Radioactive Evolution

by Richard Hummel

  Jared outlined the housing situation and described the rooms he’d examined. Many wanted to take rooms on the first landing, preferring to be closer to the ground. Everyone suggested he take the top room with Vanessa, Elle, and Kitty since it was easier for them to climb up the stairs.

  At first, he resisted and wanted to be the one closest to the staircase leading up, but everyone quickly overruled him, suggesting that Scarlet, who’d be on the ground anyway, was sufficient protection for them. He could also observe the surrounding area from the top.

  Eventually, he agreed to their demands. If something were to climb the stairs, a couple leaps would carry him to the lowest platform, anyway. Jared let the group fend for themselves on sleeping arrangements, but asked they keep at least one person with weapons training in each room.

  Meanwhile, he walked over to the cart and began unceremoniously tossing the dead rabbits to the ground. Hopefully, they had someone that could skin them and cure pelts. His first priority was securing the explosives and boosters away, then he could find someone to work with the animal pelts. Three trips allowed him to lug both crates and any remaining ammunition up to his new home. He stowed them in a closet furthest from the entrance. Somehow, he’d need to fashion a lock or a way to cordon off the area to keep everyone safe.

  By the time he’d finished moving everything up, Vanessa, Elle, and Kitty had made their way up to the platform. They examined every room before choosing a single room to share.

  Kitty found an empty spot in the large sitting room and claimed her territory. That left three rooms for Jared to choose from. He picked the one with the opening out to the ravine, feeling less confined with the open platform.

  Electricity would’ve been a boon, but they had multiple hearths in the rock home and a plethora of dead trees to use for firewood. They definitely wouldn’t lack for warmth and light once they cut down trees and lugged them up. Thoughts of hauling all that wood up here made him groan, but then an epiphany struck.

  Oh, Scarlet, Jared thought, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

  It didn’t take long for everyone to settle into their new quarters, establish routines, and carve out a new life. Jared sat on the ledge outside his room, watching the colonists go about their new daily chores.

  Several weeks had passed as everyone settled into various roles. During that time, he’d taken no fewer than five trips back to the vacated colony to gather materials. Every time he traveled back to the village, Jared paused at the edge of the lake. The nanites beckoned to him. It was all he could do to resist dipping his body into the water to absorb as much as he could. The only reason he didn’t absorb them every day was that neither Scarlet nor Jared knew how many nanites there were, and they had an entire colony to strengthen.

  He was already stronger than several humans combined. It would be selfish to take everything for himself, but at the same time he’d most likely be in the more dangerous situations. Jared could justify it but checked himself every time and refused to take the easy road at the expense of everyone else. The momentary pauses overlooking the lake helped him to reassess his priorities. His primary purpose for the many excursions was to scavenge enough materials and provisions that the waterfolk could survive for a time without him, but with every passing day, Jared grew more restless to move their missions forward.

  For now, he spent the time helping acquire items to sustain the colony. On one such trip they’d gathered enough lighting and wiring to put lights into all the occupied rooms. It looked super tacky with all the wiring exposed, but now everyone had at least one functioning light in their homes.

  When they’d first wired the lights into the homes, many of them no longer had a protective coating, and they’d had a few incidents with people getting zapped. It wasn’t until it finally rained that they were able to use clay to cover the exposed sections of wiring. Although, the rain also fried half of the wiring and caused a few of the precious light bulbs to burst.

  Jared put Pete in charge of all the solar panels, wiring, and electronics. The guy’s skill with electronics bordered on magical as he breathed new life into ancient machines. His tinkering had come in handy several times over the past week, starting with the little wind-up walkie talkies he’d salvaged. The range on them was incredible, and they could stay in contact with any groups that went out hunting or to the lake to bathe. The scrawny, bean-pole of a man could fix anything, provided he had the parts.

  His small room turned into their electronics shop, housing anything Jared could want or need. The man even found a working television and game console, bringing so many memories back of Jared’s home colony.

  Keeping up traditions from his childhood, Jared decided to have it brought out only on special occasions to preserve the little electricity they had. Pete wanted to reverse engineer one of the solar panels so he could build his own, but Jared just couldn’t bring himself to allow that. Vanessa backed him up in the decision. They were just too valuable to risk losing any of them.

  Casey, their only medic, set up shop in a spare room on the second level, and Jared handed all the medical supplies and boosters over for safe-keeping. Everyone in their little budding colony knew the stakes, and just how valuable the boosters were so he didn’t have to worry about over-eager people making off with any of them. They planned to save them until bonding began.

  A part of him worried that George would steal some of the equipment, but he’d seemed docile the past two weeks. Either he’d finally come to his senses, or he was biding his time to act. Either way, Jared couldn’t spend every waking hour watching the man. Either he fell in line, or he stole a few supplies and went his own way. If he chose to go his own way, chances are he wouldn’t survive long on his own. One man couldn’t dictate Jared’s actions. He needed to move on and let the consequences fall as they will.

  In the weeks they’d been at their new home, Scarlet finished getting rid of Razael’s influence, resetting the clock on everyone’s time. She wasn’t yet confident in her ability to isolate the code and keep it from turning into the techno-virus but was confident that she’d figure it out soon. Convinced of Scarlet’s skills, Jared backed her and made sure everyone knew there was nothing to worry about.

  As the days ticked by, Jared became increasingly agitated. Time was wasting away, and they needed to move forward with their plans to get everyone stronger and bonded. The need grew in urgency until it pressed in on his throughs and clouded his mind. He’d heard a few people talk about creatures to bond that they’d observed in the area, but it was like everyone was waiting for something to happen first.

  They’d sufficiently settled into a new life here, but it felt stagnant. While it was a safe place to rest and recover, it wasn’t an utopia. They weren’t on the map and therefore received no supplies from the cities that helped sustain other colonies.

  Instead, they were all on their own and they had nowhere near the expertise to cover all the needed professions. It wasn’t all bad, and they’d identified people with skills that helped them a lot. The day they’d settled in to their homes here, a colonist named David offered to skin and clean the hides from the rabbits. He’d done a great job, and with the help of a few others, he’d fashioned drying racks for the skins. Now, everyone had blankets and pillows.

  David also pointed out the need for a waste pit with all the dead rabbit carcasses. It wasn’t something he’d ever really thought about. His colony back home had a partially working sewer system, but he’d never seen how it worked. On his own the past few years, he didn’t need to worry about it either. The few times he needed to use the restroom, he’d just drop his pants wherever he was. In a colony setting, that wouldn’t work. Thankfully, David had some ideas. He’d taken a group, along with Kitty for safety, and dug a trench several hundred yards away. Every few days, they burned the refuse to clean it out.

  Another of their members, Maria, quickly volunteered to coo
k all the meat they collected. Even now, many of their latest kills hung from hooks in a room she’d fashioned into a meat locker. It was cold enough in the room that the meat lasted a few days before it spoiled, and for anything they didn’t cook, Maria smoked and made into jerky for travel rations.

  Many other colonists proved useful in scavenging and hunting, but they still lacked carpenters, tailors, blacksmiths, and farmers. There were a few who tried their hand at carving, but it was terrible work, and all the dishware and utensils they used came from the ruined city a few miles away. They’d found a large room in one building with a bunch of plastic tables, chairs, and thousands of plastic dish sets. The dishes were flimsy and rarely lasted longer than a few uses, but it was better than the crude wooden ones they’d made.

  They didn’t need to eat all the time, but it helped keep their strength up and brought the village together in one place. It was a good time for them to discuss plans, updates on how everyone was doing, and to talk about their future endeavors. For most, it was the only meal anyone ate daily, and Jared wanted to keep it going as a tradition for the group. It was partly sentimental for him to remember his mother’s efforts to always bring the family together for supper.

  Jared glanced behind him to see folks already making the climb up the stairs to the dining hall, many already gathered around the fire pits, chatting amiably. It’d taken weeks for everyone to get their voices back and just as long before their speech flowed naturally, but now they were able to, everyone preferred using their voices to telepathy unless they were trying to be silent. Which was a very useful skill to have for the hunter groups gathering pelts. It was much easier to sneak up on unsuspecting prey if you didn’t need to talk aloud to coordinate an attack.

  On the other hand, Jared requested everyone recover their voices, because they couldn’t rely on physical touch to talk and coordinate if they happened to engage in a group fight. It was also inefficient to their daily chores and routines if they always had to stop what they were doing to touch someone.

  Professions were well and good, but this was a temporary home. Eventually, they’d take the fight to the cities and need to leave all this behind for a time.

  Rising to his feet, Jared watched everyone assemble on the platform for a group dinner. He’d asked Elle to round everyone up for tonight’s meal, even if they hadn’t planned on it. It was time to set the next phase of their plans into motion, and he wanted everyone there to hear it.

  “Hey, Elle, were you able to find everyone?”

  “Yes, everyone is here.”

  “Thank you, Elle.” He heard a low growl from Kitty and was quick to add, “And Kitty.”

  The corner of Jared’s mouth twitched up as the cat sighed dramatically and sauntered off to lie near one of the fire pits. Chuckling to himself, Jared walked into the dining room to see everyone else waiting patiently for dinner.

  Poking his head back outside, Jared said, “Can I get everyone to join me inside please?”

  Once everyone seated themselves at the table, Vanessa and Maria brought flanks of meat out from the prep room. They also had some kind of seaweed from the lake below, and it was a welcome addition to their daily meals. After everyone received their food, Jared motioned for them to eat while he outlined his plans.

  “We’ve been here for nearly a month without incident, and it’s time we start pursuing our mission. You’ve all done a tremendous job to improve everyone’s livelihood, and we lack little in the way of day to day needs. But—” Jared paused for dramatic effect as some people put their forks down to listen to him, “—we’re merely delaying the inevitable here. We’ve not progressed forward with our vows to make this world a better place. We have yet to takes steps down a path to bring justice. I know,” Jared said, forestalling the argument showing plainly on some faces. “We had to get everyone’s strength up and make sure we could eke out a life here. We’ve done that and done it pretty dang well, if I do say so myself, but we need to get back on track.”

  Many nodded their heads in agreement.

  “We need to find companions for all of you to bond. Scarlet and Kitty are fearsome predators, I’ve enhanced myself significantly, and Elle has incredible stealth. But there are only four of us. We need everyone to grow stronger, and not just exercising, but using nanites to drastically improve yourselves so that you can stand toe-to-toe with our adversaries. They’ll have far superior weapons and numbers. Igor also perfected the original nanotechnology for them, so they may far surpass us in strength and abilities. Basically, we know almost nothing about them. We must rely on stealth, surprise, and quick action as our allies. Even then, it may not be enough.”

  Jared slowly ate a few bites of his meal while his words simmered in their hearts and minds.

  “One thing we have they won’t expect: the power of flight.” Jared looked toward the door and found Scarlet’s head resting a few paces from the doorway. Smiling at her, Jared waved a hand. Many of those around the table glanced over and waved.

  “While we have advantages, we sorely lack in numbers. This brings me to my main point.” He had everyone’s attention now and every eye turned his way. “Scarlet and I will leave first thing tomorrow.”

  “No!”

  Vanessa’s cry pierced the rumble of voices echoing around the room. Jared locked eyes with her, but quickly looked away, fearing his own composure. His heart leapt into his throat, threatening to choke him. He hated seeing Vanessa distraught. They’d grown closer over the weeks, and he’d come to cherish her friendship and closeness. Leaving was hard, but a necessary decision, and he hadn’t come to it lightly.

  Holding up a hand to cut off any further arguments, Jared explained, “I know you don’t want us to go, but we must.” Meeting Vanessa’s eyes, Jared showed her just how difficult this was for him.

  “Elle and Kitty will remain here to protect you should anything—or anyone—attack. Scarlet and I must go find her family. I’ve considered finding all of you companions around the area, and although there are possibilities, nothing compares to a dragon.

  “Carla, I know you’ve eyed that bird we’ve seen flying around, but that is the only creature I’ve seen that can fly and looks intelligent enough to serve as a good companion. The other birds we’ve seen are small and would take much too long to grow into something worthwhile.” The bird in question looked like an eagle of sorts but had the body of a cat. Some mythical sphinx or griffon. Who knew what creatures roamed the earth. Surely if dragons existed, then other creatures of legend must exist.

  “Some of you expressed interest in the many bears or wolves we’ve seen, and they aren’t out of the question, but we should exhaust the possibility of dragon companions first. If you can’t fly, we’ll never reach the cities, and if we can’t reach them, then what are we doing here? We could survive here for years, the rest of our lives, but I cannot sit idly by while the rest of the world suffers and those above remain unchecked. So Scarlet and I will leave at first light to find her family.

  “I know many of you expressed an interest in a dragon companion, and although we can’t promise you they’ll be receptive, we will try. First, we need to find them. Scarlet’s mother showed her where to begin our search before she died, but we’ve got a big task ahead. We don’t know how far underground they are, or if the passage is still intact. It’s been over ten years since her mother surfaced, and in this chaotic world, that is a long time for things to radically change. As big and deadly as Scarlet looks, she’s barely a fourth the size of her mother. It’s possible we’ll encounter stronger creatures along the way that wouldn’t have been a challenge for her mother. In any scenario we’ve considered, it’s much too dangerous to bring any of you with us.”

  Several people threw sympathetic looks his way, but others radiated concern over them leaving.

  “I urge all of you to remain here. Elle and Kitty can hunt for any food you want, but please le
ave off on any forays into the ruins and old colony until I return.”

  Vanessa, who stood next to Jared squeezed his arm. “What if you don’t come back?” She spoke with halting words, and he felt something drip onto his shoulder. Looking up, he saw tears leaking down her face, and fear shone behind her soft gaze.

  Jared reached up and rested his hand on her cheek. He wanted desperately to bring her with, but knew it was much too dangerous. When he’d first found Scarlet, he’d felt his world coming together, but it wasn’t until he grew closer to Vanessa that he truly felt complete. He longed for more than friendship with her, but he was scared about their future. If he committed to anything more and something happened to either of them, he didn’t know if he could go through that heartbreak and come out the other side.

  “I will be back. I promise,” Jared said, his voice catching as he wiped the tears from her eyes.

  The sober mood caused everyone to lapse into silence, their meals forgotten. Though some of them feared their safety in the colony, most seemed genuinely concerned about him and Scarlet and the challenges they’d face.

  Jared felt his desire to protect them grow. He’d found amazing friendships with these people, and no matter what happened in his search for the dragons, he’d find his way back here and resume his goal of making the world a better place for everyone.

  First, they needed to find the dragons.

  The next morning dawned much too fast, and he soon found himself at the mouth of their little village, his pack loaded with weapons and ammunition. He’d needed to borrow another satchel to carry a few medical supplies and a change of clothes.