Saturday - October 27th, 2121:

I crawled through the doghole carefully, minding my suit not to rupture it on the jagged, broken-down edges of the metal. Once I passed to the other side, I turned back toward the raven who sat perched atop the fence with its head tilted toward me. "Are you coming, little guy?"

The raven croaked and flapped its wings, flying away. 'Guess not.'

As the raven departed, the rustling sounds returned subtly on the other side of the fence, filled with a wanton curiosity that craved nothing more than to catch me stranded and alone. I quickened my steps and went further into the area. Since the raven guided me here, there had to be something just like when it brought me to the bunker.

I stepped through overgrown flora that reeked with the mutated qualities not unlike those on the other side of the fence, yet there was something different about it still. They seemed far more peaceful in comparison. It was abnormal, but it was nowhere near as terrifying.

My hand slid across one stalk that brushed close to my side, and the flora wiggled away as if afraid of my touch. It made the trek through them admittedly simple as they would wave close yet always move back.

I walked an hour through the same repetitive scenery before a gasp cut through the silence. I turned slightly to my left and saw a small human-like figure in my peripheral. My head hastily moved to see it, but it vanished into the overgrown jungle of flora. 'Was that a survivor?' The thought coursed through my body like electricity as I ran after it.

It took only a few minutes until the overgrown forest opened into a bright clearing that belied the mutated scenery surrounding it. Brown branches lined the perimeter akin to a makeshift picket fence. Beyond it, I could see several dozen makeshift beds of moss and leaves, shielded only by a layer of thick leaves that layered atop each other into a basic tent.

Cries overwhelmed me as several shadowy figures bled into the corners of the leafy flaps that surrounded the beds in an attempt not to be seen. "I'm not a monster! I'm a human!" I voiced out naively in my belief that I saw survivors apart from myself.

A few of the figures edged toward the entrance of their tents, and then I could see them. Human, yes, they were, but not entirely. They were all children. Some looked no older than a newborn, while others could pass as a five or six-year-old, but each had a mutation visible. I saw long, pointed ears and gemstone eyes on one boy's innocent face. And there was a girl that had flora lightly embracing her skin, similar to those beyond the fence yet oddly beautiful in comparison. It caused her to resemble a mystical being from the old fantasy books from the previous century more than it did a monster.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Despite my intrigued thoughts, I still regretted speaking out, for they were not the humans I expected, but was it too late to regret it now?

The children left their tents curiously. And I could see them all in detail with their different mixtures of flora and fauna and funga merging with their human selves. There was no viciousness in their gazes nor the typical hunger I could feel in the others beyond the fence.

'Have you come to eat us, Skyfall?'

The youthful voice rang in my mind with caution and worry. It caused me to shake my head and scan the children again until I saw the boy with the pointed ears, his gemstone eyes glowing with a vibrant blue as he gazed at me. 'Don't hurt them. Take me instead, Skyfall.'

Again, the voice rang clearly in my thoughts, and I knew it was the boy. His eyes pulsed with every word transmitted. "I won't hurt anyone! I'm just trying to survive in this accursed world!" I replied while facing the boy's pure and protective gaze.

'You're not lying, Skyfall? You won't eat us like the others?'

"No! I don't know anything about it! Why are you calling me Skyfall even? And what do you mean by eating you? All I've done is to try and figure out what happened to Earth and my people!"

'I don't believe you, Skyfall. You can be a liar just like the rest. Let me check, and I'll believe you.'

The boy looked to be the oldest of the bunch and stood as tall as a six-year-old, but his bravery and determination rang in my mind clearly with every demand he made. "I'm not lying! I mean you no harm. As long as you don't want to harm me, we can get along, can we not?"

He walked to me cautiously, and I could see a series of subtle protrusions lining his arms with glimmering colors. Somehow, it reminded me of the raven's ruby-encrusted wing tips as the gemstones shimmered slightly from the underside of his arms. He raised his hand toward my chest, and I wanted to flinch back, but in my mind, my instincts screamed to trust him. He placed his hand on my chest, and his arms glowed as the gemstones surged with a strange power I'd never felt in my life before. It was unnatural and heavy but comforting just the same.

'It's the truth, you're not marked like the others, how? How did you manage, Skyfall?'

"I don't know what you mean! I told you, I mean you no harm. So, can you tell me why you keep calling me Skyfall?"

'What else would I call you, Skyfall? You, who fell with the sky, can only be called Skyfall, right?'

"What do you mean? How do you know that?"

'Everyone knows when the sky fell. What do you mean, Skyfall?'

"NO WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" I screamed in impatience, and the children screamed and shivered in return, falling back into their tents with terrified expressions. Immediately, I felt a pang of guilt.

"Children— What's wrong?" A gruff, aged voice sounded beyond the tent-filled clearing as fierce steps echoed toward me.