The Xenopian Files: Dark Horizons (1)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Hornsby, November 2027. A suburb of northern Sydney became famous for its spectacular and devastating explosion, of a nuclear power plant. An explosion that was so unique, due to the different radiation emanated, from the Piscon gas, power core. The element, –earlier known as Unhexoctium– also emitted the stranger, and less known Delta, Epsilon and Zeta waves, as well as the more familiar ones.

When the radiation struck Sydney, it was as if the world had ended. Everywhere you went, according to the records, in newspapers, even Youtube videos, of old televised news reports. All you heard about were babies born with acute mutations. Somehow, as the mutated children became adults, the government managed to hide it, containing the diseased, in an underground boarding school.

Twenty two years later, the mutants dug deeper into Earth, turning what used to be, a mutant education facility into self-sustaining a hive, under the northern suburbs of Sydney. The hive is run by a tyrannical mutant, named Umbrae. Umbrae's father, Estufebizer, The First Mutant King, took his throne in 2049, with, three children, Umbrae was five at this time. Together, they had set up an underground civilisation that lived peacefully underground. It was only short lived, when in 2066, a year after, Umbrae being the eldest, at twenty-two, became King like his father, after Estufebizer meet an abrupt demise, at the hands of his own son.

In 2073, Umbrae had found out that human children with powers, were being born amongst the mutants, and were being taken to the surface, to adoption centres. Umbrae, decided to seize the adoption program, and set up a boarding house, give a home to the girls, with name given to them by Indino, “Xenopians”.

It was only six years later, when the kidnappings begun. As the United Nations tried to settle the conflict, the mutants turned more violent. Mutants roamed the streets at night, taking young adult females, and holding them hostage. Those found to have the “Xeno Gene,” were put into the boarding house, and treated like royalty. The girls taken that did not have the gene, were held captive as slaves.

I was born five years later. The war against the mutants, raged on; worse than ever. All attempts at eliminating the residents, of the mutant hive were failures. The resulting headlines caused an economic collapse, making Australia, one of the poorest countries in the world. Nowadays, most can’t even afford to eat, provide an education for their children, or protect their daughters, from the diseased.

When they emerged, it was a shocking sight. These mutants, thanks to the radiation, were not only physically deformed, but also mentally and psychically more capable than us, their non-mutant counterparts. They had superhuman strength, and speed, they had telekinesis. If it weren’t for the extra body parts, they would have been like the superheroes of old, like in the comic books.

Their attacks are devastating for their victims. Every day, on the news, we hear, or notice at school, that someone has gone missing. Occasionally, one or two come back. One of these is the current leader of the Coalition against Mutant Attacks or CAMA, Alana Fawkes. Speculation says she was their prisoner for almost eight years. She’s now nineteen.

It’s now the turn of the century. My name is Vince Galengino, my grandparents, on my father’s side, migrated from an Italy, giving me the stereotypical Italian appearance: I’m not too tall, and have the typical dark hair Italians have. My best friend is Lucy Graham; she’s slightly shorter than I am, and every day we go to our school as if there was nothing wrong going on.

The government pretends so too, at the same time fighting a war, that has proven to be more than a lost cause. There is a curfew in place, to protect young women from mutant attacks, but how can you stop something, that can rip doors off their hinges, and kill you, with just a wave of their hand?

This is my story.