7. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Nothing killed me in the night. Merry Christmas to me. Christmas day is overcast with a fifty percent chance of death. I must be on Santa’s naughty list. Well, there is a fifty percent chance that I am on the list. There is a hundred percent chance I have been naughty. I will splash out on this wonderful Christmas morning and eat the energy bar with the most chocolate. I will finish with a piece of fruit. If I am alive this evening, I think I will go and see if the brewery is serving Christmas dinner.

What the fuck am I actually doing? Suicide by mutation? Isn’t it a little late to be thinking about this?

I pick up my phone. It is charged and has a signal. There is the usual lack of Christmas well-wishers. Mind you, it is barely dawn. Most people aren’t up yet. The kids are just getting them up now. That has never been my experience, but I have it on good authority that’s what happens. You know. Internet regurgitation is good authority.

Of course, I have no one to send any well wishes to either. I don’t think Maple knows how to use a mobile, but I wouldn’t mind her telling me to fuck off. One of these days, I will get an introduction to her granddaughter.

Meanwhile, I have a peaceful bay all to myself, and I am too scared to go swimming. Maybe I should go skinny dipping.

No. Head in the game. We are not here to kill ourselves. We are here to conduct an experiment that has a high risk of death. First wetsuit on.

Done. I don’t have a hood, so my neck and head are exposed. I do have my mask and snorkel, but I won’t bother with the snorkel.

Flippers in hand, mask and snorkel ready. Let’s get to the water's edge. First task: swim out slowly and see if we can find the edge of the mutation zone. The tide is fairly high, so that means more swimming.

Flippers on, wading deeper.

Summarise. There are two ways to get mutated. You could be like me and get stung inside the influence of an anomaly. Or eat grass. Or smoke grass? But that is a secondary mutation. The primary way of mutating is to be the jellyfish or grass and just exist inside the anomaly zone for a period of time.

The first question is, how far does the zone extend? Of course, the next question is how fast is it growing.

I start swimming slowly. I am watching for any sign of mutated creatures. Half of them will die. That will draw other creatures to eat them. Then there are the currents and tides. This is doomed to failure, isn’t it?

Then I felt it. My sense/energy thing resonated? Reacted? With something. I assume the something was the energy from the anomaly. It is the same energy from my mutation, but apparently not mine?

I stop swimming and float in place.

Is this the border? Is this the edge? I looked around, but I could see nothing to mark this position. I would have to line things up from the shore to re-establish where I am. Those two trees? No, I will never get the same trees again. The picnic table and … what? OK, doomed to failure.

What about this feeling/sense thing? I need a name for it. I am now close enough that I can sense it. I am assuming it is like light and disburses and gets weaker the further you are from the source. It is logical but may or may not be true. If I get closer, will the feeling get stronger?

I float a bit further toward the rocks. I can’t tell.

The other question is, how long must I be in its zone of influence before it triggers a mutation? If I am closer and it is stronger is the time needed to mutate shorter?

I swim back to shore and get my phone. Still no messages. I noted down the time, left it near the beach, and then swam back out to where I felt the influence/energy thing. I don’t have a watch, and the phone is only water-resistant, not waterproof. I swim to escape contacting people.

Ok, I feel the energy. Should I call it an essence or aura? Spiritual energy? I don’t know; I am not good at this.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The name doesn’t matter. Does it get stronger the closer I go? I swim closer for a bit. Maybe it does? I am not sure. I stop and float for a bit. I am lucky it is a calm morning. The breeze will get up later.

If I can feel this energy and it is related but not the same as the energy already in me, can I manipulate it? Can I absorb it? Would that speed up a new mutation or strengthen my current mutation?

I don’t the fuck know!

Let's just try something and fuck it. Whatever happens, happens.

I try to use my energy to grab the outside energy. Can I separate a small piece? Fuck I don’t know what I am doing.

I contemplate my navel for a bit out in the fucking ocean. How weird is that? I think maybe I did absorb some. Not sure. I didn’t bring enough fruit to test it with. I never got how many crabs I could kill.

It looks like it is mid-morning. Time to go in for a cuppa and a snack. By that, I mean a beer and energy bar. I check the time on the phone.

There is a message.

Carla: God save me from Christmas

It was sent ten minutes ago.

Bob: I am pretty sure God saving people is the reason for Christmas.

Carla: That’s Easter, dumbass. Xmas is the saviour’s birth. I should know. I am sitting in a f’ing Church service.

Bob: Better pay attention. I might need saving.

Carla: You’re way beyond saving.

Carla: I am coming.

Carla: Tomorrow definite.

Carla: Not sure which ferry. Hopefully early, but probably late.

Bob: Not going so well?

Carla: Can’t say. I’m in Church.

Bob: Merry Christmas

Carla: F off

Well, that all sounds normal. I sculled the last of my beer. Let's go mutate!

I swim back out to the essence aura limit. That doesn’t sound right. Plus, it is more of a sphere. Essence sphere? Essence? Are we going with essence? It sounds more like a perfume. However, it is used in enough fantasy books to be that unknown power, the essential element etc. Let's just call it essence.

So I swam to the essence limit, and then I kept swimming slowly. As I swam, I concentrated on absorbing the external essence and making it my own. I don’t really know how successful I was. I kept an eye out for jellyfish and any other mutations. I saw some gulls fighting over some scraps on the rocks. Shit, there are going to be mutated gulls, aren’t there.

I felt I was doing alright, so I kept going. I decided I would go all the way and then turn around and swim back with a lazy breaststroke. I closed in on the rock and saw the blue dot in the water. It must be just below the low tide mark. Yeah, the essence was stronger here. I was struggling not to let it overwhelm me. Maybe when it overwhelms, then it triggers a mutation? I don’t the fuck know, but let's not let that happen. This time.

I turned around before getting to the rock and swam back. Why is it blue? Is it related to it being in the water? I kept up the steady pace until I stopped sensing it. Was I closer to the shore than before? Was that because it had grown or that I had become more sensitive? I don’t the fuck know.

I swam all the way to the beach. I will take a long lunch now and see if I mutate. I stripped out of the wetsuit and towelled down. I slipped on my jandals and draped the towel and wetsuit over a picnic table to dry.

I walked over to the small stream where I had stashed the beers to try to keep them a little cool, grabbed my e-reader, and sat down to wait. I flicked through different novels. I was not in the mood to read apocalypse-type books.

How long did it take last time to start feeling off? I was feeling off by the time the yacht docked in Auckland. What was that, an hour, maybe an hour and a half after I was stung?

I settled down to wait. While it was overcast, that meant it wasn’t too hot. I contemplated my navel for a while and thought I had more energy. Sorry, essence. Get it right. If I can’t get it right talking to myself, how am I going to get it right for others?

I got bored after a while and wandered down to the beach, looking for crabs. They were only tiny crabs, nothing edible. The wind was picking up a bit or maybe swinging around into the bay. The sea was getting a bit choppier. I should have bought a paddleboard or surfboard or something. Not that it would have fitted on the bike. When I go into town tomorrow to pick up Carla, I might look for some sort of inflatable device.

An hour and a half passed, and I felt no different. I was pretty sure my mutation was more potent, and I had more essence. Was this the way to stop the mutations? Survive your first and then grow your essence so as not to be overwhelmed. It is undoubtedly a viable theory. It would be a never-ending race if the anomaly were getting stronger. What about different anomalies with different essences? Who knows? Let's concentrate on this one.

What next? See what happens when it overwhelms me? Or concentrate on getting stronger for now. I looked out at the rocks, thinking. The tide was on its way out again.