Survival Of The Fittest

"Today was quite an ordeal" Marcus muttered as he slung his leather crossbody bag across his shoulder. The time was 2:30 pm, in short, the fight which left the school in ruins only took about thirty minutes.

Marcus gazed up at the sky, the sun hung low in the sky spilling a warm golden hue over the city.

He took his phone out of my pocket and immediately, a notification popped up.

Marcus tapped the newsfeed, what happened at school was already on the net.

The beast hawk was discovered on the third avenue to PunchMe avenue where it crashed on a truck parked by the roadside.

Marcus saw that the truck was flat like a paper due to the impact, there was the body contour of the beast hawk on the top surface of the truck.

The beast hawk's neck was twisted, it seemed the bone cracking sound earlier was made by its twisted neck, helicopter was used to transport it away to the government research facility.

'Well it can't be more than 4000 pounds—the weight of an Asian elephant'

"This will raise a level of panic among citizens" Marcus gazed at his phone screen as he read the news flash.

Alex Wei's head was hooked to the concrete floor where he made contact, the area was bulldozered in order to free him, although he didn't die.

'Superhuman strength stuff'

"Ah..."

Marcus breathed out heavily through his mouth as he strode to his part-time workplace.

Upon reaching there, it was now as bustling as ever, he even saw some new faces.

Marcus walked past the unloaded box of goods on the open space in front of the warehouse full of people, while making his way to the secretary to sign in.

Marcus noticed as a very built man carried two refrigerators on both palms of his hands, he extended his arms out while the two refrigerators balanced on the palms.

Marcus remembered the man immediately with his face, he was part of the workers who always struggled to carry a thirty-two-inch flat screen of five kg.

"T-two refrigerators, that should weigh around 150 kg each!" Marcus squeaked out unconsciously although his voice was drowned by the noise of different people there.

"M-Mr Liu, are you sure it's okay"

"Sure, postnatal care, month rent is almost due, I have so many things to pay for"

A man's voice boomed from a nearby box truck.

Marcus looked at the next box truck and saw as Mr. Liu collected a large model washing machine from the man unloading it from the truck.

The man placed another one on top of the one Mr. Liu carried.

Mr. Liu heaved it away into the warehouse as if he carried two big empty cartons placed on top of each other.

Even the man unloading from the box truck was also an awakened because he was the only one that unloaded the appliance easily.

"Damn it, they are already turning everything into awakened work"

Marcus had a feeling, a very bad one that today wouldn't end well but he tried to shift it away to the back of his mind as his face wore a bitter expression.

As he walked into the rowdy warehouse, Marcus tried to feign a smile to suppress his bitter expression.

The secretary was seated at one angle by the left with piles of files and a biometric scanner on the table in front of her.

"Oh... Marc Cheng, you are here today"

Marcus started wondering what she meant by the way she talked, as she gazed at him while beaming her regular smile.

The last time Marcus came was before the mutation event, but he knew it was the same for everyone else because there was a week curfew after the event.

The government used this time interval to monitor the mutant beast that went into hiding.

"Yes," Marcus replied with eyes narrowed at her, his brow wrinkled slightly with his puzzled expression.

"Ok, you can sign in," she said sharply as if what she said earlier didn't mean anything.

Marcus placed his thumb on the biometric scanner on her table to sign in then he turned to start working.

He loaded in as much as what an ordinary seventeen-year-old could carry, almost stunned with the view surrounding him

Marcus saw how some middle-aged men were heaving extraordinary weights, machines, and pieces of equipment that two people were supposed to carry, but only one person carried it, and to make matters worse, some carried ten small weights appliances and machines like flat screen TV at once all on top each other, leaving him with little work to do and making him realised what the secretary said firstly when he came, Marcus biggest fear welled up.

*******

Marcus slung his leather crossbody bag over his shoulder as he strode home.

He ended up doing less work than usual today due to competition, and lesser work means lesser pay.

Marcus wondered how he would be able to cope with the calculated salary and month end is already near.

As the month's end was drawing nearer, he wondered if he would be able to pay this month's rent, some bills, and even his mum's hospital bills.

"Damn it" Marcus yelled upward in frustration as he strode along the sidewalk, he kicked an empty canned drink to the lane where a car passed over it immediately.

"Give me a break!" Marcus was feeling very annoyed.

This whole awakened thing has elevated the survival of the fittest.

"Damn it!, Damn it!"

"I will survive, I must find every possible way to survive"

Marcus muttered as he scanned around the avenue, so many dilapidated buildings were under construction due to the catastrophe twelve days ago.

The city wasn't how it used to be before, the city was like a place destroyed by war.

Marcus knew it was like this in other countries around the world, although humans have started gathering forces but destruction will only increase.

Just as Marcus dipped his right hand into his pocket to take out his phone.

Suddenly a shard of glass flew past his face, giving him a sharp cut on the right cheek and at the same time he heard screamings of people which made him reflexively jerk up his head to see what was going on...