Far-off, a man is walking through a road. The sideways are filled in with thick pine forest covered in snow. He is slowly walking through the thick layer of snow. The man is wearing a jacket with a large backpack with some kind of rifle attached to it's side.

There are cars throughout the road, from the looks of it, it's been abandoned over many years. It's decaying slowly with the nature.

There's is no sign of life, just silence everywhere. All we can hear is the exhausted sound of the man walking through the rough snow.

After all It's been over 10 years after the mutation. The entire human civilization has collapsed. 

After a long walk he finally reached a town. He slowly grabbed the rifle attached to the side of his backpack as he walks slowly observing the town for any sign of life. The houses are long gone and the streets have been taken over by the nature.

" rustling noise "

He suddenly aimed the rifle, tightening the grip of the rifle as his finger hovering over the trigger, ready to fire at any moment. His breath is becoming quieter as he walks slowly towards the noise. 

" lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub "

His heartbeat is slowly rising. The voice he heard is coming from the back side of some trailer. As he was approaching, a head popped out from the side of the trailer, it slowly turned it's head towards him.

"it's a mutant" He thought.

The mutant charged towards him, he immediately shoots the rifle " BANG " the bullet hits the mutants right shoulder, "shit" he thought,  the mutant screamed loudly and jumped over him, he used the rifle to block it, due to the force they both fell down, at the ground he is struggling to back the mutant while it constantly trying to slash him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"eat this" He screams out loud.

Kicks the mutant over the stomach which made it flew few meters, he immediately get's up and aim's the rifle " BANG " right in its heart. The mutant screams and dies.

He is standing there and looking at the mutant, the snow is now covered with red blood, His breathing becomes normal ,the fight is over.

*when a special type of parasites enters the body it takes control over it, it slowly starts with the heart from there it grows throughout the body taking control over it, developing weird fungus form throughout the body. They are known to be mutants. Heart is there weakness.

"It's a type 1, so there were people here before i arrived. There should be more, i should be on guard"

*mutants are classified as "types" based on their evolution, mutants which are hosted recently are considered as type 1, they are weak but eventually they become stronger by mutating with other creatures.

He looks over the area where it came from and gradually move's towards there with caution. Over the end of the trailer their was a dead deer and a backpack.

"hmm, maybe it was trying to start a mutation with a deer"

"glad i got here earlier, it would been difficult if it had mutated over to type 2"

He proceeds to check inside the backpack, it contained some canned food, bottled water, a flashlight with no power and some fuel for fire. After looting the bag he throws it to the ground, from where his sees a nametag "Michael" written on it.*he paused for moment.

"It must be his name, sorry" 

He turns back and started searching for supplies. While scrolling through the town he finds remnant of the people came before him. Further more down the road there were used Cartridges and blood spilled over the road.

"there must have been a fight, I wonder who won"  he started reloading the rifle and follows the trail of blood through road to woods. It leads to a wood cabin covered in snow at the near end of the town. He holds the rifle to fire at any moment and slowly walks towards the front, he sees a pair of legs in the doorway with it's rest of the body inside. 

"legs, huh is its the mutants or the humans" he wonders and slowly proceeds to the cabin.