Mutant

Nine

It was a young boy, Arch noticed. He would've been startled, but he didn't find a ten year old boy that surprising.

"Who are you?" Arch asked.

The boy had his eyes wide open and was moving around frantically. As if he had just lost his mind or something.

"They call me Sammy. But that's not important. A five year old toddler is hanging down on a three story building! This is pretty urgent,"

Arch shook his head in disbelief.
"Wait, what? How?"

Sammy slapped his forehead.
"She's going to die if you don't save her!"

Arch stood back a few steps.
"Wait, hold on. Who said I was going to save her?"

Sammy began to shed out tears.
"Please, she's my sister. Please help her."

Arch shook his head and laughed in disbelief. Part of him wanted to stay back on the safe side, but part of him also wanted to help the kid.

"I'm only sixteen," Arch exclaimed. "What makes you think I'm qualified to climb up a three story building and risk my life for a kid I don't know. It's ridiculous."

Sammy sniffed, indicating that he was starting to cool down.
"But you're the mayor's son. You must know what to do,"

"Just because I'm the mayor's son, it doesn't mean anything. I rarely even knew the mayor, and he was my father. Look kid, I think you got the wrong person."
But that wasn't the reason. That wasn't the truth. The truth was that he was afraid. He didn't want to take any risks that would harm others. No risks meant no danger.

Sammy slowly sulked his way towards the door.

Arch, who unwillingly realized what a coward he was being, cried out.
"Sammy wait!"

Sammy slowly cranked his head to Arch.
"What?"

Arch felt the crunched up note in his hand. That would have to wait.
"How far is the walk?"
************************

The coupes, sedans, SUVs, and vans all crashed into each other in some sort of traffic. The cars were immobile and their motors were currently streaming in heated tension. No one seemed to care enough to investigate the cars, they just stood there.
Beside the traffic were the rotten dead bodies that laid on the pavement with flies buzzing around them. And attention to this was also left unpaid.

But way up ahead the traffic was a large crowd moving around like little packed atoms. They were all staring up at a tall building.
The three story building had many organized windows on it and a lot of glass doors that covered its perimeters. But that hadn't been the main attention grabber that made the kids gaze up so eagerly.

Up ahead on one of the windows of the building, a little girl wearing a small purple blouse was hanging on to dear life with one hand. It was only a matter of time before she fell.

"Mommy! Sammy! Where are you?" The girl squeaked.

Below the gazing crowd, Sammy and Arch had moved up to the front to get a better view.

"Do something quick!" Sammy pleaded.

Arch looked around him. He was surprised the crowd was standing there like a statue and not doing anything. As if they were expecting him to make the first move.

Arch cupped his hands on his mouth. What was he supposed to do?

"Look!" Shouted this one girl named Shamry.

A twelve year old boy named Jacob had seen the same thing Shamry was seeing.
"Her fingers are slipping!" Jacob cawed.

And it turned out to be true. The hand that the toddler was hanging on to was decreasing by fingers. Slipping like butter.

Four fingers now.
Three fingers.

One finger left.