Freaks

The world isn't safe for normal people anymore.

It hasn't been safe for years.

Everyday people... regular people like me... we deserve to be safe. We shouldn't have to worry about some freak reading our minds, or walking through the walls of our house. These freaks have no right to be running around with all their weird powers, causing all kinds of trouble.


The doc was almost finished. Dante looked down at his new arm, admiring the metallic glint of the tungsten carbide skeleton, encased in a clear polymer that protected the reinforced circuitry and complex moving parts of the cybernetic appendage. He admired the doc's craftsmanship, wishing that he had found this guy before he had all of his other work done. Dante still had a long list of modifications to make, but perhaps once those were finished, he would go back and have his other arms and legs upgraded.

When he was finished, the doc secured the arm's casing and stepped back from the table. Dante slowly moved his new limb, delighted at the sound of the subtle, barely perceptible mechanical whir of the tiny gears as he wiggled his new fingers.

He felt stronger and more powerful than ever. His legs allowed him to run as fast as a car. With his arms, he could lift over two tons. With his reinforced exoskeleton, he was essentially bulletproof. And with his artificial eyes and ears, he could see things in the dark and hear someone approaching from more than a hundred yards away.

With his newfound abilities, Dante was sure that none of the freaks would ever be able to hurt him again. If anyone tried anything funny with those unnatural powers of theirs, he'd be ready for them.


Dante walked down the street, with a new confident swagger in his step. He almost wanted some freak to try something. He'd show them. He'd stand up for regular people.

A rock hit him in the head. It made a metallic clang as it hit his reinforced skull, and Dante shook it off. Then another rock hit him. And another, and another.

Angry, he turned toward the source of the barrage and glared at a ragtag bunch of kids, partially hidden by the bushes.

"What are you doing?" Dante yelled at them.

Emboldened, one of the boys stood all the way up.

"Get out of here!" He called, throwing another rock. "Go back to the other side of town with all the other freaks!"

Dante stared at them in shock.

"What are you talking about? I'm normal... like you!"

He moved forward to approach them, which caused the boys to flee in the other direction. Dante stopped in the middle of the street, confused. He looked down at a puddle on the concrete, gazing at his own reflection.

He studied his cybernetics... his arms and legs, the bony exoskeleton grafted to his skin. His unblinking amber colored mechanical eyes took everything in.

Dante saw a normal person, just like them. He was a regular citizen who had a right to protect himself.

Who were they calling a freak?

He wasn't.

Was he?


(523 words)