1 An Unfortunate Run-in

The year 2760, Earth

On the busy freeway in the outer City where automated cars and bikes were racing across the streets. Here on the narrow pathway meant for pedestrians, a barely adult young man was walking with his head hung low among the crowd lost in his own thoughts. The common black hooded garb, along with trendy loose trousers he was practically indistinguishable in the similar crowd.

A technical face mask was an essential part of clothing that is meant for cleaning the air from the toxic fumes and other harmful grains present in the air here in the outer city, a consequence of its proximity to Wastelands. The small earpiece, an id watch, and airtight goggles were also essential parts of today's world fashion sense. For him along with every inhabitant of this outside city, these things were must have to survive here.

This young man named Crey Morgan was striding with a slow and unhurried speed along with the flow of the crowd as he was not in any particular hurry to reach anywhere. Actually, he was on his way home or shop, as both of them were pretty much the same, after a quick delivery of the gadget they had repaired. All along the way, the bright neon signs of the stores were beginning to glow as night was beginning to set in slowly.  

He was strolling forth, lost in his thoughts when suddenly a fight broke out in the front, and quickly the entire calm surroundings turned into pronounced commotion. Curses and whistles ignited the atmosphere as the crowd parted to give a comfortable space to the aggressors, for them to duke it out between themselves. But still, the eager crowd snuggled just a few meters away to witness this crass duel. 

"Beat him, Jim…"

"Ooohhh…."

"Kill! Kill! kill!"

"Pfff, babe! I can beat him in two seconds...huh... "

Various voices and shouts floated out among the loud din of incoherent jeers and cries. Though the surrounding mob was interested in the scuffle the young man, who by chance was pushed into the inner band of the audience due to random shoving, was not in the least interested in the fight. 

He halted himself from getting shoved to the center and was about to turn back to disappear back in the crowd when he realized that it was too late. The stage and audience were already set. He was now practically in the middle of the bordering ring of these transient spectators. And to get out, it was going to be more hassle than just waiting for it to end here. 

"Ah! Come on…..I don't want to watch any cockfight. I am getting late for Dinner at the shop." 

Crey grumbled but his complaint went unregistered in the ears of the adrenaline-fueled crowd. Therefore as the victim of the prehistoric urge of watching the chaos, he had to wait here until either the two men finish it off or the audience loses interest. 

Fights like these were very common in outlawed outer cities where laws were just as fleeting as smog clouds in the sky. Therefore any fight which broke out has a ninety percent chance to end up in blood gore violence, which was the main reason behind their massive popularity among crude audiences. Though it was the 28th century, people were still as crazy to witness a murder as they were in ancient times.  

'F*ck! I am tired of these already. I have …'

The boy thought but still stayed put in his place, carefully taking care to not get pushed into the middle of a fight by some chaos lovers. But suddenly the fist fight which was happening a few meters away turned into something else when the bald man howled in anger and suddenly grew sharp bony claws out of his fingers. He moved forward and ripped apart the throat of his opponent who had already pissed his pants, watching his just normal rival suddenly turning into an 'Evolved'. 

'Evolved Humans', are the humans who have taken the expensive, regulated, and rare military-grade gene recombination drug which enables the modification of Human genes toward their peak potential. And unlocking such potential often leads to some mutations in the human body which bestows special superhuman abilities to Evolved humans along with an improvement in basic strength, durability, and speed.   

"...level 2 Evolved?"

But alas! Activation of this drug is not a pleasant occasion, just like this activation often leads to loss of sanity. The sudden disruption and panic that broke into the crowd drowned the barely audible whisper as the onlookers got apesh*t terrified upon realizing that one of the Quarrelers was actually an Evolved. And if he was here…..in the outer city that could only mean three things and not one thing was good for them. 

Therefore rather 'reasonably' fearing for their lives the audience that was earlier encouraging the fight, began to flee from the place like a group of headless chickens in various directions, all while praying to not get chased by the Evolved devil. Of course, such an abrupt stampede led to the crushing of one or two onlookers in the crowd. The young man who was stuck inside the mob was sadly too close to fight to run away at first chance. 

"Damn! And that is why I was earlier asking you to let me go? Now, y'all are going nuts after witnessing the blood. I hate these street fights. F*cking Nuisance!"

The boy cursed all the while he tried to follow behind the mad crowd in a random direction, maybe because he was the only one with a cool head among the panicked mob, he managed to escape the chaos of the herd without getting stepped on and also not stepping upon someone. As for helping people - come on! Here one's own life was in jeopardy. Who has time to play hero?

The furious Evolved who due to awakening had lost his mind chased after the crowd to rip them with his claws. During such circumstances except for relentless slaughter or a rough brawl, there was nothing that could calm this 'Human with one hand of the devil' down. 

While he was completely acting on instincts, as fate would have it, the group where the young man was, he chose to chase after it. And in one fast dash, he was among the group slashing widely to slaughter the terrified humans.

Among the cries of pain and terror of victims and a frantic shower of blood and gore, the Evolved lunged for the Crey who was now in front of him. 

Crey who suddenly found himself as the next victim in line, to get chopped by a monster didn't lose his mind in horror like other people. Except he just sighed at his bad luck and stopped running to confront the evolved. 

"Ugg...I am surely going to be late."