Wasteland, The: The Wasteland is a large tract of land comprising of Southern California and the Western United States. It extends from the San Bernardino Mountains in the west, to the Rockies in the east (and in later years, the Great Blight), and from the northern border of Nova Roma to the south, to the Ice Lands to the north (which is about the same latitude as Sacramento, California). The Wasteland is characterized by a cold, extremely dry climate. Rainfall each year is little to none, two to four inches being about average. Little can survive the Wasteland, meaning that all life has clung to limited water supplies. Major population centers include Raider Bluff, along the Colorado River, Oasis, supplied by a body of water of the same name, and Last Town, a trading post that sprung up along I-10 between Los Angeles and the Mojave. Whenever the Wasteland is referred to, it is generally not referred to in its entire scope. It is mainly used to reference what was once the Mojave Desert.
Xenofalclass="underline" Xenofall is the day of reckoning — when the Xenos finally arrive on Earth to claim it as their own. No one knows when that day is — whether it is one year, ten years, or a thousand. It is feared that, when Xenofall does come, humans and all resistance will have been long gone.
Xenofungus: Xenofungus is a slimy, sticky fungus that is colored pink, orange, or purple (and sometimes all three), that infests large tracts of land and serves as the chief food source of all xenolife. It forms the basis of the Blights, and without xenofungus, xenolife could not exist. The fungus, while hostile to Earth-life, facilitates the growth, development, and expansion of xenolife. It is nutrient rich, and contains complicated compounds and proteins that are poison to Earth life, but paradise for xenolife. It is tough, resilient, resistant to fire, dry, and cold — and if it isn’t somehow stopped, one day xenofungus will cover the entire world.
Xenolife: Any form of life that is infected with the xenovirus.
Xenovirus: The xenovirus is an agent that attaches itself to DNA, acquires it, and mixes and matches it with the DNA it has already collected. It then mixes and matches genes to create something completely new — that something can be a new plant, animal, bacteria, etc.. There are thousands of strains of the xenovirus, maybe even millions, but most are completely undocumented. While the underlying core of each strain is the same, the strains are specific to each species it infects. Failed strains completely drop out of existence, but the successful ones live on. The xenovirus was first noted in 2046 by Dr. Cornelius Ashton of Bunker One. His collected research on the xenovirus was compiled in the Black Files, which was lost in the fall of Bunker One in 2048.
Also by Kyle West
The Wasteland Chronicles
Apocalypse
Origins
Evolution
Revelation
Watch for more at Kyle West’s site.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
EVOLUTION
First edition. August 4, 2013.
Copyright © 2013 Kyle West.
Written by Kyle West.