Genetics

Chapter Three

The bus pulled up at the stop. I looked at the number and destination displayed on the front, then glanced down at the paper I had been given. It matched. I hung back, carefully watching what the other passengers did. Then I grabbed my pack – other people were taking backpacks too – and joined the line, still watching. Once they went up the stairs, they gave their tickets to a man standing next to the driver and then got seats.

When it was my turn I hesitantly moved up the stairs and handed over my ticket. He took it without a word, ripped something off the end and then I was facing the seats. Most of the people were looking out the window and a few glanced my way as I walked down the aisle. Reaching the back of the bus, I sat down in the seat near the windows, placing my pack on my lap. After watching everyone else for a few minutes, I got to my feet and placed my pack above the seats, in some sort of cupboard thing, before sitting back down.

The journey was long – we stopped off at a small town, the last one for quite a while. When we got back on the bus, I rested my head against the side of the bus, closing my eyes. I was hot and I was sticky and I was bored. It wasn't long until I had fallen asleep.

I woke up with a start. I didn’t know how long we’d been travelling since our last stop. Sitting up, I yawned, stretching lightly. What had woken me up? Mid-way through a stretch I paused, staring at my hand. It was tingling. I lowered my hand so that it was out of sight and lifted my razors slightly. Blue sparks flickered between them. Oh no.

A few seats in front of me, a teenaged girl raised her hand, gently touching her head. “Wow, I’m really dizzy…”

The man sitting next opposite her was wincing, gently rubbing his temples. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve got a massive headache – feels like my heads gonna explode.”

“This heat’s affecting all of us, dearie.” An elderly woman said from the very front of the bus, fanning herself with her hat.

It’s not the heat. Getting to my feet, I moved forward two rows and pushed the window open. Sticking my head out the window, I saw what I could already feel – there were massive electrical poles stretching across the road up ahead. A row of giant concrete pillars supported wires through which the electricity ran – stretching across the road and as far as I could see. “Stop the bus!” I shouted, bolting to the front. “Stop the bus!”

“Lady, we ain’t stopping again ‘till we reach Benka. Now sit down!”

“You don’t understand, I’ve got to get off.” I stared out the window, then turned back to look at him. It was easy. All I had to do was concentrate. The effect was similar to me screaming fear into his head along with one thought: stop the bus!

He turned as white as any Genetic and slammed his foot onto the brake. Everyone screamed as they were thrown forward – I was slammed into the window, barely stopping my cry as my sprained wrist hit metal. “Barry, what the hell are you doing?” The man who had been taking tickets yelled, getting out of his seat. Barry was shaking, the pure terror on his face slowly fading as I withdrew my influence. “I don’t know, I just, I just had to stop the bus…” He gasped, gripping the steering wheel. He focused his gaze on me. “I don’t know what you just did but I want you off my bus.”

“I’m out of here soon as you open this door.” I replied quickly and he reached forward, hitting the open button. I leapt out of there and ran as fast as I could away from them and the wires. When I finally stopped running the towers looked like tiny toothpicks and the bus was no where to be seen. Now I could also see what was missing. “My backpack,” I panted, angry at myself. I’d left my pack sitting on the bus, I was stuck in the middle of nowhere and I had no idea how to get to this stupid city. “Why am I such an idiot?” I screamed at the sky. It didn’t make me feel any better.

Kicking viciously at the dirt, I glared at the towers. I’d have to go under them. If I followed the road, it would take me to the city. Well, hopefully. Maybe. I sighed as I turned, taking in the sights. All I saw was dirt, in every direction. No plants, no buildings, no people. Although the fact it was just me was a bit of a comfort, I was far too busy being completely annoyed to enjoy my solitude. I started to walk down the road, back the way I came. I could feel the electricity in the air growing stronger with every step I took and after a while my hands started to tingle. Still, this time I wasn’t with a bus load of people so I wasn’t too worried.

I paused a few meters away from them and flicked out my razors. With this much electricity in the air, my body was drawing it in automatically. Problem is, that much electricity inside me wasn't a good thing so my body dispelled it. If anyone else came within range I was going to hurt them without even realizing it.

So I flicked it out into my razors, letting it dance through the nail and in between them. Its like creating a net between each finger – when I broke my concentration the electricity would return to my body but for now it was out and the thought made me feel a little bit more at ease. I continued to walk forward, feeding the net in my razors. The hairs on my arms and head were rising from the build up in my body.

I passed underneath easily; for a few seconds while I was underneath I felt the electricity level jump upwards. I directed it straight to my wrist, figuring I might as well put it to good use. It’s possible for me to speed up my body’s healing process through electricity. I never do it though – well, I guess I should say I don’t normally do it – cuz we’re talking a lot of electricity here. Like the amount in me right now, for start, would do some serious damage if I was in an area with people. So I normally don’t risk it but if its in me anyway, why not, right?

My wrist felt like it was on fire as I walked out the other side of the wires. People weren’t meant to heal quickly, simple as that. But by the time I’d walked a few meters the pain had died some and I was able to wriggle my fingers, nothing too drastic, without the pain from before. Then I heard the car.

I spun around. It was headed straight for me, quickly crossing the distance between us. I glanced down at my hand – the electricity net was still going strong – and burst into a run. I couldn’t outrun a car but then again I didn’t have to; about a dozen meters away was a large pile of rocks. I headed for them as fast as I could and dove behind them, crouching in the sand. The net had failed with my broken concentration and I could feel the electricity inside me, sparking into the air every few seconds in what would be a lethal blast if anyone came too close. I heard the car pull to a stop and swore underneath my breath.

Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply, gathering the electricity deep inside my body. It didn’t hurt but like anything else with my ability, I had to think about it. The easier way to make sure I kept my concentration was to picture a round blue ball. As the electricity gather inside me, the ball started to spin. And as a car door slammed shut, I slowly exhaled, being careful to keep the ball tightly wrapped inside my thoughts. If I let it slip, even for a second, whoever just got out of that car was in serious trouble. 

“Hey! Who’s there?” The voice spoke through a fog. I winced, not letting it distract me. The light was shining on the ball, lightning crackling around it… I had to keep it in my head.

“I know you’re back there, I saw you. If you don’t come out, I’m gonna come in and get you.”

The ball was growing larger. It was starting to feel like someone was hitting me; not the electricity itself but just the sheer effort of trying to stop my bodys natural process. If I kept this up, I could electrocute myself and I had no idea what would happen if I did.

Through the fog, I heard footsteps. My eyes opened and I saw a man a few feet away, staring at me down the barrel of a shot gun.

The ball broke.


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


Sheriff Jeremy Walker stood up, sighing slightly. “It’s Dave Albrury, sure enough.” He glanced down at the body by his feet and then sighed again, walking back over to the cop car. “Once the doc gets here we’ll have to take him back to the surgery.”

His partner, Bill Shiro, glanced at the forlorn car sitting nearby. “Yeah and Gary’ll have to get the car.” They both glanced down the road as a car appeared, travelling towards them. “Don’t know much about medicine, but there ain’t a scratch on him,” Jeremy remarked after a moment.

“Yeah, well, Jayce can’t get them all.” Bill touched the brim of his hat as Doctor Shiro approached. “Morning, ma’am,” he said with a grin.

She threw him a wink. “Morning, officer.” Walker politely looked away as the two shared a quick kiss, than looked at them both with a slight frown. “Now, I’m more then happy that you two are enjoying wedded bliss so much but come on, we’ve got a body just a few feet away. Could we wait a little while, please?”

“Sorry, sir,” Bill said sheepishly. Doctor Shiro pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, carefully making her way over to the body. “No signs of trauma…” She said after a few minutes. “I’ll do a full autopsy when we get back but my guess is a heart attack. He’s not a young man anymore.” She sighed slightly. “Has he got any family we need to notify?”

“No.” Jeremy paused, clearly uncomfortable. “Look, doc, no disrespect meant or anything but are you sure it’s a heart attack?”

“No,” she replied with a small twinge of amusement. “I’m just looking at a dead guy, same as you. Once I get him back to the surgery I’ll have more of an idea.” She frowned slightly. “Why? Is there something you suspect?”

“Not sure. But let me know as soon as you find out.” Jeremy moved back to the car. After he’d radioed in for Gary to come get the car, he leant against the roof, frowning deeply. After a few moments, he glanced back towards the rocks. Something was off. Dave was starting to be a bit old, sure, but he was healthy. Fact of the matter was, there’d been an awful lot of Genetics’ in these parts as well, ever since the mess in Benka.

He slowly exhaled. He was going to have to visit Jayce on the way home.


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

I ran blindly, panicked. Memories danced at the edge of my mind, just out of reach. I remembered electricity. I remember a man. And although I couldn’t remember past that I knew what I had done and I ran to escape it.

Panting, I leant against a tree and breathed deeply. Night. This I could handle. Everything seemed so much familiar with the moon in the sky and that wretched sun gone. Shadows I knew. Out here the sounds were completely different to the city but still, it was something that hadn’t changed over the past two days. It only took a few seconds to think about it – I was crying with my fear and frustration and then I was calm as I embraced my emotions and pushed them away.

Again my head turned. I’d discharged most of the electricity from my body but all of my senses were still… aware. That much electricity, it wakes you up. You never really realize how much you miss until you can see and feel it all. It’s kind of cool, but right now I had a lot of brain signals waving their hands and shouting ‘yoo-hoo.’ There was some kind of city nearby, at the bottom of some mountains. I was in a forest on one of these mountains verywhere I walked the city was calling me. It couldn’t be very big. My counting’s not the best – my parents taught me when I was younger but I’ve forgotten most of it. Still, I knew it would be a small number.

I moved deeper into the forest, heading uphill slightly. I no longer had my pack – that meant no food. I still had my knife, so I might be able to do some hunting but it normally takes a few days to create everything I’d need for a good trap and just the thought made my stomach rumble. Plus I was getting cold and the clothes I was wearing wasn’t gonna cut it.

“Okay, fine. City it is,” I muttered to myself. By the feel from the signals they were pretty far away – it would take me at least a couple of hours to get to them. I threw the hood from jacket over my hair and started to walk. At least my wrist was feeling better. I’d taken off the bandages to take a look and although the bruising was still as vivid as ever it was back to its normal size and I could move my hand without too much pain.

It took longer then a few hours – by the time I had reached the city I was exhausted and the sun was starting to rise. I headed up the hill before reaching it so I could observe it slightly. It was nestled in the forest, a large clearing surrounding it. It was a lot smaller then any city I’ve ever seen – the buildings looked like tiny shadows in the dark. The clearing around it held some animals – some I recognized as cows, others I had never seen before. It also had plants I guessed to be food.

I crouched down by a tree and watched. It took a lot longer for the sun to reach into the valley; when it did, I screwed up my nose in distaste. The buildings were made of wood and the roads were just dirt. No concrete in sight. What kind of person built a city with no concrete? I couldn’t think of anything worse.

As the sun got brighter I rose to my feet, turning and walking back into the forest. After a few minutes wandering I found a deep crevice between two rocks. Slipping into it, I sat down, curling up in the shadows and closed my eyes.

I woke up a few hours later. Yawning, I blinked, wishing desperately I could go back to sleep but knowing I couldn’t. I had to go to the city – I needed food, needed water. Something warm would be nice, too – despite the heat from the day before, here between the rocks it was cold.

I climbed to my feet, easing out of the crevice. The electricity was gone – unless I was concentrating I couldn’t feel the city anymore, which was a relief. I distracted me and even though I no longer looked like a Genetic, I still had to be careful. My stomach rumbled. “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered to myself as I carefully navigated my way down the mountain. “Do you see any food around? I don’t. So shut up will you?”

The ground was just starting to straighten out again when I felt my foot tug on something. Bending down, I realized I’d just walked into some sort of wire stretched between two trees, a few inches off the ground. “What…” I poked the wire, looking around curiously to see what it did. When nothing happened, I shrugged and stepped over the wire. 

I had only walked a few meters when I first heard it. A barking noise. I frowned, cocking my head on one side as I listened. The barking was getting louder and then an animal appeared in the distance. It was one of those animals people keep with them in their houses – I think its called a wolf - but this was was angry. It was running towards me, barking loudly. I turned and I ran, branches slapping against my face as I moved through the trees.

Up ahead was a fairly accesible tree – low branches that looked fairly climable. Normally I'll avoid that sort of thing cuz it means I'm trapped but animals don't climb trees, right? Well, I was fairly sure they didn't. Oh no. What if they did? Some animals did, right? Did this one?

I glanced over my shoulder, realizing the wolf was almost right behind me. Tree it was. I grabbed hold of the branch and hurled myself up. I had to stop about two meters off the ground because there weren't any strong branches in my reach. I watched as the wolf reached the tree and leapt into the air, still barking furiously. I pressed myself against the wooden trunk, heart hammering wildly.

Sometimes its really annoying to have a 'flight' reflex. I mean, don't get me wrong, its save me more then a few times. But now that I was in the tree I was starting to realize it was kind of just an animal. I sighed, feeling more then a little stupid and looked down at it. I wasn't planning to hurt it, just... calm it down. Possibly make it go to sleep for a few hours so I could continue on my way uninterrupted.
Even as I started to change the signal I heard a whistle. The changes I were attempting to make disappeared as my concentration broke and the wolf looked away, ears pricked. Then it ran away.

Grasping the branch above me, I leant out of the tree, peering in the direction the animal had gone. I couldn't see anyone; the wolf had disappeared, too. Deciding I probably should disappear before the animal or owner came back I swung down to the lower branches, dropping lightly to the ground. And then I heard another growl.

I turned around, glaring at another wolf that had appeared. This one was different, a white coat instead of the other's black one. But despite the growling and the nasty teeth this one had I wasn't scared. “Where did you come from?”

“Boi! Sit!” An authoritive male voice called from behind me, quickly followed by, “and your hands go up. I'm armed, so no sudden movments.”

I slowly raised my hands. “I haven't done anything.” I got no reply but after a few seconds a man moved into view, a sleek looking gun aimed firmly at my head. “I'm sorry,” He said quickly, lowering the weapon. “I thought you were something else.” He whistled under his breath and Boi ran over, sitting by his feet. “What are you doing out here?”

“I got lost.”

He raised an eyebrow. “We're pretty far from... anything.”

“I've been travelling for a while. I saw a city last night so I was heading there.”

“City?” He frowned, then made a small noise in the back of his throat. “You mean hole? I wouldn't even call that a town.”

“If I walk away, while you send your wolf after me?”

He made that noise again and I got the feeling he was laughing at me. “Boi's a mutt, part sheep dog, part... whatever. He's pretty well trained, though. Man-” he indicated to the one with the black coat, who had appeared again, “is a german shepherd. But you would never call either of these dogs wolves.”

“Will you send your dogs after me?” I asked after a moment.

He looked at me, his eyes narrowing slightly. “I'm sorry about before, we thought you were someone else. So no, I won't send my dogs after you. But I wouldn't feel right just leaving you here, either. The woods are a dangerous place.”

You have no idea. I shrugged. “If you want.”

“I'm Riko.”

“Willow.” I followed him as he turned and walked away. “How did you know I was out here? That wire, right?”

“Yeah. Jayce's got them set up all over the place. There are a lot of bears around, so its nice to know if anything coming to close to hole.”

He was lying but I didn't need an ability to figure that one out. Bears that looked like humans? Oh yeah. That was totally it. “So hole is your town, right? How come you call it hole?”

“Cuz it is one,” he said with a grin. “Its really called Mobosa, after the guy who created it, but its been years since the locals called it that.”

The rest of the walk to the town was in silence. It was all so new to me. I still couldn't believe someone who wasn't a Genetic wanted to talk to me. It was exactly like what I'd seen from above – only a few buildings, plus a few further out in the fields amongst the animals and plants. Riko saw me staring and quickly explained, “Because hole's so cut off from the outside world we grow most of our own food. About every week a delivery comes from Benka.”

Benka. That was where I had to go. “How can I get to Benka from here?”

“Well if someones headed out there, you can catch a ride. But past that I'd suggest waiting for the delivery and getting a ride back with them. Their normally pretty good about that stuff, provided you don't expect them to do anything else but their route. You’re pretty unlucky, though – we got a delivery yesterday so next one won’t come for a couple of days, most likely a week or so.”

“So does this place have somewhere I can stay?”

“Abe normally has a room for rent. Nothing fancy – it’s a kind of garage that sits behind the rest of the house. But you’ll have privacy and the beds pretty comfortable.” Riko pointed to a building on the outskirts of town, isolated at the edge of the forest. “That’s his house, out there.”

“Okay.” I eyed the house and then glanced at Riko. “Thanks.” As he disappeared towards a building on my left I started down the road that led to Abe’s house. I was going to be stuck out here for a week? I was supposed to be updating Fork on my progress. What was I supposed to say, sorry but I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere, just wait a while please?

Fear stabbed at my insides. What if they replaced me? What if I took too long and then found the Genetic themselves? Would I still be able to stay human? Well, they’d already given me the new eye colour, so they couldn’t take that away. But the lady had mentioned that my skin would fade back to white after a couple of weeks. If I didn’t find this Genetic or if they no longer needed me to find the Genetic, I was back where I started.

I reached the house and opened the door, stepping inside. I was standing in a walkway – to my left was a simple room with a few chairs and a box-shaped machine. Through a door on my right was the dining area, a few chairs around a table. “Hello? Abe?” I wandered through to the end of the hallway, discovering that the kitchen was to my right – connected to the dining area – and there was another hallway on my left, with a lot of closed doors.

After calling out a few more times, I walked into the kitchen. There was some large white thing and a few cupboards. The cupboards had food in them, mostly. I pulled on open and was rewarded by rows and rows of cans. My eyes lit up. Food. My stomach rumbled, as if reading my thoughts. I looked at the pictures written on the cans. A few were of fruit or vegetables, a few more of things I didn’t understand. One of them was of a dog. I stared at it, then hesitantly picked it up. Why would someone want to eat a dog?

“Hey, what are you doing?” A large elderly man strode into the room, his face bright red. “What are you doing in my house?”

“I was told you have a room for rent.” I put the can back down, ignoring my stomachs loud protesting. “Was I wrong?”

“Well, no, but…” Abe looked almost embarrassed now. “I just… well, I didn’t hear a knock…”

“I didn’t knock.” I didn’t know I had to. Next time I would. Knock on what, I wasn’t sure but maybe it didn’t matter. “I called out though.”

“I didn’t hear you, sorry.” Abe ruffled his hair and shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I’m sorry for yelling, you surprised me is all. But yeah, I’ve got a room for rent. It’ll be twenty dollars a night but it really isn’t anything fancy. You’ve got a small bathroom, bedroom, TV and a fridge but that’s about it. You can cook your meals up here, though.”

I didn’t really understand what he was talking about but I nodded anyway. Bedroom and bathroom were the important things.

“So, I’ll let you take a look at the room before you decide anything… well not that there’s really much choice anyway, I mean there ain’t no hotels or anything around here. So its either this or the floor…” He trailed off and led me through the kitchen to outside the back of his house. A small path led to what looked to be a small cabin, the surrounding grass nearly as high as my waist. Abe hurried before me, quickly opening the door and bounding inside. “Sorry about the backyard, I don’t really get out here much. And I’m afraid I haven’t been out here much either, I haven’t had a guest in a couple of years…” His voice floated back from inside the cabin. “But if you wait out there for a few seconds I’ll just clean up a bit…”

I walked into the grass. It brushed against my waist and I smiled slightly at the funny sensation it caused. Dropping to the ground, I stretched out on the dirt, the grass tickling my entire body. The stalks invaded my view of the sky, giving it a curious look. They didn’t seem to be grass either, now that I was looking at it closely. I wonder if these plants are edible?  I grabbed a nearby stalk and broke it off. Nibbling at the end, I wrinkled up my nose and threw it away. It looked different to grass but it still tasted the same. “Um, lady? Where are you?”

I sat up. “Here.”

“Okay, well, everything’s ready for you now. There are blankets and a pillow on the bed. There isn’t any food or anything in the fridge but it only takes about five minutes to walk to the other side of hole so getting food won’t be a problem. And um, I realized we never introduced ourselves. I’m Abe.”

“Riko told me that. My name’s Willow.” I got to my feet, walking over to the cabin. Heading inside, I looked around. “It’ll do,” I said after a moment, not wanting to appear to eager. From the way everyone was talking, apparently most people wouldn’t see this as fantastic.

Abe nodded. “Well, good. Um.”  He was uncomfortable again. “You can pay for a few days if you want or just a day by day basis.” He mumbled at last. I pulled out the wallet Fame had given me and looked at the notes inside. I didn’t have any with ‘twenty’ on them and I didn’t understand the other numbers. Was a hundred more or less?

I pulled out a few just in case and handed them to him. He looked down at them in confusion. “How long do you plan on staying?”

“Until the next delivery truck.”

“Ah.” He handed all of them back but one. “Well, chances are it won’t take that long.” He headed for the doorway. “I’ll cook up some dinner and bring it down, seeing as you don’t have any food.”

“I’d like food.” I agreed. He looked at me for a second, then slowly shook his head, smiling slightly. “Okay, well shouldn’t be more then thirty.” As he headed back up to his house I closed the door, looking around the cabin. It was basically one room – the bed in the corner, the box–shaped machine opposite the bed. The same white box I’d seen in the kitchen earlier stood in the corner and a door next to it turned out to be the bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink.

Closing the door to the bathroom, I sat down on the bed and then leant backwards, my legs dangling off the edge. “This is amazing…” I wriggled backwards so that all of me was on the bed and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling. I’d never felt anything so soft. It moved with me, creating little dips every time I moved. Just think… I thought as I drifted to sleep. You’ll get this for the rest of your life once you find the Gen…

*~*~*~*~*~

Abe carefully balanced the tray in one hand and knocked with the other, glancing down at the tray uncertainly. He had a vague idea that ladies normally liked things like vegetables, so he’d rummaged around his cupboards until he’d found a few potatoes and had cook them up with his steak. But he wasn’t sure past that point. He’d managed to find some tea too, although he hadn’t been entirely sure what to do other then add water. And to make things even more complicated, this was a teenaged girl. Although he hated to admit it it’d been a long time since he’d been a teenager and he was fairly sure what teenaged boys liked to eat and what teenage girls liked to eat was like comparing soap with grease.

“Um, Willow, are you there?” He called out hesitantly when he got no reply to the knock. “I’ve got your food… did you want me to leave it out here?” There was still no reply. “Well, okay, I’ll just leave it by the door…” He carefully placed the tray down on the floor and turned to leave, starting violently as he came face to face with a young man. “Shit, Jayce, you scared me.” He glanced behind Jayce at the empty path. “Where’s Riko?”

“Around,” Jayce replied quietly. His eyes flickered to the tray of food then to the closed door. “I heard you had a guest.”

“Yeah. She suddenly turned up at my house, wanted a place to stay until the delivery truck comes.” Areo paused, ruffling the back of his head. “Hey, Jayce… Sheriff Walker mentioned something about Dave being killed. Have you heard anything about that?”

“Unfortunately yes, Dave was killed and both the Sheriff and doctor are looking into it.”

“But, uh, there’s no evidence that he was, you know, attacked?” Abe asked nervously.

“All I can is their looking into it, Dave.” Jayce moved over to the door. Reaching down, he picked up the tray.

“What are you doing?” Abe asked with a frown.

Jayce turned slightly, his expression unreadable. “Meeting our guest.”

“Hey, now, wait a minute.” Abe said angrily. “You don’t have any right to enter her room uninvited. I promise my guests privacy.”

“And I promised this town their children would be safe,” Jayce replied coldly.

“She’s human.”

Jayce balanced the tray with one hand and opened the door with the other. “You mean she looks human.” He went inside and the door gently swung shut.