A World of Tragedy(Book Two) (Hiatus)

Chapter Four (Josh)

   How did he get here?

   Was that blood?

   Where did these gashes on his side come from?

   Why couldn't he remember anything?

   Josh looked around. Nothing seemed familiar to him in the least and he was afraid. It wasn't something that he'd like to admit but he was afraid. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before and it was scaring him.

   For days he would have no memory of what happened or where he was. Frankly it was like he was losing his sanity or something close to it.

   Getting up he trudged over to what looked like a huge hole. As he got to the lip of it he then saw that it was no hole, it was a crater. In the center of it was a bloody pulp of something that must've been a Xion not long ago.

   Immediately Josh felt bile rise in his throat and what grossed him out worse was that it tasted of hot salty blood. Turning away from that gruesome sight he began to limp away. What was happening to him?

 "You're taking in massive amounts of radiation! Before long you'll turn into one of them! In fact the process is already starting with you."

   Josh shook his scarred head as Emilia's voice popped into his head. His heart (If he still had ONE) began to hurt. This happened every time he would think of Emilia. Things even began to remind him of her.

   In fact it seemed that she was the only thing that he didn't forget. He trudged on and felt his limbs grow heavier. The heat wasn't too awfully bad and of course his hunger had been sated but who knew how long it had been since he had eaten.

 "Didn't you notice that the heat and hunger didn't really affect you too horribly anymore? That's because you're becoming radioactive. Your DNA is literally rewriting itself while it replicates."

   Josh snarled and put his taloned hands on his head as he shook it from side to side. He needed to stop thinking about her, she was a thing of the past and he had no chance with her. Not anymore.  

   Josh growled as he looked at where he was. This city was even more preserved than the last one he had been in that he remembered. The windows in buildings for the most part weren't busted in and though there was a bit of damage done to the buildings they were still in pretty good shape.

   As he walked down the road he began to notice that there weren't any Xions out here really. There were bones and carcasses but other than that there really was nothing out here. 'Hmph, seems I've reached no man's land.' He thought.

   He opened his mouth to laugh but only a grizzly sound exited his mouth. He immediately shut his mouth and he felt sadness and anger well up inside. He roared and then slashed at the nearest thing which happened to be glass. 

   Josh gasped as he suddenly looked around. It was happening again and more frequently. This city was different from where he was last time. How long had it been? Was this really what all of these Xion were going through?

   "Ehehehe~ So you're a fledgling huh?" A voice croaked. Josh looked over and saw a Xion. He went to snarl but the Xion lift its hand and Josh found himself strangely quiet. "Ehehehe~ You're still lively too."

   The Xion was a very old one indeed. It had gnarled old hands and gray wrinkly skin. The face was very scarred and mostly devoid of hair while it's eyes seemed closed. Walking hunched over, the Xion wasn't very tall but it still had a very sturdy pair of wings on its back. One gnarled hand was wrapped around the top of a walking cane as the Xion hobbled over. The voice was coarse but Josh found himself unable to decide if it was a male or a female.

   "My name is Jinnette and I was one of the first turned. Ehehehe~ You can see how that turned out." The old Xion croaked. Josh looked at this strange specimen with confusion. Was this crazy old hag confused or something? Why was she talking to him?

   Jinnette stopped and looked at him or he thought she was and snapped at her as she tried to touch his face. "Ehehehe~ I forgot the liveliness of youths in the absence of most life here. Well, come on then I know you're hungry." She croaked as she soon hobbled back in the direction of where she came from.

   Intrigued, Josh followed. 

  Jinnette led him to quite a cluttered space of where he guessed she lived. He bumped into something and growled. With his new bulky physique he found it hard to maneuver into smaller spaces which would be no problem if he was human.

   Jinnette motioned for him to sit somewhere while she continued to walk off into another room. Josh sat down as best he could in the tightly packed room without knocking anything over.

   As he looked around he saw that there were nick-knacks from the ages all in this little room. Whisks, old TV sets, and even parts to what would've been an old BMW motorcycle. "Ehehehe~ Impressive, no?"

   Whirring around Josh found the old hag with a bowl of something. She set it down and Josh realized that it looked like soup. "Ehehehe~ come now and eat. I know you need it and can eat it so have it." She croaked.

   At first Josh wasn't going to have anything since he had no idea of if it was poisoned or not but once the delicious if not slightly over-date-by-ten-years-smell hit his nose. His mouth watered and he just couldn't resist but to drain the bowl.

   Once Josh finished it he burped and felt as if he could cry tears of joy. It had been awhile since he had eaten something that wasn't radioactive. "Ehehehe~ Tastes mighty fine doesn't it?" Jinnette asked.

   Josh nodded and then he felt a tug in the back of his head. He didn't know what it was but then suddenly everything went black.

   Josh opened his eyes and looked around to see if anything was familiar. Unfortunately so, it was. Mouth open and legs weak, Josh surveyed his surroundings with a heavy heart.