MD: N/A
Time: 1204 hours
Location: MLK Jr. Highway near I 85, Atlanta, Georgia
As Natalie approached the library, she changed her mind and started to
walk behind it again, into the alley where she saw the mutant. This
second time behind here allowed Natalie to see things that she
hadn't
seen when she was too scared out of her mind to be paying attention.
She noticed that there was a small blood trail dripping that led away
from the scene. As she followed them, she also noticed that there
were times when the blood would disappear, but it would reappear after
several steps.
The trail led her away from downtown and toward the highway. Natalie
wasn't sure why she had chosen to follow the trail. Perhaps it
was
because she felt sorry for the mutant because he was defenseless
against those men that shot him. She also wondered about his
condition. Being shot is not a good thing, even for mutants.
As Natalie looked around the bushes and then heard a small noise. At
first, it sounded as if it were a small kitten, but as Natalie began
to investigate, she started to hear groans. Natalie walked down the
embankment and smelled smoke. Not enough to worry about a fire, but
more of a smoldering one.
Natalie approached the source of the smoke and noticed the mutant. He
was turned around and Natalie could see the large head wound on the
back of his head. It had been covered by skin, but Natalie could tell
that it hadn't healed properly. Natalie was trying to be quiet,
but
she happened to step on a twig that startled the mutant and forced his
gaze to her.
"Mmmnph," the creature grunted.
Natalie didn't say anything at first. In fact, she stepped back a
little bit.
The beast motioned its hands as a way to invite Natalie toward him.
He also made some sounds as if her were speaking, but no words were
escaping his lips.
Natalie saw that the beast had built a small shelter in this area.
She noticed the smoldering fire and noticed that wood had not been
placed on it in a while. As the temperature was still rather cold,
Natlaie moved toward the wood and placed a few pieces onto the fire.
Stoking the ash and wood for a couple of minutes, Natalie managed to
get the fire going again. The beast groaned, but said nothing still.
Natalie sat in quiet with the beast looking at her. She didn't
know
how to respond, or how to act. She had never met a mutant before and
yet it didn't seem that this "monster" would be any
threat to her,
especially because it seemed that it was mortally wounded.
Natalie saw two sleeping bags, and though it was only early afternoon,
she thought that it might do her good to take a nap. She unrolled one
of the sleeping bags and laid down. The beast watched with very
little behind his eyes.
When Natalie woke, the beast was still in the same spot. The fire had
died and it appeared that the man had soiled himself. He grunted in
sorrow, but did nothing to fix his situation.
Natalie looked at her watch and saw that it was four in the afternoon.
She had been asleep for more than four hours.
"Has he been sitting there this whole time?" she thought to
herself.
Natalie got up from the ground and moved toward the beast. She placed
a hand on his shoulder and comforted him. "It's alright.
They can't
hurt you now." It didn't respond, but just turned aside.
The beast lost its balance and fell to the ground. Natalie moved over
to him to make sure that he was still alive. The mutant's
breathing
was barely noticeable. Natalie didn't know what to do or who to
call.
Rather than get the mutant or herself into any more trouble than she
needed, she chose to stay with the mutant until it woke up, or died.
