It all seemed so long ago now. How long had it been since he had felt the loving touch of a parent? The comfort of knowing that no matter what happened, your mother would be there to save you… the feeling of clean sheets against bare legs. He'd been fourteen when the FAYZ had hit - a frightened child, alone against a world of mysteries and horrors. How old was he now? How could he know, without a watch or a clock, without batteries and power? Time didn't seem to pass in the regular way in the FAYZ, instead he counted days by progression, losses and gains, a good day and a bad one. Tom couldn't remember the last time he had closed his eyes and been at peace. His dreams were haunted by carnivorous bugs, whip handed villains and saviours with glowing hands - people that he both feared and adored from afar. He chose no sides and cared for neither of the two boys that struggled for power - He hadn't lasted long in the town, quickly seeing the turmoil that was caused by differences between children… mutants and humans. Tom was a smart boy, and knew when to keep his mouth, and his eyes, shut.
His own mutation had started developing within days. The first symptom had appeared while he slept - a strange feathering of his skin and widening of his eyes, frightening him immensely when he woke to find his body changed. At first he'd thought he was dreaming, that this strange creature with wide eyes and mottled feathers was a figment of his imagination as it mimicked every move he made in his mirror. The second time it happened, Tom was fully awake and running home after being cornered by a group of boys that had been in his class back before the FAYZ had come and changed everything. His packet of scavenged noodles had been taken and a large welt was rapidly forming above his left eye - and then a crippling pain in his knees had forced him to stop. Gasping for breath, he'd glanced down at his legs and forgot all about his stolen noodles… for they were no longer the legs of a human, but were the elongated and bent legs of a large cat, a cheetah. A cry of surprise had left his throat as he watched the mutation smoothly disappear, bones clicking as they reformed into human appendages once more. Tom had the power to take on animal abilities.
Tom had left town after that, heading out to find somewhere he could live alone - without fear of being taken advantage of or beaten for his abilities. He was fairly confident as to where he was headed - before his father had left, he had taken Tom to a hunting cabin far out from Perdido Beach and taught his son how to fish, hunt and forget about society. It was one of Toms most treasured memories. He'd been living in the cabin for a long time now - forgetting about time, and forgetting about company. Small treasures littered the walls of the log cabin - a dusty mirror where he practiced his mutation, fishing rods and tackle stacked in the corner, a few old books… a camera. Batteries were hard to come by now, but Tom had managed to keep his scavenged camera alive, turning it on only when it was most needed - recording himself as he tried different mutations, experimenting with the wall and even logging diaries to keep track of everything that had happened after the adults had disappeared. He still held on to the hope that one day the FAYZ would end. It was a distant hope, one that many a child had abandoned, but he remained adamant that should the wall come down, the adults should know what had happened to their children.
He knelt now, eyes large and luminescent in the dusk as he set a snare for some unfortunate creature - be it rabbit or squirrel, meat was a rare commodity for anybody these days, and he ate better than most of the kids back in town. His ears were tall, elongated and covered with a thick grey fur - wolf ears. Every sound was caught, analysed and released by the second, though there was little to hear in such a remote area but the silence of nature. Those talking Coyotes rarely travelled so far west, as they avoided Sam and his burning hands. Tom avoided Sam too. It wasn't that he didn't respect the older boy and everything he had done for the kids at Perdido Beach… he simply did not want to get involved in the dramas between the two warring brothers, and not only that, but he was not ready to have his mutation used as a weapon. No, he found solace in the silence of anonymity and loneliness. It was growing dark, and though this usually didn't bother him - for his eyes usually adapted to give him perfect vision, Tom began to feel wary of the oncoming darkness. He finished the snare with deft flicks of his nimble fingers and stood, straightening his slender body with grace and ease. Before the FAYZ he had been clumsy, unsure of his own body… a child. The FAYZ had made everyone grow up, and those that hadn't risen to the challenge now lay buried beneath the radiation filled dirt, broken and forgotten in a world filled with terrors.