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Jasper blinked. He was floating in blackness. He looked around, and as he expected all he could see was more blackness.

"So this must be what death is like...I always expected there to be something more." he thought

"Oh but there is...you just haven't died yet."

Jasper rotated slowly to see a very tall green snake. He had glowing purple eyes and dark green tattoos running over his entire body.

"Oh...its you." Jasper said "Fine job I did, eh?"

"Hardly surprising." The King said "As long as Susannah is connected with the earth, she is the most powerful of the avatars."

"Oh great now you tell me."

"Hmmm...well enough of this. Listen carefully, for this will be the last time we meet for a very long time. Something terrible is about to happen to this planet, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You can never become an avatar again, as your mind and body would not be able to handle the strain. I can however give you a gift, but you will have to retrieve it yourself. How you do it I cannot say, only that you must. You will know where it is when you awake. Now, the Gods are forbidden to interfere with the affairs of mortals, but I have certain methods to get around these rules. I have saved your life and strengthened your body, you are not invincible, but you are more...efficient."

Jasper was floating there with his mouth open. He blinked.

"Would you mind running that by me agai..."

***

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BA-DEET...BA-DEET...BA-DEET...

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Jasper opened his eyes. He was looking at a white ceiling. It was very quiet wherever he was. He frowned and looked to his left. There was a heart monitor next to him, which was making the beeping noise. He also noticed an IV drip attached to his arm. Oh, and the full body restraints. Those were a rather important fixture of the room.

"So it's a hospital. I guess they got me then..." he thought, closing his eyes again.

"...excellent physical condition considering he's been living on the street for two years."

The door to his room opened and some people entered. Jasper kept his eyes closed. He guessed the person that just spoke was a doctor.

"His body fat percentage is ten percent, which is the recommended amount for athletes. His physique is that of an Olympic level Gymnast, and his muscle and bone structure is phenomenal! Its no surprise the police were unable to keep up with him."

"Yeah whatever." Said a deeper voice "When can we take him to jail?"

"Ah...that must be a policeman." Jasper thought.

"Not for another three days at least." The doctor said "Besides he's not even conscious yet."

"Well as soon as he wakes up, you call me; I wanna talk to this freak."

"Don't worry; I shall inform you as soon as he regains consciousness."

"Good. You coming?"

"Ah, no. I need to check his stitches; he was practically dead when he was brought in four days ago."

"Four days?!" Jasper thought, struggling to keep his eyes closed.

"Whatever." There was the sound of a door closing.

There was a pause.

"Well you may as well stop pretending."

Jasper slowly opened an eye. He saw a cat anthropoid wearing a white doctor's coat and a pair of large square glasses.

"How did you know?" He asked

"The reports said you were a mental case, so we hooked you up to an EEG to monitor your brain activity...an EEG is..."

"An Electroencephalograph...I know." Jasper said, opening both of his other eye.

The doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you'll be pleased to note we haven't seen any unusual brain activity, as far as I'm concerned, you're as sane as I am."

"Uh-huh...and the restraints?"

"Well, you are a wanted man. Detective Andrews insisted we use them...he was the one that was just here."

"I see..." Jasper said, looking back at the ceiling. Just then, the sledgehammer of realisation hit him in the stomach. He tried to jerk himself upright but the restraints held him back.

"Kashmir!!" He exclaimed

"I assume you're referring to the female snake who found you?"

"Yes! Is she alright?!"

"Yes, she's fine. In a state of shock maybe but fine nonetheless. She is your...girlfriend, correct?"

"I...uh...yeah...yeah she is."

"I thought so. The police have tried to question her, but she was in such a state when they arrived nobody could get anything out of her. Anyway, in regards to your overall health, you are perfectly fine. Your injury has completely healed. Although there was a surprising amount of blood loss from such a small injury."

Jasper had stopped listening by this point. He was just glad Kashmir was safe.

"So I'll be leaving you to rest for another day, but tomorrow Detective Andrews will be the one talking to you. Oh, and guards will be posted on the door...just so you know."

The cat smiled and left the room. Jasper sighed...then smiled. He had already managed to free one of his arms from the restraints. Once he got both free he'd be able to get out.

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 Kashmir was sitting in her apartment. She was wearing one of Jasper's hoodies, her knees drawn up to her chest, and the hoody pulled over her legs. It smelled like him, which made her feel a lot calmer. After she had discovered him in his bathroom...she had been in shock for at least two days. But after receiving that phone call confirming he would live, she felt a great deal better.

"I hope they aren't too hard on him... _"_ she thought "I know he did some crazy shit...but maybe they'll be lenient..."

She sighed and got up. There was no use moping about it, whatever happened Jasper would be sent to prison...she just hoped it wouldn't be for too long. The only thing that annoyed her about this whole thing was the permanent police presence outside her home. Even though they were plain clothes police, and they changed the cars regularly, Kashmir could still tell. Just then, someone knocked at the door, giving the reptile a small start. She went over to a cabinet and pulled out a pistol. She had gotten rather paranoid since Jessica had disappeared, and wasn't about to take any chances. She went over to the door and opened it a crack.

"Miss Velasquez? It's the police." A voice said. Kashmir opened the door a little more and saw it was the two police officers that were stationed outside her home.

"What is it?" she asked

"We just received word that Jasper has escaped from the hospital. We think that he could be headed here."

Kashmir's heart leapt when she heard this.

"He escaped?!" Kashmir exclaimed, hurriedly shoving the gun into her handbag by the door.

"Yes ma'am. Please come with us. We'll be taking you down to the station for your safety."

Kashmir swallowed and grabbed her handbag, before opening the door. She followed one of the policemen down the stairs while the other brought up the rear. They moved out into the street and over to the police's car. Kashmir got into the back and the two policemen jumped in the front and started the car. They had just pulled away and started down the street when the car screeched to a halt.

"Hey! What's the matter?!" the first policeman said

"No way..." the second said "There's no way he could have gotten here so fast..."

All three of them looked out the windshield and saw Jasper, Standing in the middle of the street. He was wearing a pair of suit trousers and no shoes. He wore no shirt, so his chest was bare, showing off his now, somewhat intimidating physique. He also wore a brown trench coat, which flapped in the breeze. His long auburn hair seemed to glow in the sun.

"Isn't that Detective Andrews coat?" on of the cops said.

"Fuck that!" the other said, pulling his gun and leaping out of the car. "Freeze! Turn around, get on your knees and put your hands on your head!" He shouted, pointing his gun at Jasper. The cop's colleague followed suit.

"I just escaped." Jasper said "Do you really think I'm gonna surrender now?"

With that he exploded forwards. He covered the ground between him and the car impossibly fast.

"Stop or we'll shoot!" the first cop shouted.

"Fuck you!" Jasper shouted, and leapt into the air.

"Shit! Shoot him!"

The police opened fire, but it's quite hard to hit a moving target, especially when its moving surprisingly fast. This is why Jasper landed in front of the car, vaulted over the bonnet and kicked the first cop hard in the face. The policeman dropped like a sack of bricks, probably swallowing teeth as he did so. Â The other turned and was about to pull the trigger, but Jasper was too quick and dived through the cars open doors and tackled the other cop, knocking him to the ground. He smacked the gun out of the man's hand, and punched him full in the face. The cops head rebounded off the pavement, knocking him unconscious. Jasper stood up and cricked his neck. He turned around and saw Kashmir staring at him.

"Hey there!" He said with a grin.

Kashmir just looked at him, seemingly speechless.

"Uhhh...What's wrong?" he asked

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Kashmir squealed.

Jasper burst out laughing. Kashmir jumped out of the car and hugged him tightly.

"Come on. We need to get out of here and lay low for a while." Jasper said, hugging her back "Then we need to get to Central Park."

"Central Park?" The snake asked "Why do we need to go there?"

"I guess we'll just have to find out when we get there."

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That evening, when the sun had set and most sensible people were indoors. Two figures snuck through the darkness under the trees in Central Park. Jasper was wearing the hoody that Kashmir had borrowed, and Kashmir was now wearing the brown trench coat.

"Where are we going?" she whispered

"No idea." Jasper replied.

"You don't know?!"

"I said I had no idea where I was going. But I do know exactly where I'm going."

"Okay, thats just confusing...Where is it exactly then?"

"This way."

"You're heading towards The Lake!"

"It must be there then."

"In the lake?!"

"I hope not...I can't hold my breath that long."

They continued through the park, avoiding the paths when they could. Eventually they arrived at the Central ParkLake. The flat body of water stretched away from them like a mirror in the moonlight.

"It looks so beautiful..." Kashmir said "I've never been here at night before."

Jasper was mooching along the shore of The Lake, when he stopped suddenly. He frowned and prodded the ground with his toe. He looked around and picked up a stick, and began scraping at the gravel. Soon he had a comparatively deep ditch in the ground. Kashmir sat cross legged on the ground and watched him dig. After about two feet, there was a dull thud as the stick hit something. Jasper smiled, rolled up his sleeves and began widening his trench. It took a good hour before he finally pulled out a wooden box.

"Ah haaah!" he said "This must be it!"

Kashmir leaned closer as Jasper undid the catch on the box. He slowly raised the lid.

"Whoa!"

"Oh wow! Those are so pretty!" Kashmir said

Inside the box, resting on a bed of dark blue velvet was a pair of metal Gauntlets. They were made of what looked like Haematite, set with golden vines, with tiny intricate leaves. Jasper picked one up and turned it over. The metal (or whatever the gauntlets were made out of) felt cool and the gauntlet heavy. Unlike medieval gauntlets, the metal extended to the palm and under side of the fingers. If you wore them they would encase your hand completely. The knuckles were slightly raised and pointed, as were the fingers.

"They look kind of like Sauron's gauntlets from the Lord of the Rings film."

"I never saw it."

"You should...it's a good film. Books even better though."

"Well go on! Try it on." Kashmir urged

Jasper pulled the gauntlet on. It was slightly too big for him, and extended to the middle of his forearm. He wiggled the fingers, which made an odd clacking noise.

"I don't think these are made out of metal you know." He said

"Do you feel any different?" Kashmir asked, picking up the other gauntlet and turning it around, peering inside the opening.

"Not really...maybe I should try them both on?"

He took the other from Kashmir and slid that onto his other hand. There was a creaking noise, and both the gauntlets clamped down on his arms.

"Whoa! That was weird." He said.

"What was?"

"Well they were slightly too big a few minutes ago, now they feel skin tight."

"Well that guy obviously wasn't lying." Kashmir said, prodding the gauntlets. She frowned and then cupped her hand around it.

"Does it feel warm to you?" She asked, looking at Jasper quizzically.

"Not really." He replied, flexing his fingers "They do feel quite tight...hey...they do feel a bit warm, actually...really quite...ow!"

"What?!"

"Ow! These are really getting hot now!" Jasper said. He tried to pull the gauntlets off, but they wouldn't budge.

"Oh crap...oh shit!"

"What?! What's wrong?!" Kashmir asked

Jasper ignored her and ran over to the lake and shoved his hands into the water. There was a sizzle, but that didn't help. The water around the gauntlets began to bubble and steam. Jasper staggered backwards, shaking his hands.

"They're burning my hands! Fuck! It hurts!" He said through gritted teeth. His hands were going into spasms, his fingers twitched uncontrollably.

"Take them off!" Kashmir wailed

"I can't! I think this is supposed to happen!" Jasper said. The pain was intense, it was making him breathless. He didn't know how much longer he could stand without screaming. He looked down at the gauntlets, and the tips of the fingers were beginning to glow. He stared around wildly, before running towards the lake. He leapt from the bank straight into the cold water. There was a huge billow of steam as the gauntlets hit the surface of the lake. Jasper ducked his head under the water and screamed. The gauntlets were glowing bright orange, steam and bubbles billowed away from them. He broke the surface of the water and drew a ragged breath, before falling over backwards and screaming again. He thrashed around in the water, but the gauntlets got hotter and hotter. Soon they were glowing white, and the water in the lake was beginning to heat up. Jasper had long stopped being able to feel anything in his hands. But the heat was beginning to spread up his arms. The skin on his arm around the end of the gauntlet was blistering and charring. Then as slowly as it had begun, the glow began to fade. Jasper staggered onto the bank of the lake, gasping for breath. He felt winded, like he'd just run up a mile long hill in the snow with lead weights strapped to his thighs. He collapsed onto the bank.

"Jasper!!" Kashmir cried

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Jasper lay on his back, looking up at the stars. He raised his arms and stared at his hands. The gauntlets were still there, along with a burnt red ring on his arms. He gingerly tried to move his fingers, and found that he felt no pain at all. He sat up and wiggled his fingers. It felt like the gauntlets were actually part of his body.

"Jasper! Are you alright?!" Kashmir said, skidding to a halt next to him.

"Yeah...apparently..."

He stared at his arms. In the moonlight, he could dimly see silver threads running from the gauntlets up his arms. It wasn't like the Avatar transformation. Jasper got the impression they were more like a reinforcing framework. He lifted his hoody and saw a glimmer of silver. He angled himself until the moonlight reflected off the threads. They had spread all over his body, forming a pattern that looked like the Chi lines in old Chinese martial arts books. He gently touched his abs, tracing his fingers along the lines.

"Well...it's certainly a lot better than transforming into an Avatar...but I wonder what I can do with these?" He said

"I wonder if there is anything else in the box?" Kashmir said, getting up and going over to it. She picked it up and examined it, turning it over and over.

"Find anything?" Jasper asked, getting to his feet, wincing slightly. His joints ached...clearly thrashing around so much hadn't been a good idea.

"No...the box is empty, and there's nothing written on it."

Jasper walked over to her and took the box out of her hands. He opened it and ripped out the lining. Carved inside the lid was a short paragraph. Jasper read it out loud.

"These Gauntlets may only be worn by he who is proven worthy...okay that made very little sense...these Gauntlets give the bearer the power to control and manipulate power and force....Okay that sort of makes sense."

"What else does it say?" Kashmir asked, peering at the lid of the box "Hey...It doesn't say anything!"

"What do you mean? Of course it does, it's right there, look."

"I don't see anything."

"Well maybe only the person wearing the gauntlets can read it."

"Does it say anything else?"

"Uhhh...let me see...oh! There's more squished into the corner...its hard to make out...Once the Gauntlets have been...been worn...they can never be taken off...well shit."

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***

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There was a click, and a door opened. A light came on.

"Well...here we are." Kashmir said "Jessica has lots of these boltholes all over the city."

Jasper entered behind her and closed the door. He looked around. It was a small windowless apartment, with a small well kept bed a portable stove and a bathroom. Everything was minimalist, but clean and tidy.

"Now...I know the bed is small...bu-" Kashmir stopped mid sentence, and stared at Jasper.

"What...What is it?" he asked

"Y...your eyes..." Kashmir said in a somewhat shocked voice.

Jasper ran over to the bathroom and clicked on the light. He looked into the mirror and gasped. His eyes looked like pools of mercury; his irises were like rings of gold. His pupils remained black, but now they stood out starkly against their gold surround. He gently touched the area under his eye with pointed fingers. Suddenly, something occurred to him...something he should not have forgotten.

Kashmir was sitting on the bed, biting her bottom lip. She turned when Jasper sat down next to her. He was staring into space, his silver and gold eyes glinting in the light.

"Jasper?"

"They're all dead..."

"Who are...who are all dead?" Kashmir asked gently

"All the Avatars...all of them are dead...even Jessica..."

Kashmir sat there, silent. She could see silver tears running down her lovers face.

"D-dead?" she asked in a shaking voice

"Y-yeah...dead...that bitch Susannah killed them all...something about saving the planet."

"Wh...wh..." Kashmir stuttered.

Jasper put his arms around her, and pulled her close.

"I will never let anything happen to you." He whispered "I swear on my very existence that nothing will ever happen to you."

Tears began to roll down Kashmir's cheeks, and her shoulders shook. The two held each other for what seemed like hours. Kashmir finally pulled away, and looked Jasper in the eyes.

"What'll happen to us now?" she asked.

"I don't know...The King said something about something terrible happening. Maybe he means Susannah is gonna destroy the world or...some...thing..." Jasper trailed off.

"What? What is it?" Kashmir asked

"Nukes..." Jasper whispered

"What?!"

"She's going to use nuclear weapons to destroy life on this planet and start again!"

"But how? She doesn't have access to nukes."

"With her power, that won't be a problem...I'll bet she's going to launch America's nukes at the rest of the world, causing a retaliation on a global scale. All the nuclear powers in the world will retaliate...and the world will burn."

"How can you possibly know this?" Kashmir asked with a worried expression on her face.

"Well...for one I'm a very paranoid person and it's also exactly what I would do."

"Can't you stop her?"

"No...she's been an Avatar longer than I was, plus I have no idea how to use these yet." Jasper raised his hands and waggled his fingers, making the gauntlets clack.

"The only thing I can suggest...is that we get as deep underground as possible. We should gather as many supplies as possible, and then find somewhere to hide."

Kashmir had been thinking quietly to herself for a few minutes. She looked up and stared hard at Jasper.

"What is it?"

"That inscription said you could control power and force...yes?"

"Yeah...that's right."

Kashmir pursed her lips (which is an interesting thing to see a snake do).

"Could you hit the ground over in one corner has hard as you can?"

Jasper looked at her, and then grinned. He stood up and clenched his hand into a fist.

"That won't be necessary. You just told me the basics of how these work."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Well...If I hit the ground as hard as I can, I have the feeling that I'll bring the building down...but if I can control it..."Â

He walked over to the wall and brought his arm back, ramming his hand into the wall. There was a blast of air from the impact, and that was it. Jasper pulled his hand out of the wall, leaving five circular holes.

"What did that d..." Kashmir started, but was cut off, as the wall cracked, and the brick-work collapsed leaving a perfectly circular hole.

"Control of power and force eh?" Jasper said, looking at his gauntleted hand "Well...I see I've got a lot of work to do...now...what was your plan?"

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"...And in other news today, yet another truck carrying groceries to the new Walmart opening in Queens has been hijacked. After a chase by the police, the truck was recovered, but the driver was no where to be seen, and the merchandise on board was missing. This is the fourth truck this week, meaning the opening of the new store has been delayed by at least a month..."

Jasper grinned and switched off the television; it seemed like Kashmir's plan was working. He wiped his forehead and looked back at his hole. He had been working day and night all week. He guessed the reason all out nuclear apocalypse hadn't taken place was that Susannah was having trouble killing all of the remaining avatars. He sighed and ducked into the hole. It turned out it was not a hole, but a deep tunnel, threading its way under New York City. It went deep under the subway lines and various gas and water pipes. It went down into the earth below the city, before levelling out into a long cylindrical corridor. It wound its way along for several miles, until it eventually came up under none other than MadisonSquareGarden. Under the lowest basement, a large area had been hollowed out, and the roof supported with steel beams stolen from the docks. Inside this large room, all the food had been stored. The workforce they were using was all of Jessica's "family". Their pimp had vanished, meaning all the prostitutes were at a loss. So when Kashmir had given them something to do, they jumped at the chance, although most of them didn't believe what was happening at first, after the first few robberies they soon realised that it wasn't a joke. Obviously some thought that Jasper and Kashmir were mad...well, up until five minutes ago anyway.

"Jasper!! Jasper come here!"

Jasper turned at the sound of Kashmir's voice. He jogged back up the tunnel and out into the room. The door was open so he headed outside. Kashmir was standing on the pavement with a group of former prostitutes. There were staring at the evening sky. Jasper looked up, and his eyes widened at what he saw. Hundreds of white trails were arcing through the sky, each one had a tiny pinpoint of light at the top.

"Fuck...She launched the fucking nukes!" Jasper exclaimed "Get everyone you can inside! Now!!!"

Suddenly there was activity. People running this way and that, and soon there was a steady stream of people coming to the hideout. One by one they vanished inside, heading deep under ground.

"When do you think they'll hit their targets?" Kashmir asked

"Far too soon..." Jasper replied, holding her round the shoulders.

"Well...when will it be safe to come out?"

"I...I have no idea." Jasper replied "But I swear I will protect everyone in that shelter."

"I know you will..." Kashmir said, resting her head on his chest.

"Let's get inside...before the world retaliates..."

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***

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As was predicted, the world retaliated against the nuclear strikes from America. In the initial attack by America claimed billions of lives, destroying cities and wiping out communities. When the other nuclear powers realised what was going on, they retaliated with such intense fury, and no city in America was spared. The entire west coast was obliterated in the first strike. Then the missiles went further inland, striking the state capitals. America was overwhelmed, and was unable to retaliate. The skies over America burned with nuclear fire. World War III had begun. The war only lasted three days, but it was not just the United States that was destroyed. The fallout from the sheer volume of nuclear weapons detonating began to destroy plants and kill off wildlife. After one year, the planet Earth was reduced to a giant desert. The seas became radioactive, and a great number of the World's rivers and lakes dried out. It was estimated by the survivors that the surface of the earth would remain uninhabitable for nearly three hundred years. But something strange happened. After five years, radiation levels had dropped to the point where sparse vegetation could grow in certain areas. After six years, it was possible to go out into the world without the use of a radiation suit. Something was slowly leeching the radiation out of the land. But as suddenly as it had started, this strange phenomenon stopped. Much of the world is still a barren desert, the seas are still irradiated and fresh water is a rare commodity.

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After fifty years, much was forgotten about the way of life before the war. The only way people survive now is in close knit communities, or ruthless gangs. The only thing keeping people going is the story of " __Eden". It is rumoured to be in the land of Antarctica _, the South Pole. It is said that since the war, the planet has heated up, turning the South Pole into a temperate clime, and melting the ice caps. Many have set off in search of this "__ Eden_", but none have ever found it, and none have ever returned from looking for it. It is said that this Eden is the last hope for Human and Anthropoid alike.

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***

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The sun beat down on the harsh rocky terrain. Even reptiles were hiding from the oppressive heat. The desert was known as the Greater Mojave Desert. After the war, most of North America became barren and arid. Daytime temperatures would rise as high as 50 degrees celsius, and the dusty gravely terrain spread from the original Mojave Desert right to the west coast. The endless orange expanse was broken only by the occasional ruined city or partially buried town. The eeriest thing about nuclear weapons was that they killed anything living within the blast radius, but anything not at ground zero was left mostly standing. In large cities, a good number of buildings had been blasted into pieces, but a majority were left mostly intact. Tower blocks might have the side facing the blast missing, no windows and have been gutted by fire, but the structure remained. This however, did not stop the survivors of the human and anthropoid races inhabiting them. They provided much needed shelter from the harsh sun and the radioactive sandstorms that blew up from time to time. This city was no different, its ghostly building casting long shadows on the ground. The hot wind from the desert entered the cities and howled through the empty buildings, whose combined shade cooled the cities to more bearable temperature (around 40 degrees C). People still remained indoors though; it wouldn't cool down to a normal temperature until 8 o'clock that night. There was activity in this ruined city though. The lower lying buildings near the center of the city that were mostly intact had been occupied. This small colony had been established around five years ago, and it even had a bar.

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The bar was crowded and the air was quite Smokey. Not from cigarettes or any form of tobacco product, but from a plant that began growing after the bombs had stopped falling. Because of the nuclear fallout, a variety of plants and animals had mutated from the radiation into completely new species...or corpses. In the areas that weren't covered in desert, these new species of plants were cultivated and used as currency. The plant being smoked had been named Nukeshoots, as you smoked the green shoots that grew from the plants hard, black woody stem. They had similar effects to tobacco, but were weaker, and could be boiled down to form a tar that had similar effects to cocaine. It was popular amongst men and easy to get a hold of. As for what the clientele of the bar were drinking...that could be best described as ‘moonshine'. It was basically alcohol that was made from whatever could be distilled at the time. In some places, bottles of strong spirits from before the war could be found. Although this was quite rare and was also used as currency. The current occupants of the bar were a local gang, a loud and violent group. They were called the Harlem Wasters. A waster was the name given to people who lived or wandered the wastelands and deserts created by fallout. Gangs generally adopted this as the suffix for their gang name.

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This gang had been in the area for a few months now, and every couple of days they would come into the bar and drink the alcohol, eat the food, break the furniture and steal the water. Today there was another occupant. He sat at the farthest end of the bar in a corner. He wore a long brown leather waistcoat and a long scarf that was wrapped loosely around his neck. He also wore a pair of dark goggles, which concealed his eyes. He slowly reached down and picked up a small glass of clear liquid. His hands were bandaged up to his elbows, so he was slightly clumsy with the glass. He also wore a pair of loose linen trousers and no shirt, which showed off his muscular torso and arms. He took a sip of the clear liquid and grimaced. Moonshine was not a particularly pleasant drink at the best of times, but this tasted like it had been distilled from the petrified trees you could see dotted about the place. The man sighed and rubbed his forehead. He'd spent the last week traversing the desert looking for fresh water. After finally finding some, he had come to this bar for what he thought was some peace and quiet. Unfortunately he was wrong. His buggy was outside, with a large tank on the back filled with water. He had covered it with a canvas sheet, but wondered how long it would take for this gang to realise what it was.

"Hey boss! Boss!"

One of the tattooed muscular men looked up as a similarly tattooed and muscular man came running in.

"What is it? Can't you see I'm drinking?" the boss replied

"There's a buggy outside with a load of clean water!"

The man in the corner had never seen a room clear so fast.

"Well dammit..." he sighed, getting up and walking towards the door.

The gang was crowded round the buggy jostling to get a look at the tank on the back of the four wheeled buggy.

"Fuck! I've never seen so much clean water!" one of the gang members said.

"How much do you think is there?"

"Couple of gallons at least!"

"One hundred and fifty gallons, actually."

The gang turned and looked at the man standing behind them. His waistcoat went all the way down to his ankles, so it was more like a sleeveless trench coat. It flapped in the wind, and the man adjusted his goggles slightly.

"This your buggy?" the boss of the gang demanded

"Yes it is...and I would appreciate it if you would keep away from it...I don't want you contaminating the water."

"Oh he talks big!" The boss said in a mocking tone "Think you're hot shit do you? Showing your puny muscles off like that? Fuck you! We're taking the water and your wheels." The large man swaggered up to the other man and stared down at him

"You got a problem with that?"

There was a loud crack. The boss of the gang slowly toppled sideways and landed with a thud in the dust.

"As a matter of fact I do." The other man said, cracking his knuckles.

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After the dust had settled the man in the waistcoat was the only one left standing. He rubbed the back of his neck and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked at the bodies lying around him.

"That's one less gang to worry about." He said aloud, blood dripping from his hands. Some of the bandages had slipped off his hand. There was a glint of silver as he pulled the bandages tight again. He walked over to his buggy and climbed in. He pulled out a key from his waistcoat pocket and started the engine. The buggy roared into life. It was a huge vehicle, made out of steel beams and scaffolding poles. It had large tractor wheels and a Peterbilt 385 engine driving it. He slammed the vehicle into gear and roared off out of the city, out into the desert. The large tractor tires threw up huge columns of dust in the buggies wake, and the massive engine propelled the buggy along at ridiculous speeds. The man behind the wheel pulled the scarf over his mouth and nose and pushed the accelerator lever forwards.

As the sun was setting, the buggy came into view of the mountainous wreckage of what used to be New York City. The buildings looked grey in the setting sun, as the buggy moved down the only cleared road towards the Lincoln tunnel. As the buggy emerged from the tunnel, there was a glint from the sky scraper that used to be the EmpireState building. The man smiled. At least they still had sentries posted.

He roared round a corner and came into view of the circular structure of MadisonSquareGarden. Well, you could see the roof of the Garden, most of the actual building was obscured by a large wall that ran around the entire complex. It was made of broken steel beams, cars, rubble, telegraph poles, basically anything that could be found at the time. There was only one gate in this wall, and that's what the buggy was heading for. It was actually quite a small gate. More like a garage door really. It looked barely big enough for the buggy to fit through. The buggy slowed to stop and waited outside the gate. After about thirty seconds, the gate began to slowly grind open. Once inside, the man jumped out of the buggy and began to unhook the tank of water from the back. A noise behind him made him turn. The foot to his face sent him flying. He landed with a thud on the rough crumbling tarmac. He looked up rubbing his cheek. Kashmir was standing in front of him with her arms crossed.

"You are late." she saidÂ

"Yeah...but you didn't have to kick me." Jasper replied with a grin, getting to his feet.

"Did you find water?" Kashmir asked

"Yup. About a hundred and fifty gallons of it."

"Only a hundred and fifty?"

"Well it's hard to find pure water without going a lot further a field you know." Jasper said, unhooking the tank and lifting it with one hand. He turned towards the garden and looked at it.

"You know, after fifty years, this place hasn't changed much."

"On the outside at least." Kashmir said with a smile.

The couple began walking towards the building, the throngs of people inside the walls parting to let them through. After fifty years, MadisonSquareGarden had become the biggest, most prosperous city in the whole of what was America. It had become a major trading post and way station for wasters and people travelling from settlement to settlement. Its prosperity was from the cities two founders. Kashmir Velasquez, the "Diamond in the Rust". The rumours about her being alive before the start of the war were widespread. Most didn't believe them though, as she looked to be in her mid twenties. The other founder was Jasper Silvereyes. Nobody new his real surname, but it was said that under the opaque goggles he always wore his eyes were the colour of mercury. He also had another name that was used by the gangs out in the wastelands. They called him the "Silver Death". If you crossed him, it was said the last thing you saw before you died was a flash of silver. This was why the gangs passing by generally only sent a couple of members into the city to get supplies. Nobody made trouble for the residents of the city. It just wasn't worth the hassle. Inside was similar to outside. Stalls lined what used to be the entrance hall. People were packed in here as well. Further back though, in the building proper, was the city itself. The main stadium had been stripped out, and homes built on the tiered levels. Shops of all kinds where everywhere, including places to eat and buy supplies. The basements had also bee cleared and used for homes and businesses. Even after the basements, the city extended down into the ground for another three levels. The total permanent population of the city was around three thousand, humans and anthropoids alike. The founders of the city had their own home. It was built on a raised platform in the middle of the old stadium. From it you could survey the whole of the first level of the city. It was quite a large dwelling, big enough for at least twelve people. Sometimes people wondered why such large accommodation was needed, but then they saw the pipes. Coming out of the roof of the building was a mass of thick pipes as they reached the roof; they branched out into a massive network that spread all over the city. Inside of this building was a large generator. This generator powered the entire city, but it was unknown how it worked. Inside this building, Jasper and Kashmir were kissing.

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"You know how much I worry when you're gone for so long!" Kashmir said, breaking away from the kiss.

"I know...but there are three thousand people living here...I can't just stand by and let them go without."

"I know...you were like this after the missiles stopped falling, you made sure we all survived."

"I still don't get how we've lived so long though." Jasper said, scratching his head.

"You ask that question every time you've come back from a long trip...but that's just like you." Kashmir said with a gentle smile. "You're nearly seventy, yet you look like your twenty five."

"Well you still look like a goddess even though you're seventy one." Jasper said, picking the snake up by her butt and holding her close. Kashmir draped her arms over his shoulders and kissed his cheek.

"You know what happened...as do I." she said

"Mmm...I know...and we'll always be together...That I promise."

"Yes...I know you do."

Jasper gently put his lover down and yawned. He was tired. Not sleeping for eight days will do that to you. He stretched and sat down on their bed, slowly unwrapping the bandages on his hands. He knew very well why they had stopped aging like normal people. For him, it was because of the gauntlets, for her...well...that was because she truly loved him. About five years ago, The King had appeared once again and told him. Because he was no longer a normal human, he had the ability to affect those who had a strong bond with him. For Kashmir, it was because she loved him, and he loved her, causing them to age at the same rate. Only something as cliché as ‘true love' combined with Jasper's power could accomplish this, but Jasper was glad it did. Kashmir was his pillar. She was possibly the one thing that kept him motivated, the thing that kept him focused. He looked around their home. It was full of random junk and machine parts. They had a table that was littered with all kinds of machinery in various stages of repair. Kashmir had developed a remarkable ability to work with all kinds of machinery. With Jasper's help she had built the generator that powered the city. The generator itself was situated at the back of their house in a specially fortified room (it had as much scrap metal as they could find, nailed to the walls). Kashmir had gone over to the table and was tinkering with some bits of an old computer and a small battery. She was wearing a pair of leather trousers and her canvas work jacket. Under the jacket she was wearing a whit t-shirt covered with so many grease and oil stains you could hardly call it white any more. The last of the bandages fell to the floor, and Jasper looked at his hands. They glinted in the dim artificial light produced by the room's only lamp. They still looked like gauntlets, but they were more like skin than metal now. Jasper had found out how to control his power, even being able to make his hands feel like human skin, he could even feel like a normal human. He flexed his fingers, and looked up. Kashmir was bending over the table, trying to reach something on the other side. Her arse looked so delicious right then, Jasper got an immediate erection. He grinned and got up, walking up behind his scaly lover.

"Could you pass me that..." Kashmir started, before she was interrupted by Jasper pressing the bulge in his pants against her arse. She gave a small eep, but Jasper had bent over her back and slid his hands up her t-shirt. She gasped as his surprisingly warm hands gently squeezed here breasts, and he licked the back of her neck. He pulled her upright and gently nibbled and licked her neck. She let out a soft moan, and Jasper slid one of his hands down her stomach and into her trousers. She wasn't wearing panties, and her pussy already felt slick and hot. He gently stroked her sex, causing her to groan loudly. She wrapped her tail around his waist and pulled him closer, making sure he pressed his hard bulge against her leather clad arse. She ground herself against him, making him sigh, his breathing becoming heavier. Kashmir closed her eyes as Jasper gently bit her neck and tweaked her nipples. She tilted her head back and gasped as she felt one of jaspers fingers slide into her waiting pussy. He gently stroked his digit along the top inside wall of her pussy, lightly brushing against her sweet spot. A shudder ran up the snake's body and she felt her knees go weak. She reached down and undid her trousers, letting them slide to the floor, before reaching round and sliding her hand down his trousers. Her hand gently cupped his balls, before moving up to his hard, throbbing shaft. Jasper gasped as she played with his cock, slowly sliding down his trousers with her tail. Jasper would have loved to play some more, but after a very stressful week, he couldn't wait. He pulled his finger out of Kashmir's pussy, and lifted her up so she was leaning forwards on the table slightly. He placed the tip of his dick against her hot folds and slowly pushed forwards. Kashmir gasped and writhed as his cock entered her, making her warm juices drip down her thighs. He pushed forwards, moaning as her hot walls enveloped his hard cock. He slid all the way inside her, until his crotch was pressed against her butt. He began to pull out slowly, before gliding back in. The only sound in the room was from the two lovers moaning and gasping. Kashmir groaned and bucked against Jasper's cock. Her juices were flowing down her thighs and dripping on the floor every time her lover pulled out. She bit her bottom lip, her eyes closed. She could feel herself getting hotter, her orgasm building. Jasper reached up under her t-shirt again and began to caress and massage her breasts again, teasing her nipples and licking the back of her neck. Kashmir gasped and shuddered with the attention, her orgasm building faster now.

"Ah...I can't take much more..." She whimpered.

"Then cum...don't hold it back..." Jasper whispered, his breath on her neck made the snake shiver.

Kashmir let out a loud moan as her orgasm hit. The walls of her pussy clamped around Jasper's cock as pleasure coursed through the snake's body. Her cum squirted out of her pussy and splashed down her legs, forming thick, gloopy puddles on the floor. Jasper groaned as he began to climax as well. Kashmir ground her legs together as she felt jet after jet of hot semen fill her. She gripped the edge of the table hard as her entire body shook. Then as soon as it began, it was over. The two stood there, holding each other.

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A few hours later, Jasper stood on the roof of the city, watching the sun set. Sunsets these days were spectacular affairs. Because of the comparatively high levels of radiation still present in the atmosphere, at a certain point of the suns decent, the light refracted off the radioactive particles, turning the light blue. Jasper stood, watching. Then...the world was bathed in blue. Even after thirty years, he never got tired of seeing it. He smiled and turned to face the person standing behind him.

"Why do you always wait until the sun begins to set before we do this?" the young hyena asked

"Because I like it." Jasper replied "I hope you were practicing while I was gone?" he continued

"Of course I was...but it was really hard to keep it secret from everyone else."

"I guess being able to run at near the speed of sound would be difficult to hide." Jasper said with a smile "But it you want to become this city's protector when Kashmir and I have gone, you're going to have to beat me...so tell me Dorian...Can you do it?"

Dorian smiled a smile that only comes naturally to hyenas "Well...I guess we'll just have to find out, won't we, master..."

The hyena moved impossibly fast, straight towards the human. Jasper grinned and caught the hyena's fist. There was a blast of air from the impact, and the shockwave could be dimly seen as the air was forced outwards.

"Impressive..." Jasper mused "I think we're gonna have to move to the ruined city for this...I want you to stop... holding back!"

With that, he gripped the hyena's fist, and swung the canine around in a circle, before letting him go. Dorian yelped as he went spinning through the air.

"Oh that's pathetic..." Jasper muttered, before crouching down low. His calves tensed, and he pushed off against the roof, launching himself into the air after Dorian. Dorian had managed to gain control of his trajectory, and was heading for a patch of bare tarmac. He hit the ground and skidded, sending gravel and bits of road flying in all directions. He looked up, just in time to see Jasper come flying towards him, fist back.

"Ack! Shit!" he said, leaping backwards as the human hit the ground. The force of the impact smashed the ground into dust, cracking the road.

"Fuck! You could have killed me!" Dorian shouted

"In the wastelands, there is no such thing as ‘could have'." Jasper said, flexing his fingers, shaking of flecks of dust. "If someone wants you dead in this world, then they will do their utmost to see you killed. You are old enough, and skilled enough for me to not bother holding back anymore. I suggest you do the same, or you'll end up dead."

"Not hold back?" Dorian thought "Does this mean...oh fuck...oh fuck!!"

Jasper had reached up and removed his goggles. His eyes were closed as the goggles came off. But once they were, he opened them. Dorian had to cover his face as the blast of wind and dust hit him. He could feel something invisible and oppressive bearing down on him. Once the gust had passed, he looked back at his master. There seemed to be an aura around him, like heat waves, but twice as intense.

"Y- you're serious?" Dorian asked, his voice shaking slightly

"Deadly..." Jasper said; his voice sounding like he was speaking through a fire

Then he was gone. Dorian jumped to the side just as the lump of concrete he was standing on exploded. He flipped backwards in time for the ground in front of him to erupt in a huge column of earth.

"Fuuuuck!!!" The hyena cried as he was thrown backwards.

Jasper came exploding out of the now falling column of dirt, his eyes narrowed. Dorian gritted his teeth and hit the ground running. He exploded forwards, leaping over obstacles at breakneck speeds. He jumped into the air, and kicked off from an over turned car. He shot through the air and landed feet first on the side of a building. Pushing off from that, he sailed through the air. Jasper landed on the street below him and looked up. Dorian dropped from the sky, pointing his feet towards Jasper. Jasper raised his hands to grab the hyena, but as Dorian's paws touched Jasper's hands, the hyena kicked off as hard as he could. The force of the kick smashed Jasper into the floor. Dorian sailed gracefully through the air and landed on his feet.

Jasper slowly got out of the crater, his gaze falling on Dorian.

"Congratulations!" He said with a sudden smile "You pass!"

"Fuck yeah!" Dorian shouted, punching the air.

Behind them, the part of the roof of MadisonSquareGarden exploded.

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***

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Jasper stared at the column of smoke and fire.

"No...NO!!!" He screamed

The ground erupted around his feet as he burst into a run, Dorian following him. They shot through the city and soon came into view of the Garden. A large part of the roof was gone, flames billowing out of the hole. Screams and shouts met their ears, and they saw what had caused the explosion. A huge gang was attacking the city. If you looked closer, you could see it was several gangs. They ran amok around the city butchering the residents. Guns were a rare commodity, but axes, clubs, maces and knives were not. The ground was already red with blood.

"Fuck! What do we do?!" Dorian exclaimed.

The hyena suddenly felt a like something heavy was pressing down on his shoulders. It was an oppressive force even worse than what he had experienced when sparring with Jasper. He looked over at the human, and literally took a step back. There was something swirling around the man. It looked like hazy black smoke. The gold markings on his gauntlets were glowing. He looked up and stared at the hyena. Jasper's eyes were gone. Instead there were pools of molten metal. They burnt with a fierce light, and radiated an aura that made Dorian shiver. When the human opened his mouth to speak, it was like staring into a blast furnace, complete with intense heat.

"Make them pay!!" Jasper hissed, steam beginning to rise from his body.

With that, he was gone. He sailed through the air and landed on a buggy. The vehicle exploded with a deafening bang. Through the clouds of smoke and steam, a dark figure could be seen, two whitish orange pinpoints of light indicating the eyes. A mouth opened. Orange light backlit two rows of triangular teeth; it was like a jack-o-lanterns silhouette. An ear splitting, blood curdling howl was emitted from this mouth with such force it blasted away the smoke and dust. There was a monster standing upon the melted and twisted remains of the buggy, charred corpses lay around it, blasted by the fireball caused by the buggy's exploding fuel tank. The creature towered over everything, a good eight and a half feet tall. It was covered in emerald green scales, which were adorned with angular tattoos. These tattoos were probably dark green, but it was hard to tell as the things entire body was radiating some kind of purple energy. It was like looking directly at an ultraviolet light. The gauntlets had changed as well; they now looked like dark metallic talons.

"You scum will pay for this trespass!!" The creature roared, its words were like a volcano erupting.

There was a sound like the blade of a guillotine coming down, and two large blades slid out of the gauntlets. The creature grabbed the blades and span them round in dizzying circles. It stopped them so suddenly; the dust at its feet was blasted away. The blades were two huge tonfa. They were made out of some kind of dark purple metal.

"Now die..." it hissed, and lunged forwards.

The first gang member it hit was sliced in half so quickly, he had time to turn around and stare at the creature before gravity took control and he fell in two.

"K-Kill it!!" the leader of the gang screamed.

"Unlikely." The thing hissed again, its blades blurring.

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It began cutting a blood swathe through the gang members. Its tonfa spinning so fast they let out a whine like a circular saw. One of the gang had leaped onto a buggy that was armed with a large harpoon gun. He swivelled it round to point at the creature and fired. The huge spear sailed through the air. The snake creature looked up, and its eyes glinted. It brought its arm back, and everything seemed to slow down. The giant snake catapulted one of the tonfa through the air. It moved forwards, making a "whum-whum-whum" noise. It collided with the harpoons tip, and split the spear down the middle. It continued through the air and hit the buggy, slicing it in half. This was when things seemed to speed up. The two harpoon halves flew through the air and hit two gang members behind the snake. He turned and hurled the other tonfa which shot through the air in an arc, hitting two more buggies, making them explode. The snake then raised his hands.

"Jasper..."

Dorian, who had been watching in stunned amazement this whole time, turned and saw Kashmir.

"What? That thing is Jasper?!" He asked

"Yes...but I've never seen him like this." Kashmir replied

"I knew he wasn't normal, but this is ridiculous!" The hyena exclaimed

"Listen, we need to get the survivours to safety, before all this commotion brings the dragon worms."

Dorian grimaced.

"Yeah, you're right. Just one of those things could wipe us all out." He said, turning his back on the carnage "Let's go!"

Meanwhile, Jasper had been carving his way through the remainder of the gang with the gauntlets razor sharp talons. All the gang members that had more than two brain cells were running for it, ordinarily their sheer numbers would have been enough, but this was different. It would be suicidal to continue. It was then their escape route was cut of by a Dragon Worm.

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A few years after the bombs fell, the sheer amount of radiation had caused many animals to mutate. Of course the radiation also killed them, but their mutated DNA survived in the soil and the environment in general. Then the unknown force that leeched the radiation from the world somehow created new forms of life from the mutated DNA. The Dragon Worms were one of these creatures, and quite possibly the most terrifying. A Dragon Worm was a snakelike reptile about six feet long, with a single flexible blade down its back. It had rows of translucent, needle-like teeth, narrow eyes and an insatiable hunger. It turned out that Dragon Worms were the fusing of various different species of rattlesnake...and glass. Somehow the creature incorporates glass in its self. Its entire skeletal structure is made from a dense, flexible glass. This included its teeth and the blade that runs down its spine. If it managed to bite you, you were in trouble as its hollow teeth carried its venom. Once bitten, that area would immediately begin to char and smoulder like it was being burnt by fire. After three minutes of being bitten, the area immediately around the bite would be bleached bone, like the supposed effects of a dragon's fire. All of this was not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing was the way they travelled. They swarmed. Millions of these creatures would form swarms hundreds of meters long. Hundreds of thousands of constantly shifting bodies would form a huge cylinder that burned its way across the deserts of what used to be North America. After a few weeks these swarms would dissipate, but there was one that never did. This swarm was a legend all by itself. It was known as the Mortis Worm. It was so old the Dragon Worms that made it had become fused together, forming one single entity. The constant sun and the venom form millions of worms had turned its scales black. It looked like a true worm. It was a fully mile in length, as wide as two motorways sat next to each other, and as tall as a seven story building. Its mouth had become a horrifying mesh of thousands of individual mouths becoming one, a constantly moving glass needle grinder that dripped corrosive venom leaving a blackened and fused trail of sand and debris behind it. It was the Mortis Worm that now blocked the path of the retreating gang members. Its huge bulk slithered around the corner into view. It tore buildings apart as it moved to face the battle ground. Its teeth making a hideous clicking sound amplified to truly horrendous levels by the sheer volume of them. It had been drawn by the scent of blood. Everyone stopped to stare at the thing in front of them. It was truly the stuff of nightmares. It came forwards; hundreds of feet of glimmering maw began hovering up people like specks of dust. The screams suddenly rose in volume as its venom splashed people, beginning the hideous burning process. The millions of teeth shredded flesh and bone like so much wet rice paper. Before long, it had annihilated the rest of the gang, and was heading fro the survivours of MadisonSquareGarden.

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Before today it had been the most prosperous city in the wastes of North America. Now it was reduced to rubble by a gang, and now it was about to be wiped off the map by none other than the Mortis Worm. All the residents and visitors fled in terror as the horror bore down on them. This creature was the feature in most people's nightmares. Mothers told their children that if they weren't good, the Mortis Worm would come and devour them. Stories had come from survivours of this creatures attacks, stories that told of how the Worm would explode out of the ground and consume entire settlements, buildings and all. Yes, it truly was the stuff of nightmares. Just then, the Avatar of the God of Dreams and Nightmares punched it in the head with all his strength. There was a huge spray of dark blood as the side of the creature's massive head almost literally exploded. The second blow rocked the behemoths entire body. The third blow split it in half. Jasper stood, drenched in the creature's blood, staring at the massive wound he had inflicted. He had struck it three times with the full strength of a god. He staggered backwards as his body began to steam. His scales began to turn pink, and become skin once more. His eyes slowly faded back to their natural silver. His snout shrunk back into a human's face and his teeth faded back to white, shrinking down to their former size...all accept his canines, which remained elongated and fang-like. Soon he was back to normal...except he was naked. Jasper dropped to his knees and promptly vomited.

"Jasper!"

He looked up and saw Kashmir running over to him.

"Thank the gods you're all right!" she cried, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

"Yeah..." he said groggily

"I can't believe you killed it!"

"Eh? Oh...yeah... that..."

"How're you feeling?"

"Like shit..."

There was a thud as a bundle of clothing landed next to them. Jasper and Kashmir looked up and saw Dorian.

"Seriously, if you are going to make us look at your bizarre furless body, at least put some pants on." He said with mock annoyance.

"Trousers, Dorian, we call them trousers." Jasper said, picking up the trousers and pulling them on. "Pants are what go underneath the trousers."

"You've lived in America for almost sixty years...you could try talking like one."

"No chance mate, you septics need a bit of sophistication."

"Septic?"

"Septic Tank: Yank."

"I'm sure I've seen that somewhere before." Kashmir said, frowning as she helped Jasper to his feet.

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of one or two places you might have seen that phrase." Jasper said with a grin.

He looked up at the Mortis Worm and sighed.

"We need to get everyone out of here now." He said, suddenly sounding very tired.

"Why? I don't think that gang is coming back." Dorian said.

"The Mortis Worm is not dead." Jasper said.

Kashmir and Dorian looked at him.

"You punched it in half!" Kashmir exclaimed

"I know...but that thing is not natural. It's being regenerated by something. Because of the size of the wound it will take at least a week, but we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"But what about the Garden?" Dorian asked.

"By now the fire would have reached the main generator. We insulated that room pretty well, but soon the fire will heat it up to the point where it'll explode. When that happens, it'll vaporise anything within...well...an area the size of Central Park."

"Then we have to move quickly or..." Dorian began, but Kashmir cut him off.

"As soon as the explosion hit, the alarms would have gone off. Everybody not killed in the initial blast should already be making their way out of the city."

Dorian looked around and saw the last person other than Kashmir, Jasper and himself disappearing into the city.

"Oh..." he said. "Does this mean the Mortis Worm will be taken with it?"

"I hope so. But I doubt this'll be the last we see of it..." he said, then raised his voice "Isn't that right, Susannah?"

Kashmir and Dorian looked to where Jasper was looking. A Doe was standing there, in the middle of the blood soaked and the corpse strewn site of the massacre. Her fur was a sort of mossy green, and her eyes looked as black and unfeeling as lumps of coal.

"So you sniffed me out, dog of Nightmares?" she said. Her voice was soft, but it had a hard, merciless edge to it.

"Snake, actually, but yeah. I could feel your hate from a mile off."

"Jasper...who is she?" Kashmir asked, looking from Jasper to the Doe and back again.

"Someone who I genuinely want to kill." Jasper said. His voice had a quality that Kashmir had never heard before. He was like a completely different person. It actually made her take a step back.

"Dorian. Take Kashmir out of the city and meet up with the other evacuees. I have business to take care of."

Dorian decided that it would be best not to disobey, and gently took Kashmir's arm.

"Jasper..." Kashmir said. He looked so different. His eyes had become dark. Not literally (as they sometimes did), but the darkness that only comes with true hate. Not the childish hate of vegetables or reading. Not the hate of a sports fan towards an opposing team, but the hatred that comes from betrayal, that comes from the deepest, darkest part of the soul. It was a hatred that only Humans seemed to possess.

"Go." He said quietly.

Kashmir looked away, and allowed Dorian to hurry her away. When they were gone, Jasper looked Susannah straight in the eye. Everything seemed to go quiet. The air became thick and oppressive, the skies seemed to darken. The buildings all around them creaked and groaned under the invisible stress of just being near these two. MadisonSquareGarden burned quietly in the background.

"You survived then." Susannah said.

"You sound disappointed."

"To a degree. I should have cut off your head, like I did with the others."

"Well why didn't you?"

"You were new, I thought destroying your heart would be enough...apparently I was wrong."

"I always suspected it was you, Leeching away most of the radiation for nearly a decade. What happened? Too much for you to handle?"

Susannah snorted

"I see you killed my worm. Pity. It'll take a while to get him up and running again. Your little generator won't kill him permanently you know."

"Fuck you."

"I'm sorry?"

"Fuck. You."

The ground around Jasper's feet was actually beginning to crack.

"My my, aren't we angr..."

Jasper's fist smashed into the ground where she had been standing. The impact was so great the ground just collapsed into a perfect bowl shape. About a hundred meters across. Several buildings collapsed.

"Damn...Should have figured you wouldn't have come personally." Jasper said, once the dust had settled. There was a small green stain at the bottom of the hole, next to which was standing an exact replica of the mossy green Susannah.

"You should keep that anger in check you know." It said.

"Fuck you."

"Is that any way to speak to a lady?"

"Listen up you little shit stain. I'm coming for you. I will hunt you down and I will fucking end you. Do you understand? I. Will. Fucking. Obliterate you. When I'm done with you, there won't even be enough of you left to send back to Gaia in a fucking paper bag!"

"You should run along now. Not even you can survive the generator exploding. Which it will do in three minutes."

"Oh yeah. I'm gonna go now. But when I find you, the Nightmare will begin." Jasper hissed, and turned around.Â

"I'm sure it will." Susannah saidÂ

"Oh, one more thing before I go." Jasper said

"What is it? I'm already tired of listening to you."

Jasper spun around. Something dark shot from his hand and struck the mossy clone in the very center of its forehead. The force of the projectile snapped its head back so hard it back flipped onto its face.

"What did you do?" Susannah hissed, bringing her head up.

"I know that you're connected to these clones. So that was a nice little "fuck you" I've been saving for fifty years."

"What did you do?!" the doe shrieked.

"Sweet dreams..." Jasper said with a wicked grin. He turned his back for the last time, and leapt into the air as the generator exploded.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep under the South Pole, Susannah dropped to her knees, clutched her head and screamed.

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Six weeks later, the massive crater caused by the explosion rang with the sounds of people working. A shanty town of temporary lodgings had sprung up around the crater for people to stay in as work continued. Scaffolding had been erected all around the crater. Multiple tiers were being built going down to the bottom of the crater, with dwellings being built on each tier. At the very bottom, Kashmir and Dorian were working on constructing a new generator to power the new city. A vast area had been cleared and swept clean as the ancient derelict buildings from before the nuclear apocalypse were collapsed and used as building materials. A birds-eye view showed the scene the best. The crater was roughly a mile and a half in circumference, yet not hugely deep, about half its width. Then around the crater, the buildings had been cleared to form a ring about half a mile in width. Beyond this ring were the huge mounds of rubble, piles of old steel beams and concrete blocks that were being used to rebuild the new city. Jasper was the main reason all these buildings had been cleared so quickly. He had gone in alone and basically smashed up the basements of these buildings until they collapsed. The rest of the population had taken to building the new structure that homes would be built on. Parties had been sent out into the ruined city of New York to scavenge for old technology. Power tools, electronics, anything they could lay their hands on. It was all being collected and brought back to the crater. Anyone that had any mechanical skill was being used to strip these things down for their components. Fortunately only fifty years had passed since the war, so all of it not damaged by the nuclear fire or radiation was still in pretty good condition. Even at the speed the rebuild was going, it was a mammoth undertaking and would take years to accomplish. The main goal was to have permanent homes and a source of power for the residents before embarking on more ambitious projects like bringing back a certain degree of technology to the city. Work was also underway to build a giant condenser for collecting fresh water. In short, the reconstruction of civilization had begun. Jasper, however, still felt uneasy. He knew Susannah wouldn't let any of this slide. He knew that if he wanted to keep this place safe he would have to leave. Leave and hunt the bitch down. That wouldn't be easy. He had no idea where she was based; he didn't even know if she was on the same continent. She could be all the way in Antarctica for all he knew. He sighed and looked down at the hustle and bustle below. He was sitting at the top of an old skyscraper. It was largely intact, save for the windows. He heard the door to the roof open behind him. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, and smiled.

"Hello beautiful." He said without turning round

Kashmir sat down on the edge of the building next to him. She looked tired. Not surprising considering she'd been working flat out for the past three days trying to get the generator functioning.

"Any joy with the lump of scrap in our cellar?" he asked

The female snake leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Closing here eyes, she sighed.

 "We managed to get it running." She said "It just needs some extra juice to get it going properly."

"You'll get it, don't worry." Jasper said reaching round her shoulders and pulling her closer. He kissed the top of her head, making her sigh again.

"You know...this skyline is beautiful in an eerie way..." she said quietly.

"Do you reckon we're the only people who were adults before the bombs fell? The few people that actually remember what the world was like before?"

"Maybe..."

"It makes me feel kind of sad. Sad to think that all that our peoples accomplished was annihilated in seconds. Everything we did and created."

Kashmir looked up at his face. He was staring out over the ruined city, the orange glow of the setting sun illuminating his face, making his auburn hair glow. It was his eyes the really caught her attention though. For a few moments, they looked ancient. They looked like they had seen everything from the beginning of the universe to the end of it. Then he looked away, down at her. His eyes glimmered a warm silver colour, and for a moment Kashmir thought she saw a flash of purple.

"You are so beautiful." He said in a soft voice "I know we've been together for over fifty years now, and that you've heard this so many times now...but...Every time I look at you I get this feeling in my heart that tells me you're the one who I want...no...need to spend the rest of my unnaturally long life with."

"What are you...?"

Jasper scooped Kashmir up in his arms and stood. He took a few steps back, and leaped off the roof. He felt Kashmir tighten her arms around his neck. He grinned and leapt from building to building, slowly getting higher and higher until they came to rest at the top of the EmpireStateBuilding. Or what was left of it anyway. It was still the tallest building In the area, it was just missing the conical spire that used to adorn the top of it. They landed on the exposed floor, which gave a superb view of the city.

"What..." Kashmir began, but was silenced when Jasper placed two fingers against her lips.

"Kashmir, I'm sixty nine years old. I don't look it, I don't feel it, but I am. I think its time I told you how I really feel."

"But Jasper...I know how you really feel."

"No you don't. I've only told you I love you." He paused "This is going to sound really cheesy but here we go. I would do anything for you. I would bring you the stars if I could. I would pull down the moon and set it into a necklace for you. I would even tear down the walls of reality itself and bitchslap the King of All Nights Dreaming if I thought it would make you laugh."

He reached into his pocket and drew out a small, battered and singed box.

"I found this in the ruins, and I thought...well...Kashmir? Will you marry me?"

He opened the box. Inside was a golden ring. The band of the ring was shaped like two snakes, their tails entwined. Their eyes made out of tiny polished amethyst crystals. Their mouths held a faceted emerald, which caught the light and glinted brilliant green. Kashmir was speechless. She quite literally could not form words. She reached out and picked up the ring, before slipping it onto her finger.

"What took you so long?" she asked, tears running down her face.

Jasper laughed, and leaned down and gently kissed her. She put her arms around his shoulders and kissed back. The ring on her finger glowed with a soft purple light, and somewhere in the mists of reality, an incredibly ancient being smiled.

"Sweet Dreams..." a mellow voice whispered.

"Thanks." Jasper said.

"What was that?" Kashmir asked.

"Oh...just a certain patron of mine wishing us luck." Jasper replied with a grin. Â Â

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