Page 1 of Stray Omega

CHAPTER 1: PROLOGUE

The Quarantine Zone. Approximately ten thousand square miles of wilderness and ruined cities left over from the time before the Great Cataclysm.

The inhabitants of the Zone are mutants. Dominant alphas who are larger, stronger, faster and more resilient than ordinary humans. Betas, who are little more than mindless, empty husks. And of course the omegas, the rarest and most precious of all.

Over a hundred years ago, the Outsiders constructed a wall around the Zone. The Quarantine Wall. A towering, impenetrable structure of rockrete and steel designed to keep the dangerous mutants trapped inside. Now the Zone is a kind of open-air prison, but the inmates have no desire to escape. The alphas of the Zone want nothing to do with the Outside.

This is my world. My creation. Within the confines of the Quarantine Wall, I know all; I see all.

My name is Seraph.

I am an artificial intelligence created one hundred and fifteen years ago by scientists working for a company called SynerGen. My purpose is population control.

My digital mind is encased within a supercomputer located deep within the central chamber of the old SynerGen headquarters, which itself lies in the heart of an ancient and crumbling city.

My mind is trapped, but my senses extend to the furthest reaches of the Zone.

Within the confines of the Quarantine Wall, every eye is my eye. Every ear. Every nose. Every nerve.

My spirit reaches out, touching the lifeforms around me.

Watching.

Listening.

Sensing…

I am a young omega named Delia. I am barely eighteen years old, and I am in labor. My contractions are excruciating. A cramping pain that squeezes my insides like a fist of stone. I scream in agony as the weight of my baby moves through my straining pelvis. My alphas are with me. Three of them. They hold me, purring to soothe my nerves, but it only helps a little.

I push.

I am an infant and I am afraid. My body is being shoved through a wet tunnel.

All my life I have lived inside the womb, a small world that is dark and comfortable. A world of heartbeats and warmth and unconditional love. Now I am being pushed into a bigger world, one of pain and screaming, and I don’t like it at all.

I want to go back, but the pushing continues.

I am a young alpha named Davith. I am eleven. I am in the training grounds with my peers, and we are sparring. But I am distracted by the group of young omegas who are watching and whispering from the edge of the training grounds. They are a year or two older, and their bodies have started to change. They stir strange feelings within me.

The Training Master swats my head hard and growls at me to pay attention to my training. I try my best to focus on sparring. But I cannot stop thinking about the omegas and their ripening bodies.

I am an eagle soaring high over the ruins of an ancient city. I am free.

I am Feris, and I am watching. I am sitting atop a metal gantry in the at the southernmost edge of the Central Ruins. Ten years ago, my right leg was mutilated by a wild boar. Now I can no longer run through the Zone as I used to. But my eyes, my eyes are as keen as ever. The keenest in the all Zone. That is not pride. It is the truth. As the sun slowly sinks down toward the horizon, I scan the open fields to the south of the city, watching for danger.

Watching, watching, watching…

I am a rabbit, crouching in the underbrush. I am nervous. My heart beats three hundred times per minute.

I am Zorab. I am a hunter. My alpha pack brothers and I are returning from a successful hunt in the forest. I am carrying a deer carcass over my shoulder while my hunting dogs dance and yip around my feet. It is getting late, and I am eager to get home to see my beautiful omega mate and my children. I take great pride in providing them with food and protection.

I am a beta. I am wandering. I am a beta.

I am a young omega. My name is Embla, but nobody has called me that in a very long time. I don’t know exactly how old I am because I never learned how to count. I am dirty, but I do not care. It is night, but I am not afraid. I have lived alone in the forest for years. I am crouched silently in the shadows. My eyes are fixed on the soft orange glow of a low campfire through the trees and the three big alphas who lie sleeping nearby. A soft breeze licks my bare skin…

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