The silver of the moon was all but extinguished by blackness. The tiny remaining sliver lit up the road as she ran, her heart thumping wildly in her chest.  Behind her the steady beat of the drums went on and on, drowning out the sound of her own footsteps and any belonging to the Searchers.

No warning of a lunar eclipse had been given to the people of the city. The Elders thrived by exploiting the superstitions of the survivors of the plague who wandered the deserted streets of this dead city.

These sad creatures eked out a miserable existence by plundering the abandoned warehouses, shops and factories of the pre-apocalyptic world. The Elders made use of their brawn and muscles to perform tasks such as clearing the city of the dead bodies in the aftermath of the plague and foraging for the fuel that kept the generators in their…