"BANG!"

"Huhh huhhh"

'My legs are sore. my lungs burn'

It felt like my entire body was being torn apart bit by bit as I continued sprinting through the abandoned factory area

"BOOM"

A large explosion caused by the thing chasing me and some left over gas in the pipes caused a large dust cloud to rise above the buildings

"FUCK!"

I slid down underneath a silo held up by a single meter of strong metal scaffolding before the monster was upon me 

"Kreee!"

Stopping a few meters away from me was a large grotesque creature as tall as me. it had deep grey fur and red bloody eyes, its long cream tail swayed as it had its nose near the ground almost causing its yellow teeth to scratch the aged concreate

'Please leave. please, please'

I kept begging in my head as the mutant rat tried to pick up my scent from the floor, it paced around for a few minutes before running off towards the place it thought I had run off to

"Phew"

When it was at least a few meters away I finally breathed a sigh of relief

"Fucking rats, why do they always have to be so persistent even when they have a different mutation? what is it, your nature? haha"

I laughed self deprecatingly before pulling myself out from underneath the silo and walking in the direction we had come from before turning down different cramped alleys to make sure I wouldn't get tracked by any of its buddies

"At least I got something worth while out of this pain in the ass"

I spoke as I tossed up a metallic part that seemed to be in pretty good condition compared to the city around me

The cars were rusted and torn apart, the buildings were decerped and ruined while the city seemed overgrown and abandoned for centuries leaving it to the wild animals to inherit

"Only eighty years have passed in this shithole? it always looks like eight hundred"

I began reminiscing about the good times. the days that were before eighty years ago, back when humanity was dominant and thriving. at least what I had been told

Scientists had just discovered an energy source they dubbed MR. it was a pulse like energy that constantly went through the whole of creation although it had a strong connection to the fourth dimension 

MR didn't leave any pollutants in the atmosphere, it didn't create landfill nor did it require long periods of time like wind mills or solar panels

Sounded like a miracle right? you would be correct, the world flourished and everything ran on MR, we even started reaching out onto other planets and even colonized mars while we were at it

Little did we know the irony of the name we gave it. Miracle Radiant. a new source of energy that was like a saving grace for humanity, one that radiated from creation itself. it was radioactive

It slowly mutated and altered everything around it, in less than four years everything began changing completely, some bugs mutated to the size of bears whilst some creatures gained powers that would only be thought of in fiction. luckily humans weren't left out in this massive change

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Fire, electricity, space, flesh, blood, bone, there were hundreds maybe thousands of different things that would bend to the users will. none were the same nor were they given such power over more than a single thing

This was how humanity persevered even as the world collapsed under the mutants madness

Whilst the mutation had driven most of the animals and people mad, not all surrendered to its clutches, those that persevered and grew became stronger and scarier existences, even gaining abilities beyond understanding

Whilst their powers increased and grew so did the mutation inside of them, it slowly grew and became self aware eventually causing the mutant to succumb to its will and falling to endless madness. or the body and powers would be taken by the now self conscious mutation which would continue to thrive with its new found independence

The only way to survive was to willingly infect oneself, so that's what everyone did. they decided madness was more trust worthy than predators

Yhis world has become mad 

I looked down at the small dagger tied to my belt, its holster was worn and patched with numerous different materials

'Maybe hell is better'

I had a brief thought of the after just like every day, who wouldn't in such as crappy world like this?

I walked out into a completely leveled area, all that stood was a single large building

"Phew"

Finally reaching the outskirts of the city i walked into a massive shopping complex, walking through the lobby I made my way towards the massive wall that had cut off the normal looking shopping center from the fortress

"Dum! Dum!"

I knocked on the massive metal doors that were almost two meters tall and were close to a meter wide

"Slickkk"

"Who is it?"

Peeking threw a small slider in the left door, there were amber eyes and short blonde hair that seemed unkept and messy due to sweat, grease and dust that had dirtied it

"Oh. Is that you Lucas? Your back pretty early today"

"Yeah, those shitty rats are getting more and more obsessed with chasing me"

"Haha. I thought they would be running in the opposite direction from you, just like everything else"

He heartedly laughed to himself before calming down after a couple seconds

"Yeah yeah. Can I come in?"

"Oh! Sorry bout that"

"Shlickkr!"

Slamming the small slider back into place he started unlocking the gates which took him a few minutes as the sound of metal clanging together softly rung from behind the closed doors

"Reeeaaa"

The old rusted door slowly creaked open after an effort from the man behind the door

"Here you are then"

Stepping to the side I slid in the opening back inside the home base I had been living in for the last five to six years of the apocalypse

"Thanks jack, have fun locking back up, haha"

I laughed to myself as I strolled off deeper into the base

...

"Sigh. this is always annoying"

I started dragging the door back to its original place before staring at a ton of different locks for a few seconds before I began relocking them all causing me a few minutes of annoyance 

"Finally"

After finally finishing all of the locks I bent my back in relief, I had finally finished

"Dum DUM!"

"Oh for fucks sake!"

I slid the slider to find a teenager with long tied up purple hair. her eyes were a pure emerald and even when covered in dirt and grime her snow white skin still couldn't be hidden, she looked extraordinary

"Hey charlotte. you just missed Lucas"

My voice was weak and empty, i had just locked the door for absolutely nothing, so much wasted effort

"Really? quick, let me in!"

I slid the small slider back in place before slamming my head against the metal door

"Huuuuuu"

I unlocked the gate and let charlotte in as she quickly jogged off after Lucas

I was about to lock the doors again until I waited for a few seconds

'Maybe someone else will appear, lets just give it a minute'

After a couple of minutes of silence I began locking up the door again. after finally locking the gates I waited for a banging to no avail

"Phew. three times in a row would have been so unlucky, guess my lucks not that bad yet"

I made a passing remark before someone walked up to me

He was almost bald with only a thin layer of brown hair sprouting from his scalp and had large bags under his blue eyes

"Hey Jack, could you open the gate? I'm gonna go out to hunt"

"What the fuck is my luck today!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs scaring the man that had walked up to me 

'It's never been this busy before? what the hell is going on today?'

I stood there wallowing in my sorrow with my forehead against the cold rusted metal trying to understand why this was happening

"I can come back later, ok?"

"Wait! sigh"

I leant backwards and began unlocking the door to let him out, when he had finally left I stood there with the door unlocked waiting for nearly five minutes before

"Dong! Dong!"

pulling the door open I found a mutant about seven feet tall, his skin was pitch black and he had large pincer like hands with a scarf loosely wrapped around his mouth hiding it from view, apart from those striking body parts he was mostly humanoid

"Hello there, you know this door really should be locked right?"

"Haha, tell me about it. so what is your purpose of visiting us?"