Laser gunshots echo in the distance, each burst growing closer.
"They're coming, Chals! Let's go!" Antony's voice cracked with panic as he fumbled with the strap of his pack.
"I'm almost done…" Chals crouched over the makeshift device, his fingers flying across the console. Sweat dripped down his forehead. "There—done!"
Hurried footsteps splashed through the muck nearby.
"It's XEN-V! Go, go!"
A soldier's voice rang out. "Hey! Stop there! Get them!"
"Shit," Chals muttered, grabbing Antony's arm. "They've found us. Leave the supplies!"
Antony protested, stumbling forward. "My breather is in the bag!"
Chals hesitated, torn between getting the supplies and their escape. "Fine—grab it fast, then we're out!"
The sharp click of a trigger echoed. A low hum filled the air as a laser weapon charged in front of them.
"Don't move!"
The two froze. A soldier emerged from the haze, his laser rifle aimed squarely at them.
"Your hands where I can see them. Now!"
Chals slowly raised his hands, glancing over his shoulder.
Chals building up a steady wave of energy around him preparing a counterattack.
Antony's chest heaved as he whispered, "Chals, what are you doing?"
Chals' eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening. "Antony, take the supplies and run. I'll hold them off."
"No—Chals, you can't—" Antony stammered, frozen in place as tendrils of lightning coiled around him. The charge crackled, intensifying with every second, sparks leaping to the ground in sharp bursts.
"Run, Tony. Run!" Chals barked, his voice commanding.
Antony hesitated, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths, before bursting into motion—a blur of light and speed—disappearing into the haze.
"Call me XEN-V again," Chals growled, his voice cold. "I dare you."
The soldier flinched, his confidence visibly wavering. "Fall back! Fall back—"
Energy crackled, surging through the air as another soldier fired in desperation. His captain's face twisted in horror.
"shit! what the hell have you done?"
A menacing laugh escaped Chals' lips
"You shouldn't have done that mate," he said quietly, electricity dancing along his fingertips. Then, with a menacing rise in his voice, he bellowed, "Say hello to Abraham Lincoln for me!"
A cataclysmic detonation followed, erupting in a blinding flash as a shockwave tore through the street, swallowing everything in its path.
Journal entry- Year 2039, October 24th
I stared out at the ravaged cityscape, the once-familiar skyline now a twisted mess of steel and concrete. Five years ago, my friends and I gambled with the forces of nature, in a desperate attempt to save humanity. Our Genetics were failing us. The Earth's pollution had reached its limit and 35% of the world's great countries were now infested with toxins, no longer habitable. With our dying species at the brink of extinction, someone had to step in, and that was where we fell in, or so we thought.
The rich fled years ago, taking their luxuries and abandoning us to the chaos. The mid-class stepped in, claiming control—but they've only made things worse.
Our experiment plunged the world into a new era of humans and mutated beings, and neither of each wanted to bow to the other, so we were at war and the greed-infested mid-class society were taking the best advantage of this brutal conflict. Truthfully, some of us deserve to go extinct, with how heartless we've become.
At first, our goal was clear—stop the corruption of mid-class politics, restore order, and push humanity toward a heaven-like metropolis steaming with life, at its peak of technological advancement, but it all went to shit when Mother Nature fought back, punishing us for bending her forces to our will.
Our methods were quite audacious I know, but I can tell you for a fact we had good intentions, we needed to save humanity; but who would believe that, Cities lay in ruins, the air thick with the stench of decay. More people laid lifeless in cemeteries all over the world cause of what we've done, and nothing I say could ever make up for that. Those not dead are now altered beyond human comprehension, mutated into terrifying creatures that keep the surviving population confined in their homes.
This is the year 2039, and today marks five years since our experiment altered humanity. Today we mourn the fallen, those who died as their bodies crumbled, not able to withstand the mutation, and others who died fighting alongside the resistance.
We call it XEN24 as it marks the 24th day we all lost something but gained something in return, that is for those who survived.
The rest of the world somewhat unaffected by XEN24 refused to join the resistance and either joined the unmutated to fight our race or found themselves in the mid-class, taking as much as they could from the less fortunate population. They call us XEN-V in a way to separate themselves from our kind. They call us freaks, mutants, some say we're monsters and fight us with everything they've got. The XEN-V population refuses to be pushed to the side, retaliating for their liberation, thus ensuing chaos.
According to the law, anyone classified as XEN-V has no rights whatsoever and is automatically discarded from society with a choice to either join the non-Xen military forces or be expatriated from the country with orders to be killed on sight. They have a whole constitution enforcing these shitty laws and were taken it pretty seriously too.
My name is Jamal Oluwatobi Williams and I now head the Western Resistance. To understand how it all went to shit, I'll have to take you back, way back to before it all began.