The morning siren sounded and I rolled blearily out of my cot and threw on my dull gray uniform before lining up with my fellow workers for the daily inspection. Today I found myself in between a tall man with squinty eyes and a pale woman with sunken cheekbones. I wasn't sure if I'd seen these people before or not. With our shaved heads and matching outfits we all tended to look somewhat similar. None of us had names, just identification numbers, and we were highly discouraged from talking amongst ourselves.

We stood straight and still as the inspection drone whirs by us. I had no idea what it was looking for, but if you didn't meet its exacting standards you'd be disintegrated on the spot with a laser beam.

A song blasted through speakers hidden in the walls as the drone went about its grim duty. It was the same song every day and its lyrics dealt with the future of humanity from the year 2525, all the way to the year 9595. At first I thought the song was meant to give us hope or uplift us in some way, but as I paid more attention the words seemed ominous to me. The opening line seemed to cast some doubt as to whether humans would even be around in 2525, and the way it described living conditions in far future years didn't sound like a much better world. I began to realize the song was actually meant to crush all hope. Nothing would ever change for the better and this drudgery would continue for thousands of years.

The thing was, I really wasn't sure humans actually would still exist in the year 2525. It was 2460 now, that was only 65 years away and I couldn't help but feel that humanity was already on its last legs. There were a lot less people than there used to be. The barracks I stayed in used to be so full that many people were forced to sleep on the floor, but now there were empty cots everywhere.

They shut down the factory I used to work in about five years ago. There weren't enough people to keep it going. Truthfully, I wasn't sure if our overlords were even still alive. I hadn't seen one in person in nearly a decade. The drones were still operational though, and highly lethal, so resistance remained futile.

In lieu of factory work, we were now divided into groups of five and sent to scavenge through old abandoned neighborhoods in the city. We weren't instructed as to exactly what we were looking for, but if we didn't bring back anything the drones deemed valuable we were subject to reduced rations for the day. I hadn't had much luck in that regard lately. It had been nearly three weeks since I'd had a full meal. The area we had been searching recently had been picked pretty clean. The city was huge and we were being assigned to a new section today so I had high hopes of eating decently tonight, if a full serving of slop can be considered good eating.

The inspection came to an end at the precise moment the song stopped playing. Nobody had been obliterated so apparently we had passed the muster today. We were divided up in accordance to how we'd lined up so I found myself in a group with the man and woman I'd been standing between as well as a boy who couldn't have been much older than sixteen and a middle aged woman with dark bags under her eyes.

We were loaded onto a tram that transported us somewhere deep within the city. After nearly twenty-five minutes we came to a stop, the door opened, and we were instructed to exit.

We found ourselves in an area that must have once been near the heart of a thriving metropolis, but now everything was wiped out. We were surrounded by the remains of buildings that had once been tall, but were now decrepit and crumbling, although many of them were still big enough to cast long shadows. The streets were strewn with rubble and garbage and dead trees lined the cracked and ruined sidewalks. Aside from an occasional light breeze that stirred up, it was completely silent. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about this place felt really wrong.

A drone floated out of the tram behind us and instructed us to get to work. I decided to tackle a large rubble pile near the mouth of a dark alleyway that lay between the shells of two buildings, while my "co-workers" wandered off to rummage through various stacks of garbage and debris.

I only had a vague inkling of what the drones considered valuable based on what had been accepted or rejected in the past, but they seemed partial to unusual items. So far nothing I found among the rubble fit the bill. It was mostly just crumbled concrete and twisted metal, although I spotted a flash of something yellow near the bottom of a hole I'd carved out of the debris. I extended my arm as far as it would reach and managed to pry something loose.

I pulled my hand out to examine the treasure I'd unearthed. It looked like it had been a child's toy. An old cracked and dirty rubber duckie. I couldn't imagine what use an item such as this might have, but I hadn't seen anything like it on any of my other expeditions, so I put it in my bag.

I was starting to resume digging, when I heard a noise coming from the alleyway. It sounded like a cry of distress. I paused and looked down the alley. I couldn't see more than a few feet past the entrance. The rest was a pitch black abyss.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to my pile when I heard the noise again. It was louder this time and a little more distinct, although still echoey sounding. It sounded like something was in pain.

"Hello?" I called out. "Are you in need of assistance?"

I was met with silence.

I stood and peered down the alleyway for a moment longer, but I couldn't make anything out in the interminable darkness. I didn't want to stand around idly for too long. If the drone spotted me slacking off, I'd be in trouble, but something was down there. I was sure of it.

I got back to digging in the rubble when something burst out of the alley in a blur of motion. The suddenness of it startled me, but whatever it was wasn't large. It came to a stop next to a nearby garbage pile and I saw it was a small white bunny rabbit. It occurred to me this might be something of value so I stopped what I was doing and started to sneak up on it. It sniffed at the air and twitched its ears as I got close, but it didn't bolt. I held my breath and inched forward ever so slowly.

Suddenly the silence was shattered by a bloodcurdling scream coming from somewhere behind me and the rabbit took off, easily evading my reach. I turned around to see what had caused the commotion.

The young boy was staring down an alleyway across the street from me, his mouth hung agape and he appeared to be frozen in place before he collapsed to his knees.

The drone flew over to him and a robotic voice sounded out of it. "Worker MK8974, you have not been granted a recess. Resume work immediately or face the consequences."

"It... it ripped her apart," the young boy said as he pointed down the alleyway.

I wandered over to see what was going on along with the squinty-eyed man and the pale woman. The middle-aged woman was nowhere to be seen. A trail of blood and viscera led into the alleyway, vanishing in the darkness beyond.

The drone turned to the squinty-eyed man. "Worker VF4285. You will retrieve Worker SQ3301 from the alley. The rest of you are to resume work."

The man gulped and nodded and then stepped into the alley. I couldn't help but think it looked like a wide, gaping maw. I could only see him for a moment before he was swallowed up by the darkness.

For a moment nothing happened, but then a scream of agony reverberated down the alley and a fountain of blood sprayed out, splattering all of us.

The drone aimed a light beam down the alley and its robotic voice said. "Analyzing.... Analyzing... Report: Thousands of unknown entities approaching. Advise immediate evacuation of workers. Repeat, advise immediate-" Something cut the drone short with a resounding thump and it exploded in a shower of sparks.

"Run!" I shouted at the other workers and turned towards the tram. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the young boy trip over a block of broken concrete. I didn't look back as I heard him let out an ear piercing screech that stopped abruptly as I felt hot slimy fluid splash against my back and legs.

The pale woman and I made it to the tram and slammed the door shut. I'd never operated one before, but I immediately started to press buttons on the control panel. Something was slamming up against the sides of the tram, causing the entire vehicle to shake, but I forced myself to concentrate.

I found an ignition button and pressed it and the tram came to life. At the same time I heard the sound of glass shattering and the pale woman was yanked from my side. I saw the lower half of her body being pulled out a broken window, the shards of broken glass leaving deep bloody cuts as they scraped against her legs and then she was gone.

I located an acceleration button and the tram took off. There didn't seem to be any steering mechanism and I didn't know how to program the tram where to go so it just took off towards some unknown destination. I didn't know how to get back to the barracks anyway.

Several minutes passed and there were no sounds from outside. I dared to peek out the broken window, but all I saw were faceless ruins passing by as the tram made its way down a maze of city streets. I appeared to have escaped the carnage for now, but I didn't know what awaited me wherever I was going. The best I could hope for was reduced rations. I'd lost my bag at some point during the ordeal, so that seemed a given. I hoped I wouldn't be in more trouble from the drones, if I even made it back to them.

For a moment I entertained a fantasy of breaking free of the drones entirely, but what if they were protecting us from something even more horrible? I collapsed into a seat and began to shudder uncontrollably.

I'm not sure anymore if humanity is going to make it another year, let alone to 2525. There aren't many of us left and something is stalking us.