Things have to be this way

He yawned as he awoke in bed for once he didn't feel as tired as he usually did at his seven am call in fact what was even stranger was he hadn't been given his seven am call he thought for a second as he rubbed his hand through his messy brown locks that it mustn't be seven yet. He groggily got up he hadn't felt tired but when he stood up the head rush hit him god how he hated mornings. He opened his door kicking a pile of clothes out of the way as he went, he scratched his chest under his brown T-shirt with the now infamous words of Magneto on it 'Mutants are real, you had better believe it.' He casts a half asleep glance at his bulletin board that adorned the wall near his door fully covered in newspaper cuttings and scientific articles about mutants and their powers. He was a big fan.

He stood in front of the mirror brushing his teeth after just washing his face. God not another zit he thought to himself as he squeezed till he felt the satisfying 'pop' it covering the bathroom mirror a little with the white puss that fills zits, he had been getting zits a lot recently he hit puberty hard last year. That's quite disgusting he thought to himself still he had to make himself look good, he recently asked out the girl who he had had a crush on for years and I mean years (since first grade in fact). She said yes he wasn't really expecting that as I said puberty hit him hard and he had changed a lot he was more defined and taller then he had ever been and his face was growing into that of a handsome young man (a hotty by several accounts) but he still thought of himself as the geeky kid who used to watch star trek with his grandmother when the other kids had been playing sports.

He dragged on some clothes and walked down the stairs he was going to go to school early and hit the net, he was hoping to check the storylines of his favourite comics it was his last link to his old world and for some reason he felt a little ashamed of it even though it was something he loved. He walked into the kitchen ready to grab some breakfast he noticed burnt toast protruding from the slot in the toaster, it had a habit of doing that you had to stand and wait while keeping a watchful eye to make sure you ejected it when it was golden brown otherwise when it did it automatically you got a black slab of carbonated bread which wasn't very nice to eat.

'Mom?' yelled Tim as he cast an eye out of the kitchen door into the living room. He thought it was strange that his mom wasn't up yet she was already an early riser. He grabbed an apple, orange and banana from the fruit bowl knowing there was nothing else to eat, the banana was a little bruised but his dad always told him that the brown bits make you big and strong but he always though that was just his dad's way of making sure he saved money on premium fruit.

Tim quickly ran upstairs ad knocked on his parents bedroom door to see if they were there so he could say good bye, he cracked the door a little to see an empty and unmade bed. They must have went to work and forgot to get him up he now cast a glance at the bedside clock which read 09:20 he was late.

Tim turned the faucet off in the kitchen and grabbed his books as he closed the back door, he opened it seconds later and looked suspiciously at the faucet he had never turned it on, he shrugged and turned to leave when something caught his eye. He moved over to the pile of clothing and picked it up it was a pink summer dress which inside it contained a bra and panties he threw the clothes into the washing machine and kicked the sandals which lay on the floor beneath them as he headed to the note pad on the wall.

'Mom and Dad

You left the tap running, forgot to leave my lunch money, dropped laundry on floor, didn't make bed or wake me up now I'm late so thanks a lot p.s. love you both X'

He walked down the garden path the gravel which covered the whole garden crunching under his feet, he turned and began a quick walk out of his suburban area. Tim noticed halfway down the block that he had not seen anyone in a while there were none of the preschool children playing or joggers jogging, postmen, dogs nothing at all. Tim paused for a minute 'this place is really going to hell' said Tim aloud to himself as he looked around at the brown receding grass in every yard which all had barren patches scattered sporadically across their once well kept lawns.

Tim broke into a run as he headed to school he sopped when he got to the main street and noticed that there was no body around. He didn't really think it was to strange but something kept gnawing away at the back of his mind, something was wrong and he knew it. Ten minutes later and he still hadn't seen anyone but now he was terrified for the last few minutes he had been noticing even stranger things not only were there no people but no birds not even in the town square which was usually packed with old people and pigeons. That wasn't even the strangest thing piles of clothes lay randomly around the street and in the middle of the road and indeed in the middle of the path were cars which looked like the people in them had vanished just letting their vehicles glide silently to a standstill or noisily into one another but still no one came to look at the commotion.

Tim got to a cross road at a T junction straight along the road lay his school while off at 90 degrees was the high street full of shops, he cast a quick glance up the street and was relieved to see people going about there everyday business, he crossed the road and began to walk to school feeling quite silly that he had been scarred because he hadn't seen anyone.

What Tim didn't notice was he had reasons to be scared as he crossed the road he failed to notice the expressions on the faces of people and he obliviously kept walking as the people he passed grasped at their throats gasping for air and trying to scream but they were unable just a low gurgle came from their throat followed by a small puff of smoke, they fell to their knees as even more smoke began to drift into the air as the people slowly and painfully dissolved into nothingness leaving their clothes lying in a pile where they had once stood and their vehicles crashed into one another of course no one was hurt because they were all dead.

Tim made it to school shortly after this he shot a quick glance at his watch it was nearly ten, he looks up and smiles as he sees the figure he most wanted to see walking towards him in rather a hurry. 'Where have you been?' asked Emma his girl friend.

'I slept in and my parents weren't home and…never mind it's a long story' said Tim as he kissed his girlfriend, he stopped and looked quizzically at her friends Sarah and Amanda who were standing behind her who had now dropped to their knees and were holding their throats as the began to rot away letting smoke float into the air as their skulls dropped to the ground and burst into smoke leaving absolutely nothing. 'What's going on?' asked Tim now completely terrified again.

Tim looked at Emma as smoke poured from her eyes and she coughed spluttering to get her words out as she fell to her knees holding onto his shirt 'it's you' she gasped out before she evaporated into smoke and dispersed on the winds. Tim looked around the magnitude of the morning finally dawned on him, his friends, his enemies, his teachers even the grass and the tree's around him slowly died away. Tim could hardly breathe as a single tear rolled down his cheek which seemed to echo as it hit the floor in this area now devoid of sound, he cast a glance at the floor as his tear began to sizzle leaving a small black scorch mark where it had fallen.

…

'Get away from me, you don't want to come any closer, I'm dangerous, please' said Tim once again acid tears rolling down his cheek as he cast a quick tearful at his guest in his knew home which was nothing more then a cave at the local beach.

'Don't worry kid you couldn't hurt me if you try' said the little man as he took off his cowboy hat and sat on a rock nearby the kid after moving the discarded McDonalds wrapper which the boy had obviously eaten for his last meal. Wolverine sparked up his lighter and set fire to a fire lighter he had brought with him before he placed it in the centre of a pile of wood which began to crackle nicely.

'How did you find me?' asked Tim hoping the answer wasn't that he followed the trail of death.

'The guy I work with has a mutant finding machine plus you're the only living thing for quite a while around so I can smell you a mile away' smiled wolverine as he 'relaxed' against the rock.

'I'm a mutant' said Tim with a certain level of disgust in his voice as he got a angry glance from Logan 'so it was me'. Tim began to cry harder as he put his head in his hands 'Mom, dad, Emma all of them gone all because of some stupid gene…how many were there?' asked Tim referring to his death toll.

'You don't want to know' said Wolverine honestly he knew the problems that came with knowing you had killed.

'How many?' asked Tim again forcefully and quite angrily.

'304' said Wolverine simply.

'Christ…so how did I do that what's my power?' asked Tim just wanting to know this more then anything else.

'The right term is mutation' said Wolverine as he reached into his pocket removing a sheet of paper which had very neat writing from Charles Xavier on it 'your mutation radiates a series of toxins and acid-like poisons and everything in a radius around him… basically all you do now is kill organic tissue'.

'My mutant power is to kill everything around me' said Tim wide eyed and disbelieving at what he had just been told. 'I can't do it, I cant kill everything around me all the time, I cant live in a cave forever' said Tim crying again showing even though he had hit puberty he was still really just a little boy.

'I know' said Wolverine not wanting to look the boy in the eye.

'Oh' said Tim as it finally dawned on him what had to happen, he wiped a tear from his eye before he began to speak again 'I just wish I had done more with my life…well really I just wish I wasn't a mutant but if only I had done more. I've never had sex I've never even drank a beer'.

'Well you're out of luck on the first one but I came prepared' said Logan as he reached into the bag he was carrying and threw Tim a beer. Tim caught it opened it and downed the can in seconds before pulling a disgusted face and retching.

'That was absolutely disgusting I don't know what all the bi deal is about…you got anymore?' asked Tim to which Logan nodded the affirmative and threw him another. 'If my power was different I could have been a hero couldn't I instead of a mass murderer couldn't I?' asked Tim as he began to drink his beer.

'Maybe…If it helps you any no one will ever now that it was you, Chuck's got his ways everyone thinks it was a chemical spill or radiation or something, you're just one of the dead' said Wolverine for which he got a bemused look from Tim who was wondering whether he was supposed to be thankful.

'Just make it quick' said Tim as he drank the last of his beer and closed his eyes.

…

Wolverine slowly exited the cave sometime after nightfall having done the necessary, he slowly climbed the dirt path on the hill and straddled his motorcycle, he cast one last look at the cave and sighed before tearing off into the night.