Genetics

Chapter Two

It hurt. Everything. My head throbbed, my vision swimming. For a few minutes I simply lay there, waiting for the black spots to disappear from my sight. When I was feeling better, I cautiously raised my head, wincing at the new wave of pain this brought.  I was lying in a small room, the walls painted a drab white colour. The light on the roof was almost white-looking, casting a pale glare over everything.

As the fogginess slowly faded I became aware of a strong pain in my left wrist – when I glanced down in was covered in white cloth, wrapped around part of my hand, wrist, and up my elbow. I flicked out my razors but when I raised my right hand to cut away the cloth I realized there was a strange device attached to it. A cord ran from the device to some strange machines on my right making beeping noises. Uneasy, I went to pull the device from my finger but the pain in my wrist was so intense I stopped moving straight away.

Carefully raising my right hand to my mouth, I gripped the device in my teeth and pulled it from my finger, letting it drop onto the bed. Now that my hand was free I cut away the cloth from my wrist. It was a deep purple and looked larger then normal – even though I wasn’t moving my wrist it still hurt. I lay my head back down, closing my eyes as I concentrated. The pain disappeared and I opened my eyes again. I glanced over at the machines. This time I noticed a large plastic bag hanging up near me, a strange liquid inside. Another cord ran from it and my eyes followed the tube to see it connected to a thin piece of metal embedded in my elbow. I panicked, grabbing the metal and pulling it out, ignoring the painful stinging. Blood trickled from the wound and I frantically checked myself for anything else. Satisfied I’d gotten them all I rose to my feet as the door burst open. “It’s awake! Why the hell isn’t it strapped down?” A man yelled, running into the room. Another two people, a man and a woman, followed him.

“I need a sedative!” The first man yelled. I leapt over the bed as they moved towards me, quickly flicking out my razors. No rain indoors. The machines sparked as the electricity left them, my hands tingling. “Don’t come any closer,” I warned, backing into the corner. One of the men moved towards me and I focused my gaze on him. He collapsed on the floor and the woman quickly bent over him. “Steady pulse… Trent, can you hear me?”

“Security!” The other man yelled as he ran to the door.

*~*~*~*~*

~

Agent Fame strode through the doors of the hospital, showing his badge to the receptionist. She nodded, pointing towards the elevator. “Fifth floor, room twelve. Security’s in there at the moment – its causing quite a stir.”

“I’m sure.” He slid his badge back into his pocket and headed for the elevators. Once he reached the fifth floor, he paused for a moment, taking stock. A large security guard stood outside the door he knew to be twelve. Pulling out his badge again, he showed it to the security guard, glancing a the closed door. “I’d like to talk to the attending doctor for a moment.”

The security guard nodded, opening the door slightly. He spoke to someone inside the room and a few moments later the doctor entered the hallway. Fame glimpsed a few people standing around a door before the door closed again. “Agent Fame, I’m glad you’re here. The sooner that thing is outta here the better.”

“I’m sorry, have we been introduced?” Fame asked coldly.

“I apologize. I’m Dr. Jackson. I’m in charge of this particular patient.”

“A female, correct?” At the doctors nod of affirmation, Fame continued, “What is she being treated for?”

“Its not,” the doctor said darkly. “It- she is malnourished and has a sprained wrist as well as a number of bruises, although they don’t seem to be connected to any serious injuries. But we can’t treat her nor run more tests. She seems to be immune to sedatives and she’s completely out of control.”

“In what way?”

“It’s already caused on of my men to collapse.”

“Really? How, exactly?”

“We’re not sure. It appeared to be a temporary paralysis – he recovered fully once he was removed from the room.”

“And the rest of your team?”

“A few of them were also affected, but again, the moment they left the room they recovered.”

“Why, then, are your men still in the room?”

“Once we got it strapped down it appeared to surrender. Treatment is still an issue but as I said before, sedatives are useless on it.”

“She was unconscious when she was first brought in – a tranquilizer?”

“Yes. And we used another sedative to keep her asleep while we did some x-rays off her wrist – but now the sedative isn’t working. It’s possible that she is able to adapt to drugs incredibly quickly. But now that she is awake, every time we try to put a drip in she pulls it out.”

“I believe you have ways of strapping difficult patients down?”

“Have you ever tried to get a needle into the vein of a struggling patient? Even strapped down she’s a wriggling nightmare.”

“Tell me, Dr. Jackson, did you try telling her what the drip was for?”

“If you want someone to talk to it, I suggest you contact a vet. This is a hospital for humans and I refuse to let you turn it into a zoo,” Dr Jackson snapped angrily.

Agent Fame sighed slightly. “As you wish. Effective immediately the patient is under federal arrest. You and your team will not be allowed into the room without supervision and I must be informed before any tests or drugs are administered. I would like your team to now leave the room.”

“Fine by me. If you ask me, the sooner that thing is killed the better it is for everyone.” Dr Jackson opened up the door, beckoning to his team. Once the room was empty Fame entered, closing the door firmly behind him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

I pulled against the restraints, glaring at the new human. Nothing I did was working. I didn’t want to permanently damage them but they wouldn’t leave me alone. I glanced at the machine and it sparked briefly, my hands tingling. The man glanced at the machine then at me and smiled. “Well. That’s very unusual.” He made no move towards me as he continued, “My name is Fame. Do you have a name?”

I stared at him, frowning slightly. “Willow,” I said after a moment. “My name is Willow.”

“Ah. The willow is a beautiful tree.”

I’m named after a tree? The thought made me feel… special. My parents had never told me. I wonder what it looks like.

“Tell me, Willow, how old are you?”

I blinked. Age isn’t a familiar concept for a Genetic. I know what time is – I know it passes constantly. But the passing of the sun and the passing of the moon just tell me when to sleep and when to hunt. “Many cold seasons,” I said hesitantly. That was time. I’d survived – that made me old.

“I see. Well, Willow, your suffering from something called malnourishment. Do you know what that is?” As I shook my head he continued, “It means you haven’t had enough to eat. Will you let me come closer?”

I looked at the machine again. I didn’t understand what was happening. I should be dead. He should want me dead. He didn’t look angry – he was just looking at me as if I was something he saw every day. I let the electricity slip from my body, the machine sparking again – if I had to I could defend myself easily enough.

I guess he took it my silence as a yes because he moved forward, coming to stand next to my bedside. He walked slowly, softly, as if he was afraid to make noise. Still moving slowly, he reached down and picked up the metal piece I’d pulled from my arm. “See this bag? It’s called a drip and its filled with a special liquid. It’s like liquid food. It travels down through this tube, through the needle and into your arm. It’s helping you.”

Here’s another thing you should know. When my parents where still alive and I was a little one, we tried to figure out what it was I could do exactly. Although we never did understand it one thing we did learn is that I see peoples brain signals. Dad said every person has a brain signal and some machines can see the signals. I can too. Well, its not exactly see. It’s almost like a feeling mixed with a thought but see is probably less confusing for you. I think that’s how I can do some of what I do – because not only do I see the signal but I can change it, too. I was never taught how to change it anymore then I was taught what the signals say – I just know it. And Fame's brain signal said he wasn’t lying.

I looked away. After a few seconds I felt pain and when I looked back the metal was in my arm again. “It sits in a blood vein to make sure you get the liquid food as quickly as possible. If you pull it not only will it hurt but you can cause yourself damage. If you promise not to pull it out I can release you from these straps.”

“I won’t pull it out,” I replied honestly. He looked at me, than nodded. After a few minutes he had released me and I sat up again, frowning slightly. “What do you want with me?”

“I’d like for you to tell me what you did to those doctors – the people in here before.”

“They should have left me alone.”

“They were just trying to help.”

“Humans don’t help Genetics.” Somehow this simple conversation was scaring me more then this strange room. I’d never talked to a human before, looked at him while he looked back. What do you want with me?

“The liquid food is helping you, isn’t it? And I do believe you had a bandage around your wrist to help it heal properly before you cut it away.”

“My wrist was fine before I came here.”

“Well, we might have to take that up with the men who brought you here because I can assure you, no one at this hospital – the building you’re staying in – would have harmed you in anyway. You have a few other minor injuries that the men would be responsible for, as well.”

“Humans don’t help Genetics,” I repeated. I wasn’t going to let him trick me. He thought I was stupid, that I would trust him just because he did a few nice things? His brain said he didn’t lie but people are funny things. They can believe so strongly that something obviously wrong is right. After all, you sleep soundly with the knowledge you are murdering innocent people just because we’re different.

“Do you know what a SourceBox is, Willow?”

“No.”

“They are little machines, all over the city, all over the country. Genetics such as yourself never avoid them because you have no reason to. But a SourceBox is like a little computer. It’s job is to recognize Genetics and track their movements. They generally live on the roads leading in or out of the city.”

I felt a chill run down my spine. Now I had something else to fear. Then again, I couldn’t let myself think I would be getting out of here alive, despite the fact that Fame had only told the truth so far.

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this but every Pure Genetic has an ability. The SourceBox picks up on how strong that ability is. A few years ago, a SourceBox picked up on an unusually strong Genetic entering the city. We’ve been looking for it ever since.”

And I’m showing them what I can do. Dread swept over me. I was being the stupid Genetic they expected me to be, fighting in the corner and letting them watch. Well, not anymore. “Why are you telling me this?”

He shrugged slightly. “No particular reason. We’ve been searching for that Genetic for a very long time and we came across you. We would like to know a bit more about your ability – we haven’t seen anything like it before. Now I heard you did something to the doctors?”

“I didn’t mean to.” I let my eyes drop. “Sometimes… when people are in the room with me things happen to them; I don’t mean to hurt them.”

“Of course you don’t,” He replied soothingly. “I noticed when I first entered the room there seemed to be some sort of electrical disturbance?”

I nodded slowly. Reaching out, I pulled the electricity from the wall. I kept it in the tips of my fingers, another party trick – it danced along the top of my razors, creating little blue sparks around each finger. Looks impressive but doesn’t do a thing, except for keeping the electricity outside my body but that was rarely important. Still, the way Fame was staring at it you’d have though I’d just changed colour. “It doesn’t happen to everyone… just some people.”

“What?” Fame was still mesmerized by the sparks and I shrugged slightly. “This.” The sparks flew towards him – again, another trick – and as he threw up his arms to shield himself I gently probed his brain signal and he collapsed on the ground.

Reaching down, I pulled out the needle as he called it, and got off the bed. Running over to the door I threw it open and ran into the security guard and his very large fist before something crashed over the back of my head.

When I woke up again, Agent Fame was gone – so were the machines. So was anything electrical, actually. Plus they had tied me up again although this time they hadn’t put the ‘drip’ back in. Now I was starting to feel the pain again – the pain from my wrist had come back in full force, loudly protesting against the strap that was tied around it and my lip hurt from where the guard had hit me.

I rested my head back on the pillow, staring at the ceiling. Why didn’t they just kill me? Why keep me here, ask me stupid questions and pretend that they thought I was just another person?

I was kind of trapped by that stupid lie, too. On one hand – they thought I had to use electricity to use my power. That meant I had an advantage, at least. But then again, so far my attempts to use my power hadn’t gotten me anywhere so what kind of advantage was it, really? I would just have to wait. I didn’t know how they were going to kill me – I could only hope something quick – but maybe I’d have an opportunity. And I was going to have to hurt them. I felt the pain wash over me and the thought wasn’t as horrific as it once was.

I lay there for a few hours, feeling sorry for myself, getting angry, trying to fight against the bonds… after a few more hours I was just lying there. I’d killed the pain again, although there’s only so much I can do without paralysing myself. What would it be like? Death? We spent our entire lives fighting it. Would it really be that bad? Would it be worse than the fight?

The door opened and Fame entered the room. He was angry. I could feel it like a silent scream, just exploding out of him. But when he spoke he was nothing but professional, his voice calm and smooth. “I’m sorry you were hit. The guards reacted rather badly.”

“I’m sorry for hurting you,” I said innocently. “I told you-“

“-you don’t mean for it to happen.” He finished for me. “Well, Willow, that may be so but we had a bit of look at a SourceBox while you were unconscious. It would seem your electricity gives you quite a lot of power, if you would excuse the pun.”

I didn’t know what a pun was or why he was asking me to excuse it. “I’m not as powerful as you think,” I said warily. “You’ve got me confused with someone else.”

He smiled, a strange thing were only one side of his mouth turned up. “Indeed. Do you know what happens to Genetics, Willow?”

“Everyone knows,” I snarled. How dare he? How dare he treat me like I wasn’t the very thing he was talking about?

“Do you know what’s going to happen to you, Willow? Tomorrow, at eight o’clock in the morning, you will be trialled and most likely put to death. Do you want to die, Willow?”

“No.”

“You’re not the most powerful Genetic out there, Willow. We’ve met another one. The mother had only just fallen pregnant when we met her – her baby was… extraordinarily different from anything we’ve seen before. Unfortunately, before we got to meet the baby personally her mother escaped. We’ve been looking for the child ever since. Now the thing is, while finding the child is in itself a difficult task the question of what to do when we find it arises. A child with this amount of power will be… problematic. The simplest thing to do would be to simply kill her without getting too close but the thought of murdering children upsets me.”

No, it doesn’t. You’ve done it before, Agent Fame. “What has this got to do with me?”

“To be perfectly honest, there is some confusion as to the age of the child as well.” Fame continued as he had never even heard me. “The SourceBox picked up a signal two years ago in Benka but the signal was extremely matured, far older than a child would be.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Neither do we. Although the child should in fact be a child it is possibly the large amount of power has caused it to age faster then nomal. It could very well be your age, even older." He turned to look at me. “How would you feel about being a human, Willow?”

I froze. “You can do that?”

“Only as far as your physical aspects go. But physical is enough. You would be able to move through our world as a human and should trouble arise, the government would still be right behind you.”

Thoughts, memories, were flashing quickly through my brain. The little ones screaming… the hatred on the mans face as he threw the rock… the three men who had caught me and hurt my arm… and above them all, the orange leaves fell from the trees, an omen for certain death. “I’ll do it.”

Agent Fame frowned slightly. “There are still a number of things we should discuss-“

“I said I’ll do it,” I repeated forcefully. “But only if I get to live for a very long time human.”

He nodded slowly. “Well, should you manage to track down the Genetc your life being long will not be a question. As far as staying human, I’m sure that can also be arranged. However most likely you will be placed under house arrest for the rest of your natural life.”

“House arrest…” I said slowly. “But I don’t have a house.”

“The government would provide one.”

I smiled slightly. They wanted to give me a house and then they expected me to leave it? Humans. Completely insane. “So lets talk about what I would need to do, exactly.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Agent Fame shut the door behind him and paused, allowing himself a small smile. “How did it go?” Agent Travi, his partner, asked. Fame shook his head, motioning to the door. Travi nodded in understanding, waiting until they were further away before he asked again, “How did it go?”

“Good. She’s agreed to do it. We’ll begin preparations for her once the doctor gives her the all clear.”

“And is she as powerful as the SourceBox says?”

“Its hard to tell. She seems to have some form of electrical manipulation, which is strange in itself. So far the abilities have directly interfered with the Genetic themselves – strength, increased hearing, that sort of thing. She’s the first to control an outside object. But, having said that, the power she’s showing appears to be minimal.”

Travi frowned. “So you think we have the wrong one?”

“No. I think she’s powerful enough to hide it very well. If she couldn’t control her ability, like she claims, its doubtful she would be able to be in the same room with that much electrical equipment. Pretending she can’t use her power is a smart move but ultimately useless.”

“What’s to stop her from going rogue?”

“While she was unconscious we took a few liberties.” Fame turned, glancing back down the hallway from which they had come. “Hopefully we’ll never have to use them. If this works, we might just have two very special people under our roof.”

“And if the other one is too strong for her?”

“Hopefully she’ll prove enough of a distraction for us to get in there. Either way, we have nothing to lose.”

*~*~*~*~*~

I drummed my fingers of my right hand on the edge of the table nervously. They’d strapped up my wrist again, covering it with the material. I’d taken the pain away though, so I barely even noticed it. It didn’t help either that I hated this room. I hated the pale walls, I hated the fact there was no real light, no exits. And I didn’t understand what they were doing to me. Putting strange smelling things in my hair and wrapping the strands in some crinkly silver paper wasn’t going to make me human. They’d given me some sort of fake eyelid that had changed my eyes to a bright green, getting rid of the silver but I still looked different - I looked even more of a monster with these strange new eyes.

After what seemed like forever the lady came back into the room. “These should be finished now. Your hair’s so black that changing the entire colour probably wouldn’t be the best idea but you guys are hardly the first people to wear black. This’ll make it look a lot more like a proper hair colour, though.” She sighed slightly. “It’s a pity about the haircut. I did the best I could but you pretty much butchered your hair. Oh well, short’s supposed to be cute.”

She removed the silver things from my hair and stuck my head into what she called a ‘sink’, where she then hosed down my hair. Afterwards I was taken to another room – almost exactly the same only a lot smaller. In the middle of the room was something that looked awfully like the body waterfall thing from the bathroom earlier. I was told to remove my clothes and step inside. “No,” I said, backing away from it. It smelled strange, like the stuff in my hair but stronger. I didn’t want to go near it.

“Look, this is going to change your skin colour, okay? You wanna look normal? Strip off and get in the booth,” the lady said impatiently. I glanced at her skin, then at mine. I wanted to look like her, with her brown skin and pretty brown eyes. She had gorgeous fingernails too, except they were a bright purple instead of the normal pink that most people have. But even though her fingernails were different, they were beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, I love my razors – they’re just a part of who I am, you know? But right now, looking at her fingernails, I wanted to look like her more then anything else in the world.

So I pulled of my boots, carefully underdressed and stepped into the booth. She handed me a pair of what she called goggles, telling me to put them over my eyes and a plastic bag which went over my hair. Then the door was closed behind me and for a few seconds I stood there, shivering wildly more from nervous apprehension then the cold. All of a sudden this weird stuff started to spray out from the sides of the booth, coating me from head to toe. I shielded my face, screwing up my nose at the terrible smell.

Afterwards I was allowed to get dressed again and when I looked down my skin was brown, like heres. I stared at my hands in wonder, my arms, my legs. I was no longer white, sick, different. Maybe this will work. I thought, gently touching my freshly cut hair. Maybe I will look human.

I didn’t want to think about what that would cost me.

*~*~*~*~*~

The world had changed overnight. I had changed. After they’d changed my skin and my hair, they’d changed my hands, too. They’d made me unconscious briefly and when I had woken up I had nails. I still had my razors, too, but the black stripes where now a pink colour. When I flicked them out, they were still black but had a dark pink stripe down the sides. When I retracted them, you could barely see them and I was looking. They’d given me new clothes, too – new dark blue jeans, a simple black t-shirt and sneakers. They’d tried to take away my jacket but I hadn’t let them. And then they’d shown put me in a room with a mirror and I’d seen myself and… I was human. Brown skin, dark brown highlights through my styled hair, green eyes. I looked normal.

I stepped out of the building during daylight for the first time. My palms were sweating and my heart was pounding and I felt really, really sick. But no one noticed me. A few glanced my way but then they kept walking. I just stood there, in the middle of the street, staring up at the sky.

You’d think I would be happy. I’ve spent a lifetime being scared and every time you’ve noticed me I got hurt. The ‘hospital’ was the first time I’ve ever talked to a human before, first time a human’s ever talked back. You know, I used to lie on top of the buildings when I couldn’t sleep and listen to your world go right by. You had no idea I was there and you just lived out your lives, every day. I used to pretend I was a part of them – yeah, I knew Bill, what a great guy. Sure, I’m really excited about my new job too. I’ve got the best outfit planned for the party.

I never thought I’d be terrified. I just wanted to run back inside the building and strip off this stupid idea that I’m human and wait for night time. I can’t do this. I thought, staring onto the road. Cars were driving down the streets, people walking past me. Everything was so loud, so close and everywhere I looked there where people. I burst into a run, heading for a comforting dark alleyway. Darting inside, I ran to the end, throwing myself behind a large garbage bin. Pressing my back against the wall, I panted for air as I slid down to the ground. I could still hear the noises of the city but this, this I knew. Hiding was what I did. I was safe when I was hidden.

The fear that overwhelmed me broke my concentration, too. As I felt the pain in my wrist arise once more tears welled up in my eyes and I grasped my arm, being careful not to touch my wrist and started to sob.  I can’t do this. I can’t do this. Please let night come! Just let the light disappear. No light…

“Hey, are you okay?” An old man shuffled into view. He looked like I used to – dirty, scruffy and desperate. For a few seconds I felt like I was looking at a friendly face until I realized that he was just like the rest. If I was me, truly me, he’d be throwing that bottle in his hand at my head. He hated me and he didn’t even know it.

I sprung to my feet and ran; back out into the street, back into the sunlight. Eventually I slowed down to a walk. I have to deal with this. I moved into another nearby alley where there weren’t so many people and leaned against the wall. It was pretty simple, like removing a blockage from a pipe. For a few seconds my fear and sadness washed over me in a tidal wave of emotion and then I was calm again, the fear and sadness gone. Walking back into the sunlight, I reached into my pocket, pulling out a piece of paper and awallet. Opening up the wallet, I looked at the ID inside that proclaimed me ‘Willow Fame.’

They’d let me keep my first name seeing as there was no record of me even existing – I hated the fact I’d taken his last name but he said if I was connected to the FBI I would have a safety net if something went wrong. This said I lived on 31 Burberry Street and that I was twenty. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I mean, obviously I don’t live on Burberry Street cuz I’ve never even heard of it. But I don’t know how old I am.

Inside a flap of the wallet was different coloured paper – inside another flap were different sized pieces of metal. I paused, thinking back over what Fame had said.

“This is money. Do you know what money is?” Fame laid different things out in front of me – paper, metal.

“Yes.” I replied after a moment. “You give the paper or metal to someone and they give you something back. Food, clothes.”

“Yes. The paper are called notes – the higher the number on them, the more their worth. The pieces of metal are called coins – again, the higher the number the more their worth.”

I leaned forward, looking at them both. “The notes have higher numbers.”

“Very good. Yes, the notes are worth more. And your right, people give them to other people in return for things. This is called ‘buying’ something.”

The explanation had gone on for longer – he’d explained how to buy something, how to know how much something was worth and about change, where if you gave the person too much money they would give you money back. It was a complicated process but I’m quick learner.

I glanced at the piece of paper I had pulled out of my pocket. It had a name of a city called Benka on it – apparently that was where the Genetic had been picked up by the SourceBox. Now that I’d settled down my emotions, I was thinking clearly. Maybe too clearly.

I didn’t know why I was doing this. Hunting down another Genetic? I have no idea who this person is. They could be male or female or old or young and I wouldn’t know. I mean, once I get in range of them I’m going to know – Genetic’s have a different brain signal and the more powerful, the stronger that signal gets. Theoretically this Genetic would practically be screaming for my attention.

But I’ve spent my life running away from these people and now I’m working with them? Let’s say I did find this Genetic, what then? ‘Hey, wanna go get killed by humans? Yeah, I thought you would.’

But even while I was thinking this I knew what I was going to do. I was going to go to Benka and I was going to find this Genetic. Don’t even think about trying to judge me. What would you do, honestly? I was walking down the street like a human, I looked like a human. I could even buy my own lie and think I was human, if I really tried. But underneath it all I was still the same Genetic who just wanted to live. I don’t really care how. I don’t care if I have to spend the rest of my life inside a box, I just want to be alive.

I was going to find a way to do this. Fame had told me where to go, how to get there and a number of other things he thought I’d need to know. I just had to make myself take one step at a time.