The Mutation Breakdown

by E S Richards

  The large man had barely recognised Zahyra before she instinctively raised her right arm and plunged the knife she was holding deep into his chest. He opened his mouth to say something then staggered back, Zahyra’s body sliding off his as he moved. His hand went to his chest where a bloody wound formed, the red vest he wore becoming soaked with his own blood.

  Zahyra couldn’t move her eyes away from him as he slowly fell to his knees, one hand still pressed to his chest, and then eventually slumped over forwards. The whole ordeal lasted no more than a few seconds but to Zahyra it felt like it was never-ending.

  Flashes of countless other deaths tore through her mind and she saw the little girls surrounding the bus she’d been thrown from; she saw the mutant Cain had shot in order to save her life and the ones he had killed as they’d moved through the city. Death absorbed her and she became transfixed by it, her reason for killing the mutant leaving her mind completely as she looked from his body to the knife she’d now dropped on the ground over and over again.

  A little voice brought her back to reality and she shook her head struggling to hear what it was saying.

  “Zar?”

  She looked away from the dead mutant and locked eyes with her little brother. Cain was standing behind him warily which she could see in her peripheral vision but as she zoned in on Asher she only had eyes for him.

  In a second she had her arms wrapped around him, pulling him down onto the blood stained grass and tangling her fingers up in his hair. She breathed deeply as she held him, closing her eyes and taking in his sweet, sweet smell. She then looked him dead in the eyes and tears started to form in her own.

  A look of confusion was stamped across Asher’s face as he marvelled at how his older sister had come to be here with him. At how he’d escaped certain death and was now back with Zahyra, a person who he’d believed he would never see again.

  Cain’s voice tore through the family reunion and it took him repeating her name three times for Zahyra to finally take notice.

  “We’ve gotta move,” he said, a note of panic clear in his voice.

  Zahyra pulled herself a few inches further away from Asher in response and looked into the dark forest around them. She listened closely but couldn’t hear anything except her own heart beating like a train inside her chest.

  “Trust me, they’re coming,” Cain urged her when he saw the look of uncertainty on her face, “let’s move. Now!”

  The last word he spoke snapped something inside of Zahyra and she returned to the seriousness of the situation they were in. It was all well and good being reunited with Asher but they had to make sure they were safe before they could truly stop and appreciate it. Looking down at his face Zahyra cupped his cheeks in her hands and spoke softly, the words coming out in long, exacerbated breaths.

  “Asher,” she paused for a moment wanting to take everything in for a second longer, “oh my god I love you.” Tears were forming again in her eyes and Zahyra forced herself to blink them back and save this moment for later.

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes fully for a second, mentally commanding herself to remain focused on the mission for just a while longer. Asher was staring at her expectantly. He still looked shocked and confused and he now had blood in his hair from where Zahyra had been holding him. There was also definite fear in his eyes and Zahyra knew she had to keep fighting until that fear was permanently turned back to joy.

  “This is Cain,” she started again, indicating to Cain who was becoming more impatient and worried by the second, “he’s my friend. We need to run away now okay? Cain will lead the way and help us, but, are you able to run?”

  Relief overwhelmed Zahyra as her little brother gritted his teeth and climbed to his feet nodding. He wiped his hands on his now filthy white vest and looked up first at Zahyra then at Cain.

  “Let’s go.”

  Cain didn’t need anything more of an instruction and began to start jogging back into the darkness of the forest.

  “Follow Cain, Ash,” Zahyra smiled at her brother, “don’t let him out of your sight.”

  Asher nodded again and started running after Cain, his legs and arms pumping to keep up with the pace being set. Zahyra bent down and picked up her knife from the grass where she’d dropped it, her eyes glancing over the mutant’s dead body again but refusing to linger there. She wiped the blade on the grass and kept it firmly in her hand as she turned and ran off after Asher and Cain, keeping her little brother as safe as she could by having him in between the two of them.

  The forest was almost impossible to navigate and there were still several hours until sunrise would provide any light. Zahyra nearly lost sight of Asher immediately and had to run blindly into the forest as fast as she dared until the saw his little head bobbing along in front of her. He had caught up to Cain and was running close to his heels, staying just out of tripping distance.

  Zahyra didn’t have a clue why Cain had told them to run but she knew it was almost solely his judgement that had got them this far and she wasn’t about to start doubting him now. There was something inside her that demanded she trust him, mixed in with a plethora of other confusing feelings she now carried about him. Knowing now was not the time to start thinking about Cain in a romantic sense again she focused on running, on watching Asher’s hair bounce up and down in front of her and on looking around her surroundings for any sign of danger.

  It was the noise that gave away the danger before Zahyra saw anything. The sounds of several sets of little feet galloping through the trees adjacent to her along with heaving panting and the occasional yowl. Wild dogs. They must have been attracted to the smell of blood whilst already out on a nighttime hunt. Cain had mentioned there were other dangers in the forest but Zahyra hadn’t truly considered anything aside from the immediate mutant threat.

  Processing the danger she picked up speed to catch up with Asher in front of her, then reaching him tugged on his arm encouraging him to run even faster so they could catch up with Cain. Once she was running alongside him he slowed down in order for them to speak, Asher still sandwiched between their moving bodies.

  “Dogs?” Zahyra gasped through staggered breathing, the tempo and the terrain underfoot causing her to grow exhausted quicker than usual, although adrenaline was still pumping through her veins.

  “Yeah,” Cain replied, a grim look on his face, “I can’t tell how many.”

  “What do we do?” Zahyra asked desperately. Her mind immediately went back to the time she and Asher were cornered in a tree by a wild dog several years before. They had been climbing around, seeing who could get the highest when Asher noticed a dog sat at the base of their tree. It was only thanks to Asher’s bright idea of yelling and throwing branches down at the dog that it finally went away.

  But still it had been one of the more frightening moments of Zahyra’s childhood – up until recent events – she had had nightmares about the dog ripping her apart for months afterwards. And that had only been one dog. The echoing noises in the forest with her made it sound like there could be hundreds about to attack.

  Zahyra noticed then that Cain had replaced the knife in his hand with his gun. She figured they were either far enough from the camp now to not worry about the noise or they had no other option. There were still specks of blood on her own knife and she grimaced as she recalled the mutant she had killed. He would certainly be a prominent feature in her dreams tonight. At that moment Cain looked down at Asher between them, still running at almost full pace in an attempt to keep up with them.

  “Can you climb?” He asked in a sweet voice, the type you use to try and relay to a child that the situation is not as bad as it might seem. Asher nodded, too tired to speak and Zahyra filled the silence for him.

  “Of course, you’re great at climbing, aren’t you Ash?”

  Her brother nodded again as Zahyra spoke though heavy breaths – maintaining a conversation whilst running had never been something that came easily to her.


  “Keep an eye out for a tree,” Cain spoke as his eyes darted around in the darkness. The sounds of the dogs were growing ever nearer and Zahyra knew it wouldn’t be more than a couple of minutes until they were pounced on. The mercy that they were unable to climb trees came as a blessing at that moment in time and Zahyra was more than happy to return to the treetops, a place where she’d spent the majority of her time over the last few days.

  At that moment they ran past a tree that looked easy enough and she quickly doubled back to have a closer look in the minimal visibility.

  “Here!” She called back to Asher and Cain, who hadn’t stopped as suddenly as she had. “Ash can you climb this?”

  Her brother responded by jumping up and grabbing hold of the lowest branch, heaving his body up after him. Once he was stood on the branch he reached for the next and after a little more distance was between him and the ground Zahyra clambered into the tree after him. She had just reached the third branch and Cain was about to jump up after her when the dogs appeared in the distance gunning for them.

  Their jaws snapped open and shut as they ran, saliva dripping from their mouths and being thrown back in the wind behind them. There were five of them; their fur matted with dirt in places while several of them had bald spots where previous injuries had occurred.

  Cain scrambled to pull his legs up onto the branch as the closest dog leapt through the air and snapped its jaws shut around his left boot. He yelled out in pain and struggled to hold onto the branch, kicking with his leg to try and shake the dog off.

  In his right hand Zahyra noticed he was still clutching his gun, although it was slipping from the angle he was trying to grip the tree branch at. Adrenaline taking over her again she climbed back down the few feet she had covered and reached down to free the gun from Cain’s hand. Pointing it at the dog below she pulled the trigger, but was surprised when nothing happened.

  “Turn the safety,” Cain exclaimed in anguish, still frantically kicking his leg to try and remove the dog. The other four had gathered around the base of the tree as well and were yelping and barking in an attempt to bring Cain down to them.

  Zahyra found a button on the side of the gun and clicked it, hoping that it was the correct one. She aimed again and pulled the trigger, this time a resounding boom sounding out and causing the gun to shake tremendously in her hand. The bullet missed the dog holding onto Cain but found its target in one of the others.

  Thankfully the sound frightened the first enough to loosen its grip on Cain’s foot and he was able to pull himself free. Favouring his other leg he balanced on the branch standing upright, puncture wounds visible in his left foot through his boot.

  “Climb!” Zahyra urged him and shuffled to the side so he could head up the tree past her to where Asher was waiting amongst the branches. Cain did as he told and Zahyra leaned against the trunk once he was out of the way and aimed back down at the dogs. She fired off two shots in quick succession, miraculously finding the body of a dog with both bullets. Then the gun clicked empty. The two remaining dogs had stilled at the loss of their pack members and in this moment of silence Zahyra pushed the gun into her waistband and climbed quickly up the tree to her brother and Cain.

  The forest was even darker further up the tree, the density of the leaves increasing and causing her to climb slower than she would have liked. She still reached the others in under a minute and found Asher sat on a branch just above Cain who was clutching his left foot in his hands. Carefully she positioned herself between the two of them and reached up to hold her little brothers hand while trying to inspect the damage done to Cain’s foot.

  Chapter 20

  “Are you okay?” Zahyra asked Cain nervously. Even in the darkness she could see blood noticeably dripping down to the forest floor below them where three dead wild dogs lay, the other two just slinking away in the distance. Cain grimaced in response to her and continued to clutch his left foot in pain.

  “Should you take your boot off?”

  “No, probably not,” Cain said, his voice sounding faint from the pain, “not here anyway. Should keep it on until we can get somewhere safer.”

  “Okay,” Zahyra replied looking around, “any ideas where that would be?”

  Asher was still holding her hand from the branch above her where he let out a long yawn. Looking up at him Zahyra could see the exhaustion in his face, she had no idea what had happened to him in the time she’d been away with Cain and at that moment she wasn’t sure she wanted to. It was yet another conversation she’d have to save for a later time, the situation at present being one she realised she would now have to take charge of.

  “What about the scout hut?” She asked Cain, “Do you remember where that is from here?”

  Cain paused for a moment before answering, “I think so yeah. We could probably make it before sunrise,” he paused for a moment longer, “but there would be more mutants there after last time.” Cain trailed off from his last sentence, not wanting to reveal too much to frighten Asher. He almost felt like he knew the boy for how much Zahyra had spoken about him, but he was also very aware that Asher had no idea who he was and was likely in a very unstable place at that time.

  “We’ll deal with that when we get there,” Zahyra replied firmly. She knew that sitting up in a tree wasn’t going to do them any good for much longer. She was also worried about whether the mutants from the camp would come and find them. When the one – she shuddered – who had been assigned to kill Asher hadn’t returned they must have started asking questions, plus they might have heard the gunshots.

  As if reading her thoughts Cain chose that moment to reach into one of the pockets in his leather jacket and hand Zahyra a case of bullets. She slowly fitted them into the gun, her hands shaking with the unfamiliar object, nervous about it going off at random if she did something wrong. Once the bullets were in place and the safety switch was definitely turned on she returned the gun to her waistband and readjusted herself in the tree.

  “Let’s go then. Can you get down?” She directed her question towards Cain but then thought of her little brother and looked up at him too; he nodded in response and started moving around on the branch to get into a better position. Cain laboriously did the same beneath her and slowly began to make his way down the tree. He massively favoured his right leg as he climbed and Zahyra worried about his ability to run if any more danger crossed them on the next part of their journey.

  Once the three of them were safely on the ground, stepping over the dead animal carcasses that littered the base of the trunk, Cain began to lead the way back to the scout hut. Zahyra was impressed that he still knew the way, their run through the forest having disorientated her more than she liked to admit. Without Cain she was well aware she could be lost amongst the trees for days and didn’t want to spend any more time there than they were already being forced to.

  The pace they set was slow and draining. Cain struggled at the front of their group and Zahyra walked just behind holding her little brother’s hand. Having just been reunited with him she refused to let him go until she knew they were safe from any and all danger.

  Asher continued to yawn as they walked and the combined tiredness of the other two made Zahyra begin to feel sleepy herself. She blinked deliberately as she walked; forcing herself to stay alert and scan the surroundings for other mutants, dogs or whatever else was hiding amongst the trees.

  The feel of her little brother’s hand in hers brought some peace to the otherwise petrifying scenario. She knew the sun would be coming up soon and that filled her with joy as she thought of watching it with Asher. She also wondered intensely about his branding, a burnt in zero clearly visible on his upper arm. Despite knowing it had been a huge possibility Zahyra had still not let herself fully accept that fact her brother was now branded a Zero, just like she should be if her mother had abided by the rules.

  Letting go of Asher’s hand for a moment she untied the jacket she wore around her waist and helped him slip it on ove
r the blood stained white vest. It drowned his small frame causing him to look younger than he was but he smiled up at her in response and pulled it tightly around his body, relishing the extra coverage in the cold night.

  Sadness gripped Zahyra as she thought of her brother now baring the mark of a Zero. She wished she could carry that burden for him but knew that once someone was branded there was no way of changing it, no matter what level of mutation they carried.

  They were now – according to their brandings – a Zero, a Gen 1 and a Gen 4: a strange bunch of misfits that didn’t have anywhere to call home or anyone else to rely on. In reality Zahyra thought of the three of them more like a group of Zero’s; herself and Asher in the truest sense of the word and Cain in a way that he kept his mutation hidden as much as he could, so it was of little use to them anyway.

  Three Zeros, alone – and in her opinion – lost in the forest. Stifling a laugh in her throat Zahyra smirked instead at how ridiculous their situation had become. But at least she had her brother back, she reminded herself, noting how his hair still bounced up and down on his head as they walked.

  When Asher had been six or seven years old he had somehow managed to find a blade from somewhere and had a friend cut off all his hair. He returned to their hut with bald patches all over his head and little tufts sticking out in odd places. Zahyra had laughed for days at how ridiculous he looked before their mother finally gave in and shaved the rest of his head so he looked like a bald child. She had laughed even more then and Asher had run back into the camp to escape her ridicule.

  Those were the moments Zahyra missed most from their old camp. The small, childish memories she held from when everything had been so simple and drama free. For most of her life the biggest troubles she’d encountered were moving camps and when her father left. The past two weeks in comparison were like a whole different life. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought she’d encounter high ranked mutants, let alone travel with one of them. Even meeting Cain himself felt like it had happened many years ago, when in reality she had known him for a very short amount of time.