[IC] The Downhill Slide

[Dragonite777]

The Hunter sniffs the air. No scent. Again. The humans that were once abundant for feeding were becoming more scarce. The hive leader called, not aloud, but by mental command. The Hunter knew the signals and where to meet by a thought that was little more than "Come." Hunters from all around were closing in on the alley that the Hunter-Leader resided. Each Hunter was required to bring a piece of meat from a human to the Hunter-Leader as sacrifice. This time, one of the Hunters didn't, as a challenge to the current Hunter-Leader. The Hunter-Leader and its challenger faced off in a battle to the death. It's rare for there to be a Leader being challenged, but this particular day, one particular Hunter was feeling strong.
The two faced off. The Leader lunged first, aiming a blow to the Challenger's head, but the Challenger blocked with its arms crossed over its head. The Challenger counters with two consecutive swipes at the Leader's gut. One of its swipes making contact, the Leader momentarily doubles over from the swipe's piercing of the skin. The Challenger uses the moment to hit the Leader over the head with both fists, and continuously hitting the Leader until it concedes. Noting the plea, the Challenger backs off the now-defeated Leader. The Leader transfers its control, which is an earpiece that has a bug on the end of it, which is the source of the Hive mind. The victorious Challenger inserts the earpiece and is immediately struck by the bug's bite. The ex-Leader now smirks as it sees the new Leader in such pain, where there is the moment of individuality among the Hunters until the bug makes the neurological link between it and the small part of the Hunters' brains that allows for interconnectivity, as though they had Hunter-Brain Wi-Fi. Once the link was made, the new Leader took all the meat that was set for sacrifice, as its right as Leader.
This is the world now. The hunters hunt humans. If there aren't enough humans, they turn on each other. All of the giant-souled beings have moved to Euro-Merica. Land masses have shifted, and bodies of water are in new locations. Many houses are now flooded, while places are newly emerged from the ocean. You need to figure out what's going on. Why the Hunters? Why the giant-souled beings? How? Along with any questions of your own.

This is your world.

[Brink_]

Adrian neared the bar, its clapboard figure sandwiched in-between two similarly sized shops, whose weathered brick storefronts were stained with human and Hunter blood, if you can call it that. The dirt street's stately rows of cottonwoods shaded the couple of bodies and single car who had taken up residence there, effectively providing any nearby carnivores with an adequate meal. Once he'd reached the doorway, whose door and hinges were nowhere to be found, Adrian began investigating the interior. The night before, as he was scouting the area, he'd noticed numerous flashes of light from within the building, and had hoped to find some fellow survivors. However, to his dismay, he discovered nothing of the sort.

Instead, he was greeted by the sight of upturned deer antlers that'd once lined the wall next to mawkish paintings of birds taking flight, which where on the floor as well. Broken glass covered much of the hardwood floor and whatever beer promos had ended up there too. The bar was lined with empty bottles of both liquor and medicine, which likely belonged to the owner of the small cot that was hurriedly positioned in between the bar itself and the adjacent liquor cabinet. Torn and nearly overturned, it was of no use to Adrian, who instead filled his backpack with the few cigarettes and untouched beer cans that were left over from the visitor. Since it was clear that there wasn't much else of use in that particular room, hewalked to the wall farthest away from the entrance, where he discovered a door that, although not possessing a conventional lock of any sort, was very clearly jammed by something on the other side. Curious as to what that might be and if there was anything of use behind it, he, not wanting to attract any nearby Hunters or humans, quietly knocked on the door with as much force as such a low volume would allow.