Pixel's Haven

Let me tell you about the world as it is today, I wasn’t born into this world, I remember the time before mutts, the living dead and robot killing machines. Now it was a desperate world, plunged into a struggle for survival.

The year was 2056, we were always on the precipice of the end of the world, before there was always the threat just looming, my brother and I had always joked about what would bring society to a sudden end, we never realised it would be this.

I didn't like to think about those times though, my family were fortunate to escape north, I know this because the last message I had from my mum was telling me they had made it, they had reached the destination we had always says we would meet at, if anything were to ever happen, we referred to this jokingly as our little haven, a place we often visited on a family holiday, north of Scotland, an island that was secluded and isolated.

I was travelling there to meet them when I was recruited by the Mutt taskforce, this was a means to earn food. I snapped from my thoughts, distancing myself from that memory, the memory of the task force, that creped into my thoughts, when hunger and survival were the only driving force.

It was almost time for a food run, As I hunted through the tins of food I had salvaged, I looked back at pixel, we were getting low, I almost lost her the last time however and I wasn't about to take that risk again. I touched the heart locket around my neck, remembering my promise, keep her safe.

When the Mutts first arrived it was a virus, released when a meteor hit Earth, this virus was different, it didn't mutate to survive within a host, instead it mutated the host, it found the first species it could thrive in and from there it spread, it jumped species to species it took with it the DNA coding from the first adaptable host, this meant that it mutated the genetic strands of the host, instead of changing it's on structure, when it jumped from host to host, the host would mutate not the virus, the problem, was this virus thrived in animal life, hence the origins of the Mutts.

The world responded by nations accusing enemy nations of being responsible for the virus, and initially they threw threats around. Then the discovery of the Mutts United nations against what they perceived as a common enemy, humans that had mutated and taken on the instinct and aspect of animals, most likely to help them survive. People with the strength of bears, people who could run as fast as cheetahs.

When they developed the vaccine, instead of killing the virus, it killed the host, while the virus still thrived inside, hence we ended up with mutants on one side of humanity and the living dead on the other, when humans were no longer a match for mutants, they designed robots that were suppose to take out these threats, but the problem was, that as the mutants maintained an element of humanity, the robots were never developed correctly to have a distinction between the threat to humanity and humans themselves.

The living dead, were the only real threats they were able to determine and even then it would depend on what stage you were turning.

Eventually the robots would start to develop their own behaviours and become a new threat, no one knew if it was the virus that had been affecting organic beings, if it had now mutated to affect machines or just natural progression of the machines, either way humanity was becoming extinct.

Now civilisation lay in ruins, much like the mighty cities that were now reduced to rubble and decay, the bustling cities that once held busy lives, of socialising and working, shopping, it all seems meaningless now. Clambering through the rubble of dilapidated, crumbling buildings, foraging, salvaging, surviving, this was life now, being hunted.

As I stated, I was part of the Mutt task force ( mutant target task force) we were doing a sweep of an area that had mutant activity reports, the task force were told to fire first ask questions later.

I remember that day, we executed almost everyone in that building, anything that moved they put a bullet in it. I was frozen to the spot, I had seen the Mutts briefly, but never realised how much like us they were. When the firing stopped, the task force went from room to room. "You there, search that room" the order was directed at me.

I entered the room my ears still rang from the gun shots and explosions going off around me, there on the floor lay a dying woman, she looked at me with pleading eyes and her closed hand outstretched, at first I didn't understand, "please" she rasped as life was leaving her body "please, don’t hurt my...." with that she took her last breath, I will never forget the look in her eyes, I opened her hand and took a heart shaped locket, with a picture of the woman that lay dead before me.

It was then that I heard her cries, if the other soldiers would have found her, she would be dead, I eventually named her pixel as she was so small, I hadn’t noticed her at first and her name could be shortened to Pixi, it seemed kinda endearing, but I had to find a way to stop her crying, I gave her a little food, on that day I made a silent promise, looking at this tiny little creature, made me realise she was so helpless, she had such a sadness in her eyes, so lost. I took her and ran.

It was easy to pass her off as just a normal cat, as her cries were that of a kitten, however if anyone would have looked closer, they would have realised that she was mostly human, the rest is just a haze.

I knew were I was heading, to the place were my family would be, every step was fraught with danger, but we would be safe there, we travelled during the day, as it was safer, by night, we would hide.

We where almost there, 7 miles and across the ocean, a small island off the coast of Scotland, this would be our new home.

it was never their fault, humanity was always screwed, it was pretty much on the cards, war, global warming, the extinction of vital ecological species, at some point we would have done this to ourselves. Now it was survival of the fittest.