Nuclear

Chapter One:

And so it begins...

The two boys had set up camp in the semi-decent house. All that mattered was the fact there were a couple tins of food, and beds with blankets to keep them warm.

"We need to think of a plan for moving forward." They walked side by side, Toothless trodding along at his owner's heel.

They decided to head to the town centre, where what was left of shops and stores hopefully held a glimpse of basic necessities, things that once would've been overlooked now were more precious than gold. The sky seemed to be stained yellow, and the stench of smoke was still as strong as ever, invading their nostrils whilst they walked.

"Why? I never had one before, just take it day by day." Jack had to admit, letting Hiccup tag along with him in his journey to nowhere had caused something to ignite inside of him. Something he hadn't felt for a very long time.

"Yes well, that's you, not me." He rolled his crystal blue eyes, seeing the brunette's smirk in his peripheral vision. The pair were dressed in the same attire as the previous day, and Jack lbs hood was still firm around his head.

"Oh look we're here. You can shut up now." The two split up, checking different stores and scavenging anything of use, trying to fill their backpack's.

Toothless had followed Hiccup into a particularly large store and had ventured off down a separate aisle. His ears were perked and his paws silent against the dusty marble floor. He sniffed around with his dried black nose, trying to help his human companions find things they need to live.

That's when he heard a sound.

His head raised and tilted to the side, curiosity filling him. Usually, he would've gone into defence mode, seeing as how until Jack, every sound they'd heard had been nothing more than a horrifically mutated human, so far gone their first instinct was to either attack or freeze.

The one's who attacked more often than not would just try to bash their skull in or tear them limb from limb. But the odd part was, Hiccup had originally pegged them as zombies, when in fact they didn't have a taste for anything, let alone human flesh. Their hunkering was simply to see the thick red liquid drip from a human and spill onto the ground.

Hiccup even studied one for a while, watching it decay and rot until it eventually fell limp and simply just died.

Horrific yes, indeed. But that appeared to be the life cycle of mutants. They either live life idly, docile and swaying about, or they lived life hunting to see red, but either way, it was all for nothing, in the end, they all still died.

Ironic, the fact that the mutants were similar to humans. At the end of the day, no matter their race, religion, personality, they all just died too.

I guess, to Hiccup at least, the moral of the story was death. Their life revolves around death. Their entire reason for existing was just so they could die.

Toothless made his way around the corner, an unexpected sight greeting him.

Huddled against the corner, tears streaming down her face, stood a blonde.

Silent and still.

Her hands clutched what looked to be a morphed frying pan close to her chest, her eyes were screwed shut, golden blonde hair tied back in a messy ponytail, loose strands flying all over her dirt and blood-covered face. Her breathing, though quiet was heavy, and with Toothless enhanced hearing, he could listen to how her heart pounded erratically inside her chest.

By now he should've made a sound to alert his owner. But instead, he silently prodded up to the crying blonde.

He gently nudged her right leg, looking up to see her peek one eye open and suppress a squeal. He sat down beside her and watching calmly as she slowly moved her violently shaking arms to hug the only thing that hasn't tried to attack her for the past year.