((All right, here goes.  If anyone is interested please see the topic in the "Seeking RolePlay" section first and then PM me.))<br/><br/>When the sun rose that morning, it seemed that it would be a day like any other.  Within an hour the heat settled in as it always seemed to for the most part of the year, leaving the air heavy with humidity and warning every living thing that thunderstorms would likely pass later in the day.<br/><br/>However the day was not to be like any other.  It would be the day that marked the beginning of everything... or the end of everything.  Only time would tell which it would be.<br/><br/>Before noon it came, the unremembered but dreaded blackness appearing in the sky not far to the west of the palisade-encircled settlement.  Screams first, then panicked orders were heard as the black swarm bore silently down on the place, but they were not to last.  The swarm moved in, spreading itself out, and within seconds all the sounds had fallen to silence.<br/><br/>Only minutes later the vile cloud, formed of an innumerable amount of tiny black particles, rose up from all about the settlement and came into a single flying mass, one almost imperceptibly smaller than it had been.  Then, without making any sound whatsoever, the swarm headed off toward the east, continuing along its original path.<br/><br/>The fenced-in settlement was silent for a few minutes, the motionless forms laying about, seemingly lifelessly.  Then, finally, the first weak, mindless cry came.  As though it roused all the others, a chorus of wailing screams arose, echoing through the afternoon and into the night, the sheer unnaturallness of it keeping even the beasts at bay for a time.<br/><br/>Eventually, however, days later, the howling began to die down.  Voices emerged from the cacophony, speaking in words, crying for help or calling orders.  Silence finally returned, and yet another day began...<br/><br/>--- --- --- ---<br/><br/>Melissa walked aimlessly around her home for a time, even after her mind began to return to her.  The green-eyed Redhead quietly looked around at the carnage all about, her memories slowly returning to her as she took in the sight of it all...<br/><br/>The manor seemed to have survived fairly well this time... though all the glass of the windows had been destroyed long, long before, the crude wooden shutters appeared to have survived this time.  The old stone house, as well, seemed to have made it through the last few days unscathed; that was good, since her clan didn't tend to have the skills to repair the damage when it did occur.<br/><br/>The concrete barn seemed as indestructible as always, despite the cracks here and there that had been inexpertly patched up over the many years; however the makeshift wooden doors had been torn away, and the supplies once kept inside had been scattered all over the clansite.  Melissa's people were beginning to painstakingly try to salvage what they could from the widespread mess, but she had little hope of them having much success.  They never did.<br/><br/>The Frogly enclosure, she noted unhappily, had been broken open in several places, the rough rope net set over it torn and cut in a blind effort to get inside.  There were no Froglies inside anymore... unless you counted the bits and pieces of their flesh that had been left to rot in the hot sun.  The stench was overpowering... and it turned her stomach even more to note that not all the bloated bodies in there belonged to Froglies.  Apparently some humans had been gobbled up and rescued, but far too late, and they had been left there.<br/><br/>Even the field full of useful plants had been ravaged, though many of the plants had survived and many humans had not.  Bodies littered the area, drained of blood or killed by deadly spores; many a plant stood silently, the shapely forms squeezed into their stems or between their leaves proof that they had fed on the ones that had grown them.  Here and there, feeble jerks inside some plants gave testimony that not all the meals were quite dead yet.<br/><br/>The clansite was surprisingly quiet, Melissa thought vaguely.  It was quieter than usual... and that was odd...<br/><br/>No, come to think of it, that wasn't an odd thing after a mind-killer swarm had passed.  What<span style="font-style: italic">was</span>odd, however, was that she<span style="font-style: italic">remembered</span>that the clansite was usually bustling with far more activity than this.  She<span style="font-style: italic">remembered</span>that usually there were children playing, and people skinning animals, or sharpening stones and bones to make weapons... she<span style="font-style: italic">remembered.</span>They<span style="font-style: italic">never</span>remembered after the swarm passed... they never remembered<span style="font-style: italic">anything</span>at<span style="font-style: italic">all</span>...<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">What is this?</span>She thought, looking around with wide green eyes in a bewildered fashion.  She scratched absent-mindedly at the base of her bare left breast.  She was nude, of course; clothing really didn't tend to survive the week of mindlessness following the passage of a swarm.<span style="font-style: italic">But see, I'm not supposed to remember that, either,</span>she thought,<span style="font-style: italic">Or to even realize that we were only mindless for two or three days this time.  What's going on?</span><br/><br/>Her memories were indeed hazy... but for the first time that she knew of, someone --- namely, herself --- remembered things after being hit by a mindkiller swarm.  Plus, here and there around her she could see, by the looks on peoples' faces, that she wasn't the only one remembering things.<br/><br/>Was it finally happening?  Were the mind-killer swarms finally losing their effect on the human mind?  Was this hell humans had been trapped in for centuries finally coming to an end?  Or was this just some random fluke?<br/><br/>Regardless... her clan still had to survive... and they'd destroyed their supplies.  They would need to replenish their food and herbs quickly, or they would starve.  She had best start seeing about organizing some hunting and foraging parties...<br/><br/>She blinked, her eyes widening as something else came to her, even as two women headed toward her with intent expressions.<span style="font-style: italic">Holy shit,</span>she thought,<span style="font-style: italic">I'm the chief, aren't I...?</span><br/><br/>"Chief," one woman, a petite, blond-haired girl barely over five feet tall said to her by way of greeting.  She recognized her: Mina.  A Golden Retriever... despite her diminutive stature.  "Melissa.  Something odd's going on.  We remember things."<br/><br/>"I noticed," Melissa said, not in an attempt at sarcasm.  "Is it everybody, or...?"<br/><br/>"Not everyone," the other woman, an athletic, raven-haired girl answered.  Onyx was her name... a Master Hunter, as Melissa recalled.  "Maybe about half.  But usually it's no one."<br/><br/>"Yes," Melissa agreed.  "Yes.  This is new and... and reassuring."  She found herself smiling.  Yes, her clan had destroyed its supplies, and lost members to the passage of the mindkiller swarm... but finally, at long last, it appeared that humanity would finally begin to recover from its self-imposed hell.  "Yes.  Can you girls round everybody up?  I'll need to speak to them all."<br/><br/>"Yes," Mina said.  "I think that's a good idea."<br/>"Okay," Onyx agreed.  "Best start quick, after all.  We have a lot of work to do, memories or no memories..."<br/><br/>"Yeah," Melissa agreed.  "Yeah.  We'll see what we have to work with though."  She paused for a moment as the two girls headed off.  "Hey, while you're at it... check and see if any of the<span style="font-style: italic">men</span>remember anything."<br/><br/>The girls nodded.  Other women standing nearby, having heard the quick conversation, also headed off to gather everyone up.  Melissa nodded and headed back toward the manor, finding herself smiling.  Things were finally looking up... after, from what she'd been told, countless generations of horror.<br/><br/>But if the<span style="font-style: italic">men</span>were recovering their ability to think and remember also... now that would be the<span style="font-style: italic">real</span>miracle.