Free The Mutants by Luke Shephard Page A

shriek and crawl away into the ground. Sometimes they felt the need to go for a second round, though Cora was fully awake by then and if any attempted to come near, she would beat them into the dirt until their eyes glowed no longer.
     
    Such was a peaceful night on Earth.
     
    Sleep was a luxury and Cora knew her sleep was over this night. Her resting patterns were not quite like the others within her small village. She slept from sunset to early morning and awoke in the early hours of the night to begin her day.
     
    Cora was a mutant. She was also gifted. When she had been born, the pupils of her eyes expanded farther outwards than most normal babies. Sunlight had caused her to cry, and darkness allowed her to see. During the hours of the sun, Cora remained in the shadows, hooded and concealed from the bright light. During the hours of the moon, she roamed the village and took care of her chores.
     
    Though, Cora grew afraid as the years passed. Her eyes were becoming weaker and weaker every time they glimpsed a bit of sunlight. Even when all she saw was darkness, they ached until she closed them. She feared that one day the sun would take her eyesight completely and leave her like the mindless mutants that roamed outside the village.
     
    Yet she still had to stay focused. There were many things to do in the run of a night: hunting, foraging, mending, trading, and – most importantly – surviving. Food was essential, as it had been since the beginning of time. Cora had never met a mutant who did not feel the need to eat. Though, hunting required one to travel outside the village and that was very dangerous.
     
    On Earth, hunting during the night was safest. Any creature edible enough to hunt down slept while the moon was up and a large portion of those creatures were also blind in the dark. Cora had a slight advantage in this, as others required fire to travel at night. Fire attracted the sharp-tooths and the quick-claws and you didn’t want any of those on your trail.
     
    Foraging was easier. Many things could be found around the village, either discarded or lost. Cora hoarded those things whenever she saw them. Blankets were valuable. The biting mites liked to chew on them. Blankets never lasted more than a few weeks at best before they were covered in holes. Foraging outside town was still easier than hunting, but also risked the chance of being discovered by the Wildfolk. They were bad news.
     
    After the hunting and foraging was over, Cora usually returned back to her little hiding place under the statue of an ancient ruler. No one liked to go near it because of the Earth’s history with leaders, and that was exactly why Cora chose it as her home. Some knew – of course – that was where she lived, but they avoided her because of her lineage. Her father had been a Utopian soldier a long time ago, spared by the people on Earth through some stroke of luck. After she had been born, he passed on to death due to his susceptibility to The Death Mark. Utopians could not survive something they had avoided all their life.
     
    Cora’s mother was a mystery. Some said she ran off into the wild with the rest of the insane mutants after her child’s birth. Others said she killed herself for loving a Utopian. Cora preferred not to think about it.
     
    After returning home, mending was the next step on the list of things to do. Mending was important. Without good protection, the eight-legged mutants would be always around, trying to suck out your organs. Cora usually kept a wide nailed-together board across the entrance of her home (which was a hole only large enough for her to fit through) and stuffed burnt rags into the gaps in the ground. The smell of smoke usually kept the creatures away. Her clothes always needed mending, too. Once the mites got through the blankets, they liked to snack on your pants and shirt. Cora kept her sun-blocking hood tucked safely away in a metal box she had luckily found one day. Mites