The Survivors is the first post-apocalyptic story taking place on a dalek-controlled Earth. It is part of the Daleks on Earth series.
I feel like I should credit Zombie Wiki for giving me great ideas for the post-apocalyptic settings, which means I should credit Pinguinus for introducing me to it.
Chapter 1[]
Mark entered the house through the back door, before closing, locking, bolting and barricading it securely behind him. The barricade, however, was a single, simple sheet of metal, as the back door was an escape route which he and his fellow survivors may need to access with speed.
There were three others living in the house with him; Bill, Michael and Catherine. All of them knew each other, and had been lucky to survive the dalek invasion. They were part of a larger group of survivors, living in the Vanha Prison. They were merely a small group out to retrieve more supplies. Now, they were holed up in this house, hidden among the wreckage of many others.
He dropped the firearms he was carrying onto the table surface in the lounge. The clatter brought the others running, and he showed them what he had retrieved.
There were three handguns, a revolver, two rifles, a machine-gun, and a shotgun. He had no idea whether or not they worked against daleks, but it was worth a try. He gave each of the others and handgun, and picked a revolver for himself, which he placed in one of his pocket. He also took a rifle, as did Michael, while Bill took the shotgun and Catherine the machine-gun. Then, they heard a faint voice outside.
"LIFE FORMS DETECTED!"
"THREE HUMAN MALES AND ONE HUMAN FEMALE!"
"ESCAPE ROUTES ANALYSED. THERE IS A BACK DOOR WITH EASY ACCESS TO AN ALLEY NETWORK!"
"CUT OFF THIS ESCAPE ROUTE!"
"DALEKS IN POSITION! EXTERMINATE!"
There was an explosion, and the front door was blown open despite fortification, followed seconds later by an explosion from the back door, as the daleks blasted their way in.
"EXTERMINATE!"
They glided into the lounge, completely cornering the group. The only way out was up the stairs.
"Quick," Michael said. "Upstairs! I’ll hold them back."
The others didn’t need telling twice, and were up the stairs in a flash. Michael knew his rifle would be useless at such close range, and took out his handgun. He fired steadily, alternating between the daleks, but each bullet was melted up by the invisible forcefield surrounding each dalek. One fired with its gunstick, and Michael cried out in agony, before his body fell to the floor.
"ELEVATE!"
The daleks ascended the stairs, though the others had expecting them to be able to do so, having seen them fly in the invasion. Desperately, Mark fired with his rifle, but a second later screamed in agony, and his body slumped to the floor. The daleks glided onwards, into the bedroom where the other two were hiding. Bill opened fire with his shotgun, and Catherine with her machine-gun, both to no effect.
"EXTERMINATE!"
Bill’s body hit the floor with a thud, but Catherine continued firing, until a second later, she too was struck by a dalek deathray. It flung her against the wall, and she was already dead before her body hit the floor.
"BUILDING CLEARED OF HUMANS. PROCEEDING."
Chapter 2[]
The Vanha Prison was an enormous prison sitting on the edges of a city in America. It was home to a large amount of survivors from the dalek invasion, who had fortified it and made it the perfect defendable location. From the main reception, it was divided into five wings, joined together by more corridors. These wings eventually took right angles, and different corridors stretched onwards. As well as this, there was a library, cafeteria and armoury; however the armoury was stored only with riot gear and non-lethal weapons. Luckily, the survivors had brought a ton of firearms.
The prison was surrounded by a thick, stone wall mounted with barbed wire, followed by a electrified chain-link fence which had been added recently. The only way in was through the main door, which they had barricaded with sheets of metal, and a desk from the main reception.
Each of the five corridors was blocked off by a single sheet of metal, and there were two defenders in the reception, who swapped round on a regular basis.
If the front door became unusable, they had two escape routes. They had stored plenty of food, water, medical supplies and firearms in one of the back cells, and just behind the cell they had dug a tunnel leading under the prison, and coming out just on the other side of the wall. They had constructed a wooden hut to surround the exit, so the daleks hopefully wouldn’t spot it. If that location became compromised, there was an intersection in the tunnel which would take them to a pre-furnished underground chamber, where they could live for up to a week before needing supplies again, they estimated.
As well as their barricades, there were also a lot of metal doors in place already, so the survivors inside were pretty confident they could fend off even the daleks. Well, they were confident until the daleks actually invaded.
"PRISON BLOCK HOUSES 45 HUMAN SURVIVORS. 32 MALE, 13 FEMALE."
"THEY WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
In a few shots, the daleks shattered the thick stone wall, gliding through its crumbling remains. They blasted apart the electric fences, proceeding to the main entrance. A single blast shattered the doors, and a second blew apart the feeble barricade. The two guards opened fire with machine-guns, but the bullets melted up in the daleks forcefield, and they were both exterminated.
"WE WILL SPLIT UP AND PROCEED! CLEANSE THE BUILDING OF HUMAN LIFE!"
Five shots were fired simultaneously, each one blowing down a different sheet of metal as they glided into the main body of the prison. As they passed the first few cells, survivors hidden inside opened fire at them. All the bullets melted up, and each one was exterminated.
"23 HUMANS REMAINING!"
There were several doors splitting the corridors into segments, but they were all blasted open. Two daleks glided into the library, where three survivors were hiding, armed with machine-guns. The daleks shot down each one, then proceeded to the cafeteria, where they found and exterminated one survivor. Surprisingly, there was no-one in the armoury.
Now, the daleks rejoined to glide down the final corridor. There were several barriers, each of which was blown down. The survivors had also dug holes in the floor as hazards, but the daleks elevated over them.
As they blasted down the final door, three of the survivors were still throwing supplies down the tunnel.
"EXTERMINATE!"
Each one screamed in agony as they died.
"DESTROY THE SUPPLIES!"
There was a brief and intense barrage of fire that completely smashed apart the stored supplies.
"HUMANS HAVE ENTERED TUNNEL."
"IT COMES OUT JUST OUTSIDE THE PRISON WALLS."
"SENDING SECOND SQUAD IN."
"WE SHALL RETURN."
The daleks glided out of the prison, while a second squad came upon the wooden hut hiding the tunnel exit. With a single blast, the walls were shattered, to reveal the survivors huddling inside.
"EXTERMINATE!"
The survivors dived back down the tunnel, but not all of them made it. By the time the seventh dived down the tunnel, the other nine lay dead on the floor.
"PERFORMING GROUND PENETRATING SCAN."
"LARGE CAVERN HAS BEEN EXCAVATED UNDERNEATH THE PRISON. ONLY ENTRANCE VIA TUNNEL. IT IS STOCKED UP WITH FOOD, WATER, FIREARMS AND MEDICAL KITS, AS WELL AS BEING FURNISHED."
"WE SHALL SET CONSTANT GUARD AROUND THE TWO TUNNEL EXITS. IF WE CANNOT EXTERMINATE THEM, WE WILL STARVE THEM TO DEATH."
Chapter 3[]
Two daleks, carrying a large boulder between them, glided through the maze of destruction that was the prison. Eventually, they reached the tunnel down which the humans were hidden. With a single push, they placed the boulder over the tunnel entrance.
A third dalek came, carrying a ring of steel. It fitted it around the base of the rock, and then all the daleks opened fire, turning the ring into molten metal. Two daleks glided away; the other stayed to ensure the steel would harden and fix the boulder in place.
The same process took place of the other entrance.
"NOW THEY CANNOT ESCAPE. EVENTUALLY THEY SHALL RUN OUT OF SUPPLIES, AND DIE A SLOW AND AGONISING DEATH. FOR SECURITY, ONE DALEK SHALL GUARD EACH EXIT. EXTERMINATE HUMANS ON SIGHT!"
The main squad force glided away from the prison on the hunt for more survivors. Only one remained at each exit, guards for the unlikely event of the humans breaking out.
Meanwhile, in the underground cavern, the seven remaining humans huddled together. They were shivering, from fear more than cold.
"Someone check the tunnel exits," one said. "See if the daleks are guarding them."
Two humans left, one going up each tunnel. They came back with downcast faces.
"The daleks have secured boulders over the exits. We're trapped."
"Maybe not," another objected. "We dug tunnels to this cavern; why not dig another one?"
"How long would it take?"
"If we were lucky enough to find open air first time, maybe a week or so. If we came up against a wall, much longer."
"And digging will use up much more energy; the diggers will need more food."
"Alright," one shouted, clearly the leader. "We don't have enough supplies to put in effect an attempt to dig us out. We'll have to find a different way out of here."
"Like what? We're trapped. The daleks won't move those boulders again."
"Silence! Just be grateful the daleks couldn't follow us! If it was zombies or something, they could have followed us down here."
"If it was zombies, they wouldn't have passed our barricade!"
There was silence after that remark; a brooding silence as each human tried to think of his own way out.
Chapter 4[]
"We could try and break the boulders," someone suggested. "We've got guns and pickaxes we could use."
"Daleks don't take chances," someone replied. "They'll still be guarding both exits. They might even be monitoring our movements as we speak."
"How?"
"Ground-penetrating heat scans? I don't know, but I'm sure they can."
"If we all work on one boulder, and try and get out at the same time, someone might make it."
"No-one will. Not a chance. There's only seven of us."
"Then what can we do? I'm not just gonna lie down and die."
"That might be our only option."
"Give up? Never. There's always a way."
"That's only in the movies."
"Anyway," a third person said, "Arguing isn't going to help. We've got a week to get out of here."
"Maybe less."
"What? How?"
"If the Daleks made the tunnel airtight, we'll use up all the oxygen and die much quicker."
"Thanks for that."
Chapter 5[]
One week later:
"SCANS SHOW THAT NO HUMANS HAVE SURVIVED. DALEKS REIGN SUPREME. ALL HAIL THE DALEKS!"
Deathray blasts shattered the boulder, for no reason other than to cause random destruction. The Daleks then glided away from the site.
Anyone who gone down the tunnels would have found the dalek scans were perfectly correct. Seven thin, oxygen-starved bodies lay on the floor of the cavern, surrounded by empty food boxes and plastic bottles. None had survivied beyond the first few days.