Dying World

Marlon stared out at the grey city. The air was cold and the openness made him a sitting duck, but he wanted to watch the world before him for a moment. The majority of buildings in the massive city were shell shocked, a desperate decision made by a heart-broken leader. Decades of grim weather passed and soon green showed itself in the city, taking over the streets and growing in the ash piles. It had its own beauty, watching the world restore its eco-system, but it was not a world for a weak man.

​Marlon was one of the mutated, not mutated by nuclear bombs; those were all de-commissioned long before the apocalypse. Marlon was mutated by the virus that the world leaders hoped to annihilate. It changed an average person in horrifying ways. Some walked away with simple changes, like eyes that were blood red with a yellow pupil. Others, like Marlon, were developing more animalistic mutations. In Marlon’s case, it was a pair of pathetic, black wings.
The wings weren’t large enough to be of any use to him; in fact, they just got in the way. The wings made Marlon a bigger target and there was no room to carry a bigger backpack. As such, Marlon had to scavenge daily for supplies if he was to survive. So, here he sat, with his feet hanging off an edge that led to a great fall, taking a break after climbing such a tall building. It was time to move before some mutant-hating puritans spotted him.
He clambered to hit feet with impeccable grace, the one decided benefit of the wings. Marlon wasn’t the only facing the same sort of dangers, he knew that much. There was one other he saw making her way through the city here and there. From what Marlon could tell she mutated with fur-clad legs that bent backwards, like that of a cheetah or dog. Such a mutation was incredibly useful for her, making her run at speeds that no human could keep up with.
Marlon was hoping to see a flash of her running on the streets, but instead he got to meet her face-to-face. As he walked down the nearest corridor he entered a messy room and immediately focused on the sound of scuffling in one corner. There stood the mutant of which he thought about, opening boxes and searching them.
Marlon knocked on the side of the wall to get her attention, knowing the last thing you wanted to do was approach an unsuspecting mutant. None of them act well when cornered. The girl immediately looked up and scanned the room for an exit, but Marlon was standing in front of it. Marlon raised one of his wings on his back in a mock wave to calm her down. It did and she immediately eased up. Mutants didn’t fight amongst themselves, at least, no factions had been formed as of yet.
Marlon wanted to put her more at ease, so he immediately moved away from the exit and sat down on a nearby chair. He asked for her name, to which she replied ‘Lara’. Lara asked if Marlon could fly, to which he replied he could not. Flying was out of his reach, but he could move better than anyone else. Lara nodded and walked up to him. Suddenly he was the one that felt nervous, but she simply stretched out her arm to shake his hand. Her arm was wrapped in cloth here and there, plenty scars and cuts revealed on her skin.
Marlon shook her hand and both had a happy feeling that they wouldn’t be alone any longer. The two began to search the building together and climbed the remaining floors collecting a bounty of loot. Once complete they steeped out onto the roof as the world darkened. The clouds hid any sunset, but the light certainly faded from gray to black. Knowing it would be foolish to start a fire the two retreated back into the building and found a room that was secluded.
Everyone else in the city would be doing the same, at least, everyone except the predators. Predators were humans and mutants alike that would roam the city with the express intention of attacking the weak and stealing their food and scrap. Marlon and Lara felt they would be perfectly secure at the near top of this building in a secluded room with a shut door, but they were wrong. Marlon’s hearing was better than that of Lara’s and he immediately sensed movement in the room beneath theirs.
Marlon caught Lara’s attention with a wave and pointed at the ground, warning her of danger. Lara gestured for advice, she could not run away in this building and Marlon knew it. He gestured for her to wait and with such light movements he was on his feet once more, padding into the darkness without disturbing even a pile of ash. Lara waiting for the longest moments and eventually heard movements that were loud and pained. The voices didn’t sound like Marlon, but still she worried for his safety. Climbing to her feet she entered the corridor and turned a corner into a larger room. There stood a human with an axe in one hand, facing Marlon who had another human in a tight hold, threatening to kill his hostage with sharp piece of metal.
The humans did not seem like the bargaining type, but the one being held hostage did not want to die. Upon seeing Lara they realized they were at the clear disadvantage and surrendered. At least, that was what Marlon and Lara thought. As Marlon released his hostage the human nodded to the other. The one with the axe charged Lara while the other spun in Marlon’s arms, pushing him away, drawing his own knife and lunging. Both humans did not realize the strengths of the two mutants.
Marlon dodged nimbly and with a punch and a thrust of the metal the human was on his knees, bleeding while Marlon stood back, shocked at what he had done. Lara jumped and ran circles around the wide sweeps of the axe and eventually she too had chosen the offensive side and struck the man with a flurry of blows. Once he buckled on the ground she let out a wicked kick that broke bones and sent the human to the afterlife.
The two mutants stood over the humans, Adam and Eve of a new species, a higher evolution. The two stood in fear and disgust, collecting their things and leaving the humans in the darkness, in search of a new safe haven until dawn.