Between the cliff formed by the sky of the sands and the ridges, and the track that used to connect the metropolis and between more and more strange things that I foresee, I watch between everything and try to think about what should be prepared for - maybe we need to find and store more water, and also find something to eat and preserve them. I'm sure I'll find something like that in the sands, but if I remember about deserts, they're not places you want to live in. Let's not talk about what dangers can be found among the sands there - is the car able to pass through them? Is there something lurking beneath them? Maybe it's giant worms that can swallow me in one bite?!

The more I just think about it, the more paranoid I get that this is out of my comfort zone just looking at this whole situation. I passed my hands covered in a suit and the cliff line formed by a parting that seemed to have been made by someone - smooth as a cube of cast steel. I decided at this moment that if something similar to what I see happens, what happened in front of me, could happen here and what would happen to me? This is not the time to think, if I want to survive and hope that there is something on the other side of the mountain range that blocks the horizon and the harbor stands, I must move. It just brings me back to the one word that was in the strange address that Rosalina reluctantly presented:

"Time" I said: "I'm afraid that my time is running out. Rosalina, I need your help so that I can find everything that can help me if I want to advance to the hospitals."

"Positive. Looking for a route to go down"

In seconds, a track appeared on the updated map created by the 'barrier' leading me down into the forest below the track. I got into the car and turned it away from the cliff and drove straight towards the descent and into a station that stood and was covered with the roots of the vegetation growing in every corner. On the ramp, I went up and from there I tried to move between the trees sprouting from the cracked floor, but a wide car in a dense forest is not the easiest thing for someone as inexperienced as me. I drove carefully between them until I found the exit and started driving toward the desert.

All the tangled road between the ferns and tall vegetation between the forest that is covered in green with colorful dots that are everywhere I look around, peeking from the car. I try to rely on my eyes as much as I can, but I'm sure she'll beat me to it that she'll find something straight between the branches.

"Identified a possible food source" Speaking of Satan's words:

"Where are they at?" I asked

"Among the branches, fruits without harmful biological activity were identified"

"Can I reach them?"

"Positive. They're low enough for you to reach. They're a few feet away."

I left the car and walked towards the bushes hiding between me and the fruit I had been waiting for too long. I moved my hand and revealed to myself a low bush lying on the bottom, but on it, its fruits larger than the palm of my hand, lying in a messy row on the damp ground. Big and purple I touched them without fear. They felt soft even through the suit. Hunger began to feel through my body and I decided to take off my helmet and bite into it. Its soft and juicy taste felt to me like the taste of a blueberry, a big blueberry like a pomelo. Its taste left me with a taste for more and I took another bite and another until it was gone. There were also quite a few and I started picking them. Their size does not allow me to collect them all, but I had to make another round. There were not many of them, but I hope they are enough.

I kept trying to find more supplies. I walked around the area near the station hoping to find more things, but there was nothing. I even entered some of the skyscrapers that stood between the woods, but this was just my hope that there was something there, but as I guessed, they were empty like almost all the places I visited. As I wandered through the rooms there, I theorized that it was because they had time to pack everything before fleeing our planet. Admittedly, even the decorations, furniture, and some of the stairs simply disappeared along with the smaller things, which only raises the question of whether there was enough time to collect everything during such a rapid and sudden eruption. The thoughts just wander between the searches in vain.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

After disappointingly returning from the search for something more to eat, I continued to drive through the forests deeper and closer to the border between the forest and the desert. I kept hoping and kept looking for more supplies. Rosalina picked up something on her scanners and sensors:

"I detected the movement of animals gathered at a certain point that resembles flowing water. I can't identify if they are dangerous or hostile. I suggest proceeding carefully without the car."

I got out of the car took a container that was with me in my suit and advanced with all my weapons to the designated place. I advanced into the bushes and ferns that were everywhere. I carefully navigated between them until I got close to the point. The bushes hide the source of the water she spoke of, but a small waterfall of water coming from the nearby skyscraper only reinforces the location she was spoken to. I moved forward slowly until I was standing in a bush and we started to navigate it.

Suddenly I hear the sounds of a battle coming in front of me until the rustle of wings coming from the same direction flew away and fled the scene. The noise is only getting closer to me and it means a real battle. Suddenly Rosalina managed to catch something from them:

"I don't detect any signs of hostility towards you, these are in between. I can't pick up a genetic code from them, they are too far away"

"I know"

I got closer between the bushes and the noise of the small waterfall began to be heard and became stronger together with growling voices that began to be heard. I stood stepping on the rifle, ready to shoot in case I ran into their firefight, but I still didn't know what they looked like and they aren't as dangerous as she said. I moved slowly until I reached the end of the vegetation and the wind moved right in front of me from their rapid movement and revealed part of my mystery. Suddenly one of them started making another growl and they all stopped and looked at me. I finally meet face to face who was gathered in front of the water and I got cold feet just from their mirror until I almost entered into an inner terror, I froze in place:

Each of them had big wings, but their bodies are a little smaller than mine, but their faces, their faces are human. Their bare bodies are almost hairless but they have large tails and fangs like vampires, but their heads are human! I froze in terror while they looked at me and suddenly one of them spread his wings and jumped with his hind legs into the sky. The rest of the pack followed him and they all flew away from me, while I stood in front of the small reed, frozen with terror:

"These are humans?! What in the world - these are humans?!!" I try to pinch myself right after quickly removing the helmet only to get a pinch on my cheek, but nothing has changed.

"There is a very high concentration of genes that are compatible with humans" Rosalina responded.

"What happened to them!! Why do they look like that?! Don't tell me they evolved 'naturally' like that!"

"There are no signs of genetic experiments"

I advance to the reed and look at the sky, and I no longer saw them, like vampires from fairy tales - bat wings with fangs, but they still resemble humans. I know that human experimentation has been banned since the big accident that happened a long time ago, but what I'm predicting just defies all logic. I look at the water and another question just occurs to me - if it is not genetic engineering, is this what happened to the humans here who did not escape? And if I don't escape in time, will I turn into something like them?!! The Inhumans.