The Glitch

By Rohan Sreen

Over sixteen years ago, the world changed, and this changed the world entirely. The once prosperous and beautiful nations, now lay among the rubble on the ground. Status no longer played a role, and those who tried to play its game, were the first to go. This apocalypse, was nothing like how we saw in movies or shows, no, it was much, much worse. There were no Zombies nor Aliens. Only a radioactive wasteland on the Surface. The thirty-six percent population that survived, had to rebuild their own little world underground, from within nuclear bunkers. Eight underground Laboratories remained functional, and their value was greater than even the most precious of diamonds.

Bunker 47, one of its kind, an eighteen-story bunker equipped with everything from food supplies to last decades, to fresh clothes to even electricity powered by Solar energy. The head of the bunker, elected from among the people, Ragnar, understood the importance of this place, which for them was no less than a utopia in these current circumstances. Holding a population of around 4900 people, the bunker was packed yes, but the people learned to trust each other and worked together.

However, it only takes one link to break the entire chain. 18th August, 2089, the 16th anniversary of the Apocalypse, which achieved the name “The Glitch”. Bunker 47 became the Ground Zero for the first mutations of the Glitch. Twenty-five people, within seven minutes, were responsible for tearing apart roughly 4500 of the inhabitants of the bunker. There was not a single scream that had erupted, it was a silent purge that had taken place. It was only once a young boy on floor 6 noticed the Mutants, did a scream echo, and Ragnar turned on the alarm. Arming themselves with the weaponry they could find on the floors they still had access to, the survivors, preparing for an onslaught of the Mutants, now about two-hundred in number, held their ground. They did not have another alternative in the first place anyway. Either fight the mutants, or die to the Radiation on the Surface.

Nine minutes, was all it took for the survivors to dwindle down to Ragnar and eight others. Somehow barricading themselves in an isolation room on the 2nd floor, the survivors donned the emergency radiation suits they had in every room, however four of them had to be left behind. Without this sacrifice, Bunker 47 would have ceased to exist completely. A tearful farewell followed by Ragnar, and 4 others stepping out of the bunker into the toxic wasteland with suits that would only be able to withstand the radiation for so long was met with a horde, not of mutants, but of humans in radiation suits. The logo on them made it clear, they were the scientists of the last research laboratory standing. The Glitch was at the peak and the scientists made the decision to give up Bunker 47, as for some reason, they believed the bunker was interfering with the working of their project. Ragnar, furious upon hearing this news, punched a scientist square in the face, breaking the glass mask of the suit, causing the scientist to erupt in a shower of his blood. Except, the blood was blue. The scientists were Mutated.

Seeing their comrade fall, the survivors were restrained and three of them had their masks taken off, and were now erupting into blood showers. Ragnar and another survivor, restrained on the ground, were now being dragged across miles, till they reached an underground entrance. Upon entering, Ragnar was stripped of his radiation suit while his fellow survivor, after being stabbed by the “scientists” at least twenty times, was thrown into a pit of fire.

Forced to sit on what seemed like a throne, Ragnar looked in horror as he saw thousands and thousands of people kneeling before him, only they weren’t normal, they were Mutated, some with wings sprouting from their backs, claws for hands, and some not even having a proper face, instead a skeleton making up for a chunk of their face. Surrounded by chanting in a language he could not understand, suddenly Ragnar was within his own mind, at least that’s what it felt like. Memories of his people being killed replaying over and over in front of him, till it stopped at once, and all he could hear was maniacal laughter and a raspy voice, that hurt to even hear, “The Glitch. It’s my prized creation, and now, I hand it to you, Ragnar. Well, that is if you haven’t lost your sanity completely yet, and unfortunately for you, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Seems like I will just have to take over your body then. Oh well, that’s a real shame, I really thought you would be the successor of this new world. I pity you, you could have been so much, were you not so weak. Nothing we can do about it now though.”

Ragnar watched his life flash before his eyes one last time with a backdrop of the same maniacal laughter he had just heard, and then it stopped. To an extent. Ragnar was alive, but that was it, he could feel his body moving, but he wasn’t controlling it. He was alive in his mind trapped forever, as his body rose from the throne, with wings and claws now part of him, and eyes darker than coal, with not a trace of white in them, Ragnar could still see from his eyes, but all he saw was an army, of thousands of Mutants who had just been kneeling before him, standing, waiting for orders from their new king. The new world was going to be of the Mutants, and the Mutants alone.

Ragnar felt his mouth turn into a wicked smile, but he could not control it. The army cheered as Ragnar screamed within his own mind, wanting to escape this nightmare, but not a sound came out. He was stuck there forever, and he would now have to witness all the horrors of the world, while all he could do now was scream without a voice.

By Rohan Sreen