They had been traveling for almost a week. One thing that sucked a lot about the world ending was that there wasn't much transportation left. After starting to run low on supplies they decided to stop into a small village to resupply.
"So how long you think it'll be before we get there?"
Martin; or rather "Magneto" was looking over some medical bandages in small shop.
"Well, if we're hoofing it the rest of the way it might be a couple days. If he can find a carriage or some other form of transportation it could be a lot sooner. Depends what happens. I've made journeys like this before; it's something that requires patience."
Aidan nodded and picked up some bandages and several containers of dried meats. Martin walked out to the stables to see if he could procure the use of a horse and carriage. Aidan finished the transactions for everything they would need, trading some of the small baubles that he could salvage from Tin City. Aidan walked out of the shop and ran into an old lady wearing a shawl over her head, most likely to protect herself from dust, it was windy today.
"Oh I'm sorry. Pardon me miss."
The old lady pulled her shawl back and revealed a wrinkled face. She also had what seemed like a glass eye as well, it crept Aidan out.
"It's ok young man, not many people notice me anymore."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Well I used to have a pretty good reputation around here but not anymore. You see I'm something of a clairvoyant and I used to make a fairly decent living telling fortunes but one day I made a mistake, just a small miscalculation with someone's fortune and everyone found out, now nobody will give me any business. I lost my home after being vandalized several times."
Aidan reached into his pocket pouch and handed her some apples.
"How about you tell me my fortune then? I'll pay you in food."
A big smile crept across her face as she placed the apples in her pack. She circled around Aidan several times before even saying anything.
"Oh yes, I see something very interesting. I feel…something very interesting."
She turned to his front and grabbed his arms and the smile left her face and she became very stern and serious.
"I see something in your future. You will be given a choice."
"What kind of choice?"
"The kind of choice that changes the world. I see a sword in your future."
"A sword?"
"Yes, a sword. A sword that will be either be used to protect…or destroy. The decision is up to you."
"Where do I find this sword?"
"You don't find it, it will find you. It will find you when you need it the most. You won't have a choice whether to accept it or not. The choice you will have to be a savior…or the destroyer."
Aidan walked around her and slowly backed away as she suddenly just kept chanting about the sword, it crept Aidan out and he quickly got away from her and went to go find Martin. He found him at the stables and he was able to procure a carriage for them.
"There you are, I was wondering if you had gotten lost or something."
"No…"
Martin asked him if everything was ok and Aidan said he was fine. They both got on the cart. Martin waved at the guy who sold him the carriage and the horse.
"You had enough money to pay for a full cart and horse?"
"Of course not."
"So how did you pay for this?"
"I told him that members of the X-Men would come and patrol the area around the town, they have to worry about raiders too around these parts everyone does."
"Are they really going to do that?"
"Probably not."
Martin snapped the reins and the horse pulled the cart in their direction. Martin told Aidan the story about how their original Utopia was in the West, but their new sanctuary lay in the North. It was naturally fortified by the mountainous regions and the cold winters, raiders and trespassers were discouraged from venturing too far North, at risk of picking up the ire of the X-Men and whatever else lived there.
The time had passed, Aidan had nodded off several times over the next few days but never once saw Martin doze off or even stop to eat something, and he had incredible stamina and endurance. It must have been his training as an X-Man and his mutant powers that gave him such endurance.
"Aidan? Aidan? Aidan hey wake up. AIDAN!"
Aidan jolted into consciousness. He had nodded off again in the back of the cart. He looked up and Martin while scratching his head.
"Hey what's the big deal? Are we there yet?"
"No. We're being followed. I think it's some of the indigenous wildlife."
Aidan sat up in the cart with concern on his face.
"Indigenous life? What the hell does that mean? Are we talking bunnies and rabbits or…?"
"The type of wildlife with a lot of teeth and gets hungry really fast. There are a lot of them, and they sound big. Probably mutated too, this won't turn out well if they take out the horse."
"You can handle them though right?"
"Yes, easily. But I don't know about protecting the horse."
Aidan pulled out a dagger.
"I know this isn't much but I'll do my best to protect the horse."
Martin chuckled.
"You're really dumb."
"Never had a day of formal education in my life."
The black dead trees started to rustle as they carted into a forest. They were really close now, Aidan could see there bright red eyes. They were like smoldering embers darting through the trees. It wasn't long before they had attacked. Giant mutated wolves, some of them had several heads on their bodies. Some didn't even have skin, leaving their hardened muscles and bones visible, they looked awful…and even worse…they looked hungry. Martin had jumped off the cart and pulled out several steel bars he had in his pack. Aidan remembered another story Martin told him, that his powers were similar to his grandfather's but different as well. As the original Magneto could control all metal, he could do it as well but take it one step further by changing their constitution and stretching them to the shape of his desire, most likely a side effect of the nuclear radiation mutating the X-Gene.
Martin had turned the steel into razor sharp projectiles, cycling them around and shooting at the wolves, they weren't intimidated and they weren't backing down. They continually attacked no matter how many Martin had dismembered to pieces. Dismembering them were the only to stop them; they were so powerful. One had broken away from the pack and started charging at the horse, it was neighing loudly and was obviously scared. Aidan jumped off the cart with his dagger and plunged it into wolf, knocking it on its side. It quickly got up and bit him on the shoulder. Aidan fell back as he saw his own blood dripping from the mouth of the over-sized wolf; it's second head was snapping wildly with hunger.
Aidan had gotten up, applying pressure to his shoulder to stop the bleeding. He backed away slowly as the wolf stepped toward him.
"Aidan! Watch out!"
Aidan didn't see the ditch behind him and he fell down through several blackened and rotted bushes, he felt like he was rolling and tumbling forever but he had fallen into what seemed like a cave. Aidan brought himself to his feet, the wolf must have lost track of him or Martin stopped him, either way he was safe from the wolf but he didn't know how to get out of the cave. The only opening out was straight up a 90 degree slope and with his shoulder the way it was, he wasn't going to be climbing up anything.
Aidan figured walking further into the cave; he might find another exit poking out. He was sure Martin would come looking for him but maybe there was something in the cave he could use to climb up. It was silent in the cave, no signs of life at all. Aidan didn't know if that was scarier, that he was in a cave in complete darkness or that there was no sounds at all, even his own footsteps didn't make a sound down here. The silence was deafening and Aidan was slowly starting to despair. He had decided to turn around and walk back but there was only more blackness behind him, he must've made a turn somewhere, now he had no idea where he was anymore.
"Hello?"
He felt the sound disappearing as it left his throat. There was something wrong here, this cave wasn't normal. Shivers shot up his spine and he started running in one direction, hoping there would be an exit but his fear and hysteria got the better off him, didn't see something on the ground protruding out. Aidan tripped over himself fell on his face. Aidan rolled over onto his back holding his face, there were stars in his eyes and his senses hadn't come back. He sat up to see what he had tripped over. A skull half broken into stared back at him, Aidan jumped when he first saw it. He had seen a dead person before, it was something people had to live with in a place like Tin City but he'd never seen someone so decomposed before. He stood up and walked over to the skull, the rest of the skeleton laid behind it. It looked like an ordinary human skeleton except there was a beaten and torn leather jacket around the ribcage. Aidan had never seen a leather jacket before, most cows were born without the upper layer of their skin, and the leather quality was terrible. This one however looked like it was from before the bombs.
He knelt down to pull the jacket from the skeleton it was stuck on something at first but Aidan was able to wrestle it loose. Aidan was pulling and tugging but stopped when he saw that the skull had turned around and was looking at him, Aidan tried not to think of it, he's jostling the skeleton he thought to himself. The tugging would turn it around. That's the answer he gave himself as he continued to try to remove the jacket. He felt his body temperature increase; he didn't notice how hot it was. He was sweating profusely and he just wanted the damn jacket.
A sound started to pass his ears, like a whisper. It was soft and seemingly coming from nowhere. Aidan looked back down at the skull and saw 2 small in the skull's eyes. A bright white light washed over him.
"Aidan! Aidan are you ok? Aidan wake the hell up!"
Aidan opened his eyes and looked up at Martin looking down on him.
"Hey man, you alright?"
Martin helped him up. Aidan looked around and he was back on the path where they were attacked by the wolves, the path was now littered with the corpses of mutated wolves.
"Was it a dream?"
"What are you talking about?"
Aidan looked down and saw the leather jacket around him.
"Where did you get that?"
"I don't know. I uh…it felt like a dream…how…how long was I gone?"
"You had fallen into the bushes and I finished up with the wolves and I turned back around and you were on the road again. I saw you get bitten by one of the wolves but your shoulder-look- it's fine now."
Aidan looked under the jacket and saw that it was true, the shoulder where the wolf chomped down on him was fully healed, the bite marks still in the shirt but the wound underneath was gone.
"I don't know what's going on here but I think we should get out here. This place gives me the willies."
Martin agreed and they both got on the cart that Martin successfully protected and they were on their way again.
"It should just be a little while now, after this forest it's a straight shot of desert."
Aidan could hear the whispers in his ear again, they were unintelligible but they were inviting and were welcome. He couldn't put his finger on it but he felt like whatever was whispering to him knew him in some say, like an old friend that was missing. This familiar yet unfamiliar feeling made a weird pit in his stomach and he didn't like the feeling.
"Are you positive that it'd just be a straight shot now?"
Martin nodded in the affirmative.
"What happened in that cave? Why can't I remember what happened and how does Martin not know what happened to me? How did I get out the cave and my wound was healed? Too many questions and no answers. I hope someone can help me when I get to Utopia. I really hope someone can help me…"
