Radioactive Evolution

by Richard Hummel

  “Excellent, I’ll make sure to leave this rifle with him.” Jared motioned to the crate and asked, “Can you pass these weapons manuals around? I understand your sight isn’t fully restored yet, but if anyone can read, these will help everyone learn about the different weapons and how to use them. Oh, and please keep everyone from the loft. There’s some really volatile substances in there that could destroy this whole building.” Jared hesitated. He didn’t want to call too much attention to George yet, but felt he needed to bring up his concerns because both he and Scarlet would be gone. “Also, please pay special attention to George.”

  Vanessa’s brow furrowed. George?

  “I do not trust him, and he is the only one of you who hasn’t vowed to protect dragons and humans. He’s shown nothing but distrust and resentment toward me since we rescued you. I fear he may not have everyone’s best interest at heart. I won’t force him into anything, but until we know his motives, I want to be extra cautious.”

  Thank you, Jared. We’ll be fine here. I’ll make sure everyone, including George, stays away from the loft. I’ll speak with him, and try to find out why he is behaving that way.

  Seeing things well in hand, Jared and Scarlet exited the barn to assess the damage to the tunnels and hopefully scope out an area for their budding colony.

  Jared jumped on Scarlet’s back, and she leapt into the air.

  “Let’s head out over the lake first and see if we can find a place to settle. I’d like to get back to this area soon in case something tries to get into the barn—or someone, tries to get out.”

  Scarlet banked and headed toward the section of land between the two lakes. Jared quickly ruled out the area surrounding the lake because it was all flat, with very little in the way of natural barriers and defense.

  “Follow the coastline. Maybe there’s something further down.”

  Turning around, Scarlet headed south, following the west bank of the lake. At the very tip of the lake, a large, ruined city sprawled for several miles. A short distance from the city to the southwest, a gorge cut into the earth, surrounded by miles and miles of desiccated forest. They followed the dried creek bed until they reached a large basin with sheer rock walls on every side. A destroyed bridge lay crumbled to the side. Steps and platforms were cut into the rock on one side.

  “Scarlet, is that clearing large enough for you to land?”

  I believe so, but only one way to find out for sure.

  Scarlet dove into the clearing, flaring her wings at the last minute to arrest her free fall. Her wings easily cleared the trees on either side, and Jared suspected even a dragon three times her size would need little effort to land here.

  A cursory scan of any life forms indicated the area was empty. From his vantage inside the basin, Jared saw a number of structures cut into the cliff wall. They were old, some of them crumbling, but it seemed there were enough to accommodate their small group of people.

  The rock walls surrounding the area would keep creatures above from attacking, and the only safe approach was up the creek itself. The walls of the basin also protected them from view, and hopefully from any drop ships that passed overhead.

  “Let’s fly around the area and look for any creatures that might live nearby.”

  Scarlet launched into the air once more. After three circuits around the small clearing, he saw no life forms, but there were also many caves in the area, including the rooms built into the cliff wall. A creature could easily hide within, and his Heat Sight wouldn’t penetrate the rock.

  “We might end up clearing these caves of creatures, but I think this is a perfect place to move the colony. Let’s fly low on the way back to the barn so I can plot us a path here.”

  The ruins at the tip of the lake looked old. Old even for today’s standards. Jared wracked his brain for any information about this town, but aside from knowing the body of water was Cayuga Lake, he couldn’t recall the city’s name.

  Most of the structures lay in heaps, the buildings long since succumbing to the elements. There was a larger building in the center of town that still had a couple of walls and a partial roof left. The city itself was a bit out of the way of the creek they explored, but it seemed mostly flat from the barn to the city and they might be able to do it in a day. If they rested in the ruined building for the night, they could take their time navigating the creek the following day.

  “All right, Scarlet, I think we’ve got a new place to hole up. I’m not super great with distance, but this place is what, seven or eight miles from the ruined city?”

  According to your standard measurements, it is approximately six point three miles from the city center to this location, though that is a straight line. The hike back to the barn is about twenty miles.

  “It won’t be easy, but I think we can do this in two days. The first day is mostly flat travel, and we’ll stick to the road as much as possible.”

  Relieved they had a plan, Jared instructed Scarlet to fly back to the barn. They wouldn’t return yet, but he wanted to check on them before assessing the damage done to the military facility.

  “Looks like everything is secure. Let’s head over to the armory first.”

  When they reached the site of the armory, Jared’s heart plummeted. It was much worse than he’d thought.

  “I’m not sure anything could’ve survived that.”

  It is unlikely.

  “It could be a waste of time, but I still want to see if we can recover anything.”

  You have some weapons. Perhaps dole them out to those with experience.

  “Yes, but where else are we going to get free weapons? The colonies won’t just hand them out, and we’re not likely to stumble on anything like this again. It sucks, but I think we need to try and find something worth salvaging.”

  What if we raided a city? Or we can find a mercenary camp and raid their stockpile.

  “I hope you’re not referring to the mercenary camp I think you are.”

  Why not? Loch told us they were collecting weapons, ammo, and injections. They might have a large stockpile.

  Jared raised his brow. “Don’t you think we’ve had enough dealings with them?”

  I think it bears consideration. You and I are almost at the point they can no longer harm us. Once I undergo my next set of enhancements, normal weapons would be useless against me. If Loch told the truth, they only have a few dozen people at the camp at any given time.

  The idea did have merit and Jared turned it over in his mind, looking at it from different angles. Even with their massive advantage, he didn’t like the risk involved.

  “I’ll think it over. For now, let’s try to salvage something from this armory. If we can’t find anything—well, even if we do find some weapons—I’ll consider your proposal. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I want to do it. Even if it is dangerous.”

  Scarlet chuckled as Jared jumped off her back and started tossing debris out of the crater. He needed Scarlet’s help with the larger pieces of steel support beams. Every time they cleared an exceptionally large piece, tiny tremors vibrated through ground as explosions popped beneath them. Jared hoped it was just the ammo detonating and there were no bombs left over. The raw destruction here spoke to the strength of the bombs, and a single one of them would be enough to end his life.

  It took them half the day to excavate enough of the rubble for Jared to jump down in a hole they’d opened up. When he entered the destroyed armory, he saw the tangled webs of cages poking out from caved-in walls. Melted weapons and weapon parts littered the ground.

  Not wanting to excavate the entire area, which might prove futile, Jared worked on the areas less affected by the blast. Unfortunately, Scarlet couldn’t aid him inside the room and some parts of the wall were just too heavy for him to move solo. After another hour, he finally extracted enough debris to reach one of the ruined met
al cages. At first it looked like everything was gone, but on the other side of the ruined pillar a row of pistols sat untouched by the explosion.

  “Woohoo! I got some Scarlet. There’s…eighteen pistols and several ammo cans filled with rounds!”

  His energy renewed, Jared enthusiastically dove back into his work. Using his mental map of the room, Jared focused his efforts in areas that might have gear they needed. Another hour passed, and he began to slow from exhaustion. Finally, a single steel plate blocked his view to the next row of weapons racks. Careful not to move it too quick, he levered the piece of metal away from the column and found a row of sub-machine guns.

  “Yes! We’re in business,” Jared yelled up to Scarlet. “Is there any way you can reach in and hold this piece of metal? It’s too heavy for me to move, and I can’t pull the weapons out while holding it.”

  Using her tail, Scarlet reached in and stabilized the sheet of metal while he collected all the weapons and ammunition. Idly, Jared wondered how the sheets of metal blew inward. It didn’t make any sense unless…

  “Scarlet, I think the bombs that blew this apart were in the walls. Look at the blast patterns and all these heavy steel plates leaning against the columns. If the bomb blew up from the inside, it should’ve just knocked out all the pillars and collapsed everything straight down.”

  A self-destruct mechanism?

  “I wouldn’t put it past them.” Shaking his head, Jared finished pulling all of the weapons and ammo out. He tossed everything out of the hole and climbed out covered head to toe in soot.

  Looking at the large pile of weapons and ammo, Jared realized he needed a way to carry them.

  “Hey, I need to find something to carry all of this stuff.”

  What about the crates in the cellar? I think a couple of them might work.

  “Are any of them still functional after you brought down the ceiling?”

  I think there are a few wooden ones left. The plastic ones are all crushed.

  “All right. I’m going to run over and grab a couple of them. Can you go check on the solar array while I get them? I want to make sure they are okay, so we can bring them with us.”

  Scarlet leapt into the air, and Jared jogged over to the cellar to grab the crates. True to her word, there were two solid wood boxes that would work for his purposes and should be big enough to fit all the weapons.

  A few moments later Jared heard Scarlet’s report.

  The solar panels look intact. There are a few of them laying at odd angles, but none of them appear damaged.

  Awesome, thanks. It’ll take a while to transport them, but it’ll be worth it to have electricity.

  Jared arrived a few moments after Scarlet and packed up the weapons and ammunition.

  “Can you carry these without slicing into them?”

  Yes, Scarlet said, picking them up.

  “Let’s head back and share the good news!”

  On their way back to the barn, Jared heard a faint sound brush his mind and asked, “Did you say something, Scarlet?”

  No, I heard it too.

  As they neared the barn, the voice became clear.

  Jared, help!

  “They’re in trouble!”

  Scarlet picked up her pace, and they rocketed toward the barn. When they reached it, Jared almost laughed out loud when he saw a dozen rats trying vainly to get inside. The mental shouts coming from inside made it seem like a horde of bears were demolishing the building instead of a few rats scraping the outside of the barn.

  Dang rats. We’ll never get away from them, thought Jared, then to those inside he said, Vanessa, we’re here. It’s just a few rats trying to get in. We’ll take care of them.

  Oh Jared, thank goodness you’re back! We didn’t know what it was, but it sounds awful in here. All those claws scraping and the angry chittering noises.

  Just calm everyone down. We’ll have them taken care of soon.

  “You hungry, Scarlet?” Jared said aloud, his lips curling into a smile.

  The two of them demolished the rats, allowing none to escape and report their location to yet more of the demonic hellspawn. Scarlet gobbled a few with a sickening crunch, causing Jared to shudder with each snap of bones.

  “Seriously, I don’t know how you eat these things.”

  Well, they do not taste good, but then almost nothing I have encountered in this scarred world tastes good. Perhaps someday I will be able to eat something not mutated by radiation.

  “We’ll get you a proper meal one of these days for sure. Heck, it’s been over two years since I’ve had a decent meal too.” Regardless of how it tasted, Scarlet ate half of the rats and roasted the rest for everyone else. It might be rat meat, but they needed to build up their strength.

  Jared opened the door and found everyone crowded onto the loft, the platform shaking from the weight of so many. He quickly turned around to hide his smile, snickering at the site. Forcing a straight face, Jared said, “You can come down now. We brought gifts!”

  Jared set the crates down and brought in the fried rat meat. Thankfully, all the skin and fur had burned away in Scarlet’s fire.

  They eyed the meat skeptically until Jared ripped off a chunk and bit into it. Scarlet was right, it didn’t taste good.

  Everyone climbed down the ladder and made their way to the floor. Vanessa lingered behind to make sure no one touched the crate of explosives.

  Jared looked at her from the ground and spoke into her mind. Thanks for keeping everyone away from the crate, even with all these creatures out there.

  “Gather round everyone. I encourage you to eat the rat meat, even if it tastes gross. It’ll help you grow stronger for the trek we need to make to our new home.”

  Several people threw questioning glances his way, and Vanessa walked over to grab his hand. You found a place?

  Although they didn’t need physical contact to talk with each other anymore, Jared didn’t say anything. Her enjoyed the sensation of her hand in his—cool to the touch, yet it spread a warmth through his body. Thankfully, his thoughts behaved and he just enjoyed the simplicity of the touch.

  “We found a place not too far away that should only take us a couple days to hike. If your physical bodies were strong enough, we’d likely make the journey in a single day.”

  Is it another city?

  “I’m assuming you all can’t hear one another unless you’re touching, so I’ll repeat any questions you have. Someone just asked if it’s another city. No, it’s not, it is a secluded spot in a well-protected gorge to the southwest of the lake.”

  What about shelter?

  “Okay, I can see you all have many questions, so let me just lay this out for you. The place I found has homes built into the mountain. It’s virtually invisible from the air and the only way to get there is up a narrow ravine. No, it won’t have modern furnishings, but I think we can make it work, and it’s safe. It’s a whole lot better than this dirty barn,” Jared pointed out. “Will it need work? Yes, absolutely, but it’ll be our home, and there’s a ruined city not far we can scavenge from.

  “When Scarlet and I flew out this way, we’d set out to strengthen ourselves, stockpile some weapons, and find like-minded people to help us in our mission. We expected this to take years, but we have all that and more in just a few weeks. Surely living on a mountain is better than dead or at the bottom of the lake still, right?” A few reluctant nods were all Jared received, and he frowned.

  “Look, I know it’s not ideal, but what other options do we have? Wait here with our fingers crossed, hoping that the city doesn’t come to wipe us out? Go to another colony where all of you would be outcasts because of your mutations?”

  Jared hadn’t meant to inject sarcasm into his voice, and he felt a little guilty for playing the mutant card, but clearly some people weren’t getting the picture, and
it was wasting time.

  “Whatever you decide, I won’t stop you. If you want to go your own way, go, but you won’t be taking any of the supplies or weapons, because we need every advantage we can get.”

  Dismissing any other dissenting voices, Jared moved on.

  “Now, onto the next bit of good news.” He motioned to the crates beside him. “Scarlet and I found weapons and ammunition from the armory. Not enough for everyone, but enough to equip most of you. We have eighteen handguns and nine submachine guns in here. We’ve also got two rifles, four of my own handguns, and my two phase pistols. Aside from my own weapons, but that leaves thirty-two I can hand out.”

  Several people stepped forward to receive a weapon right then, but Jared held up a hand to forestall them.

  “Before anyone gets a weapon, I want to make sure everyone knows how to strip them apart, clean them, and handle them safely. Even if you used to handle weapons before, I’m certain everyone could use a refresher. I know some of you already started reading through the weapons manuals, but I’d like everyone to read through the ones for these weapons and then practice stripping and re-assembling them. If you don’t want to handle a weapon, that’s fine as well, but I’m placing my life and everyone else’s in the hands of whoever holds one. Because of that, I’ll only give them to those that educate themselves on their use.

  “We’ll start at first light tomorrow. Scarlet and I spent most of the day working to excavate these weapons, and I’m tired. Tomorrow, we’ll split the group in two. Half will remain here with Scarlet. You can use the time to rest or learn about the weapons. The other half, or those willing, can accompany me into the city to raid houses for anything you wish to bring with us. This is going to be a grueling hike for many of you with your depleted strength, so don’t go overboard with belongings. We can come back later to get more.”

  While the group decided who would go where, Jared climbed up to the loft and rummaged through the crate, pulling out manuals for the weapons he’d gathered. He also deposited all the ammunition in the crate, so no one decided to ignore his instructions and accidentally shoot themselves. With nothing further to do for the night, Jared said goodnight and sank into a restful sleep, the day’s hard labor exhausting him.