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Mutant At The End Of The World

In the latter days of the twenty-first century, two deadly wars devastated the planet. The first was the war between the West and the Muslim world. Nuclear devastation nearly destroyed the planet at the end of the conflict. The survivors of this conflict discovered that they have a new enemy. My kind. The genetically altered, not-quite-human entities known as the Mutants. Thus the second war began, and it's still ongoing. We're in it for the species, folks.

No one knows for sure where we Mutants come from. Some say that we are the result of a U.S. government experiment. Others claim we're simply products of natural evolution. One thing for sure, since we're twenty five percent of the world's population at last count, clashes between us and the Humans are inevitable. FYI? We're nothing like the X-Men or Avengers you might have seen in movies or television shows, folks.

My full name is Khaled Adewale but I go by Khal, which is short for Khaled. Anyone looking at me would see a six-foot-three, lean and athletic male of African descent. That's all you'll see, until you look into my eyes. I have vaguely luminescent yellow eyes. I was born in what was once known as metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. The remnants of this once-great metropolis are little more than ruins, lorded over by my brother/enemy, Yassin Adewale the Slayer.

Once, Yassin and I ruled the remnants of Detroit together. When we were younger, we lived in a Horde, as groups of Mutant families are called. Our Horde was destroyed by marauding Humans, and when Yassin and I grew to manhood, we hunted down and killed every man and woman belong to the marauding band that killed our family. We rallied fellow Mutants and organized them into a fighting force known as the Red Warriors. Together, we seized Detroit, and it became a paradise for our kind.

A city full of Humans but ruled by a sizeable number of Mutants. Yassin and I were a force to reckon with. Until he cast me out and seized power. The city has about a hundred thousand inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest settlements in today's world. I miss my home, but I'm forced to make my way into the desert wastelands that make up the bulk of the United States of America. I cannot return to Detroit under penalty of death. Brother love, ladies and gentlemen. Nothing quite like it in this cosmos.

"Are you finally going to stop frigging staring at me?" A sharp feminine voice snatched me out of my reverie, and I looked at my companion, Nadia. The short, slender, brown-eyed and bronze-skinned young woman scowls at me. I sigh deeply before replying to my favorite little hothead. Patience is a virtue, I remind myself.

"Nadia, I wasn't staring at your skinny ass, I was just reflecting," I reply, and Nadia rolls her eyes. I ignore her and look past her, at the vast landscape that was once known as Southern California. We're a long way from Detroit, that's for damn sure. I don't like it out in the desert. Too much radiation, even for a Mutant like myself.

"Whatever you say," Nadia mutters under her breath, and she grabs her equipment and ducks under a rocky outcropping. Sometimes I wonder how Humans survived to become the dominant species on this planet, seriously. Humans lack natural weapons, and they're petty and vindictive, prone to infighting due to their nasty habit of focusing on their differences rather than what they have in common. Even before my kind came along, this breed was doomed.

Now, considering the hostilities between Humans and Mutants, and my own personal history, you might wonder why I'm traveling with someone like Nadia Ibrahim. Look, I'll try to simplify this long story as best I can. After my brother Yassin Adewale and I had our little conflict, he kept me imprisoned in his own personal Gulag.

I was stuck in a cage next to Nadia Ibrahim and her brother Yousef. My brother Yassin was debating whether or not to execute me instead of banishing me. I was trapped, and desperate situations make strange bedfellows. That's when I met Nadia and Yousef. They're a couple of troublemakers from the Outlands, as we modern-day North Americans call the Middle East. That area of the world was bombarded at the end of the war between the West and the Muslims.

I helped Nadia and Yousef escape, and both Yousef and I were grievously wounded during our fight with the Red Warriors, but we managed to get out of Detroit. Yousef died from his injuries, while my more-than-human system slowly healed from the fatal wounds I sustained. Prior to dying, Yousef tasked me with protecting his sister. Don't ask me why but I felt compelled to keep my promise to the Human. Sometimes, though, I almost want to reconsider.

"We won't get far in this heat, Khaled, might as well bunk down until the evening," Nadia says, and I reluctantly agree. In the old days, Southern California was one of the hottest places on the planet. Thanks to nuclear fallout, and the effects of global warfare on the North American climate, it is now hotter than hell. As a Mutant, I possess above-average levels of physical strength, speed and endurance but I am not invincible.

"We'll hunker down till night fall, then we got to move, I want to reach the beach by dawn," I say grimly, and Nadia slowly nods. I join her under the rocky outcropping, and we hunker down, side by side. I take my gourd and slake my thirst, taking down four gulps before I stop myself. Can't drink it all now. Got to save some for later. Water is exceptionally hard to find in the desert, even for me.

"Always a good idea to listen to me," Nadia chides me, and I smile and shake my head. It's been three months since Nadia and I escaped from Detroit. We've grown close since then. No, not like that. I do have my dignity, thank you very much, and a self-respecting Mutant, I don't fancy Human females. Nadia and I are allies, and nothing more.

"Do you ever stop talking, Human?" I snap back, and Nadia laughs. Leaning back against the rocky wall, heedless of the smoldering heat, Nadia smiles and wipes her sweaty brow. From what I understand of Human standards, she's pretty. After knowing her for a while, I can assure you that her apparent frailty is deceptive. This five-foot-four, 120-pound Human female can become a real fury in combat situations.

"Nope, it's an occupational hazard but I love to piss off taciturn bald-headed Muties," Nadia replies in a smart-ass tone. I sucked in my teeth and shook my head, then I closed my eyes. I'm trying my best to ignore her. I can't. A Mutant's ultra-sharp senses can be a blessing as well as a curse sometimes. I can hear a pin drop from a distance of forty five meters. I can smell the blood coursing through a Human or animal's veins from up to five miles. Right now, I am smelling Nadia, and the desert delirium must be affecting me because this frail and annoying Human is starting to smell good to me...

"Get some sleep, Nadia, it's for your own good," I whisper, and I stretch as best I can, which isn't easy with my bulk. The space underneath outcropping is not a cave, by any means. As I stretch, my toes come dangerously close to Nadia's, and the Human female doesn't let it go. Smiling wickedly, Nadia cocks an eyebrow, and I can feel a snarky speech coming.

"Watch them toes, Khaled, your feet smell funky as it is," Nadia says smartly, and I sigh before pointedly ignoring her. I move my feet, but not by much. The heat outside is absolutely unbearable, and I am not about to expose myself to any more of it for Nadia's sensibilities. Usually I bite my tongue when she's bitching, but not this time.

"I wouldn't talk about smells, Human, my super-sensitive nose knows more than I dare reveal," I reply, and Nadia's brown eyes blaze with fury. I half expect her to get up and start hollering, but she doesn't. Instead, the diminutive Human female raises her arm and sniffs her armpit.

"As if you don't like my aroma," Nadia says, and for a moment, I freeze as though thunderstruck. Of all the nasty habits Nadia has displayed since we've met, this was the worst. I am half tempted to go out into the heat, just to get away from her. Willing myself to be calm, I offer Nadia a smile a sand shark would recognize, then close my eyes.

"Goodnight," I say, hoping the subject is closed once and for all. Nadia muttered something which I won't mention here, and then falls silent. Moments later, amazingly, she's fast asleep. Another Human habit I simply don't get. Their ability to fall asleep so easily. With a Mutant's sharp senses, I am easily distracted by sounds and smells nobody else can pick up, so falling asleep isn't easy. The same senses which make it hard for any Human to sneak up on my people also make it hard for us to falls asleep.

With Nadia Ibrahim silenced at last, I am still awake but unable to fall asleep. I drift into thought, and try as I might, I can't avoid thinking about my old life in Detroit. My kind don't have a fondness for one another. In fact, the only time we Mutants band together is to take out a common threat, like a particularly aggressive band of marauding Humans, for example. The rest of the time, we avoid one another.

Yassin and I have accomplished what no other band of Mutants have done before. We pushed aside the isolationist mindset common to our kind, united, and fought against the Humans in Detroit, and we took it over. I was in favor of granting the Humans certain rights, like a benevolent dictator, but Yassin saw them as savages. With the Red Warriors mercilessly enforcing his will in Detroit, Yassin became a tyrant.

My brother Yassin felt I was too kind to the Humans, and in his eyes that made me weak. Thus, he got rid of me. Plagued with thoughts from my violent past, I did the only thing I could. I got up and walked a small distance away, and made sure I was out of sight of Nadia.

"Allah Akbar, Ya Allah, heed my prayer," I said, as I knelt upon the burning desert floor, and prayed to Almighty Allah, Creator of All. I am a Muslim, though I wouldn't consider myself the most devout follower of the Islamic faith. Yassin and I were raised in that Faith. I believe that all living things, including us Mutants, were made by Allah. The Humans hate us and call us freaks, but we know we deserve to live, for we were created by the Maker of All Things.

I prostrated and prayed, and then rose to my feet, bowed gently and returned to the outcropping. I found Nadia still asleep. In fact, the Human was snoring louder than I would have thought possible for such a small person. I grumbled to myself and lay down, taking slow breaths as I willed my superheated body to cool itself down. My eyes are starting to droop. Man, that little stint in the desert heat when I went to pray is costing me dearly.

"For heaven's sakes, Khal, wake up," Nadia's shrill scream almost shatters my superhuman ear drums. I open my eyes, to find the annoying little woman holding onto me as if for dear life. I am wide awake now, and glaring sharply at the intrusive Human female. Seriously, why do people feel the need to slap you and shake you to wake you up?

"Nadia, let go of me," I manage to croak, and Nadia calms down somewhat, before pressing a flask against my lips. I barely open my mouth before she pours life-saving water down my throat. Instantly I feel myself coming back to life. One of the many perks of being a Mutant is that we recover faster than Humans, but we're not invincible.

"Khaled, why did you frigging go to the desert in this heat? Are you trying to kill yourself and leave me all alone?" Nadia snaps, angry now, and I catch those surprisingly strong hands of hers before she tries to shake me again. I catch Nadia's hands and look into her usually dull, all-too-Human brown eyes, and the intensity I see there stops me cold.

"I went into the desert to pray, Nadia, I thank you for the water," I reply slowly and watch Nadia's eyes and body language. The gal is calming down somewhat. I slowly let go of her hands, and lean back against the rock. Nadia fixes that wuthering stare on me.

"Look, Khal, if you want to kill yourself, that's your prerogative but don't do it at a time when I depend on you for my survival," Nadia says sharply, and her words sting. So much that I involuntarily grips the outcropping, so hard that a small part of it comes away, due to the superhuman pressure I exert on it.

"Look, Nadia, you don't get me, my Islamic faith got me through a lot, and to me, it's sacred," I reply, and Nadia sniffs but says nothing. How could I expect her to understand? Nadia is not like me. She has no idea what it's like to be truly persecuted. Lots of Mutants born into Human enclaves hide who they are, and hate themselves. I was spared that fate because my parents raised my brother Yassin and I in the faith of our Nigerian ancestors.

"Why do you think I don't get it, Khal? My family is Lebanese, and I was raised Muslim," Nadia replies hotly. Upon hearing that, I fall silent. Nadia draws closer, and gently touches my knee. I wasn't expecting that, and have no idea how to respond. I am a Mutant, and from the moment I was born, the world has shown me hostility and hatred rather than tenderness.

"I see," I reply, and Nadia draws even closer. I watch silently as this frail-looking but surprisingly strong, pale Human female wraps her arms around me. This is certainly awkward, given our size differences. Nadia holds me tightly, and looks me in the eyes. A bemused look creeps into her, ahem, not unattractive face and she smiles.

"Damn you for being so pig-headed," Nadia whispers, and then she kissed me. I don't know who was more surprised, me for being kissed by Nadia, or Nadia herself for kissing me. Another surprising thing? I reached out to Nadia, pulled her into my arms and kissed her back. When we came up for air, Nadia was giggling, and, um, I was smiling.

"That was nice," I said, and Nadia burst out laughing, and I found myself smiling at her. This small-framed, hot-tempered Human female has her good side, that's for sure. Nadia is certainly spirited. If I am completely honest with myself, there have been times when her resolve and tenacity have made her, in my eyes, the equal of a Mutant.

"That all you can say?" Nadia chides me, and I was about to reply when approaching sounds caught my attention. Instantly I fell still, and told Nadia to hush. I sniff the air, and detect the scent of approaching individuals. Humans, several of them. Four of them.

"We've got company," I say, and Nadia Ibrahim falls silent at once. In the world that we live in, the only thing you can be sure of is that you're never safe. The savage landscape that was once North America is crawling with threats. Among the Humans, there are marauding parties that raid both their fellow Humans and us Mutants. Oh, and some of them will eat whatever they can find, and both their fellow Humans and us Mutants are on the menu.

"If they're coming for us, let them, I'm ready," Nadia says, and she pulls her twenty-inch dagger out of its leather holster. I look at her in the fading light, and allow myself a smile. This woman is something else, isn't she? Nadia returns my smile, and quietly we hunker down in our not-quite-cave, and silently get ready to face our enemies, whoever they may be.

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