Dust in the Wind - Part 3 - Sylar

Characters: Sylar
Fandom: Heroes
Rating: PG
Word Count: 712
Prompt: 10/100 #59 Food 100heroesfics and Bones: Hope? I always thought that was a human failing, Mr. Spock. scifi_muses
Notes: Sylar at the end of days. This is a cooperative fic between thewatchmaker and mydnight_dreams

Part One - by thewatchmaker
Part Two - by mydnight_dreams

Dust in the Wind - Part Three by thewatchmaker

Every step I took sent up miniature dust clouds. The devastation went on for miles. I could see the shattered city in the distance, but I couldn’t seem to get any closer. I was tired and so hungry. I had no idea how long it’d been since I had some kind of sustenance. The machines feeding me had broken down years before the seals on the box. I couldn’t count how many times I’d died of starvation.

I was on my way to doing it again soon. Unless I found something to eat soon, I was going to fucking die my way across where ever I was mile by mile. My feet hurt and my face itched. My beard tickled my empty stomach while my hair ran down my back. I hated the feeling against my skin, but considering my nakedness it might be a blessing.

The sun rose and set twice when I fell to my knees again. Sharp stones digging into my skin while my blood pooled around me, I slipped away to weak to even scream. A cold wet nose pressed into the matted hair on the back of my neck, and the stink of unwashed dog filled my nose. Panic set in. I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. I hated the taste of fear.

I couldn’t tell through my hair how many dogs were surrounding me. Bracing the flat of my hands against the arid ground, I shoved upwards calling on the power that used to be mine. At last the power came. It started as a tingle at first as I used my telekinesis to send the first dog flying. I didn’t bother to aim. I just sent the power out in a wave of force. The trio of dogs scattered, but they didn’t run off. They were too hungry, and I was fresh meat.

“You have no idea,” I croaked, my throat unused to making sounds. “What a big mistake you’ve made.”

Spreading my fingers like a fan, I used my power to slice one of the charging animals to ribbons. Its legs cut out from under it in mid leap. The smell of hot blood filled the air, and one of the dogs stopped to snuffle at the dead instead of charging me. The third on the other hand didn’t. I growled, hair rising down its spine as it slithered towards me.

I panted in time with it, crouching low, ready for it to strike. The power I’d used devoured my meager reserves. I had to kill them all. If I didn’t, they’d eat me, and there is no coming back from that. In the distance I heard the sound of thunder and a flash of lightning striking the desert miles away. If it got here in time, I could draw power from it. If it didn’t, I wasn’t sure I’d survive.

I sent a spray of sand into the dog’s face, with as much force as I had left. The dog roared in pain, blood freckled its muzzle and it howled as the sand took out one eye. It stumbled and pawed at the ruin of its face, but it didn’t give up. It wanted my blood. It got back to its feet, and charged for me again.

Without any power, I had no choice, I had to run. My feet skidded as I fought for purchase on the sand. I fell and fell again, as I ran toward the coming storm. It was too far away, too far away, and I was tired. I wanted to give up, but I was not going to be dog chow.

The storm shifted, lightning struck close enough that I could smell the ozone in the air. I fell again and screamed as I frantically tried to call the power to me. An arc of blue white death hurtled towards the earth, and striking the ground close enough that I felt the static electricity in the air. Turning I raised my hands and sent everything I had been able to steal into the charging dog. It exploded like a poodle in a microwave. My breath came in ragged gasps as I stumbled over to the carcass. “Guess it’s a dog eat dog world after all.”