The Night

The Night

Four hours had passed since the attack; for the most part, I was alone.  I passed groups of the dead and dying and even small groups of mutants.  It had been a fairly long walk for me to travel from where the lab and shelter were to the residential district.  The homes and apartment buildings had been hit harder than I'd thought at first, most of them were just collapsed into their basement and those that had survived were either unstable-looking or on fire.

I felt myself growing tired as I moved, so I paused near a wrecked car.  All the windows were broken and the tires had burst, but the frame looked okay.  Sitting down to catch my breath I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wrecked car, panting softly.  Around me, I could hear the shrieks and screams of the dying, the cries of mutants, and the dull roar in the background generated by hundreds of fires that had been started all over the city.

The cries of mutants grew suddenly louder and I jolted upright, looking over the remains of the car.  A small group of mutants, things that were obviously human before, were passing through, seeming to chatter amongst themselves as they passed.  They still wore tattered rags of clothing hanging from their bodies, but they were clearly no longer human.

They paused near the corpse of a young man, or… what used to be a young man and began to fight amongst themselves; eventually the three smaller ones ganged up and killed the largest before they began tearing its body apart.  Seeing an opportunity, I decided it was best to move on before I was discovered and I wound up being their meal.  I carefully moved away from my hiding place, creeping away, leaving the pack of… whatever they were to cannibalize their former leader.

I don't remember how long I ran, passing by many buildings, some destroyed, some on fire.  Was this place really what humanity hand consigned itself to?  A bastion of cement and brick, a world of darkness brought on by the unquenchable fire created in 1945?  I found myself asking this over and over as I passed by what used to be living spaces, stopping when I finally happened upon a structure that appeared livable.  Well… perhaps livable isn't the right word, something that wouldn't collapse while I slept.

Still clutching the single handgun I'd taken from the dead guard in the facility, I entered the building, pushing in the front door, which was still warm, checking carefully for any mutants before worrying about other hazards like fire or smoke.  My two-toned eyes searched over the darkness inside the building, my ruby-coloured right eye allowing me to see in complete darkness as though it were daylight.

The inside of the building was devoid of any life that I could see; no mutants, no survivors, nothing that seemed capable of hurting me.  Turning, I pushed the door shut and threw the heavy latch, checking to make sure it was secure before turning to the rest of the building.  I felt like someone or something was watching me, but it was possible that it was simply paranoia.

As I moved through the building, which was a former apartment building, I began searching for things I might need immediately like water and medical supplies.  Each time I pushed a door inward, my gun followed immediately, ready to kill or injure anything wishing harm upon me.  The first two apartments I searched contained nothing of interest or real use to me.  The third was different however; it appeared to belong to a middle-aged man that held some sort of military position.  Much of the clothing that was scattered around the room was camouflaged or dark-coloured.

Carefully, I picked through everything, finding an ID badge lying on the dresser; a member of the corporation's security team, a fairly high-ranking one at that.  I decided it was best to keep the ID badge because I'd seen workers use them to unlock doors in the facilities.  The clothing looked like it might fit me, and given that my uniform, the clothing the scientists had given me, wasn't very good for blending into the city as I knew it now, I decided a change would be best.  I selected a pair of grey and black urban camouflage pants and a black t-shirt, changing out of my lab uniform.  The clothing fit well, almost like it had been tailored for me.

After a slight pause, I decided it would be best to make this place a home, or maybe a safe house, I wasn't sure what the correct technical term for it was.  Turning, I locked the door, checking several times to make sure the lock worked before I turned my back on it and headed further into the room.  I was on the second floor of the building, the windows were barred; originally a means of deterring would-be criminals, but now they were added security for me.  This place, this city, would kill me if I wasn't careful.