Whatever It Takes: Mutations

Chapter One

Welcome to the Future

Fallout: September 29th, 2:36pm

Current Location: Baltimore, MD
——————————————————
It's been four months since the bombings, and the world had no choice but to adapt to it. Fallout has been the new visitor at the party, and it's refused to leave. Braxton is seven years old now, and he's even hit a little growth spurt. Me and Olivia's sibling relationship has actually improved, which I'm proud of.

"Where are we even going?" asked Olivia.

Sgt. Brown turned around for a second to look at her. "There's an Air Force base in Baltimore."

We waited for him to continue, but he never did, which was kind of odd. I leaned up to ask a question. "What's special about it?"

"I know a few people there," he replied.

I grimaced and slumped back in the seat. Shaking my head, I looked back at the ruined world outside. Four months ago, it was nothing like this. It was always dark and gloomy and infested by zombies, maybe, if the disease has reached Maryland yet. Now, it's a wasteland. Buildings crumbled on top of each other, spore clouds all over the place, and every now and then your Raider gangs.

What worries me about the Raiders is that I've been seeing them a lot more often lately. Fortunately they haven't always messed with us because of Sgt. Brown and Navarez here, but they still make me anxious.

After a while of the awkward silence, Dad suggested that we turn on the radio. Navarez happily agreed and turned it on to a country station. It's been a while since I've heard some decent music, so I didn't protest. All of us listened and continued to make our way north through the city.

Without warning, extremely loud static started to interrupt the song, and Navarez was forced to turn it down because it was so loud. All of us had our ears covered.

"The hell was that?" He asked, a little upset.

Dad shook his head. "There wasn't even a little static before. It was sudden and without warning. That's strange."

I frowned, now curious. Dad was right, it's not typically that sudden and that loud.

"Maybe the station's getting attacked. Any idea on where it is?" Navarez asked.

The Sargent shrugged. "No, but I can ask when we get to the base. Maybe you're right, though. It could be getting atta-"

Then we were interrupted by the radio again. An EAS message started to blare it's beeps to get your attention. I've always hated those. Sgt. Brown, who was confused, turned up the radio to listen.

"This is an important message requested by the United Stated government, and we highly advise you to listen. The disease has now acquired a new strain, and we have discovered that the two types of zombies have gotten stronger. The Regulars have gotten faster and much sharper vision. The Clickers are much stronger and faster. There is also a new type of zombie as a result from the fallout, and we have named them "The Gouls." They are very weak, but in packs greater than five, they are extremely powerful. We advise you to stay away from them as much as possible. Thank you, and God bless."

It started to go on its endless loop, and Navarez turned it down. "What?"

Sgt. Brown looked bewildered and also angry. "How come I wasn't notified about this? Something isn't right."

In the distance, a deafening screech could be heard, causing Sgt. Brown to hit the brakes. He waited for a minute, then he turned his brights on. "Come out..."