-July 23,2011:

“Been three days and I am exhausted so I will keep it short.” His face showing signs of exhaustion as he spoke, missing his usual jolly tone.

“First with the good news, I finally got out of this damn place and now for the bad news, I think it would have been better if I did not.” He took a deep sigh as he continued.

“I am happy and all that I could get out but the world that is outside right now, isn’t any better. The ground has been cut open; buildings demolished to the ground while only some still have a hollow structure left. Moreover…”

He massaged the bridge of his nose as he spoke. “Moreover, there are no signs of a single soul, let alone any rescue team. I will gather more resources and information tomorrow. For now, my battery is dead.”

***

The day started strange for David. Not in any special way but, he didn’t have the drive to do something. He was feeling sluggish, and much heavier for some reason.

Feeling like he had a hangover, he forced his body to get up because, the food was not going to serve itself to him. Whatever he had available to him was coming to an end, so he had to secure more to keep himself alive. Not to mention, he had to find a way out of this mess.

Left with no other option, he was now walking through a devasted road, going around various holes in the ground and wrecked vehicles here and there, to reach a supermarket that was near his house.

It would most likely be in ruins but he…

“…Wait.” A sudden realization made him halt in his steps.

“Why can’t I see any dead bodies?” He didn’t notice anything before because he was…distracted but now that he saw, he couldn’t find any dead bodies.

“Perhaps they already cleaned up and left?” It was a possibility, but there were very less chances of that actually happening.

He bent down in front of a puddle of blood and smelled it. His eyes widened as he realized. ‘Fresh blood!’

As if on cue, he suddenly leaned back as some sharp object was swung to cleave his head from the side. He then grabbed the object with his left hand and threw them forward, using the momentum of the swing. His hand felt warm, from the blood pouring out, and a numb sensation filling his hand, slightly along his left arm too. It was a stupid thing to do but it was almost on an instinctual level that he couldn’t help it.

His mouth gaped as he got a good view of his assaulter. “Have I finally gone insane or…a Mantis just tried to kill me?” He asked incredulously, directed to no one in particular.

David just watched as it got back to its…feet and came rushing at him again. It was around 5 feet large, standing on two legs, had green tough skin that looked like scales along with huge slicers that shined, reflecting the sunlight.

“Oh shit!” Finally getting out of his daze, he ducked as one of the slicers went past where his head was a few moments ago, and blocked a kick coming from the left side…or at least tried to block it. His left arm was completely unresponding and it looked a little green.

“Fuc-.” He could only curse as he was launched in the air by the strike and fell a few meters away, clutching at his left side in pain. Thankfully nothing was broke, which was strange but…

‘Everything is fucking insane.’ It didn’t matter for now, what mattered was that he was alive. He could see the huge Mantis advancing towards him slowly, with a shine in its…eyes.

‘Huh? So, its enjoying fucking with me. Nice to know.’ He grumbled to himself as he got up slowly.

“How do you want to do this? Lil’Manti!” He shouted towards it, but no reply came. Well, not like he was expecting an answer in the first place.

‘Let’s see, my left arm is useless, probably poison or something and a big ass Mantis is trying to mince me in the middle of nowhere while I am completely defenseless.’ A smirk slowly grew on his face. ‘Nice, I am fucked.’

Or not. He was not going to give up just like this. If he was going down, he might as well struggle to the last breath. First, he had to stop the poison from spreading to the rest of his body. He wrapped a handkerchief tightly on his arm. ‘The rest for later since Lil’Manti is getting impatient.’ He had to finish it fast or there was no hope left.

Just as he finished treating his arm, the Mantis was in front of him, raising its scythe. But David didn’t give it enough time to slice him to pieces, a kick in its stomach sent it tumbling back a few steps, but it still managed to slice once which David side stepped to dodge.

That earned him a few seconds and that was all he needed right now. He rushed at it himself this time and kicked one of its leg. If the unusual way it bent and the crunching sound that followed were real, it was broken for good this time.

He had only one chance, so he had to immobilize it completely first. He immediately followed with a knee strike at its other leg, hopefully breaking it too. It screeched in pain.

*Skreeeeee!*

It was loud enough for his ears to start aching a little. Ignoring the mild pain, he raised his right-hand right in front of its face.

“Cyber-Blast.” He was wearing the Cyber-Glove prototype he made at first.

“Sorry but I am not interested in insects.” The X at the back glowing brightly with orange light, eventually turning into red.

“100%”

*Boom!*

A bright red beam released from his palm along with a loud sound. The blood red color reflected in his deep black eyes as the head of the mantis was blown off completely, sending bits and pieces of its flesh everywhere.

The recoil sent him tumbling back helplessly on the ground for a few meters, but it was way less than the first line. He didn’t get up, instead just stayed lying with his face facing up the clouds. The sky was still slightly red.

He took a deep sign as he came down from the adrenaline rush, trying to understand the situation.

‘There is something going on…something much bigger.’ And he needed to find out what that was. Though, he had to patch himself up before that. He got up groaning and made his way back to his base. Seems like he would have to come back again at a later time to secure some provisions.

‘This is why I didn’t want to go outside…’ 

 ***

-July 24,2011:

“Today was…strange to say the least.” He said, apparently busy working on something. “I woke up with a hangover, went out to secure food and maybe collect some information along the way.”

He mumbled a few things before starting again. “Which was quite fruitful, other than getting sliced to death by a five feet mantis that stood on two legs…I know it sounds crazy but that’s what happened.” He stopped his work as he showed his left arm, covered in bandages, to the camera.

“That’s not the end of it, I evolved, call me Davida from now on.” He went back to his work.

“And I am serious…semi-serious. Forget about the name thing.” He waved his hand as he said, only to wince in pain.

“This thing is hard to believe but not as hard as a five feet mantis. Suddenly, I have Enhanced speed, reflexes, strength, senses and other basic stuff. On checking my DNA, I found out some alterations, unheard of before and Biology isn’t one of my forte so there’s that too.

All of this raises questions, questions that I don’t have answers to but only speculations. Detecting the radiations in the atmosphere, I found some…strange radiations. Not normal ones, nor even gamma but some others.

My hypotheses is that these…radiations can somehow alter the DNA of whoever they come in contact with and evolving them. As for what are these radiations, not known yet. And as for the provisions, I went outside again to get some after-“

*Boom*

A small explosion occurred from where he was working, cutting him off. *Cough. Cough* “This will take some time” He grumbled to himself as he shut off the recording and went back to work.