Written by Larry Ferguson, Jr.

Published on April 3, 2023

From the moment it arrived, the Sludge changed everything. It was something that no one had ever seen before. Despite its fleshy organic appearance, nothing was human or even discernibly terrestrial about it. Even without organs or appendages, it manages to ooze its way around and consume. The Sludge does not eat. Its gelatinous, amorphous segments do not require energy, they simply exist to destroy. When it touches people, they get absorbed. There is no digestion or breakdown of the Sludge’s victims, only assimilation. Any living thing ranging from the tiniest microorganisms to the planet’s largest beasts is overtaken and integrated into the multicolored hivemind of massive shapeless atrocities that make up the invading Sludge population.

It’s only been a week since the Sludge’s presence became known to humanity. In those seven days, approximately eighty percent of humanity has been consumed by the seemingly immortal Sludge. The militaries and home defense enthusiasts of their world threw everything they had at the Sludge. Bullets, bombs, napalm, and nukes: All useless against the immutable mounds of matter. As people all around the world attempted to fight back, the lack of communication and misunderstanding of the true nature of the Sludge led to the downfall of the human race. Without exception, every creature who chose fight instead of flight was annihilated as a consequence of their ignorance. Now the Sludge stands as a unified army with an innumerable amount of soldiers and in some parts of the world, those soldiers have coalesced into such large lumps, that they dwarf the largest structures in the world.

The remnants of humanity had been surviving in small settlements that have taken advantage of what little infrastructure, knowledge, and skills remain from the old world. Unfortunately, that would be another ignorant misstep that would lead to the complete and total eradication of the human race. Those still alive kept running as many plants and facilities as possible to keep communities thriving. Of course, all it took was one drop of Sludge getting into the water supply, and suddenly each and every person who remained began to unknowingly be converted into Sludge from the inside out. All it took was a few piles of Sludge and a little bit of patience, and just like that, the world was over.