horror, I watch as my shadow snatches it.

  The rat simply ceases to move and is frozen in time. I look around with horror, that couldn’t have been me. I would never kill such a small creature.

  My shadow absorbs it, and red eyes appear in my shadow. They’re small and surprisingly expressive. Something is happening here, and I need to figure it out.

  I point at the beast slowly making its way towards me. The eyes move that way, and the former shadow of a rat scampers flat on the ground, towards the beast.

  Yes!

  Now I just need to figure out how my own shadow plays a role in this. I look at it, trying to see if it is active. Two red eyes appear, and my shadow grows significantly darker, absorbing light.

  There’s one final tactic I want to test.

  I close my eyes and imagine myself lifting the block off my body. A second later, I hear the shifting of the block.

  Mental command. Distance capability. Shadow stealing.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Blessings have been gifted unto me.

  I try to mentally command the rat to scamper up the beast, who seems to have locked back in on my sounds. It moves, slithering up the cracks in its armor, but the beast doesn’t register its footsteps.

  If there is one thing I know about rats, it’s that they can and will bite through anything.

  A distraction will be necessary so it doesn't notice the little thing biting through its brain. So I command my shadow to lift the block over its head.

  It can’t, but it did much better than I could’ve. I command it to move the block very loudly to catch the beast's attention.

  Fear runs through me as it snaps to attention and leaps fifteen feet in a single movement. I imagine my shadow forming a shield over me.

  The smack of a pincer rings in my ears. However, it does not reach my skin. This is going to be a very hard thing to deal with. I have no mobility.

  I crawl backward and give the command for the rat to begin eating. A weird, fleshy taste suddenly fills my mouth, and I almost vomit.

  What the heck was that?

  Once again, I almost vomit.

  I command my shadow to attack the beast’s shadow as I begin to crawl further. It’s a struggle; every few seconds, I want to puke. The taste of blood fills my mouth, and I can’t help it.

  My stomach empties onto the ground, and I have no choice but to roll over and keep crawling. My life is on the line; my stomach can take a back seat.

  The beast suddenly begins jabbing its tail in my general direction. I roll, and each attack widely misses its mark.

  I begin crawling backwards, but then the beast stops. I keep crawling, I’m not an idiot.

  It falls over, and I watch as its shadow begins to be absorbed into my shadow. However, I don’t see the same eyes of the beast. The beasts must not be subject to the same rules as the rat was.

  I take a deep breath and command both of my shadows to return to me.

  Where did I acquire this ability? Was it while I was asleep?

  Why did I awaken it? Did I always have it? Shit, does my family have this too?

  I lay there as my shadow slowly eats the other shadow.

  Both of my shadows change slightly after the beast’s shadow has been completely absorbed. My own shadows mimic of my arms and legs becomes much better defined. The rat’s shadow grows a glowing red tail.

  After my shadow is done eating, I begin to crawl around the city.

  The city is broken. Construction sites lie abandoned, and buildings are on the verge of falling over. Cars are left in the middle of the streets. Their owners' bodies aren’t far from them.

  There’s no wind, only the stale air of blood and sweat. Car horns are still on in the distance, and I can hear other beasts roaming. Those things do not know how to be quiet.

  I crawl at a slow pace, and my hand begins to ache. No wonder people don’t crawl around normally. I guess we weren’t built for it. As I do, I recall how I got into this situation.

  I continue to crawl for about an hour when I arrive at a valet service outside a hotel. It’s as I look at the dead body that I have an idea. Shadows exist whether one is alive or dead.

  My shadow darkens and disconnects, and as I move it towards the dead valet person, I hear breathing.

  Is this idiot alive?

  He jumps up from lying down and gulps.

  Oh my, he’s hot. He’s tall, and his face is perpetually forlorn.

  What am I on about? I almost just killed him.

  I use my voice for the first time, “You idiot! I could have killed you. If I’d been even a foot further away, I wouldn’t have heard you.”

  He says, “Yeah, the point is I was supposed to be playing dead. Why are you crawling around?”

  “Paralyzed, waist down. No feeling or movement.”

  “Oof! That kinda sucks, man... You uh need help? A partner in crime?”

  I groan at his gross underestimation of how much it sucks to not be able to run in the literal apocalypse.

  His offer, however, doesn’t interest me. I need to find my family, and not dragging other people into it is best.

  “No. I appreciate the offer. However, do you see any dead people?”

  “Well, there’s no one else here. So I’m going to go that way,” he points in the opposite direction from me, “That way you’ve got no worries.”

  I nod and then raise an eyebrow, “Dead people?”

  He makes a surprised face as if he didn’t hear me the first time.

  “Yeah, there’s one in this car, actually.” His hand smacks the car, and my mind goes elsewhere for just a second.

  That’s exactly why he’s a distraction.

  The car is nice, a Porsche 911 Carrera, it’s a classic one. He’s not lying; a young man is dead, half his head is missing. I crawl around the car, and that’s when I have an idea.

  What if I use my shadow to drive?

  I know how, but I just can’t do it physically. I decide quickly that it’s a good idea.

  I remove the dead man and have my shadow see if it can extract the shadow of the man. My shadow reaches out and rips out a dark shadow; it’s wobbly and withering.

  It is darker than a normal shadow, but it is lighter than the beast's shadow. It proves my point either way, though. I lift myself into the car and let my shadow finish its meal. Energy rips through my body as it finishes devouring the other shadow.

  The shadow returns to me, and I command it to turn on the car, molding itself to the shape of the key.

  I turn the key, the car rumbles to life, and its noise reminds me that there are still beasts roaming around.

  My eyes wander to where the boy was. Perhaps I should’ve been nicer. The door to the hotel opens, and he’s carrying a whole suitcase.

  “I’m gonna join you! You look like you know what you’re doing.”

  “Wait a minute! I didn’t say-”

  “Can’t hear you over the engine. This bad boy ain’t stock!”

  My hand meets my face, and I accidentally rub dirt all over my face. He enters the hotel again, and this time I send my rat to follow him.

  That’s how I discovered the non-combat-related ability. My sight disappears and returns, showing the boy walking around and checking rooms for something. He finds another suitcase and walks to the kitchen, and tosses stuff into a cooler.

  My sight continues to follow him.

  There is a small itch in my lower back, which is starting to annoy my rat self. The hotel is nice; however, there are dead people everywhere, so they ruin the classy vibe. I follow the boy back to the car, where it is clear I am absolutely knocked out.

  I imagine what I would see, and my sight blinks before I return to my body. I scratch my lower back instinctively and command the rat to appear so I can scratch it.

  The boy opens the door and gets in.

  “I can assume you’re not leaving me alone?”

  “Yeah, nah. I ain’t tryna be by myself in the apocalypse.”

  Fuck, he’s hot.