Humanoid-Nuclear (Humanoid Trilogy #1) [ON HOLD]

3

It was so... Pretty? No, that wasn't the right word... Terrifying? No, not that word, either. Bazaar? Ah, screw it, I don't know. The trees had dark, purple leaves, the trunks and branches a weird tan color. The grass looked... Well, dead, but it was clearly alive. Thriving, in fact. A strange, mutated lizard of a bright green squeaked and darted away, hopping into a purple bush. There were some shiny things in the trees, glowing a light blue. There were still buildings, but they looked really dirty. There was also--if I squinted my eyes--a huge crater a mile or so away. I looked at the house behind me, faint memories coming back to me.

"Well," I sighed, "this is the world now." I looked forward, then lifted up my radiation tester and pressed the button. It beeped a few times, and as I waved the radiation tester slowly in the air, the screen remained green. Carefully, I took off my mask, taking a hesitant breath of the air.

"It doesn't look that bad." I told myself. I stepped away from the shelter and closed the heavy doors with a loud thud, then walked into the once well cared for home. I swept away some abnormally thick and sticky cobwebs that were in the way as I entered. I checked for radiation on everything, finding that only the air and floor were safe to touch. "This used to be my house," I informed the camera. "My room is upstairs to the... left, I think. I can't really remember."

A mutated rat with spiky fur and a weird nose scampered across the floor, making me jump.

I laughed. "That scared me! Geez! What a loser." I looked around, then turned and left, not even bothering to go up the stairs. I probably would have gotten a bit emotional if I did. I was already kinda upset just being downstairs. "There's nothing for me in here. It's all radioactive or broken." I closed the door with my gloved hand, then kept on walking. I scared a lot of those little lizard things as I walked through the tall grass, watching my step and keeping the device close to me.

"So, there should be a few stores around here, and I bet you they've got some real food there. I just hope it's not entirely spoiled or anything." I went past the trees, piles of leaves reaching my ankles. The screen on my device was red when I scanned them, and I realized the radiation must've been keeping the leaves from decaying. Kind of cool, I guess.

The trees disappeared behind me as I got to the main street people used to use frequently, corner stores surrounding the entire place. "In my opinion, this is actually an improvement."

A really weird blue jay flew past me, shrieking for some stupid reason. I entered the closest corner store with a rusty sign that said '10-4' over it. Basically, it was the equivalent to Earth 1's '7-11'. Boy, are people creative. I checked for radiation, tapping my foot impatiently. The things in the front were radioactive inside and out, but the things at the back weren't as bad. Most of the buildings had solar power, so it didn't surprise me that the cold-holder worked. "Is there any tasties in here?" I asked myself, stepping deeper into the store.

My search proved kinda pointless because everything was expired horribly. Luckily, there were dried foods and plastic bottles of water deep in the supplies closet, so I was able to find something. I also found some sweet drinks I hadn't had ever since I was a little kid, so I definitely stocked up on that. I gladly munched on my first snack in forever, savoring every single bite. I never even liked the certain snack I was eating, but right then, it was my absolute favorite in the entire radiated world.

For the rest of the day, I explored, stocked up on food and water, tested and documented things, and marked the radioactive places on my holographic map. I soon learned that the radiated blue jays were not friendly. How could they be? They shot acid at me from their beaks! When it grew dark, I went back into the shelter and closed the doors, finally feeling happy.

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Okay, this song kinda makes me think of this book (mainly JP), so here ya go!