Atomic Atmosphere

The Toxic Gem

The girl had green hair and purple eyes. She had long green nails of about 4cm. She had sharp teeth, that looked like fangs. Her skin was a light shade of green.

"Don't talk like that. We're lucky for having survived. With some mutations, but still lucky." The girl looked at Ethan strangely, and noticed that only his eye colour had changed. Ethan didn't notice her flinch for a second.

"Who are you?" Ethan asked curiously, getting up.

"I was going to ask the same question."

"But I asked first. So please, answer." Ethan said, trying to be gentle.

"Uh... My name is a bit weird. I prefer not to say it."

"We're literally in a post-apocalypse world. Do you think I would bully you, the only survivor I saw, for your name?"

"Yes." She answered quickly, quite sure. Then, she sighed. "It's Peridot."

"Peridot. Peridot? Isn't that a gem?" Ethan asked curiously. She started blushing.

"ITS NOT MY FAULT MY GRANDMA WAS A STEVEN UNIVERSE FAN, OKAY?" She shouted. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away."

"Steven Universe? Isn't it one of those series that had that crappy remake that our grandparents wanted us to watch?" Ethan tried to confirm it.

"Yep." Peridot sighed. "I still dont know how my parents agreed to naming me this."

She offered a hand to get Ethan up, but when he was reaching for it, she took it back, making Ethan loose his balance and fall on his butt.

"What was that for?" he asked. Peridot was looking at her hand scared.

"I can't touch you. Sorry. It's not me its just... I can't." Peridot glanced at him, with a terrified look on her face.

"Of course you can. Grab my hand." Ethan got up and held his hand in the air.

"I can't. If I touch you, you'll die."

"That's nonsense. Don't be silly." He went in for a hug but Peridot took several steps back. She was fast.

"Please, understand. When I was checking other bodies I touched them. They ended up disintegrated or something like that. No skin at all. Pure meat. Radiation's turned me into a monster."

"You said no skin at all? Disintegrated... Radiation... Peridot, I can help you. But I have a feeling that you can touch me, and I won't die. For my help, you need to trust me. Shake my hand." Ethan held his hand in the air again, this time confidently.

"How do you know you won't die?" She asked, thinking he was a suicidal maniac.

"I don't." Ethan smiled at her. He was definately a suicidal maniac.

"You can't take that risk. Please, get away from me."

"If you won't do it willingly, I'll force you to."

He walked in her direction, got her hands and touched his face with them.
She was fighting back intensely, but once her hands touched Ethan's face she stopped.

"I'm not dead, see?" He said reassuringly, smiling.

"How?" She had a puzzled look on her face.

"I don't know. But what I do know, is that you're nails have radiation. Some of it accumulated in it, so whenever you touch someone they die for the increase of radiation. Or their skin cells are destroyed. Like the bodies you touch."

"How do you know all of this? Are you a kind of radioactivity genius?" Peridot asked, a bit suspicious.

"I think you can call me that." Ethan grinned, but then he remembered he had to ask some questions. "Peridot, you need to answer me some things. About... the people and nature. Have you met any survivors?"

"I don't want to talk about this. It's extremely unpleasant." Peridot answered, in the verge of tears.

"Look, this may determine our chances of surviving. I don't know anything about this place or its threats yet, but I do know a lot about radioactivity. I can help you, if you help me." Ethan said calmly. Peridot inhaled slowly, and started telling the story.

"Fine. I had this friend, which was a survivor. He had some deformities, but he was fine. He was in my class before this. His hair turned white and his eyes red. He had two extra fingers in each hand, and his facial skin turned to scales.

We were going around looking for supplies when this girl appeared. She was blond with yellow eyes, with a yellow suit.

We didn't know who she was and what she was capable of. Of course, we went to ask. We didn't think she was a threat. She certainly didn't look like one. Most survivors stick together, to help each other out.

However, she started with this nonsense of "serving" the Angel and everything. We didn't want to.

At first she seemed depressed. She had bags under her eyes and a thick eye liner. It looked as if she didn't care. But when we denied her offer, she got mad.

She killed my friend. I ran here. Bumped into you. I heard some other survivors called those who have eyes and hair matching with an extreme force Demons." She looked at him, realising what he was.

"That's enough, thank you. Do you know who is that Angel?" Ethan asked curiously.

"I thought you might know, Demon. Why aren't you trying to kill me?" Peridot asked, backing away.

"I am not a Demon. I don't want to kill you. I have no idea who is that freaking Angel. I just want to find more survivors and help them. You see, how could I be a demon if not all of my hair is red?" Ethan pointed at his fringe, but Peridot still didn't come near.

"How can I know that I can trust you?" She asked, alarmed.

"Because I know a lot about radiation. I know what made the Demon super powerful, or at least I have a guess. But, most important of all, I know their weakness."

Peridot took a step back. If he knew the weakness of Demons, then maybe they had a chance...

"Fine. But how do I know that you're not a Demon?"

"Easy: the Demons' weakness is radiation. And as you see, I'm immune to it."