I carefully made my way over the rubble that was once known as New York City. No longer were there any skyscrapers to construct my view. Instead there was nothing but debris covering the ground as far as the eye could see.
The year was 2088. War had broken out between the United States and China in 2043, and each country's allies were sucked into the conflict; the population of Earth dissolved into a chaotic, never-ending mess.
The United States held their own rather well, but all the other countries started rising up and targeting America, making them desperate. In their desperation the government asked each family to send in their first born child for "testing", saying the tests would help the war.
These children were handed over to government scientists and given all sorts of different tests. Some kids had their DNA altered, while some were given injections for strength, speed, or both. Rumors say one was even for invisibility. No child ever survived the tests. I am the exception.
From what I knew, when I was born I was immediately taken away from my parents and shipped away for the testing. With the war beating down on the U.S. and all of the tests failing they concocted a new serum. It was never tested on another child and I was the first.
After so many failures the scientists hadn't had much hope. When they injected the serum they waited to see if any immediate changes would occur (most likely my death). To their mild surprise nothing happened and they sent me to a small nursery, and kept an eye on me.
After a few days nothing changed, and the scientists were stumped. Blood tests showed nothing changed, and nothing physically changed either. No other child lived that long, and so they kept me under careful surveillance.
As the years passed the government continued their testing – with no success – while I stayed holed up in a grey room with four walls, a cot, and a dresser with a lamp on it. It was more of a cage than a bedroom. I always sat silently on the cot staring at nothing, instead of whining about being hungry or needing the bathroom.
I was seven years old when I first showed any signs of being different. When I grew older they showed me a video of me sitting on my cot like I usually did, when the blanket neatly folded at the end of my bed turned into a stuffed rabbit. Younger me had stared at the stuffed rabbit with blank eyes before I had held out my hand towards the rabbit, causing it to fly right into my grasp.
The scientists had been frantic for an explanation. Checking to make sure the video hadn't been tampered with, and yelling at all of those that knew of my existence to see what they had been doing that day.
When they came to the conclusion that nobody messed with the footage, and nobody was with me at that moment in time, they came to confront me about what happened.
I had been clutching the stuffed bunny close to my chest, and they coaxed the bunny out of my arms to prove that it was indeed an authentic stuffed bunny. That had been the day it was realized that I had special abilities.
I didn't have super strength or speed or invisibility. I had something unexplainable. The scientists called them abilities because that was much more realistic than saying magic. I always liked to think I was similar to Harry Potter.
I grew up knowing nothing but my magic, the scientists, and the tests they would give me. It caused me to be withdrawn, and barely ever talked to anyone. As time went on I learned to get a better control over my magic, and once I had absolute control the government trained me.
I learned how to move unseen in the shadows, how to defend myself with knives, and how to shoot a gun. I'd been turned into an ideal weapon that they could use in their war.
When the agency deemed that I learned all I possibly could, I was sent off on my first assignment. I was seventeen when I left the scientists base for the first time in my life, and it felt extraordinary.
Never before had I seen the sky, the clouds, grass. It made me feel alive like I never had before – like I actually had a purpose in life other then going off on assassinations. The government would pin down the enemies most threatening to the country, and they would send me off to "dispose" of them.
Every time I was sent on one of my assignments I felt dirty, even though I shouldn't have known any better. I knew what they made me do was wrong, but I didn't know another life. I was nothing but a mindless drone to them.
As a teenager I eventually felt a bout of rebelliousness. I snuck out of the base, stole one of their cars, and drove off to the nearest town. I had put a lot of planning in what I wanted to do.
I entered the first tattoo shop I came across, and when I entered I asked them if they could cut my hair. They were confused at first, but when I told them I needed it cut for the tattoo they agreed. My raven black locks were parted to the right, partially covering the right half of my face, while I had them shave the left side of my head.
Once it was completely shaved I gave them a rough description of what I wanted done. They were surprised by what I wanted, and warned me it would "hurt like a bitch" and "swell up". With a discreet wave of my hand I numbed the left side of my face and allowed them to get to work.
It wasn't finished until many hours later, but when it was done I got up from the chair and examined the pure art decorating the entire left half of my face. It was like my skin was no longer there, and instead it was just muscle and bone. Different hues of red and pink made the muscle look more realistic, but it was the teeth that got me. The muscles looked like they had been ripped away, revealing teeth a vampire would be jealous of. Each tooth looked about half an inch long and filed down to a point. The top row fit perfectly against the bottom.
When I went to the front desk to pay for the tattoo everyone that was in the parlor was looking at me with apprehension. Being the ignorant tool that I was I didn't understand why they were afraid, but now I do.
I hadn't been very intimidating when walking into the parlor, as teenage girls were not that worrying. Now, dressed in nothing but black with eyes the color of fire, and half of my face giving the illusion it had been ripped off, I presented a very odd sight.
When I returned to the base nobody recognized my right away. Some had pulled out their guns when they caught sight of my horrifying image. It wasn't until I stopped the barrage of bullets by simply raising my hand did someone finally recognize me.
I was given a terrible beating for what I did. It shouldn't have been possible for me to have done it. They hadn't told me to do it. The moment I heard such words spoken between the scientists, a horrible rage sparked inside of me. It burned terribly but I forced it aside, allowing it to fester.
Instead of making me get rid of the tattoo they allowed me to keep it. Probably believing it would protect my identity or some nonsense like that. If I was put on an undercover mission I would have to cover up the tattoo and change my eye color. Easy enough with a bit of magic.
It never bothered me when I did this. It allowed me to see what I really looked like. No matter how hard I tried, or how much I wanted, my hair always stayed its raven black color, and my eyes would only turn into a light brown color with subtle hints of orange near the pupil. I assumed this what what I would have looked like if the government never took me.
Funnily enough it wasn't the war that brought absolute destruction to the world, but it did help. Natural disasters occurred regularly all around the world. Volcanoes erupted, destroying entire cities. Massive earthquakes that caused enormous cracks to appear in the earth. Tsunamis and hurricanes flooding entire states. Even through all of that the war never ended. Instead of banding together to try and stop the end of the world, they helped it continue.
Day by day more people died off. The soldiers in the war, the civilians who weren't fast enough to escape the disasters. All of them were gone.
I searched the land day and night in the hopes I might find someone else out there that lived through the destruction, but sadly it seemed there was nobody else. Nobody but me.
My feet guided me to what used to be New York, but even if I wanted to there was no way I could hope to find anyone in the amount of debris covering the ground.
When the sun was at its highest, my feet finally made their way down to a small strip of road that must have led out of the city. I looked down at my black cargo pants, that were tucked into my black army boots, and I saw the dusty remnants of the city clinging to my pants from the knee down. I hadn't even noticed when I would sink into the debris.
Reaching down I brushed off what I could, succeeding in getting most of it off of my pants and some onto my fingerless, black gloves. I would have wiped it onto another piece of clothing, but my sleeveless turtleneck and my leather trench coat were both black. The dust would just show up on them too.
Heaving a resigned sigh I started off on my journey to the next city or town. Hopefully someone would be there.
My eyes were focused on the road, allowing me to see a small puddle. Puddles may not have been a big deal, but considering it hadn't rained for weeks and the sunlight was scorching hot, it raised a few questions.
I walked over to the small puddle and lowered myself to one knee to examine it. It looked like a normal puddle, but instead of seeing the sun reflecting off of the surface I saw nothing but darkness. Intrigued I looked closer and saw something sparkling. Soon enough another sparkle appeared, then another. I realized something was moving inside of the puddle, revealing these lights.
Reaching out a finger to touch one of the lights I expected my finger to hit the pavement, but instead it continued to sink. I ripped my hand out of the puddle and stared at it questioningly. I reached out my hand and sunk it through water, and received the same result. My hand never hit the pavement that should have been there, instead sinking down to my elbow.
Standing up from my crouched position I tilted my head with intrigue. Glancing around as if there would be someone there to see this, I looked back at the puddle and hummed.
With a single step forward my foot plunged into the puddle, and the rest of my body followed after it. The second my head disappeared under the puddle, the water vanished without a trace.