Our journey South could be best described as meandering. We drove back and forth endlessly between enormous footprints that marred land.
The scenery was foreign. Not foreign as in, another country, but foreign like another world, or another time. When I looked out of the truck, the rolling hills of the English countryside looked alien and prehistoric.
The grass had grown to be the same height as our car and mammoth trees towered up to the height of great redwoods that should only be seen in the forests of America.
All the animals that I saw had suffered a similar gigantification. Cows that were as big as buses plodded in the deep grass beside the towering trees. Sheep the size of cars and rabbits that dwarfed me roamed in the countryside.
From a distance, everything looked normal. It was only when we drove close by that we could fully appreciate the enormity of everything.
By now, I had come up with a theory. It was pretty straight forward and when I suggested it to the group it wasn't met with any resistance.
"The huge animals aren't monsters. Since all the types of animals we encounter are the same as those we would expect to find in England, it stands to reason that these are actually just those same animals. They must have mutated somehow." I said.
Kashyap nodded, thoughtfully scratching his chin with one hand. "It makes sense when you think about it. What other animals would you find in London besides rats?"
"Do you remember the picture of the cat we saw on the wall in the house we stayed at? didn't it look exactly like the one we fought but smaller and without the sabre teeth?" I said triumphantly. Everything fitted into place.
Suddenly, Kyle turned pale. "Do you think that the cat was the one who killed the owner of that house?" He asked with a shaky voice.
"It makes sense," Kashyap said.
"It does," I agreed, "But it's sad to think that the reason most humans are dead is that their pets turned into monsters."
August butted in, with his usual level of tact, "I for one, am glad our building didn't allow animals. Do you remember when Kyle wouldn't shut up about getting a goldfish?"
"Hahaha yeah, can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to be killed by your own goldfish?" I laughed.
"Hm... that probably happened to some people." Kashyap mused.
"Who?" August asked scornfully.
"Fishermen and scuba divers," Kashyap said jokingly.
While we all laughed at our little joke, Kyle looked deadly serious, "You don't think that would actually happen, do you? Because my mum owns a couple of pet fish and..."
Before he could continue on and spiral into a pointless circle of worrying about things he could do nothing about, I stopped him in his tracks, "Of course not. As long as your mum doesn't go swimming with them, she'll be fine."
Although I told Kyle that, she was definitely dead. We all knew it. Not just her either. August's family were dead. He's from Australia and if any of the countless species of poisonous spider and snake living there mutated, it would be a disaster. Even if they survived the animals, how were they supposed to make it across the ocean to get to safety? If anything, the ocean was even more dangerous.
Kashyap's family are from India. I can't say I know a huge amount about India, but there should be tigers, elephants and all manner of dangerous species living there. Their chances were slim, but at least they were on the mainland.
Perhaps the only people who were safe were those that worked for the army. It wouldn't be hard to level up if you had a machine gun to do all the work for you. And my family... They would be fine. If anything, the monsters would have to run from them.
Now that I thought about it, it was strange. "Where is the army?" I asked.
"Dead, I suppose," Kashyap said with little remorse.
"Hm, But, shouldn't there have been some sort of response to all this?" I said while gesturing to the prehistoric countryside we were driving through.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see August was gearing up to start ranting about 'Today's poor military standards,' So I quickly moved on.
"It's just strange that there was no response. The Police, I understand. They're scattered and don't carry guns. It wouldn't be hard for a couple of rats to overwhelm them. But the army... they have guns and numbers on their side. Unless one of those footprints is now, where the army's main base used to be, I don't see why they didn't help."
"That is strange, I hadn't thought about that," Kashyap said while scratching his chin thoughtfully.
We travelled on through the strange new land that England had become. It was slow going with the poor state of the roads, but finally, right as the red sun was close to setting, we could see the ocean.
It glittered magically beneath the red glow of the evening sun, a blue so deep it was almost purple. Beneath the frothing waves, monsters lurked. The only evidence of their existence is the knife-like fins that split the waves apart.
I shudder to think about what would happen to us if we tried to cross the channel by boat. All it would take was one shark to take notice of us and... BAM, dead. Suddenly, I started to wonder just how big species like the Giant squid would have grown. Maybe there was an actual Kraken now.
We merged back from the winding country lanes that snaked through the grassy pastures and small forests that had begun to spring up everywhere, onto the motorway again. Checking the map, we were only a few miles from our destination.
So, of course, this is when everything went wrong.
Our truck hit something and jolted slightly from the impact. Then, before I even had time to blink, the ground beneath us exploded. Dirt and rock sprayed out into the air in a fountain of earth.
The explosion blasted the back of the truck off the ground and flipped us violently into the sky. I don't know if you are aware of this, but generally speaking, trucks don't belong in the sky.
Since August and I were in the back of the Pickup truck, we were catapulted out by the explosion and sent careening away into a nearby field. The thick grass broke my fall leaving me with just a few bruises and singed eyebrows.
However, the two men in the front of the vehicle weren't so lucky. They were along for the ride as the pickup truck tumbled across the road in a pile of molten metal and fire. Finally, the wreckage came to a sputtering stop in the middle of the motorway.
Breathlessly, I dragged my weary body up and pushed my way through the tall grass that lay between, me and the wreck. I was just about to step out onto the road when August pulled me back by the collar.
"What the fuck are you doing? We need to get them out of there!" I yelled at him nervously.
"Look," He said, pointedly staring down at the piece of road I had been about to step on.
I followed his gaze and saw an inconspicuous metal disk that had been hastily covered by some dirt. Somehow, it looked familiar to me.
"That's a landmine, be careful not to step on one, or you'll be blown to bits. I would rather not have to clean up your remains with a mop." August said grimly.
I gulped dryly, my mouth felt parched. Carefully, I followed August's lead out onto the seemingly normal road that had, before my very eyes, transformed into a death trap.
Wherever August stepped, I stepped. And like this, we picked out way through the literal minefield towards the wreckage of the car.
A heat haze shimmered around the flames that bathed the car. Vaguely, I saw a human figure drag itself from the passenger seat and crawl slowly around to the driver's side. Where he crawled, he left a faint trail of blood.
I could tell it was Kyle, but I couldn't do anything to help him. We were forced to continue walking at painstakingly slow speed through the minefield. Each step had to be calculated and there was no room for error. One wrong move and we would be joining Kyle's mother in Heaven.
Kyle weakly scrabbled at the crushed door that imprisoned Kashyap in the smouldering wreckage. His burned and bloodied fingers couldn't muster any strength, but he still tried desperately all the same.
Finally, I was within reach. I lept over the last stretch of road and landed softly beside Kyle. I pulled him up by the shoulders and shoved him into August's chest. "Get him out of here before this explodes!" I yelled.
"Don't worry about me. I have a way out." I shouted at August. He looked at me grimly and nodded his head. Then turned around and painstakingly made his way back to the roadside and out of the minefield with Kyle slung over his shoulder like a sack of bricks.
I turned back to the car and wrenched at the door. It was bent inwards at an impossible angle and was red hot to the touch. Despite my best efforts, It wouldn't budge.
Quiet crying echoed out from inside the wrecked car and it only made me all the more desperate. I didn't know how long Kashyap had left, his life was like sand falling down an hourglass and I could sense that he didn't have long left. Perhaps it was this desperation that allowed me to activate my first skill.
Mana poured out of me like water through broken flood gates. In a second, half of it was gone. But, with the loss of my mana, came the activation of my first skill.
My muscles bulged and my strength doubled instantaneously. This time, when I wrenched at the car door, it bent beneath my grip.
I had just activated (After Burner - Expend half of your mana to double your speed and strength.)