Lost in thought by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

A short story from Happily ever after. Not! Tales of the unfortunate

New beginnings mean just that starting new. In theory it is a natural assumption but when you put people into that, let’s just say that old habits die hard.

Old habits

A meteor air burst will cause a 32K degree fireball. The material thrown up could cause an atomic winter for years. The burst will generate a shock wave that exceeds anything that the strongest nuclear bomb can generate. That was the biggest problem.

The astronomer’s spotted this meteor almost a month before it was going to impact the earth. They made sure that it was made known to the public. After being briefed, the major superpowers prepared. The first thing they did, hours before the impact time, was to turn the automatic response systems to standby. This was circulated through all the countries that were nuclear capable. Or so they thought

The impact was going to be in a middle east desert area, so no one should be really affected. The only problem was that there was a weapons laboratory in the area. When the meteor exploded in the air, that country knew it was under attack and launched. All they had was short range missiles. Their targets responded.

Secret labs were destroyed, mostly.

At first, the world thought that the entire region from the Mediterranean to western China was totally uninhabitable. What they did not expect was the asinine research being carried out at a lab that was partially destroyed by the shock wave.

People started to get sick. There was the initial large group of people that died. They were, it turns out, the weak ones.

A strange thing started to occur, people started to disappear from the hospitals. Not that anyone cares now but it turned out the governments of the world were taking those who looked like they were surviving, They were never seen again.

That only lasted for a few weeks until the people that made up the government got sick.

Just before the world broke down, the last of the televised news went out that civilization was tanking. There were mutations breaking out. I was one of the ones that did not get sick.

In this world, there was only around twenty five percent of the population that did not get sick. The survivors of the sick were now escaping out of the hospitals, but there were the vast majority that avoided the hospitals and stayed at home.

The mutated now were coming out. At first, they were very cautious, scared but all getting used to their new form. The thing is that they are not acting strange. Contrary to all the fiction stories I have read, they are actually having fun in their new lives.

Felids, canids, harpies, dwarves, elves and such. They all got along with each other. The one thing that was troubling was their view of us humans. We were the cause of their change, so we really needed to be watched, guided, so we did not get into any mischief and cause further trouble.

They seemed to have forgotten that they were human. They have forgotten that the humans that are left, are not the ones that released the mutation, those ones died in the war but they seemed to forget that fact.

The new races have formed the new world governing body. That is the reason that I have run into the wilderness.

In their infinite wisdom, we humans must be guided, protected from our destructive selves. To that end we need to be gathered into segregated communities, for our own protection. We can be observed to curtail our aggressive nature.

This started the first human habitat exhibit. We are now an exhibit akin to the wild animal parks of old. Money to be made, a world order was made that all humans must report to the government for relocation. This is the reason I have been on the run.

Feral humans have been listed as a threat to the new peace of the world. If they cannot be captured, lethal measures can be used. That is how I have been subject to open hunting season.

Several of the new species have exceptional olfactory abilities, I keep a supply of strong vinegar with me. I also have my staches of ammunition along with rifles and sidearms. If I am to be hunted, I’ll defend myself.

I have become legendary. The epitome of evil humans, but I have become so proficient that I have been subject to so called predator races coming after me. I constantly move to different terrains. Most of the times, rocky but heavily wooded areas. I find that the pine regions mask me the best.

Becoming famous has its drawbacks. I did not know this, but there were whole human exhibits that had to be culled due to uprisings. I continued to fight and flight. Ambush whenever possible.

This went on for a few years. Longer than I would ever expect. I have fled deeper and deeper into the uninhabited areas. The only thing that gives my direction away is the trail of bodies.

The ruling races were starting to have their people decry their relentless pursuit of me and others like me but it seems that some of the old humans, now humanoids, of the government creeped into the new government.

Of those, there were a few generals of old. They knew the area of my last position. They went to their missile command bunkers. They were on standby mode. Hit the power button and all rebooted. They programmed a few of the nuclear missile silos to fire into my area.

I heard the missiles and was vaporized before I realized it.

Those generals celebrated until they heard the incoming warning. They had forgotten that the other countries had placed their automatic response on standby that day. Stand by was set at forty eight hours then reset.

Once there was a detection of a nuclear explosion in this country, the remaining missiles launched. That triggered the countries automatic responses to fire. Within an hour, all life on this world has been erased, burned to ash in seconds.

Old habits, old beliefs, old racisms are hard to break when you have forgotten what it is to be human and become a beast.