Stoke is Full of Mutants

It Turns Out Water is Kind of Important to Humans

The residents of the Ark were getting slightly anxious about the water situation. Not unreasonably, concern had grown as to how to survive ever since the water supply failed. Numerous suggestions were made: live off supplies and hope for rain, dig and search for groundwater, and one suspiciously excited man repeatedly put forward the idea that they should start drinking each other's piss. However, the Elder came up with a solution. He tended to do that. His quick thinking had helped him to reach pensionable age, a rare feat in the new age where there was actually no such thing as pensions, though his quick thinking had begun to slow down in recent months.

The solution espoused by the Elder would of course rely on the work of a party of scavengers. Three young men and one teenage woman were selected to complete the task of relieving the Ark of its drought by going out into the nightmare world that existed outside the relative comforts of the Ark and returning with a new water source to nourish the weakly residents of the Ark. The Elder, surrounded by his loyal officers, was cheered as he told the fearful and desperate residents that this intrepid party wouldn't fail in their duty, however he knew that the loyalty of his officers would soon disappear if the party failed. He reasoned that he had had a good run, he had always known that one day he would die and he was quite comfortable with the thought of the Ark dying with him.

With the Elder's words of praise still ringing in his fiercely adorable cat ears, Craig stepped outside of the Ark's front doors and into the cold and frigid Long Tong air; he had done so many times before but now he felt a sense of trepidation and fear, it was natural to feel fearful at the prospect of walking the wastelands, but this fear was different, it was a fear of failure. The whole Ark expected him to succeed, for if he failed then they would perish, and a slow death was not something the residents of the Ark could countenance. Still, he reasoned, he had four strong companions with him, he would not fail.

Stepping out alongside Craig was young Gramslinger with his pet dog. The waterproof shoes he had traded much of his supplies for would prove highly useful, or so Gramslinger thought as he looked down at the menacing looking clouds above. His thoughts turned to that of Craig besides him, he wondered what Craig could do with that tail and then shook his head. This was no time for such thoughts. He must only use his brain power to work on solutions for the Ark's current predicament and the party's dangerous mission. Gramslinger saw a look of steely determination in Craig's handsome face and felt reassured, but couldn't help but use his telepathic powers to sense an undertone of fear in Craig's thoughts. Gramslinger scolded himself once again for violating his companion's mind and tried to tell himself that soon they'd be returning as heroes back in the safety of the Ark.

Steve Rogers shuffled out the Ark next. Weathered and wise beyond his 21 years, Steve could smell the rot on the wind. Whilst others would be revolted and terrified of such an odour, Steve's rot eating mutation allowed him to feel at ease. Though he had to remind himself that the boundless rot of the wastelands would soon overwhelm even his mutation and leave him dying in agony. He looked at Craig, the leader of the party, and felt unnerved at the uncomfortable look on Craig's face. Steve felt his hands reach down to his shotgun as he said to himself: "If Craig fails then we all die, I must protect him." He cocked the weapon, leaving the others bemused as to why he had just wasted a perfectly good cartridge.

Without quite meaning to, Elon pushed past Steve and stood in front of the Ark. Elon grunted an apology and sniffed the air with his cute little bear nose. The nose was an anomaly though, as the rest of Elon's massive frame could hardly be described as cute. A bear of a man, quite literally, he was a man with the mutated appearance of a bear. The Elder felt that the party could do with some muscle on their mission and, besides, if they were to fail then Elon would not be a welcome presence as the residents fought amongst themselves and the Ark leadership for survival.