Genetics

Chapter Five

When I awoke the next morning I headed up into the woods. I don’t know what I was hoping for; the Pure had said he was moving further into the forest and I was still in the edges. If I concentrated I would be able to find his signal but I avoided the temptation. It wasn’t fair when I didn’t think he’d want to be found. I’d just have to wait until that night, when we were meant to meet. Then I would search for his signal.

I looked down at the cuts on my hands as I walked. They didn’t really hurt anymore but I couldn’t help but wonder if I should go see this ‘doctor’ as Lex suggested. Maybe she could heal them? It seemed to be a normal practice to go see the doctor when you hurt yourself.

“Hey Willow!”

My razors flicked out instantly as I whirled around. Even as I moved I hid my hands behind my back and when I saw Lex I retracted my razors. I was lucky in that she hadn’t appeared to notice – razors are a bit of a clue on the whole Genetic thing.

“Oh. Hi Lex.” I glanced behind her but I didn’t see Jayce – a quick probe proved that we were the only two people in the area. “What are you doing out here?”

“Walking.” She moved to stand next to me, looking around curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Thinking.”

“About what?”

I smiled. Jayce had been right about her curiosity. “Stuff.”

“I’m being rude again, aren’t I?” She looked up at me seriously. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry.”

“It’s okay, I just won’t answer,” I replied simply.

Lex smiled. “Good, it’s okay then. Can I walk with you?”

“Sure.” We’d been walking for a while when I felt rather then heard the Pure approach. I stopped a few meters away so he remained out of sight and turned to look at Lex. “I think you should head back to hole now.”

She looked at her feet. “Did I say something wrong?” Her voice was small.

“No. I just would like to be on my own for a while.” I turned to look at the way we’d come. “I’d like to talk to you later, though.”

Lex nodded, although she still looked troubled. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” She ran off and I waited for her signal to disappear down the mountain before continuing. The Pure appeared in sight a few minutes later. “I thought we weren’t meant to meet until later.”

“I felt you coming. I didn’t want to wait.” A dead rabbit hung limply in his hands- he must have been hunting, I realized. Still, the fact that he wanted to see me as much as I wanted to see him was pleasing. I followed him through the trees, up the mountain. We didn’t talk, just simply enjoyed the presence of one another. After a while we reached a small shelter made up of sticks amongst the trees, the small embers of a fire lying in front of it.

He added a few bunches of dry grass to the embers, stooping down to blow on them softly. After a few moments they flared, the flames eating the grass and the sticks he then fed it. “A human trick,” I observed, crouching down near the fire. “Where did you learn it?”

“Before I came here I lived in another forest. Humans visited often although they never took enough notice of their surroundings to make it dangerous for me. I watched many build fires like these. It’s good for the rabbit.” He put his kill down on a flat rock near the fire and set about skinning it with a knife he removed from his pocket, much like mine. “You appear to be human and you talk with the humans.” He glanced at me sideways. “How did this come to be?”

“A human thought it would be useful.” I bent over, pretending to stare at the fire. Although I had felt guilt when I first decided to hunt down the Genetic, since then I had felt nothing but a strong want to find my prey. Now, though, I couldn’t tell this Pure the truth. He would not understand.

“You hold shields in place,” he observed. “I cannot know you with them clouding your mind.”

“Your ability dosen’t tell you who a person is, just what they feel,” I replied. I didn’t like the idea of him inside my mind. What if he saw what I was doing, that I suspected he might be the Genetic I had been sent to find. Even though I would have to give him up, and soon, I wasn’t ready. Not yet. “Humans do not need abilities to know each other.”

“Humans are disgusting,” he replied vehemently.

I smiled, amused. “Do I not look human enough? You seemed to think so a few minutes ago.”

“You look like a monster but you are only inside a pretend.” He picked up the cleaned rabbit and placed it on the coals, taking a seat opposite me. “When the war arrives, I do not think you will forget what is truth and what is lies.”

“War?”

He raised a brow. “You have lived amongst humans for so long you do not know?”

“I have lived on my own for many cold seasons – only recently did I live as a human. I have not heard of a war.”

“I have met a few Genetics in these woods. They say the Pures are banding together.”

“To kill humans.” I shook my head in disbelief. “No Pure would be that stupid.”

He frowned. “You believe it to be unwise?”

“There is no army. I would have felt a gathering that large.” Even with the blocks I put up to ignore the signals that surround me I would not be able to miss something like that. A Genetic has a signal that I can pick up from a much larger distance – the more signals, the more likely I was to pick it up. If there were enough – and for an army there would have to be a lot – I would have to be on the other side of the world not to notice.

“Perhapse they are still only meeting but believe me, we are tired of dying because we do not meet what the humans believe to be the right standards.” He poked at the rabbit in the fire. “Do you not feel it?” He asked suddenly, his emotions strong. “Do you not realize that every second we sit here we are waiting for death? We do not fight. We run. Without thinking we run, from men, from young women andfrom animals that are barely half our size. We are strong but we run. If we can train ourselves to stand...”

“We could do what? Turn into the humans off this world? Kill them instead?”

“Better them then us.” He looked me straight in the eye. “Be careful how you talk. There is no middle ground in this. We are you, you are us.”

“I would never betray us.” The lie felt bitter on my tongue and I rose to my feet. “I must leave. It is dangerous for us to be together.”

“Yes.” He too rose. “You will visit again?”

“Yes.” I hesitated for a moment and left without saying goodbye. My emotions were so strong I was sure he would be able to feel them, even through the barrier I had placed around myself. His talk disturbed me. I knew how it felt, the fear from everything and the frustration for that fear. But surely they must be able to see a war was useless? It wasn’t as simple as destroying the enemy. How could we destroy the world? There would be no allies and there would be no victory, not for us.

And above it all swirled confusion. The more I talked to him the more I could feel his power. It was now a thud I could not block out when I was in his presence. But he demonstrated nothing to show that the power was as strong as it felt – it was possible all of his strength lay in his ability to feel emotions and I couldn’t believe that was what Fame was after. Unless they didn’t realize? What few Pure’s I had met hadn’t been as strong but their powers had appeared to be – one had been able to communicate through her thoughts, another had been able to rip a tree from the ground with no effort. And by the sounds of it, all the SourceBox did was read power levels; it couldn’t judge an ability.

We are you, you are us.

He was right. I knew the lie. I was not a human but did something inside me, something I had no control over, really make me loyal to the Genetics? I spent my life alone. If I met a Genetic I would help them, because that is what you did. You looked after you own kind. But when I was starving, I was alone. When I was so cold I turned blue I was alone. And when I had first met Fame and let him do this to me, I was alone. How could I believe now that I wasn’t? I had been the stupid Genetic with Fame, showing him my abilities and letting him twist them so that he could find his power. Now I was being the stupid Genetic with the Pure, listening to his talk of war and believing things would change.

I moved down the mountain, so engrossed in my thoughts that I wasn’t paying attention. My foot slipped and I fell, slipping of a large rock and hitting the ground. The pain washed over me and I lay still, trying to source it. I had hit my side on a branch as I fell – there seemed to be some pain in my leg, as well.

Things were never this painful before, either. I thought as I got to my feet. Lifting up my shirt, I stared at the red welt across my side. In the course of a week I had hurt my wrist, cut my hands and now this.

Being stuck in a house for the rest of my life is starting to sound amazing, I thought angrily as I kept walking down the hill. Forget the stupid war. You have no loyalties anymore.

*~*~*~*~*~

Jayce turned, watching as the police car pulled to a halt beside him. Opening the door, he slid inside, nodding politely at Sheriff Walker. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve got a possible murder sitting on my desk, Jayce. What do you think?”

Jayce smiled slightly, glancing out the window. “I think we’ve got a murderer in our town.”

“Now the doc says it couldn’t have been a human-“

“I agree,” Jayce interrupted.

Sheriff Walker was quiet for a moment. “Riko says you’ve been awfully interested in the Willow girl.”

“I would have thought you would be to. She arrived in town at the same time as a murder.”

“Unfortantly because we believe a Genetic did it we can’t interview humans. If we were to decide it wasn’t a Genetic, we can’t interview her anyway because there is nothing to link her to the scene.” He glanced at Jayce out of the corner of his eye. “I’m presuming you’ve talked to her, though. Thoughts?”

“I don’t think she’s a killer if thats what you’re asking.”

Sheriff Walker sighed. “Jayce, you’ve spent quite a while making Genetic hunting your job and I respect that. You also don't have to worry about the legal side of things when they're concerned and that’s why I came to you once a Genetic was brought into the mix. But you being vague with a killer near my town ain’t going to cut it this time. Either you tell me what you know or what you think you know or I’m going to have to start going into that forest of yours.”

“I captured a Pure a few days ago. She turned up and demanded I release him. How many people do you know that care about a Genetic, let alone a Pure?”

“I know there are a few groups of the cities who still believe its immoral and all that. They obviously never met the families who’ve lost loved ones because of those menaces.” He fell silent for a moment. “So you think she’s a half-gen.”

“Yes.” Jayce glanced out the window. “I think she may be travelling with our killer as well.”

“Not the Genetic you captured?”

“No. I released him and she’s still here. Which means so is the killer.” He glanced at Sheriff Walker. “Willow will find him for me.”

Sheriff Walker shook his head slowly. “I can’t just sit on my hands, Jayce. You’re not the only one who needs to protect this town.”

“You do a great job on the streets, Sheriff.” As the car pulled up to the curb, Jayce got out, leaning of the open window. “But the forests are mine. I’ll find him.”

“You’d better.” The Sheriff called after him as he turned and walked away. Jayce simply shook his head and kept walking. He’d only gone a few steps when he saw Willow up ahead, entering the General Store. It was time to put his theory to the test.

*~*~*~*~

“Hi, Willow!” Sara greeted me warmly. I smiled in reply, my gaze sweeping the store for what I needed. “Did you get the basket I sent over?” Sara asked, appearing by my side.

“Yes. It was very nice.” She smiled although when I said no more it faded slowly. She appeared to be waiting for something and I panicked, unable to think what. Lex said I didn’t have to give anything back!

A memory stirred of my mother teaching me. “Thank you,” I said hesitantly. That was what you said, wasn’t it? Please and thank you? Sara smiled again, nodding. “You’re welcome. Where you looking for something in particular?”

I looked down at the ground. “I saw earlier you had clothes.”

Sara’s hand flew to her mouth. “Of course, I’m so sorry! Lex mentioned that you’d left you luggage on the bus but I didn’t even think about it! Over here, honey.” She lead me to where a bunch of people stood. On a closer glance they appeared to be plastic people dressed in different clothes. “Do you see anything you like?”

I looked down at the clothes I was wearing. “I like this.” I pointed to my plain t-shirt.

She quickly shook her head. “Oh honey, that won’t do. It’s almost winter. I know in the city it doesn’t get cold but its already started snowing down here. You need something a lot warmer...” She rifled through the racks of clothes. “What’s your size?”

“I don’t know.”

She frowned slightly but didn’t say anything, pulling a few shirts from the rack. “Come on, you can try these on out back.”

The door opened as I moved out back although I didn’t pay any attention to who was entering. After trying on the clothes and picking out two new shirts that had long sleeves and were were thicker material and two new pairs of jeans - as well as a pair of sneakers instead of the boots – I moved to the register to pay. She’d tried to convince me that my jacket wasn’t warm enough either but I politely refused. Dad had used my jacket for years – it would suit me fine.

“Shopping, huh?”

I turned to find Jayce standing beside me. “Yes.” I turned away in an attempt to end the conversation. It didn’t seem to work – he leant over the side of the counter with his usual small smile.

“So. You ran into Lex today, huh?”

I frowned slightly. “Why don’t you talk to her about it?”

“Because she didn’t tell me, although it wasn't too hard to figure out. Apparently she likes you a lot more than I thought.”

“Oh.” I finished paying for my clothes and took the bag Sara handed me, leaving the store.

“I’d like to show you something, if I can.” Jayce followed me into the street, shoving his hands in his pocket.

“Maybe later.” The last thing I wanted to do was go anywhere with Jayce and every time I looked at him I got the feeling he would much rather be somewhere else as well. So why persist?

“Alright, I suppose I can visit the Pure first.”

I stopped in my tracks. “I thought you were going to leave him alone.”

“Depends on whether you come with me, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t really understand why I had the urge to hit him but he was really making me... well, angry. I’d never been as aware of how easy it would be to kill him until then – every nerve seemed to tingle with my power. “I’ll come with you after ten seconds.” I turned, disappearing behind the nearest building. With no one in sight I let the anger stream over me and I snarled in pure fury. Then it was gone and I moved back to the street where Jayce was standing, now completely in control again.

He was staring at me as I came to a halt next to him. “So... we can go now?”

“Yes. But I need to drop off my clothes at my cabin.” I held up the bag of items I had brought from the store. He made a small noise of impatience but said nothing as I went back to my cabin. Placing the bag just inside the door, I followed him back down the street and into a building.

“Stay here.” He moved into another room and I could just make out voices although I couldn’t hear what they were saying. After a few minutes he returned, a small silver object in his hand. He walked over to a door before us, using the object to open it. “This way.” He held the door open for me and flicked a switch. As light flooded the room I saw we were standing in a room filled with silver surfaces. There was a bench in front of us with a person lying on it, covered with a sheet so I could only see their outline.

Jayce walked over to the bench, carefully pulling back the sheet. “Come here.”

I took a step backwards, shaking my head vehemently. “No.” I still couldn’t remember past the man – everything was foggy after that. But this body... I knew but I wouldn’t let myself face it, face him. “No, I don’t want to see it.”

“His name is Dave.” Jayce grabbed my wrist and before I could pull away tugged me forward a few steps. I was staring down at a cold, slightly purple face. And I could see that face before me, shocked as I rose to my feet. The face was still shocked as all of the electricity that had been gathering inside my body flew into his brain like a lightning bolt.

“No!” I screamed, running from Dave and the room. I heard footsteps behind me and quickly slammed the door, hurriedly leaving the cabin and headed for the woods. Tears streamed from my eyes, blurring my vision as I darted in between the foliage. I’d known what I had done but I’d pretended I hadn’t, blocking it from my thoughts like it was simply a bad dream.

I felt a hand catch hold of one of my wrists from behind and my other hand swang up. My razors slashed across Jayce’s arm and when he let go I kept running. “Willow!” He yelled, still following. “Leave me alone!” I screamed back.

I could hear the sound of running water. Water. That was an escape. I moved towards it blindly, reaching the banks. It was travelling down the mountain side quickly and even from here I could feel the cold. “Don’t-“ Jayce shouted from behind.

I leapt before I could feel his hands again. The water sucked me in, wrapping its cold arms around me as it pulled me away from him. Breaking the surface, I took a deep breath, crying out as I was slammed against the river bank whilst going around a corner. Up ahead I could hear the roar of the river as it turned to white foam, rushing over a large pile of rocks. Bringing my legs together, I caught myself on a rock, the river quickly pushing my body sideways. By then I had slowed some and I grabbed hold of another rock, clutching to it tightly. My teeth chattered from the cold as I pulled myself closer, the water moving around me.

After a few minutes Jayce came into view, running along the river bank. “Are you crazy?” He yelled once he caught sight of me. “You’re going to kill yourself!”

“Keep away from me!” I shouted back. He seemed to be concerned about my well being, although I wasn’t sure why. “Or I’ll let go!” I had no intention of doing so. It had seemed like a good idea at the time to get away from him but the fact it was freezing and painful meant it probably wasn’t my best plan.

“Now thats just stupid.” Jayce snapped. “I’m not trying to hurt you.”

I felt the tears stinging my eyes. “Why’d you show me that?”

“Because I think you know who did it.” He crouched down, looking at me intently. “Do you?”

“No.”

“He’d only been in our town a few months, you know.” Jayce played with the grass by his feet. “He came from Benka. He was scared because a Genetic had been spotted up there – poor guy didn’t realize this place is swarming in the things he was trying to get away from.” He stood up. “Didn’t have much in a way of a family but everyone around here liked him. He was really nice.”

“Stop.”

He didn’t, continuing, “He was only fourty-nine when he died-“

“Please stop,” I begged and he sighed.

“Come on, Willow. I know the Pure did it. Admit it and I’ll stop.”

I stared at him in shock. “The Pure didn’t do it.”

He sighed again. “He loved sports-“

I was desperate and I’d already made up enough stories so I figured why not continue? By now I was so cold that my teeth chattered; it really couldn’t get worse. “It wasn’t the Pure you let go earlier but it was a Genetic.”

“Ah.”  Jayce moved forward so that he was next to the river. “How do you know this?”

My eyes flickered to the scratches I had created on his arm. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Half-Gens don’t normally travel with Pure’s.”

My gaze leapt to his face. He didn’t know? Relief flooded over me instantly. He didn’t know. He’d believed my skin and eyes were my own – although razors on a half-gen were almost unheard of it wasn’t impossible. I was incredibly lucky and I didn’t trust the feeling; it wouldn’t last.

“Yeah, well...” I looked away. “She’s gone now.”

“She?”

“Yes.” I was quiet for a moment. “It was an accident.” That at least was true.

“I fail to see how murder can happen on accident.”

“She never wanted to hurt him!” I snarled, than froze when my grip slipped, my fingers starting to become too numb to hold on. If I let go I wouldn’t stop until I was dead. “Can you help me get out of here?” I stuttered, shivering violently.

“One last question. Do you know where she went?”

“I-” The last of my strength was fading fast. "I - I can't-" He reached out, stretching across the water. "Here, take my hand." I lunged for it, grabbing onto it for dear life. He helped me onto the bank, frowning as he touched my skin.

“You’re freezing. Here, take off your jacket,” he ordered. I paused, then did as he requested, my movments stiff. He shrugged off his jacket, helping me put it on. “Thanks to your stupid run and leap into a river idea we’re now about an hours walk from hole.” He pulled the jacket closer around me, doing up the buttons. It smelt kind of nice.

Strangely now that I was out of the water I was almost colder. Wind blew over me and I could feel myself slowly losing control of my limbs. I retreated inside my own mind, focusing on keeping my core temperature warm. It wasn’t an easy task as the only heat to be found was in Jayce and after even just a few seconds I saw him shiver. After a few minutes I reluctantly withdrew from my mind, unable to do anymore without hurting him. “I don’t think I can walk that far.”

“Okay.” He helped me to my feet, placing my arm around his shoulders to help me walk. “You just need to come over here.” He led me to underneath a tree where some white cold stuff lay. “What is this?” I asked as he sat me down in it. “It’s cold.”

“First snow of the season. And I know it’s cold now but trust me that wind is worse.” He began to dig in the ‘snow’, making a shallow hole. He got me to sit in it then took a seat next to me, moving the snow so that it sat on top of us like a cold quilt. Then he wrapped his arms around me.

“I don’t see how this helps.” I shivered, too cold to protest against him being so close.

“It will.” He leant his head against the tree, also shivering in nothing but a long-sleeved shirt now that he had given me his jacket. I felt temporarily sorry for taking his heat but quickly dismissed the feeling. This was his fault, really. Why couldn’t he leave me alone?

“You never answered my question. Do you know where she went?”

“No.” I was quiet for a moment. “Why are you helping me if you’re just going to kill me for being a Genetic?”

He too was quiet. “I’m not going to kill you.” He said at last. “Half-Gens have nothing to fear from me.”

“Theres no difference between me and her.” I pushed out of the snow, pulling the knife out of my pocket. “If you truly believe she should die I want you to kill me too.” I kneeled opposite him, flicking out the blade before pulling my sleeves away from my wrist. The blood pumping told me this would be a quick way to die should he follow through on my threat. I didn’t think he would, though and I was proved right when he grabbed the knife, folding up the blade, muttering something about me watching too much drama on TV.

“The only difference is I look normal,” I persisted. “But all of you humans, you look different. Why should you tell us what normal is?”

“The difference is you don’t have an ability,” he said stiffly, his eyes growing dark. “The Pures, they kill. And it doesn’t matter if it’s on accident or on purpose, they kill us.” He indicated to the snow hole I had left. “Can you get back in here? Not only will you kill yourself but I’m much warmer with you here.”

I did as he requested. To be honest it was much warmer next to him. Even the snow seemed to be warmer with it packed on top of us. “You make it sound like a war.” My thoughts drifted back to what the Pure had been saying. Two very different people, two very different sides of the same story. Maybe even if the Genetic army hadn’t been formed yet, it was unavoidable that it would be.

“Look, I know it must be hard for you as a half-Gen; loyalties to a Genetic parent and a human parent. But scientists are still finding out more and more about the Genetic gene that reaffirms our decision to execute them. Is there a war? No. It’s more like a slaughter. But it’ll save thousands of lives.”

“Genetics are lives too.”

“Maybe. But their warped, mutated, different. What we’re doing is for the best.”

I didn’t talk anymore, sitting in silence instead. It bothered me to think that an entire world shared the same thinking as Jayce. A simple slaughter of monsters was a tragedy that needed to be done to protect their lives. My parents were thirty when they were changed. Thirty years of interacting with the world and that same world turned around and denied that they had the right to live.

After a while the cold slowly started to fade and I felt like I would be able to walk freely. I said as much and Jayce nodded, getting to his feet. “Walking will keep us warm at least.” He stretched out his hand and helping me rise. I picked up my wet jacket from the ground and we set off. My muscles didn’t like the movement after such a long time being still – our going was slow, filled with stumbles as our feet slipped on the ground.

“So how did you meet her?” Jayce asked after a moment.

“I don’t want to talk about her anymore,” I replied, my voice sounding cold like the snow. I was still angry at him – he reminded me of Fame, pushing me to do things and say things I never wanted to do. Well, maybe that isn’t fair – I was more than happy to leap at the opportunity Fame was giving me at the time. Only now did I feel regret, although the prize still outweighed my uncertainties by far. But Jayce persisted in making me think about things I wanted to forget and he kept asking me questions I didn’t want to answer. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” I asked in frustration.

“Because she killed someone, Willow, accident or not. She has to be stop.”

“She’s leaving and she’s never coming back. I won’t tell you were she went.”

“Then I can’t leave you alone.” He looked at me, his expression unreadable. “Sheriff Walker will arrest you – you could go to prison if you protect her.”

My dad had told me about prison. When I was little, when we had first moved to the cabin, he had told me that we had to live in the cabin because bad people wanted to lock us up. He told us that prison was something he didn’t want us to go, so he’d fight so we would never have to be there. He wasn’t trying to scare me but I grew afraid never the less.

I paused, turning to look at him. “No. I will not go to prison.” I would not hurt them permanently but there was a lot I could do if they pushed me. “We run. Without thinking, we run, from man from young woman from animals that are barely half our size. We are strong but we run. If we can train ourselves to stand...” The Pures words echoed in my head as I started to walk again. I could do that. I could stand. And then what? Kill?

“Never!”

I did not realize I had spoken out loud until Jayce looked at me, puzzled. “What?” He asked.

"Nothing.” My eyes drifted to the ground as my thoughts flew back to Dave, the body lying on the bench. I was lying to myself, wasn’t I? Is this what humans do? Lie to each other, lie to themselves? Being a part of this world was what I wanted and that had not changed. But I was starting to learn that I was going to have to forget everything about my old world, including my ideas about right and wrong. After all, a few years ago I never would have dreamed about hunting one of them. I felt myself shudder. When had Genetics become something I was not a part of?

I was relieved of the interruption from my thoughts when Jayce said, “Holes just up ahead. How are you feeling?”

“Much warmer.” My clothes weren’t as wet and the walking was keeping me warm. I was still a little chilled but I was no longer shivering.

“That’s good-“ Jayce was interrupted by Riko, bolting up the hill towards us.

“Where have you been, everyone’s looking for you!” He panted. “Theres been an accident – the Sheriffs been hurt. Everyone saying the Pure-“ He stopped his sentence when he saw me. “But you’ve got to come quickly.” He finished.

Jayce burst into a run, following Riko towards hole. I ran after them, keeping close enough to hear their conversation even though I was a few feet behind.

“Is Doctor Shiro with him?” Jayce asked as they ran.

“That’s the problem. Doctor Shiro went with Jeremy, something to do with the power plant. Apparently something got damaged earlier – we radioed them but they won’t be back for a few hours, at least.”

Jayce said something under his breath as he ran. “What happened?”

“We don’t know, we just found him on the floor. It’s possible he just had a heart attack but after what happened with Dave-“

I felt fear pulse through my body. I couldn’t defend myself but what would happen now that they believed I – well, the other Genetic – had killed two people?

We reached the main street, running into the building Jayce had taken me to before. Instead of the silver room we went into a small white room, with another bench and a desk. An elderly man I guessed to be Sheriff Walker lay on the bench and I could feel it the moment I entered the room.

Jayce moved to stand next to him, feeling his wrist. “His pulse is really weak. If the Genetic did this...”

I couldn’t stand it. I moved forward, blindly pushing Jayce out of the way as tears blurred my vision. “Get away from him!” I climbed up onto the bench, perching at the edge next to him.

“Willow, we need to help him-“

“You can’t.” The tears were closing my throat, making it difficult to talk. I simply reached forward, placing one hand on Sheriff Walkers chest and the other on his forehead. I could feel his heart, beating slowly. I could feel the blood, rushing through his veins. I could feel the damage to his heart that was spreading through his body. I could feel his confusion, his pain. And above it all I could feel his life slipping away and it hurt like a physical pain, deep inside my stomach.

It’s difficult to explain. But my ability connects me to people. I ignore you mostly but this, this I could not ignore. It was like watching a light growing dimmer and being unable to keep it bright. I tried. I focused everything I had, pouring my own thoughts and mind into him in an attempt to keep that light, his life, going. It didn’t matter that it was a flicker, that his signal was weak and filled with a fog I knew to be death. It was there and I would not let it slip.

The everything electrical flickered as I drew the electricity from around us. My razors had extended, digging into him, but by now I was so close to him I could remove the pain before he even felt it. I was weeping, crying for a man I had never met as if he was someone I loved dearly. And with my mind so close to his, he was.

I felt hands touching me. “No!” I screamed in rage and tears. “You can’t help him!” He was flickering too much for me to grip now. I slowly let myself withdraw; keeping hold of him just long enough to make sure he felt no pain. I wish I could take away his fear, his confusion but there are some things I cannot do.

His heart gave one last beat and then it fell silent, unable to keep the light shining. I felt him slip away and my head touched his chest as I sobbed. I couldn’t stop my tears, either. To stop an emotion this strong... I would not be able to handle it if I did not control it to a degree. To let it sweep over me entirely, as it always must do before it can go away, would damage me more than the strongest blow. Even now I felt sick, the emotions so strong it hurt my stomach. Still, after a few minutes my tears stopped. The pain was still there but I felt it through a fog. I felt numb, like I was still cold even though my body was telling me it wasn’t.

“What have you done, Willow?” Sara rushed past me, grabbing hold of Sheriff Walker. “Jeremy! Jeremy, can you hear me?” She turned to look at me and instead of the friendless she had shown earlier she looked very angry. “Willow, what have you done?” She repeated.

“What I had to.” I turned, coming face to face with Jayce. He didn’t look angry like Sara but he was looking me like you humans used to. He was finally seeing the monster and he did not like what he was seeing.

“Willow-“ He began.

I brushed past him, leaving the room. The sunlight hit my face and I paused, letting the warmth rush over me as I breathed the air deeply. I could still feel his life slipping away and for a second I wondered if the pain I felt inside would ever disappear. It didn’t feel like it would. I fell to my knees and retched violently, emptying my stomach on the ground.

I could feel Jayce’s signal moving towards me so I leapt to my feet, quickly darting behind the building. “Willow!” As he called my name I backed away, quickly disappearing into the forest. I didn’t know what I was going to tell him about what had just happened but I had to figure something out. Hiding my ability is normally a lot easier but then again I rarely see people die. I feel it, sometimes – walking past places where they keep sick people, or places with old people. The emotions are strong then, too. I don’t think the feeling of their life slipping away will never not hurt, either; although honestly I’m not sure I want it to be easy.

But this was only the third time I’d ever been so close. The other two had been with my mother and father, so I’d presumed that was why it had hurt so much. But Sheriff Walker was a stranger, a man I had never met before now so it wasn’t the connection I had made.

I wanted to run and never return. Get away from Jayce and the bodies and everything about this town. But I couldn’t. If I left before finding out if the Pure was the one I was looking for, I would never be able to keep this particular lie. And if I ran it would be liked an admittance to guilt  – staying was the only real option.

I headed towards my cabin, staying in the edge of the forest so as not to meet anyone. As I walked I thought about what I would say. It was easy for me to weave a story – I don’t mean to brag but my signal is strong too. Maybe because of my ability but never the less by the time I had reached my cabin I knew what I was going to say. It turned out to be a relief for when I opened the door Jayce was standing there, his back to me.

He didn’t turn around as I entered, carefully shutting the door behind me. “What did you do, Willow?” His words matched Sara’s but his voice was lower, less angry but it reminded me of stone.

“It’s difficult to explain,” I said awkwardly.

“Try.” This time his voice showed anger and then it disappeared, back beneath the stone. “Did she do this?”

“Yes.”  I moved past him to the bathroom, picking up the bag from next to the door as I went.

He followed, pausing in the doorway.“What are you doing?” He asked as I pulled off the jacket.

“My clothes are still wet,” I replied. “I’m not cold anymore but I would like dry clothes.”

He quickly disappeared from the doorway, out of sight. I changed quickly; it felt much better to be dry. Slipping the jacket back on I walked into the main area. Jayce was sitting near the bench, staring at the wall. His jaw looked tense and I wondered if that had to do with the anger he was trying to hide.

“You said she did it. Why?”

“I’m not sure.” I sat down on the bed opposite him. “Maybe she didn’t want to go to prison either.”

“Well she can be assured she won’t be,” he snarled, the anger surfacing again. “I can promise both of you that.”

“You expect me to help you while you say you’ll kill her,” I said flatly.

He rose to his feet, crossing the room in two quick strides so that he was towering over me. “I expect you to tell me what the hell happened back there and then you’re going to help me find her. If you don’t, so help me, I will pin all of this on you and you can suffer her punishment. I don’t need a murder charge to kill a Genetic so it won’t affect me at all.”

“It’s difficult to explain.” I played with the edges of my sleeve, noting absent-mindedly that the cuts on my hands seemed to be healing.

“So you said but you’re still going to tell me.”

“I knew her since I was a child. You don’t need to know any more than that.” He made a small noise at my words and looked like he was going to interrupt but I shook my head, continuing, “It’s fairly rare for us to display any physical traits either. I got these, however.” I flexed my razors. To his credit he only glanced at them briefly, returning his gaze to my face to let me know he was still waiting. “Humans do not realize because we hide from you but half-Gens are never completely unscathed by the changes to our DNA. You were right in saying half-Gens don’t have abilities but we have... senses.”

My story wove with the truth, telling parts that I knew so that I would be believable. “I can sense other Genetics and sometimes I can sense what a Pure has done. It’s not an ability; I can’t always sense it and sometimes it’s nothing more than that, a feeling. It’s like the feeling that something bad is going to happen. It’s not always right.”

“So it’s like intuition.”

“I’m not familiar with that term,” I said after a pause. “I don’t know why she hurt him but I could feel the damage she did. I don’t like to think about why she hurt him because I can’t think of a good reason.”

“So you think it wasn’t an accident this time?”

“Do you?” I looked him straight in the eye. Hopefully he would move away from the subject of my ability, or to be exact my lack of one.

“I fail to see how it could be. So tell me more about these senses of yours.”

Typical. Sometimes I wonder if humans can read minds – they seem to have a habit of doing what you don’t want them to do. Still, provided he believed that the only thing I can do is ‘sense’ things it wouldn’t be too bad. “I don’t really understand it myself. I told you what I know about it.”

“Does it work for a distance?”

“Not a great distance, no. And I can really only do it for Genetics I know. I’ve had a strong bond with her so I can feel her if she’s nearby.”

“But you didn’t feel her here before?”

“No. She’s gone now. I’ve got even less control over sensing the damage. I got lucky with Sheriff Walker – I don’t really understand why I could sense his damage and not others.”

“And the lights?”

I went back to fiddling with the sleeves of my jacket. There was no point in claiming coincidence or trying to say it wasn’t me. Treating him as a fool would be a mistake so instead I went for partial truth. “I’m not sure. It’s never happened before.” At least, I had never damaged it before. Normally when I take electricity from lights I take it from the source so the lights don’t flicker. I don’t know why this time was different – I thought I had taken from the source.

I rose to my feet. “It’s all I know,” I said softly. “Please, I don’t want to die.”

He too rose to his feet. “Doctor Shiro will be here soon. I’ll get her to take a closer look at what happened to Sheriff Walker – compare it to what happened with Dave. I’ll be back to talk to you some more, though. I have to track down this friend of yours and if you can sense her you’ll be coming.”

I nodded and he left without saying anything else. Closing the door behind him, I climbed onto my bed, curling into a ball. The pain from Sheriff Walker was fading – the conversation with Jayce had distracted me and even now I didn’t feel as sick. But thinking over the conversation made me feel uneasy. I had to figure out if the Pure was what I was after. Once I found that out I could take him with me and get away from this place. I had no doubt Jayce would follow but with Fame help I would lose him. When I was in my house, none of this would matter anymore.