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A small boy with long black hair and nothing worth fighting for runs through the forest, the sounds of loud roaring and trees cracking. This boy is named Fenix, and he is the protagonist of our story. How did he get here, you may ask? Well, about three years ago a world-wide explosion occurred, taking out most human beings, and the few that survived became mutants of what they once were. These mutations came as both a blessing and a curse, as the people further from the blast gained powers we now call bursts, and the people closer to the explosion became the fully mutated “Geeks”, or as Fenix calls them, “Mutated Assholes”.
Now, to get back to the action. Fenix sprints through the forest, climbing over fallen trees and jumping over the roots, keeping an eye out as not to be tripped. He had made this place his home for the past week or so, and learned very quickly to watch your feet so you didn’t fall face first into the underbrush.
As the roaring behind him grows louder, Fenix turns to look into the leafage of the forest, bright yellow eyes staring back at him as a silver mutant in the form of a puma sprints towards him, wings sprouting out of its back as it leaps forward, gliding quickly towards Fenix. His eyes widen as hes looks back in the direction he was moving, panting heavily, eyes watering. The beast, a morphling, gaining on him quickly, his legs unable to carry him faster than the beast could run.
And then he falls. Fenix falls face first into the underbrush as his life flashes before his eyes, his last gasp a squeak. But instead of hitting the ground, he feels a vine from the trees lift him into the canopy, and he watches as the morphling stares up at him confused, mirroring his own expression.
As Fenix is pulled up out of the forest into the canopy, he locks eyes with a tall man, of which he hasn’t seen before. The man is very muscular, with patches of gray hair, a dark colored beard and brown hair, sunken tired eyes, and wearing a dark brown trench coat. The man looked quite young, but his eyes and the gray hairs honestly made Fenix question how old he was. The vine drops Fenix suddenly, planting him on a tree branch above the forest floor, landing hard on his ass. He grunts softly, muttering to himself before looking up at the man.
“Who the fuck are you-?!?” Fenix squeaks, blushing a bit and covering his mouth. The man chuckles before taking a puff of the cigarette in his mouth, coughing a bit while blowing out the thick smoke.
“That ain’t the way to talk to the man that just saved yer ass, kid.” The man responds, looking down at Fenix smugly. He grins, extending a hand to Fenix. The boy beneath him scrunches up his nose, eyebrows furrowed before sighing and taking the man’s hand, pulling himself up. Fenix looks below them, realizing the morphling must have moved on to find something or someone to eat, before looking back to the man.
“You didn’t answer me though, who are you?” Fenix asks, looking up at the man. He groans softly, stretching his back, a loud pop sounding.
“The name yer lookin’ for is Gary, and I’m still expectin’ a thank you.” Gary responds, smiling a bit, but not enough to tell if it really was a smile or not. Fenix extends his hand, smiling a bit.
“Name’s Fenix, and you’re not gettin’ one till we’re out of here.” He retorts, making Gary chuckle.
“Ya make a good point there, kid.” He says with a full smile, though it doesn’t reach his eyes. Fenix smiles more in return, sighing softly. He watches as Gary looks down, shrugs a little, and jumps down from the tree, landing on the underbrush below, grunting. Fenix looks down confused and bewildered.
“How am I supposed to get down from here, old man-?!?” He yells down, and Gary chuckles a little before extending his hand up, a large flower blooming from the ground and raising up to Fenix’s level, smiling.
“Hop on-!” Gary yells back, gesturing for him to walk onto the flower. Fenix takes a deep breathe before stepping onto the flower, not fully trusting it to support his weight. But, to his surprise, nothing happens, and it stays in place. The two both sigh, Fenix steadying himself before Gary lowers the flower, bringing Fenix back down to the forest floor. When he reaches the ground, Fenix steps off, brushing himself off quickly before looking back up to Gary, the two exchanging a quick smile.
“Thanks, old man.” Fenix teases, smiling. Gary chuckles a little, before hearing the screeching sound of a wild animal in pain. The two’s eyes widen at the sound, Fenix looking around quickly, smile dropping. He begins hyperventilating, his eyes darting around quickly, the sound feeling like it was all around him, encircling the entire forest, or maybe just echoing around it. Either way, the sound was horrid, and it was just way too much. He closes his eyes, falling to the ground and clamping his hands on his ears. Gary watches in confusion and worry, kneeling down with a crack from his joints, putting a hand on Fenix’s shoulder, his eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed.
“Are ya alright, kid-??” He yells over the screeching, watching as Fenix shakes his head quickly, looking up to Gary with a look of pain. The man grimaces slightly, thinking for a moment before picking up the small kid, taking him in his arms gently and pressing a hand against his ear, pressing the other side of his head into the chest.
“Hope this helps a l’il…” He mutters, turning towards the source of the sound, walking slowly. He mutters something about wondering if it was the morphling from before, tired eyes scanning the area as the sounds grew louder before cutting off like a gurgle. Gary lifts an eyebrow to this, questioning what could have happened to make that sound, silently horrified of whatever was attacking whatever made the sound in the first place. He shudders, looking down to Fenix curled in his arms, eyes scrunched closed, breathing quick and shallow breaths. Gary sighs, breathing slowly, Fenix’s small hand cupped in his.
“You’ll be alright kid, soon as ya calm down…” He takes his hand off Fenix’s, sighing softly and continuing forward slowly, keeping an eye out for any Geeks out in the wild, or worse, the morphling that almost ate the kid in his arms. He trudges forward, shifting Fenix in his arms so he only takes one arm to carry, noting how lightweight he is and chuckling a little to himself.
Fenix holds onto Gary’s arm gently, making the older man smile softly to himself, glancing down at the boy, watching his face shift to one of comfort. Gary sighs softly, walking forward and humming softly, feeling Fenix react to it softly. He raises an eyebrow, huffing softly.
“You hear really well, huh, kid?” Gary asks, feeling the boy nod against his arm. “And that’s what the panic was about, it was too loud?” Fenix nods again, smiling a little at the understanding. “Then I’ll be a little quieter for ya, kiddo. Just so I don’t hurt yer ears too much.”
Fenix nuzzles against Gary’s arm softly, smiling wider and wider. He never had someone who was so understanding, so quickly, in his life. It made him want to cry, in a good way. He giggles softly to himself, watching as Gary walks forward in the dense forest, getting closer to where the sound came from. It scared him a little, knowing that the sound must have came from something being hurt, but he also wanted to know what it came from, of course.
“Hey kid, you can fight fer yerself, yeah?” Gary asks softly. Fenix looks up at him and nods.
“I wouldn’t be alive if I couldn’t.” He says smugly, with Gary responding with a small chuckle and a stern nod. “You can put me down if you need.”
Gary nods softly, using his free arm to support the boy’s legs before stopping and leaning down to drop him, smiling softly. Fenix lands carefully on his feet, brushing himself off a bit. He begins walking in the direction Gary was going, the older of the two following quickly, the two reaching a small clearing in the forest.
In the clearing stood a skinny, pale man, covered in silver blood, pieces of the morphling scattered around him. His eyes glowed a faint blue, the whites of his eyes a black color, his skin faintly blue, like his entire body had frostbite. His ears pointed, back hunched as he kneeled over, picking up a piece of what was once a large morphling, and taking a bite out of it. Watching him eat, Fenix notices black goo on the ends of his arms, fading up, with chunks of red strewn in it. The boy could tell that the blue man’s burst must come from that, but was unsure how powerful he was, or even if he was human at all anymore.
Common knowledge on a person’s burst is that the more you use it, over-exerting yourself, the worse your mutation gets. If you eat anything with sugar in it, the mutation will go down, but past certain checkpoints, there was no going back. Fenix, for example. If and when Fenix uses his burst and exerts 50% of his body’s capabilities, his hearing will begin to go out. Once he reaches this point, he can lower the levels below 50%, but it won’t reverse the side effects. Gary on the other hand, would begin to bloom flowers across his body, even in vital organs, if he’s unlucky.
Fenix has no idea what the mysterious man’s burst could be, since it wasn’t exactly obvious from his mutations, but it did look like he was powerful. He took out a morphling, for fuck’s sake. He never even saw the skeleton of one of them before, so who knows if they even could die naturally. And then the man locked eyes with him, and he froze, a shiver climbing up his spine. He smiled, almost unnaturally, eyes dilating. He stands up and begins walking over, Fenix hiding quickly behind Gary with a squeak.
“Hiding in the dark, huh-?” The man questions. “That’s just what a weakling would do, you know!” Fenix gulps down what feels like a golf ball, shaking softly. Gary grins, shaking a bit himself, raising an eyebrow.
“And ya took down that geek?” Gary asks in return, tilting his head down a bit and widening his eyes, eyebrows raising. “That’s a big one… Actually, does that even taste good?” The man giggles manically, bright blue eyes constricting. He takes a few steps closer, Gary reaching his arm around Fenix, hiding him out of the way, attempting to keep him out of the mutant’s view.
“Can’t taste much anymore, but blood does have a strong smell~” He says sing-songingly. The man steps closer, almost towering over Gary, who himself, was quite the large man. He gulps quietly, keeping his eyes locked on the other man’s.
“Heh, yeah…” As the man steps closer to him, Gary moves his hand out slightly, curling his finger. Fenix watches as a small flower grows into a huge vine, casting all three of them in shadows, before crashing quickly into the taller man, sending him a few feet to the side, tumbling over before landing quickly on his feet.
“Well aren’t you feisty~?” The blue man coos, raising an eyebrow. He leaps towards Gary, who pushes Fenix out of the way, shifting all of the black and substance on his body to one arm. As he cocks him arm to punch Gary, the substance gleams a bright red, and Fenix can sense the danger he’s in before the first hit. Almost in slow motion the man’s fist hits Gary, Fenix’s eyes widening quickly as the once strong looking man goes flying a few yards back. Fenix squeaks quietly, jumping up and sprinting as fast as he could away from the situation, the mysterious man leaping towards him, tackling the young boy to the forest floor, malice in his eyes.
“Now where do you think you’re going-?” He asks, leaning in close to Fenix. The boy shudders, tears forming in his eyes as he realizes this is the end for him. He wasn’t going to make it out of this, and the man was probably going to eat him, too. And then he realizes he has one thing that could get him out of this.
He shifts his hands into his pockets, desperately searching for the gun his father passed down to him, finding it right as the man above him raised his arms. Fenix moves quickly, grimacing tightly before turning the safety of the gun off, and pulling the trigger straight into his stomach. The smile on the odd man’s face contorts into shock, his eyes widening. His grip tightens on the boy as Fenix tries to push him off, kicking and punching, the empty gun in his hand.
After a few moments. Gary pulls the man off of him with a pair of vines, helping Fenix up off of the floor. Fenix sighs, rubbing his head softly, staring at the man that attacked him. Gary seems put off, squinting at the man, and Fenix looks, seeing as the substance on the man moved to his stomach, covering the gunshot wound slowly, almost piecing it back together, the man himself trying to get out of the restraints.
“You two need any help with Spine-?” A voice calls out, the two turning to it’s origin.
[END OF CHAPTER ONE…]