Children of the Atom: Chapter One

Josh's P.O.V

My friends formed a circle. I know that they really felt weird looking at me, like why is the leader so small?

I don't want to waste anymore time. We have to get to Manhattan. Every monster that we know is either dead or mutated into some grotesque form of another monster (which we need a name for).

But some of the monster already have names, such as Aberron, the mutated centaur.

With the world in a bleak state, I decided to conjure a ball of light from my right palm, and use it to light our way. We need to get to Manhatttan as soon as possible.

We walked from the remains of a building to the next one. The New York city is pretty much a wasteland, where it's a place on earth totally destroyed by multiple nuclear attacks. I'm not even sure Manhattan is still intact, but it's best to look for it rather than assuming.

Now, I get to know my newfound friends, who were also a survivor of multiple nuclear attacks. James, Gerard, Evan, Esther, James and Alex. Some of them I knew already, while some I just met. The reason we were going to Manhattan is that we are going to find more half-bloods lost in the bleak wilderness of the radiation-contaminated air of America. I just hoped we were fast enough to get to them before the demigods suffer radiation poisoning.

Now, not all radiations are poisonous. Certain people can be mutated into a super-demigod if their genes are altered into a specific type. For example, Layla, my friend, had been exposed to high levels of radiation, and in turn, gave her these mind related powers. I have been exposed to very low level of radiation because I was in San Francisco when an atomic bomb blew up in New York City. In fact, San Francisco just got blown up by a nuclear bomb that struck Mount Tamalpalis at Mach 3 a few days ago, and New york a few weeks ago. Strangely, when I looked at the mountain again, it appears to be mostly intact, except for the fact that more clouds are swirling around the mountain. It's as if the mountain absorbed most of the particles of the nuclear radiation, and San Francisco had only suffered mild radiation poisoning. I witnessed the whole scene and fled to New York again, where I believed the radiation had become less toxic to our health, and where I believed the radiation had reached a suitable level where I can use my light forcefield to fend off the radiation particles.

Anyways, I lead the group of demigods that wants to follow me. The skies are very bleak, and that doesn't give me much energy from the sunlight. Just then, I saw someone behind a building.

I told my friends to stay back. "Who's there?" I asked.

I decide to investigate. I light my palm in a brilliant light and followed the running figure. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you." I said.

But the figure kept running faster and faster, and I told my friends to catch up with me. The figure ran faster and faster and it led us to Manhattan.

"Wow, looks like this is our lucky day." I told my friends, who are catching up with me. But as soon as I am about to go forward, we were halted by the huge abyssal canyon that stood between New York and the Long Island Sound. The bridge was supposed to be here, but it's lost. It's the only way to the Empire State Building, and now it's gone. The sea is just as black as an ink, and we're not going to swim across either.

"What are we going to do now?" Esther asked me.

"I know." I extinguished the ball of light and closed my eyes and prayed to Hyperion. I really hoped that Hyperion is in the mood to talk to me, but he is.

I opened my eyes, and there's nothing. I turned around, and saw Layla tapping her right index finger onto her forehead, and when I looked back at the abyss, there's a boat that we can use.

"Layla, you're amazing!" I clapped her back. She blushed.

"No problem, Joshy. Now let's follow the figure."

Now, as we hauled ourselves onto the boat, I realized that the figure is just up ahead, and is getting away from us fast. We need to pick up speed if we are going to find out who the figure is.

Once we're right in the middle, suddenly the boat stopped. Oh god, please let it be a minor error.

But it wasn't.

Just then, a bunch of huge tentacles began to spew out of the sea, and our boat shuddered. "Oh no, this can't be good." James said.

"Of course it can't be good!" Layla told him. "Look! There's more!"

More tentacles spewed out of the open sea, and I'm guessing that this is one of the mutated krakens that got exposed to radiation, and the kraken is pulling our ship down!

I can't shrug the boat off the kraken's grip, so I thought off a plan. We were right in the middle of the two islands, and we need to get to the other side, and the kraken is about to pull our ship down.

But wait... one of Kraken's tentacle is about to hit us. If we just use the force of the tentacle striking the ship to propel ourselves to the other side of the island, that would be a shortcut.

"Friends!" I yelled. "Brace yourselves!"

Just then, a tentacle struck the ship. Not from above, but from below underwater. Looks like I miscalculated, but our goals are reached: To get to the other side of the island.

As we fly through the air and into the other side of the island, the boat landed with a hard THUD! I asked is everybody alright, and just then, I saw the figure running again.

The figure seemed to be heading towards the Empire State Building, which is where Mount Olympus is located.

I light my hand in a ball of light and sprinted to follow the figure, and as soon as the figure reached the Empire State Building, the figure just disappeared.

"Oh my..."

But just then, I head a cry from inside the building. Looks like the figure might be leading us to another strayed demigod. I told my friends to come with me as the area is safe. I saw a barrier of gold and the building is in ruins.

I head the sound of the cry is originating from inside the barrier of gold, so I decided to move the heavy plating of the gold barrier and found a crying girl. She seemed just 9 years old. She looked terrified, and when we looked at her eyes, she shies away from us.

"Hey, it's okay." I said, stepping forward.

The girl let out a little scream and then covers her mouth with her hands. At first, she kept shying away from us, but with a little persuasion, she finally agrees to come with us.

"It's okay." I told her. "Come with us. We'll find a place to stay."