The beginning of a System

On a road riddled with potholes, an old-fashioned blue pickup truck was driven at high speed. In the driver's seat was a beautiful girl, it was breathtaking for anyone. Next to it was a very tall man who could barely fit in the passenger seat; and in the backseats was a young man in his late twenties sitting and looking out the window. His eyes were glazed over at the landscape. Technically, this was his first car trip, so he was very excited and didn't want to miss any details.

Obviously, this group was Lucas, Ruby and Acelino. They had been traveling for a few hours since Lucas' awakening. After resuming their journey they didn't talk much. The girl liked to drive and Acelino didn't mind letting her drive, however, he always wore his belt.

When Lucas got tired of watching the trees go by, he began to analyze what had happened so far; his fight with the snake and the reports of his new comrades about the situation inside the cities. He realized there was a lot to do, so he leaned his head back against the bench and began to mull things over.

He first analyzed his fight with the snake. It was true that his fighting style had improved a lot, from being a complete ignorant of how to fight to being able to think of simple strategies and act accordingly. However, he was still inexperienced, so there would be mistakes in his combat.

The first mistake was to divert your attention from your opponent, allowing him to attack freely. The second mistake, and perhaps the most important, concerns the chosen fighting mode. He was fighting a snake, a being that oozes agility and speed, so letting it take the lead was a glaring mistake.

For both mistakes, he understood the main reason for making them. Aside from his inexperience in fighting, he didn't know how to use his mutation correctly. When the venom fell into his eyes, his 'sixth sense' was unable to locate the snake, not because of its inefficiency, but because of its distraction, which only returned when it took out its eyes. As for letting the snake have the initiative, just before the snake moved forward, he had the same feeling as before when he fought the mutant man, but in a more potent form; getting lost in that feeling, he couldn't stop the snake from taking the initiative. These errors are very similar, but they differ in how they should be addressed.

It was clear that he didn't know how to use his mutation, nor did he know its limits. Therefore, he decided that he would use any and all opportunities to understand his powers and know how to use them.

'In the fight against the mutant man and then against the snake, I felt them. It was like it really was a sixth sense. I also noticed that there is a certain energy source, or something like that. This isn't new, I've read a lot about it, if it's really like that, all mutants have this font. Logically speaking, as there are different mutations and they are not chosen, but rather received from the Beam, then the place of each one's source determines, or at least influences, what kind of mutation each one has.

He was totally focused on his deductions, he didn't want to miss a single detail.

'Organizing everything, I have to learn to purposely activate the sixth sense, activate that state where I thought faster when I fought the mutant man and know the limits of my mutation. Hmmmm, a lot to do.'

After analyzing his struggle, he reflected on the state of the world. According to Acelino and Ruby, they slept for 4 days after the energy beam arrived. The city was now full of 'things', which he named inside his mind as 'Mutant animals' considering that the snake he had just fought fell into that category.

Cities infested with these monsters would definitely be inhospitable to human life. However, he still wanted to see these cities and monsters with his own eyes. There was no way to hide his curiosity and willingness to test himself against them. For someone who has lived his entire life locked in a hospital and without any adventures, these recent events have proved this young man one thing, he was alive!

'So, if cities are infested with monsters, it means that most of the animals must have transformed. Why is there a difference between them and us humans? Like, so far few humans have survived the beam…'

The young man couldn't guess much with his limited knowledge, but he tried at least to analyze the facts and possibly come up with some promising theory. He resumed the thought:

'Well, we have neut, normal and dark matter. Perhaps, due to the war, dark matter has increased dramatically in the world and the beam has caused mutations in living beings. Well, a certainty now is that the beam is involved, if not, in the war there would already be mutations…'

He stopped for a moment and went back to looking out the window. His mind wandered a bit into various possibilities about the mutations, trying to find some logic. Suddenly he remembered something and voiced his thoughts:

"Are you also mutants?"

The moment the question was asked, Ruby, who was driving, was startled and lost control of the steering wheel a little, but quickly regained control. As for Acelino, who was dozing, she woke up abruptly due to the sudden rocking of the car, saying:

"Fuck Ruby! What was it?!"

Her face showed pure amazement, after all, waking up because of a turbulence in the car is not pleasant.

"It was bad, it was bad, it just distracts me with Lucas' question!"

Ruby replied, her face was puzzled by the question coming from the backseat.

Acelino replied, also confused:

"Question? What the fuck question makes you lose control of your car? Lucas! What the fuck did you say?"

Acelino's personality was like that. When teased or irritated, his tongue had no control. Lucas replied calmly, but inside he was surprised and a little scared, he couldn't imagine their reaction, nor the girl's loss of control.

"I just asked if you guys are mutants too."

Acelino then changed his expression, he realized that the subject could really make someone lose control of the car. After calming down, he replied:

"Well you are aren't you? After all, when we found you, you were without your eyes, but now you're seeing everything perfectly."

"Yes I am, but I still don't quite understand how it works." Lucas said.

A moment of silence passed. It looked like Ace and Ruby didn't want to respond. However, he didn't let the subject go.

"Does it or doesn't it?" He said with a confused face, after all, why would anyone hide this? If they aren't deformed mutants, without those hideous metamorphoses, why wouldn't they want to talk?

At Lucas's insistence, the cousins ​​had to answer if they didn't want him to be suspicious. Ruby volunteered for this.

"Ehh, yes we are." The girl spoke excitedly.

"…"

Lucas waited for the continuation, but apparently he wouldn't have. Then, already impatient, he said:

"You know, we're kind of a team now, so if we know what each of us can do, we'll be better prepared in case something unexpected happens! Ace, you're the leader, there's no way you can't agree with that."

When those words were said, Ace and Ruby sighed. Lucas was right, it was better to tell. His survival would depend on it in the future.

"To sum up, Ruby can distort the light around confusing others and I can move things with my mind."

The explanation was much shorter than Lucas had expected, yet he was satisfied and asked no more. The journey continued in silence, Acelino sleeping, Ruby driving and Lucas mulling over the new information.

"…if she can control the light around, I can think of something like going invisible, changing her appearance… hmmm, if a monster is nearby, she might confuse it by making everything dark, of course, there's still the issue of the emitted aura that can reveal your position. I don't know if it's just me as a human I can use. The mutant man definitely could and the snake I think could. Maybe other mutants like Ruby and Ace can use… well, I ask them later, they don't seem to trust me yet."

He knew why Acelino and Ruby had little confidence in him. They just met, it was only fair to have this distrust.

'Ace moves things with his mind, he doesn't have much to think about. It's a simple but far-reaching mutation. It should be very useful if it can be used on a large scale. Next time I'm alone, I'll see the limits of my mutation…'

Lucas' musings on his powers and those of his companions did not stop there. There was a lot to analyze and prepare. Then, the journey continued and soon they approached the first city since the formation of the team.