Alexander spoon slowly trailed the edge of the bowl, gathering every last drop of the soup he could before he brought it to his mouth. The creature before him had continued to speak, its voice grating every sensory nerve he had as it berated him. It gave him a list of rules, most of which the boy had already forgotten, and had listed out the punishments associated with each rule as well. But Alexander’s mind was elsewhere, the questions that plagued it grew larger as he finished the bowl, the faint taste not leaving his tongue as he spoke.

Alexander cut off the creature, the annoyed noise it made ignored as the boy continued, “What are you?” The creature paused, its eyes growing wide a moment later before the click that signalled its laugh picked up again.

“I forgot! Your village was in the boonies right? That’s where the good doctor ended up? That empty space just to the north of the downtown right? Yeah we don’t go there much. Some ancient treaty with the mutts on the other side, which your father has now so nicely cleared up.”

Alexander took note of every mention of his father, his eyes narrowing at every small snippet of information. It was growing more and more apparent to the boy that his father had kept him in the dark. Small things in the past began to add up, muffled arguments with his mother, zones and streets that had been avoided despite the abundant food. Villages and people that the man had isolated his family from, refusing to trade or discuss things with them.

Alexander was yanked from his thoughts as the beast continued. “I’m a—what’s the human word? An Other? Rude but applicable. I’m not human. I’m not a mutant. Well, that’s not strictly true, I was once a human. Kind of. Part of me?” The creature seemed lost in thought for a moment before it waved its hand, “Anyways. Your parents ever tell you stories? Old history? What the world was like before?”

Alexander nodded slowly, his eyes watching the beast grow more and more excited at every word it spoke. It worried him, but Alexander kept himself still, every so often taking a sip from his glass.

“So they would have told you it was nice right? Organized? Your life would have been much better then. Instead of….hunting rats or whatever it is that you do to live, you could have been a lawyer, or a farmer, or a pilot! Fun stuff I’ve been told. Humans reigned then, sat at the top of the food chain. We didn’t like that, but we couldn’t really do anything about it either.” the beast shrugged, “I mean this is before my time as well, so I’m not sure about it all, but I know one thing. You guys royally fucked up.”

Alexander nodded once again, so far this matched what his parents had told him. To say that life would have been better for him before the bombs would be an understatement. There would be no mutants. No fog. No fighting for resources, no starvation or death. To the boy born into the wastes life before ruination sounded the closest to heaven he had ever been shown. The fact that it had actually been real had at times proven hard for the boy to wrap his mind around. To think that his parents had once lived on a planet that didn’t try to kill you at every turn, that didn’t try to gut you and feast upon your insides astounded him.

“Well, when you guys started doing that, we started to have a problem as well. Simply put, we needed you guys. Food, slaves, entertainment, whatever. So when you idiots started wiping out your own species we began to panic. The mutts seem to like to make more of them with you guys, we like to eat you and use you, so on and so on. Your kind had done a good job at keeping us underground since our conception, but when everything began to fall apart, well, we needed to act.”

Alexander froze, his calm demeanor hardening in an instant as he tightened his hand around the spoon in his grasp. Nothing about what he had just learned sat right with him, nor did his savior’s casual mention of eating humans.

The creature before him seemed to notice the change, its eyes darkening for a moment as it hissed harshly, “Oh don’t fucking give me that look. We saved you. When your society began to crumble to dust, we crawled out of your sewers and made something with the rubble. When nuclear fire began to rain down, we sheltered you in our homes. When death began stalking you in the dark, we met claw with claw, tooth with tooth. The fact that any humans walk free at all is proof of our mercy. Our benevolence.”

Alexander opened his mouth to speak, but the creature shushed him violently. The hiss that slipped through its sharp teeth was one full of an emotion Alexander couldn’t place. The golden eyes filled with a regal hatred for all those below it, Alexander included.

“Our cattle had put themselves in danger, and we had been forced to step in. If your idiocy had wiped you out, you would drag us into the dark with you. So we made ourselves known. Groups that had fought us for generations collapsed as we began to shelter you. Humans accusing us of horrific deeds went ignored as we opened up our arms and cradled you. Humans pledged to serve us, and we pledged to save them.” Again the creature simply shrugged, its smile losing the darkness that had been creeping inwards, “And now your family has joined the fold!”

Alexander flinched, the sickening joy that the creatures smile seemed to exude sending a shiver up and down his spine. What had his father done?

Alexander sat in silence for some time as the information washed over him. After its speech the creature before him had once again launched itself into the rules it had begun to teach him, and now Alexander understood the implications. These were to be the rules of his new life, a life underneath the creature that had taken his arm. The creature that had saved him. The mixed emotions that gripped the boy didn’t fade as the creature left him alone, leaving by the same door that it had entered.

Curling up on the bed the boy tried to organize the thoughts crashing around in his skull. The information he had learned changed everything he knew about his own existence. About his place in the world. The world view that his father had cultivated had been shattered completely.

As time went on Alexander’s mind slowly made sense of it all. His role had been explained to him, his station laid out before him, and he hated it. He had just discovered his actual place in the world and he had instantly grown to despise it. He was cattle. He was foodstuff and a slave. His life held no meaning in itself, and the more that fact sat with him the more he grew to despise it.

The hatred he had held for the mutants migrated to a new host with every moment he spent in that quiet medical room. Alexander’s eyes gazed at the door the creature had closed behind it with animosity that had only been seen once before. The hate that glazed them burned and tore at all else once more.

His father would have whacked the boy if he had seen it. The man had convinced himself that this was the best choice available to them. And if he had seen his sons face now, he would have known instantly what had been going through it. What the man had seen as saving his sons life, his son has seen as throwing it away. Just as the boy had known if his father had jumped into the tunnel with him he’d be killing his mother and sister, Alexander also knew doing this had doomed them all.

The boy was stubborn, and his father would have called it stupidity, and even though some rational part of mind knew the choice his father had made was the right one, he hated it. It had been to save his life, but Alexander wished his father hadn’t made that decision at all.

Alexander, in all the anger of his age, wanted to die on that hill of rubble. He would have wanted to go out fighting, and to have his last moments spent living on his own terms. His father simply wished his son a better death than that. Both had made their decisions, and both had to live with the consequences.

For Alexander that meant he was now assigned a life that he couldn’t stomach. A reality that he had been forced into that he hated. He stewed in his emotions, teeth grinding in the dark as the light in the room flickered and crackled above his head. Thoughts swirled as he lost track of time, half dozing as his mind worked on all the information it had been given.

Eventually he stepped from the bed, his good arm stabilizing him as he tested his bad leg by putting a bit of weight on it. The cast managed to support him as he took a hobbling step forwards. He took stock of himself and his surroundings for what felt like the first time as he paced about. His upper body was covered in bandages, the white gown that covered his body preserving his modesty as he paced about.

The room was sparse, but the layout and tools that surrounded him told the boy that he wasn’t being treated like some sort of prisoner. There were too many things lying about that could be used as a weapon. Tools that had been used to heal him now lay on tables surrounding him. He knew some of them had been used to remove his left arm, but he refused to think about it. He didn’t want know exactly what had been done to him while he had been unconscious. The less he knew the better he would feel about it. Thinking about the surgery and the wound that had caused it made him squeamish and uneasy.

A few times he picked up a tool, waved it about and tested the weight in his hand before setting it down. His arm felt weak, and though he had been given some food his body was still carrying the wounds from the day before. Alexander had exerted a lot of energy in the mad dash he had made across the wastes, and his body still hadn’t recovered all of it.

Alexander wasn’t stupid. He was testing himself, and he immediately knew his chances were slim were he to do anything rash. He was tempted to continue his suicidal rampage against all that he hated, but he knew that wouldn’t solve anything. He wasn’t aware of exactly what price his father had paid but he didn’t want to make all that pain worth nothing. If he died everything that had been done to save him would mean nothing. And so, no matter how tempted he was to kill the creature that had saved him, he wouldn’t do it.

The pacing helped the passage of time somewhat, and when the door to the room opened again shortly afterwards Alexander made sure to put himself right in front of it. Behind the door simply lay a dark hallway, another matching door on the other end blocking any further investigation and the creature and another human padded into the room.

“Good, you’re up,” the creature hissed, stepping closer to the boy rapidly. With practiced movements it ran its claws along the gauze and bandages that covered the many wounds covering his body. It pressed gently, testing and prodding as it circled the boy. With curious eyes Alexander watched it work, opening his mouth after a few moments and speaking slowly, “I have two more questions.”

The creature nodded, distracted for a moment, “Sure, ask them. Just stand still.”

“How do I address you? Do you have a name?” the beast laughed, nodding, only to pause as Alexander asked his next question, “And what price did my father have to pay to save me?”

Snorting the beast finished testing the bandages, gesturing to the human at its side as it undid one and replaced it, “My names Nicholas.” Nicholas clicked his teeth as he adjusted one dressing, “And simple enough. You’ll be serving me, your father will serve my master. Your mother will be given work tending to vehicles. Your younger sister,” he paused as Alexander tensed, sensing something shifting within the boy.

One eye brow raised as a golden eye peered upwards, continuing after a moment of measured glances between the two, “Your sister will be processed. Cleansed. She is not yet old enough to be of use yet, and tests must be done. Whether she will stay human or be turned, become a hideous mutant, or another like me, we need to know. She has been taken from your mother for the time being.” Nicholas paused again, hissing as Alexander tensed, flicking the boy with one claw. “But will be returned soon. Probably. Unless she responds well to our blood in which case,” the creature shrugged, “I’ll have a new sister.”

Alexander’s fingers clenched tightly together, his knuckles turning white as his eyes stared stonily at the metallic wall before him. He wasn’t sure it all added up, why the creature before him thought he would be worth more than the thirty some odd lives it had spent rescuing him. Why his father had been even able to make this deal eluded the boy.

Releasing the pressure in one hand he released the breath he had been holding onto, giving the creature below him a glance. This was his life now whether he liked it or not. But the hate didn’t dissipate. It burned deep within him, focused on many targets. Nicholas. The Mutants. His father. But for the moment he pushed it deeper within him, storing it for fuel later. The urge to see his family outweighed it, the solitude of the room was already getting to him.