

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Death of a mutant

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Title: Death of a mutant

Author: Charles V. De Vet

Illustrator: Ed Emshwiller

Release date: April 19, 2024 [eBook #73431]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: Headline Publications, Inc, 1956

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEATH OF A MUTANT ***

DEATH OF A MUTANT

By CHARLES V. De VET

illustrated by EMSH

He was born with strange and wonderful powers. But the

world was not yet ready to accept the benefit of those

powers.—The world kills what it does not understand!

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Super-Science Fiction February 1957.

Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that

the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

The boy stood on the low hill with his head tipped back and his throat exposed to the early morning chill. He was dressed in faded trousers—from which most of the tan coloring had long since been washed away—and a coarse blue-denim work shirt.

The wind swept his blond hair back in loose flat waves, and with soft insistence tugged at his slack-limbed body. He spread his legs wide, and breathed the morning air deep into his lungs. When he expelled the breath his shoulders relaxed, and his arms dropped to his sides, without strength.

Slowly, with an effort of will, he brought his attention back to his surroundings. Below him a dog began an excited barking. The barking changed abruptly to a yelp, and stopped.

The boy straightened and drew back a step. Down below a figure darted suddenly from a low patch of brush and ran to another, kicking up splashes of red sand. To his right a man's voice sounded a sharp cry of warning.

The boy shivered. Somewhere below him a bird repeated, monotonously, a brief ripple of song.

After a few minutes a block-chested man stepped into view. His shoulders were hunched in a black leather jacket. He looked apprehensively up at the boy. When nothing happened, he called, "I'm coming up. K