Under

Chapter 1

I swore under my breath as I crouched behind the rusty dumpster. I needed to get back my supplies. They were in a large black backpack, and it was attracting a large group of... well, I'm not sure what to call them. They were mostly humanoid, though they could no longer be called a human by anyone right now.

The creatures were naked, losing all need of clothes long ago. The radiation which had caused them to mutate had also made them lose all their hair. Their skin was almost nonexistent in some parts and a pale green in others. It was not a pleasant sight.

I checked the gauge on my radiation mask to see how much longer I had before I would have to go back underground. It was not long. Our radiation masks were specially modified gas masks designed to keep out the radiation. They were developed by the military a few years before the nuclear war, and we had found a few in our bunker.

I decided that I would have to distract them in some way  then try to sneak past them. I threw my knife, and it buried in to the ground a few feet away from the mob. They looked over with a grunt and swarmed around the knife.

I sprinted towards my pack, but tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, screaming in despair and pain as my leg was bent back at an unnatural angle. The mob surrounded me within seconds.

***

I woke with a start. I was not on the surface, but in a grimy bed underneath the city that had once been Toronto. This was the second time I had had the dream that week.

Sighing, I pushed my hair out of my eyes, rolled out of bed and stretched. I took in the concrete walls and grungy floor, sighing, then reached under my soiled pillow and grabbed my pistol. Maybe in the past, the world wasn't so dangerous and you didn’t need a weapon at all times, but if so that time was long gone.

I started putting on my clothes, one of two sets of clothes I had available. Night clothes and Day clothes. Neither had been washed in weeks. I had neither the time nor the resources to wash them. Most of the water had been contaminated with radiation, so water couldn't be wasted on something as trivial as clean clothes.

The door opened and Kylie came in. She looked the same as ever, with long blond hair and green eyes, with one exception. She looked a little worried.

"Jesus, Kylie, ever heard of knocking? I just got my clothes on!" I exclaimed.

"We need to go. Now," She said urgently.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Mika, he's in the infirmary."

"What? Oh god, what happened?"

"I'll explain on the way."

I nodded, picked up my pistol again, slammed it in to my waistband, and went out the door with Kylie.

"So what happened?" I asked.

"He was on the surface when his radiation filter malfunctioned. He was found just inside the compound. He inhaled a lot of radiation."

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked, despair rushing through me.

"I’m not sure yet. Thought I should get you ASAP."

"Thanks. If I lose Mika... well, he's the only family I have left."

"You have me, you know."

"Shut up. I'm trying to have an emotional moment here."

Kylie laughed, and then we walked on in silence. "What would happen if Mika did die?" I thought. "He's my best friend... I don't know what I'd do if he died."

We reached the infirmary door and went inside. The entire room was made of concrete bleached a dirty off-white color. Mika was on a bed with dirty sheets, with a young doctor hovering over him. The doctor had a grave look on his face.

"Will he be okay?" I asked.

"Well, Gabe... It's not looking too good right now," The doctor replied.

The heartbeat monitor started slowing down, then flat lined. I heard something crash into the doorway.